Sponsors

John Fairhall joined Archibald’s Garage as a teenager in 1971, starting as a car groomer. Through his drive and determination John became a successful car salesman and businessman, and eventually in 1983 purchased Archibald’s Garage in Christchurch.

After John bought the Archibald business he separated out the BMW brand to a standalone dealership on Moorhouse Avenue.  To promote the new business John established Archibald Motor Sport and decided to go Group A racing.  John had dabbled in low-level car racing and knew the benefits of track racing to automotive brands, and he saw value in racing cars that were almost identical to those he was selling.

It was during this time that John met Canterbury man Trevor Crowe.  Trevor ran Litchfield Motors in Christchurch and was a budding race driver and engineer.  John could see Trevor was a perfect fit to be involved in the new motorsport venture, and it was Trevor who recommended they purchase a BMW 635i built by Frank Gardner in Australia.

A deal was struck with Gardner to purchase a JPS BMW 635i (chassis number RA2-64) and have it shipped race ready to NZ in time for the 1985/1996 season.  RA2-64 was built in 1994 by Gardner from an original BMW motorsport shell, and various parts from the top European teams.

With Trevor Crowe and Australian Tony Longhurst at the wheel RA2-64 won the 1985 Benson & Hedges long-distance saloon series.  Archibald Motor Sports continued to race and moved on to newer cars as the motorsport landscape evolved.

In 2014 John was instrumental in establishing the Historic Touring Car class in NZ which featured many of the cars that raced in New Zealand in the 1980’s.  Although John sold his original car RA2-64 in 1986 he was able to repurchase it in 2017, some 31 years later.  To complete the picture John enlisted its original driver, Trevor Crowe, to race the car in the Historic Touring car category that bears John’s name.

Historic Touring Cars NZ is hugely grateful to Shirley Fairhall for the sponsorship the club receives.  Shirley’s sponsorship is in memory of John Fairhall (1952 – 2019).