Mazda RX-4 News

Cancer as a boy left him blind in one eye, but it hasn't slowed him down. The 51-year-old Gold Coast businessman has owned a host of performance cars from a Mini Cooper S to his current 400 horsepower Trans-Am Mustang and has raced since he was 40. Except for the years 1998-2001 when CAMS took away his race licence because of his sight.Rigon loves a good stoush, so he took CAMS to court and won and is now the only one-eyed driver licensed to race in national events. His first car was a 1968 Mini Cooper S former NSW police pursuit vehicle."The police had GTHOs, Chargers and Mini Cooper Ss back then," he explains. "It had great handling and was very quick, but I eventually blew the engine up driving it too hard."He then moved to a Mazda RX4 Coupe "rocketship", followed by several company cars, a GTV6 Alfa Romeo in 1989 and a Porsche 911 Carrera. "The Alfa stayed with me for some time and was picked up by a collector in Western Australia, an 81-year-old lady who had it fully restored it," he said. "Being Italian it never stayed together and spent more time in the repair shop than it was on the road, but it was a great car to own."His current everyday cars are a 2007 V8 SS Commodore and an ex-police Ford Typhoon F6: "I like to buy ex-police cars because they are looked after and have a few trick bits."Rigon was a late starter to racing at the age of 40 competing in the WA Formula Ford series against eventual winner Garth Tander. He's made up for it since with a host of race cars, including two Subaru WRX STIs. But the Trans-Am Mustang he bought early last year is his favourite."It's the most pleasurable car to drive because it is not as technical as a modern race cars which are very forgiving," he says. "Modern race cars take a lot of technology to make them run quick but there is a lot more driver skill required in old cars. They tend to go sideways quite a bit.""It's something about our age group. It was the car that always appealed to me. "I was heavily inspired by Steve McQueen in Bullitt and always loved American Trans-Am (1964 to '74 American V8-powered cars) racing series as well as the Australian equivalent with Bob Jane, Allan Moffat driving around in Mustangs and Comaros. That was the style of racing I could really identify with."He's now the treasurer of the fledgling Australian Trans-Am Series which, not surprisingly, doesn't operate under CAMS licensing. "The average age of the racers is 45 to 60 and those drivers wouldn't necessarily get a CAMS licence which can take a year to get a full licence," he says.The series has 24 members with about 12-14 cars lining up on the grid. "We believe that will grow to a full field of 24 in about six months and about 34 in 12 months at any race meeting making it the largest Trans-Am series outside the US."Needless to say, his dream machine is a race car. "One of those limited edition GT3 Porsches," he is quick to answer. "I have always had a love for Ferraris but Porsches can take a pounding. They are a bullet proof car. For my driving style - while I love Italian cars - they just don't stay together." 

Once spotted only on the most unusual or luxurious cars, custom plates are now appearing everywhere.Some relay the owner's name, some show an allegiance to a footy team or make of car, others advertise local businesses.But mostly custom plates display carefully considered collections of letters and numbers revealing a secret side to the driver's personality, such as; SASSY, SEXY, DIVA, DFECTV or MADAZ.In 2000, about 3200 Tasmanians had custom plates and this jumped to 4000 by the end of 2005.And, since the marketing and distribution for the plates was handed over from the State Government to private company TASplates, Tasmanians have been flocking to buy their own slice of motoring history.Since TasPlates started in March, 1400 plates have sold in just five months, a huge increase on the 230 custom plates Service Tasmania sold in the 12 months before TasPlates began.It takes the total number of custom plates in Tasmania, including corporate plates to around 6000.TasPlates marketing manager Tim McNeilage said he was surprised by the high take-up rate, particularly the many Tasmanians willing to pay $950 for top-of-the-range plates, six characters on a colourful plate. Also popular have been coloured plates with a three-letter and three-number combination for $295.Previously motorists had to lease plates for an annual fee from Service Tasmania and could not buy them outright. Under the TasPlates scheme, drivers can purchase plates for a one-off fee and own them forever.There is also a wider range of plate colours and designs on offer, and they can be purchased online, from new car dealers, as well as from Service Tasmania. Plates can be bought and sold between owners, and many Tasmanian drivers consider custom plates a sound financial investment.Unique plates were an obvious choice for car lover Marco Caporelli. After years restoring his purple 1974 Mazda RX4 coupe, Mr Caporelli, 31, decided custom plates would add the finishing touch to his masterpiece.He chose MADAZ, as a play on the make of his classic car.He said: “I didn't want something rude or offensive, just something different, a way for people to recognise the car as being unique.”He said the plate had no reflection on his personality, although some workmates think he's a bit mad when it comes to his beloved car.Dental prosthetist Jayne Waterson has a blue Peugeot convertible bearing blue SMILES number plates.At first she was wary of getting custom plates but then decided they would be a good way to advertise her new denture clinic at Sorell. She said: “I'd seen a lot of cars driving around with custom plates and at first I thought how wanky.“But then I decided that, if people can afford to do it, then why shouldn't they?”“I did it purely for the business, to draw attention to the car, which is also signwritten.“I thought SMILES was appropriate, far more catchy than DENTURE.”“The next car I get will have to be blue to match the plates.“Everybody really loves them; they are a great talking point and have definitely been a good investment.” Would you spend over $900 for custom plates?