The year was 2009. The month was October and the date was the 20th. The location was Judea, Tauranga. The venue was my bedroom. The vehicles entered were mine, I was also the photographer. I guess you could say this was my first car event. Where it started, the love for bringing people and cars together and capturing images of what unfolds.
I have been taking photos since an early age thanks to the influence of my dad and Opa with film cameras, an Export Gold re-useable film camera I recieved for Christmas was my first weapon of choice. Then I was lucky enough to have my first digital camera passed on to me from my Aunty and Uncle. Predominantly photos in the garden and family gatherings, I soon found the knack for photos of cars.
These are the first digital images I took at my own event, of my own cars. I can vaguely remember the Chevelle had a misfire, the 350z needed some bumper clips and the Mustang was towed to the shoot as it's motor was out (competition car of course) but they made it and I was there to capture every angle, as well as a 14 year old kid can on the desk in his bedroom anyway...
Fast forward to 2019, the month was October and the date was the 27th. Exactly 10 years and one week from my first event. The location was Tirau, Waikato. The venue was Okoroire Hot Springs Hotel. There were around 15 vehicles, mostly rotaries and a handful of people that came for a spin with a good feed.
Fifteen may not seem like a great turnout, but this event was organised in a matter of hours with complete strangers.
The day beforehand was spent at Hampton Downs along with the Downtime Entertainment family to help raise $7,000 for I AM HOPE by running Cruising For Hope. This event was massive for our team and myself especially. It sparked something inside me, combining my love for cars and people, I felt the need to gather as many people as I could, and it had to be the following day! Knowing none of the boys cars were on the road or even running I put the call out to Facebook and these bloody good kiwis turned up.
Mix in a few months of planning, working with the venue, creating content, posting to promote across social channels and networking with clubs. 16th December 2019 was my third event, but my first big attempt. This was a test to myself, make or break so to speak, more than anything to see what was possible. Thankfully the weather pulled through and we had a turnout of over 90 cars and upwards of 200 attendees.
In my books, I did it. 100 was an optimistic target but 90 is hardly anything to complain about. We had difficulties with service from the venue which slowed down the great food Okoroire had to offer but looking around all I could see were smiles. And beautiful cars. Me oh my was there a range of cars. People from Tauranga, Hamilton, Rotorua, Auckland, Tokoroa, Whakatane to name a few.
This is what it's all about. For me anyway. Don't get me wrong, I would've loved to add a charity element and made it profitable for me at the same time. Yeah, I could've clipped the ticket at the gate, charged people to enter, charged people to view, made it bigger and filled my pockets but I had to make sure I could pull it off first. I have a lot of ideas floating around for the next one and am always open to suggestions!
At the end of the day, what makes me happy is making others happy and if that's as simple as providing a date and time to enjoy your cars and catch up with like-minded people in a free, laid back, family and dog friendly environment, then roll on the next one!
Words: Liam Dijk Photos: Liam Dijk, Jordan Moon-Smith