Full Throttle

There is an interesting, and disturbing for obvious reasons, story in Saturday’s New Zeland Herald.

Investigators are trying to track down a gang of thieves that have been targeting race teams in the last few months. At this point the reason for the thefts are unknown. Speculation centers on cars and parts are being stolen to fill specific orders for them and the possibility the cars and parts are being used to fuel the market for after market speed equipment for street machines.

Whatever the cause authorities are hot on their trail. Below is a list of some of the items stolen during the heists.

August: Oxton go-kart racing team. Go-karts, parts and wheels worth $40,000 taken; $70,000 Harley Davidson touring bike taken from locked cage in downtown Auckland apartment. Bike recovered; 14 off-road quad-bikes and truck taken from Avondale importer. Truck dumped, bikes still missing.

June: Haldane’s motorcycles. Seven bikes loaded on to a truck. Electric fence with trip-wire disabled to keep alarm from going off.

May: Toyota racing. Private go-kart collection and transporter stolen; Rob Steele racing. Porsche GT3 worth $140,000 loaded on to covered truck after ramraid. Dumped and recovered.

April: Ian Spurle. Holden V8 worth $280,000. Vehicle believed to have been “chopped”; Simon Richards. $8000 worth of tools for Ford V8 taken after steel grill removed.

January: Tracer motorsport. Tools. and parts belonging to V8 team stolen.

Read the rest at the link provided.