{"id":340710,"date":"2026-03-21T12:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/340710\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T12:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:05:09","slug":"auckland-subaru-22b-race-car-destroyed-in-ponsonby-automotive-fire-amid-fenz-engine-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/340710\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland Subaru 22B race car destroyed in Ponsonby Automotive fire amid FENZ engine failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe built it probably 15 years ago \u2026 and put in hundreds and hundreds of hours, by a team of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe charred remains of the Subaru 22B after Thursday’s fire. <\/p>\n

The owner\u2019s son was the main user of the car, racing it in the Sport and GT series at Pukekohe Park Raceway.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s overseas at the moment, but he\u2019s pretty disappointed as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The owner didn\u2019t know what caused the fire<\/a>, but felt for firefighters over equipment failures he believed may have doomed the Subaru 22B.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe fire was next to a Z Energy petrol station and prompted a large response from Fire and Emergency. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine if it was a house fire. It could be the case of life or death, or injury. I sympathise with firefighters \u2013 their equipment needs maintenance.<\/p>\n

\u201c[And] if the fire engine hadn\u2019t broken down and they were able to extinguish the fire earlier, I may have ended up with half a car that I could still work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Subaru 22B, pictured before it was destroyed in Thursday’s fire at Ponsonby Automotive. <\/p>\n

Firefighters were forced to wait for a second engine to arrive at the fire after a pump<\/a> providing pressure to the fire hoses failed, New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union Auckland local president Terry Bird said.<\/p>\n

Fire and Emergency\u2019s \u201cageing\u201d fleet of fire engines were breaking down \u201call the time\u201d, Bird said.<\/p>\n

\"FaultyFaulty equipment caused delays in fighting a fire at Ponsonby Automotive on Thursday, the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union says. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said mechanics hadn\u2019t found anything wrong with the vehicle and it was \u201cpossible that it\u2019s an intermittent fault\u201d.<\/p>\n

Equipment broke \u201cfrom time to time \u2026 [but is] well-maintained, safe, certified and legally compliant\u201d.<\/p>\n

The affected vehicle was out of service while the issue was being investigated, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe cause of the fire is still being investigated, Fire and Emergency say. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n

Fire and Emergency and the union have been in negotiations<\/a> for more than 600 days over issues including claims its fleet is not fit for purpose, with industrial action now involving one-hour stoppages twice a week.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the cause of Thursday\u2019s fire was still being investigated, a Fire and Emergency spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there are no suspicious circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe built it probably 15 years ago \u2026 and put in hundreds and hundreds of hours, by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23562,13307,534,51,13069,27245,3944,1853,14167,32878,42343,95164,1644,2079,45565,5275,78,2225,52232,111,43,139,69,2738,26890,6046,7798,312,17618,32561],"class_list":["post-340710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-23562","tag-22b","tag-amid","tag-auckland","tag-automotive","tag-beyond","tag-car","tag-central","tag-destroyed","tag-engine","tag-failure","tag-fenz","tag-financial","tag-fire","tag-garage","tag-goes","tag-in","tag-loss","tag-mechanics","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-owner","tag-ponsonby","tag-potential","tag-race","tag-says","tag-subaru","tag-value"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}