The motor industry and motor racing are often hand-in-hand — just look at the companies sponsoring major car events and filling corporate hospitality tents with staff.
Lake Hawea building company owner Andy Giles has a foot in each in camp. He runs his team of four builders doing ground-up and renovation projects in the Southern Lakes region.
During evenings and weekends he is in his man shed, with cars belonging to his mates and his dad, Ted, up on hoists getting them prepared for personal and local race driving.
Giles tried the South Island Endurance Series one-hour category for a while in a Toyota AE86, lately shifting focus to helping friends Barry Moore (Queenstown) and Tim Mackersey (Dunedin) with their class-winning Golf GTI TCR.
Formerly from Dunedin, where he worked in a fibreglass factory, Giles moved over to Wanaka to complete a building apprenticeship 12 years ago. The latter trade has become his business while his earlier skill set is comes in handy in the workshop as Giles ventures into producing composite parts for the VW race car.
‘‘I’ve always wanted to get into carbon fibre,’’ he said.
- Photo and story by Catherine Pattison
