Cranking with gas - or pedal power

The lure of speed got the best out of a car-mad Kiwi in England and an Auckland couple who work from the garage, writes SUZANNE McFADDEN.

In the high-geared world of motor-racing, Dick Bennetts is known as "the guru".

The boy from Dunedin, who started tinkering with Ford Anglias at the age of 12, now runs one of the world's top racing teams out of England.

He has arguably groomed more Formula One stars than any other race team in Europe over the past 20 years.

Mika Hakkinen, Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello and the late Ayrton Senna were all nurtured in Bennetts' West Surrey Racing team stable.

But Bennetts, aged 54, has never forgotten where he comes from - and he makes sure everyone knows.

"I still drop it into every conversation that I'm a Kiwi.

"I always have six to eight Kiwis working with me - to keep my accent up.

"And whenever we have a victory party, I always serve Kiwi wines."

Bennetts is one of thousands of New Zealanders who have taken their sporting talents overseas where the action is.

The mechanic-turned-team owner would like to return home one day, but the heart of motor racing lies in Europe.

He has spent almost 30 years on the world motor racing circuit, running the most successful Formula 3 team in history before moving to the British Touring Car championship.

But when he first went to Britain in 1972, he never intended to stay.

"What started off as a few weeks working holiday turned into 29 years!" he laughs.

He had grown up in Dunedin with a passion for fast cars, and began learning about the mechanics of a racing car from the age of 12.

He was working in Auckland as a mechanical engineer when he was invited to travel to England with New Zealand Formula Ford champion David Oxton, to help prepare his car for a world cup championship.

Oxton returned home but Bennetts stayed on in the motor racing capital of the world, scoring jobs with American racing teams.

He started work with Ron Dennis (now F1 McLaren supremo), but when Dennis decided to start a Formula One team, Bennetts did not follow.

"Formula One teams have 300 people working for them, and you just become a number," he says. "I wanted to work with 20 or 25 people, or else you lose close contact with the racing."

So WSR, with Bennetts as managing director, started a Formula 3 team in 1981.

Over 15 years, WSR won five Formula 3 championships - and were second or third six times.

Thirteen of the team's drivers went on to success in Formula One. Two-time Formula One world champion Mika Hakkinen credited his time with Bennetts to some of his racing success.

"I learned a lot racing with WSR. I know the things I learned from Dick Bennetts and his team will help me in the future," he said after winning the British Formula 3 championship under Bennetts' wing.

In 1996, Bennetts and his team changed direction. "Having mastered Formula 3, we needed a new challenge," he says.

Determined to avoid the political world of Formula One, he ventured instead into the British Touring Car scene - convinced by New Zealand driver Paul Radisich.

This season WSR will team with MG.

The team, heavily involved in race car research and development, have just moved into flash new premises in Sunbury on Thames. They have a distinctly New Zealand look about them.

Bennetts' business partner is former New Zealand accountant Mike Ewing, and New Zealanders work as mechanics, in electronics and in accounts. And some Kiwis have done the driving.

"New Zealanders have such a great reputation here. It comes from their upbringing," Bennetts says.

"When you work on cars in New Zealand, on the road or the racetrack, you have to do a lot of the work yourself.

"In Britain, they just pop down to the shop and get the parts - they don't have that Kiwi ingenuity."

The hard-working reputation of New Zealand sportspeople has made them valuable commodities around the globe.

Our rugby players, cricketers and netballers become international coaches, such as John Wright in India or Wai Taumaunu in England.

Scores of our top horse riders live in Europe to train other people's horses - Olympic showjumper Bruce Goodin runs his business from Belgium.

And our sailors and boat designers are hired by billionaires across the world.

But many have resisted the pull of the Northern Hemisphere and operate successful international sporting ventures from home.

By day, Lydia and Gavin MacLennan work at their regular jobs in Auckland - she as a receptionist, he as a paramedic.

By night they work on the family's successful global business - designing, building and exporting revolutionary cycling pedals.

Lydia MacLennan's father, John Winkie, started the business in the early 1980s, after he designed the world's first twist-out clipless pedal.

Since then, giant cycling pedal makers have copied his idea, but the Keywin originals are still sought after.

About 70 per cent of their pedals are sold in Italy.

All the pedal parts are made locally, and assembled in the MacLennans' garage at their Manurewa home.

"We have constantly got people overseas calling to distribute our pedals," says 28-year-old Lydia MacLennan.

"It was initially through people we knew - Kiwi cyclists who were going overseas took our pedals with them.

"New Zealand is a bit different, and people like that. A lot of New Zealanders who ride with our pedals can't believe they are made here."

But there are drawbacks to being a small company on the other side of the cycling world.

"We don't have the dollars to sponsor the world's top riders, and it's hard for us back in New Zealand trying to advertise," says Lydia MacLennan.

"The best way to get our product out there is when our Kiwi riders go overseas and ride with our pedals."

You will see Keywin pedals under the feet of top New Zealand cyclists Sarah Ulmer, Graeme Miller and world junior champion Jeremy Yates, ironman Bryan Rhodes and even Australian world triathlon champion Nicole Hackett.

The clipless pedal originated when John Winkie, a keen cyclist, was out on a Sunday bunch ride and one of his friends almost came to grief with an approaching car when his foot got trapped in an old-fashioned strap-on pedal.

"Dad figured there must be a better, safer way, and he came up with the prototype.

"Since then, our pedals have got lighter and smaller. I'm really proud of Dad, and I'm really proud that we have a family business here in New Zealand that's doing so well in the world."