AA TORQUE SHOW – Monday 16 April at 9.30pm on PRIME
A rundown on the men…
DANNY MULHERON is your everyman. Well, maybe not quite the everyman who lives next door to you – the only real job Danny’s ever had was when he worked in a post office for six months. It was so long ago, he can’t remember what year it was. Ever since that mystery year though, he’s been doing things that don’t really count as work – acting, writing and directing film, TV and theatre. Regardless, Danny cuts through marketing guff and car snobbery, proudly batting for the real car-buying public.
Although Danny often tries to play down his motoring credentials, you don’t have to delve very deeply into his past to realise that deep down, Danny is probably a ‘bogan’. His most loved car was a 1964 Mark I Cortina that he restored and owned for 12 years.
Unsurprisingly, Danny says he has a romantic, rather than practical idea about cars. Some of his favourite car memories include renting a Pontiac in Los Angeles with Peter Jackson when he was making ‘Meet the Feeble’s, and driving along Sunset Boulevard at sunset in a Mustang convertible – enjoying himself in cars that were dumb but yet somehow cool, too.
AARON SLIGHT is a World Superbike legend. He raced fulltime in the World Championships from 1992 to 2000. In that time, he came third in the championship four times, and second twice. He is the only rider in the world to have won the Suzuka 8 hour race three times in a row. His racing career took him from small-town Masterton all the way to the glamour of Monaco, where he lived for six years.
Aaron retired from professional Superbike racing in 2000 after suffering a stroke. However, he went on to race in the British Touring Car Championship and Porsche Carrera Cup series in the UK. One hangover from his racing career is that most of Aaron’s hobbies revolve around keeping fit – a Superbike rider’s heart rate ranges from 175-190 beats per minute for the entire duration of a race, without any breaks, so even though he’s 41, Aaron can probably outrun most large predatory cats. Luckily, Aaron reckons that exercise can take all forms. “I used to make excuses that jet skiing was exercise, when I was racing.”
In explaining his transition from bikes to cars, Aaron says, “I always wanted to race cars, but I found myself racing motorbikes … as a kid, before I even knew about motorbikes, I used to race little matchbox cars.”
You’d be mistaken to think of Aaron as a one-dimensional, tire-smoking man racer though. “I look at the cars at a very different angle to Danny and Roger, but believe or not I’m very practical, so I like to see things work or not work … for example, a grand tourer with a paddle gearbox is not very practical for me.”
He also made sure his most recent car purchase had a chilled glove box and enough room for a pram in the back.
ROGER WALKER is AA TORQUE SHOW’s resident geriatric. We’re not actually sure how old he is, but he has admitted to owning a Model A Ford as a university student. He’s also an award-winning architect with a penchant for lots of things that start with ‘w’. Like wine. And wheels. Roger has designed a number of notable buildings over the course of his career, including the Novotel in Queenstown, and Park Mews, one of Wellington’s most recognisable houses. His designs are often quite recognisable, commonly for their prominent round windows. Although he offers quite strong intellectual reasoning for this (“it’s an element that’s missing in architecture” … “it’s more natural for the human eye to look at a circle” … “I got the idea after attending Expo ’70”), the AA TORQUE SHOW team suspect it has something to do with the fact Roger is a petrol head.
He says his interest in design led to his interest in car design, and therefore cars, and is quick to point out that the Citroen 2CV was designed by an architect. Roger has owned around 50 cars in his lifetime, and currently has a collection of five. He reckons that people should have a collection of cars in the garage, like how they have a collection of clothes in their wardrobe, but personally has a penchant for lighter, faster, and cleverly designed cars.
Get your motor running with the AA TORQUE SHOW
Monday 16 April at 9.30pm only on PRIME.
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