Gold Star hill-climbs and sprints · Marlborough to Otago · 1974-1977The Hatton formula
Why it worked
- Five years in a Mini first. Lyn learned his craft in a Mini Cooper S at Ruapuna from 1970 and in hill-climbs from 1974, finishing 2nd in the 1974-75 South Island series before the Mini Sprint was built.
- Light and nimble. The Mini Sprint's low weight and short wheelbase gave it rotation and traction on broken surfaces, which took the sting out of the extra power in heavier saloons and V8s.
- Reading the road. Report after report mentions loose, tricky or freshly resealed surfaces. Lyn's times came from tidy lines that stayed off the banks while others spun, clipped the edges or backed out.
- Championship craft. Early-season wins, a second place taken when that was enough, and his best on the big days: the inter-island final in 1976 and the South Island rounds in 1977.
- A well-run privateer. Sponsor colours from Middle Park Motels and Kinross Motors, and a car described as "in tiptop condition".
★ National champion
1976 New Zealand Gold Star Hillclimb Champion
MotorSport New Zealand's official roll of honour lists the 1976 NZ Gold Star Hillclimb Champion as Lynn Hatton, Mini. He won it in the Mini Sprint, taking the inter-island final at Gebbies Pass on 24 April 1976 by four seconds after winning five South Island rounds.
The company he keeps on that list says how unusual it was: Steve Boreham's Cooper-BSA four years running, Jon Warring's McLaren, Kevin Ingram's Terrapin (1975 and 1977), then Begg, Chevron and Matich single-seaters. Lyn's Mini is the only saloon-based champion between 1970 and 1981. Two more names from his story appear later: his Marlborough rival Russell Greer (1981, Matich-Chevrolet) and Reg Cook (1983, Datsun Sunny), whose 160J Lyn later raced.
One of the few. Since the championship began in 1957, only 46 drivers have won it, across 69 seasons to 2025. In the years it was the Gold Star hill-climb title, 1957 to 1994, there were just 24, and Lyn is the only one in that time to win it in a Mini. (From 1995 the Gold Star passed to the overall ClubSport Championship; the hill-climb title regained Gold Star status in 2014.) Counted from the MotorSport New Zealand roll of honour
This is the Gold Star Lyn received: a small gold star pin, its centre engraved "MANZ 1976". MANZ, the Motor Sport Association of New Zealand, ran the championship and is today's MotorSport New Zealand.
And the trophy: a gold wreath around an early racing car, a gold star on the timber, and two plates: "1975-76 · L. Hatton" and "N.Z. National Gold Star Hill Climb Champion". The season on the plate confirms the title as the 1975-76 championship, decided at Gebbies Pass in April 1976.
▶ Play the 1975-76 season, round by round
Source: MotorSport New Zealand, NZ Gold Star Hillclimb Championship roll of honour
Course records, April 1977
| Venue | Surface | Record runs reported |
|---|---|---|
| Redwood Pass, Blenheim | Gravel, 1.12 km | 61.6, a record (Oct 1975) · 62.95 (Oct 1976) |
| Reefton, Garveys Creek | Gravel, 2.8 km | 147.18 aggregate, a record (Feb 1976) |
| Balclutha (Kaitangata) | Gravel | 55.29, broke a 5-year-old 60 s record (Feb 1976) |
| Craigmore, Timaru | Shingle, 0.7 mile | 55.95, broke Leo Leonard's 56.0 (Apr 1977) |
Sources: Marlborough Express, 28 October 1975, 1 March 1976 and 4 April 1977; report of 23 February 1976. Reefton was timed as an aggregate of runs.
The rivals
The fields mixed every kind of car, which is what makes the Mini Sprint's record stand out: Mini agility against V8 grunt, saloon stability against single-seater bite.
- John Rush (Oamaru): 1974-75 South Island champion in a Mini de Joux, then a Toyota Corolla; 2nd at Gebbies Pass in 1976, runner-up on points in 1976-77 and the closest of all at Ngapara.
- Russell Greer (Renwick): the 5.3-litre Stanton Corvette, a fellow Marlburian through the whole period, who beat Lyn with a record at Ngapara in 1975.
- Peter Leversedge (Christchurch): V8 Chev Sprinter; beat Lyn's Cooper S by 0.02 s at Rosedale in 1974.
- Brian Fitzgerald (Twizel): Mini; third in the 1976-77 South Island points.
- Kevin Ingram (Feilding): Terrapin; New Zealand Gold Star champion in 1975 and 1977, runner-up to Lyn at Gebbies Pass in 1976.
- Alan Hewlett (Escort 2000) and Darryl Seymour (Terrapin) also appear among the finalists.
Know more about Lyn?
We'd love to fill in what the clippings don't say: who built and prepared the cars, what happened after 1977, the year of the Mahakipawa win, and photos of the Terrapin at any of these climbs.