Meet our Board


LEWIS LOW
CLUB PRESIDENT
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GRAEME CORNELIUS
CLUB VICE PRESIDENT
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PETER THORBY
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LINDSAY KERR
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BLAIR THORPE
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LEWIS LOW – CLUB PRESIDENT


Lewis has been President of the Board for over 4 years and supporting the Canterbury Car Club as a member for many years before that.

In his working background, Lewis was involved in the electrical and electronic security industries with various positions including General Manager, Sales Manager, Operations Manager, and Service Manager, with formal training as an Industrial Electrician at PDL Industries with Sir Robertson( Bob ) Stewart.

“I support Canterbury Car Club as I love the thrill of racing and want my friends and others to be able to experience the same sporting opportunity.”

GRAEME CORNELIUS – CLUB VICE PRESIDENT


Canterbury born and bred, Graeme and his wife Janice are Life Members of the Canterbury Car Club.

Graeme has a background in civil and structural engineering, project management and quality assurance, and has a related consulting company.

Graeme joined The Canterbury Car Club in 1972, volunteering as a timekeeper and has since held every executive position, from Deputy Club Captain to President for eight years. Over this period, Graeme helped grow the club membership, upgrade the facilities at Ruapuna and financed and built the 1.6km extension to the circuit.

Graeme also served two years as a MSNZ Executive.

“I have always been interested in cars and planes. I’m into motorsport of course, DIY, gardening, travel (when I can afford it), walking and keeping up with scientific developments. I try to keep myself fit.”

“I love that The Canterbury Car Club has always been unique among New Zealand Car clubs. I have thoroughly enjoyed working to maintain this difference while helping set it on a modern business footing.”

PETER THORBY


Peter is a chartered accountant and has been the club’s accountant since 1995.

“I have seen my role for the club as one of financial custodianship. Our club cannot serve our members if we run out of money! So, to keep our club operating, looking after the money is important.”

Although Peter does not have a race car now, he has previously owned a BMW2002ti and subsequently a 1985 BMW Group A 323i.

“I had a lot of fun in these cars and loved participating in the HTC environment, but times moved on, and now I love playing music in my brass bands and doing the financial custodianship for the club.”

LINDSAY KERR


Lindsay has been a professional sports writer since the early 1980’s, initially as the motorsport reporter for the Christchurch Star when it was a daily paper. Lindsay continues to write for motorsport magazines, along with a local newspaper on rugby and cricket, and since 2011 he has been a judge for the North Canterbury sports awards.

In 2019, Linsday was awarded the QSM (for a 50 year contribution to sport in Canterbury) along with an award from the NZ Sports Journalists Association for contribution to heartland sport. Prior to that, he was awarded a New Zealander of the Year – Local Hero Medal for contribution to sport in Canterbury and received a service award from the Waimakariri District Council.

Lindsay is well known among the Canterbury Car Club (CCC) community for his role as track commentator for all CCC race meetings at Ruapuna, a task that commenced in 2010.

Outside of Motorsport, Lindsay spent 54 years in the general insurance industry, including a nine year stint on the Board of the Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand. He became a Justice of the Peace in 2023 and continues to involve himself with cricket where he is currently president of the Canterbury Country Cricket Association.

BLAIR THORPE


Blair is a registered electrician by trade, and has specialised in Coffee Machines for the last 17 years.

Together with his wife Vanessa, they own and operate Christchurch Trackdays, building a strong community with thousands of people getting their cars on the race track over the last 12 years and many of them going on to become CCC members and regular competitors.

Blair joined Canterbury Car Club around 2010 when he discovered he could do silly things in cars legally and started competing in Motorkhana, Autocross and Circuit Sprints. Around 2015 he got involved with Race meetings as a CRO and was hooked. Blair gets just as much enjoyment from the volunteer side as he did from competing.

Over the last 10 years Blair has worked his way up to other roles, including Gold Clerk of Course, Steward, Scrutineer and MSNZ Licence Examiner.

Blair has served on the Motorsport NZ Race Advisory Commission for the past 4 years and was invited to join the summer championship race management team 3 years ago and was most recently the Race Director for NZ Formula Ford.

“I believe we have a fantastic club. Through my time in the club I have met so many great people, made friends for life and developed a bunch of skills. I feel really privileged to play a small part in the storied history of Canterbury Car Club, and I’m part of the board because I’m passionate about giving back to a club and sport that has given me so much.”