Alekandra Drogin 2022
The car, correctly known as the ‘Heron GT Mk4’, has an all-fibreglass body over a steel monocoque chassis, powered by 5.4-litre (327 cubic inch) Chevy V8. As there were no suitable transaxles at the time, Ross Baker along with the help from Bob Gee, designed his own and got it cast. In those dauys it was easier to obtain ‘make it go faster’ Chevy competition components than transaxles. The car was inspired by, but not a replica of the Mk4 GT40 that won Le Manns and was built on a much smaller budget.

Finished in 1986 and driven only twice in anger as the rules had changed, making the car no longer eligible for New Zealand racing events. Once by Ross at the Whenuapai Wings and Wheels historic race meeting and a couple of years later by his daughter, Marny, at Pukekohe. Apart from those two events, the GT probably did more miles being pushed in and out of his workshop than it ever did on the track.

The car was sold in 1990, to David Manton of Tauranga. When David sold up and moved away, Ross lost track of the car. At some stage, it travelled to Europe via the USA where it was seized by Customs and kept for at least three years. In Europe, it was registered illegally, by a previous owner as an actual Ford GT40 with all reference to it being a Heron GT Mk4 and built in New Zealand, removed.

Alekandra Drogin of Latvia the current owner of the car had a bad accident in the GT, so he took the opportunity to give it a full restoration, His mechanic Andris Stals, tracked down Ross in 2016. Ross was able to help him out by obtaining some parts for him and telling him where some of the other parts had originated from.

Ross Baker was invited to watch the car race at Le Mans. It went very well in practice, but, due to the rules it was racing under, it was only allowed narrow tyres, which was a great disadvantage, when compared with later model cars using slicks ― while the GT was very quick down the straights, the cars with slicks were much faster in the corners.

Alek has decided to sell the car because it is restricted competitively due to the types of tyres permitted in it’s class.