It has to involve a great story, be educational and be inspirational. The day Sergeant Dean Hart, an airforce technician, introduced himself with the words: “I’m building a jet car by putting a jet engine in an old top-fuelled drag car. I want to crack the New Zealand land speed record” – he knew he had found one.
He picked up his camera and, six years later, Trash 2 Dash was in the can. The film picks up the project a few years in, in 2014, when Dean is part way through the build – a mission accomplished on a tight budget. Most of the componentry was recycled: the engine was from an old RNZAF Strikemaster aircraft and it was attached to a secondhand race car. Not even Dean’s fireproof jumpsuit and underwear were new. 
Wayne documents the end of the build, the car being fired up for the first time; being test driven and then put through its paces at record-breaking speeds at Ohakēā airforce base.
“I knew it was a great story but I didn’t know the outcome. That’s the nature of documentary making,” says Wayne, who made it the ‘old-school way,’ with one camera and ‘zero budget.’
The documentary was released in selected cinemas nationwide in early March. For details, see the Trash2Dash Facebook page.
Reported for our AA Directions Autumn 2021 issue
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