The 4 Stroke Engine Club

Natasha from Ashhurst - Pohangina

The 4 Stroke Engine Club started in 2016 as an alternative form of rehabilitation for younger stroke survivors. They meet in a garage at Manfield Raceway in Feilding twice a week to dismantle impounded cars which are then modified and used for stock car racing at the Robertson Holden International Speedway.

The club was established by Dr Sara Joice a Massey University health psychologist and a client who had survived a stroke at the age of 52 with a mad keen interest in cars and motor racing. He found that the only rehabilitation available to him at that time was in a traditional, clinical rehabilitation setting designed primarily for much older patients. It was boring and he found it difficult to develop the motivation to continue attending. He was also struggling with depression.

He’s now been attending the 4 Stroke Engine Club twice weekly for the past 2 years and has found enormous therapeutic benefit through the structured, fun, sociable activity that has meaning to him and is useful to others. He loves the sense of community it provides and feels that once again he has something to look forward to and a purpose in life.

Many of those who attend the club have found that it helps in overcoming their disabilities such as loss of muscle control, co-ordination, speech impairment and memory loss but it’s the psychological affects like loss of confidence, self-esteem and social contact that the club assists with most.

Dr Sara Joice say’s “It’s about having meaningful activity to engage the brain - it might look messy, but dismantling a car involves problem solving and deductive reasoning. What’s helpful too is that they are accepting of each other and tolerant of the challenges each is facing in their recovery – because stroke affects everybody differently.”

The 4 Stroke Engine Club is not just for people who have had a stroke. We also have members (men and women) who have disabilities and impairments caused by different types of brain injury, heart conditions and diabetes. Everyone is welcome to come along. You don’t need to be a car fanatic or have any prior knowledge of cars - just an interest in knowing more and having a go.

The 4 Stroke Engine Club is run solely by volunteers and currently has no funding. In order to move forward with the development of the club we would love the support of an AMI grant. We would use it to purchase tools (we currently have one borrowed set) so that we can have more people working at once and other items such as creepers, jacks and axle stands – which are useful in any workshop but particularly helpful for those with disabilities and limitations.

We would also like to be able to further promote the 4 Stroke Engine Club by being able to provide flyers and written information to the public as well as other forms of advertising and promotion such as newspaper/magazine ads, community stalls etc.

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