RallySport Magazine August 2016

oad. After heavy rain, just keeping the
hire car on the road was a challenge - I
could only imagine what it must have
been like at speed.
Eventually, we reached the midstage
water splash where we were
eagerly awaiting the second running
of the stage, only for it to be cancelled
because the road conditions had
deteriorated so much since the
morning’s running of the Motu.
My own efforts in the hire car had, it
seemed, been almost as impressive as
those of Ari and Colin - at least in my
mind …..”
Ari Vatanen battled
power steering failure
in his Ford Escort
Cosworth through the
Motu in 1994.
John Kennard (co-driver to Hayden Paddon)
“I think my abiding memory of any
time I competed on it was that it
seemed, no matter what car you were
in, you never seemed to have the right
gear ratios in it!
I remember Malcolm Stewart cursing
almost all the way up it in the Group
A Audi Quattro in the pouring rain in
the 1988 Rally NZ, as each time he
managed to grab a higher gear and gain
a fraction of speed, it ran out of revs
and he had to bang it back down for the
next demented twist in the road, which
seemed to go on forever.
Probably the funniest story though,
came while checking the 1990 Silver
Fern route pre rally with Brent
Rawstron, when a large hare ran almost
4km down the road in front of us, able
to stay ahead because the tightness of
the twists and turns. He was far better
suited to getting down it quickly than
we were, even having time to stop and
grab a breath occasionally, until we
caught up!”
Ed Ordynski
“Coming from South Australia, where
the roads are generally flat and high
speed, it’s hard to imagine a more
fearsome and extreme stage than
Motu. It was difficult even on recce!
Motu has every element that a
true rally competitor craves. It’s an
enormous challenge, a feat just to make
it through unscathed. It was daunting
and a huge test of mental toughness
for both driver and co-driver. I doubt
if anyone could ever say they’ve had a
clean run through Motu.
In Group N cars, which thrived on
fast, flowing roads, and required a
smooth, raceline, driving style, Motu’s
relentless, tight corners and changes of
surface meant you just had to take one
corner at a time and hope you got most
of it right. If you fooled yourself for a
moment you’d got into a good rhythm,
something unseen would tip you the
wrong way for the next corner.
The other big issue with Motu was
that Whakarau, a fast open stage,
followed it with little liaison time
between. I always planned to try for a
good time on Motu (even as I write this
I realise what a ridiculous statement
that is), but keep the car nice for a
blistering run on Whakarau (even more
ridiculous). I think I only managed that
once!
I did try to keep momentum up in a
Group N car, using as much of the road
as possible, letting it slide out to the
edges and so on. Since retiring from
rallying I’ve taken a road car over Motu
and stopped to look at things closely
where we used to push the limits. I
would advise anyone still competing,
AUGUST 2016 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 37