RallySport Magazine September 2016

FEATURE: ARI PETTIGREW
EXCEPTIONAL ARI
Ari Pettigrew has shown
speed and consistency way
beyond his years.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Story:
ROSS TEESDALE
If rallying had talent scouts they
would surely be making their way
to sign up 17-year old Ari Pettigrew
from Rangiora near Christchurch, in
New Zealand’s South Island.
Ari arrived at his first ever event late
last year, a gravel sprint at Mt Thomas
Forest, and he immediately upset the
established order by placing second
in 2WD, beating home many fast and
vastly experienced drivers on the tricky
forest course.
Recently he proved his exceptional
talent at the Catlins Rally. Seeded 64 th in
the 85 car field, he finished an amazing
fourth outright. And he continues to
beat home many fancied cars and
drivers every time he competes, despite
being a fresh rookie in the sport.
Ari Pettigrew has so far competed in
just four gravel sprints and two rallies,
but his talent has already been noticed
by many long-time rally people. Ari’s
potential to go to the top is obvious to
those that know what it takes.
35-year rally veteran and highly
respected driver, Jeff Judd, said: “Ari is
an awesome talent, he’s a young man
going places”.
Derek Ayson, a three-time winner
of the Otago Classic Rally and another
legend of the sport in New Zealand,
added: “Ari has an outstanding natural
talent, his drive at Catlins showed great
maturity in treacherous conditions. I
hope he doesn’t get an Escort”.
To add to his burgeoning reputation,
Ari is doing this in a less than
spectacular car – a 1996 E36 BMW 318
58 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2016
compact. The car is not bad, but not
great.
It gets good power from its engine
head worked over by Peter Kennard
of Kennelly Cams. Kennard has ported
and flowed the head and added big
valves and Kennelly Cams, and it runs
high compression pistons.
The car has some Bilstein shocks,
better brakes and a 5 to 1 ratio slippery
diff, but uses a standard gearbox,
making for big gaps between gears,
which is far from ideal.
Ari has so far followed a similar path
to Kiwi rally ace Hayden Paddon, having
competed in grass karts from an early
age. Also like Paddon, Ari then stepped
up to driving cars in grass autocrosses
while he waited to be 16 years old and
was able to get a driver’s license.
The plan from here is to move to
front-wheel drive, which will give him
the experience he needs to step up.
Ari is not from a privileged
background. His father, Dave, has
worked hard to put together the BMW,
that was purchased for just $3000 as
a road car. The grass kart was lent to
him by family friend and mentor, Tom
Penrose, when Tom’s
own boys had grown
out of it.
Tom and Dave have
both been involved in
rallying for decades
and can provide the
technical help Ari needs,
and there are other
local people in the sport
who can help guide his
career. In the coming
two or three years Ari
needs
to gain as much experience
as possible, which can be achieved
quite cheaply in New Zealand. Then he
needs to get overseas, which will be
expensive.
Those that know the sport can
already see that Ari Pettigrew can be
the next rally star from Australasia.
Given three more years to get 30 or so
rallies behind him, Ari could be making
his mark in the Junior World Rally
Championship in 2020 - and he would
have just turned 21.
If you’d like to be involved in Ari’s
rallying career moving forward, contact
Ross Teesdale at h