RallySport Magazine April 2017

Issue #11 - April 2017 

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EVERY 

MONTH 

OTAGO CLASSIC 

EUREKA RALLY 

OTAGO RALLY 

rallysportmag.com.au 

APRIL 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 1

EDITORIAL 

THE POWER OF THE STAR DRIVER 

By PETER WHITTEN 

Frank Kelly admits that he's an 

overnight sensation 25 years in 

the making! 

Had it not been for a video made by 

his daughter for a school project, the 

likeable Irishman and his purposely 

driven Escort, nicknamed "Baby Blue”, 

may never have received the worldwide 

recognition that they now enjoy. 

Back in October 2016, RallySport 

Magazine made contact with Kelly, and 

the two-part interview in the November 

and December issues of the magazine 

were soon followed by an invitation 

from Otago Rally organisers to head to 

New Zealand for the April event. 

At first Kelly and his wife, Rosemarie, 

thought the invitation was a 

joke, but before they knew it, 

'Baby Blue' was prepped and 

put in a shipping container 

headed for the land of the 

long white cloud. 

While he doesn't have 

the credentials of some of 

the Otago Rally's other big 

name drivers like Mikkola, 

Waldegard, Vatanen or 

Mouton, the popularity of 

Frank Kelly proves that the 

internet can do wonderful 

things for a driver's notoriety. 

Approachable, funny, and 

more than willing to sit and have a 

chat, Kelly was even more of a hit at 

the event than Otago Rally organisers 

could ever have imagined. In fact his 

popularity and 

Frank Kelly was a hit in New 

Zealand. (Photo: Pete Johnson) 

fan-pulling 

power was, 

arguably, even 

greater than Ken 

Block's when he 

competed in the 

event in 2015. 

While the visit 

to the South 

Island was a 

career highlight 

for Kelly, it was 

perhaps even 

Don’t miss an issue of RallySport Magazine .... 

more of a win for the Otago Rally. 

The rally has a long history of 

attracting famous competitors for the 

Classic Rally that runs in conjunction 

with the NZ championship round, and 

organisers have been more than willing 

to spend good money to attract star 

drivers in top quality cars. 

And while it’s easy to say that money 

can achieve such results, the event’s 

ongoing sponsorship and funding 

from the Dunedin City Council is clear 

proof that spending money can help 

make you money, and help to further 

establish your event for years to come. 

Every year the Otago Rally’s star 

driver impresses and makes their own 

unique impact on the event. Frank Kelly 

was no exception. 

Click HERE to read them all 

2 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - APRIL 2017

CONTENTS - #11 APRIL 2017 

FEATURES EVENT REPORTS REGULARS 

FOLLOW 

US ON: 

08 FORCE MOTORSPORT 

WE GO INSIDE THE HOME OF AP4 

RALLY CARS IN NEW ZEALAND 

26 FROM THE BACK SEAT 

TOM SMITH SPENDS THE WEEKEND 

AT THE OTAGO RALLY 

48 NZ'S FIRST LADY 

FLEUR PEDERSEN IS ONE OF NZ 

RALLYING'S MOST TRAVELLED 

54 HANNU MIKKOLA INTERVIEW 

THE 1983 WORLD CHAMPION HAD A 

LONG AND ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER 

66 THE MAGIC OF FRENCH RALLYING 

MEMORIES OF THE TOUR DE CORSE 

14 EUREKA RALLY 

HARRY BATES TOOK FIRST BLOOD IN 

THE 2017 ARC 

20 OTAGO RALLY 

OUR COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE 

OF NZ'S CLASSIC RALLY, AND THE 

FIRST NZRC ROUND OF 2017 

38 RALLY OF MEXICO 

KRIS MEEKE FOUND THE CITROEN'S 

SWEET SPOT IN SOUTH AMERICA 

44 TOUR DE CORSE 

FINALLY, THIERRY NEUVILLE TOOK 

HIS FIRST WIN OF THE WRC SEASON 

02 EDITORIAL 

04 LATEST RALLY NEWS 

NEWS FROM AROUND THE SPORT 

06 MOLLY TAYLOR COLUMN 

THE 2017 AUSSIE CHAMPION WRITES 

EXCLUSIVELY FOR RSM 

36 FIVE MINUTES WITH ... 

OTAGO RALLY STALWART AND RALLY 

MANAGER, NORMAN OAKLEY 

74 PHOTO OF THE MONTH 

WHERE ELSE, BUT NEW ZEALAND? 

72 TURBOGATE 

BACK IN THE '90S, TOYOTA LEFT THE 

WRC IN DISGRACE 

COVER PHOTOS: 

PETER WHITTEN (OTAGO),TOYOTA (ARC) 

Sign up for our 

FREE weekly news 

updates - click HERE 

The passion for rallying .... 

MANAGING EDITOR 

PETER WHITTEN 

peter@rallysportmag.com.au 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Martin Holmes, Blair Bartels, Geoff 

Ridder, Jeff Whitten, Molly Taylor, Craig 

O'Brien, Fleur Pedersen 

SENIOR WRITER 

TOM SMITH 

tom@rallysportmag.com.au 

PUBLISHED BY: 

Peter Whitten 

RallySport Magazine 


www.rallysportmag.com.au 

ADVERTISING 

PETER WHITTEN 


COPYRIGHT: 

No material, artwork or photos may be reproduced in 

whole or in part without the written permission of the 

publishers. RallySport Magazine takes care in compiling 

specifications, prices and details but cannot accept 

responsibility for any errors. The opinions expressed by 

columnists and contributors to this magazine are not 

necessarily those of RallySport Magazine. 


NEWS@RALLYSPORTMAG.COM.AU 

Turner's new AP4 Audi. 

AP4 AUDI QUATTRO 

BOOSTS NZRC FIELD 

The New Zealand Rally Championship has received a 

further boost, with news that Dylan Turner will debut 

a new Audi Quattro S1 at the International Rally of 

Whangarei. 

Dylan Turner's new Audi Quattro S1 AP4 looks the goods. 

Built to AP4 regulations by Choice Performance in Pukekohe, 

the Audi joins AP4 cars from Holden, Toyota, Mazda, 

Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Skoda in this year’s NZRC. 

"I've always admired the Audi -- the Quattro was kind of 

a cult car when it comes to rally. Audi is obviously a name 

synonymous with rallying," Turner told the New Zealand 

Herald. 

"I had been watching the AP4 cars and noticed how quick 

they were and how easy they appeared to be to drive. 

"So it was just a case of coming up with a brand and for 

me it was a no brainer -- the Audi brand is something I have 

always been passionate about. I have owned Audis for the 

past 10-15 years so that was how I decided to go down the 

Audi track. 

"We looked at the successful R5 cars that are built by the 

sister company Skoda and looked at what they were doing 

and copied a lot of it, but using Audi parts. We got a 1600cc 

Audi motor built up based on the R5 specifications." 

Turner has previously driven Lancer Evos and finished 

seventh at last weekend’s Otago Rally. He hopes to have 

the car ready in time to contest the pre-event shakedown at 

Whangarei in three weeks time, and then the rally proper. 

While others have had some reliability problems with their 

new AP4 cars, Turner hopes that won’t be the case with the 

Audi. 

"I don't think we'll have as many issues because we have 

gone down the route of replicating what the R5 are doing,” he 

said. 

"We have gone for a tried and proven 1600 motor with the 

Audi block and Audi head that has been used by the Skoda 

team for years. There are always things we might not have 

thought of, but hopefully not too much." 

Hayden Paddon's 58 year old co-driver, John Kennard, 

has announced he is to retire after Rally Finland in July. 

At the age of 57, Kennard became the oldest competitor 

to win a WRC event (Argentina 2016). 

He will be replaced by 28-year old British co-driver 

Sebastian Marshall. 

MINI TO MISS WA 

Eli Evans has been forced Jesse Robison said. 

to abandon plans to debut “We want to make sure 

his brand new Mini Cooper that it’s 100% right before 

AP4 at the Forest Rally, entering the forests.” 

round two of the ARC. 

The decision means that 

The Evans Motorsport Evans will drive the Race 

team had spent many hours Torque Peugeot 208 Maxi 

with the Mini on the dyno, for the second ARC round in 

but problems with the fuel succession. 

delivery system hampered Like in Victoria, the car 

their progress. 

was to have been driven by 

"The Mini Cooper is 

Arron Windus, but the late 

looking very promising, problems for Evans means 

but is not running at its full that Windus misses out on 

capability,” Team Manager driving the car once again. 

The AP4 Mini will miss WA. 

Find us at: www.chicane.co.nz 

Call us o 


DON'T MISS .... DON'T MISS .... DON'T MISS .... 

▼ 

▼ 

All the highlights from the International Otago Classic Rally 

RallySport Magazine's Otago Rally highlights 

DALTON TO MISS MORE RALLIES 

A 

devastated Richie Dalton 

will miss the first 


three rounds of the was astonishing, 

New Zealand Rally Championship 

after major wiring 

“All the wiring was too 

small to carry the proper 

problems were discovered 

voltage to the PDMs, and the 

in his brand-new Ford Fiesta 

pins were also too small to 

Proto. 

carry the power. 

The Australian-based 

“For example, the lights 

Irishman was to have 

were 40 amps, but the 

contested the Otago Rally, 

wire and plug was good for 

however, the late arrival of 

only 17 amps. So the lights 

the car from Poland (where 

would go on, then turn off. 

the build started) meant the 

The PDM would power it up 

Fiesta wasn’t ready in time 

again, but it would go off 

for its scheduled debut. 

again. 

Since then, things have “We had the same issues 

got even worse, and the car with the paddle shift, 

won’t be seen on the stages compressor, diff controller, them enough, but the wiring unsure whether it’s even 

for some time yet. 

and so on. 

contractor we used was not worth sending the car to 

“The contractor we got The plug in the back of 

associated with the team in New Zealand for just three 

to wire the car has left us the alternator was already 

any way.” 

championship rounds 

in a complete mess. We melted. 

On advice, the Shamrock “It's devastating news and 

had nothing working on “If we did manage to enter 

Motorsport team have been very hard to swallow,” he 

the steering wheel, no diff the rally in Jenolan as a test 

advised to remove all the said. 

settings, no lights, among last weekend, there's no 

wiring looms from the car "I've lost a lot of money, 

other things,” Dalton told doubt it would have burned 

and start again from scratch. but more painful is I've lost 

RallySport Magazine. 

to the ground,” Dalton 

The car will be re-wired, out on competing in this 

“So we got in an expert added. 

starting over Easter, 

year’s championship.” 

to go through it and do a “Dashsport in Sydney did 

meaning the team will miss Round 2 of the NZ Rally 

systems check and try fix the an incredible job building 

the first three rounds of Championship is on April 29 

problems. What he found the car, and I can’t thank 

the NZRC, with Dalton now and 30. 

HJC MOTORSPORTS 

n: AU 1800 CHICANE or NZ 0800 CHICANE 


COLUMN: MOLLY TAYLOR 

MOLLY 

TAYLOR 

At last the ARC season has kicked 

off and it was great to get back 

into competition at the Eureka 

Rally in Ballarat. 

There is always that unknown 

factor heading into a new year, where 

everyone is keen to get the first round 

underway and see where the pace is at. 

What was really exciting was to see 

just how close the competition is. 

The championship is really gaining 

momentum and, combined with the 

great TV and online coverage we have 

now, we are in for an exciting year! 

For us, unfortunately it was definitely 

not the start we were hoping for. On 

Saturday morning we broke the front 

differential, which cost us quite a lot of 

time. 

The boys did a fantastic 

job replacing the gearbox 

at the lunchtime service, 

and we did what we 

could to recover in the 

afternoon. 

Day two started off a 

little rocky again, firstly 

from my end where I 

missed a few junctions in 

the dust and gave us an 

initial set back. 

We bounced back with 

two second fastest times 

coming into lunch, and I 

must say it was nice to be 

able to show some of our 

potential in the new car! 

The hot temperatures, narrow forest 

stages and low wind gave us an added 

challenge in keeping the engine cool 

enough. 

In the end, we had too big a gap to 

fight with the top three for the Heat 

Two podium, but in any case it was 

exciting to watch that battle unfold 

ahead of us. 

So, in the end, some points up on the 

scoreboard and a lot of learning taken 

on board. 

For sure, there is some frustration 

that things didn’t go perfectly – but that 

rarely happens in rallying! In any case, 

our times, considering the challenges 

we faced, shows us that the potential is 

there. 

I was actually at a Subaru Parts & 

After Sales conference recently and 

we were discussing the success of the 

team last year and the start of the new 

season. 

What really stands out to me now is 

that the real strength of our team is not 

when everything goes well, but rather 

when things don’t go to plan. 

It’s easy for everyone to be motivated 

and happy when we win. However, the 

guys and girls at Les Walkden Rallying 

and Subaru have put in a huge effort, 

both in the lead up to Ballarat and now, 

looking ahead to the Forest Rally. 

We are doing everything to make 

sure we put our best foot forward 

once again. We definitely haven’t lost 

sight of what the goal is and are just as 

motivated as ever! 

The Forest Rally is one of my favourite 

rallies on the calendar, and I am 

counting the days to get back behind 

the wheel and give it another crack. 

- Molly 

It wasn’t the best start to 

the ARC for Molly Taylor and 

Bill Hayes, but they secured 

valuable ARC points. 

Photos: Warren Kirby, Subaru 


we 

don’t 

imitations 

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Genuine Subaru Motorsport Parts are of 

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Speak to a Subaru 

Motorsport Parts supplier today! 


FEATURE: FORCE MOTORSPORT 


TO BE RECKONED WITH 

They’re New Zealand’s leader in building AP4 

rally cars. We take a closer look at the rapidly 

expanding Force Motorsport. 

Story: BLAIR BARTELS 

Photos: GEOFF RIDDER 



It is a hard point to argue that the 

Brian Green Property Group New 

Zealand Rally Championship is at 

the strongest level in memory, if not at 

all. 

With 51 starters at the opening 

round, including 11 different 

manufacturers lining up for the 

opening round and at least one more 

due to join the series at round two, the 

series continues to go from strength to 

strength. 

One of the major components of the 

success is the AP4 concept that has 

seen an option for four-wheel drive cars 

outside of the traditional Subaru and 

Mitsubishi, and a lot of the work done 

on the AP4 concept has been done by 

the team at Force Motorsport, fronted 

by Andrew Hawkeswood, himself a topline 

competitor. 

“I started Force Motorsport back 

when I was doing the Asia-Pacific Rally 

Championship, we needed a limited 

company to register the cars and 

equipment to for customs and carnet 

reasons, so that’s how it started back in 

2002,” Hawkeswood said. 

“We already had our own workshop 

running and building our own cars and 

we did some customer work, but we 

didn’t go looking for it because at that 

stage I was destroying enough cars to 

keep us busy. 

“We were running Speedway 

10 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - APRIL 2017 

“We did some 

customer work, but we 

didn’t go looking for it 

because at that stage I 

was destroying enough 

cars to keep us busy.” 

(Sprintcar) and Offshore powerboats 

as well as the NZRC and APRC, so she 

The new AP4 Mini for Eli Evans 

was built at Force Motorsport, 

but is yet to make its debut. 

Andrew Hawkeswood is a topline 

competitor, and the man 

behind Force Motorsport. 

was a pretty full on deal,” explains 

Hawkeswood, who nowadays finds 

time for only rallying amongst business 

commitments. 

The AP4 concept was originally 

born when both Emma Gilmour and 

Hawkeswood built locally constructed 

‘Maxi’ style cars based on the 

Argentinian design - Gilmour a Suzuki 

which she still runs, and Hawkeswood 

a Mazda 2, which will be campaigned in 

2017 by Rhys Gardner. 

However, packaging issues and 

ultimately the lure of local distributor 

backing meant a change was needed. 

“Mazda had a new model coming out 

in 2014 and after initial conversations 

about future support from Mazda, it 

was indicated a more conventional-type 

east-west design was required for them 

to be interested in supporting us.” 

So it was that the team at Force 

Motorsport set out to build themselves 

a new style of AP4 car, originally looking 

at a single build that people would also 

be able to purchase, but quite unaware 

of just how popular the new style of car 

would become. 

“Originally we had an ex-Prodrive 

engineer do some drawings for us and 

he knew the ins and outs of what they 

did on both the Subaru and the Mini 

WRC cars, so there was a fair bit of 

knowledge we could lean on there. 

“Then Tim Keegan, who had been at 

Kelly Racing for the building of the first 

of the Car of the Future chassis’ for V8 

Supercars, came on board and was an 

integral part in getting the first of the 

new Mazdas off the ground.” 

With the car that Hawkeswood would 

drive in last year’s NZRC constructed 

late in 2015, some discussions with a 

couple of parties would see two more 

cars built, for Hayden Paddon and 

Glenn Inkster. 

“Basically what happened was we’d

had quite a bit of input from Hayden 

(Paddon) all the way along, and he’d 

been talking about building a car for 

New Zealand. By December in 2015 

we had an order from Hyundai New 

Zealand to build a car for Hayden to use 

in New Zealand, then we had Spencer 

Winn from TransNet order the Skoda 

that Glenn Inkster is now running. 

“Both of those cars were started on 

January 5, 2016 and were obviously 

completed in time for Otago three 

months later, which was a massive, 

massive job.” 

That process would see as many as 

seven contract fabricators/mechanics 

on top of the three full time staff in 

Force’s original workshops for as many 

as 18 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Later in the year, Force would move to a 

new, purpose-built facility that includes 

engine and gearbox rooms, fabrication 

areas, as well as general preparation 

and assembly areas, as opposed to the 

old facility that would see the whole 

process done in the same area. 

One of the interesting points learned 

in the process of building the three 

different cars was the differences in the 

amount of work required across what, 

externally, are three similar-styled small 

hatch backs. 

“The Hyundai required a lot of 

work and anything with small wheel 

arches takes a fair bit of extra work,” 

Hawkeswood explains. 

“The Mazda’s a fairly easy car because 

the floor pan is the same as a CX-3 

small sized SUV, so it doesn’t require 

any work around the wheel arches. The 

rear subframe always goes in easily 

because we effectively put a whole 

rear floor into each car. With the front 

subframes, some don’t look quite as 

nice as others because the way the 

points work out the car needs to fit the 

subframe, rather than the subframe 

fitting the car, but if you start trying 

to make a new subframe for every 

car, that’s where the time and money 

comes from.” 

The debut event for the cars went 

well, with Paddon taking victory in the 

Hyundai by a record 9 minutes, 22.1 

seconds over the two days in the 2016 

Otago Rally, while Hawkeswood would 

take fifth place despite some niggling 

problems. All three cars set top three 

stage times on their first event. 

Hawkeswood would carry on to claim 

third place in the NZRC for 2016 after 

Paddon’s WRC commitments meant he 

was unable to compete outside of the 

opening two rounds. 

On top of the busy programme of 

running the cars, the concept took off 

to the point where a 12 th bodyshell 

is about to head to the workshop to 

receive the AP4 treatment. 

“The concept took 

off, to the point where 

a 12th bodyshell is 

about to head to the 

workshop to receive 

the AP4 treatment.” 

While Force Motorsport have just 

three full-time staff, which not only 

cover preparing shells but also running 

Hawkeswood’s campaign event to 

event, the team also have access to a 

large amount of skilled contractors and 

are able to outsource machining work 

while keeping the fabrication side of 

things completely in-house. 

On top of that, the team’s complete 

maintenance schedule, plus the 

The purpose-built Force 

Motorsport workshop is the 

home of AP4 rally cars in NZ. 

building and development of engines, is 

all done in-house. 

“Tim Keegan and Kane Hombre 

take care of the fabrication side of 

things and Norm Soo takes care of the 

engines, gearboxes, shock absorbers 

and tuning. 

“We have a couple of guys we take 

on from the local Manukau Institute 

of Technology Motorsport course in 

Pukekohe. We try to take on one guy a 

year from that, which is good and we 

are due to take on another one soon. 

We’ve also got several local engineering 

companies who do all of our CNC works 

and things like that. 

“Fabrication wise, we do all of our 

own roll cages, subframes, fuel tank 

covers, transmission tunnels, basically 

all the tube and sheet metal work is 

done in-house. 

“We’ve got a part-time draughtsman 



who does all our drawings. Basically we 

come up with the idea of what we think 

the design should be, the guy draws it 

and then we’ve got another guy that 

does the machining. We’ve got two CNC 

mills and two CNC lathes that we have 

access to. 

“I think for anybody now, it doesn’t 

matter if you’re in a barn in the country 

or a factory in the city, as long as 

you’ve got an internet connection you 

can have pretty much anything made 

anywhere in the world.” 

For Hawkeswood, it was a huge boost 

to the project when Hayden Paddon 

tested his Hyundai in March 2016 

before Otago, claiming the car was 

very predictable and easy to drive. The 

success also shows in the adaptability 

of the platform, with nine different 

makes of car all fitting themselves 

across the jig to date (currently Mazda, 

Holden, Toyota, Hyundai, Skoda, 

Mitsubishi, Mini, Audi, and soon to be, 

Ford). 

“At that initial test day a week before 

Otago, Hayden told us it was neutral 

and very tuneable, which is a great 

platform to start with. That was a huge 

boost to the whole team to know we 

were on the right track with the cars. 

“We could’ve gone down the R5 route, 

but we would end up with effectively 

a two-make championship again with 

Ford and Skoda and everyone would 

have to buy bits from the other side of 

the world. 

“In New Zealand, we are a relatively 

small market for manufacturers, so we 

don’t get the big works budgets, but 

there is local importer and distributor 

budgets. Giving them a car they can 

identify with has really got them 

excited about supporting New Zealand 


“Hayden told us it 

was neutral and very 

tuneable. That was 

a huge boost to the 

whole team to know we 

were on the right track 

with the cars.” 

rallying.” 

Also pleasing for Hawkeswood is the 

fact that both Motorsport New Zealand 

and Land Transport NZ’s low volume 

department have been working closely 

with Force Motorsport on the project. 

“Motorsport New Zealand are right 

behind us. Outside of our option and 

what Emma Gilmour has done with 

the Maxi car, there isn’t really another 

option at the moment. 

“We’ve got a pretty comprehensive kit 

including the front and rear subframes, 

the strut towers, the bottom arms, 

the uprights, the top hats, the axles 

and CVs, the steering components. 

Motorsport New Zealand are due to 

publish the full list of AP4 components 

and finalised regulations shortly. 

“We’re working closely with LVV 

NZ to get a Type Certification on our 

components, which will make getting 

the low volume certification a lot 

easier.” 

One of the user-friendly parts of the 

AP4 concept from the Force Motorsport 

stable is that teams have the option of 

delivering a stripped-out shell that will 

have the appropriate pick up points 

inserted into the body, right through 

to delivering a road-going small 

hatchback and picking up a turn-key, 

fire-breathing rally car. 

“We’re still trying to feel our way 

with what works. Obviously each team 

has different needs. Really we can do 

anything from supplying a shell with 

the pick-up points, tunnels etc. and 

ready for a roll cage is one option, or a 

complete rolling shell and everything 

ready to go to paint is another option. 

“We can do a complete turn-key build 

as well, although a lot of teams like to 

finish their own cars off.” 

Outside of the local market, there 

has been a lot of inquiry from not just 

Australia, but several Asian countries 

and beyond. However, at this stage, 

only one car has left New Zealand’s 

shores. 

“In Australia we’ve got Eli Evans’ 

Mini which we built the rolling shell 

for. There’s a few people in Australia 

making noises about it. 

“It’s a shame the Mini couldn’t be at 

the first round, but that was nothing to 

do with the gear or work we supplied to 

them. But there is definitely enquiry, I’m 

not too phased, I’m not looking for work 

really, as we’ve got plenty to do.”

A competitor with more than 20 years 

of NZRC experience under his belt, 

Hawkeswood certainly was aware of 

the impression competitors would have 

if a sole supplier situation was created 

as far as supplying components for the 

cars. 

“I was a bit sceptical at the start with 

being a competitor myself and the 

reaction of fellow competitors if we 

were to create a rule that said everyone 

had to buy from one supplier and 

create a monopoly. I knew that it might 

turn people off the class. 

“With Kiwi ingenuity, there is a limit as 

to what people will pay for components 

before they feel they’re getting ripped 

off. That’s why the door was left open 

to another manufacturer to start 

producing items. 

“In hindsight that was a mistake and 

probably some people’s lives would 

be a lot easier if they weren’t trying to 

reinvent the wheel, but that’s how it 

goes. 

“One of the reasons why we 

were able to develop the eastwest 

configuration without it being 

ridiculously expensive for everyone was 

because we had to do it for ourselves 

and it just worked out for us that 

people wanted to buy it. 

“It certainly wasn’t done as a 

“We’d certainly love 

to promote the AP4 

concept more and plan 

on doing a least one 

APRC event this year.” 

commercial venture. I certainly wasn’t 

pinning my retirement on it, all of the 

development cost was absorbed into 

our first car.” 

With Hawkeswood’s sights firmly set 

on a national title for the 2017 season, 

what does the future hold for Force 

Motorsport? 

“We’d certainly love to promote the 

AP4 concept a lot more and plan on 

doing at least one overseas Asia-Pacific 

Rally Championship event this year. 

“I’ve only got a few more years at 

national champs left in me, so we’re 

certainly looking at doing something 

classic, something probably along the 

lines of the Audi (Force Motorsport 

constructed the Audi Quattro S1 replica 

now owned by Stewart Reid), but a 

different Group B car. 

“But we’ll cross that bridge when 

we come to it. It’ll be something 

spectacular, that’s what it’s all about - 

Hawkeswood took a fine 

second in the Otago Rally, 

after leading early. 

(Photo: Peter Whitten) 

you’ve gotta put on a show. 

“If we can keep producing 

components and doing 2-3 shells a 

year, that will be enough to keep the 

shop busy.” 

On top of that, Hawkeswood is also 

looking at something as more of an 

entry level car. 

Over the off season, Force built an 

AP4 shell for Andrew’s 16-year old 

son Jack, who is contesting NZRC’s 

low capacity front-wheel drive class, 

utilising a two-litre naturally aspirated 

engine and front-wheel drive gearbox, 

which will be able to take AP4 running 

gear moving forward. 

But Hawkeswood has some other 

plans for two-wheel drive versions. 

“We are definitely looking at 

producing a more club friendly version 

of the uprights so that it can be utilised, 

because the platform would be a great 

starter for a rear-wheel drive car. 

“If we could have a jig and a subframe 

etc., pretty much a club version of 

everything, that would be good.” 

Whatever the future holds, what 

Force Motorsport has delivered is 

a breed of spectacular looking and 

performing rally cars that have helped 

turn the NZ Rally Championship into 

the strongest national championship in 

this part of the world. 


REPORT: EUREKA RALLY - ARC 1 

HARRY 

GRABS 

THE GOLD 





Harry Bates went some way to 

erasing the disappointment 

of last year’s Australian Rally 

Championship loss by taking victory in 

the opening round of the season, the 

Eureka Rally at Ballarat. 

Driving the same Toyota Corolla 

Super 2000 as last year, Bates and John 

McCarthy finished the weekend on 70 

points, two ahead of Coffs Harbour’s 

Nathan Quinn, and three clear of 

Victorian Eli Evans. 

Current champion, Molly Taylor, 

finished the weekend in fifth place in a 

new Production Rally Car-spec Subaru 

WRX STI. 

PRE-EVENT 

There was much excitement leading 

up to the Eureka Rally, with Eli Evans 

set to debut his brand new Mini Cooper 

AP4. 

Photos of the car on social media 

had rally fans salivating at the prospect 

of seeing the machine in action, but it 

wasn’t to be. 

Computer problems just two days 

before the rally proved unfixable in the 

timeframe allowed, and Evans initially 

looked like he could miss the event 

altogether. 

Meanwhile, Arron Windus’ failed 

British Rally Championship plans saw 

him put in a late entry in the ex-Mark 

Pedder Peugeot 208 Maxi. The car 

needed to be towed from Perth to 

Ballarat before the event, only arriving 

around 11am on the day before the 

first stage. 

Then, when Evans’ problems 

emerged, his team rapidly did a deal 

which 

saw the three-time Australian 

Champion lining up in the Peugeot, and 

Windus taking the reins of the spare 

Subaru of Craig Brooks. 

Despite the late dramas, both drivers 

recorded impressive results over the 

course of the weekend. 

HEAT 1 

With a brand new event comes brand 

new stages, and day one of the Eureka 

Rally saw five stages, each to be run 

twice, in the morning and then again 

after a service break back in Ballarat. 

Dry and dusty conditions were to 

provide a challenge for competitors, 

particularly those running a little 

further down the running order. 

Combined 

with that, drivers in the ARC field 

were using the new MRF control 

tyres for the first time, meaning 

that car set-up and slightly different 

handling characteristics needed to be 

conquered. 

A close battle throughout the day 

would finish in favour of Harry Bates 

and John McCarthy in their Toyota 

Corolla S2000, as they finished 14.8 

seconds clear of the Mitsubishi Lancer 

of Nathan Quinn and Dave Calder. 

Quinn had Bates’ measure for much 

of the day, but turbo problems on 

the final two stages saw him drop 22 

seconds, giving Bates the first Heat win 

Nathan Quinn showed his 

class yet again with a fast, 

clean drive. 

(Photo: John Doutch) 


of the year. 

“The win feels amazing and is 

the perfect start to the season. 

The whole team has made a huge 

effort over the break, and this win 

is a reward for everyone’s hard 

work,” Bates said. 

Electrical problems midway 

through the day had hampered Eli 

Evans’ progress, meaning the hired 

Peugeot 208 Maxi slipped to fifth 

place, and elevating both Arron 

Windus and Marcus Walkem into 

third and fourth. 

Windus took some time to get 

to grips with his hired car, but his 

speed increased as the day went 

on, and he finished a minute and a 

half clear of Walkem’s Lancer Evo 

IX. 

Brooks took sixth in last year’s 

championship-winning Subaru, while 

gearbox problems proved costly 

for Molly Taylor’s Subaru WRX STI, 

dropping the reigning champion to 

seventh place at the end of the day. 

Arron Windus was fast 

on home soil, but in a 

borrowed car. 


Eli Evans won Heat 2 in his 

borrowed Peugeot 208. 


An impressive debut looked on the 

cards for Lewis Bates, brother of Harry, 

contesting the event in a front-wheel 

drive Toyota Corolla. 

Lewis was an impressive ninth 

quickest on the opening stage, but 

slid off the road on stage two, with 

disastrous results. 

“About 5km in, we ran wide on to 

some loose gravel and the car got stuck 

on a dirt mound about a metre off the 

road,” Bates said. 

“We spent two minutes trying to 

get the car out before a fire started 

underneath the car. We tried 

everything to put the fire out, but were 

unsuccessful and the Corolla burnt to 

the ground. 

“To say I’m devastated would be an 

understatement,” he said. 

Craig Brooks won the new ARC2 

class, ahead of Brad Markovic and Tony 

Sullens (all in Subarus), while Grant 

Walker and Luke Sytema led an Escort 

double in the Classics. 

Heat 1 results: 

1. Bates/McCarthy, Toyota Corolla S2000, 1:13:50.2 

2. Quinn/Calder, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 

+00:14.8 

3. Windus/Fisher, Subaru Impreza WRX STI, 

+01:02.7 

4, Walkem/Walkem, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 

+02:36.1 

5. Evans/Weston, Peugeot 208 Max, +04:00.7 

It wasn’t the greatest start 

for Molly Taylor, but she took 

a good haul of points for 

Subaru. (Photo: John Doutch) 



Tasmanian Marcus Walkem 

lies 4th in the ARC title race 

after round one. 


HEAT 2 

The competition over the second 

day’s eight stages proved to be a battle 

royal, with only 7.9 seconds covering 

the top three drivers after more dry 

and dusty stages. 

With his electrical problems sorted, 

Eli Evans was the man to catch from the 

opening stage, and his seesawing battle 

with Quinn and Bates throughout the 

day was one to remember. 

Evans’ lead was just a second 

and a half with a stage to go, but a 

blistering time through the final stage 

was enough to see him increase his 

advantage to 6.5 seconds over Quinn. 

Not to be denied, Bates also made a 

late charge, falling only 1.4 seconds shy 

of Quinn, but his third place secured 

him the overall win for the weekend. 

But it was Evans who was the man of 

the hour in Heat 2. 

“It was an enjoyable weekend,” Evans 

said. “The new MRF tyres were easy to 

drive on and I enjoyed the challenge of 

driving a 4WD rally car for the first time 

in eight years. Thanks to Race Torque 

for a cool car.” 

For Bates, his overall win was not only 

his first, but saw him become, at the 

age of 22, the youngest winner of an 

ARC round. 

“It was a full-on contest between the 

three of us from the first stage, with the 

overall lead swapping around stage by 

stage,” Harry Bates said. 

“The roads were very dusty and the 

battle was intense with the result in the 

balance until the very end, which makes 

it even more rewarding to come out on 

top and record the win.” 

Taylor also came to grips more with 

the new, faster Subaru on day two, 

claiming fourth place, just 48.9 seconds 


Top 2WD finisher was Grant 

Walker in his Escort RS1800. 


from the lead. 

“We’re becoming much more familiar 

with the car and the edge that it offers 

over last year’s Group N car,” she said. 

“We now need to start to using that 

to our advantage. Certainly the more 

time we get in this new car, the more 

confidence it adds and we’ll come away 

from this weekend with key learnings 

that we can apply at the Forest Rally in 

WA next month.” 

Another solid drive from local boy 

Arron Windus netted him fifth place 

(and the Victorian Championship 

round win), over a minute clear of the 

Walkems in sixth spot. 

ARC2 spoils for the second day went 

to Tony Sullens, ahead of Brooks and 

John O’Dowd, while Luke Sytema and 

Grant Walker swapped places as the 

leading two Classics, ahead of Trevor 

Stilling’s Datsun Stanza. 

A bonus point gave Walker the overall 

Classics win for the event, 75 points to 

Sytema’s 74. 

Heat 2 results: 

1. Evans/Weston, Peugeot 208 Max, 52:58.6 

2. Quinn/Calder, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, +00:06.5 

3. Bates/McCarthy, Toyota Corolla S2000, +00:07.9 

4. Taylor/Hayes, Subaru Impreza WRX, +00:48.9 

5. Windus/Fisher, Subaru Impreza WRX STI, +01:02.7 

Australian Rally Championship points: 

1. Bates/McCarthy 70 points 

2. Quinn/Calder 68 

3. Evans/Weston 67 

4. Walkem/Walkem 52 

5. Taylor/Hayes 46

Greg Browne was on the spot when Lewis Bates, making his 

ARC debut, left the road in his Toyota Corolla. The youngest 

Bates son and co-driver, Anthony McLoughlin, were forced to 

watch in horror as the car caught fire and burnt to the ground. 

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Prevot co-driving for Aussie Chris 

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REPORT: OTAGO CLASSIC RALLY 

FIGHT TO THE 

Markko Märtin made it two 

Otago Classic Rally wins in a row, 

but he had to work hard for it! 


FINISH 

Story & Photos: 

PETER WHITTEN 



Simon Evans, Datsun Stanza. 

He had to work hard for it, but 

former WRC star, Markko 

Martin, came out on top to win 

his second consecutive Stadium Cars 

Otago Classic Rally at the wheel of the 

Rossendale Wines Ford Escort RS1800. 

Kaikoura’s Regan Ross almost caused 

a massive boil over, pushing Martin all 

the way to the final stage in his Escort 

RS1800, while John Silcock was the first 

non Escort home, driving his Group B 

replica Mazda RX7 into third place. 

As usual, the Otago Rally was the 

most anticipated classic rally of the 

year, with 49 starters and an incredible 

depth to the field. With 14 tough stages 

and 285km of competitive driving, just 

getting to the finish was going to be 

tough – let alone finishing in the top 

five. 

After rain during the pre-event 

shakedown and reconnaissance, the 

weather fined up for the rally, with 

the roads drying quickly and providing 

a fast and dusty playing surface for 

drivers. 

John Silcock, Mazda RX7. 

DAY 1 

The first day headed south of 

Dunedin for six shire road and 

forest stages around Lawrence, 

with a central service area in the streets 

of the local township. Most of the 

stages were on smooth, cresty shire 

roads, but the 33km forest stage called 

‘Glendhu’ would really test crews. 

The day would finish with the popular 

tarmac stage around the streets of 

Dunedin. 

It quickly became clear that the battle 

for the lead was between Martin and 

Ross, and surprisingly for many, it was 

the Kiwi who set the early pace. 

Martin had intercom issues on stage 


4x Australian Champion, Simon Evans. 

three, and Ross led by just 1.7 seconds, 

but the local star then blitzed the field 

on the 33km forest test, beating Martin 

by an incredible 19.4 seconds and 

stunning the rest of the field. 

By the time the tarmac stage had 

been run late on Saturday afternoon, 

his lead had increased to 23.4 seconds, 

and an upset looked seriously on the 

cards. 

Martin remained second, but needed 

Second placed Regan Ross. 

to pull something out of his hat on day 

two, with third after the opening day 

held down by three-time event winner 

Derek Ayson in his Nissan-powered 

Escort. 

Another Classic Rally winner, Marcus 

van Klink, was fourth on the final event 

in his Group B Mazda RX7, a minute 

clear of John Silcock’s similar Mazda. 

The top 10 was rounded out by a 

brace of Escort RS1800s, headed by

“Martin remained 

second, but needed to 

pull something out of 

his hat on day two.” 

Tony Gosling, and followed by Ashton 

Wood, Jeff Judd, Graham Ferguson and 

Shane Murland. 

It had been a tough day for others, 

however. Four-time Australian 

Champion, Simon Evans, was seventh 

after stage three, but retired his Datsun 

Stanza with mechanical problems 

on stage four. Evans would return to 

complete day two, but was out of the 

running for a top placing. 

Another Datsun, the 1600 of 

Dunedin-based Aussie John Spencer, 

suffered a broken axle and ignition 

problems that halted his progress, 

Grant Walker, Ford Escort RS1800. 

Tony Gosling, Ford Escort RS1800. 

much to Spencer’s disgust. 

Mike Townshend crashed his Toyota 

Corolla on the opening stage of the 

rally and would go no further, Keith 

Callinan’s Escort blew a gearbox on 

stage six, while Aussie regulars Darryn 

Snooks (Datsun 710 Violet) and Ed 

Mulligan (BMW) both retired after 

losing a wheel, and blowing a gearbox 

respectively. 

Typically, it had been an actionpacked 

opening day, and with seven 

stages still to run, the podium placings 

were far from decided. 

DAY 2 

The second day dawned with 

perfect weather conditions and 

a crisp, clear morning as an early 

start began with the 11km Whare Flat 

Mark Laughton, Hillman Avenger V8. 



Jeff Judd managed fourth place, 

but a late roll provided extra 

excitement. 

stage just outside Dunedin. 

From the outset, Markko Martin was 

clearly on a charge, taking 13.9 seconds 

from Regan Ross’ lead and reducing the 

margin to just 9.5 seconds. 

Ross spun his car on the exit of a 

water crossing just near the end of the 

stage, and with plenty of distance still to 

run it was game on! 

But it was a bad start for Derek 

Ayson, the third placed driver clipping 

a rock on the inside of a corner and 

breaking his Escort’s steering. He would 

return later in the day for the final three 

Derek Ayson, 

Ford Escort RS1800. 

“Regan was very fast, 

and for sure we had to 

work harder than last 

year for the win.” 

stages, but a blown motor cut his rally 

short once again. 

By the time the leaders reached 

the Waihola service break after the 

third stage of the day, Regan Ross had 

seen his lead reduced to 6.9 seconds, 

not helped by a gearbox issue on 

the Waipori Gorge stage when he 

lost fourth gear. Quick work by his 

team had the gearbox replaced and a 

relieved Ross was on his way again. 

There were further dramas on the 

following stage, at 47.42km, the rally’s 

longest. Third placed Marcus van 

Klink had been battling clutch issues 

in his Mazda, but that paled into 

insignificance when he rolled his car 

600 metres into the stage, ending his 

rally. 

This elevated John Silcock to third 

in his Mazda, closely followed by the 

Escorts of Tony Gosling and Jeff Judd. 

Right at the front, clutch master 

cylinder problems for Regan Ross 

virtually assured Markko Martin the win 

as he was faster by 21.8 seconds on the 

long stage, and took what would prove 

to be an unassailable 14.9 second lead. 

But it wasn’t without trying! Ross 

won the 30km Akatore stage by nine 

seconds, reducing the gap to 5.9, but 

a scorching stage record on Kuri Bush 

secured the win for the Estonian, with 

the final margin being 10.9 seconds. 

‘’Regan was very fast, and for sure we 

had to work a lot harder than last year 

for the win,’’ Martin said. “It was a hell 

of a battle.” 

John Silcock brought his Mazda home 

in a fine third place, albeit nearly four 

and a half minutes from the lead, while 

last minute dramas for Tony Gosling 

and Jeff Judd saw them changing places 

in fourth and fifth. 

Like he did last year, Judd crashed 

heavily on Kuri Bush, this time rolling 

his Escort, but continuing on. 

Gosling had a scary moment and a 

Find us at: www.chicane.co.nz 

Call us o 


Regan Ross so nearly provided a 

Kiwi victory in the Otago Classic 

Rally. (Photo: Pete Johnson) 

big spin after a jump on the same stage, 

then lost over a minute and a half on 

the final McIntosh Road stage, handing 

fourth to Judd. 

Escort RS1800s filled positions six to 

eight, with Ashton Wood leading home 

Grant Walker and Graham Ferguson, 

with the top 10 rounded out by Allan 

Dippie’s Porsche 911, and Barry 

Varcoe’s Toyota Celica. 

In the end, only 23 cars finished the 

classic rally, proving once again that the 

Otago Rally is a battle of survival. 

Markko Martin’s hard-fought second 

win was one to remember, and already 

has the Estonian eyeing a hat-trick of 

victories in 2018. 

2017 Stadium Cars Otago Classic Rally 

1. Markko Martin / Stephane Prevot Ford Escort RS1800 2h53m.20.2s 

2. Regan Ross / Lisa Hudson Ford Escort RS1800 +10.9s 

3. John Silcock / Richard Atkinson Mazda RX7 +4m27.2s 

4. Jeff Judd / Grant Marra Ford Escort RS1800 +7m47.7s 

5. Tony Gosling / Blair Read Ford Escort RS1800 +7m52.8s 

6. Ashton Wood / Chris Lancaster Ford Escort RS1800 +7m53.6s 

7. Grant Walker / Tracey Dewhurt Ford Escort RS1800 +8m06.3s 

8. Graham Ferguson / Ross Moody Ford Escort RS1800 +11m09.5s 

9. Allan Dippie / Paul Coghill Porsche 911 Carrera RS +14m25.6s 

10. Barry Varcoe / Steve Gray Toyota Celica TA64 +15m49.2s 

HJC MOTORSPORTS 

n: AU 1800 CHICANE or NZ 0800 CHICANE 


REPORT: OTAGO RALLY SPECTATING 

OTAGO FROM THE BACK SEAT 

Story: TOM SMITH 

Kia ora from Dunedin 2017. As 

a passionate rally enthusiast 

on Australia’s east coast, there 

are really only a few rallies that I enjoy 

spectating, and that are relatively easy 

to get to from Brisbane. 

Local events such as the International 

Rally of Queensland (now defunct) and 

Rally Australia are in my own back yard, 

but for a number of years the Otago 

Rally on New Zealand’s South Island has 

also been firmly on the calendar. 

Those tricksters from the Otago 

Sports Car Club keep everyone 

guessing each year with an exciting 

announcement about a world standard 

guest driver coming to Southland to 

compete in the event. 

In the lead-up to the 2017 rally, the 

early news was an intention to enter 

Tom Smith with Frank Kelly, and 

(above) the exciting Irishman in 

action. (Photo: Pete Johnson) 

from ‘mad Irishman’ Frank Kelly, and 

the late mail confirmed that Markko 

Martin and Stephane Prevot would 

return to defend their ‘Classic’ title. 

Despite the presence of these quick 

internationals, take nothing away from 

an incredible array of super-fast Kiwis, a 

good number of Australian competitors 

A long-weekend in Dunedin for (L-R) Peter Whitten, Tom Smith, Pete Johnson and 

Luke Whitten. 

making the trip over, and a field which 

promised to include most of the latest 

AP4 rally cars built recently in NZ. Deal 

done! 

Now, tasks in order of importance: 

After some research about flights and 

accommodation, bookings were made 

and a long weekend was planned, along 

with the opportunity to catch up at the 

event with a good number of Aussies 

also making the trip over. 

Check with the better half that she 

didn’t mind that I would head off again 

– luckily, no objections there. 

This year, we’d fly into Christchurch 

on the late Air NZ flight, overnight in 

a motel and drive down to Dunedin 

on the Friday morning in time for the 

Friday afternoon gathering of rally cars 

at the Octagon in downtown Dunedin. 

Travelling with good mate and 

sometime 

RallySport 

Magazine 

photographer 

Pete Johnson, 

we picked up 

the trusty ‘Jucy’ 

rent-a-car from 

Christchurch 

airport and hit the 

road south. Feeling very privileged this 

year, I was upgraded from a Daihatsu 

Charade to a natty little Suzuki Swift 

(automatic of course). 

A couple of hours south and a stop 

at Oamaru to take a look at the motor 

museum was called for, and well worth 

the $10 entry fee. Taking pride of place 

are an ex-works Audi Quattro, a Ford 

Escort RS1800 and at the moment, 

the feature spot is held by the John 

Spencer-owned Nissan 240RS – which 

also has a direct NZ competition 

history. 

While the 240RS is on the market, 

John now calls Dunedin home and 

the car sits in complete safety up at 

Oamaru. 

Not only is the motor museum an 

attraction, but the historical precinct at 

Oamaru could easily occupy a half day. 

Note to self – make time to do more 

tourist stuff next year! 

Eventually arriving into Dunedin, we 

checked into our motel and after basic 

unpacking, turned on the heater for 

later. Things were cooling down and 

Dunedin can be cold in April, although 

the weather forecast was for a fine rally 

weekend. 


Off we trotted to the Octagon 

where a huge crowd awaited, 

along with some of the entry 

of nearly 130 cars! Not all cars could be 

accommodated in the space available, 

and so the organisers only squeezed in 

about 80 or so. Still extremely impressive. 

What a class field, and it was 

impossible to turn our heads without 

something incredible taking our 

attention.... the ex-Paddon AP4 

Hyundai, the AP4 Barina, about 20 BDA 

Escorts including Martin’s Rossendale 

car and the Irish ‘Blue Baby’ of Frank 

Kelly with the bonnet up. 

After catching up with a few Aussies 

meandering around in a state of 

rally-shock, and after the autograph 

session was over, I introduced myself to 

Rosemarie and Frank Kelly. 

RallySport Magazine had done a 

feature article on Frank late in 2016 and 

the coverage from that, combined with 

a firm invitation from the NZ organisers 

to head to the southern hemisphere, 

Tom Smith with one 

of his favourites at the 

Oamaru Motor Museum. 

Andy Martin came to 

blows with a rock on 

the Whare Flat stage 

on Sunday morning. 

(Photos: Peter Whitten) 

convinced the family the 

trip was worthwhile. 

The promo start had 

such a positive and happy 

vibe, promising a fantastic 

weekend of rallying. 

Dinner at a bar/ 

restaurant nearby with 

the Whittens (Pete and 

Luke) topped off a fine 

day one and we were off 

to find a warm room and 

a glass of red to end the 

night. 

Out and about on 

Saturday with Pete and 

Luke, the four of us were 

travelling in the Mighty 

Ssangyong Tivoli XLV, a 

pretty (!) mid-sized SUV 

we don’t get in Australia, 

but which handled 

the spectator duties 

admirably. 

Three different 

spectator points later 

and after possibly the 

best ever range of locally 

baked pies for lunch at Lawrence, the 

team headed back to Dunedin in time 

for the Super Special Stage around the 

Dunedin railway yards. 

Always a crowd-pleaser, one might 

think that laps around the buildings 

on tarmac may not be exciting, but in 

front of a monster crowd of locals, the 

drivers see the red mist descend and 

really throw their cars around, drifting 

and Scando flicking wherever there is 

space. 

John Spencer in his very quick Datsun 

1600 was sent out immediately after 

local rally identity Mark Laughton in 

his V8 Avenger. Being good mates, the 

race was on and Spencer did his best 

to catch the V8 in the lap and a half 

available - to no avail. What a race! 

Frank Kelly and local (Irish) co-driver 

Noel Moloney were frustrated after a 

minor off saw them bellied out during 

the day, before being towed back on. 

Frank made it up to the crowds with 

spectacular driving in the mega-HP blue 

Escort. 

With the action over by abut 6pm 

local time, it’s gentleman’s hours in 


REPORT: OTAGO RALLY SPECTATING 

town and another dinner at one of 

the huge number of establishments in 

Dunedin was called for. Unfortunately, 

Saturday night in Dunedin is a very 

busy time and without a booking, most 

restaurants are full to the brim. 

Pete J and I headed off to the Rally 

HQ to source some rally merchandise 

and after some negotiation with the 

Clerk-of-Course , a deal was done for 

t-shirts, beanies and a very nice softshell 

jacket. 

Sunday brings an earlier start and 

we headed out to Whare Flat 

Road, barely 20 minutes outside 

Dunedin. A 20 minute walk in from 

the end control saw us next to a water 

splash/causeway which promised 

some great action and shots for the 

photographers. 

Car 17, the VW Polo AP4 car of Andy 

Martin, hit the causeway a little wide 

and slid into a very large rock on the 

outside, resulting in a large thump and 

a toss of the little car, ending up facing 

the wrong way on the other side of the 

water. 

Quickly regaining his composure, 

the driver headed off, only to find his 

right rear wheel locked. The impact 

had shattered the rear disc, locking the 

wheel. A quick jack-up and wheel off, 

discard the bits and back on the road, 


driving the couple of kays to the finish 

of the stage. 

Pete J grabbed a piece of the very hot 

disc as a souvenir, packing it safely in 

his ‘BBQ Shapes’ box. About 30 minutes 

later the metal was still warm to the 

touch. 

More great spectating and a walk 

through the service park on the banks 

of the beautiful Lake Waihola followed, 

before we travelling to the Kuri Bush 

Stage – a must-see – before heading 

back to the finish at the historic 

Dunedin Railway Station. 

With the champagne spray came the 

realisation that the rally weekend was 

nearly at an end. 

Pete and Luke had to head off 

for their flight out of Dunedin that 

afternoon, so Pete J and I hit the Rally 

HQ, hoping to buy some tickets to the 

event dinner at the town hall that night, 

always a great function. 

With no luck at Rally HQ – everyone 

was busy finalising the rally proper – we 

had a call from Ed Mulligan who had a 

few spare tickets to unload. Thanks Ed! 

A great night at the Dunedin Town 

Hall presentation saw trophy getters 

in all classes be given an opportunity 

to speak, and some great onstage 

interviews by the MC, Brian Kelly. 

Markko Martin and Stephan Prevot, 

The Otago Rally finish at the 

beautiful Dunedin Railway 

Station. (Photo: Tom Smith) 

Frank Kelly and Noel Moloney, and 

Simon Evans and Ben Searcy all added 

to the entertainment in their own 

styles. 

With the formalities over by about 

10.30, it was off to bed for some of 

us to make the early wake-up on 

Monday morning, thanks to an 8.00am 

departure from Dunedin International 

Airport. 

The Octagon in Dunedin was primed 

for the rally after-party with one 

particular favourite bar proclaimed 

‘open until it shuts’. 

There were lots of Aussies at the 

airport at that wee early hour next 

morning, all heading home to Brisbane 

or other parts of Queensland. 

A comfortable flight home, a quick 

stop-off in the Brisbane Airport dutyfree 

shop before we hit Customs and a 

quick exit brought us back to reality. 

Somehow I don’t think the Customs 

guys are too interested in a bunch of 

locals coming home from a four-day 

break watching a car rally in NZ. 

It was all over bar the memories for 

2017, but this event sets the standard 

for a great rally weekend away. 

Easy flights across the Tasman, 

friendly people, great roads and 

wonderful countryside make the Otago 

Rally an annual event – at least for me.

BACK FOR MORE? 

Evans eyes Otago, Stanza return 

Story: TOM SMITH 

Former Australian Rally 

Champion, Simon Evans, spoke 

with RallySport Magazine 

immediately after the presentation 

finish of the Otago Rally, where he had 

competed for the first time in Darryn 

Snooks’ beautifully prepared Datsun 

Stanza. 

In a relaxed frame of mind, Evans 

gave the event a very positive scorecard 

and was in awe of the incredible roads 

on offer in the Otago region. 

“The whole event is great,” Evans 

declared. “These roads are pretty 

special, and we knew coming here was 

going to be a challenge against the 

Escorts.” 

Admitting that the Stanza was not 

quite on the pace, Simon explained that 

he had only sat in the car a matter of 

weeks before the event. 

When Darryn Snooks offered the 

drive, the newly built Stanza had barely 

turned a wheel, but it’s fair to say that 

Evans and co-driver, Ben Searcy, gave 

it a fine development test over the twoday 

event. 

“I was quoted before the event as 

saying I was going to drive the 

wheels off it and if I needed 

to, knock the rear quarters off 

the car in the process! 

“Darryn gave me a call and 

said it would be good if I didn’t 

actually do that!” Simon said 

with a smile. 

Needless to say, the car 

finished the rally in perfect 

condition, and without a 

scratch. 

Evans declared the car 

full of potential and has ideas for 

minor improvements to increase the 

competitiveness of the vehicle. 

The Stanza has been set up for 14” 

wheels, unlike much of its competition, 

and Simon says that 15” wheels would 

obviously permit a larger brake set-up, 

and improved stopping power. 

Some suspension set-up tweaking 

during the event certainly improved the 

feel of the car, but further refinement 

will follow. 

With Simon’s 2017 competition 

plans in limbo and the black GC8 

Subaru sitting in the shed, the popular 

Australian hinted strongly that more 

appearances in the Nissan at home 

could be on the cards this year. 

“More time behind the wheel will 

make a huge difference,” he said. “I 

reckon we can make this thing into a 

much more competitive package.” 

While not in the trophies for the 

event, Simon was invited to speak 

at the post-event dinner and, in his 

inimitable style, had the room in fits of 

laughter. 

With serious reflection he applauded 

the event and organisers for a brilliant 

rally, and suggested that a return visit 

could be on the cards. 

Simon Evans would like to 

further develop the Stanza 

and return to Otago in 2018. 


REPORT: 2017 OTAGO RALLY - NZRC 1 

The opening round of the 

Brian Green Property 

Group New Zealand Rally 

Championship has been run and 

won at the Drivesouth Otago 

Rally, yet it would still take a 

brave person to bet the house 

on someone in particular taking 

out the championship. 

David Holder and Jason Farmer 

took victory in the Hyundai AP4+, 

but six drivers won stages and 

without time penalties, the event 

would have seen a different 

winner and a winning margin 

of just four seconds after 280 

kilometres of special stages. 

The most eagerly anticipated 

championship in years saw as 

many as 10 realistic chances for 

outright victory, while the class 

battles all offered depth. In all, 

52 championship cars would 

cross the start ramp. 

DAY 1 

The opening stage saw Andrew 

Hawkeswood and Jeff Cress set 

the pace in their Mazda 2 AP4+, 

covering the 11.88 kilometres 

three seconds faster than 

defending champion Holder, 

with Sloan Cox and Sarah 

Coatsworth’s Mitsubishi Evo 10 

only a further three tenths of a 

second further back in third. 

It was the second stage 

where Hawkeswood made his 

move with a time 9.4 seconds 

faster than Rhys Gardner and 

Ally Mackay, who would move 

themselves into second in 

another Mazda 2, while another 

third fastest time secured third 

for Cox. 

Hawkeswood’s run of stage 

wins stopped when he clipped 

a corner and nearly rolled, 

allowing Glenn Inkster and 

Spencer Winn to take the stage 

win in their Skoda Fabia AP4+, 

which saw them move into third 

behind Holder. 

The results across the 42km 

were incredibly tight, with 

Inkster, Graham Featherstone/ 

Dave Devenport (Evo 7), Holder 

and Hawkeswood all separated 

by 3.2 seconds. 

By the time the teams had 

made their way to service, 

plenty of drama had struck right 

throughout the field. One of the 

big note casualties was Matt 

and Nicole Summerfield, with 

gearbox failure 5.5km into stage 

one, while Clint Cunningham’s 

debut of his Ford Fiesta didn’t 

last much longer before his 

engine dropped onto two 

cylinders. 

Then, in stage three, Darren 

Galbraith’s brake problems 

saw his Evo 8 off the road for 

a minute and a half, gearbox 

Photo: Geoff Ridder 

HOLDER 

... but Hawkeswood and Gardner 

Story: BLAIR BARTELS 

Photos: GEOFF RIDDER, 

PETER WHITTEN 


HOLDS ON 

push him all the way 

David Holder pushes the 

Hyundai i20 AP4+ hard, 

on his way to victory in 

the Otago Rally. 




Rhys Gardner, Mazda 2 

problems saw Andy Martin’s 

VW Polo roll, and Josh 

Marston’s new Holden Barina 

AP4+ suffered engine failure. 

The 32km of Glendhu, stage 

four, were not the longest 

of the day, but the most 

treacherous through a mixture 

of forestry and public roads. A 

stage win saw Holder take the 

rally lead with Hawkeswood 

slipping to second, and well 

within the clutches of third 

placed Gardner. 

Worse would follow for 

Hawkeswood when he found 

a cracked oil cooler on the 

touring stage. Although able to 

repair the problem, he clocked 

in five minutes late and with it, 

50 seconds of penalties. 

Other front runners striking 

drama in the stage included 

Cox with a puncture, and Emma 

Gilmour/Anthony McLaughlin 

(Suzuki Swift Maxi) who retired 

after the stage, having become 

stuck in second gear. 

Once Holder hit the lead, he would 

hold onto it for the day’s remaining 

three stages, despite a Hawkeswood 

charge seeing him win all three. 

A superb drive from Gardner in the 

older Mazda 2 AP4+ car saw him in 

second, while Hawkeswood would just 

pip Inkster for third on the final tarmac 

super special stage. 

A penalty for lateness en-route to the 

final stage would see Inkster drop a 

further spot to Featherstone, the pair in 

fourth and fifth overnight. 

Class battles saw Dylan Thomson and 

Amy Hudson lead the NZRC two-wheel 

drive class for front-wheel drive cars 

under two-litre, after early leaders 

Ari Pettigrew/David Calder had a rock 

pierce their radiator and consequently 

overheat the engine, ending their event. 

Chris MacLean and Sarah Brennan 

were second after a strong day, with 

Andrew Hawkeswood, Mazda 2 

Frank Kelly, Ford Escort. 


Graham Featherstone, Lancer Evo 

Robbie and Amy Stokes third. Drama 

hit Jack Hawkeswood, who rolled in 

stage two, and Max Tregilgas, who lost 

close to half an hour with an electrical 

gremlin. 

Open two-wheel drive saw an early 

battle between Frank Kelly/Noel 

Moloney and Anthony Jones/Tanya 

Gwynne in a pair of modern powered 

Escorts, until Kelly slipped off in stage 

four. 

Jeff Ward/Murray O’Neill’s Hillman 

Hunter V8 was second after the 

opening day, with Jack and Brenda 

Williamson’s Suzuki Swift third after a 

raft of problems. 

Historics were all about Regan Ross 

and Lisa Hudson in their Ford Escort 

as they headed off not only the best of 

the NZRC historic field, but also former 

WRC star Markko Martin on their way to 

sixth outright, including a fourth fastest 

time through stage four. 

Defending class champions Marcus 

van Klink/Dave Neill were second in 

their Mazda RX-7, clear of the similar 

car of John Silcock/Richard Atkinson. 

The Gull Rally Challenge saw Keith 

Anderson/Samantha Gray set the early 

pace in the ex-Paddon/Holder Evo 8, 

ahead of Jono Walker/Jeremy Dawson’s 

Evo 6. 

Mechanical failures for both allowed 

Richard Bateman/Jordyn Smith into 

a class lead they wouldn’t lose, over 

Fred Merkin/Sandra Everson and Lloyd 

Owen/Jonty Brenssell, all in Evos. 

The two-wheel drive side of the 

class saw Deane Buist and Karl Celeste 

take victory, also beating home the 

four-wheel drive cars, to lead home 

David Taylor/Pania Huntley and Daniel 

Alexander/Richard Burnett. 


Deane Buist, Ford Escort. 

Glenn Inkster, Skoda Fabia 

Sloan Cox, Mitsubishi Evo 

However, on the very next stage, 

Gardner could only achieve the 14 th 

fastest time and Holder regained the 

lead, with Hawkeswood third, less than 

14 seconds adrift. 

The 47km stage through Berwick 

Forest was thought to be the deciding 

factor and correctly so with Cox, Holder 

and Hawkeswood all charging to the 

top three times, separated by just 2.3 

seconds, with Gardner’s fourth fastest 

Carl Davies, Toyota Yaris 

DAY 2 

Day two would see Holder give up the 

lead on the opening stage with a spin, 

allowing Gardner into the lead for one 

stage, while a rejoining Gilmour set the 

pace in search of day two bonus points. 



Ben Hunt, Subaru WRX STI. 

time a massive 40 seconds off 

the pace, meaning he would 

settle into third place. 

Leaving the final service, 

teams had four stages to 

negotiate, but still there were 

stings in the tail. 

First to fall victim was 

Inkster, who retired from 

fourth with engine failure, 

promoting Featherstone and 

Cox into the top five, although 

Cox would limp home with 

a sick sounding centre 

differential. 

With the final results more 

or less settled, the Power 

Stage saw Featherstone 

take top points, heading off 

Summerfield by just a tenth of 

2017 Stadium Cars Otago Classic Rally 

1. David Holder / Jason Farmer Hyundai AP4+ 2:48:38.0 

2. Andrew Hawkeswood / Jeff Cress Mazda 2 AP4 +0:45.9 

3. Rhys Gardner / Ally MacKay Mazda 2 AP4 +2:03.4 

4. Graham Featherstone / Dave Devonport Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 7 +3:03.5 

5. Sloan Cox / Sarah Coatsworth Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X +4:02.7 

6. Regan Ross / Lisa Hudson Ford Escort RS1800 +4:53.1 

7. Dylan Turner / Malcolm Read Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 +5:06.4 

8. Ben Hunt / Tony Rawstorn Subaru Impreza WRX +5:30.0 

9. Deane Buist / Karl Celeste Ford Escort Mk2 +6:19.4 

10. Dave Strong / Bruce McKenzie Ford Fiesta S2000 +8:45.4 


a second, while Hawkeswood, 

Holder and Ben Hunt took the 

remaining bonus points. 

But nothing would stop 

Holder taking victory, 

45.9 seconds ahead of 

Hawkeswood, who was left 

ruing his 50 second time 

penalty, while Gardner’s NZRC 

return netted a solid third on 

his home event. 

The NZRC two-wheel drive 

class saw Thomson take 

the win over MacLean and 

Tregilgas, who was fortunate 

to overhaul Stokes when he hit 

a rock. 

Open two-wheel drive 

went the way of Jones, with 

Williamson in second after 

Josh Marston, Holden Barina. 

Ward failed to finish with computer 

problems. 

Historics saw Ross take a dominant 

victory, but he was forced to concede 

for the outright classic rally by just 10 

seconds to Martin, with Silcock second 

after van Klink rolled, and Tony Gosling 

was lucky to survive a fifth gear spin on 

Kuri Bush to take third. 

While Holder and Hawkeswood 

hold a distinct advantage as the series 

heads to round two, the format of the 

Whangarei event is up there as the 

most challenging of the season. 

Keep an eye out for the report 

next issue - the New Zealand Rally 

Championpship pis just warming up!

RALLY MATES 

MIKKELSEN SET FOR 

4TH HYUNDAI SEAT 

As we went to press, 

2016 Rally Australia winner, 

Andreas Mikkelsen, was 

said to be on the verge of 

a signing to drive a fourth 

Hyundai i20 WRC from Rally 

Portugal onwards. 

There had initially been 

talk that the Norwegian 

may replace Juho Hanninen 

at Toyota, but a deal 

with Hyundai now seems 

imminent according to 

British website Autosport. 

Is Rally Australia winner 

Andreas Mikkelsen 

Hyundai bound? 

"We are talking to 

everybody, but it's not just 

this year or next year - it's 

the future,” Mikkelsen said. 

"It's looking positive and 

more positive than when 

we were talking last time in 

Sweden. 

"We have developed our 

conversations a lot, it's going 

in the right direction," he 

told Autosport. 

The Rally of Portugal will 

be held in mid-May. 

Thanks to our 'Rally Mates' for their continued 

support of RallySport Magazine. 

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5 MINUTES WITH .... 

5 

minutes with ... 

NORMAN OAKLEY 

Norm Oakley is known to many across the sport 

in New Zealand, his name now synonymous 

with the Otago Sports Car Club and the alwaysimpressive 

Otago Rally. 

Story: KATE GORDON-SMITH 

How did you get started in motorsport? 

What inspired/encouraged you to get involved 

in the sport? 

I had a family connection with the 

sport with Dad having been heavily 

involved with the early Dunedin Street 

Races as long ago as 1953. 

My first competitive experience was 

in a Vintage Car Club hill climb driving a 

1935 Speed 20 Alvis in the 1970s! 

After spending some years in 

Wellington and then overseas, I 

returned to Dunedin in 1985, joined the 

Otago Sports Car Club and bought my 

first rally car. 

I competed in a range of hill climbs, 

trials, autocrosses and local rallies 

as well as becoming involved with 

club administration, serving as speed 

convenor for a while and then President 

for a couple of years. 

What’s your current passion or 

commitment? 

I like all aspects of the sport, but my 

main interest and passion has always 

been rallying. I’ve been part of the 

organising team for the Otago Rally for 

about 25 years, acting as Clerk of the 

Course (CoC) for about 20 of those, and 

helped grow the event over that time. 

I was chairman of the rally 

commission for a number of years and 

am currently a Board member of Motor 

Sport New Zealand (MSNZ), Gold Rally 

CoC and Steward. 

What do you get out of volunteering in 

motorsport? What do you like the most, and 

what are the challenges? 

Most of all, it’s the friends I’ve made 

over the years and the camaraderie 

that exists, whether stewarding or 

running an event. 

With the Otago Rally it’s been the 

opportunity to work with a great group 

of people, all volunteers, who have 

been committed to making the event as 

good as it can be. 

There’s a good deal of satisfaction 

in being part of a team that has run a 

successful event, whether it be a rally, 

Dunedin Street Race or the Race to the 

The incredible success of the Otago Rally is down to the hard work and forward thinking of Norm Oakley and the Otago Sports Car Club team. 

36 

Photos: | RALLYSPORT 

Red 

MAGAZINE 

Bull Content 

- APRIL 2017 

Pool

Sky. As a Board member of MSNZ it’s 

been the opportunity to contribute at a 

higher level. 

The challenges include trying to keep 

events fresh and innovative, finding the 

volunteers, and the funding to run the 

event. 

Tell us a bit about your club. 

The OSCC was founded in 1947 

and was one of the original eight 

members of the ANZCC, now MSNZ. It 

is a ‘traditional’, geographically-based 

motorsport club (as opposed to a 

special interest or one make club) that 

has an active competition programme 

centred around hill climbs and 

autocrosses. 

The club was 

heavily involved with 

the early Dunedin 

Street races and ran 

the first Otago Rally 

in 1976. 

It has a stable 

membership 

and runs a hotly 

contested speed 

championship. 

What challenges and 

opportunities do you 

Keen to keep up with Kiwi motorsport 

news from the sport’s New Zealand 

governing body, MotorSport NZ? 

Simply subscribe to their bi-monthly 

e-mag, Accelerate, or read the latest 

issue online. 

see for your club in the future? 

Like all clubs, staying relevant in 

a changing world. The days of ‘club 

nights’ seem to be over and much 

of the social life that those evenings 

created has diminished. 

However, the club is well served by 

its current committee and is in a sound 

financial state. 

As a volunteer, 

approximately how 

many events have you 

been involved with 

over the past year, and 

previous years? 

In the last year: numerous meetings 

to organise the Otago Rally, plus the 

weekend itself, helping at three or four 

other rallies, a couple of stewarding 

appointments, MSNZ Board meetings. 

Over the last 30 years: perhaps about 

25-30 rallies as CoC, five years as CoC 

at Race to the Sky, several years as CoC 

for the Dunedin Street Race, plus a 

whole lot of other stuff! 

Photos: Geoff Ridder, Peter Whitten 


REPORT: RALLY MEXICO - WRC 3 

MEEKE 

BOUNCES 

BACK 

By MARTIN HOLMES 




Kris Meeke’s fourth WRC 

career win suddenly 

put Citroen back into 

championship contention for 2017 

on Rally Mexico. 

This was dramatic for various 

reasons, firstly because of a 

chaotic situation when the Friday 

route was shortened because 

of logistical problems after 

the Ceremonial Start, then a 

remarkable series of technical 

misfortunes for nearly every top 

crew on the first stage on the 

Friday. 

Lastly, an incredible accident for 

Meeke within sight of the flying 

finish of the last stage almost saw 

him throw victory away. 

Sebastien Ogier hung on to 

second place, leaving Mexico 

with M-Sport leading both the 

Manufacturers’ and now also the 

Driver’s series. 

Citroen’s victory represented the 

fourth successive WRC win for a 

different manufacturer. 

There was a very small entry. Only 

24 cars arrived, the number already 

bolstered by entries from the FIA’s 

regional NACAM championship, without 

whom there would have been only 18. 

Low level entries are nowadays 

endemic on long haul rallying and 

a characteristic which has recently 

extended into the FIA’s regional 

championships in Africa and the Middle 

East. 

Zero points for quantity, but almost 

maximum for quality, however. Half of 

the whole field were World Rally Cars, 

11 of which were 2017 version cars, and 

each team proved to be competitive 

on this rally. At the end of Friday each 

team had a car in the top four places. 

Another second 

place for M-Sport’s 

Sebastien Ogier. 

Ott Tanak was 

fourth, continuing 

his good start to 

2017. 

Mexico was Toyota’s 

first hurdle with the 

new Yaris WRC. 

The event started with the 

news that Elfyn Evans’s DMack 

sponsored 2017 Fiesta WRC had 

a five-minute penalty for requiring an 

engine change after scrutineering. It 

meant that from the second full day 

onwards he was running first or second 

car on the road, and was only able to 

recover to ninth place overall. 

DMack supplied new run-flat gravel 

tyres and Evans won three stages, 

a total beaten only by Neuville and 

Meeke. 

The second event drama came on 

the Friday. Close to the start of the 

event the organisers had negotiated a 

deal with the Mexico City authorities to 

hold a Ceremonial Start coupled with 

a couple of runs round a downtown 

stage, right in the centre of the city. 

Cars were transported down from 

Leon and apart from inclement weather 

the activities in the city went well. 


There was, however, a serious road 

accident which blocked the highway 

for the return trip and the transporters 

were badly delayed, arriving too late for 

the cars to be offloaded before leaving 

for the first loop of stages. 

Like in Argentina 2007, it meant 

rescheduling the route and this time 

two major stages were lost. 

Not for the first time, Kris 

Meeke took advantage of a golden 

opportunity. Like his victory in Portugal 

in 2016 after running 13th on the road 

on Days 1 and 2, and then his win in 

Finland after running eighth on Days 

1 and 2, his lack lustre performances 

in the WRC earlier this year meant 

he again started with a highly 

advantageous starting position. 

He used this benefit to full effect, 

coupled with another golden 

opportunity. He had a trouble free run 

on the first representative stage on the 

event when all the other top drivers 

had technical trouble, launching himself 

into a lead he held for the rest of the 

event. 

This was the first time the 2017 World 

Rally Cars faced technically challenging 

conditions, which combined heat and 

high altitude with long twisting, slow 

stages, leading to overheating in rival 

cars. 

Once the shock of these troubles 

died down, the rest of the event was 

very much predictable. There were 

tyre choice dilemmas created by the 

preferences of drivers to drive on the 

faster, but less robust, soft compound 

tyres, while the tyre suppliers (which 

in effect means Michelin) dictated that 

hard compound tyres would overall be 

more suitable on this event, and drivers 

struggled with worn out tyres. 

And of course there was another last 

minute panic for Meeke. This time he 

went off the road at the end of the final 

stage, regaining the stage after a detour 

through a track-side car park, happily 

retaining his lead. 

“I got caught out on a bump after the 

jump at a fast right. I’m a lucky boy, a 

lucky, lucky boy. Okay, it’s certainly one 

way to finish a rally, but okay, we didn’t 

need that ...” Meeke said. 

“Trying to find my way out of the 

parked cars and trying to find a gap in 

the hedge, a lot of things went my way.” 

suffered fuel filter problems at the 

same time and place, with Dani Sordo 

suffering time-wise most of all. 

Top Hyundai driver nearly all the 

way was Thierry Neuville, in third place 

behind Meeke and Ogier, but Hayden 

Paddon could not make competitive 

times. 

Ogier only lost his chance of 

pressuring Meeke midday Saturday 

when he spun. 

As the rally progressed, however, 

the team in trouble was Toyota, as 

Jari-Matti Latvala struggled to recover 

from his running order handicap as 

championship leader to run first car, 

suffering badly. 

His teammate, Juho Hanninen, who 

had been leading after the Thursday 

super special stages in Mexico City (his 

times achieved before heavy rain fell), 

struggling as he was feeling unwell. 

Other excitements were when 

Stephane Lefebvre slid irretrievably into 

a ditch in the second Citroen, and a roll 

by the private 2017 Ford driver Lorenzo 

Bertelli. 

There were no WRC3 entries, only 

one entry (the Mini of Valeriy 

Gorban) in WRC Trophy, and five 

in WRC2. 

The most exciting battle of the whole 

event was between the Skoda of Pontus 

Tidemand and the Ford of Eric Camilli, 

with Tidemand entering the final 

morning with only a two second lead. 

Third was the Mexican Benito Guerra, 

the former FIA Production Car World 

Dani Sordo charges 

through the super 

special stage. 

The opening orthodox stage told 

almost the whole story of the rally, 

with Meeke controlling his dominant 

position. 

There was a shock at a super special 

at the end of Friday’s route, when all 

three Hyundai i20 Coupe cars, which 

had been lying third, fourth and fifth 

behind the leaders Meeke and Ogier, 



Rally Champion on his first event in an 

R5, which was plagued (like with many 

others) with brake troubles. 

In the Manufacturers series M-Sport 

extended their lead over Toyota to 36 

points in the Drivers series Ogier was 

ahead of Latvala by eight points, with 

Ott Tanak third. 

In WRC2 Tidemand, following 

successive victories in the category, 

took the lead in the series, with Camilli 

in second, ahead of former leader 

Andreas Mikkelsen. 

Thierry Neuville 

was the best placed 

Hyundai in third. 

Winners are 

grinners: Meeke 

and Nagle celebrate. 

2017 Rally of Mexico - WRC round 3 

1. Kris MEEKE/Paul Nagle Citroen C3 WRC 3h.22m.04.6s 

2. Sebastien OGIER/Julien Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 3h.22m.18.4s 

3. Thierry NEUVILLE/Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3h.23m.04.3s 

4. Ott TANAK/Martin Jarveoja Ford Fiesta WRC 3h.24m.22.9s 

5. Hayden PADDON/John Kennard Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3h.25m.37.5s 

6. Jari-Matti LATVALA/Miikka Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC 3h.26m.44.9s 

7. Juho HANNINEN/Kaj Lindstrom Toyota Yaris WRC 3h.27m.10.8s 

8. Dani SORDO/Marc Marti Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3h.27m.27.3s 

9. Elfyn EVANS/Daniel Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC 3h.30m.46.4s 

10. Pontus Tidemand/Jonas Andersson Skoda Fabia R5 3h.32m.56.5s 

A solid fifth place 

for Hayden Paddon 

in his Hyundai i20. 


REPORT: EUREKA RALLY - VRC 1 

Borrowed car 

no problem for 

Arron Windus 

Following a last minute deal only 

hours before the ceremonial 

start to run Craig Brookes' old 

Subaru, Ballarat local Arron Windus and 

co-driver, Steve Fisher, won the opening 

round of the Focus on Furniture 

Victorian Rally Championship at the 

Eureka Rally from March 17-19. 

The goldrush city of Ballarat played 

host to two days of competition 

covering 220 competitive kilometres 

across 18 special stages, utlisiing the 

fast forestry roads of Wombat Forest to 

the east, and Enfield State Park to the 

south. 

Before tackling the relentlessly fast 

forestry roads, the event began with 

a relaxed atmosphere as the 38 crews 

mingled with locals for the ceremonial 

start on Friday evening in the heart of 

the business district. 

Saturday’s action got underway 

with Australia’s international rally ace 

Brendan Reeves and co-driver Ben 

Searcy (Subaru) setting the early pace, 

winning all four morning stages to 

open up a 37.2 second lead over Glen 

Raymond/Kate Catford (Subaru), with 

Windus/Fisher a further 25 seconds in 

arrears. 

The returning Stephen Raymond 

and Luke Simpson (Subaru) kept the 

trio ahead honest with a string of 

competitive times to finish the opening 

loop fourth, and less than a second 

ahead of the leading Mitsubishi of 

Marcus and Scott Walkem in fifth. 

Reeves continued his dominance, 

winning stages six and seven in the 

afternoon, but the rally would soon 

turn on its head when he ran out of 

brakes in SS8 and subsequently retired. 

Glen Raymond’s opportunity to 

jump into the rally lead was short 

lived though when a fuel pump issue 

cost him more than a minute on SS9, 

dropping him to second behind the 

consistent Windus. 


CRAIG O’BRIEN 

He would eventually finish the 

heat 53 seconds behind. His brother, 

Stephen, encountered a fuel surge 

problem in the afternoon stages, 

resulting in his retirement from the 

event and lifting the Walkems to third. 

With no wind and very dry conditions, 

the hanging dust, which had caused 

problems for Saturday’s stages, peaked 

to near impossible visibility levels for 

White Swan 1 on Sunday morning. 

Windus/Fisher were one of the worse 

effected crews, dropping 36 seconds to 

Reeves/Searcy, who returned for heat 

two following overnight repairs. A bent 

lower control arm further compounded 

Windus’ morning. 

Further down the field, Jackson Evans 

showed plenty of the speed and a 

spectacular driving style reminiscent 

of father Simon, in a frontwheel drive 

G2 Volkswagen Polo. In his VRC debut, 

he lost fourth gear early on Saturday 

morning, before retiring with a broken 

throttle cable on Sunday afternoon. 

Our Auto Rally Series graduates Luca 

Giacomin/Brett Williams (Subaru) set 

a string of top 10 times throughout 

and looked set for a strong finish until 

losing an argument with a tree on the 

penultimate stage. 

A faultless and committed drive 

yielded Reeves a dominant heat two 

victory, winning all eight stages, almost 

two minutes clear of Raymond/Catford 

and Windus. 

Despite winning 14 stages, Reeves' 

retirement in Heat 1 dropped him 

out of contention for the overall win, 

leaving Windus to collect his third 

career VRC round win, by 19 seconds 

from Raymond. 

In the 2WD competition it was 

a tussle between the two Walker 

Motorsport Escorts with each grabbing 

a heat win, but it would be Grant 

Walker/Steph Richards who would 

ultimately come out of top ahead of 

Luke Sytema/Adam Wright. 

In the new Fiesta Rally Series, Nathan 

Berry/Rian Calder (pictured in action 

below) showed incredible pace all 

weekend to take the honours and 8th 

outright. 

Anthony Alexander/Paul Dobson 

were first Excel home in the OurAuto 

Rally Series. 


REPORT: TOUR DE CORSE - WRC 4 

THIRD TIME 

LUCKY 

FOR NEUVILLE 

By MARTIN HOLMES 


By the end of a dramatic Tour de 

Corse, all four teams had now 

won a world championship rally 

this year. 

After disappointments on both Monte 

Carlo and Sweden, Thierry Neuville 

brought Hyundai a win with a 2017 

car, but victory only came after Citroen 

driver Kris Meeke had led the way for 

half the event, when world champion 

M-Sport driver, Sebastien Ogier, was 

chasing him hard. 

Meeke’s engine blew up and Ogier’s 

hydraulics and electrics faltered. This 

gifted Neuville the win his team craved. 

No fewer than five of the 11 top 

WRC team drivers ran under Rally 2 

rules, due to mechanical and driving 

errors which afflicted both M-Sport and 

Citroen, while Toyota also had driver 

related missed stages. 

Neuville’s teammate, Dani Sordo, had 

been lying second before being passed 

by Ogier on the final stage, despite 

suffering from hydraulic troubles like 

the other M-Sport drivers Tanak and 

Evans, which left his Fiesta down on 

power before the Power Stage, with 

no anti-lag, locked differential and no 

handbrake! 

Latvala’s fastest time on the Power 

Stage gave him fourth place overall 

and enabled him to hold on to second 

place, behind Ogier, in the Drivers’ 

championship, while M-Sport still heads 

the Manufacturers’ charts. 

Craig Breen once again finished best 

Citroen driver, this time fifth ahead of 

Hayden Paddon, who had an unhappy 

rally. 

For the second time this season, 

Andreas Mikkelsen was unbeatable in 

WRC2 and has got himself into the top 

10 of the Drivers’ standings; Raphael 

Astier won WRC3; Nil Solans won JWRC, 

and Romain Dumas won R-GT. 

In many ways, this was perhaps 

the most anticipated event of the 

season, the event which is recognised 

as the purest all-asphalt rally in 

the sport. The stages averaged over 

30km in length, a test as much for the 

physical efforts of the drivers as the 

reliability of the cars. 

This year’s event was also the first 

time that the exciting looking low 

slung 2017 World Rally Cars were sent 

out in the environment in which their 

dramatic designs could be shown to 

best effect. 

Citroen now followed suit with 

Hyundai and M-Sport and came out 

with three 2017 cars for the first time, 

only Toyota fielded just two cars. 

Given the amount of testing decreed 

for teams, what was surprising was 

the extent of unreliability shown by 

some of the teams, but the strangest 

A third second place 

sees Ogier retain 

the WRC lead. 

aspect through the event was the 

unpredictable behaviour of the cars. 

A most frequent comment was that 

the times were bad, though the car felt 

good one day, and cars in a given setup 

could not work well another day! 

Right from the start this was a twodriver 

battle between Kris Meeke and 

Sebastien Ogier, with Meeke winning 

three of the first day’s four stages and 

Ogier the other, with Thierry Neuville 

heading the also rans. 

Neuville only started to be 

competitive on the second day when he 

suddenly won three of the four stages 

that day, which was when Meeke’s 

engine failed and Ogier started to have 

troubles with his car. 

Ogier finally lost touch with Neuville 

on the final stage of Day 2, when he 

suddenly found himself more than 

Finally Thierry 

Neuville took his 

first victory for 2017. 

a half-minute behind because of 

hydraulic issues, which had already 

affected the Fiestas of Ott Tanak and 

Elfyn Evans. 

Ogier started off the final morning 

hoping for the best, but the problems 

continued, while Neuville was far 

away in the lead. It took all of Ogier’s 

brilliance to nurse his unhappy car, with 

its intermittent problem, into second 

place. 

Keeping the cars working was 

one thing, keeping the cars 

on the road, even in the ideal 

conditions, was another. 

Ogier’s teammate, Tanak, went 

into a ditch on the first morning, Juho 

Hanninen then went off in the second 

Toyota, while Stephane Lefebvre in 

the third Citroen lost a wheel when he 

impacted a bridge. 


REPORT: TOUR DE CORSE - WRC 4 

Looking back on the event, this was 

a rally of two distinct halves. The first 

half saw Kris Meeke completely in 

command, not showing any of the little 

incidents which frequently cause his 

fans to worry, until the engine failed. 

2017 Tour de Corse - WRC round 4 

What was noticeable was the lack of 

confidence from Ogier when under 

pressure from Meeke. 

The second half saw fans now 

worrying about Neuville, remembering 

his second day disasters on earlier 

1. Thierry NEUVILLE/Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3h.22m.53.4s 

2. Sebastien OGIER/Julien Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 3h.23m.48.1s 

3. Dani SORDO/Marc Marti Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3h.23m.49.4s 

4. Jari-Matti LATVALA/Miikka Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC 3h.24m.03.0s 

5. Craig BREEN/Scott Martin Citroen C3 WRC 3h24m03.1s 

6. Hayden PADDON/John Kennard Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3h.25m09.7s 

7. Andreas MIKKELSEN/Anders Jaeger Skoda Fabia R5 3h31m04.1s 

8. Teemu SUNINEN/Mikko Markkula Ford Fiesta R5 3h.32m.10.4s 

9. Stephane SARRAZIN/J. Renucci Skoda Fabia R5 3h32m17.0s 

10. Yohan ROSSEL/Benoit Fulcrand Citroen DS3 R5 3h35m50.5s 

rallies this year, but third time lucky, all 

went right for him. 

Andreas Mikkelsen had no rivals 

in WRC2. An early challenger 

came from Eric Camilli, but 

Camilli hit a bridge, and this put Teemu 

Suninen into second place, albeit 

finishing one minute behind. 

Fastest in Shakedown was Mikkelsen, 

ahead of Camilli and Kopecky. The 

Norwegian finished the first day only 

20 seconds ahead of the unregistered 

R5 of veteran sportsman, 41 year old 

Stephane Sarrazin, who was on his first 

event since Corsica last year, driving 

another Fabia. 

Mikkelsen said he had been careful: 

“It was impossible to commit because 

we had no gravel note crew. I backed 

off in every corner when I could see 

there was some dirt in the road. Not 

very enjoyable!” 

Mikkelsen’s Skoda teammate, Jan 

Kopeky, held third place early on, but 

then suffered power steering trouble. 

Bryan Bouffier retired from fourth 

place, while Simone Tempestini had 

gearbox trouble. 

Through Days 2 and 3, Mikkelsen 

continued on his winning way ahead of 

Clockwise from top right: Jari-Matti Latvala, Kris 

Breen and Dani Sordo. It was perfect weather for 


Suninen, Rossel and Veiby. 

WRC2 drivers Martin Koci and WRC3/ 

Junior driver William Wagner both 

crashed heavily, causing stages to be 

stopped while the injured crews were 

evacuated to hospital. 

The final day saw three Skodas, two 

Fords and two Citroens finish in the top 

seven. 

WRC3 had 13 starters, which included 

10 running in the new Fiesta-based 

WRC Junior category, for which this 

was the opening round, and in which 

DMack became an official FIA rally 

championship partner for the first time. 

Raphael Astier lead the WRC3 class in 

his Peugeot throughout, ahead of Junior 

driver Nil Solans, and Terry Folb and 

Nicolas Ciamin who swapped places for 

third and fourth on the final day. 

Although there were no WRC Trophy 

cars, there were two R-GT entries for 

Romain Dumas (Porsche) and Francois 

Delecour (Abarth). 

After the first day’s competition 

Dumas was a couple of minutes ahead 

of Delecour. Dumas eased his pace on 

Day 2 when his tyres overheated, which 

allowed Delecour to push hard, but he 

was unable to overtake his rival. 

Meeke, Andreas Mikkelsen, Elfyn Evans, Craig 

tarmac rallying. 


INTERVIEW: FLEUR PEDERSEN 

NZ’S FIRST LADY 

With well over 320 

rallies under her belt, 

Fleur Pedersen is clearly 

New Zealand’s First Lady 

of co-driving. 

As the long-term codriver 

of Brian Green, 

their 14 year partnership 

has seen them visit many 

parts of the world, with 

an impressive list of 

results. 


“As time went on, I gained 

experience and knowledge, 

but I still look for any 

opportunity to learn - often 

from other co-drivers” 

RSM: Our research on the impressive ewrcresults.com 

website shows you have done 151 

events in your career. Do you have a record 

of them all, and how many have been in New 

Zealand? 

FP: Yes I have kept a record, though 

it does have a few gaps and it needs 

updating from the last couple of years 

- this interview is a good prompt to do 

so! EWRC of course only lists the rallies 

that they have been able to access 

online results for, so my actual rally 

tally numbers far more than 151. 

In New Zealand the number of rallies 

I have competed in is approximately 

170. 

Can you tell us how many in other 

countries? 

Wales: 1 (WRC 2007), Sweden: 1 (WRC 

2010), Finland: 2 (Arctic Lapland Rally 

2009 and 2010), India: 2 (APRC 2003, 

2004), Japan: 6, Indonesia: 6, Australia: 

10, Thailand: 17, New Caledonia: 17, 

Malaysia: 33, China: 35 - 40 (I have a 

few gaps in my records from Chinese 

events) 

You have co-driven almost exclusively 

for Brian Green in your career. How did this 

association come about? 

Just over two thirds of my rallies have 

been with Brian. Back in 2002, a friend 

of mine who was co-driving in the Asia 

Pacific Rally Championship rang me to 

let me know Brian’s co-driver was going 

to be stepping down at the end of the 

year, and he encouraged me to ring 

Brian to ask him to consider me for the 

co-drive. 

Having no experience of writing notes 

or rallying outside New Zealand, I didn’t 

really seriously consider this. However, 

my friend persisted in calling me until 

I got the courage to make the phone 

call to Brian. At the time, I knew who he 

was and had probably met him a few 

times at New Zealand events. The initial 

phone call was very brief, maybe five 

minutes maximum, and I thought - oh 

well, I gave it a shot, never mind! 

Two days later he rang me back and 

explained the challenges of the APRC, 

of competing in countries with extreme 

climates, strange foods, tough road 

conditions and foreign languages. After 

about half an hour of discussion, he 

asked me to co-drive for him on a trial 

basis for one rally in Thailand later that 

year - the following month in fact! 

The rally itself was a fail as we blew 

the engine on stage three, but the 

partnership that followed has been a 

great success! 

Brian is 29 years older than you - how has 

the relationship worked over the many years 

you’ve been together? 

In the early days I certainly had a lot 

to learn from Brian! I was relatively 

experienced in co-driving in New 

Zealand events, but had never written 

pacenotes and never rallied outside of 

New Zealand. I learnt in lot in the first 

few years about how to cope with the 

challenging conditions overseas, how 

to write pacenotes from scratch, how to 

plan for recce, the differences between 

national and international rallies. 

As time went on, I gained experience 

and knowledge, but I still look for any 

opportunity to learn - though this is 

often now from other co-drivers (for 

example John Kennard). 

In our early days, the media often 

referred to our partnership as ‘Brian 

Green and his young co-driver Fleur 

Pedersen’. A number of years later it 

changed to ‘Brian Green and his regular 

co-driver Fleur Pedersen’, and now it is 

often ‘veteran Brian Green and his very 

experienced co-driver Fleur Pedersen’. 

The partnership is at a point now 

where I can usually predict what he is 

going to tell me to write during recce, 

and I can tell his mood and frame of 

mind by his body language and actions 

the morning of a rally. I also know his 

favourite wine variety and desert, ha 

ha! 

You’ve had some great results over the 

years, however, the partnership is clearly 


Fleur Pedersen is a 

much travelled co-driver. 

(Photo: Geoff Ridder) 


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more than just about the results. Why? 

We have won three FIA international 

rallies (Malaysia 2003, Malaysia 2004 

and Thailand 2011) and we have also 

won 2 national championships together 

(Malaysia 2004 and2012). 

Brian also enabled me to win the codriver’s 

championship in 2011 and 2012 

in New Caledonia, though unfortunately 

both times he finished runner-up in the 

drivers’ championship. 

We finished runners-up in the 

Malaysian Championship in 2013, 

though we did win the Group N class 

for the year. We won the Production 

Class of the APRC in 2012 (the year 

before it began being formally 

recognised by the FIA), and were third 

in the series for that year. We have 

won a number of other rallies outright, 

including a round of the NZRC in 2012 

(incidentally making Brian the oldest 

driver to win a round of the NZRC), and 

achieved numerous podium placings 

in rallies from club level 

to international in the 

14 years we have been a 

team. 

The latest podium for us 

was achieved at Waitomo 

Rally last year, where we 

finished third overall. We 

also finished third in the 

Targa Campione Series 

in New Zealand last year, 

which is contested over 

all of the competitive days 

(points being awarded 

each day) of all three 

Targa events. 

In Pahia in 2015 

(Rally of the North) we 

battled a field of much 

younger drivers to finish 

second overall. We also picked up a 

second overall in the first round of the 

Malaysian Championship that year - a 

championship we should have had 

much better results in for the year, 

but we were let down by mechanical 

failures on our leased car. 

However, to answer the question, 

the partnership is indeed about more 

than just results. Of course, we love 

to be on the podium and bring home 

the trophies with heads held high, but 

there is so much more to rallying and 

so much more to the partnership than 

this. 

For us the 14 years we have been 

rallying together has been filled with so 

many adventures, so many new places 

and new experiences, new people to 

meet and friends to make worldwide. 

We are both very passionate about 

rallying and both love actually being in 

the car and challenging ourselves on 

the stages. 

We have mutual 

respect for the job 

that each other 

does, and we have 

a huge amount of 

trust in each other 

to do those jobs. If 

a mistake is made 

by either of us, an 

apology is made 

and we move on. 

We also have fun 

and enjoy what 

we do. 

At the end of a 

tough day, in the 

heat and humidity 

of Malaysia or the freezing snow and 

ice in Mohe, China, we can sit down and 

discuss the day, whether good or bad. 

Co-driving for Brian has opened 

up opportunities I may never have 

otherwise had and I have been to 

places and had experiences I could 

never have even imagined. 

We have rallied on the river that 

separates China and Russia while it was 

frozen. We were the first New Zealand 

competitors to compete in the Arctic 

Lapland Rally in Finland in 2009. We 

had the opportunity to go for a ride in a 

Ford Focus WRC in 

2010 on the snow 

whilst out testing 

for Rally Sweden. 

I became the 

first New Zealand 

female to win an 

international rally 

in 2003 when we 

won the Malaysian 

International Rally. 

Adventure and 

experiences are 

often worth so 

much more than 

just the final rally 

result. 

Brian is one of NZ 

Victory at Gisborne in 

2012 with Brian Green. 

(Photo: Geoff Ridder) 

2012 Hawkes Bay Rally 

with Brian Green in the 

Ford Escort WRCar. 

rallying’s greatest supporters. What makes 

him so valuable to NZ rallying? 

Brian has been referred to from time 

to time as the grandfather of rallying in 

New Zealand. He is passionate about 

the sport and wants what is best for the 

sport in New Zealand. 

He can see the ‘big 

picture’ and not just what 

is good for himself. He 

has been involved in New 

Zealand rallying since 

closed stage rallies were 

introduced here, first 

as an organiser, then a 

competitor, and now he 

both competes in and 

sponsors the New Zealand 

Rally Championship. 

Prior to sponsoring the 

NZRC, Brian also sponsored 

part of the ‘Xtreme’ series, 

and has often helped out 

individual competitors in 

various non-financial ways. 

Brian is happy to share his 

experience of stages, rallies 

or cars with other competitors and we 

have shared pacenotes on occasions 

with New Zealanders at events 

overseas. 

You’re clearly one of the most experienced 

co-drivers in the southern hemisphere. Have 

Sliding an Evo on the 

2007 Rally of Ireland, a 

round of the WRC. 



you had offers from other drivers over your 

career that you’ve had to turn down? 

Yes. However, Brian has always told 

me that if the right opportunity comes 

up I should take it, so I don’t feel like 

I have been obligated to turn them 

down. 

The offers I have had I have always 

given due consideration to. Whilst 

some have been with faster drivers, 

none would have offered the same 

experiences and adventures I have had 

co-driving with Brian. 

Would you call yourself a professional 

co-driver, or do you have a “real” job? If so, 

what is it? 

As much as I would love for co-driving 

to be my full-time job, I do have a “real” 

job in order to pay the rent each week. 

I am a relief primary school teacher. I 

have three main schools I work in and 

pick up enough work to be more or less 

working full time when I am not away 

on rallies. 

This vocation has allowed me to 

commit the time required to co-drive 

for the vast number of events Brian and 

I have competed in over the years. 

Most of the events with Brian have been 

in Lancer Evos, but you’ve also sat in an 

Escort WRCar, Imprezas and more recently 

a Mitsubishi Mirage. What has been your 

favourite car, and why? 

For me two cars stand out. The 

Ford Escort WRC and the Mitsubishi 

Mirage. The Ford Escort WRC was an 

outstanding car to co-drive in. Basically 

it did everything you asked it to do, and 

the harder it was driven, the better it 

responded! 

Stopping distances were half that of 

anyother car I had co-driven in, and the 

bumps and holes were non-existent 

with the WRC suspension in it. And oh 

Green / Pedersen 

winning a round of the 

Malaysian series in 2012. 

the 6-speed sequential box in that car! 

It only had a top speed of 186km/h, but 

boy did it get there fast! The launch off 

the start line pinned me back to the codriver’s 

seat. 

I had the privilege of driving the car 

from a stage we had stopped in during 

the Nelson Rally in 2004 (two flat tyres, 

one spare) back to the hotel - a distance 

of around 50km. Whilst it was open 

road and therefore all road rules were 

obeyed, it is still an experience I won’t 

forget! 

The Mitsubishi Mirage has some 

similarities to the Ford Escort WRC - the 

major one being that it is a car that was 

built to be rallied, not a road car turned 

into a rally car. 

The Mirage is a New Zealand 

built, New Zealand engineered rally 

car, and it does not follow AP4 or 

Proto regulations, though there are 

similarities with both the AP4 cars and 

the Proto cars. 

The Mirage has all the power of an 

Evo X but with far less weight. Because 

extra weight has been added to the car 

to bring it in-line with NZRC Category 

1 regulations, the weight has been 

optimally placed. 

The car is very fast, but with the 

different dimensions to the Evos / 

Imprezas it is a more reactive or twitchy 

car. This has taken some time and 

experimentation with diff settings for 

Brian to get used to. I, however, loved 

this car from the first time I co-drove in 

it. I love the look of it, how my ‘office’ is 

set up inside the car, how the car feels 

on the road, and how fast it is. 

What about your favourite event? 

Tough question! Lots of events stand 

out for different reasons. I always 

enjoy Rally Otago because it is so well 

organised and the roads are great 

down there. Rally Whangarei is another 

event I look forward to, for the same 

reasons. 

I really loved Rally Ireland the year 

we did it, for the enthusiasm of the 

thousands of fans who turned out to 

spectate. Rally Thailand will always be 

a favourite as we are made to feel so 

welcome there by the organisers, and 

it was the first rally I did with Brian in 

2002. 

Also, it often coincides with my 

birthday, which the organisers 

acknowledge (more than once it has 

been cake at the prizegiving, with 

everyone singing Happy Birthday). 

Arctic Lapland Rally was also amazing, 

and should be on every competitors’ 

bucket list. 

Through all your overseas travels, what is 

the country you look forward to visiting most? 

Another tough question as each 

country has things about it that I enjoy. 

However, I would have to say Finland. 

We have only rallied twice in Finland, 

but since then I have been there three 

times to watch the WRC. 

Every time I visit I feel incredibly at 

home there. Maybe it is their love of 

Contesting the Mohe Rally 

on a frozen river during a 

busy 2012 season. 


Fleur's 2017 season 

started with the Otago 

Rally in early April. 

(Photos: Peter Whitten, 

Geoff Ridder) 

rallying? Finns are incredibly hospitable 

people, and I have many Finnish friends 

who I love to catch up with when I am 

there. One family have been especially 

hospitable every time I have visited and 

I always feel like they are my Finnish 

family when I am staying with them. 

They now actually own a pub on the 

way into one of the Rally Finland stages! 

It is also very easy to make new 

friends on the side of a rally stage in 

Finland, as everyone wants to talk to 

you when they realise you are not 

from Finland. On my last visit in 2015, 

saying I am from New Zealand was an 

immediate hit with the popularity and 

success of Hayden and John. 

What have been the three biggest 

highlights of your career? 

Winning the Malaysian International 

Rally in 2003 - our first win together, 

first international win for both of us. 

Winning the Thailand International 

Rally in 2011, on our 10th Rally 

Thailand together and after a number 

of previous podium finishes there 

(including a second overall one year 

after we had been leading going into 

day two, but experienced a mechanical 

failure). 

Arctic Lapland Rally 2009. This was 

our first experience of a true winter 

rally, and the rally is run to the north 

of the Arctic Circle, meaning limited 

daylight hours and a surreal kind of 

twilight for some of those hours. 

The whole adventure actually began 

a couple of months before over a few 

beers in Thailand. After helping out a 

Finnish driver at Rally Thailand in 2008, 

the suggestion was made that we could 

come and use his car for the Arctic 

Rally, he would take care of everything, 

and in return he would come and do 

an event in New Zealand with the same 

deal applying. 

The entire experience was amazing. 

The team looked after us well, and the 

friendship has continued long after the 

rallies involved (this is the friend who 

has the pub!). 

The organisers and local media were 

surprised and thrilled that two Kiwis 

would travel all that way to do the rally, 

and made quite a fuss of us. We put 

the car into a snow bank and got stuck 

three corners into our first test run. 

We got to watch Kimi Raikkonen have 

his first ever drive in a rally car, we met 

Tommi Makkinen, along with a couple 

of famous ex-F1 stars, and in amongst 

all that, despite an off-road excursion 

in stage three (of which we received 

the famous Finnish spectator rescue, 

spectators complete with their own 

towing straps and snow shovels), we 

managed to finish our first ever snow 

rally. Crossing that Finnish finish ramp 

was quite an achievement! 

And finally, what does the competition 

future hold for Fleur Pedersen? 

At this stage I can only confirm the 

upcoming season. Currently we have 

plans to compete in the NZRC and the 

Targa series in the Mirage, with the 

possibility of another couple of events 

in this car also. 

Brian has rekindled his love of 

Ford Escorts so watch this space for 

something to happen involving one of 

those. 

As far as future plans beyond 2017? I 

certainly have no intentions of retiring 

from co-driving any time soon. I hope 

that I can pass on my experience, whilst 

at the same time keep furthering my 

own experiences. 

Where this might be and who 

this might be with remains to be 

discovered! 


INTERVIEW: HANNU MIKKOLA 

THE FLYING FINN 

At the 2003 Otago International Classic Rally, 

Finland’s Hannu was the star attraction, with the 

then 60-year old contesting the event in a Ford 

Escort. 

While he led for much of the rally, a last day 

punctured eventually relegated hin to fourth place. 

Peter Whitten interviewed his childhood hero 

before the rally got underway. 

It was a sound like no other. A low 

growl - almost like a wild animal 

-but rising and lowering in pitch as 

it appeared closer, only to fade into the 

distance. Suddenly it appeared, blinding 

me as it roared towards me. The sound 

rose to fever pitch as the bright white 

lights quickly turned to red and the 

beast finally departed into the distance, 

spitting flames and throwing rocks the 

size of golf balls. 

It’s mid-1984 and as a youngster 

I’d just been scarred for life – Hannu 

Mikkola and the awesome 5-cylinder 

Audi Quattro had just made a life-long 

impression on my life! 

It was the Rally of New Zealand in 

1984. A cold - no, freezing - night when 

the frost had already settled on the 

ground at 7pm. Just outside Rotorua, 

Mikkola had rolled the Quattro and was 

desperately trying to make up for lost 

time. Cutting the corner, he snapped 

the directional arrow on the inside of 

the corner, and with half the arrow now 

wedged into the grille of the world’s 

most impressive rally car, Mikkola 

disappeared into the distance. 

A quick glance at my dad made 

me realise it wasn’t just me - we’d 

witnessed a piece of rallying history, 

and Hannu Mikkola instantly became 

my hero. 

That he didn’t win the rally was of 

little consequence - Mikkola was the 

man and the Audi Quattro was my 

dream car. 

19 years later, I was sitting in the 

lounge at hotel in Dunedin, about to 

interview Mikkola as he prepared for 

the Otago International Classic Rally – 

driving a Ford Escort RS1800. 

As I soon got to know Mikkola the 

man, as opposed to Mikkola the rally 


driver, it was refreshing to know that 

he is one of the friendliest people you 

could ever meet. Our one-hour chat 

was filled with amazing stories and 

plenty of laughter as Hannu recalled 

the greatest moments of his long and 

illustrious career. 

With a memory as good as you could 

find, the (then) almost 61 year-old Finn 

showed why he really is one of the 

legends of the sport. 

PROFILE 

Hannu Olavi Mikkola was born in 

Finland on May 24, 1942. He started 

rallying in 1963 and won the Finnish 

Championship in 1968 and 1974, and 

the British Championship in 1978. 

After a successful stint in Escorts, 

where he finished second in the World 

Championship in 1979 and 1980, he 

finally won the title at the wheel of the 

pioneering Audi Quattro in 1983. 

The winner of 18 World 

Championship rallies and with 44 

podium finishes to his name, Hannu 

Mikkola is one of the icons of rallying. 

In a career that spanned 40 years, 

Mikkola had factory drives for Volvo, 

Ford, Mercedes Benz, Toyota, Audi, 

Mazda, Opel and Subaru. 

He retired from professional driving 

in 1993, but still competes occasionally 

when the urge gets the better of him. 

Competing in New Zealand in 2003 was 

one of those times, and Mikkola proved 

that he’d lost none of his touch. 

Hannu Mikkola in a 

Toyota Celica on the 

1977 1000 Lakes Rally.

EARLY DAYS 

Were your family interested in the sport, 

and did your interest stem from there? 

No, nobody was interested. I had 

been driving cars since I was about 10 

years old, so I was dreaming about it, 

but Finland had very hard times in the 

50s and early 60s and you couldn’t buy 

cars. 

My father was working for the 

company in charge of all the forests, 

to make sure all the paper mills were 

getting the wood in time. They had a lot 

of cars, but of course it was a tool for 

them, so it was very hard for my father 

to understand that you take a car to the 

roads and then drive flat out. 

But there was rallying going on at this time 

in Finland? 

Yes, and there were already 

successful Finns driving when I was 

following it. A near neighbour of ours 

named Osmo Kalpala had won the 1000 

Lakes Rally three times in the 50s and 

he was a sort of role model for me. 

It was a long story how I finally got 

started, but in any case I took the family 

car without them knowing and did a 

rally 200km from Helsinki. 

I was fifth overall and won the junior 

class, and to my father’s surprise I 

brought the trophies home and he 

said “Who owns the car?”. I said I did, 

because he didn’t know that I’d changed 

the ownership into my name (laughs). 

It was a planned thing, and it all started 

from there. 

How old were you then? 

I was already 21, but the whole focus 

was just to get the chance to drive. 

Was your aim to become a professional 

driver right from the start? 

I never really hoped at the beginning 

that I could do so well, but from the 

beginning I had the speed, but there 

was a period of two years where I 

couldn’t find the money to do it and I 

was in engineer’s school. 

But one of our family friends came 

to see my father and said to me, “Why 

don’t you drive?” I said “No money, no 

honey – I cannot do it”, but he had a 

Volvo at the time and asked if I could 

compete in that type of car. 

When I said yes, he said I could use 

that car and could send the bills to him! 

After that it took just three rallies until 

the Volvo importer was paying, so it all 

happened very quickly. 

Did you finish your schooling? 

In 1968 I finished my studies, but I 

already had a contract to drive, so I 

never did any honest work. I drove with 

Volvo (444, 544 and 142 models) until 

the end of 1967, but then Ford gave me 

the chance to drive the 1000 Lakes Rally 

in an Escort. Ford finished fourth and 

fifth with the Lotus Cortina in Finland in 

1967 and I was third in a Volvo, so they 

knew me from then. 

Ove Andersson, Bengt Soderstrom 

and Roger Clark were already winning 

with the Escort, but Roger told Boreham 

that he didn’t like to do the 1000 Lakes 

because he was awful there, so they 

contacted me. I was lucky enough to 

win it, and it all started from there. 

That then gave you the opportunity to rally 

outside Finland? 

I had already had the chance to drive 

the ’67 Monte Carlo Rally in a Lancia, 

and we were lying in sixth place on the 

last night with two stages to go and the 

car broke, so it was heartbreaking. So 

I’d had a connection with Lancia before 

the Ford drive came along. 

Bjorn Waldegard said that he remembered 

an unknown driver named Mikkola who was 

doing very well in the Monte Carlo that year. 

I already knew who Bjorn was though! 

I did a rally for Volvo, the Swedish Rally 

in ’68, and Bjorn was there with the 

Porsche and at that time I thought they 

were using pacenotes, but I wasn’t sure. 

I always remember on one long stage 

Bjorn started one minute behind me 

and he passed me and I thought “this 

is not possible without notes”. We met 

Mikkola won the 1970 

World Cup Rally in a Ford 

Escort Mk1. 



at that time and we have been friends 

since. 

THE FORD YEARS 

Two years later, in 1970, you did the World 

Cup Rally and won for Ford. Is that still one of 

the biggest wins of your career? 

That was a very good win, you know. 

That was a hard rally. It had very long 

stages – the longest took 12 hours 21 

minutes to drive. I think on that stage 

I had one boiled egg and one Coke on 

the way! 

But it was not only one long stage, 

it was three or four of them: it was 

280 kays and 400 kays and 450 kays, a 

971km long stage. 

How much did that win do for your career 

in the future? 

It did a lot. Of course I’d already won 

‘68, ‘69 and ‘70 1000 Lakes Rally and 

Austrian Alpine Rally. I made a lot of 

mistakes too, but I was able to win 

those rallies. 

But you weren’t expected to win the 

World Cup Rally – from London to Mexico 

– because you were more of a sprint rally 

driver. 

That’s right. I had a meeting with 

Ford boss Stuart Turner one morning 

when he came to my hotel room and 

offered me the drive. I don’t know why, 

because I was a young driver who was 

driving too fast and wouldn’t have done 

that rally otherwise, but in any case it 

worked out well. 

Did the World Cup Rally win help you later 

when you became the first non-African driver 

to win the Safari Rally? 

I don’t know if it helped. In ’71 we 

were there the first time with the 

Ford, but we had engine problems. It 

just happened, but I did have a lot of 

help from Gunnar Palm, my co-driver, 

because he had a lot of experience and 

was always trying to calm me down – he 

was like a broken record by the end of 

the rally! 

Interestingly, you split up with Gunnar 

because, you said at the time, your 

personalities were quite different. 

Yes, Gunnar is very much a PR 

oriented person and at that time I was 

very shy and I hated it. 

To win the Safari back in 1972 was a much 

more important result then as the event lost 

some of its toughness over the years. 

That was fantastic, and you know, 

London Mexico I didn’t really realise 

what I had done – I was happy that 

I’d won, but much later I realised the 

importance of that win. But then when 

I won Safari in ’72 I knew I’d done 

something very good. 

You were a heavy drinker in your early days, 

but gave alcohol away as your career took off 

and your professionalism increased. Was that 

a major decision in your career? 

In rallying in those days it was a sort 

of life where you do your job, and then 

when that’s over you had maybe three 

or four weeks until the next event. 

When you came home you had all your 

friends wanting to go out and celebrate 

and it was really getting out of hand. 

I had to decide if I was planning to 

become a full time drunk, or a good 

rally driver! It was a hard decision, not 

only for myself, but to convince my 

friends that I’m not drinking any more. I 

must say the first 10 years are hell, and 

it’s okay after that! 

You don’t drink alcohol to this day? 

No, some people get a nice feeling 

from drinking it, and some don’t. Walter 

Rohrl didn’t drink either, but he’s been 

quite a fanatic on everything he’s done: 

skiing, driving, biking… 

You first came to New Zealand to compete 

in 1973. Was that a strange invitation to come 

to the other side of the world to compete? 

It was. It was Stuart Turner’s idea 

because he was always sending his 

drivers around the world, and in 1973 

I didn’t have a big program so I was 

happy that he was asking me to drive. 

Jim Porter was my co-driver at that 

time, but for a while it looked like Tony 

Mason would be coming with me. 

Drivers and co-drivers seemed to swap 

around a lot more in those days though. 

It wasn’t such a busy program. You 

didn’t have 12 or 13 rallies that you had 

to do. We did maybe four or five a year. 

They were not World Championship 

events back then, but they were the 

Mikkola was part of a 

4-car Ford factory team 

on the 1979 RAC Rally. 


A factory Mercedes drive 

for Mikkola in 1979. 

major events. 

But at that time we’d always try to fit 

in the contract that they’d give a car to 

do the Finnish Championship, so I did 

those rallies on the side, which kept us 

busy. Then we did some extra rallies, 

like something in Jamaica, or something 

in New Zealand. 

What are your memories of the New 

Zealand event in 1973? 

It was a very hard rally. Seven days or 

eight days, I can’t remember, but every 

day doing more than 500km. The South 

Island was very tricky with icy roads. 

I remember we were leading quite 

well and I slowed down because it was 

important to make a result. 

Were the Escort days ones that you fondly 

remember? 

Yes, it suited my driving style. I’ve 

seen many drivers in Escorts and some 

were driving more sideways than 

others, but it’s very hard to get that car 

to understeer, and that I loved. I hated 

a car that understeered. 

I had some great battles with Ari 

Vatanen, although he was very quick, 

but he crashed a lot! Bjorn was much 

more consistent. 

In the first World Championship, in 1979, 

Bjorn beat you by just one point. That must 

have been an enjoyable championship. 

We actually talked about it before the 

season and we decided that we’d do 

the same amount of rallies. 

There was a time when Peter Ashcroft 

(Ford’s team manager) asked me, 

because I’d already had two engine 

failures, if I’d like to have an extra rally, 

but I was stupid enough to say “No, 

we’ve agreed at the start of the year”. 

But where I really lost it was in Monte 

Carlo where they gave me a five minute 

penalty because they said I passed a car 

over yellow lines on a road section. But 

they never said where it happened. 

You finished fifth after the penalty, and 

then won four times for the rest of the 

season. 

Yes, and there I lost that one point! 

When I asked the police they told me 

it was on a 70km road section. It was a 

snow-covered road all the way, so we 

don’t know if there were yellow lines or 

not. 

That was very unfair, and when you 

think that it was enough to take the 

World Championship away from me .... 

UNPROVEN COROLLA 

You were with Ford from 1968-1974, and 

Contesting the Morocco 

Rally in a Peugeot 504 in 

1975. 

from 1978-1980, but in between you drove 

for Toyota, winning the 1975 1000 Lakes in a 

Corolla. What was behind that drive, in what 

was an unproven car and an unproven team? 

I was doing something in South Africa 

and Fiat pulled out with their Abarth 

and I didn’t have a car to drive in the 

1000 Lakes. I saw Ove Andersson in 

South Africa as he was doing the same 

rally, and I told him I didn’t have a car 

for 1000 Lakes. 

Ove had the car but no money to 

run it, so I spoke to a dealer friend of 

mine in Finland and he put a package 

together to run the car. We had just 

four people to run the team, plus the 

co-driver and myself. 

One of those people was Arne Hertz, 

who was driving a service car (and who 

eventually became Mikkola’s co-driver). 

I got the car two days before the rally 

and went to test it. Although it didn’t 

have the power, it was a fantastic car 

to drive, so I thought maybe I had a 

chance. That year I don’t know why, 

but I was really practicing well – in 

two weeks I drove 10,000km over the 

stages, so I really learned them by 

heart. 

We won the rally and then Ove came 

to Finland and he thought that we could 

get the 2-litre engine into that Corolla, 

which would make the car a winner, so I 



signed a contract with him. 

But that wasn’t the case. I had to drive 

the Celica then and it was a big, big car 

and I had a lot of troubles. We were 

developing it, but in two years when I 

did the first rally in England I was one 

and a half seconds per kilometre slower 

than Ari Vatanen and Russell Brookes in 

Escorts. 

But I nearly won the RAC Rally in 1977 

when Bjorn won in the Escort – I had 

a puncture in Keilder Forest and that 

dropped us down, but by then the car 

was much better. 

Was that the right car, or should Toyota 

have stuck with the Corolla? 

They should have been in the Corolla. 

The Celica needed so much room when 

it was going sideways and we never got 

it sorted properly. 

But when you drove a Celica in 1980 you 

later said it was good grounding for the Audi 

Quattro, because you couldn’t drive it too 

sideways, otherwise you’d lose too much 

time. 

Yes, and with the Escort too, because 

I’ve never really driven very much 

sideways because I feel that you lose 

the speed. It’s good looking, but I try to 

keep the car a little bit straight. 

The Celica didn’t have very much grip 

at all, and it went so easily sideways, so 

you had to try and keep it straight. 

I was also with Mercedes in 1979 and 

1980 as well. They were trying to offer 

a contract for the next year and I also 

remember it was one of the highlights 

of my career, I was having lunch with 

the Development Chief of Mercedes 

Benz and he said he’d heard I was 

moving to Audi. 

“We sold that company,” he told 

me, “do I have to buy it back?” 

Was the Mercedes a frustrating car 

to drive? 

It was, but when you got the 

speed up it was a very strong car. I 

won the Ivory Coast Rally in it, and 

I very nearly won the Safari. 

When you and Bjorn signed contracts 

with Mercedes you were being paid big 

money and really revolutionised the pay 

structure for rally drivers. 

We are very good friends, Bjorn 

and I, and we played it together. 

We knew that they would call him 

and that they would call me, so we 

agreed what we were going to say. 

History has it that when the 

pair came out of discussions with 

Mercedes, Mikkola told Waldegard 

that he thought it was a good 

salary for the season. “No Hannu,” 

Waldegard said, “that’s the salary per 

rally!” 

AUDI DAYS 

Similarly, by signing with Audi, you’ve had 

a fair impact on where the sport is today, and 

in what cars are being used the world over. 

I’m sure Audi was the step that was 

very important for my career. Of course 

we didn’t know how it would turn out 

to be. The first six months was a lot of 

work. 

What happened was that Bjorn and 

I were on top of the world with the 

contracts we had and I got a call from 

Audi. I had seen them, but it was with a 

very small team, front-wheel drive cars 

– a sort of third grade team. 

There was a guy called Stockmar, and 

he said they had this four-wheel drive 

car that they’d like me to come down to 

see and sign with them for next year. 

I thought it’s a waste of time to go 

down to Ingolstadt, but I had three or 

four days at home and just to be polite, 

I will fly down there and have a look. 

Rally New Zealand 

1979 in the famous 

Masport Escort. 

(Photo: Martin Holmes) 

Stockmar was waiting for me at the 

airport and he kept saying “And when 

we are doing this together” and I said 

“No, no, no, don’t count on it”. 

And then they brought this first 

Quattro out in the forest, and it was 

under cover, and I had a drive of it. 

It was just a normal road Quattro, so 

it wasn’t a rally car or anything, and I 

drove maybe half an hour. 

So I said I’d like to have a few hours 

to think, and their idea was that I would 

drive half a year in the front-wheel drive 

Audi 200, and when the four-wheel 

drive car is ready I would drive that. 

But I said, even without committing to 

anything, you can’t do it this way and 

you have to throw out this idea right 

now. Just concentrate on the four-wheel 

drive car. 

I said I wasn’t so sure, but they had 

a list of the drivers who they thought 

could drive the car and they said I was 

the only one. They’d been following my 

career at Ford and discovered that I 

drove less sideways, and said it had to 

be me. 

Mikkola won the WRC in 

1983 during the Quattro 

revolution. 


The awesome Quattro S1 

on the 1986 Monte Carlo 

Rally. (Photo: Holmes) 

I even called Arne (Hertz) and spoke 

to him about it, then I stayed overnight 

in Ingolstadt and had breakfast with 

Stockmar the next morning. I said: 

“Okay, if we can do it so that I can drive 

1980 with which car I want (not an 

Audi), but I do 60 days testing and you 

have somebody who is doing the long 

distance testing. 

“In September or October we sit 

down and decide if it’s going to work or 

not. 

Just to show that I’m not just taking 

testing money and walk away, I’ll sign 

the contract for ’81 to drive it. But 

September/October, if we both think 

that it’s not going to work, I’m out of the 

contract.” 

Did you initially think that it was a very big 

car to go rallying in? 

Yes, that was a concern, and of 

course the turbo engine, as we’d 

never had a turbo engine in a rally car. 

Everything was new – the company 

BOGE (who made shock absorbers), 

Kleber tyres, four-wheel drive, the 

team. 

So when did you start to think that the car 

had real potential? 

I knew, because we were in Greece, 

it was May…. no, the beginning of June, 

and we did a lot of testing. I could drive 

it faster than the Escort immediately on 

the wide roads, but when it was on the 

narrow road I never really knew within 

half a metre where it goes! 

It was pulling and it was very 

Mikkola and Ford 

mechanic Mick Jones. 

(Photo: Martin Holmes) 

unstable, with the limited slip diffs and 

how to have them and all that. I did the 

testing just after 1980 1000 Lakes on 

similar roads and still it was the same 

thing. 

We realised that the front wheels 

were moving and all that, and when we 

got that right we went to Portugal to 

Algarve Rally as the zero car. I had been 

there the year before to drive David 

Sutton’s Escort. 

The first stage was uphill, I think 24 

kays or something, and we knew our 

times from the last year. Arne was with 

me and we went up the stage and we 

were one minute faster than in the 

Escort. We knew then that it was a good 

car, and it was quite easy to drive, so I 

could see that maybe this was the way 

to go. 

Despite the successes, you endured a lot 

of unreliability from the car and frustrations 

from the team’s performance. Was this 

something that was inbred into the team? 

It was partly, and it was partly that 

when we got something reliable in the 

car we were testing the next new part. 

It was too hectic and at times we were 

entering five cars in the one rally, so 

sometimes I felt that quantity was more 

important than quality. 

Actually, I lost a lot of rallies because 

of technical problems, engine problems 

at the beginning and simple things that 

went wrong. In New Zealand one year 

we lasted just 2km into the first stage 

when the timing belt jumped! 



Pushing the A1 Quattro 

hard on the Acropolis 

Rally in Greece. 

There’s some famous footage of you at a 

service break in the 1983 1000 Lakes when 

you’re prancing around the car and looking 

at your watch as one problem after another 

surfaced. 

That was a rally I will never forget. 

That was the year Michele Mouton drove 

her car into the lake as well? 

(laughter) Yes, she said “It’s burning”. 

I said to her “Is it still running?” She said 

yes. 

I said is there a lake next to you? 

She said yes, so I said “Drive into it!” 

because I knew that you couldn’t stop 

the fire. 

That was a rally, you know. First stage 

we landed after a jump – gearbox. We 

changed that, two and a half minutes 

I was behind. I drove flat out all night, 

next day, just as it was coming dark I 

was leading again. 

And then the next stage, jump – turbo 

pipe. Lost 50 seconds and noticed that 

the engine mounting was broken, so 

the engine had moved. 

I always remember it was an 85km 

road section and I knew it takes 40 

minutes and I knew there would be a 

lot of police. So I said to Arne “Give me 

the map” and I looked at another road 

on the side and I went flat out. I got 

there on time and they changed the 

engine mount. 

I went and drove that night and could 

not understand why I’m not fastest – I 

was just there, but couldn’t get the 

times. I was 30 seconds behind in the 

morning and I went to my favourite 

mechanic and said that I could see I had 


turbo pressure, but it just doesn’t feel 

right. 

So he went and opened the bonnet, 

and there’s a long turbo pipe, and he 

put his face right down over it and he 

found a small hole in the turbo pipe. He 

changed that, and then we were off! 

We passed Stig two stages before 

the end and won the rally. It was my 

hardest win. 

When you won the championship in 1983, 

was it satisfaction, or were you just relieved 

because you’d come so close in the past? 

It was satisfaction, because I’d already 

decided that after ’84 I wouldn’t do that 

kind of program again. By then I’d been 

doing British Championships and World 

Championships – 17 or 18 rallies a year 

– and it was too much. 

I had already told Audi that I would 

slow down, so it was almost the last 

chance to get the name on the books. 

I had two years where the end of the 

season went well, the start of the 

season went well, but the middle was 

no good. 

If I could have turned the clock half 

way, I would have been winning the 

championship more. 

TEAM-MATES AND RIVALS 

The media of the time built up a real 

rivalry between you and your team-mate, Stig 

Blomqvist. Was that real, or just media hype? 

Stig is a completely different kind of 

person than I am and I think he was 

used to working alone, so it was much 

harder for him – in my mind, maybe not 

in his – to do the team work. 

With Bjorn, when we did the testing 

we worked together as that was the 

best way to do it, but with Stig he 

tended to work more for himself. I think 

it comes from the time when he was at 

Saab, but he’s a fantastic driver. 

Was Walter Rohrl a bit like that too? And 

what about Michele? 

Walter was very difficult to work with, 

you never really knew what he was 

going to do, or say, or think. 

Michele was fantastic – she was 

something I don’t think very often we 

will see, she was so good! 

There’s a small story: when she came 

to Audi they were trying to get Walter. 

Walter got all the times in testing and 

knew everything, but he didn’t dare to 

do it. They thought it was a good idea to 

have a woman in the team when they 

were starting, so they asked Michele. 

The last question Michele asked when 

they were discussing about the contract 

was: “Are you employing me as a rally 

driver or as a woman?” They were 

clever enough to say “As a rally driver”, 

so Michele said “Okay, I sign it”. 

Did she adapt to the car instantly, or did it 

take time? 

It took her six months to learn it and 

then the rest is history! She should 

have been World Champion in ’82, 

but the team just blew it. They blew it 

completely. 

You had a big input into her car set-up, 

didn’t you? 

Yes I did her lights, her suspension, I 

did everything. When we were driving it 

was always “Hannu, Hannu, it’s pulling 

to the left” or “It’s pulling to the right”.

But she still had to drive it and she did a 

fantastic job. 

The last of the Quattros, the S1, had all 

the wings and spoilers and was the most 

awesome of all the Group B cars. What was it 

like to drive? 

You know with the long Quattro, 

the old one, it was very difficult to get 

through the narrow roads of Corsica. 

The whole short Quattro was done - I 

don’t know when, because I didn’t do 

any testing for it – it was very much a 

quick, quick, quick job, but then they 

started to test it and they noticed it was 

too short. It was very, very difficult to 

find the balance: the 

most difficult when you 

are in a bend and you 

have 400 horsepower 

in that car already and 

you put the foot down 

it sits down and starts 

to understeer, and 

when you lift the back 

end comes around. You 

couldn’t get around the 

bend nicely. It was a 

very nervous car. 

When you were doing 

240 or 250 km/h the 

front would start to 

lift and you’d lose the 

steering. 

Then we got a new 

engineer – an ex-racing 

car engineer – he saw 

what we have to do to 

try to save the car, and 

that was the wings and 

to get the aerodynamics 

right, and we did a lot of 

work with that. 

Then, of course, we increased 

the power and, finally, we had 550 

horsepower in it. Actually I owned an 

S1, but I sold it one year ago to Juha 

Kankkunen because he’s got a museum 

and he likes to have it there, but it’s a 

beast to drive. 

Was it literally a car you drove by the seat 

of your pants? 

It took 2.7 seconds to 100km/h, and 

9.4 seconds to 200! 

I did testing for the last car in Greece, 

when we pulled out in 1986, and at 

that time we had already this PKVW 

gearbox with the two clutches and 600 

horsepower. 

It’s funny, in the morning when I 

tested it I thought it had absolutely too 

much power, but in the afternoon I 

thought maybe it could have a little bit 

more! (laughs) 

Walter Rohrl said that it was a car that you 

had to drive on your instinct – that if you had 

Hannu Mikkola thrills the 

crowds at the Otago Classic 

Rally in 2003. 

Photos: Peter Whitten 

to think about what you were doing you’d be 

off the road. 

We did quite well with it, like in Monte 

Carlo, but the whole thing then with the 

Audi was that it had a front engine and 

the whole engine was hanging out from 

the front wheels. 

At the time it was Audi’s 

idea that we should use 

the same layout for the 

production cars as for the 

rally cars, but they had 

already built a mid-engined 

car that is now in the 

museum in Ingolstadt. It’s a 

very good looking rally car, 

but I never had the chance to test drive 

it or anything. 

Were those days, the Group B era, just too 

crazy? 

Oh it was. But it was fun! Actually 

when you have a lot of power it’s 

easy to drive because you can correct 

everything with the power – you haven’t 

got the situation that when you come 

to a bend and put the foot down there’s 

nothing there. 

But I have one stage that I will never 

forget with the S1. I had some problems 

in the 1000 Lakes Rally and I came to 

one of the legendary stages – it’s 26km 

long, over the crests and very difficult. 

I did the stage in the early days in an 

Escort and the time was 12m52s or 

12m58s – that was a good time. With 

the S1 I did the stage in 11m32s. 

That was the only time I had the 

feeling that for part of the stage I 

wasn’t sitting in the car, I was sitting 

somewhere else. 

The wings just made the car that 

when you go into a bend it was pushing 

down and down and you don’t find the 

limits really – you just go around the 

bends and the car’s going faster and 

faster. 

Still people in Finland come to me 

and say that they were there: “When we 

could hear you coming 3km before, we 

knew you were trying”. 

FAVOURITES 

Over all the years, is there a favourite car 

– one that stands out more than the rest? 

Escort, that is my favourite car. Audis 

and the other four-wheel drive cars, 

they were a little bit beasts to drive with 

their understeer – especially with the 

Audi as it comes from a front-wheel 

drive car. 

In slippery conditions it was very 

difficult, and that was where Stig was so 

good. If you had ice or snow, you knew 

you couldn’t beat him because he had 

the experience from the Saab. 

I still had in mind the Escort driving, 

and over the seven or eight years of 

four-wheel drive I never really thought 

that I mastered it. 

Of your rivals, who were the toughest to 

beat over the years? 

Markku Alen was very hard to beat – 

he was always “maximum attack”. Timo 

Makinen was one of the best also, he 

never really put a foot wrong and he 

was very consistent and very quick. 

- PETER WHITTEN 


FEATURE: RALLY SHOW UK 

Frank York spent time 

with Ari Vatanen at the 

Rally Show in the UK. 

Rally car heaven 


FRANK YORK 

I’ve always been a fan of Ari 

Vatanen, as many rally enthusiasts 

of my vintage probably would be 

too. 

He was the original Colin McRae, way 

before Colin was born. A master at his 

craft; daring behind the wheel; a gifted 

driver who was always spectacular, but 

who is also a humble and unassuming 

man. 

Thus, the idea of building a replica 

of the iconic Rothmans liveried Ford 

Escort RS1800 was always going to be 

a great idea. What I didn’t realise at the 

time was just how much this idea would 

change my life. 

As the new millennium dawned the 

project was launched. A donor 2-litre 

Escort GL Rally Pack was sourced and 

work began on creating a faithful 

replica of Ari’s famous mount. 

We wanted to build a car that looked 

like the original, so a lot of research 

was needed. Back in 2000, the internet 

wasn’t as powerful as it is today, 

however it did provide some useful 

information. 

Most of the research was conducted 

in the old paper based ‘analogue’ form! 

Malcolm Wilson even sent original 

photographs of his Rothmans cars to 


me in the post 

…would that 

happen in the 

internet world 

of today? 

I quickly 

found support 

from a chap 

in the UK that 

had just built 

a Rothmans 

replica, after 

noticing his car 

and story in a 

copy of ‘Fast 

Fords’, a British 

glossy magazine 

targeted at small Ford enthusiasts. 

From that initial contact with Rob, 

in Essex, UK, we built a group of likeminded 

Rothmans Escort enthusiasts 

that stretched from England to 

Germany, and Ireland to Finland. These 

fellow enthusiasts either own and run 

genuine Rothman’s BDA/BDG Escorts, 

or have also built replica cars to honour 

the great man, Ari Vatanen. 

Indeed, the Rothmans Escorts are 

probably the most recognisable rally 

Escort of the late 70s and early 80s era. 

Up until the time where David Sutton 

ran the private Rothmans Escorts team, 

the official Ford works cars had carried 

a number of different colour schemes 

and sponsors’ names. 

Perhaps Roger Clark’s ‘Red Cossack’ 

sponsored Escort, or Hannu Mikkola’s 

‘Eaton Yale’ Escort rank as the next 

most memorable in the Escort Mk 2 

series. David Sutton and Rothmans 

brought continuity to the team colour 

scheme for a number of years. 

Fast forward from 2000, and 

our small group of enthusiasts 

decided we would like to 

celebrate the 25 th anniversary of Ari 

Vatanen and David Richards winning 

the World Rally Championship in the 

Rothmans Ford Escort RS. 

The year would be 2006, and it is 

amazing to think that this all happened 

11 years ago now. Historic rallying has

grown enormously in the intervening period too. 

We began putting our ideas together. The group 

decided that the obvious venue for marking such a 

celebration was “RallyDay” at Castle Combe. “RallyDay” is 

an annual celebration of rallying and has been a regular 

feature of the UK rally scene since 2000. 

Using the classic Castle Combe race track just east 

of Bristol (about 90 minutes west of London), RallyDay 

has established itself as a must-do event for anyone 

interested in rallying. 

Hundreds of rally cars are displayed and many rally 

cars are driven during the course of the day. It’s an 

action packed car show! 

Numerous car clubs attend and show their road going 

versions of the great rally cars. I’ve never seen so many 

“Hundreds of rally cars are 

displayed and many rally 

cars are driven during the 

course of the day. It’s an 

action packed show.” 

Audi Quattros in one place at one time! The venue is 

complete with retailers and vendors that set up their 

trade stalls, and catering is plentiful. It’s a real carnival 

type atmosphere, in the way that the British do best. 

And like the Goodwood Festival of Speed, you 

can rub shoulders with many of the great rally 

drivers and navigators, like Russell Brookes, 

Jimmy McRae, or Pentti Airikkala, and more. 

With my fellow global Rothmans Escort enthusiasts 

(Rob, Sim and Alan from the UK, Davy from Ireland, 

Thomas from Germany and Jarkko from Finland), we 

chose this event as the place to come together as a 

group to mark this anniversary. 

At the very least, it would be the first time that we 

would all be together and not just simply connected by 


FEATURE: RALLY SHOW UK 

daily emails and web addresses. When 

we first had the idea, little did we know 

that this idea would soon snowball into 

being the feature event of the whole of 

RallyDay. 

We approached everyone that we 

could find who was associated with the 

original Rothmans Rally Team, including 

David Sutton himself. Our ideas quickly 

gained support from David and the 

RallyDay event organising team. 

After several meetings in the UK, 

we were able to secure wide 

scale support for the idea. An 

idea quickly turned to a reality and the 

‘event’ was on. After much planning and 

more meetings, we had wide support 

and the basis for a 25 th anniversary 

celebration, and a Rothmans Rally 

Team reunion. 

As our plans grew, Ford UK agreed 

to provide some classic rally cars for 

display from its collection, and then 

David Richards and Ari Vatanen also 

agreed to participate. The rest of the 

Rothmans Rally Team were invited to 

join us too, including top mechanic Mick 

Jones and his crew. 

Jumping on-board, the RallyDay 

organising team started using us as the 

drawcard for the event and featured 

Alan’s Rothmans car (the genuine 

Malcolm Wilson STW201R Escort RS) 

in all of the pre-event marketing. 

Photographs of the car were used in all 

pre-event advertising and also on the 

cover of the official RallyDay souvenir 

program. 

Working with the RallyDay organisers, 

we quickly locked in a prime location 

at Castle Combe raceway to display 

our cars and service vans, whilst David 

Sutton provided a huge corporate 

marquee where we could entertain 

guests and rally icons for the day. 

The British National Motor Museum 

at Beaulieu is the home for Ari’s actual 

winning Rothmans Escort (VLE 756X) 

and is on permanent display amongst 

an amazing collection of cars. 

The museum also agreed to remove 

the car from the exhibition and to loan 

us the car for the day. Rarely does the 

museum let any of its exhibits loose, so 

with David Sutton’s sponsorship of the 

whole show, this was another major 

achievement for our small group of 

enthusiasts. 

We arranged to have Ari and David 

reunited with the car, and have them 

take the car for a few laps of the Castle 

Combe circuit as a feature of the day. 

To prepare the car for its first serious 

run in a long while (it has hardly been 

used since winning the World Rally 

Championship in 1981), David Sutton’s 

mechanics changed the battery and all 

the fluids and then cranked it up. Still 

sitting on its original (25 year old) Pirelli 


slick tyres, it never missed a beat. 

It started first time, however, it didn’t 

like sitting stationary with the engine 

running for too long. The temperatures 

quickly went towards the red zone. 

The Rothmans celebrations became 

a central drawcard for the event, and 

the organisers anticipated the biggest 

crowd ever to attend the RallyDay show 

as a result. 

The weather was kind, as England 

was enduring a long spell of hot 

weather. In the week prior to RallyDay, 

London experienced its hottest day in 

95 years with a top of 36.5 Celsius. 

Daily temperatures were constantly 

north of 30 degrees and Londoners 

were struggling with the heat. 

Saturday, July 22 (RallyDay) looked like 

being a cracker with a predicted top 

temperature of about 30 degrees. 

The day dawned warm and dry, but 

humid. All of our cars were positioned 

in our display area on the previous 

day and we were ready to go. From 

early morning, rally enthusiasts poured 

into the circuit to take up their places, 

both spectators and enthusiastic 

participants. By 9am, the roads and 

narrow English lanes around Castle 

Combe were bumper to bumper with 

classic cars. 

The Castle Combe circuit and park 

soon filled with many fantastic rally 

cars, or cars that became the basis for 

rally cars. 

Imagine seeing 20, yes 20, Lancia 

Stratos parked in one row in one place 

at one time. How about 50 Lancia 

Delta Integrales? Or how about Audi 

Quattros? I lost count. 

Talbot Sunbeams, Metro 6R4s, 

various Celicas, RS Escorts, RS200s, 

Focus RS’, Sierras, WRC Lancers and 

Focus’, Datsun 240RS’, Renault Alpines 

… the collection of desirable and classic 

rally and road cars stretched as far as 

one could see in every direction. 

A feature of the day was having Ari 

Vatanen and David Richards as our

guests in our marquee. From the moment Ari arrived 

he was surrounded by people wanting his autograph. 

From 11am until 7pm, the smile never left Ari’s face. 

He spent most of the day signing everything from race 

helmets to cars and pictures. He gave himself fully to 

everyone. An absolute gentleman. 

David Richards arrived at the circuit by helicopter 

mid-morning to spend as much time with us as he 

could. He had to attend a wedding in the afternoon 

so he kept his helicopter at the ready (certainly beats 

having to wrestle the London traffic!). 

One of many highlights was a parade lap of our 

Rothmans cars behind Ari and David doing a 

lap of honour in VLE756X. After a couple of 

laps of the circuit, Ari commented that he must have 

been a better driver 25 years ago, because the Escort 

seemed to be “very difficult to drive now”. 

Another highlight of the day was Ford WRC driver, 

Mikko Hirvonen, who ran his WRC Focus on many 

fast laps during the day with corporate guests in the 

navigator’s seat. He was fast and had the thing dialled 

up at supersonic tarmac attack mode. 

And what can you say about seeing the 700 

horsepower short wheelbase Audi Quattro Sport 

Evolutions doing the business? Nothing … you just have 

to see it. 

More than 10,000 people turned up on the day, far 

exceeding previous attendance records. The rally stars 

that were present all agreed that RallyDay had a certain 

future, and accordingly the status of the event, has 

increased every year since. 

And so our small group of Rothmans Escort owners 

has continued to work together in the years since 

RallyDay. Most of the Rothmans cars are used in 

historic rally events or at many of the motoring festivals 

in Britain during the year. 

We continued the collaboration with David Sutton 

and as a direct result of our RallyDay enthusiasm, 

he built a new Escort RS for Ari and David to run in 

the Roger Clark Memorial Rally the following year – 

resplendent in Rothmans livery and registration plates! 

In more recent years, I have been privileged to run 

the forest rally stage in a Rothmans Escort at the 

Goodwood Festival of Speed. This massive event is a 

motoring enthusiast’s dream. 

I was thrilled to be a participant and have now been 

a number of times. It has been a dream journey to be 

involved in this, and a growing list of events that have 

come to fruition purely because I decided to build a 

replica Rothmans Escort many years ago. And whilst 

the pain of the expense has long subsided, the joy of 

the friendships I have made over the journey, and the 

events that I have been able to participate in, continues 

to cause me to pinch myself. 

The interest in historic rallying has grown in the UK 

and there are any number of days or events where 

owners can stretch the legs of these great automotive 

marvels. 

The “Slowly Sideways” Club has also evolved over 

this period and provides a focal point for the owners, 

who regularly run in great events like The Eifel Rally in 

Germany, where Group B cars can be seen ‘in the wild’. 

If you are a rally fan, then you must add RallyDay and 

the Goodwood Festival of Speed to the ‘bucket list’ of 

those things you must do before you depart the final 

time control. 

At martinitours.com.au we would be delighted to host 

your adventure. 


HOLMES COLUMN 

THE MAGIC OF FRENCH RALLYING 

Story & Photos: MARTIN HOLMES 

In early April the world 

championship took us to France, 

the land where motorsport in its 

various forms began. 

Paris-Rouen, in 1894, is respected as 

the world’s first motor race, the French 

Grand Prix at Le Mans in 1906 was 

the first “F1” race, Monte Carlo Rally 

in 1911 is acknowledged as the first 

rally, Monte Carlo 1973 – the first world 

championship rally. 

Motorsport history is all over France, 

which makes the Tour de Corse, 

France’s WRC event, a much anticipated 

event, not the least as this epitomises 

the classical asphalt event in the series. 

France has been spoiled for choice 

when it comes to rallying, for the 

wide selection of available territory 

on account of the legal opportunity 

to close public roads for sport. For 

many years one of the most dramatic 

events was the Coupe des Alpes, with a 

seemingly endless route up and down 

the French and Italian mountain passes, 

some of them going well into areas 

which are blocked by snow for most of 

the year. 

Sadly that event had to stop, as 

France’s roads became increasingly 

grid-locked in the limited time when 

the most dramatic roads were not 

closed. And gradually as championship 

rallying moved on from long distance 

endurance to high-speed performance, 

the relatively young Tour de Corse (first 

run in 1956) became internationally 

popular and represented France when 

the WRC series was introduced in 1973. 

As the sport moved on, so did global 

economics. The Tour de Corse was 

threatened when the French federation 

put out tenders for running their WRC 

event, and the decision brought Alsace 

into the sporting limelight, for five 

years. 

The arrival of Strasbourg and 

the Alsace Rally followed the 

dramatic success of the region’s 

famous sportsman, Sebastien Loeb. 

Awareness of Loeb’s remarkable 

achievements in the sport did much to 

help elevate this event to the required 

international level. 

It was held in a very pleasant region 

in east France and it systematically 

generated high levels of community 

involvement. It combined an enjoyable 

mix of stages in the hills with those in 

vineyards, but it didn’t offer anything 

HOLMES 

INSIDE 

LINE 

unique or geographically special. 

Strasbourg was only 200km from 

Trier, the site of the German world 

championship rally, which already 

claims to be the centre of the European 

continent and whose stages offer a 

much wider range of conditions. 

Alsace was an event that seemed 

to thrive for the wrong reasons - the 

(diminishing) Loeb factor. It did not, 

however, take advantage of the one 

unique thing which French motorsport 

has in abundance - heritage. 

The WRC event went back to Corsica. 

Like so many events of that era, the 

Bernard Darniche, BMW 

M1, 1982 Tour de Corse. 

Chris Sclater (far left) and 

Martin Holmes (far right) 

were third on the 1978 

Tour de France. 

Keith Ballisat’s Triumph 

TR3A at the 1958 Coupe 

des Alpes. 


1974 winner 

Jean-Claude 

Andruet. 

“We finished this great 

event third overall, a 

satisfying achievement 

until colleagues asked 

who actually won. It 

was Michele Mouton.” 

exists today. 

The winning stage time was over 11 

hours! Recce route schedules were 

dictated by culinary opportunities 

outlined by the Michelin Guide, every 

day was spent in a different part of 

the splendid country, competing 

on legendary stages, with always 

the chance for something quite 

unexpected. 

Perhaps the greatest memory 

for my driver Chris Sclater and 

myself in our Vauxhall Chevette 

2300HS was overtaking Bernard 

Darniche at night at Burzet, when the 

lights on his Lancia Stratos failed, and 

he then tucked in behind our car to find 

his way to the end of the stage. We 

only knew this because of the strange 

sound that suddenly came from the 

rear of our car! 

We finished this great event third 

overall, a satisfying achievement for our 

little privately-run team, until colleagues 

asked who actually won. It was Michele 

Mouton. 

“Isn’t that a lady driver…?” That was 

the end of our little boast. It was still 

a fabulous way to spend a couple of 

weeks. 

The Tour de Corse was originally 

a sprint, effectively a 24-hour 

event with just a two-hour break 

around 2.00am. What a race that was! 

I only did it once, in ’77, but will never 

forget those special hours before we 

retired during the night. 

On the section where we retired, we 

Coupe des Alpes would have been 

difficult to see much of without being a 

competitor. It was more of a personal 

challenge for the crews. 

Another massive event was the Tour 

de France Automobile which combined 

races and stages and gave plenty of 

opportunities to watch some of the 

most spectacular GT and sports cars 

driven on the public roads around the 

country. 

I had the joy of competing on this 

event in 1978 while it was a six-day 

event, limited to rally car rules and 

was a qualifying event in the European 

Championship. A rally like no other 

The start of the 1974 

Tour de Corse in Bastia. 

A mountain-top control 

on the 1967 Tulip Rally. 


HOLMES COLUMN 

had already been 

flat-out for an hour 

and a quarter. We 

had passed at top 

speed through the 

village of Ghisoni, 

where the teams 

had set up service 

points and where Fiat 

had “splash-and-go” 

refuelling. Those 

were the days. 

And when the rally 

became a May-time 

daylight fixture, it 

was lengthened into 

a three-day rally, 

enhancing its allure 

with overnight halts 

in different towns 

around the island. 

The island was no 

longer foggy with 

stages proliferated 

by wild boars eating 

the famously crushed 

chestnuts on the 

road. 

In May it was now 

splendid, spring time 

glorious. In 2017 the rally was in April 

once again! 

Corsica has its secret side from 

which people arriving for the 

WRC rally are protected. We 

always found the island peaceful and 

well run, but at other times there are 

strikes and notices in the newspapers 

announcing sudden unexplained 

deaths. 

One day my driver, Russell Brookes, 

and I stopped during recce for a cup of 

coffee in a café in the village of Palneca, 

Didier Auriol drove his 

Lancia Delta Integrale to 

victory in 1989. 

Jean-Claude Andruet was 

second in 1982 in this 

Ferrari 308GTB. 

close to the end of a stage. The cafe 

went suddenly quiet. Grown men 

rose up, not to greet us, but to edge 

backwards towards the door and leave. 

Rally teams found business with 

certain Corsicans dramatic. The word 

“hurt” in Corsica is a euphemism for 

what happens if agreements go wrong. 

One particular rally driver mysteriously 

died in an explosion, and nobody said 

why. 

Others go into hiding. It is a place 

where you did not dare let people 

down. The first time I went to Corsica, 

in the old exchange-control, pre-credit 

card days, I did not have enough money 

to pay the hotel. “Get your bank to 

send us the money when you get home. 

You won’t let us down, we know you will 

have to come back here again,” was the 

reply. 

A wonderfully warming sentiment, 

until you thought about it more 

deeply… 

Ever since the event started in 

1956 the Tour de Corse has 

attracted an impressive variety 

of cars. It is like the exhausts of some 

of the most exciting ever rally cars are 

still reverberating round the hills. 

If I ever have one lasting sadness, 

it is that I did not attend the event 

in 1972. It was the final major 

continental event before the world 

championship arrived, which 

brought with it the rule banning the 

impressive Group 5 cars. 

The entry list showed Sandro 

Munari in the prototype Stratos, 

Jean-Francois Piot and Jean Ragnotti 

in Ligier JS2s, Bernard Fiorentino in 

an open roofed Simca CG Spider, 

Guy Chasseuil in a Ford GT70, Henri 

Greder in an Opel GT, with some 

surprises like Jean Todt (the current 

FIA President) co-driving a little 

Peugeot 304, and Thierry Sabine, the 

founder of ’Dakar’, driving a private 

Porsche. 

Only a few years earlier an AC 

Cobra was competing, some years 

later a Ferrari finished second and a 

BMW M1 had been lying fourth. 

The Tour de Corse is the spiritual 

home of French rallying. 


RETRO: THE BP RALLY 

DEVIOUS DONALD .... 

Story: 

JEFF WHITTEN 

Donald Kingsley Thomson (aka 

DKT) was the man responsible 

for the formation of CAMS in 

the 1950s. 

Thomson quickly gained a reputation 

for being single-minded and a man who 

enjoyed setting challenges, particularly 

where car trials were concerned. Being 

a keen navigator and event organiser, 

he obtained sponsorship from oil giant 

BP and began directing the legendary 

BP Rally, a fearsome navigational event 

that was unequalled anywhere else in 

the world. 

Each event was more challenging and 

devious than the last, but competitors 

kept coming back for more. 

At the conclusion of the 1961 BP 

Rally, the 50-odd competitors who 

had been exhausted, confused, 

disheartened, totally broken in spirit 

and generally lead up the garden path 

by way of the route instructions devised 

by the director, fronted Thomson 

and demanded that he never use 

unmapped roads in the event again. 

Now Donald Thomson, better known 

then as the National Secretary of CAMS, 

was a devious fellow, but he agreed to 

the demands of the competitors. 

“If you want mapped roads and 

mapped roads only, then you shall have 

them,” he told the relieved crews. 

As a result, the 1962 BP Rally, directed 

by Thomson of course, was run entirely 

on mapped roads except where it was 

absolutely necessary to use unmapped 

roads, using instructions so simple that 

even a child could follow them. 

Thomson scoured Victoria for 

mapped roads which, although shown 

clearly on the Broadbent’s maps, had 

fallen into such disuse in many cases 

that forests had grown over them, or 

which were surrounded by a maze of 

unmapped tracks. 

Indeed in some cases these 

unmapped “roads” were in better 

condition than the mapped ones, so 

that it was impossible to distinguish 

right from wrong. 

These, together with a couple of 

other tricks Thomson had up his sleeve, 

ensured that the 1962 BP Rally of South 

Eastern Australia was a nightmare 

event that many competitors would not 

forget in a hurry. 

The July 1962 issue of Australian 

“The 50-odd 

crews had been 

exhausted, confused, 

disheartened, totally 

broken in spirit and 

generally lead up the 

garden path.” 

Motor Sports and Automobiles 

contained a post-event report on the 

event, which described the event in 

graphic 

detail, showing that Thomson’s level 

of navigational debauchery knew no 

bounds. 

Twenty four cars left Melbourne’s 

Light Car Club on Wednesday May 2 nd 

for the epic 2000 mile (3200km) four 

day journey through some of the state’s 

most picturesque country. 

Two more cars started from 

Goulburn NSW, three from Adelaide, 

four from Mt Gambier and three from 

Tasmania. The following Sunday, 23 

out of the original 35 starters, some 

much the worse for wear, limped into 

the finish at Melbourne’s Chadstone 

shopping centre. 

All competitors had linked up at 


RETRO: THE BP RALLY 

Echuca and travelled over three fairly 

easy sections to the start of the trial 

proper at Bendigo. 

The first of the trial’s seven sections 

took competitors through little 

settlements, which in the time of the 

gold rush 100 years ago, were thriving 

towns and therefore had a maze of 

roads, some mapped, some unmapped, 

running in all directions. 

After passing through the quaintlynamed 

Korweinguboora, the first 

trap appeared at the settlement 

of Barkstead. The instructions told 

competitors to follow a mapped road 

through to a major control where it 

joined another main road. 

But the mapped road bore no 

resemblance to the road found, and 

to make matters worse, the road 

had been re-routed by the Forests 

Commission. 

The new road ran parallel to the 

old one, crossed it occasionally 

and finally joined it, but 

there were three passage controls 

situated where it was most likely that 

competitors would blunder in on the 

wrong road. This was just a taste of 

what was to come. 

Then, at 5.30 on Thursday morning 

after crews had been on the road for 

18 hours straight, they were 

routed into a maze of obscure 

tracks around the long-deserted 

settlement of Longlea. All crews 

had to do was to follow the 

mapped road. 

Kevin Lott, the winner of the 

1960 BP, who had been leading 

the field in his Ford Anglia at 

that point, followed what he 

thought was the right track, and 

came out into a clearing about 

20 feet across. There was no way 

out from the clearing and after 

turning around he could not even 

see where he came in. 

So he sat there in a seemingly 

impenetrable wall of bush, 

listening to cars revving up and 

down lanes for about half a mile 

in all directions. He eventually 

extricated himself, but not before 

losing a swag of points. 

All the while the lead seesawed 

so rapidly that nobody could say 

who was in front at any stage. 

Most consistent were Harry Firth 

and Frank Kilfoyle (Ford Anglia 

105E), the eventual winners who 

had held third place for most of the 

event. 

The trial was taking its toll of cars, 

and fewer and fewer were turning up at 

each successive control. Some became 

irretrievably lost and ran out of time, 

others suffered suspension and body 

damage on the rough tracks. 


Competitors R. Lilley and R. Tremain 

finished up in hospital after their 

Peugeot collided head-on with a noncompetitor. 

At Springhurst, another gold mining 

area, a further maze presented itself. 

By this stage navigators had worked 

out that although 

the official Broadbent’s map had 

missed on many of the roads, the 

Army Survey maps, which were 

permissible to be carried, had not. 

But they did not realise that Thomson 

had worked this out too. The road he 

chose for this section was reasonably 

easy to follow if the official map was 

followed, but the Army map was wrong 

and left out the one road that led to 

control. 

Of all the experienced 

competitors only one 

car, a Sunbeam Rapier 

driven by K. Pawson from 

Tasmania, reached control. 

To amuse crews and further 

unsettle the already exhausted 

navigators, Thomson sent them 

over a precipitous hill for no 

other reason except, as he noted 

in the route instructions, “The 

view from here is fabulous, but 

fishing is not allowed”. Nobody 

had time to look at the view, and 

even if they had time for fishing, 

there was no water for miles 

around. 

By Saturday afternoon the 

remaining cars were sent on a 

reasonably easy section along 

the Omeo Highway in the 

Victorian Alps. Times on this 

section were so easy that some 

drivers stopped off at Omeo to 

patronise the local milk bar – 

but they were soon to regret it. 

As they reached the top of 

the Alps night was falling, and 

although there was no snow, 

there was a thick fog to greet 

them. For 20 miles progress 

was reduced to the speed that 

the navigator could manage 

when walking in front of the car and 

holding a torch. 

Eventually they reached the township 

of Bright, suffering close to exhaustion. 

Some had hair-raising tales to tell 

about being passed on the outside of 

the mountain by other competitors,

while negotiating roads that fell 

away into seemingly bottomless 

precipices. 

Eventually the remaining 

stragglers made their way to 

Melbourne and the finish, where 

more than 10,000 people were 

waiting at Chadstone. 

There was a quick tie-breaking 

test, post-event scrutineering 

and a more-than-welcome cup of 

coffee waiting. 

The event was over for another 

year. Thomson had kept his 

promise concerning using 

mapped roads only, but those 

who completed the event soon 

realised that there was more than 

one way of killing a cat – in this 

case battling against one of the 

greatest minds in the business, 

Donald Thomson. 

For the winners, Harry Firth 

and Frank Kilfoyle, it was their 

second win in this around-- 

Victoria marathon, despite this 

being their first event together. 

Interestingly, there were five Ford 

Motor Company entries in the 

event – three Anglia 105Es and 

a pair of Falcons in the top 10, 

with a Hillman, a Vanguard and a 

couple of Volkswagens filling the 

remaining spots. 

Thomson’s reputation as 

a master tactician had been 

preserved. No doubt he was 

already poring over the maps for 

an even more diabolic route for 

1963. 

GEAR UP IN 

CONFIDENCE 

WITH SUBARU 

Subaru Australia is responding to 

the needs of the local motorsport 

community with the launch of the 

Subaru Motorsport Network (SMN). 

Selected Subaru dealerships form 

part of the SMN, based on their high 

level of expertise in motorsport, to 

deliver high performance, quality 

facilities and maintain exceptional 

quality control. 

SMN ensures that motorsport 

enthusiasts can purchase genuine 

motorsport parts with confidence 

and run their vehicle at the highest 

performance. 

All Subaru genuine motorsport parts 

are motorsport compliant and graded 

as high quality, high durability and 

high reliability. 

The network expansion is another 

key pillar of the company’s overarching 

Subaru ‘do’ initiatives. 

Subaru helps motorsport 

enthusiasts including teams, owners 

and privateers achieve their goals by 

providing them with a local trusted 

supplier to maintain their performance 

edge. 

Subaru Australia Managing Director, 

Colin Christie, said: “We recognise that 

motorsport enthusiasts rely heavily 

on the aftermarket segment to source 

their parts. 

“This is an opportunity for Subaru 

Subaru Motorsport 

parts are available from 

Maximum Motorsport and 

Neil Buckby Motors. 

‘do’ to bring convenience to this 

community and supply them with 

genuine, quality motorsport parts. 

The benefits lie within the SMN - 

motorsport professionals delivering 

performance and reliability on every 

car.” 

SMN dealerships currently include 

Maximum Motorsport, Kewdale, 

Western Australia and Neil Buckby 

Motors, Launceston, Tasmania. 


RETRO: TOYOTA’S DARKEST HOUR 

TURBOGATE 

Toyota have had a glorious 

return to the World Rally 

Championship, with Jari-Matti 

Latvala finishing second at Monte Carlo 

and then winning in Sweden. 

The early successes of 2017 are a 

far cry from 1995, however, when 

the factory Toyota team were caught 

cheating. It was, without doubt, the 

company’s darkest hour in motorsport. 

Martin Holmes’ annual World Rallying 

book from 1995 explains how it all 

happened. 

~~~~~ 

At an extraordinary World Motor 

Sport Council meeting on 

November 3, Toyota Team Europe was 

excluded from the 1995 World Rally 

Championship and suspended from 

competition for 12 months. 

This came as a result of competing in 

Catalunya with a turbo restrictor that 

failed the scrutineer’s inspection on 

three counts: 

1. The restrictor was not sealed so 

it was possible to move it without 

touching the seals; 

2. It was possible for air to enter 

the engine without passing the 

restrictor, and; 

3. The position of the restrictor 

could be moved so it was further 

away from the turbine than the 

50mm limit permitted. 

FIA President, Max Mosley, said 

Toyota’s air inlet system was “The 

most sophisticated and ingenious 

device I have ever seen in 30 years 

of motorsport, or indeed had any 

other member of the World Council, 

scrutineers or technical experts. 

“The marvel of the system was that it 

was completely concealed under a hose 

which encased the restrictor and joined 

the turbocharger body with the air 

filter. When the system was dismantled 

there was no way of telling anything 

irregular had existed.” 

Mosley said the system was put 

into operation when the restrictor 

was assembled. As the restrictor was 

attached to the turbocharger body it 

was covered by an all-encasing hose. 

This hose was then tightened with 

three jubilee clips. One of these 

required a special tool to operate 

it, because it was used to pull the 

restrictor outwards from its casing. 

This movement not only served to aid 

the airflow into the turbine blades, but 

more importantly, opened up a 5mm 


gap through which extra air could enter 

the engine on the engine-side of the 

legal constriction. 

The final clip then clamped the 

restrictor in its new position with claws. 

When the restrictor was dismantled the 

three clips had to be undone. 

When the central clip was loosened, 

the claws released their grip on the 

restrictor, which then regained its 

original and legal position. 

The spring against which the 

restrictor was tightly held was a flange, 

which appeared at first glance to be a 

closely fitting device aimed at locating 

the restrictor in an air-tight attachment 

to its casing. 

It served, in fact, as a diaphragm 

spring. It allowed the restrictor to move 

outwards by 5mm, leaving a 5mm ring 

between the restrictor and its casing, 

through which the extra air could pass. 

Mosley emphasised that the body 

in front of the World Council was the 

team. 

“The Toyota Motor Company itself 

was at no stage invited to appear 

before the World Council because there 

was no reason to suppose they were in 

any way aware of what was going on.” 

The ban as applied to Toyota Team 

Europe would have no effect on the 

Toyota Motor Company, but if Toyota 

Team Europe appeared in another 

guise, it was unlikely the FIA would 

accept such an entry during the period 

of suspension. 

“The drivers are unfortunately also 

automatically excluded when a car is 

excluded because of illegality. There is, 

however, nothing to suggest that the 

drivers were aware of what was going 

on,” Mosley said. 

- MARTIN HOLMES 

FIA President, Max 

Mosley, inspects the 

illegal turbo restrictor in 

Paris in November 1995. 

(Photo: Holmes)

ABOVE: The official diagram released by the FIA shows just how clever TTE’s devious design 

was, while (below) the Catalunya Rally Stewards’ decision explains why the factory Celicas 

were excluded from the 1995 rally. 

The TTE pairing of Didier Auriol and Denis 

Giraudet prior to the team’s exclusion in 

Spain in 1995. (Photos: Holmes) 

TTE Technical Director, Dieter Bulling, was 

the first head on the chopping block. 


PHOTO OF THE MONTH 


Former New Zealand Rally 

Champion Brian Stokes pushes his 

Escort hard on the McIntosh Road 

stage of the Otago Rally. 



REARVIEW 

Simon Evans and Ben Searcy made 

their Otago Rally debut in Darryn 

Snooks' Datsun Stanza, setting 

some impressive stage times.

RallySport Magazine April 2017

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