National car rally series starts today

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 4

National car rally series starts today

(By

JOHN FRIDD)

Thousands of New Zealanders will turn out on lonely country roads in the dead of night during the next five months as the national car rallying series is run, in four major rallies.

The 1976 Pall Mall rally championship gets under way in Northland today, with the Northland Car Club’s two-day event; the sole South Island rally, in the northern portion of the island, follows at the start of May.

The third rally is in the Manawatu region and the last event is based tn Rotorua.

Although the series gives South Islanders only one chance to see the country’s top drivers in action, this will be more than compensated for in July, when the 1976 Radio New Zealand Heatway Rally is held on the "Mainland,” starting in Christchurch and ending in Dunedin A full field of 120 is expected to start in the Northland rally today, headed by last year’s champion, Rod Millen (Mazda). Mike Marshall (BDA Escort), Colin Taylor (Escort) and other top drivers, including Rob Gerrard of Akaroa (Mazda RX3). Today’s rally will be a good testing ground for many new cars and competitors, and, inevitably, some will probably wreck their cars through trying too hard and will have to pul! out of the championship;

The Marlborough rally, on Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2, covers a total distance of 760 km and includes 15 special stages, totalling 292 km. In the special stages, no speed limits apply and this is where the spectacular action in rallying is seen, with cars reaching speeds of over lOOm.p.h. on winding, gravel roads, in a race against time.

The Marlborough rally starts in Blenheim at 3.30 p.m. on May 1 in the R.S.A. car park, and heads south over the Taylor Pr.ss to the Awatere Valley; it then returns to Blenheim over the Redwood Pass. At 5.10 p.m. the first car heads out to Tuamarina and the third special stage is around the track there. The cars then tour to Pelorous Bridge (passing Havelock from 6.20 p.m.) and on to the toughest stage in the rally, across the Maungatapu to Nelson. This road is very steep and winding, and includes five fords.

The cars should start passing Nelson about 7.55 p.m. and arrive in Richmond from 8.15 p.m. From there, the rally continues on to stage five at Pretty Bridge at the start of the Golden Downs. Stage six starts at Tadmore, and the rally then tours on to Murchison for a welcome break, from 11.20 p.m. Just after midnight, at 12.50 am., the first car will head through the Braeburn on a varied seal-gravel stage. From Braebum it passes Lake Rotoiti at 2.00 a.m. and into stage eight at Kikiwa.

Stages nine, 10 and 11 take place in the Golden Downs area, on forestry roads, then the cars tour back to Richmond, passing Belgrove from 5.10 a.m. Stage 12 starts at Hira and the cars carry on to two stages in the Rai Forest — passing through the Rai Valley from 7.55 a.m. — and on to Havelock on a touring stage for the start of the 15th and final special stage over the Moenui Hiil to Linkwater, froia about 8.30.

Weary drivers and codrivers will then complete their final touring stage around the Queen Charlotte Drive ■ to Picton and through to the finish back at the R.S.A. in Blenheim, where the first car should arrive about 9.30 a.m. Rob Gerrard of Akaroa is one local competitor who should perform well and have a chance of winning the New Zealand championship. This season he has the valuable backing of the newly-estab-iisned Mazda Dealer Team, which is also backing the present national rally champion, Rod Millen, of Auckland.

Gerrard’s car, a two-door Mazda RX3 coupe with a 12A stage three motor, is capable of developing 240 h.p. at the motor and has extensive modifications in almost every area. On a good stretch of shingle road, it is capable of speeds in excess of 120 mph and will be backed up by a two-man service crew, with a full range of easilyfitted spares on hand. In the 1975 series, Gerrard was fourth over-all and second in his class behind Rod Millen, and in his sole outing this year, the Westland rally, he was the over-all winner, with his co-driver, John Stuthridge.

“I was very thrilled with the car’s performance in the rally,” said Gerrard recently. “I was winning stages even though the car was locked in third gear for quite a time.” The expense of taking a rally car and service crew to the North Island for three rallies has taken a heavy toll of Christchurch drivers, and only three are expected to run in the whole series.

John Sergei of Christchurch has built up a RSIBOO Escort, in an immaculate Mk II body, for the series, and has already tried it out twice. The engine has been built to f o u r-v a 1 v e BDA specifications, with twin overhead camshafts and

twin side-draught Weber carburetters. A good deal of the running gear in the car is from Sergei’s last season’s car, an RSI6OO. Sergei belives the car will produce 200 h.p. “on a good day,” and said the new body has greatly improved handling on the RSI6OO, even though it is no more powerful. In the Eastern Southland rally in March, with codriver M'ke Fletcher, Sergei drove consistently to come seventh overall and win his ciass. Two punctures in the Westland rally two weeks later—with only one spare—meant he finished well down the place list, even after borrowing a Hillman wheel to finish the rally. Geoff Le Cren is another Christchurch driver who should be well up in most of the rallies in his Datsun 1200 SSS. With his codriver, Noel Mudgway, he was placed eighth overall and second in class in the Westland rally and recently ■von the Duvauchelle hillclimb. Le Cren has been concentrating on the Datsun’s suspension this year, rather than the motor, as he believes that improved handling will give him a better chance of winning than more brute power. The third Christchurch driver in the Pall Mail series is Bruce Reid, in another Datsun 1200. Other entrants include Struan Gallagher, of Ashburton (Escort RS2000) and Jim Kennedy, of Greymouth, who is hoping to have an Escort RSIBOO ready for the series.

The top Christchurch driver, Trevor Crowe, will not contest the national series this year, as he could not find a sponsor. Last season Crowe was third overall in the series, and won his class, in his first season of rallying. However, he hopes to drive in the Marlborough rally if he can get a start.

The seasoned Timaru driver, Leo Leonard, said last week he had decided to “give the rally series a miss,” after being unable to secure a works rally car for the series. “I decided that if I couldn’t do it properly, I would not do it at all,” he said. “I sold my old rally car and have not bought a new one, and will now concentrate on track racing. I will probably help prepare the new PDL Mustang.” However, Leonard said he would like to run in the Radio N.Z. Heatway Rally, but had no definite plans as yet.