Snow and spills in Heatway Rally

Press, 8 July 1976, Page 42

Snow and spills in Heatway Rally

From JOHN FRIDD Mike Marshall, of Auckland, revelled in the atrocious conditions—snow, slush, and ice—-of the Radio New Zealand Heatway Rally yesterday to lead comfortably last evening. He drove his Escort RSI-800 smoothly in the ice and snow I to lead Scotland’s Andrew [ Cowan by almost 4min. However, Cowan’s second placing was near incredible, as his Avenger 1800 had only half the power of the other top cars, and the bad conditions obviously suited the flying Scotsman, used to what he termed “Scottish conditions." Two of the ton runners went over the same hank in the sixth stage near Fairlie (last evening, and both are nrobablv out of the rallv. New Caledonia’s Jean-1 ou'« Leyraud slid over a hank in thick snow, and was followed minutes later bv Rod Millen, o< Auckland Neither driver was hurt.;' but it put paid to both driv- ; ers’ chances: both had been < driving well. Third after the sixth stage < iwas Colin Taylor, of Welling- j 'ton (Escort), and hard on his c

heels was Akaroa's Rob Gerard, only ,08sec behind. Gerard drove aggressively on his home roads on Banks Peninsula for his good placing, : even though his rotary engine was losing power last < evening. Trevor Crowe, of Christchurch, was lying in fifth place after some wonderful i driving in his tiny Datsun i

1200 SSS. He also found the appalling road surfaces to his liking, as the drivers in the higher-powered cars could not use their power to best advantage, and snaked all over the roads when too much power was put on. The shingle roads cut up verv badly after the first few cars, and were soon quagmires with deep ruts running

through them. Near Fairlie, the drivers also had to contend with frozen snow, which sent many cars into banks, and cut time down. One of the earliest retirements was from the top Timaru racing car driver, Leo Leonard. His potent Datsun Cherry blew a tyre and crashed into a bank on the sealed Summit Road, damag-

ing the steering badly. It is believed he is now out of the rally. The top Christchurch Datsun driver, Geoff Le Cren, lost control on the fourth stage, near Little River, and rolled 200 ft down a steep bank, wrecking his car, Le Cren and his co-driver, Noel Mudgway, were shaken but unhurt.

Hundreds of spectators turned out on the Banks Peninsula stages, and brayed the freezing rain and slushy snow underfoot for the thrill of seeing the drivers spin and slide along the roads. The 300 h.p. Lancia Stratus of Australian Ron Marks was eagerly awaited, but was not driven to its fully potential; it had some engine trouble. Placings in the rally last evening were: M. Marshall (Auckland) Escort, 1. A. Cowan (Scotland) Avenger, 2. R. Gerard (Akaroa) Mazda, 3. C. Taylor (Wellington) Escort, 4. T. Zacho Kristensen (Hastings) Mazda, 5. T. Crowe (Christchurch) Datsun, 6. K. Cleghorn (Palmerston North) Toyota, 7. J. Donald (Auckland) Escort, 8. C. Smith (Auckland) Escort, 9. B. Robson (Auckland) Escort. 10. N. Johns (Whangarei) Escort. 11. J. Louis Leyraud (New Caledonia-) BMW. 12. T. Baker (Rotorua) Datsun, 13 T. Gibbes (Palmerston North) Escort, 14. Q. Phillips rtVhangaparaoa) Mazda. 15. A. Carter. (Auckland) Escort. 16. G. Mclntyre (Paraparaumu), Mazda, 17. S. Gallagher (Ashburton) Escort. 18. W- Murdoch (Timaru; Datsun,: 19. D Morris (Auckland) VauxhaU [ Firenza, 20. 1