Good rallycross entries

Press, 23 June 1978, Page 10

Good rallycross entries

Rally cars are spectacular enough when they roar around country roads singly, but imagine six or eight of them belting around a tight track together with the drivers all trying desperately to finish first. This sort of action is likely at the Canterbury Car Club’s third rallycross, which will be held at Ruapuna Park on Sunday.

The club has improved the I.skm course, which incorporates part of the back straight and Rothmans sweeper of the sealed circuit, as well as a specially-made section of dirt track. Most action will ■ take place on the Templeton speedway side of the circuit, as the cars swing wildly off the sealed track on to the dirt section. The sharp hairpin which cut up badly at the last rallycross has been removed.

and the cars will instead have a sweeping S-bend to negotiate, then a fast straight before they hit the sealed, circuit again. They will sweep around one of the sealed S-bends then take to the dirt again for the sprint across to the main straight. Gary Cliff, the rallycross organiser, said this week that between 30 and 40 entries were expected. Trevor Crowe, of Christchurch, will be a warm favourite in his McLaren Motors Avenger 1850, as he won four races in the first rallycross, held in August, 1976.

However, Jim Kennedy, of Greymouth, could also pose a threat in his powerful Greyford Escort RSI 800. Kennedy should be the fastest down the sealed straight, and last year he won the second rallycross after finishing second in the final to John Sergei (Christchurch, Escort RS1800). Sergei

was relegated to second for going outside some marker-cones. Another fast Coaster making the trip over for Sunday’s event is Alan Hewlett of Kumara. Hewlett has proved very fast in rallies in his Escort 1600 and his aggressive style should see him finish well up.

A number of potent Mazda RX3s are expected to compete, and the leading Mazda challenge will come from the spectacular Timaru driver, Carl Rabbidge. The Springston duo of Lyall McMillan and Ross Bailey will also keep the Escort drivers honest if they compete.

Other fast drivers entered include Stephen stokes (Waikuku, Escort 1600) and Warren Burt (Timaru, Toyota Coirolla). It is expected that about 20 races will be run, and the 10 qualifying races will each be contested by between four to six cars.

Eight cars will go through from the semi-finals to the day's climax, the eight-lap final.

A new section of dirt track will be used in the final to give drivers the best possible chance of passing rivals. The Canterbury Car Club has kept the admission charges low to make the rallycross attractive as entertainment for the whole family, and there will be 5450 in prize money to tempt the drivers to try their hard’ est.

Another rallycross will be held on July 23, and several top North Islanders will compete. The event will be filmed and shown on television later. Next season it is expected that a national rallycross circuit will be set up, to link the Ruapuna events with those in the North Island.