All kinds of cars...

Press, 12 September 1980, Page 10

All kinds of cars...

A wide variety of cars — from the 325 b.h.p. 230 km/h Mercedes-Benz of Bjorn Waldegaard to the 56 b;h.p. 130 km/h Chevette of Rangi Greenland. — will be seen on the Motogard Rally. The Mercedes are the most interesting newcomers this year. It is the first time for many years that VB-powered cars have been seen in a New Zealand international. Three of the Mercedes — those of Waldegaard, Mikkola and Cowan — have 4973 cu cm V 8 motors while Carisson’s lighter CE coupe has a twin-overhead camshaft 2746 cu cm six-cylinder powerplant. A four-speed automatic gearbox could tempt the Mercedes drivers to take the easy way out for gearchanging on the Motogard, but one suspects that the ’boxes will be used manually most of the time. Escorts are by far the most popular mount for Motogard drivers, with a huge ,44 per cent of the field in the nimble little machines, with a variety of motors and suspension tunings. The RS Escorts are powered by alloy twinoverhead camshaft 1992 cu" cm motors which pump out -260 b.h.p. at 9000 r.p.m. — with only 980 kg to push along the RS is a very potent rally car, capable of devasting performance. The Escort RS’s biggest, drawback is the reliability of its motor, which can. give trouble if not put together just right . for a long-distance event. Rohrl’s Fiat 131 Abarth has much the same specifications as the Escort RS,

but its engine is a little less powerful, as its maximum usable r.pjn. is 1500 The three H 52300 Che-* vettes of the General Motors Dealer Team will be worth watching. These are powered by 260 b.h.p. DOHC engines and if the G.M. team can overcome its reliability problems they could score well. The works Datsuns of Timo Salonen and George Fury are down on power to the other top cars, havin g sin g 1 e-camshaft motors, but the Datsuns are very tough and can stand more rigorous punishment. Salonen in para ticular has a very spectacular style and will be trying hard to give Datsun its first New Zealand world-championship rally victory. The Datsuns have 195 b.h.p. on call from their 1975 cu cm motors and htey weigh about the same as the Escorts and Fiats. Mazdas are still quite popular in New Zealand, and 13 will start the Motogard. The top ones are running in the Pacific class — for cars which don’t comply with the world-championship specifications — and those to watch are the ones being driven by Alan Fergus (Waihi), Ross Here (Nelson) and Rob Gerard (Christchurch). Four Toyotas are entered, and the top chance appears, to be the sleek Celica lift-back of Patrick Gratian, of New Caledonia.: Another Toyota entered is the little 1200 cu cm Starlet of Graham Wilson (Westport). Other makes of car represented are Honda, Mit» subishi, Avenger and Mini.