Source: Radio New Zealand
Drivers rehearsing for an earlier Otago rally. (File photo) RNZ / Tess Brunton
The Otago Rally is revving and ready to hit the gravel for its 50th year in Dunedin with a bumper crop of competitors.
More than 140 crews would be competing this weekend – close to 40 of them from overseas.
They would tackle 16 stages across 280 kilometres, between Dunedin and Lawrence, marking the first round of the New Zealand Rally Championship.
But before the rally officially started, drivers headed to a shakedown at Whare Flat Forest to test out their cars.
Helmet on and harness tight, eyes were fixated on a small screen near the start line.
It turned green and the engine roared so loudly it felt like your bones were vibrating.
Mud and gravel sprayed backwards as the rally car launched forward, tearing past trees, up the hill, and around the bend.
Rally driver Jack Hawkeswood was in line to test his car.
He first competed in the Otago Rally back in 2016.
“I managed to roll my car 11 times down the road. That was my first even rally so it was almost the first and last rally I ever did but fortunately, it took us a while but we got the car all fixed back up,” he said.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, he returned and it became the first rally he ever won.
Rallying was in his blood – his dad was a former New Zealand rally champion.
He could not wait to compete in the rally again.
“These Lawrence roads that we get down here – they’re the best roads in the world. They’re just a rally driver’s dream, just so wide and smooth,” he said.
Preparation and the right mindset were key.
“Track drivers, they see the same corner a 1000 times. They just keep going round and around the track seeing the same corners. Whereas rally driving, we’re the complete opposite,” he said.
“We see 1000 corners once so once you’ve gone through that one corner, you’ve only got one shot at it and that’s it. You’ll probably never see that same corner again.”
Team manager Brent Rawstron had been hooked on rallying for decades.
“When I got started rallying back in the 70s, they were just huge adventures. They went for many many days, usually at night, usually overnight. You never had done the stages before, they were all entirely blind,” Rawstron said.
He helped to spearhead the classic car rallying in New Zealand in the 1990s.
When the Otago Rally picked it up, he competed and won the event before turning his attention to attracting guest drivers.
He believed that the classic car rally that helped to save the main rally in when it hit harder times.
“The fields got so small that it was the classic rally that had the most competitors and so therefore generated enough income for the rally to continue running for those years,” he said.
“Now, of course, it’s grown into the event it is today with 147 entries, which is just mindblowing.”
It had cost them time, money and energy to build, prepare and run the car when they were the only major competitor in the classic rally with a guest driver, but he said it had been rewarding to see the rally grow.
“The expertise, they know how to do it. The event has got such a reputation worldwide, particularly over in Europe that the people are wanting to come out here. They know the event is on and they’re just wanting the opportunity to get out here,” he said.
Rally spokesperson Roger Oakley first competed in the rally 40 years ago before getting involved in organising the event about five years later.
“I still remember starting the first stage for the first time and I thought ‘oh, I love this’. It’s great and it was a bit overwhelming,” he said.
“But it’s pure competition. There’s no excuses. There’s noone to blame but yourself and if you do well, you can take the credit for it. So I loved it.”
There had been a core organising group involved for decades who worked hard to make the rally a reality each year, he said.
The shakedown was a chance for drivers to test out their cars on Wednesday.
“Forestry arterial roads, relatively wide for a rally road but steep in places, twisty, a loose surface, some uphill downhill. Everything that a rally driver likes,” he said.
The event was expected to bring a direct spend of about $4 million this year, Oakley said.
There was a ceremonial start on Friday night before drivers hoped to leave their competitors in their dust over the weekend.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
