Sunday 17th January saw the Hibiscus Coast Motorsport club hold its round of the ABC Pipefitters Northern Rallysprint Series, this was round 2, and Arcadia Road, Paparoa was the venue. This fantastic piece of road produced plenty of drama and incidents for the 45 crews that turned up on a pretty hot day, temperatures had dropped a little compared to the week prior, the sun had gone and reports of showers was probably not what the organisers were wanting to hear. It did rain slightly on the way up, the skys looked dark and cloudy but fear not, it all held, the sun came out and to be honest it was still bloody hot by the afternoon runs.
Graham Featherstone was once again the man to beat, but he had plenty of great opposition, Phil Campbell in the Fiesta AP4, Dave Strong in another Fiesta S2000, Clint Cunningham, Fiesta Proto, kingsley Jones was also present in his recently acquired Skoda fabia RS and also add in past rallysprint champions Warwick Redfern, Steve Goodare, Charlie Evans, the present Top Half Rally Champion Bryn Smith and one time local Bevan Wilson in his home built Triple Rotary powered 4wd BMW and it was all on! What a line up, and that’s without mentioning all the extremely fast regular clubmen such as Liston, Jones and even the return of Noel and Sam Miller. This was going to be exciting to say the least.
The overall lead went “Tit for Tat” between Feathers and Campbell, before Feather’s took control in the top two run off. All through the classes there seemed to be dramas, even the top two run off had a few major incidents, it was all on and all go all day. The Car Club did a superb job, they kept control and despite many incidents ran a fantastic event.
A full report and photos can be found in the next edition of a little bit sideways…..out this week.
Next round, 17th March at the Bothwell Loop Road, another cracker of a road, an ex WRC one at that, Hosted by the Pukekohe Car Club. Regs & Entry will be out soon are out now and can be found else were on this site, and of course the Pukekohe Car Club website
Check out else were on this site for the latest updated points tables.
Sunday 20th January, a little early for some, but still 44 crews turned up for round 1 of the ABC Pipefitters Northern Rallysprint Series. The Northland Car Club had the un-enviable task of getting the season underway, I say un-enviable as after the hiccups of last season all eyes were on the Car Club. But no one need have worried, Neil Rodgers and his crew put on a great event that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.
Ruarangi road, is without doubt a stunning piece of road, up there with the best in the country, love it, or hate it, it is a rollercoaster road like no other. The blind crests, flat out ridge tops, off camber corners and a fantastic spectator bend, especially running in the direction of today’s event, certainly one to test driver, co-driver and machine! The weather threatened to turn nasty with high winds and an early shower but it held off, infact by the end of the day the sun was out and it was scorching.
The event had the usual breakdowns, incidents and a roll over, no one hurt but the Barry Armiger incident (Car on fire) certainly was the more serious of the days incidents. Some fantastic driving was on display as crews started to blow the cobwebs out. Graham Featherstone was once again on fire…but not like Barry, pushed all the way by Clinton Cunningham, Warwick Redfern, Dave Strong and Bevan Wilson. The classes also had some great battles, but until all the registrations are sorted out it’s a little difficult at this stage to give details on the series overalls or class battles.
Full reports and pictures will be in the next edition of “A little bit sideways” magazine. Results can be found elsewhere on this site.
Round 2, another cracker of a road, Arcadia. Hosted by the Hibiscus Coast Motorsport Club will be on the 17th of February. Regulations & entry are available on this site and on the HCMC site at www.hcmc.org.nz
Michele & Waverly, here at the Piaokuni Road Rallysprint.
Well, what an end to the 2018 ABC Pipefitters Northern Rallysprint Series, Saturday evening (27th October) saw the South Auckland Car Club rooms packed out for the end of season prize giving. This season has had its fair share of ups & downs, but it was certainly great to finish on such a high and bodes well for the 2019 series. With every event throughout this season attracting large entry numbers it was great to see everyone show up, weather they were collecting trophies or not, it’s the support that counts, and to have guys travel down from Northland, up from Hamilton and over from the Thames Valley areas as well as the Hibiscus Coast and the two local car clubs of Pukekohe and South Auckland was extremely rewarding.
Massive congratulations to the 2018 series winners, Graham Featherstone and co-driver Dave Devonport, this being a record of 5 consecutive championships for Feathers, one that’s certainly going to take some beating. Matt Jensen and Kieran Anstis pushed them extremely hard and certainly made Feathers work hard for his victories.
Other notables performances through this season that deserve a mention was that of Michele Brunt and Waverly Jones in their 1600 Starlet, both girls well known for their co-driving abilities with their other halves, it was great to see them having a go at being an all females crew and mixing it up with the blokes, proving to be pretty competitive, Michele coming away with an equal 2nd in the series class B championship for drivers,and Waverly also collecting 2nd in class in the Suspension Tech co-drivers’ championship. Michele also picked up “Listo’s Star of the series”, an award for outstanding performance, speed and commitment.
Michele & Waverly with their spoils.
Don and Wendy Needham also deserve a mention for taking the champions title for the 2wd classics, after also having an up & down season….literally. A roll at round 5 looked like ending their 2018 campaign, but due to the lengthy time before round 6 it gave them enough time to complete the repair of their MK2 Escort, this after also being refused to run at an earlier round due to a damaged door lock which could not be repaired in time for the next run, costing them valuable points. The couple just pipping Craig and Suzi Tickle’s BMW 2002 by 1 point at the final round. Now that was close.
” Dondy ” and wife Wendy, throwing the Escort around on round 6 of the series.
The 2wd guys also deserve a mention, many of them run in different classes but we do have a top 2wd trophy, this year it went to Steve and Rob Goodare, but once again what top class competition he was up against. Charlie Evans, RX7. Grant Liston, Honda Integra and Anthony Jones in his Millington powered MK2 Escort…..and of course Mark Bradly deserves a round of applause for his giant killing efforts in his Datsun 1200. Mark also keeping his hands on the 1300 class champion trophy.
Mark Bradly, seen here at the Bothwell loop road Rallysprint. on his way to retaining the class A champion title
So, with 2018 over and dusted you would think it’s time for a rest…..Wrong! With round 1 of the 2019 series already being organised for January 20th it’s still going to be all go for competitors to get their cars ready, round 2 will be in February, more details to follow as we will be having another convenors meeting in a couple of weeks.
A few new changes will be being made prior to the start of the 2019 series, I’ll be notifying everyone as soon as there done and up on the website so you all know what’s going prior to the series starting up again.
We (Tracy & myself) did make noises of taking a back seat for 2019 to concentrate on a few other “Priority” jobs we have to do….like getting our rally car out and joining you guys, it’s still on the cards and still high on our list, along with finishing off our house projects and sorting out our wedding. However, things have changed a little over the last week or so, and instead of trying to slow down a little we have now decided to stay on board but have also made the decision to get more involved with a couple of other local series that need a helping hand. We are hopefully getting involved with the Top Half Rally series, and the local Hillclimb series….WHY, you may ask.
Well the Hillclimb series, the Rallysprint series and the Top Half rally series, were years ago all run by the same clubs, these events were all known as “ Interclub” events and were all traditionally held in the Top half of the North Island. The Hillclimb’s and Rallysprint’s still are but due to the obvious reasons the rally series has somewhat moved due to the loss of several rallies, and now it really covers any were in the North island were we can get a rally.
So, to my point. We are climbing onboard and trying to inject some enthusiasm to try and bring the top half rally series and Hillclimb series upto the same level as the rallysprint series. We have spoken to the people involved as they are both wanting to have a break and both are happy to take up our offer of help. We have also spoken to prospective sponsors/helpers and things are looking very encouraging. Its early days and we have lots of ideas so watch this space.
Now, getting back to the rallysprint series and one last thing before we sign off. We have eluded to this topic before, and that is the “Rallysprint Challenge”. This has come about because of Jason Byrnes magazine “A little bit sideways “ The coverage he has given the series has been brilliant and has attracted the attention of fellow competitors of the Engine Room automotive series. They are keen to have a “one off ” end of season Rallysprint against each other. So, we thought about it and now the wheels are in motion to do so, a neutral venue has been suggested and the locals in that area are extremely keen to help us out……a couple of calls have been made, meetings arranged so in the next few weeks we will try and get something sorted, maybe even a two day event….Rallysprint & Hillclimb, both on gravel and possibly on the Labour day long weekend in 2019.
Now, perhaps the biggest accolades must go to our sponsors ABC PIPEFITTERS, for supporting the series for the last 5 seasons, long may it continue. It’s great that with their support this series has gone from strength to strength and we cannot thank them enough. Also to CHRIS ALEXANDER of SUSPENSION TECH, for also coming on board to launch the Co-Drivers championship, and to go along with this NEIL ALLPORT MOTORSPORT has brought a new dimension to the series with supplying pace notes, which helps our up and coming young crews to learn their trade in a safe environment instead of having to jump straight into a rally and try to learn notes in an environment that is a little daunting to them so early in there motorsport apprenticeship
Next and Final round of the 2018 series, Sunday 9th September in Maramarua Forest, to be run by the South Auckland Car Club……More details to come nearer the time. Please Call Back.
