How does an unlicensed 14-year-old rally driver take part in a one-day event that requires driving on public roads in order to get to the competitive Special Stages. It’s not a problem for Brooklyn Horan who is entered in this Sunday’s Taranaki Tarmac Rally, the second round of the North Island Rally Series. Horan’s co-driver for the event will be Michael Connor, who will swap seats with Brooklyn, driving their Ford Fiesta Rally4 car on the Touring Stages.
“I don’t have a lot of experience on tarmac,” commented Horan. “All I am thinking about is finishing the event, keeping it on the road and keeping it clean.”
Young Horan comes from an off-road background just like his father, Raana who made the switch to gravel several years ago and has been campaigning a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo in the NZ Rally Champs with Michael Connor as co-driver. Raana Horan and Connor won the Stadium Finance Rally South Canterbury last weekend, their second win in the NZRC.
“I’ve done a few test rounds in a Toyota 86 and hope to use some of those skills,” commented Brooklyn. “I started in offroad driving a Mini Trophy Truck from the age of four and at ten years-old moved to a single seater buggy and have been racing a 1000 Polaris for the last six months.
“Off roading is really restrictive because of my age, so we’ve decided to switch to rallying which means I can do more racing.
“I want to drive in the NZRC but will have to wait until I am 16 so I will keep doing the North Island Rally Series and a number of rally sprints.
The rally starts from Stratford at 10am, with the first special stage starting at 10.40am. The cars return to the Stratford Showgrounds at midday for service and the rally will finish around 2.15pm.
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