After a quick turnaround, its time this weekend for everyones favourite, Rally Whangarei. Both Rally Otago and Rally Whangarei are rated amongst most favourite events in NZ, and not only are they at opposite ends of the country, but also quite contrasting events for more reasons than one.
One obvious difference is the roads – while still generally fast, Whangarei is a lot more technical and turning, with many things that can bite back quickly. The biggest being the camber changes.
The cambered Northland stages are what have helped make rallying in NZ famous worldwide as it’s very seldom where you are jumping again and again over the crown of the road from corner to corner. From inside the car its quite a feeling but is also an aspect of the event that you need to respect.
With only three-weeks between the only two-day events of the championship, car preparation is somewhat tight while trying to thoroughly prepare the car while meeting a tight deadline.
After every two days of rallying, we will check the diffs, transmission and inspect the engine. There is always a small jobs list outside the regular maintenance schedule from the previous event, which, when combined with a development program we are currently undertaking on our engine package, means it has certainly been all hands on deck.
Set-up wise, we have made some small suspension changes to allow for the harder base and cambered stages of Whangarei, but generally in NZ rallying, once you have the car in a window, you tend not to adjust too much. Just fine tune suspension clicks and ride heights once at the events and having assessed the conditions.
The championship is shaping up to be super competitive with a lot of fast drivers. Ben (Hunt) is always fast up north but there are several other drivers who have well and truly announced that they are up for the fight.
Emma (Gilmour) has been going well and I think Robbie Stokes will be competitive at each and every event. But you simply cannot rule out anyone with the top 12 teams being so competitive which is great for NZ rallying.
It certainly puts pressure on us to keep striving to improve, and with most stages of this year’s event being the same as 2019, we have some pretty clear targets that we are aiming to beat ourselves from that year.
However, if the forecasted rain arrives that could be a little more tricky, but certainly not impossible. Can’t wait for the event!
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