Rotorua's Ian Wood is always a crowd pleaser in his turbocharged Toyota Corolla. Photo/Greg Henderson Photography
Rotorua's Ian Wood is always a crowd pleaser in his turbocharged Toyota Corolla. Photo/Greg Henderson Photography
Gravel rally action comes to the Bay of Plenty region on Sunday with Motorsport BOP Inc attracting a fully subscribed 50-car field for its TECT All Terrain Park-based event.
The Tauranga Clubmans and Novice Rally has played an important role in the emergence of Tauranga's Phil Campbell as one of New Zealand's leading rally drivers.
Five years ago the Clubmans Rally was the first event Campbell contested as a novice driving a 1300cc Toyota Starlet. This weekend he leads the field as the defending title holder.
Taranaki driver Brad Ayling is one of the leading contenders in his Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Photo/Greg Henderson Photography
Campbell says the local rally is an ideal starting point for new competitors.
"The club really makes it easy for the novice competitors," says Campbell.
"It's a compact event and there are no pace notes to worry about. You can just get in and drive and start to understand what rallying is all about."
Campbell's career progression has taken him from the Starlet to a Mitsubishi Mirage, a Ford Fiesta ST and now a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9.
His win at the 2014 event came mid-way through his first season driving the four-wheel drive turbocharged Lancer. And just a few weeks later he claimed his first win at national level at the Coromandel Gold Rush event.
"Winning the Clubmans Rally gave us some confidence going into Coromandel and when we found ourselves leading the rally there we'd had that experience and pressure of battling with Sloan Cox for the lead at Tauranga."
This year Campbell lines up as the top-seed in the 50-car field with regular co-driver Venita Fabbro alongside in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9. They currently hold second position in the NZ Rally Championship with two rounds remaining.
Other front runners include Mt Maunganui's David Holder - making a return in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo8 after a season-interrupting crash at Rally Whangarei - along with Subaru Impreza drivers Chris Tregilgas (Rotorua), Brad Ayling (Taranaki), Wayne Pittams (Tauranga) and Marcus Beaufoy (Gisborne).
Other drivers likely to battle near the top of the leaderboard are former national championship front-runner Todd Bawden (Lancer Evo6) and Tauranga's Mitch James (Lancer Evo2).
Tauranga's Mitch James was the top-placed novice driver at last year's Tauranga Clubmans Rally. Photo/greg Henderson Photography
Attracting a full entry has been no issue for the local car club and there is a reserve list of teams waiting for place to open in the 50-car field.
This weekend's event is just the third gravel rally to be staged in the North Island this year following NZ Championship events at Whangarei and Gisborne, another reason for the rush of applications for one of the 50 starting positions.
Along with late-model 4WD Turbo cars the field includes small capacity two-wheel-drive cars and some classic rally machinery.
Once again a significant number of the competitors meet the novice requirement - the event must be their first, second or third start in a rally.
"The numbers are pretty consistent with the last few years with about 30 per cent of the competitors - either drivers or co-drivers - being novices," says rally organiser David Loughlin.
"The rally seems to be meeting it's main objective of bringing new competitors into the sport." There's usually strong competition to be the highest placed rookie driver and among the contenders this year are top hillclimb driver Donald McLean (Subaru Impreza), locals Richard Rau (Mazda 323) and Sean Cuff (Mitsubishi VR4) and Aucklander Brynley Smith (Lancer Evo9).
Mount Maunganui's David Holder in action with his Mitsubishi Lancer. Photo/Greg Henderson Photography
The rally has seven gravel special stages in the Pyes Pa, Ohauiti and Ngawaro Forest totalling 80km of competitive driving.
Rally headquarters and the service park are both at the Te Matai Motorsport Hub in the TECT All Terrain Park. The first car starts at 8.45am and will finish the event at 2.18pm.
RALLY GUIDE: A full rally guide with maps, time schedule and entry lists has been published in the Driven supplement of Friday's Bay of Plenty Times.
2015 Tauranga Clubmans Rally - schedule SATURDAY JULY 25 3pm-5pm - Documentation and scrutineering at PF Automotive, 95 Birch Ave, Judea. An opportunity to see the cars and meet the drivers. SUNDAY JULY 26 8.45am - Rally start from Te Matai Motorsport Service Park 8.58am - Special Stage 1 Mangatoi (11.01km) 9.33am - Special Stage 2 Taumata (8.47km) 9.45am (approx) - Service at Te Matai Motorsport (15min) 10.18am - Special Stage 3 Ngawaro 1 (11.55km) 10.58am - Special Stage 4 Mangapapa/Kaharoa (19.52km) 11.30am (approx) - Service at Te Matai Motorsport (20min) 12.08pm - Special Stage 5 Te Matai Motorsport (4.05km) 12.28pm - Special Stage 6 Mangatoi 2 (11.01km) 1.05pm (approx) - Service at Te Matai Motorsport (20min) 1.33pm - Special Stage 7 Ngawaro 2 (14.41km) 2.18pm - Rally finish Te Matai Motorsport followed by prize giving NOTE: Times are for the first rally car.
