Lure of vintage era brings top field of classics to NZ

Twenty-one overseas teams have entered cars in the first Silver Fern Marathon Rally, which will take on some of the South Island's toughest roads next month.

The entry list of 69 cars, many of them classics, has vindicated the organisers' belief that there is strong interest in the type of rallying that brought some of the world's best to the South Island 30 years ago.

The Silver Fern Rally will start from the Picton waterfront at midday on Saturday October 7.

Teams will compete their way around the South Island with overnight stops in Greymouth, Queenstown, Dunedin and Christchurch before returning through Nelson to the finish in Blenheim.

Entries have come from former world rally champion Stig Blomqvist, three national champions and several winners of marathon events around the world

One of the toughest jobs for the organisers has been seeding the cars, as some drivers are returning to the sport after breaks of up to 20 years. Many top local drivers have switched to the classic Escorts and Mazdas for this event.

From the Picton start, the cars will run in the entry list order for three prologue special stages around the Marlborough area. They will then be seeded into the fastest first running order for the event proper over 1400km of special stages.

First on the road will be Blomqvist, the 1984 world champion, driving a Ford Escort RS 1800 with Venezuelan co-driver Ana Goni.

They will be followed by 2004 London to Sydney champions, Joe McAndrew and Murray Cole, from Wellington, in a Honda Integra Type R.

Third will be five-time British champion Jimmy McRae in another Honda Integra, owned and co-driven by Hamilton's Gary Smith.

Then follow two national champions, New Zealander Brian Stokes in a Ford Escort RS Cosworth and British Historic Champion Dessie Nutt in the first of the Tuthill team's Porsche 911s.

Francis Tuthill, the 1993 London to Sydney marathon rally winner, will start at six in another of the Porsches his team is bringing to New Zealand.

One of the great names of New Zealand rallying, Blair Robson, is seeded seventh. He won the first New Zealand rally championship, in 1974, and won again in 1978, both times in Ford Escorts for the then Masport Escort Team.

His new car will be a Masport Escort replica.

Spicing up the action will be spectacular Aucklander Andrew Hawkeswood at the wheel of a potent Mazda RX7 from the Group B era.

The field will include several 30-year-old Porsches, Escorts galore, Datsuns, Vauxhalls, an Audi Quattro, a V8 Monaro and a Mustang.

Ten Aussies and eight Englishmen head the overseas contingent, which also includes one Scot, a Swede and a Frenchman.