Museum spectacular backdrop for super special stage, writes Andrew Alderson.
It has been 20 years since the throaty roar of rally cars permeated the lush surrounds of Auckland Domain but they will be back this Friday evening, fish-tailing their way around Rally New Zealand's 1.5km sealed road super special stage.
The event needed substantial work to meet safety concerns, especially after the furore over the proposal to host the V8 Supercars at Victoria Park.
Thanks to free entry, hundreds of water-filled barriers, about 20 light towers and a spectator-friendly land contour, it shapes as entertaining viewing. That's as well as the 'shakedown' preparation period on Thursday morning.
"We partnered up with Auckland City's events team and the area around the War Memorial Museum seemed the ideal venue to capture an audience," Rally New Zealand chairman Chris Carr says. "We then had to work through a few issues like hiring an archaeologist to check the process and the risks so we treat the area responsibly.
"There needed to be recognition of the Domain's special significance to Aucklanders. For instance, there will be extra protection for the cenotaph.
"We then surveyed the degree of risk in every corner so there are suitable spots for spectators to stand and other areas which have to be fenced off. All our property is then removed on Friday night so the Domain is ready for public use again on Saturday morning."
So how did Rally New Zealand manage to convince the council, which had parked the V8s idea at the kerb?
"The V8s were different in that the proposal took up space on a lot of commuter and heavy thoroughfare roading," Carr says. "The Domain is not a critical area of Auckland for traffic so large areas of the city won't have to be shut down for any sustained period."
Willard Martin returns as clerk of the course, a role he's performed for years. Part of his responsibilities mirror that of a choreographer on a movie set, making sure everything works smoothly, as well as being a scene of visual perfection.
"The idea is to draw the crowds to Auckland and portray it well, once we get hold of the venue on the Wednesday afternoon," Martin says. "The drivers will make a grand start outside the museum building with the stunning view of the harbour behind them. We then looked at designing a suitable route. That included no speed humps - they don't mix well with a rally car."
Martin says his favourite part of the course - and the toughest - will be when the cars zig-zag the downhill segment off Domain Drive.
They have a hard right then a hard left to get there, which should be spectacular. The stage won't win or lose the rally but drivers rarely hold back on these super special stages.
Carr says rural communities stand to benefit from the rally over the weekend when spectators gather in Northland and Waikato.
"We'll charge for access to stages and then share half that money back to locals," Carr says. "I don't think anything gives those communities more pleasure than seeing big city folk come through spending their cash. It represents a whole lot of sausage sizzles they don't have to do later in the year."
For a while it looked like the rally might be under threat because of the disruption to travel arrangements earlier in the month with the volcanic eruption in Iceland.
"It hasn't caused us too much grief," says Carr.
"After a while, all air freight schedules returned to normal but the problem came when teams weren't able to leave Rally Turkey on time, so had to drive across Europe which often took between 50 and 70 hours. It was all time lost on their preparations for New Zealand."
