South Island Rallies

[Munkvy]

Hi,

I am looking at doing a bit of an adventure next year and going to one of the South Island rallies, does anyone have any recommendations on the best to go to? I would prefer not to have to travel to Gore etc. But if I plan well in advance I should be able to afford to go to pretty much anywhere, but can only really afford to go to one.

I also have family in Christchurch I can stay with, so am particularly interested in finding out what the regional rally round there is like...

Thanks,

Vivian

[mattapo]

the ones up hanmer way are pretty popular. if you want i can put you in touch with one of the blen guys that does alot of rally's

[WRXER]

+1 to the Hamner one.

Canterbury rally is always good especially for the fact u have family in chch so helps keep costs down, same with the Otago one which I've heard is always a fun fest. Then there's the likes of the ashley forrest rally sprints which is 30 mins from chch. Buzz Koom here, he is always helping out at the majority of the rallys so will have heaps and heaps of good info.

[Koom]

Non national championship stuff: the Canterbury Rally is good. Based mostly in the Ashley forest which provides a decent selection of roads from fast flowy stuff to tight and twisty down through some of the little used roads. Quite competitive bunch turn up usually and the weather can change things completely too so I'd reccommend this one. West Coast (Greymouth) is a fun rally, generally end of season so lots of boozing (more so than usual) to be done afterwards. Quite a fast rally with nice, easy to read roads and some tighter stuff around the lakes. Timaru rally is also good but was canned this year due to lack of entries. Some rediculously fast roads there (~2.4km long striaght somewhere in the notes) but they sometimes use chicanes to bring the average speed down as Leigh recorded over 240kph in one of the stages a couple of years ago.

The next closest to ChCh is the Hamner rally. Fun we rally but more of a beginners one as it basically three rally sprint roads run through twice. I wouldn't reccomend coming all the way down from up North just for that.

The Nelson rally is supposed to be pretty good (I haven't been along to it) but it is a National round so is up another level. Bit of a tyre destroyer and so you need a good supply. The Otago is another fast rally, again National level competition. Good roads down there and a decent variety aswell as being a longer rally than the Mainland Series ones.

The Catlins rally is well liked by the local guys but may be a bit too far for you to travel. Good, flowy roads down there too.

Or if you got real serious, could enter the Silverfern as you Legacy may fit in the classics like ours does. 8 hard long days with some epically long (100km) stages. Get to see about 60% of the South Island in one event. Costs more than doing an entire season though (unless you can find a bunch of people committed enough to take two weeks off work and then pay for their own accomodation and food along the way).

Then there's the sprints, a few around ChCh run but Autosport club. More sealed ones run by Ratec. Sealed and gravel run by the Ashburton Car Club. All are usually fun but I do find some of them a bit short.

[Munkvy]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I have given it some more thought and narrowed it down a little:

I am mainly interested in tighter stages, long straights are for drag racers and my old Legacy doesn't have the power to be competitive there yet.

I would like something thats going to be close(ish) to Christchurch, so we can stay there if possible, but thats not a deal breaker.

I would prefer a 2 day rally with notes, but the regs I have googled so far say no notes except Otago? Do any of the other rallies allow notes? Again no notes is not a deal breaker, but would be preferable.

This will most likely be entirely self funded, so I would prefer roads that arent going to smash the cars suspension to bits or eat tyres - so I think Nelson is probably out, although it is obviously alot closer to Wellington.

Silverfern is out, as A the car wouldn't be reliable enough, B I couldn't afford enough spare parts to keep the car running that long, and C the entry fee alone is more than I can really afford - let alone fueling and feeding the rally car, service crew and service vehicle for a week! Although I will investigate what the baby Silverfern cost is, as that maybe an option?

Other than that, I would be looking to do this sometime between April and June next year depending on total cost. From what I can see my best options are Otago Rally, South Canterbury or North Canterbury.

Suggestions..?

Vivian

[Koom]

The Canterbury Rally still sounds like its the best suited to what you're after (except for notes). Although there is word that next year it may be part of the national series so then you would get your two days, notes and excellent roads. We don't usually break anything in the Ashley forest unless the driver tries to drive through trees.

I can't remember if Westland rally (Greymouth) has notes or not. Sometimes we've had those pre-written ones at events but I think that may have been rally sprints? I haven't paid much attention in the last year or two apart from making sure the wheels are on tight and the brakes work.

[Munkvy]

From what I have been reading all the rallies that are part of the Mainland Series don't have notes, which is a shame. However its not the end of the world, just have to keep the co-driver entertained some other way. Perhaps drive harder?

The Otago rally sounds pretty cool, alot of stage distance, alot of variety by the sound of the descriptions and also having a shakedown event before hand, as well as having the super special. But obviously not cheap to do!

Just read the regs for last years Westland Rally and the only thing putting me off is that half the event is tarmac. I like a little tarmac to skid on, but not to try and actually go fast on in a gravel rally. So I think that would probably annoy me.

I have looked at the Baby Silverfern, it covers alot of kays (370km special stages) but is also $3000 to enter... And the car has to be pre-92 with homologated parts. Neither of which is my car So I think thats out too.

I watched some brief youtube footage of Canterbury and it looks like alot of straight forestry roads, is that fairly typical?

[Koom]

The Canterbury rally tends to use a few of the main roads that run across the top of some ridges but then the stages drop down into the valleys for 4 or 5 kms, come back up to the main road, drop back down the other side etc. It kind of links together a bunch of roads that they use for rally sprints. I will say that without notes, it really is just a ride for the co-driver though as there is very few junctions in the Ashley forest.

I'd say that overall it has a good mixture of tight twisty stuff and fast open roads. Unless you travel right down to the lower rallies, you're probably not going to find a rally that is all twisty in the South Island. They tend to have fast bits all through them. The westland rally had a good mixture aswell (plus the risk of ending up in a lake which happens most years) but I wasn't there when they've used tarmac. The roads they normally use are alot of fun.

Personally I like the roads up in Hawkes Bay and Gisborne better but I haven't seen any of those for ten years or so.

[Munkvy]

Thanks Koom, I have been putting a budget together and I think I can afford to to Otago next year. But we will see how I fare at Wairarapa in a couple of weeks. If the car isn't competitive I will need to revalutate things and work out whether its the car or driver thats the issue and go from there.

I have also been offered an Evo for cheap, which is tempting..!