Welcome/Rally Whangarei

Hi All,

My name is Blair Bartels and welcome to my blog. Basically I will be going to as many motorsport events as possible and keeping you up to  date with as much of the news/gossip as i can get my hands on. Also you can post comments or ask questions within the comments section which I will be more than happy to answer.

This weekend I am off to Whangarei for the Rally Whangarei which doubles as the third round of the New Zealand and Asia Pacific Rally Championships, so the action should be hot. The roads up there were, until 2005, used as part of our round of the World Rally Championship and were voted amongst the best and most enjoyable in the world championship so the drivers and co-drivers are in for a real treat.

Last years winner, Chris West, will be unlikely to repeat his win having down-graded from an Evo 9 to an Evo 8 and has struggled with pace in the last two rounds. My bet is with last years Runner-up who won the year before that at the tender age of 20, Hayden Paddon. This year though, he is running as part of the APRC as well as NZRC so he will start a less than ideal third on the road.

A bit of an unknown will be the speed of the Evo X’s. At the last round, Sloan Cox’s team were talking about winding up the boost which would give them a bit more grunt (Although having been for a ride in that car, it has plenty!), Kingsley Thompson’s model is belived to have been fitted with a Modena (top of the line) Dogbox for this event after running with synchros so far. The big unknown over here will be the speed of Gaurav Gill in the MRF prepared version.

Others to watch will be Cody Crocker and Emma Gilmour in the motor image team, Aussie Brendan Reeves and Kiwi Richard Mason all in Subaru’s.

Don’t hesitate to ask any questions, I will do my best to answer them, and any feedback would be most appreciated!

Cheers

Blair