Massive roadshow rolls our way

HAMISH BIDWELL
An army of drivers, mechanics and volunteers is about to descend on this part of the world for the latest edition of Rally Hawke's Bay.
In what promises to be the biggest year yet for the event, Hawke's Bay Today has come on board as sponsor for the Triple Bridges stage during the July 28-30 motorsport extravaganza.
Local organiser Andrea Bourhill says that with it being a round of the New Zealand Rally Championship, she and her team have had to pull out all the stops to accommodate the enormous travelling roadshow.
"There are approximately 61 entries, so including the co-driver that gives us 122 competitors, and then each team has a support and service crew of at least four people, with some having as many as 16," Bourhill said.
"There's also a huge range of vehicles that we have to cater for, from the national teams who have entire trucks set up as mobile workshops, which carry everything they need to rebuild a car as soon as possible."
Making sure everything runs smoothly calls for many volunteers. There will be 350 on board, either in the field or helping run the race from rally headquarters: "They run the whole range, from youth groups, to service clubs and the rally officials themselves," she said.
"In terms of safety, we run training sessions for field personnel and all officials hold accredited licences or have attended the required training sessions. We have radio operators and assistants at 5km intervals through every stage and their role is to identify and report every car that passes their point.
"At rally headquarters we have an interactive tracking system that also records the progressions of each vehicle through the stage."
All that requires a designated service area, which will be in Wairoa, where three blocks of Marine Parade will be cordoned off to house the competition cars and related vehicles.
"But by having it in the CBD, the provision of refreshments has been made somewhat easier and we have amazing support from Hillneath School, who supply hot food and drink for the duration of the time in Wairoa," said Bourhill.
In terms of spectator access, there will be two public stages, plus a car show, where the public can interact with drivers: "The stages available for spectating will be special stage three Waihi and special stage seven Hawke's Bay Today Triple Bridges, which starts at 5pm on the Saturday the 29th."
"The car shows are at McLean Park in Napier at 4.30pm on Friday and in the service area in Wairoa between 7.30am and 3pm."
* Rally loses grip - Page 10