A piece of memorabilia from one of the world's most notable rally cars will rejoin the car it came from tonight, after hanging for 26 years in the home of Masterton motorsport historian and author Scott Thomson.
The wrinkled and torn door flash bearing the number 4 came from the Group
B Audi Quattro of Finnish rally ace and former world champion Hannu Mikkola.
Mikkola rolled the Quattro on day one of the 1984 New Zealand Rally, one of four drivers to come to grief at the infamous "Helicopter Corner" (a helicopter crashed there during another rally). Audi had sent Mikkola as an "insurance policy", to back up drivers Walter Rohrl and Stig Blomqvist. That was a wise move, with Rorhl being eliminated with technical problems on day one.
A fire that followed the Audi's crash was extinguished, but it took 12 minutes to get the car back on its wheels. Mikkola and co-driver Arne Hertz then set off on a desperate race to make up the time. At each service stop, more damage was made good and the car got faster.
Thomson was on hand on the Sunday morning when Hertz tore off the damaged door flash and, being a tidy chap, looked for somewhere to dispose of it.
"I'll look after that for you," Thomson offered ... and he's been looking after it ever since.
Mikkola stormed back through the field, eventually finishing third overall, behind teammate Blomqvist and Lancia driver Marku Alen. Leading New Zealanders were Malcolm Stewart, seventh, and Possum Bourne, eighth. The Audi stayed in New Zealand, where Stewart bought it, finishing fifth in it the next year. He did a total restoration and, after his death, the car went to a museum in Oamaru.
The Audi Quattro will be on display at the Solway Copthorne this weekend and Scott Thomson will hand the old door flash back to the owners.
