Ordy to the rescue

WHEN things go wrong in rallying, they can go badly wrong, and the first unit they look for is the FIV, or First Intervention Vehicle.
Greg Ordish, "Ordy", of Masterton, is the man who organises the FIVs for Trust House Racetech Rally Wairarapa, and drives one himself. The FIV 4WD vehicles carry a first-aider, a sabre saw for use if metal has to be cut to extricate crew after an accident, a fire extinguisher and the normal recovery equipment. Their work can range from pulling somebody out of a ditch to administering medical treatment to injured crews.
There will be seven FIVs on the rally route on Saturday, June 2, and nine on Sunday.
"We have an FIV every 10km of the rally route," says Greg. "That means there's a medic within 10km of any accident.
"I carry the chief medic with me, and we can call in a helicopter if necessary."
This is good news for people living along the rally route. If an on-farm medical emergency or accident happens during the rally, residents have been advised to phone the rally organisers direct. An FIV with a trained medic can be on the spot within minutes, much sooner than any town-based medical team.
Greg got into motorsport the way many people do, via grassroots-level motorkhanas, skills tests around a course on grass, and autocrosses, speed trials, again on grass.
"That was in the very late '80s. I had a Toyota Celica, a standard road car.
"I did one street sprints meeting in that car and it was a disaster ? I came last."
Three or four years later he bought a Mk1 Escort and entered his first major event, the Wairarapa Rally. Beside him, navigating, was his mate Kerry Hare, also on debut in rallying.
"We caught up with Wayne Stevens, and then the car behind caught up with us, and pushed us off the road," Greg recalls."We were off for quite a while, but we finished the day."
The pair campaigned the Escort for a few years, before stepping up to the Central Region rally series in a Subaru RX Leone.
"The first year was OK," he says, but it all went pear-shaped on year two.
His new $11,000 motor lasted less than one rally, before blowing.
"That broke the bank," said Greg. "Kerry bought another engine and owned the car."
Since then Greg has had to balance business pressures with the sport he loves. He got into the organising side of rallies a few years ago and has served as equipment officer, dishing out the gear marshalls need on the day, marshalls organiser, "general dogsbody" and FIV organiser. But the need for speed lingers.
"I've got an RX7 sitting in the shed, minus motor. It's a Pro-7 (circuit racing) car. "Gary Brookes, who used to build engines for his brother Todd, is building an engine for it," said Greg The original plan was to debut it in this year's rally, but the RX7 is still months away from completion. But next year, the committee better start looking for a new FIV organiser, because Greg Ordish is going rallying again.