Softly, softly does it

By Kevin Ball MASTERTON author, motorsport writer and historian Scott Thomson has been boning up on New Zealand roadmaps over the past few weeks in preparation for the EnergyWise Rally '04, which begins in Auckland next Tuesday, November 2.
Scott will navigate a 1500cc turbo diesel Hyundai Getz for his son David, who is motoring editor of the Otago Daily Times, in the Auckland-Wellington-Auckland economy run.
The CRDi Getz is not a contender for the competition because it is not yet on sale here, but it is being evaluated for the New Zealand market and close attention will be paid to its performance.
While he has no navigation and very little economy driving experience, Scott, a retired clergyman, has an impressive motorsport CV. He and his wife Barbara have campaigned their little Brooklands Riley in historic and modern hillclimbs and street races and they have travelled extensively, attending many Grands Prix and World Championship Rallies.
Scott has written two books on New Zealand motorsport and is currently working on an authorised biography of motorsport legend Ron Roycroft. He has also recently published a church history of St John's in the City. He writes for Speedsport magazine, for Beaded Wheels, which is the Vintage Car Club magazine, and for the Times-Age's Mostly Motorsport. He has been honoured by the Vintage Car Club for his writings on vintage cars.
While the navigation is a concern for Scott, he's pretty comfortable with the Wairarapa section and hoping the organisers don't spring too many surprises.
Day one is Auckland to Rotorua, day two is Rotorua-Palmerston North, day three is Palmerston North-Wellington-Palmerston North (via Wairarapa), and day four is Palmerston North-Auckland.
Scott understands the rules require "normal" 100km/h motoring, without the extremes we have seen in earlier economy runs. Those included 80psi tyre pressures, taping-over of vents, closed windows whatever the conditions and mind-numbing 70km/h motoring.
Hyundai has four vehicles in the run. Three are variants of the Getz, which is challenging for market leadership in the micro and light segment.
There's the conventional 1.3 GL 5-door, an experimental petrol/ethanol model in which gold medalists Hamish Carter and Barbara Kendall will have drives, the Thomson turbo diesel car, and the newly-released Terracan 2.9 CRDi diesel 4WD. This will go head to head with the Volkswagen Touareg and Ford Territory in the large lifestyle/leisure class.
Hyundai signalled its intentions by sending a 1.5CRDi Getz south to Dunedin three weeks ago, so that David Thomson could thoroughly familiarise himself with the car before the event.
Scott Thomson is impressed by the modern small diesels.
"We drove a 1.3 diesel in Europe last year," he says. "It pulled like a horse, cruised happily at 130km/h, yet was quiet and smooth."
He has no illusions or great expectations about the EnergyWise rally, though.
"The petrol/electrics will blow us away. The Japanese reckon that mix will be standard by 2015."
And for overall honours, he reckons magazine editor Donn Anderson, in a diesel Peugeot, will be the man to beat.
The cars will compete in several classes according to body size and typical useage, corresponding as closely as closely as possible to the various segments of the market, the website says.
Petrols, diesels, petrol/electric hybrids and cars powered by LPG will compete against each other in their respective classes so that direct comparisons can be made
The consumption figures will be adjusted for carbon dioxide emissions for prize purposes and there will be an award for the best conventional petrol-powered car in each class, irrespective of the class winner.
The CO2 adjustment allows the full environmental impact of the vehicle to be taken into account.