Rallying: Cox aims for consistency as teams rev up for new season

Rotorua's Sloan Cox and the Cox Motorsport team begin their new rally season this weekend. Pictured is their Taslo Engineering Mitsubishi Evo 10 in action. Photo/Ben Hughes

Starting the season off with a bang is exactly what Sloan Cox wants to avoid when the New Zealand Rally Championship gets under way.

Cox and co-driver Sarah Coatsworth, both from Rotorua, begin their new season on Saturday during the International Rally of Whangarei.

Cox will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last year's bid which saw him slip out of contention on the final stage.

"During the last stage [last year] I slipped off the road and got stuck. We were sitting in third until then."

He said despite the costly error the International Rally of Whangarei was still his favourite event. Cox said he loved the fast course.

"I love the roads up there. You can hold so much momentum through the corners. You think you are on tarmac sometimes because you grip so well."

He said it would be great to win a rally this season but his biggest goal was simply to finish near the top consistently.

Cox said to win the championship you need to be consistent and that means finishing on the podium regularly.

"I want to start off on a high and aim for a podium and improve from there," he said. "I believe we can start the season off with a good start."

The 2014 New Zealand Rally Championship include six rallies across the country, starting in Whangarei and ending in Feilding in September.

The Cox Motorsport team have spent the off season working on their Taslo Engineering Mitsubishi Evo 10, with the main focus being to make the car lighter.

"The car has been completely stripped and re-built with the aim to have a reliable fast car, so we plan to keep everybody on their toes," Cox said.

He said they had shaved about 100kg off the car this year and it was weighing in at just over 1400kg.

Cox said he was looking forward to the two night stages this weekend, which were quite short but a lot of fun.

"It takes a lot of trust between driver and co-driver to drive flat out at night time but, once the trust is there, it is an awesome feeling to fly on gravel in the dark."

This will be the second consecutive year Coatsworth and Cox have raced together. Coatsworth said they had benefited from a year together in the car.

"We know each other a lot more," she said. "We know how to work together and, for a co-driver, it is essential that you know how the driver is going to react with the car and when to give them the notes."

International Rally of Whangarei begins at 9am on Saturday with two days of competition covering 220.87km. Teams finish at the Quayside Town Basin about 3pm on Sunday.