A mechanic from Subaru World Rally team, works under driver Chris Atkinson's Subaru Impreza WRC 2006 at the Mystery Creek Events Centre, yesterday. Photo / Sarah Ivey
A mechanic from Subaru World Rally team, works under driver Chris Atkinson's Subaru Impreza WRC 2006 at the Mystery Creek Events Centre, yesterday. Photo / Sarah Ivey
Motorheads rejoice - the 37th Rally New Zealand kicks off tonight witha ceremonial start in downtownHamilton.
The three-day event will be based at the Mystery Creek complex near Hamilton and will provide a festival ofracing in the Waitomo, Franklin and Raglan regions.
The cars arrived on a specialair freight flight from Europe last Sunday, following an earlier sea shipment, with up to 100 containers of equipment now at the service park and headquarters at Mystery Creek. Organisers have erected 3km of fencing, 50 phones, 500 power outlets and 1000 cones.
Racing starts on Friday and there are close to 1000 drivers and crew among the 136 competitors from 25 countries.
The event has attracted motorsport heavyweights from around the world, including world champion Sebastien Loeb and current WRC points leader Marcus Gronholm. Gronholm has an eight-point lead in the world championship and a victory will make the Ford driver the most successful in the 38- year history of the event.
Last year, Loeb could not compete because he was recovering from a broken arm.
The pair, along with other drivers, arrived over the weekend for the event, which is the 11th round ofthe FIA World Rally Championship The event is made up of 18 special stages with a total distance is 353.56km.
The route for this year's rally is almost identical to the 2006 event, held in November.
