Alex Kelsey's home built rally car in action. Photo / Scott Johnson
Alex Kelsey's home built rally car in action. Photo / Scott Johnson
There are a number of different manufacturers on the start list for this month's Rally Coromandel but one car stands out from the rest.
Young driver Alex Kelsey is entering his own car - not just in terms of ownership but in terms of design too. The Coromandel local madethe entire car from scratch a few years ago and will unleash the shackles of his MC2 (Mad Creation) in the fourth round of the New Zealand Rally Championship.
The entry list of the rally states the driver and co-driver's names before the type of car they'll be competing in. With Kelsey, the type of car is a little different to everyone else.
"It says Kelsey MC2 because that is what it is," Kelsey told The Herald. "It is registered as my own car.
"It is a project I started a wee while ago. I started building it in 2012-2013 and we first ran it in 2014. It was such a massive job - around 8,000 hours to build it.
"I got a bit burn out by it so I had a break for a couple of years.
"I did it run it long enough to know what wasn't right - all the little niggly things that would take a little while to sort out and I have done all that now so I'm pretty excited to see how it all goes."
Alex Kelsey in action in his home built rally car. Photo / Scott Johnson
For Kelsey rallying is a hobby. He enjoys driving as a past-time and enjoyed the design and engineering challenge that came with a project like this.
"It is completely scratch built, the chassis and spaceframes and homemade fiberglass body on the outside," he said. "The engine is a Formula Renault 3.5L V6 and when we first brought it out it was extremely popular and went viral across the internet.
"That is what I set out to build - a car that was really exciting and fast, not just from a driving but from engineering and everything."
So this beast of a car has sat in a shed for the past couple of years but now the passion has returned and Kelsey entered his local event - Rally Coromandel at the end of the month.
While confirmed for this one event there is no telling whether this is just the beginning and whether Kelsey will enter other rounds of the championship or have a crack at other events in it.
"I definitely want to do more," he said. "I don't know what. At this stage it is just Coromandel. I don't have any sponsors anymore. It is just me.
"We are just going to do this rally - I have all my friends coming along to service - we are just going to have a really good time and see what happens after that.
