Motorsport: 'Monster' coming with 900 horses for uphill drag

By Bob Pearce

Pitstop


Japanese driver Nobuhiro Tajima, king of the Queenstown Gold Rush, will be back to defend his title at Easter with two Suzuki vehicles.

Tajima, affectionately known as "Monster," will bring back last year's winning Vitara, revamped to improve its handling.

But his most potent weapon may be his new twin-engined Baleno with two-litre turbo engines, one at the front and one at the rear.

With each engine generating around 450 horsepower, the Suzuki apparently has outrageous acceleration out of corners.

Whether that power can be used effectively on the 15km climb of 4500 feet at Cardrona remains to be seen.

Tajima's stiffest challenge may well come from local hero Possum Bourne, who has tweaked his Subaru Impreza in a bid to improve on last year's second placing.

The Impreza is reputed to have 50 more horsepower while retaining its superior handling ability in the hands of the champion rally driver.

Expatriate Kiwi Rod Millen will be back after his setback with punctures last year, this time with a Toyota Tundra truck, purpose-built for the Queenstown hillclimb.

His son, Rhys, will also be competing with a Mitsubishi Evo 6, which should make up in roadholding for any power deficit.

American Larry Ragland, fourth overall on the United States equivalent at Pikes Peak, is bringing a GM S10 pickup with a mid-mounted V8 engine.

The local competition in the field of around 70 is headed by Aucklander Marty Roestenburg in his Mitsubishi.

The track has recently been graded and promoter Grant Aitken is predicting that last year's winning time of 8m 33s will be bettered.

Competition begins on Friday, April 21, and continues on the Saturday and Sunday.

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Bourne will be driving into the unknown in his Subaru Impreza World Rally car when he starts the defence of his Australian rally championship title south of Perth this Saturday.

The event is based at the coastal resort of Busselton and uses new forestry roads that Bourne has never rallied on before.

Although he won the West Australian round of the series last year, Bourne has been seeded second for the two-day event behind Toyota rival Neal Bates.

"I'm not too worried," said Bourne. "The roads are pretty slippery on top so at least I'll have a set of wheel marks to follow."

Bourne and his team are carrying out an extensive test session with the Impreza, which has undergone suspension, transmission and engine changes during its summer rebuild.

He is attempting to win the Australian championship for the fifth year in a row.

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Northland rally driver Reece Jones will make another assault on the international rally circuit this season.

Last year the former two-times national champion was contracted by Falken Tyres to fly the flag in a number of European events.

This time, using his well-tried Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V and a new Evo VI, Jones and co-driver Leo Bult will contest the Rally of Canberra, the Rally of Queensland, the world championship Rally of New Zealand, Rally of Corsica, Rally of Australia and Network Q Rally of Great Britain.

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Rally New Zealand is again offering scholarships to drivers under 30 in the North and South Islands.

Worth $3300 each, they include free entry into the Rally of New Zealand with free accommodation and fuel.

The scholarships will be contested over six events in the North Island, with four to count, and four rounds in the South Island.

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The Woodbourne airbase in Blenheim will roar to the sound of different engines on Saturday when the top motorsport club racers contest the national clubsport championships.

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Napier rider Adam Youren overtook most of the field to win the second North Island event of the national cross-country motocycling series in the Hawkes Bay on Sunday.

Youren's Suzuki RM250 was slow to start and he had to watch the rest of the field disappearing into the distance before he could kick it into life.

He worked his way through the field and with early leader Paul Whibley, of Pahiatua, running into problems with punctures, he came through to win from fellow Suzuki riders Steven Bird (Palmerston North) and Mark Penny (Hamilton).

King Country rider Kevin Archer was fourth on a Suzuki DR-Z400 to take the open four-stroke class.