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Huge vibe as Repco Race to the Sky takes off

It’s the motorsport event that fans have been looking forward to for months and the first day of the Repco Race to the Sky delivered on all counts – a crisp, sunny Central Otago day, a fantastic vibe, spectators in their thousands and a diverse mix of machines and competitors racing up the Cardrona mountainside.

The 108 competitors riding motorcycles and quads or driving rally cars, homebuilt racers and fully-fledged, purpose-built hillclimb machines tackled the famed 14.5 km gravel course at speed for the first time since 2007. With two practice runs and a preliminary qualifying run on what is now the world’s longest gravel hillclimb course, it was Australian Brett Hayward who ended the day with the quickest time overall. Hayward’s time of eight minutes, 23.079 seconds in the afternoon’s qualifying run put him ahead of Australia-based Scotsman Alister McRae in the Vantage Subaru (8:26.795) and eight-time Race to the Sky King of the Mountain Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima (8:38.824).

Hayward, who built his own supercharged Suzuki-powered ‘RTTS Special’ open wheeler at his engineering business in Victoria, said he was quite surprised to be the fastest in the day’s second practice run. “The second run, we put some new rubber on and gave it a bit more of a go. The results were quite surprising. To come away with a 8.30 was mind-blowing. The car’s in good shape, like a rocket.”

Hayward competed in five previous Race to the Sky events and is excited the event has returned after a break of eight years. “The track, it’s phenomenal – it changes with every run and that’s what brings us back. It’s been a big adventure to get here with a home-built car, but it’s great to be back and catching up with friends. Monster’s definitely capable of being faster. And it’s great to see Alister here – we all love that car of Possum’s and for us to see his car back in action is awesome.”

McRae is a hugely popular addition to the field, piloting the Vantage Subaru WRC car formerly driven by the late Possum Bourne and driven to victory at the 2001 Race to the Sky by Bourne.

“There’s so much history with the car,” says McRae, a former WRC manufacturer team driver, who was fastest in the morning’s opening practice run with a time of eight minutes, 33.210 seconds. “It’s my first time here, so it’s not the easiest of things to do because the road’s so technical.  The weather’s great, the car’s working amazing and if it continues on like that for the rest of the weekend, it will be great. We’ve gone very well the first two runs, but it’s the final that counts. I’m sure Monster will be go faster. We were only three seconds faster in second run – we were trying a different tyre option and it didn’t work quite so well so we’re trying another tyre for qualifying. As long as we can go quicker again, it’ll be good.”

Event promoter Tony Quinn also got his first run on the Cardrona course in his brand-new, 850 hp, purpose-built hillclimb car.

“The car will be fine,” he said with a laugh after setting the 16th quickest time in qualifying. “It’s the driver who’s the issue. But the event as a whole, it’s been genuinely and sincerely amazing. The weather’s been great, the crowd’s been great, Repco is delighted and so are we.”

Several thousand fans watched the action from the event village, climbed the first hill section for a dustier, up-close view and strolled the event village with its range of entertainment. Thousands more are expected to attend on Sunday where competitors have a further qualifying session, there’s a top 20 shootout and the grand final race to be the King of the Mountain for the resurrected Repco Race to the Sky.

The Repco Race to the Sky event village features great spectating areas, a big screen broadcasting in-car footage and interviews, family-friendly entertainment, food and refreshments. Tickets are available at the gate over the weekend. Full details about the event can be found on the website http://www.racetothesky.co.nz/, or visit the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HighlandsMotorsportPark.

 

 Repco Race to the Sky preliminary qualifying results, Saturday 18 April 2015

Position – Driver, hometown, vehicle, class, time

1 - Brett Hayward, Victoria/Australia, RTTS Special, Unlimited 8:23.079

2 - Alister McRae, Perth/Australia, Vantage Subaru, Unlimited 8:26.795

3 - Monster Tajima, Japan, Super 86, Unlimited 8:38.824

4 - Ian Ffitch, Amberley, Super Quad 8:41.374

5 - Michael Tall, Christchurch, Mitsubishi Evo 4, Rallycourse 9:01.314

6 - Kieran Hall, Geraldine, Subaru STI, Rallycourse 9:06.506

7 - Sloan Cox, Rotorua, Mitsubishi Evo, Unlimited 9:07.186

8 - Andrew Graves, Gore, Mitsubishi Evo, Rallycourse 9:09.602

9 - Glen Frew, Mosgiel, Mitsubishi Evo, Open 4WD 9:11.431

10 - Nathan McAlwee, Auckland, KTM, Motorcycles 9:11.636

Photos: Terry Marshall/Euan Cameron Photography