Rally Quest

It turns out, life does not always get in the way of your plans. Sometimes things go smoothly, and basically turn out how you expected. You just do a thing, it goes OK, then you write about it for some reason. Eh?! A Rally Quest post without any insurmountable barriers or global disruptions to overcome? No major revelations, nostalgic segues, history lessons or journeys of personal transformation? Not even any philosophical musings about the nature of existence?! This is something new.  It may be new, but unfortunately it doesn't make for a particularly scintillating blog post.  So, I'll keep it brief... ✅ My latest track day went OK. Yawn. ✅  It was very sunny.  I managed to avoid sunburn. ✅ I achieved PB time of 1:27.56 around Hampton Downs' National circuit – 1.68 seconds faster than before.  I'm continuing to find some incremental ( and unexciting ) improvements here and there. My target is to get into the 1:25.00s which is considered officially 'goo...

Little old Aotearoa New Zealand has its own Grand Prix, and has had for 67 years. No, really.  OK, so it's not on the F1 calendar, but it is a reasonably well regarded race on the international development circuit. Recent winners include Lando Norris, Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Richard Verschoor and Mitch Evans. In days gone by it was won by legends such as Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, John Surtees, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren and Keke Rosberg. The Grand Prix race, hosted at Hampton Downs, was backed up by  three fully packed days  of racing from various support categories. One of my objectives this year is to attend more live motorsports events, so off I popped. My objective is to get a better feel for how things play out behind the scenes, to get a better mental picture in place – ready for if and when I ever make it into a real race. I attended the final day, Sunday, which saw 19 races across multiple classes. The variety of cars on show was vast – ...

Oi! So called 'Rally Quest' – I thought this so called blog was supposed to be about rallying ? Who are you, the blog police? Cool your turbos. Well no, it's not actually, it's evolved. It's more about my pursuit and love of motorsport in general. But, I digress. This latest instalment of Rally Quest™ couldn't be more about rallying even if it was coated in mud.  Oh wait. It was: The reason? My buddy Dan and I attended the final stages of the WRC's triumphant return to Aotearoa New Zealand after a 10 year absence. For me, it was a case of completing a very large circle. Here I was, where it all started , amongst rainy New Zealand farmland watching the cream of the rallying crop fly around cambered gravel roads. Only now, at long last,  it was real. The antepenultimate and final 'Power Stage' took place at a very muddy – and I'm talking T in the Park 2007 level of very muddy – Jack's Ridge in South Auckland. A purpose built stage in an area of...

Back to Hampton Downs today for my very first solo big boy track day after completing my training  with Mike from Tracktime  earlier in the year. What's a track day, you ask? Why – do you work for the company that provides my car insurance? Because they had absolutely no idea what one was. Well, I'll tell you. In short, you get to take a car – anything from your daily driver to a specialised track weapon – and drive it around a motor racing track as fast as you like. There are other cars on the track at the same time as you, but you aren't racing against them. If someone faster comes up behind you, you just let them past on a straight with plenty of space. It's a time to hone your driving skills (and have fun, but don't tell the petrol-heads that). The day started at 9:30 when I, about 65 other men and one woman gathered in the Tracktime pit garage. We were treated to a typically brisk run through the safety regulations; what the flags mean, don't speed in the ...

I won’t bore you with another of my ‘life has a funny habit of getting in the way of your plans...’ TED talks. Needless to say, it has continued to do so. In short, building your own house in the middle of a global pandemic, while also becoming a father and working at a start-up does not leave a lot of room for very much else. However, since the last Rally Quest  outing I have managed a squeeze in a few baby steps along the way. I've been hammering my sim rig, learning about trail braking, tyre management and race-craft. Also, I acquired all the protective fireproof gear I'll need for any upcoming adventure, bar a crash helmet which I'll borrow for now. But the most significant step has been upgrading my car to something I can learn to race in – a Toyota GT86. It’s not very powerful for a sports car, but it’s a dream to drive as I found out when I took it to another track cruise in January. It's actually quite a sensible car when you think about it... It's a Toyota ...

After this dreadful year I think we can all reflect on the statement I opened 2020 with: ‘life has a funny habit of getting in the way of your plans...’ though maybe I’ll remove the word ‘funny’ after this year. Rally Quest, like pretty much everything, has been turned upside-down by old Daddy Covid. March 2020 My Track Cruise appetiser in February left me ravenous for more motorsport bites. I was keen to kick on with the rest of my Rally Quest plans for the year.  I’m a lucky boy – several members of my family (and avid Rally Quest readers I assume) generously chipped in to buy me the V8 Muscle Car experience I’d planned for. Wherever did they get the idea? Now, cast your mind back to the beginning of the year (approximately 36 years ago). Something was looming on what seemed like the distant horizon. Daddy Covid had first paid a visit to New Zealand in late February. It was only a few cases and seemingly spreading slowly by my birthday in mid-March. I was on the verge of bookin...

Last week I was due to take the wheel of a V8 mustang and experience its brutal power around Hampton Downs. But as my old man says : ‘life has a funny habit of getting in the way of your plans...’ Phase two of Rally Quest 2020 was, like everything else, put on indefinite hold due to... you know what. So, in the meantime I have, like everyone else, been finding ways to cope with lockdown and battle with boredom. Thankfully my hobby, sim racing*, is almost tailor-made for an isolation scenario. It’s an entertaining way to spend long hours by yourself indoors. There’s always more to learn, more time to gain and you can always sense your progression, no matter how glacially slow it can be. Your competitors take it seriously enough that it feels like it means something when you do well. It can be fun, frustrating and often genuinely exhilarating. *Sim racing, is the emerging esport of simulated motoracing. Most F1 teams now also have a dedicated sim racing team and during this lockdo...

Last weekend my co-driver (wife) and I took a leisurely Sunday drive to Hampton Downs Motorsport Park for my first Rally Quest mission of the year – a Track Cruise  –  an event described as “six laps of the racetrack behind our safety car with family and friends in the car with you.” The idea was to have a little pootle around a real big boys track, get the feel of it, then come back with confidence for a more serious event later. The prestigious home of New Zealand motorsport turns out to be a few warehouses and a humble pit lane scattered around a track. The ‘spectator area’ is basically a few logs bolted to a hillside. We eventually found the nondescript office and awaited the briefing. It was, no joke, less than two minutes long. Here, dear reader, is pretty much the entire briefing: If your car breaks-down pull off the track and don’t get out, unless you are on fire, in which case, get out. Don’t drive like a dick-head, don’t go over 120kph and don’t overtake unless you...