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 Otago Sports Car Club - Rossendale Wines Rally Team |
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Born out of Otago Sports Car Club's desire to further extend the professional image of it's premiere event and Christchurch entrepreneur Brent Rawstron's keen interest to run a team reincarnating the heyday of the first international drivers appearances in New Zealand, the team is a joint venture between the two groups.
Having won the Otago classic event in its formative years, along with the Rally of New Zealand and Rotorua International Rally classic sections, Rawstron and his Rossendale Wines team have an enviable record in New Zealand historic rallying. In a bid to extend this record, Rawstron has in recent years chosen to run drivers such as Bjorn Waldegård and Juha Kankkunen in the team's Escort BDA, rather than drive himself.
In 2004 his plan involved expanding the team to include OSCC's guest driver, that year scheduled to be Waldegård's long time team mate Kankkunen. The team was also increased to two cars, with Kankkunen joined by fellow Finn Pasi Hagström in an identical immaculate new Escort prepared by team technician Brett Tiney.
With a four time World Champion and a current test driver for the Subaru World Rally Team, the team included the best of past and present experience and in the end it was the “experience of youth” that won through, with Hagström taking the top step on the podium, with Kankkunen immediately below him.
As the first international victor on the event, Hagström will return in the teams lead car in 2005, this time joined by a driver with one of the most famous names in UK rallying, Jimmy McRae.
Although arguably better known as the patriarch of a family that includes World and British Rally Championship winning son Colin and British Champion Alister, Jim made his name with 5 wins in Europe’s premier national championship spanning the 1980’s.
Event Organiser Roger Oakley is enthusiastic about the project. "The organising team are delighted to be able to confirm Pasi's return and Jimmy’s entry as part of the Rossendale Team. The experience of these two spans the generations of rallying history and again highlights the growing reputation of the event and the popularity of classic rallying".
Even more than the drivers, it's the spectators who still thrill to the sight and especially to the sound of the Escorts and their high revving BDA engines, which can be heard long before the cars appear.
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