50 Years of Rally memories

When the Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally takes place on Saturday 2 August it will not only celebrate the legacy of Robinson, an iconic rally driver from the area, but it will also mark 50 years of rallying for the Eastern Southland Car Club who organise this event and have held many such rallies in the region over that period.

One man who has seen or been involved in most of them is Wade Paterson who takes up the story.

“I remember the first one, the Gore Rally in 1975. It was the first ever Special Stage rally south of Christchurch and I went out to Pukerau to watch. There were many of the names of the time, Rob Gerard who won it, John Sergel, John Metherell and Ian Begg to name a few. The first Gore Rally I competed in was in 1977 alongside Roger Laird (Assistant Clerk Of The Course for this year’s rally) in an Anglia. The club’s main rally has moved around a bit over the years, from Gore to Wyndham to Catlins but I won a couple at various times as a co-driver with Inky Tulloch, one in the Nissan Stanza and one in an Escort BDA. I sat alongside Barry Robinson himself to win a Wyndham Rally when he debuted his Nissan Pulsar.”

“I stewarded it a few times and was Assistant Clerk Of The Course many years ago under the watchful eye of Graham Grieve who was a Wyndham Rural Postman at the time. He organised the events and was very thorough.”

Through his many years’ involvement in Eastern Southland Car Club rallies, Wade says, “the big thing is the friendly camaraderie in rallying and in the club as a whole.” He laughs as he recalls the club used to hold prizegiving functions in halls. “One of the members mothers catered one such function and we had a mini tanker that we parked in the middle of the hall. As decorum deteriorated, she declared she would never cater another one!”

Over the years the club’s rallies have attracted some big-name drivers. In recent times that has included Hayden Paddon and Emma Gilmour but back in the day Wade recalls Paul Adams – “Barry was close on his tail” – and Mike Marshall in an LPG powered Escort BDA, two top rated drivers.

Wade also shares a tale about the year the club decided to do a reverse seeding on a Wyndham Rally. Instead of the fastest drivers and fastest cars blasting through first with the smaller, slower cars and less experienced drivers at the back they did the opposite. “The success of that is reflected in the fact the format was only used once.”

“The club has always had a pretty strong gravel background and we have been lucky that a lot of guys have represented the club well at national level – Inky Tulloch, Barry Robinson, Ian Begg, Larry Timpany plus Graham Crawford, who won Group 1 in the 1980 Motogard International Rally, and more recently Derek Ayson, Andrew Graves and Caleb MacDonald who is featuring well up these days. John Metherell and Rob Gerard were members too, that is pretty good for a little club.”

“There is a strong theme too with the comments you hear about the club – friendly events, well organised – lots of positive feedback. We are blessed that from Balclutha south and across in West Otago we have some pretty amazing roads. Both during and after events we don’t get too many grizzles and I put that down to some good organisers such as Graham Grieve and these days Craig Jessop and Roger Laird and others. They have all done a bit of rallying and know what’s good and what’s not.”

Looking at changes over the years Wade says, “4wd revolutionised the sport. I remember an international rally. We were at Port Waikato watching an Audi Quattro off the line. Some of New Zealand’s best drivers of the time were watching and the car just leapt forward and into the first corner. They changed the game. Pace notes were another change and were great for developing team work between driver and co-driver and also helped with opportunities to compete overseas. Things got a whole lot more professional. Safety is a big thing too. On motor race circuits they continually develop them to make them safer but in rallying the cars are 50% quicker but the trees are still in the same place on the side of road and the cliffs are as big as ever. For the kilometres done and the hazards encountered the safety record is pretty good.”

“There is also a much more professional level of car presentation today. Hayden Paddon for one has taken it a big step up. No longer do guys go rallying with a tool box in the boot and no service crew.”

“This country has produced great drivers too such as Paddon and Possum Bourne, we do very well.”.

Wade finishes his reminisces about fifty years of rallying with the following. “What I love about it is drivers pull up at the finish line on a stage and they have grins on their faces. Often in circuit racing only the winner does that!”

Support for the Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally on Saturday 2 August comes from Traffic Management Services and Yuasa Battery.