2016 NZ Rally Events

[GravelBen]

Will be good to see them back in the championship. Bit disappointing that (as far as I know?) Mason won't be competing to give the challengers an established benchmark though. Strange when a multiple champ can't seem to find sponsorship.

[Munkvy]

I have to wonder if Mason is not willing to compete unless someone else is paying and he has enough support to be competitive. Which is fair enough, being a multiple champ it would be hard to come back and not be competitive due to budget.

I wonder if Skoda and or Mazda will be involved with making more AP4 cars, given there is probably a market in Asia Pacific for them, especially for those who want something they can get a dealer to support them with but don't want to spend R5 money?

[Zeakiwi]

Sumiyama is down to have a 'Cusco' Toyota Vitz AP 4 car for 2016 Asia Cup rounds.
http://aprc.tv/newsPage.php?Cusco-co...r-Asia-Cup-892
Young and Takale back with the Subaru Impreza cars.

I saw the Japanese 'tech entries' cars at the NZ Targa Bambina required roll cage adjustments in NZ for certification before the event. Might be an idea to have exchange program (NZ - Japan) to get the rally car 'safety equipment' building skills augmented in Japan.

[GravelBen]

Sounds like there are a few different AP4 cars under construction, the more the merrier for NZRC I reckon!

[fredfush]

It will be good if the NZ cars actually comply with the AP4 regs and have 1600 turbo engines.

[Zeakiwi]

The Suzuki from the 'maxi kit' has a 1600cc engine. Parity for the different cc engines can be achieved with electronic control of the engine to give the engines similar engine maps. If the 1600cc engine is lighter it might possibly give a weight advantage to the 1600cc. 1600cc turbo competition engines are likely to cost more versus using an Evo X or Subaru or Honda engine that have readily available competition spec engine parts.
http://news.motorsport.org.nz/achiev...-tlx-v8-field/

Greg Murphy (4 times Bathurst 1000km Touring car race winner) to drive 2.3 fuel injected Chevette at Rally Otago
http://velocitynews.co.nz/news.php?id=231

Mazda 2 AP4 engine bay picture.

http://tinyurl.com/h7toq5y

[leighton323]

Couple of photos taken from the Northern Rally sprint page.



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[GravelBen]

Mazda 2 AP4 engine bay picture.

http://tinyurl.com/h7toq5y

Gotta love the use of big-budget coke and powerade bottles

[Jack4688`]

Gotta love the use of big-budget coke and powerade bottles

Hahaha what's that all about then?

[GravelBen]

Hahaha what's that all about then?

I assume they're temporary and will be replaced with something shinier, but hey if they do the job...

MazdaAP4bottles.jpg