2004 Propecia Rally New Zealand

[gilleo]

I'm looking for some information on how the New Zealand Rally is ran? I'm from the U.S. and I plan on going to the NZ rally while studying in Australia for college. Where's the best places to be for action, places to stay, things like that. Just looking for some advice because chances are I'll never get to this part of the world again.

Thanks Everyone,
gilleo

[Moppie]

Well its based around Auckland and the Waikato, so best place to stay is Auckland city for the first half of the rally, then Hamilton City for the 2nd half.

However Hamilton itself is only 1.5hrs from Auckland, so if you don't mind early starts its quite possible to see the whole rally from Auckland.

The best stages to see and spectate on are up in the Riverhill forest which is about 1hr north of Auckland, normaly several stages are run twice, and all of them are close enough together that you can drive between them, missing a stage. (say you view st 1, miss 2, and view 3, miss 4, and view 5 etc).
Then theres Maramarua which is another set of stages in the forest, but they are much much closer together, all of them are run forwards and backwards, and all have by far the best spectator access. Many are also close enough together than you can get from one stage to another before the cars start, so you can view consecutive stages.

The most spectacular stages however are down in the Waikato region, I have never seen any action, but know the area resaonably well. Most of the stages are well seperated, and quite long, so you won't be able to view more than 2 or 3 in a morning, and you can expect to travel lots of kms. Access is also much more restricted, getting to the best spots often means getting in before the stage is closed, which of course means a lot of time in the stage, as you have to wait for it open to get out again.


Accomdation around Auckland is very varied, everything from 5 start hotels to rather dodgy backpackers, and rental cars can be found very cheap, or even for a few hundred US$ you could buy a shitta car and just trash it for the weekend.


The rally used to be started at a special stage on thursday night in the City, then on friday it would head up north to riverhill. Saturday it headed south to Maramaura, and into the waitkato, and on sunday it headed back north via the west coast and raglan, then back to another super stage in the city.

But there are some major changed planned for the next one, the most important being the time its run.
There is always talk of the superstage being turned into buildings or a car park, and with the rally being run at a differnt time of year its possible many of the tradiotional roads will be closed for logging.

However if you plan to be here, then there is always a very detailed rally program released about a month before it starts with details of where it will be run, and just before the rallys start full details are released of where each stage will be, including access to the best spectator spots.


Basicly plan to stay in Auckland, and either befriend some Kiwis and hitch a ride in thier car (we're a friendly bunch, and finding some fans should be easy) or come over with a group from Ausie and rent a car here.

[Carpie]

if you miss that one and you happen to be stateside, you could also go down to mexico and catch the rally there. fia added mexico to the 2004 lineup... finally i can see a rally!

[gilleo]

I was wondering if there's anybody out there that plans on going to the rally and wouldn't mind me tagging along? If Interested email me at guella@uwplatt.edu.

Thanks,
gilleo