The Ashley Forest Rallysprint turned out to be a great weekend with nice weather on both days. The road was good and our wee Justy ran without a hitch all weekend. It was clear that there would be some close competition in the 2WD class with Chris Hey from down south in his Turbo Nissan powered Toyota MR2 setting very similar times to Trevor in qualifying on Saturday. On Sunday we switched to a new set of tyres and took 2.5 seconds off Trevor's time to set his best for the weekend of 1.04.49. After both Trevor and Chris making the Top 16 there was a 2WD class top 3 shootout consisting of Trevor, Chris Hey and Robert McCallum in a Ford Escort. Things were a little nervous in the CroweSport pits as we saw Chris fitting a brand new set of tyres to his MR2 for the final run, after beating Trevor by a second in the Top 16 run. However, Trevor managed to play it cool and drove superbly in the final run to beat Chris by less than a second and take out the 2WD Unlimited class honours. The event marked 25 years since Trevor won the event outright in his V8 Starlet in 1985. 

This year we have been running our Subaru Justy on shingle. This is the car that we have run in the Dunlop Targa tarmac rally for the last few years. We ran in a few shingle sprints earlier in the year and were pleased with how the car performed, winning the 2WD class at the Rakaia hillclimb. When first built this car was set up for shingle and won the 2WD Open class at Race to The Sky in Queenstown 2006. We also entered the Canterbury Rally in July but ended prematurely to due an oil fire in the engine bay, luckily the damage wasn't major. The next event we are preparing for is the Ashley Forest Rallysprint on the 25th and 26th of September. We have fitted a 2.5L engine instead of the 2.0L and will be running a larger turbo for Ashley. We also intend to enter the Westland Rally in November.

Had a great drive in the Targa rally in our own little Justy. The Targa goes down the North Island from Auckland to Wellington using lots of tight and twisty back country roads. We more than held our own amongst some very expensive machinery putting in top 10 times repeatedly. Although the Targa is about having fun and seeing parts of New Zealand well off the beaten track (ever heard of Whangamomona?), the standard of driving at the sharp end is very high with top rally and race drivers competing. It is doubly satisfying to be competitive in a car that was designed and built in our own workshop. For more photos visit www.groundsky.co.nz

Over the years Trevor has built and raced more than 20 cars.
Here is some history on the more famous ones.

1932 MG J2 with a Ford Flathead V8 Built in 1966 with much success in hillclimbs, beach racing and circuit racing
Toyota Corolla Coupe running a Chev 327 V8 Built for circuit racing, 2nd in OSCA Championship 1973-74
Datsun 1200 SSS 3rd in NZ Rally Championship, 1st in class 1975 1st in Dunedin and Nelson Rallies 1976 1st Gore Rally 1977
Toyota Starlet 4.2 V8 4 times OSCA Champion 1981-85 Winner of Ashley Forest Rallysprint 1985 and Coronet Peak Hillclimb 1982
BMW 635 1st NZ Group A Series 1985-86 and B&H Endurance Series 1986
BMW M3 11th Bathurst 1987 1st NZ Touring Car Series and 3rd Wellington Street Race 1988 4th Bathurst and Asia Pacific Touring Car Champion 1988
Skoda 120L running mid-mounted Rover V8 1st Blenheim Rally 1988 1st Timaru Rally 1990 1st Canterbury Rally 1992 1st Classic Class at Queenstown Race to the Sky 2001
Subaru Legacy RS 2nd Wellington Street Race Group A 1991 1st Timaru Rally 1991 1st Hanmer Rally 1995
Triumph TR8 Classic sports race car, successful club car
Subaru Impreza WRX Successful rally and circuit car 1st Hanmer Rally 1998 1st NZ Open Class at Queenstown Race to the Sky 2000
Subaru Justy running mid-mounted 2.5L Turbo Subaru 4-Cylinder and 6 speed gearbox 1st 2WD Open Class at Queenstown Race to the Sky 2006 1st 2WD Unlimited Class at Ashley Forest Rallysprint 2010 Dunlop Targa tarmac rally competitor 2007-09 Successful club car at Ruapuna