Mark Pedder has said that he’s fully supportive of the push towards bringing four wheel drive cars back to the top of the Australian Rally Championship, and is currently weighing up options to run either a Super 2000 or ‘Maxi’ car as early as next season.
Pedder recently drove a Volkswagen Polo Super 2000 during a Victorian State Round and then again at Rally Victoria last weekend while eyeing options for next year.
“It’s a great car. It’s easy to drive, great to chuck around and pretty spectacular for the spectators – that’s what rallying is all about, maximum enjoyment for everyone!” said Pedder of the VW.
Likening the Super 2000 to the recently proposed ‘Maxi’ cars, Pedder has said he’s keen to get behind either in an effort to help boost the Championship.
“I see it as a massive positive,” said Pedder of the proposed regulations changes to introduce ‘Maxi’ spec cars into the ECB ARC.
After two years in a front-wheel drive Honda Jazz, Mark Pedder has this year returned to his rallying roots by contesting selected Rounds of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer. He says this year has proven to him that a move to light, nimble, purpose-built rally cars is the way forward.
“It’s been great to be back in a Mitsubishi this year, they are a lot of fun to drive. But they are just a saloon car grafted into a rally car. They are big, heavy and from both inside and out not very spectacular. I came out of the Honda which was a proper racing car, and I see both the Super 2000 and the ‘Maxi’ cars as being that same sort of vehicle,” Pedder explained.
With the suggested move back to four-wheel drive rally cars as the dominant force in Australian Rallying welcomed by Pedder, he has admitted that it’s a sad position for those drivers who invested in two-wheel drive rally cars.
“I do feel sorry for those guys, but on the flip side it’d be a far easier route to convert a two-wheel drive into a ‘Maxi’ car, than say a driver trying to turn a four-wheel drive into competitive two-wheel drive.”
“My fear though, and I know other drivers have expressed this already, that we see old Subaru’s and Mitsubishi’s back at the front. Some of these cars are coming up to twenty years old. The sport needs fresh shapes, the types of cars that are selling right now, not cars that are well on their way to being eligible for the classics,” Mark added.
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