The Subaru versus Mitsubishi rivalry is a trademark of New Zealand rallying. As frontrunners in these marques, Gilmour and West are among the top contenders to win this year’s Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, powered by Brother, when the championship battle commences in Whangarei on 30 March.
Although different brands, West’s and Gilmour’s cars each comply with Group N four-wheel-drive, or production specification, regulations to run in the championship’s Class 1 category. This season West and Gilmour are racing for both the overall New Zealand Rally Championship title and the Gold Star championship for Group N competitors.
West having secured the Gold Star championship title in 2004 and is hungry for another title after finishing runner-up on more than one occasion. As runner-up for the past two season, Gilmour saying she’s sick of being the bridesmaid.
“The priority is to win the championship,” says Gilmour who has committed to the five-round 2012 championship using the Subaru STI she campaigned last season with support from long-time sponsor Vantage Aluminium. This season 32-year-old Gilmour, who is dealer principal at Gilmour Suzuki in Dunedin when she’s not rallying, has Australian-based co-driver Anthony McLoughlin alongside.
“We’re using the same car as last year with further refining and improvements to it. Plus we will be running MRF tyres again this year, as we did for the last two events of last year. I think they are a good tyre, plus with their support we’ve got a bit more incentive to hopefully win the championship. The other positive is all our sponsors are onboard again this year, some having even upped their involvement. The only thing different is having Anthony as co-driver. He has been with some good drivers and came highly recommended,” says Gilmour.
West is in a similar position. His Andrew Simms Mitsubishi-backed Lancer Evo 9 car remains unchanged for the coming season while he has Palmerston North’s Chris Cobham returning to co-drive with him this season.
West has taken time out between seasons to marry long-time partner Melanie while transferring some of his rally preparation techniques to mountain biking in a bid to be more competitive and keep his driving edge.
“Like rallying it’s a very competitive sport and good physical and mental training; it’s a great way to get myself in good shape and good stead for the start of the championship,” says the 37-year-old.
“I consider myself a competitive person. It’s the same if I’m in the rally car or bike, at the end of the day you want to get the best result possible. Plus it helps coordination, the focus, and for me I do the same sort of mental preparation as I do for rallying. I believe the principles are the same, or at least similar. I find if I put the preparation in I get it back in the form of a deserving result – and I enjoy the challenge and adrenaline it brings.”
West, winner of the Whangarei event in 2008, says he returns to competition feeling far more comfortable with the handling of his older model car.
“We go to every event to do our best job and we’ve got a good car that served us well last year, having spent last season getting on top of what we felt we wanted to achieve as far as the setup of the car goes and has been paying dividends. Whangarei last year left us reasonably happy. Given the circumstances of road position and conditions on the two days made it a lot harder so fourth we thought was a reasonably good result.
“Now we head back to the same event knowing the car was working well, that it feels good and is where we want it to be as far as setup goes. It was probably the most comfortable I’d felt in the car for a long time.
“There is no question the Evo 9 is older technology but having said that, there are two ways of looking at it. If we had the newer car it’d require time to get on top of the handling and understand it to the extent we do with our current model. I guess its better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.
“Whangarei last year showed we’ve got the recipe right again. The consistency of familiar guys in the team makes a difference. They are guys I can leave to it – they know what we’re out to achieve and have been with the team through the hard work.”
With regular co-driver Chris Cobham back after having to step aside due to business commitments last season, West comments: “Cobby and I are best of mates; we know each other very well. In the past few years he’s had to focus on his business more than perhaps he’d have liked which meant he wasn’t going to be able to work with the team for a full season. I know he’s got unfinished business with the team and has freed the time to come back.”
West and Cobham join Gilmour and McLoughlin and fellow NZRC competitors to contest the Whangarei event against a number of international teams who travel to New Zealand for the opening round of the 2012 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. Running from 31 March to 1 April, the 2012 Brother International Rally of Whangarei uses high speed gravel roads throughout the Whangarei and Kaipara districts. Following Friday evening’s official start ceremony in Whangarei’s Cameron Street Mall, teams cover 283.28 competitive kilometres before Sunday afternoon’s ceremonial finish at the Quayside Town Basin.
West and Gilmour are among eight entrants confirmed for the top NZRC tier for Group N 4WD and S2000 cars include Masterton-based defending Gold Star champion Richard Mason, Rotorua’s Sloan Cox, Palmerston North’s Brian Green, Auckland’s Dave Strong, Kerikeri’s Kingsley Thompson and Christchurch’s Matt Jansen.
News and information about the championship – including driver profiles and team news – can be found on the website www.nzrallychampionship.co.nz, or follow New Zealand Rally Championship on Facebook.
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