Rally New Zealand stage guides - Friday
After Thursday evening's ceremonial start on the harbour side in Auckland, the competitive action of Rally New Zealand kicks off on Friday with a selection of classic northland stages which haven’t been used on the event for five years.
Organisers of the 40th Rally New Zealand have fully embraced new-for-2010 rules to increase competitive distances, and have employed remote service halts to enable Friday's route to stretch up to the Whangarei and Kaipara districts.
After leaving the Auckland Service Park from 0715hrs, crews trek 109km north to tackle a loop of four consecutive stages before a remote 15-minute service in Whangarei. In the afternoon crews will tackle the all new Springfield test before repeating three of the morning's stages.
The day ends with a night time stage at the Auckland Domain, the park in the centre of the city which hosted the pre-event shakedown. The final 45-minute end of day service gets underway at 1908hrs.
Here are the wrc.com stage notes for Friday’s stages. Under the summaries you'll find our list of website links to help you follow the rally via our live results service.
SS1: Waipu Gorge. 11.09km
After a few very dry months in the northland region, most of Friday's stages are covered in a thick layer of very fine gravel which - if it stays dry - will cause grip problems for those running early in the start order. The first opportunity to see how much time they'll lose is Waipu Gorge, which was last used in 2005. It starts with a long straight on a triple width road and stays fast for five kilometres with lots of steeply cambered corners. After that it drops into the gorge, with a rock face on one side and tall bush grass everywhere else. The second half of the stage is twistier than the first and much of it has been re-surfaced with a fresh layer of gravel. It’s one of only three stages on this rally to be used just once.
SS2/SS6: Brooks. 13.60km
Last run in 2005 (as SS4/SS7) Brooks starts fast on a triple width road for 3km then gets extremely twisty and technical. This is a tough test for co-drivers, with steeply cambered corners coming thick and fast. Road position is absolutely vital here. Get it right and the cars will float over the crown in the road ready to hug the next bend. Get it wrong and the camber will throw the car off altogether. At the 13km point is the Brooks bridge jump - one of the most photographed spots of the rally.
SS3/SS7: Bull. 32.56km
In 2005 the Bull and Cassidy stages were joined together to make the longest stage in that year's World Rally Championship. This year they're back - but as two separate tests. Bull is the longer section, and at 32.56km it's the longest stage of the rally. It’s generally a very fast stage but includes a classic Kiwi mix of flat out sprints, heavily cambered sweeping corners and some extremely technical sections to slow things down.
SS4/SS8: Cassidy. 22.20km
Just 400 metres after the end of Bull is the start of Cassidy. Like Bull this one has a very mixed character, but it seems generally busier. There are several flat out sections - some of which are more than 3km long - and then some slower, technical sections to negotiate. This stage - and Bull before it - will be where the time is won and lost in Friday's competition.
SS5: Springfield. 9.87km
A brand new stage for this year, Spingfield is one of the widest of the rally and could turn out to be the fastest. The opening two kilometres are especially fast on a smooth, double width road - the surface of which is quite loose in places. From then on it gets twistier but stays wide with some terrific cambered corners. The final three kilometres are downhill on a wide and smooth road. The stage ends with a 500 metre sprint on asphalt to the flying finish.
SS9: Auckland Domain. 1.50km
Friday ends with an all-asphalt sprint in the Auckland Domain - a park in the centre of the city which houses the city's War Memorial Museum. The stage was used on Thursday for Shakedown and snakes around the museum building then up through the car park. As a regular road there are plenty of obstacles around to catch out untidy driving - probably the worst of which are the roadside kerbstones.
Link:
http://wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id ... -%20Friday
I really hope Mikko wins this weekend!
