 It began as the Otago Rally in 1976 and still plays a part in the national championship. Today though, it's the classic component of this revered rally that attracts drivers from all over the world to test their metal on its blind crests and outright speed. It's the jewel in the classic crown of Kiwi gravel competition and this year local rally exponent Mark Lawton has swapped his driving gloves for the microphone to bring you some of the stories from the stadium cars of Tago International Classic Rally. 40 years ago, cars like this were brand new and they were fighting it out for the national championship in New Zealand Rallying. Now they're classics and this weekend they'll be fighting it out for the Otago Classic Rally. Interestingly, last year this very car won the entire event in the hands of Hayden Padden, our Kiwi WRC star. Now to put that into perspective, he won the entire event including beating the modern vehicles. Hayden's back again this year but he won't be competing in the classics. He'll be in the national championship field in a specially built car. Tony Gosling, you're driving the car this year that won the event overall last year. Pretty big shoes to fill. Yeah, you're absolutely right and I think obviously last year was something a little bit special for this rally and as far as our performance this weekend I think we'll try not to think about that too much. The Stadium Cars Otago Classic Rally has a long tradition of overseas world rally drivers. This year is no exception. With me, Marco Martin, what brings you to Otago Rally? First of all, I got invited here by the organisers and I'm very happy that I'm here. It's a fantastic place to do rallies. I've done a few rallies on the North Island with WRC and the first time to do rally on the South Island and as always the roads are fantastic and it's going to be great fun tomorrow. It's not only about the fast international drivers, it's also about the really fast Kiwis. In dear occasion, you've won this event three times. Nobody knows it better than you. Oh look, Mark, the roads are just superb so we're looking forward to a really good battle this weekend. You've seen the roads in Reiki over the last couple of days. What's your take on the roads? The roads are outstanding. Quite fast, a few quite aggressive rails but they're in pretty good condition actually. Jeff, what's so special about the Otago Classic? Oh, it's so well supported by so many people and they get the overseas stars here every year plus the roads are some of the best in New Zealand but it's just an iconic event. Driving this beautifully prepared Group B Mazda RX-7 is Marcus Van Plink. Now this weekend, Marcus, this rally has double meaning for you. Yeah, it's number one of the NZ rally champs and we've won it three times now and yeah, so, you know, three or months is very important for us to finish but Otago Classic is another great event as well so two events in one. Regan Ross, you haven't won this event. Is this year your year? Having it's my year this year. There's been a lot of gifted wins so some of the other competitors here over the years so this year could be my year. 10 Aussies have crossed the ditch for what's considered to be one of the best classic rallies in the Southern Hemisphere. Jeff David, you've been on the podium here. What does it take? Oh, it's a very, very hard rally but coming over here and having the fellowship with the New Zealand compatriots in the rally is what brings us back all the time. The roads are great but it's the people that really add the wonderful warmth to the event that makes it special for all of us. Another Australian that's made the trip across, Stuart Reed. You've been a front runner in Otago before. What's it going to take this year? I think the field's very strong. I'd be happy just to finish in a new car. You'd be silly to throw it into the trees so we'll just fill our way through and watch the battle unfold in the front. One thing's for sure, a winner will be found from one of these cars assembled in the Octagon here tonight. It comes Sunday, we'll know just who that is. Along the way, we'll bring you the stories of some of the drivers and their cars. There's plenty of history here at the Otago Classic Rally. It began in 1976 and believe it or not, three drivers here this weekend were in that very event. A much younger Gary Cliff was one of those competitors driving a car that today would hardly be considered as competitive. I was driving a 1976 or five Datsun 1200 Coupe, pretty new in those days. And tell us about the event compared to how it is today. The event was pretty competitive. Trevor Kerr, if I remember rightly, won it in a Datsun 1200 SSS. In that era, we were doing the pull-mall round, some 23-24 hour divisions. So yeah, they were quite tough, but the cars went as fast or as fragile as they are today. The name McRosty has long been associated with the Otago Classic. Duncan McRosty is regularly featured in top five finishes, but this year it's his cousin Dean who usually co-drives, who's behind the wheel of his own car. Yeah, I've been co-driving for Duncan at Race to the Sky. I've done a bit with Phil Mason and another guy from Aussie, but it's about time I had a go. So this weekend you're in the RX7 here, what will weekend bring for you? Hopefully we'll get to the end and I might finally beat NB. He keeps ribbing me about having to beat a senior's sit, so it's about time I did it. McRosty did beat B through stage one, but the escort driver, who also competed in that very first event, was ahead by the end of special stage two. It's a long way from the pressures of trying to win a championship. These days, NB is here for different reasons. It's like hobby. I've never had anybody pay for a rallying. I've always paid for it myself. I love it. I've done it for 43 years. The real battle, though, is happening up front. No surprises in stage one. Marko Martin with a massive 16 second lead. He was followed by Regan Ross, and third was Marcus Van Kling, clearly having some problems in stage two. Next one creased is five right, straight up the crease. Coming up five right. Five right. It seemed to be a problem with our eight sevens. John Sulcock coming adrift on the same corner. I just came down this crease. I think it's quite well known, but just too much pace on, and the gods must be smiling again because we got away with it, but it was a massive moment. Sline or wrap. Sline or wrap. Come on, mate. I've got a big telling off on my co-driver, and I'll have to win again, but hey, it's one of these things. We've got to away with it, and we'll keep pushing on. It's going really good. Regan, three stages down. Second overall, but also leading the championship. How have you found the morning? It's been a good morning, yeah. Challenging the first one just with the dust. We're just calling, but obviously everyone will be telling the same thing. Any specific moments in there? We had ones rather large ones just come into a virtually a white-out situation. You lose all depth, perception, and you don't really know where you're going, left, right, straight or anything, and then all of a sudden I'd noticed that the corner was going off. That we had a rather great rate of knots. Two right, sorry. Yeah, almost went into the trees like I was going about crawling pace, sort of thing. Dust wasn't the only issue for Jeff Judd. Well, we had no intercom for stage two and three, and in three, you're trying to drive blind a little bit of like practice for the silver firm, but there's a big long left hand that tightens onto a cattle stop, and that was a lot of fun. I think that's a good point. Yeah, I think Reagan, he was pretty quick through there as well as Marko, but if we were to have a problem with stage one, it was quite dusty in the trees, but the rest of the last two have been pretty good. 150? Well, here we are at service, and we expected Marko to be at the head of the field. A lot of the other competitors, Marko, are complaining about dust. Yeah, I think there's a lot of dust in the field. There's a lot of dust in the field. There's a lot of dust in the field. What about dust? Yeah, I think this morning the dust for everybody behind the first car was really bad. We were lucky to start with the historic nice four or five minute cap, so we didn't have any dust, so it was easy for us and everybody else suffered, I mentioned, but it was good for us to have a nice calm stage to just learn the car a little bit and see how the notes are working, so we had a good run and it's getting more and more fun in every stage of the game. Three plus right, five left over crest, 86 minus right, slow over crest, 50, crest late, five left, and four right. And actually the four director, when I was a factory driver, it was also a very nice car to drive, so I think there's a lot of common feel that confidence-inspiring car is both of them. It's been the fastest five through the morning on his first outing to New Zealand. Being you've had a successful morning running a fourth overall. Yeah, look, it's been good, it's encouraging. We've been pushing, but haven't been doing any Superman stuff, but been catching a lot of dust, everyone was right off in the first. Jeff's had problems, so we had dust in the last one quite bad as well, but I'm happy where we are and enjoying it and loving the roads. How do you compare it to the Australian rallies? You know, there's flowing crests on the top of the hills, the things are we doing. 180 kilometres an hour, and then he calls it the right five flat or something like that, and you know, you've got to commit to it. Another Australian that's been doing well this morning, Graeme, how's your morning been? Great, good, we had a dusty first stage, but everyone was in the same boat, so that's okay. And stage two and three, good, no problems at all, just probably a little bit of lack of commitment from the driver, other than that, good. The tow rope on Gary Clef's Datsun is a tremendous sign. We have damaged a clutch in the stage before, about halfway through and couldn't get any gears, managed to find one, limp out, but we don't have any spears for it, so we're a bit drunk. Dunedin's always been an unlucky rally for me, so the very first one I rolled the Datsun, I've blown a couple of engines up in this car and I've had it 15 years. I've never blown any or done any mechanical damage anywhere else in this car except for the Dunedin rally. Ex-pat Kiwi Stuart Warren has returned home from Australia to compete again for the first time in more than a decade. It's actually come back better than I thought it would. Being out of it such a long time, I thought it would be scary to even get it sideways, but it seems to be flowing not too bad. You used to be a regular campaigner and competitor in the Otago rally. Must be great to come back after so long. Oh, no, it's good. Even when we gave up back in 2002, it was always one of the objectives to come back and do this event. Corey, competing in your first rally this weekend, and I see you on the phone there, you've seen results back to the family? No, just a wee update, about one moment in stage two. It wasn't a problem, we just went into a ditch, and we went hard, off Canva, loose corner, and we got away with it. One of the most unusual cars you'll ever see in a rally today is the Venerable 1800, but then Jim Gregory is not about conforming. Everybody's got asscorts, Datsuns, everything's in place. Going up, build something different, have some fun with it. Tell us about the engine and the car, Jim. The engine is the basic 1800. Gearbox is the same. The engine's been ported on the cylinder head and a new different camshaft, a racerally camshaft. So they're commonly known as a lean crepe. Does it hold on the road like its name? It does. It certainly doesn't have any body roll, it just goes in and comes out. It's no problem. We thoroughly enjoy it. The afternoon run takes in some of the most spectacular Otago roads, including the infamous Dansies Pass, the original road linking the Waitaki Basin with the Central Otago Goldfields, but the significance is lost on our overseas guest driver. Oh, that was difficult with a one-pass racquet. So many flat crests, but if you don't know which one it's quite scary at those things. I didn't enjoy that next to a very fat. No issue for Brian Stokes, who was one of the three drivers to have competed in the original event back in 1976. Oh, it's a great piece of road. You know, there's a bit of everything there and up and down and rough and plenty of views and challenging bits, but yeah, it's a fantastic road. Come the end of the gravel stages, Marko Martin has a commanding lead of 47 seconds over Regan Ross, who is also leading the Classic Championship battle with third place Marcus Van Klanen. One of the biggest surprises is Tony Gosling, who hasn't shied away from the reputation Hayden Padding gave this car 12 months ago. Well, Tony Gosling, fourth overall. Yeah, we're pretty happy with that. I thought if we could get in the top five, that'd be really good. That last three kilometers is probably the most fun I've had in my whole life. Five left at Junction. Five left, 30. Fast five right, 120. Six left and six left, plus 30. Five right, plus 60. Flat crest, 150. Six right in, kinks 80. Six right in, kinks 80. Six right, plus. And flat seven left, 120. Finish. Six right, minus 120. F*** it. That was awesome. The last couple of quarters. Holy s***! So, awaited the special stage now. Put on a show, will you? I mean, you're the major sponsor. You've got to put on a show. Well, yeah, I don't know. We'll think about that on the way to Dunedin because you can lose a lot in there. Final stage of the day is the Tarmac one and the crowd certainly come to watch it. You can't win the rally here but you certainly could lose it. Only Johnston is flying the flag for the V8s this weekend. There's nothing like the sound of a V8. It's unmistakable and certainly one that gets the crowd's attention. There's a lot to this rallying and not everybody comes out on top. Derek Aisin suffered break problems in stages two and three. And Derek, that unsettled you for the rest of the day? Yeah, it did already. We certainly had no break pedal for those two stages and it was just a bit disconcerting so we gave them a good bleed up at the service park and they were definitely better for the next two but it just sort of plays on your mind a bit. You know, when you jump on the brakes they need to be there and I guess you're just always a bit cautious. So we did affect their times a little bit but the last couple of stages went pretty good so we're quite happy with that. It did come back in stage six. Yeah, I think we've got second Regan on six and then again on the Tarmac stage. Of course today, me as is Marco so the pace is just outstanding. Nine more stages tomorrow to conclude the Stadium Cars Otago International Classic. More stories in a moment. As we begin day two of the Stadium Cars Otago Classic rally the outright charge is being dominated by Marco Martin but there are also two other classes and Miles McElwain is leading Class B. We're certainly not the fastest. We're good and don't do any damage. There's a couple of other blokes that are a little bit fast in us but they've had a little bit of bad luck with broken parts and whatever. Now this year we find you with a new co-driver. Tell us about that. Yes, well I wanted to double my race budget so I've included my wife as a co-driver this year. How's she going? She's going very well and she's very good at signing checks. Great, you put on a great show at the Super Special Stage last night but you were last to line up. Tell us why. In stage six we broke a bottom arm, shared a shore of roads joined off and fired us off the road so service vehicle come in and we fixed her up and rushed back to town and just in the nick of time we got out and had a bit of fun. So prior to that you were leading Class B must have been a bit of a blow for you. Yeah, I was pretty gutted but you know, it's a part of rallying. Well the smallest class in the Otago rally is Class A under 1300. Peter Fridt, you're leading it after day one. No, we've had a great run again yesterday. Very little car problems, ordinated bracket broke but that was all didn't hold us up. We got a good competition with Greg for a while but unfortunately he had a spring come out of his distributor so yeah, we certainly put this in the lead and today we'll just be cruising along trying to consolidate that. Greg, what happened yesterday? Yeah, we're going along quite well and the car cut out, had luck, found out the distributor had a fault, fixed that up and then in the next stage we're going along hit a cattle stop and we almost did about a 30 degree nose dive after the cattle stop. Marco Martin's not the only high profile rally personality here this weekend. The man sitting alongside the Estonian has co-driven for some very good drivers himself. Stefan, tell us about some of the drivers you've set beside. Well, I'm lucky enough that I start with a really good driver in the highest level as possible so I did 13 years with a Belgium driver called Bruno T. It was my first time with him here in New Zealand back in 1995 but then he was a bit older than me so I switched to a younger driver called Francois Duval. I spent 3 years with Francois a really fast driver and then I met Chris at Kitsan at Subaru and I've spent most of my time with Chris since 2007. How are you enjoying the ride this weekend? Very good, Marco is driving really, really well I'm very happy I could do a rally with him because we've been teammates for 2 years at Ford in 2003-2004. Are you liking these roads at the Targo? Yeah, definitely for me in New Zealand is the best country in the world to do rallying and I feel in love with the country and the roads here for sure it's the best. The morning stages around Middlemarch are more than challenging. Jeff, not the start to Sunday morning you were hoping for, tell us what's going on. We had a few clutch issues in the last stage so about a kilometre in we lost the clutch and we're now trying to see whether we could get it working but we can't so now we're going to see if we can put an extra battery pack in and then kick it over on the while it's in gear and see if we can go out and do the last couple of stages this afternoon because we'd hate to miss Kari Bush. First time, Marco Martin didn't win a stage. It didn't work so well I think, from the first corner I struggled to cut the right gears and then I lost that kind of motivation or concentration, I don't know it's just very really bad. Greg and Ross had his own challenges and wasn't able to capitalise with a stage win. A bit of an off, threw a fence and into a paddock, would have only lost a short amount of time but unfortunately they had to block and they had to break the chain to get out. In the process he lost four minutes handing the lead in the championship to this man here. Keep going. Unfortunately for Regan he had a bit of sightseeing through a fence so he had a second place or first place in the championship and now he's second behind Marco for the rally so yeah, things are going really well. Regan Ross wasn't the only casualty of the day, Derek Ace and sidelined with electrical problems knocking him out of contention for a podium finish. We thought we had it sorted just with a distributor cap to come a bit loose, the back clip on it so we fixed that, re-timed it but something a bit more major than that so a bit of a shame but that's how it goes. Ross though did salvage something out of the day taking a stage win for Marco Martin. Brian and Anne Stokes though not breaking any stage records a disappointing end to their rally. Left into southern long right that gate. Chief John had an excursion on the last stage. Marco Martin though continued his blistering performance finishing two minutes ahead and taking the top spot on the podium. Press to 100 6 left press 24 plus right plus left into 5 minus right but you know it thank you Marco it was such a nice weekend I really enjoyed it's amazing this stage very nice, it felt like Finland. Fantastic, really really good and the end was the best actually the last stage was a really really nice stage. Marco, second overall for the Otago Classic but also first in the New Zealand Championship you're now leading there. Yeah, an awesome day, great weekend 4 nearly put off in the last couple of corners here hence the flight time we're changing now so get back to control and we'll be a fine rally. Tony Gosling third overall a fantastic drive and doing the spots are proud. Yeah, we're pretty happy to be here I tell you even the last stage is just very fast very cool and the best rally I've ever done like every time I do it it's just unbelievable. So there you have it, our international guest on the top spot of the podium Marco Sven Klink in leading the national championship and surprise third Tony Gosling got a fantastic way to celebrate 40 years of the Otago rally.