The script couldn’t have been written any better for the history of the Ashley Forest Rallysprint. ‘The first international driver wins iconic event in an iconic car’. Scotsman Alister McRae won the 2018 event over the weekend in the 1998 ex-Possum Bourne Vantage Subaru WRC – becoming the first international driver to claim victory in the event’s 39-year history.
The huge crowd, not often seen today in motorsport, came to watch Kiwi World Rally Championship driver Hayden Paddon. They came to see him in action. They came to see him win and with the certainty of a new record time. Programs were sold out, the hill was full and the hotdog stand made a ‘killing’. How often do you get to see a WRC driver, fresh from claiming a podium at Rally Turkey the weekend before, competing in your local forest?
But this wasn’t to be. In the elimination run-off for the top eight, Paddon struck trouble when his oil filter let go just before the hairpin at the top of the course. Paddon had been quick all weekend, nudging at the record time of 54.96 seconds set last year by Sloan Cox. On one run he only took 32 seconds to get to the top and the record was on. However, a hesitation at the hairpin put his time in the 55s’. McRae’s winning time of 55.35 secs saw him get to the top in 34.02 secs. That is how quick Paddon was going. Word on the course was that Paddon was still to bolt on fresh rubber and tweak the turbo and maybe a 52 was achievable!
Previously in the top 32 elimination run-off the reigning champion and course record holder Sloan Cox spun, dropping him out of contention. Was it now going to be a two-horse race?
In the end it was McRae against Blenheim’s Neil Webb in a very quick but aging Mitsubishi Mirage with Evo running gear. McRae, fastest in the top four elected to run first in the top two all or nothing shootout. Webb got to the top in 34.68 secs and looked quick coming down the hill but ended up with a time of 56.04 seconds. While he finished second there is always huge respect for any sub-minute time.
The 1998 ex-Possum Bourne Vantage Subaru WRC has a special place in Kiwi motorsport history. Campaigned by the late, great Kiwi rally driver Possum Bourne, it actually never won this rallysprint. Bourne had won this event previously three times in 1989, 1991 and 2000 in three different Subaru models.
Winning the AShley Forest Rallysprint adds to the history of this car which has also won both the Leadfoot Festival and the 2015 Race to the Sky in Cardrona. Both in the hands of McRae, a popular visitor to these shores.
While the crowd came for Paddon, they were not disappointed on leaving. They witnessed another piece of history that commentators will talk about in future events. Paddon still has unfinished business in the Ashley Forest and will no doubt be back.
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