The Roaring Season

Went into some back part of forrest between Rotorua and Taupo with a logging contractor who had a key. He reckoned he knew a top spot. Well they came down a reasonable straight and then a brow were it turned gentle left and then down a short twisty hill (bank) and right onto a little bridge and then up other side and along a twisty ridge and off back into forrest. It is just getting dark and first we hear this noise (beautiful) and then this fire breathing thing is over brow and no way he is going to make this gentle left , well it is sideways, gone down the hill onto bridge and up other side so qiuck, "thats not real". Then Mr Blomquist arrives, and we thought Rohl was going quick, well Blomquist sets up real early and is very wide over brow and has back wheel out over edge of bank heading down to bridge somehow he flicks it right onto bridge and about half way over bridge the left rear is over the side and just shear grunt and big balls hauls it back up onto bank on other side and then off up hill and down road into forrest. We still talk about this and also about Allport in the Mainfreight RX7 who was similar to Blomquist but not off on bridge. Those were amazing cars and the guys drove them very hard.

Murray Maunder wrote: .... so nothing quite as good as that downhill straight and scandinavian flick seen on the video I posted. We couldn't believe the speed of arrival and that they could make it through the corner, all arms sawing at the wheel, massive amounts of throttle, backfiring, flame, stones, people yelling their approval. Nothing, nothing will ever replace the short wheelbase Quattro rally car for spectacle.

Woo-hoo !! All of that and then some, great vivid description mate, and as we've seen from Shano's pix, using all the road and more. Part of the thrill of seeing those savage things at work was the sheer brutality of the sensual assault after waiting for long periods in some isolated spot in the bush, either dank and chilly or bathed in some piss-weak winter sunshine. Then, in the distance, a glimpse of a speeding chopper, and a quick sound byte of the guttural 5-cylinder howl...the video tape may not have stood the test of time all that well, but the sound on it is just as raw and ruthless as ever. Great stuff.

Shano, nice description (and photos). Same sort of experience for me though I saw two years of the long wheelbase (Mouton, Mikkola, Blomquist) before the beast arrived in 1985 with the clinically quick Rohrl and spectacular Stig. I have some stuff of those cars but struggled with weather and vantage points so nothing quite as good as that downhill straight and scandinavian flick seen on the video I posted. We couldn't believe the speed of arrival and that they could make it through the corner, all arms sawing at the wheel, massive amounts of throttle, backfiring, flame, stones, people yelling their approval. Nothing, nothing will ever replace the short wheelbase Quattro rally car for spectacle.

I hope to throw up a few video clips in coming weeks and hope it stirs some memories, photos, stories from Rally NZ.

And here's the man himself - Walter Rorhl





Team-mate Stig Blomqvist.







I have loads of photos from this era. I'd just invested in some decent gear and after getting addicted to the smell of Audi Quattro, I shot a lot of film. I've been needing an excuse to scan some, so over the next week or so I'll do the lot.

I can still see in my mind the first time I witnessed the short wheelbase Audi Quattro. We had walked into a special stage near Otorohanga and were perched on the side of a hill with a twisting tarmac hillclimb below us.

We could see far away over the green countryside. Then a helicopter popped up over the horizon, flying low, maybe 3, 4 miles away.

Then below the chopper a dust trail appeared and flew across a straight piece of dirt road - it was a long straight and all we saw was the dust trail, but it flew across the countryside at such speed I was breathless. I couldn't believe anything could be so fast.

Then the car arrived. Walter Rorhl. The Audi howling with its unusual 5 cylinder engine, flicking from side to side, tyres scrabbling for traction and the huge flash of flame and thunderous backfire every time Rohrl backed off. If dragons were real, this is what they would be like.

Within seconds, the mighty Audi was gone, leaving behind the smell of heat, burned fuel and tyre smoke.

I was hooked.

The sight and sound of those cars at night was absolutely fantastic with the wastegate flashing under the car in the dark. Different days to the sanatised rallying of today. The challenge then was to try to get to every stage and watch the leading cars. Lots of fun with everybody else sprinting between stages trying to do the same thing and at days end, back to the bar at the Rotorua Travelodge for a bit of a session!

WOW, Murray that is great! Thank you for posting. Its amazing, you tend to forget how immense those cars were. Simply spine-tingling acoustics. Its hard to believe, but as wild and supposedly dangerous as those cars were, todays modern WRC cars are actually faster. Though not nearly as charismatic.

I am deeply envious of all the great motor racing shots from the 70s and 80s, I have lost all but a few personal ones due to The Damp Discovered Too Late. So I thought I should share aomething of possible nostalgia value.

My years of shooting video started as an amateur with the best VHS portable recorder and camera i could afford and rallying represented a good place to start. When the World Rally came to NZ the Audi Quattros were the headline act. This edited piece I have just recently cut from my archives of the 1984 event. I hope to put a few more out in time.

In my opinion the death of Group B was like the death of the "Big Banger" saloons and F5000 in circuit racing - things would never be this good again.

[video=youtube;Kq6SAurw4HE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq6SAurw4HE[/video]

I look forward to people's stories from out on the stages.