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Newsletter #04 - August 2009
Att: #subname# #sublastname#
August has been a busy month starting which started with the WRC Rally Finland in Jyvaskyla. Once again Rally Tours fielded a small group of dedicated Rally watches to experience this iconic event. Tour leader Greg Paul with clients Keith Frankham, Alan Keay and John Crouch witnessed a very close battle between front runners Hirvonen and Loeb for the win and Sordo and Latvala for the other podium placings.
The kiwi flag was also flying in support for New Zealand’s Mark Tapper and Jeff Judd in their bid to out-perform the opposition in the Pirelli Star driver competition. A great time was had by all, one of the highlights being the day trip to Estonia. A big thanks to our hosts Rally Travel and guide Neil Prunell for conducting a very professional tour. It has been announced that Rally Finland will stay as an annual event on the WRC calendar for the next 4 years. Rally tours will be operating a Rally Finland Tour next year so mark July 27th to 4th August on your calendar and start saving.
Rally Finland came straight after Greg had finished the very successful 45 day Beijing to Paris “Journey through time” expedition with 26 New Zealanders driving their own vehicles. Congratulations must go to all who participated and survived this amazing drive through 11 countries. There are lots of stories on the daily blog, photos to view and a GPS map tracing our route, so visit our www.rallytours.co.nz/peking_to_paris.htm and enjoy the read. A big thanks must be extended to our supporters, suppliers and staff who helped with this huge logistical exercise. Planning is well underway for 2010 and we are happy to explain more about this once in a life time trip to prospective clients. With the future in mind Rally tours have left a couple of Landcruisers in the UK and plan to develop a UK to Beijing self drive tour to Rendezvous in China with the West bound Beijing to Paris expedition. Just a few days after the completion of Rally NZ Greg will start the exploratory run from London to Beijing via Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan then via the Silk Rd to Beijing. This tour will be on the market for 2011 with rental vehicles available for hire.
Next Wednesday the 2nd September yet another Rally Tours group assembles at the Mantra on Salt resort hotel which is the headquarters for the 2009 Rally Australia. This beautiful location is about 100km south of Brisbane and just across the border in the state of New South Wales. Our group consists of many of our regular and loyal clients from Australia, New Zealand and Japan. We are looking forward to a fantastic weekend of close rallying at the top level with Miko Hirvonen and Seb Loeb battling it out on a variety of interesting Australian gravel roads. This will be a real challenge for all concerned as these are totally new roads for all competitors so it will make for excellent spectating and will be as thrilling as the battle in Finland just a few weeks ago. The result here will probably determine who will take the 09 drivers title. The service park is located on the waterfront in the small seaside town of Kingscliffe with the superstage some 20km to the west and will run around the tarmac streets of Murwillumbah. More details and results on www.rallyaustralia.com This year Rally Tours have combined resources with Australia’s “Rally Sport Magazine” who are the official Rally Australia tour operators, to arrange what promises to be one of the best viewing spectacles on the 09 WRC calendar. Also on the agenda are visits behind the scenes to Rally HQ, the media room and at least two Rally Team service areas.
Rally Tours will be there in force supporting New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon and his Team Green entry in their attempt to secure a win in the Pirelli Star driver shootout competition. If successful against 6 other Australian contenders Paddon will secure a sponsored drive in one of the yellow Pirelli sponsored Evo 10 cars in 5 WRC rounds next year. After a very successful 09 season in New Zealand with experienced Co-Driver John Kennard, Hayden is quietly confident of a trouble free Rally Australia with good results. Good Luck Hayden. Rally Tours has enjoyed the association and shared the success with Hayden and Team Green as a minor sponsor and supporter this year. Go to www.hayden-paddon.com for great video footage of Hayden’s rally drives this season and join the supporters club. We will be there to celebrate with Team Green in Australia.
Rally NZ has announced details of our 2010 event in the last few days and the City of Auckland will once again host our premier motorsport event. The Rally will be held from May 7th to the 10th and like previous events of some years ago will take place to the north and south of New Zealand’s largest city. The event will host a new centrally located service park and a new venue for a superstage. The details of these venues are still to be announced by the organisers. Rally Tours will again play a leading role working closely with the Rally organisation to bring a spectator tour to our clients and supporters better than anything else on the WRC circuit. During the lead up to Rally NZ in just 7 months we will keep you informed of our tour details and any other interesting event information as it comes to hand.
If you are heading for Europe next year and would like to experience a WRC Rally or even the Le Mans 24hr race please contact us. Through our European Partners we can offer tours to most of these 2010 events. Rally Sweden. February 14th. Rally Jordan. April 4th. Rally Portugal. May 30th. Rally Finland. August 1st. Rally Germany. August 22nd. Rally France. October 3rd. Le Mans 24 hr Race. June 13th.
Happy Rally watching and hope that everybody can make it Rally NZ next year.
Greg Paul and Deb Hollier.
Rally Tours NZ Ltd.
Tel +64 9 9175175
greg.coaches@clear.net.nz or deb.hollier@rallytours.co.nz P.O. Box 107063, Airport Oaks, Manukau 2154, New Zealand. |
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