The AutoSport club hosted another great event at the Rakaia Zig Zag on Sunday 19th Feb. Trevor entered the Justy in the Open 2WD class and Josh had his Toyota Starlet in the 1301-1600cc class. The course is a 2.5km winding uphill shingle road and is a favourite for many of the local competitors. The weather was a bit unpleasant with drizzle and rain all day however the exciting road made up for it. Both cars ran without a hitch all day and Trevor was pleased to take away 1st place in the 2WD class and 10th overall. For more info on local events check out the AutoSport Club's webpage at www.autosport.org.nz.

We are currently building another ute, similar to our workshop runabout Legacy. It started life as a 1.5L 2WD Impreza Sedan. We chopped the back into a ute, converted it to 4WD and fitted a 2.5L turbo engine. It has a full rollcage and will be used for circuit racing, sealed hillclimbs and Targa rally events. The ute is now being tuned and prepared for its debut at the Targa Bambina in Auckland in March 2012. 
This is about number 20 in the Crowe-built race cars, which have included an MG J2 V8, Corolla Corvette V8, the 2 Starlet V8s, Avenger V8, Skoda V8, Triumph TR8, assorted Datsuns, Subarus and BMWs, and lately our mid-engine 2WD Justy.

The Ashley Forest Rallysprint turned out to be a great weekend with nice weather on both days. The road was good and our wee Justy ran without a hitch all weekend. It was clear that there would be some close competition in the 2WD class with Chris Hey from down south in his Turbo Nissan powered Toyota MR2 setting very similar times to Trevor in qualifying on Saturday. On Sunday we switched to a new set of tyres and took 2.5 seconds off Trevor's time to set his best for the weekend of 1.04.49. After both Trevor and Chris making the Top 16 there was a 2WD class top 3 shootout consisting of Trevor, Chris Hey and Robert McCallum in a Ford Escort. Things were a little nervous in the CroweSport pits as we saw Chris fitting a brand new set of tyres to his MR2 for the final run, after beating Trevor by a second in the Top 16 run. However, Trevor managed to play it cool and drove superbly in the final run to beat Chris by less than a second and take out the 2WD Unlimited class honours. The event marked 25 years since Trevor won the event outright in his V8 Starlet in 1985. 

 

This year we have been running our Subaru Justy on shingle. This is the car that we have run in the Dunlop Targa tarmac rally for the last few years. We ran in a few shingle sprints earlier in the year and were pleased with how the car performed, winning the 2WD class at the Rakaia hillclimb. When first built this car was set up for shingle and won the 2WD Open class at Race to The Sky in Queenstown 2006. We also entered the Canterbury Rally in July but ended prematurely to due an oil fire in the engine bay, luckily the damage wasn't major. The next event we are preparing for is the Ashley Forest Rallysprint on the 25th and 26th of September. We have fitted a 2.5L engine instead of the 2.0L and will be running a larger turbo for Ashley. We also intend to enter the Westland Rally in November.

 

Had a great drive in the Targa rally in our own little Justy. The Targa goes down the North Island from Auckland to Wellington using lots of tight and twisty back country roads. We more than held our own amongst some very expensive machinery putting in top 10 times repeatedly. Although the Targa is about having fun and seeing parts of New Zealand well off the beaten track (ever heard of Whangamomona?), the standard of driving at the sharp end is very high with top rally and race drivers competing. It is doubly satisfying to be competitive in a car that was designed and built in our own workshop. For more photos visit www.groundsky.co.nz

 

Over the years Trevor has built and raced more than 20 cars.
Here is some history on the more famous ones.

 

Rallies and Hill Climbs

1963 - 1st Windwhistle Hill Climb MGJ2
1966 - 1st Craigmore Hill Climb MGV8
1975 - 1st 1300cc NZ Rally Championship Datsun 1200 (3rd outright)
1976 - 1st Dunedin Rally Datsun 1200
1976 - 1st Nelson Rally Datsun 1200
1977 - 1st Gore Rally Datsun 1200
1978 - 1st Canterbury Rally Hillman Avenger
1978 - 1st Blenheim Rally Hillman Avenger V8
1980 - 1st Hamilton Rally Ford Escort BDA
1980 & 81 - 1st Mystery Creek Rally Cross Ford Escort BDA
1982 - 1st Coronet Peak Hill Climb Starlet V8
1985 - 1st Ashley Forest Rally Sprint Starlet V8
1988 - 1st Blenheim Rally Skoda V8
1990 - 1st Timaru Rally Skoda V8
1992 - 1st Canterbury Rally Skoda V8
1993 - 1st Timaru Rally Subaru Legacy RS
1995 - 1st Hanmer Rally Subaru Legacy RS
1998 - 1st Hanmer Rally Subaru WRX
2000 - 1st New Zealand Open Queenstown Gold Rush Subaru WRX
2001 - 1st Classic Class Queenstown Gold Rush Skoda V8
2006 - 1st 2WD Open Class Queenstown Gold Rush Subaru Justy 

Circuit Racing

1973-74 - 2nd OSCA Corolla Corvette
1974-75 - 1st 2Litre Class OSCA Datsun 1200
1977-78 - Many South Island Shellsport Wins and Lap Records (against Reg Cook)
- Also 3rd in Championship without travelling to the North Island
1981 - 1st OSCA Starlet V8
1982 - 1st OSCA Starlet V8
1983 - 2nd Benson & Hedges 6 Hour Event Holden Commodore
1984 - 1st OSCA Starlet V8
1985 - 1st OSCA Starlet V8
1985-86 - 1st New Zealand Group A Series BMW 635
1986 - 1st Benson & Hedges Group A Series BMW 635
1987 - 11th Bathurst BMW M3 (Inky Tulloch)
1988 - 1st New Zealand Touring Car Series BMW M3
1988 - 3rd Wellington BMW M3 (Mark Thatcher)
1988 - 4th Bathurst BMW M3 (Peter Jackson)
- Asia Pacific Touring Car Champion
1991 - 2nd Group A Wellington Subaru Legacy RS