Fancy watching speeding cars and hearing roaring sound of the mufflers?
I do.
My family does as well, especially my hubby and my son!
Then you can join me here on my recent adventure in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Welcome to WRC – Repco Rally New Zealand!
Speed, fast cars, and special stages are probably things that people associate with Rally.
My husband and my son keep bragging about how boys mostly love anything to do with cars and it becomes sort of one of their dreams to see the cars as well as events associated to them. Back home in Indonesia, my hubby joined the Indonesian motor association and he has been joining the organizing committee for various rallies, slalom tests, bike races, and similar events. No, he’s not a racer but he really loves cars, motorbikes, and bicycles. No wonder he carries that love so much and together with my boy, they have been following the updates on many platforms of international rally. Well, that’s a little background why when we found out that Rally New Zealand is back, we directly get the tickets for the event.
One of the WRC or World Rally Championship series in 2022 is conducted in Auckland, New Zealand. It was held from 29 September - 2 October 2022. The stage itself was specially prepared and located in Brookby Farm area. It took us around 45 minutes drive from Auckland by car and I have to say we are not the only one longing to watch this rally live since many rally enthusiasts were coming to this event. By the time we approached the venue, we had a super long queuing to get to the parking lot or the designated areas.
For the 4 of us, we bought the family ticket for Jack’s Ridge stage for Sunday, October 2nd. My 11-year-old can join the event for free but she still get the ticket.
When we got our parking spots, after spending around 30 minutes in the queeing, the event started already. We had to walk to the designated areas and there are shuttles provided by the Committee as well. Nevertheless, we managed to walk to the vantage point where we could see the cars in action. Along the way, we saw some cars which has just finished taking their rounds.
It was really an experience for us. Our first international rally live on the spot! Super exciting! It was also memorable as watching rally live like this is not as simple as we thought it would be. We brought many items like umbrellas, picnic mat, food and drinks, jacket, boots, and folding chairs. As informed by the Organizing Committee, we had to be ready for the changing weather, with rain and drizzles mostly come along the day. Lucky us, two days before the event, back to back, Auckland and the surrounding cities were endlessly poured with constant rain. As the result, guess what… the venue were super muddy, both for the cars and the spectators. Both the tracks for the cars and the pathways for us, spectators. So, it was a bit tricky as we were walking carefully, sliding here and there, trying to avoid falling down or getting muds to our clothes. We were walking with boots while bringing our bags and umbrellas. It was quite a challenge but it was also fun, as my kids were giggling along the way. We got our lunch on the spot but we didn’t manage to go to the merchandise area. At later stage, we ordered online and got some of the merchandise from the event.
We watched until the second SS was done and after that, we headed back to our hotel in Auckland. It was still raining and we thought we could just call it a day.
And for the result, as I checked it later from the open sources, Kale Rovanpera is the winner of this rally, with Sebastian Ogier as the runner up and Ott Tanak at the 3rd place and Thierry Neville at the 4th place.
Check out the video I prepared and published in my YouTube account
All in all, my family and I really enjoyed this event and hopefully they will have another round next year. We will surely come and enjoy it again!
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I can say , I only watch this on TV never in person, and by this post it’s tempting to try attending such events in future. Recently in Kenya the races are back , we say The “safari” Rally and only happens in NAIVASHA, and always The president of Kenya must attend the last day of the Rally because the event lasts for 3 days. And by what is reported on Tv ,it’s super fun attending in person. Thanks for sharing with us.