The NZ Silver Fern Rally has grown out of an idea that Gary Smith and Carl Rabbidge had been considering for some time. Gary had competed with Graham Lorimer in the London to Sydney marathon event in 1993, and saw that the costs of competing there were ra... moreThe NZ Silver Fern Rally has grown out of an idea that Gary Smith and Carl Rabbidge had been considering for some time. Gary had competed with Graham Lorimer in the London to Sydney marathon event in 1993, and saw that the costs of competing there were rather high, and thought "we could do a similar event here for a lot less".
At the 2005 Dunlop Otago Classic Rally, notices were circulated to interested parties. They outlined some of the ideas, competing over stages maybe as long as 100km’s, in a week long marathon rally, and over some of the famous old stages used in the Heatway and Motogard Rallies of the 1970’s and 80’s. They were keen to know if there was enough interest out there from competitors and others to make it worthwhile taking the event from concept to reality.
Originally the event was circulated as the Rally of the Southern Cross, but this idea was re-considered at the inaugural meeting, as the name was to similar to the Australian events held in the past. The objecti... less
DescriptionThe NZ Silver Fern Rally has grown out of an idea that Gary Smith and Carl Rabbidge had been considering for some time. Gary had competed with Graham Lorimer in the London to Sydney marathon event in 1993, and saw that the costs of competing there were rather high, and thought "we could do a similar event here for a lot less".
At the 2005 Dunlop Otago Classic Rally, notices were circulated to interested parties. They outlined some of the ideas, competing over stages maybe as long as 100km’s, in a week long marathon rally, and over some of the famous old stages used in the Heatway and Motogard Rallies of the 1970’s and 80’s. They were keen to know if there was enough interest out there from competitors and others to make it worthwhile taking the event from concept to reality.
Originally the event was circulated as the Rally of the Southern Cross, but this idea was re-considered at the inaugural meeting, as the name was to similar to the Australian events held in the past. The objective was to make this a truly New Zealand event, so it was decided to give it the name, NZ Silver Fern Rally.
The response to the original concept was very encouraging and a meeting of interested parties was held in Hamilton in August 2005 to further consider the events viability.
It was subsequently voted overwhelmingly a big yes by those present, and six hours were spent making plans and discussing ideas to “make this thing happen”..
The 2006 and 2008 NZ Silver Fern Rallies are now history, and planning is well underway for another event in November 2010.
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