A little bit sideways Rallying in New Zealand, where we like to get A Little Bit Sideways! Up to date Rally News from teams around the country together with event reports.
Monit Rally Computers, an export-focused electronics manufacturer which supplies several World Rally Championship (WRC) teams, aims to actively encourage new Kiwi entrants into the increasingly popular motorsport of rallying.
Novice drivers and co-drivers in three upcoming rallies in Tauranga, the Catlins and Coromandel will be eligible to win an array of prizes and trophies from Monit specifically to encourage them to further their rallying careers.
Based in Mt Maunganui, Monit Rally Computers designs and manufactures a range of motorsport electronics that help rally drivers to prepare their pace notes and navigate to and around the closed road special stages that they compete on.
Founded in 2006, Monit is now the leading manufacturer in its industry globally, distributing its rally trip-meters in over 26 different countries. It’s also the only rally trip-meter company to supply the WRC vehicle manufacturer teams.
“It’s exciting to see how our product brand and distribution has strengthened over the past decade, allowing us to develop key relationships with most of the motor vehicle companies who produce rally cars,” says director James Holder. “We’re very pleased to count Citroen Racing, Peugeot Sport, M-sport (Ford’s rally division) and Toyota Motorsport among our customers.”
Holder adds: “We’re in an ideal situation, with the world’s top rally teams and cars using our Monit products, and we’re able to feed some of this positive profile through to the club level Kiwi competitors who are after the same product performance.”
With rallying, as a worldwide motorsport, enjoying a level of renewed interest as new vehicle manufacturers enter the WRC, the sport’s elite global competition, Holder says he’s also seeing strong interest at the grass roots and clubmans events, as well as classic rallying categories.
“On the back of this renewed energy, Monit is looking to prompt new entrants into the sport in New Zealand through offering a series of prizes at events around the country,” Holder says.
“We want to help promote the sport where we can. New Zealand is in a great place with rallying at the moment with record entries in the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC). And of course we have the star Kiwi duo Hayden Paddon and John Kennard competing and winning in the WRC and their success has certainly meant WRC team bosses are very aware of the skills of New Zealand drivers. Now is the time to encourage new participants into the sport.”
As part of the initiative, Monit is offering prize packs for novices at selected rally events around the country including the Tauranga Clubmans Rally on 17 July, the Catlins Coast Rally on 6 August and also the Coromandel Rally, the final NZRC round of 2016, on 20 August.
Holder says: “The aim is to offer new entrants something specific for them to win. There are separate prizes for the novice drivers and also the novice co-drivers, including trophies and hampers with huge amounts of Whittakers chocolate up for grabs.”
While the novice rally competitors are busy battling it out for top glory, Monit Rally Computers will continue working away, building and exporting their locally-made technology products around the world.
At a glance:
· Monit Rally Computers are a Mount Maunganui based company who produce the leading motorsport tripmeters for use in rally cars.
· Their products are exported to over 26 countries around the world and are used by the top teams including vehicle manufacturers; Citroen Racing, Peugeot Sport and Toyota Motorsport.
· Monit are promoting new entrants into the motorsport of rallying by offering a series of novice prizes at events around the country.
For further information on Monit Rally Computers please see their website at www.monitrally.com or email on info@monitrally.com.
To learn about how to get started in rallying see MotorSport New Zealand’s website at www.motorsport.org.nz/resources/getstarted/rallying.
