EDITORIAL
Following last night’s ceremonial start in the Octagon, the 2026 Central Machine Hire Otago Rally has kicked off in earnest today, with eight high-speed special stages on the card, ahead of eight further stages tomorrow.
The first competitors were scheduled to leave Dunedin at 6.45am this morning, bound for the opening stages up Waipori Gorge and then over the hills to Lawrence. Rally officials have been even earlier risers, either to take up duty at rally headquarters in the Southern Cross Hotel, head out on stages to ensure road junctions are blocked and spectators standing in safe places, staff stage starts and finishes or set up today’s main service park in Lawrence.
It has also been an early start for the Drivesouth team, out on the road on our usual mission to cover as much of the action as possible. Having done that — as well as catching up with the drivers on a regular basis along the way — within an hour or so of the rally finish, photos will be filed, and we will be busy writing our reports for Monday’s edition of the Otago Daily Times.
The massive entry of 148 cars for this year’s 50th anniversary event means the rally will be even busier than usual for both officials and the media. One positive this year is that the route is especially compact. The decision to have such a compact route, which after using Lawrence as a hub today uses Waihola tomorrow, was taken months ago, with at least half an eye on making what was always going to be a popular event organisationally manageable. A second benefit given the current fuel situation is that the compact route involves less overall mileage for rally participants and therefore less fuel use over the weekend.
This issue of Drivesouth looks at the prospects of some of the top-seeded local national championship drivers, comprising Queenstown’s Caleb MacDonald, Dunedin’s Tim and Lauren Mackersy, and former South Otago resident (now based in Bannockburn) Duncan McCrostie.
As the 2025 Otago Rally plays out over today and tomorrow, many fans and competitors will also be keeping at least half an eye on what’s happening up in Taupō, where the first of the two New Zealand rounds of the Australian Supercars championship is being held.
The second round is being staged at Christchurch’s Ruapuna track next weekend. I have not followed the Australian Supercars especially closely in recent years, but am very much looking forward to trekking north next weekend to catch the action.
