After owning his two-litre, Nissan-powered Toyota MR2 for nine years, Chris Hey knows how to get the most out of his 2WD and the Mosgiel driver won the Sugarloaf hillclimb on Sunday.
"I'm still trying to make it go faster. You have to keep work-ing on it," he said.
Organised by the Central Otago Motorsport Club, the event was an opportunity to test the latest improvements to Hey's 340hp pocket rocket, over gravel test of nearly 2km, just out of Cromwell.
Club president Grant Keen said it was great to see the battle for faster run times between Hey and a leading local competitor in his 4WD Mitsubishi Evo 5.
"There was a bit of rivalry going on between him and [Cromwell's] Paul Beattie."
Hey's best attempt was a 1min 2.05sec, while Beattie was just over 2sec behind with a 1:04.86.
Graeme Begley, of Queenstown, was third out of the 17 entries driving his Subaru Legacy to a 1:06.20 result.
Keen said the club's next event on May 13 - a 4km gravel bent sprint at Hawksburn Rd, near Bannockburn - was a "real rally stage", including a forestry section and a one-lane bridge to test drivers' skills.
"That is a fantastic piece of road and the event is going to be a biggie," he said.
