23/08/2026
Hawkesbay rally 2026 recap
We had a great weekend away with the family and mates, co-driver Greg Browne , service crew Steven Blackley and Courtney Syverston .
The rally itself was a bit of a logistical nightmare with a couple of stages canceled last minute and an altered route which was highly confusing. The Radio in our car was as useless as t**s on a bull, the rallysafe was far from reliable but all that aside Frank the tank was up for a skid. After a 4:30am start to drive to Wairoa and a couple of coffees we kicked off in the 00 safety role first on the road.
2nd stage about 5km in there was a plume of smoke out the back and I had lost all power steering due to a burst hose. We tried a temporary repair in service but it just lasted a stage before letting go. So it was Armstrong steering for the rest of the event and I managed to keep the old bus on the road and kept on the pace. Had an awesome time in the car with Greg Browne, was some great banter like old times, unfortunately we have no footage as even though I had my cameras I forgot the SD cards 🫤.
We covered over 600km over the day with 100km of special stages so it was a great opportunity to learn and try a few things with my driving.
A huge thank you to those who supported me to get there, if only I could afford to do more because its a sh*tload of fun doing actual rally kms rather than short sprints.
If anyone has any vids or pics of us please send them through 🤙🏻
Thanks to my sponsors -
Bevan Satherley Satherley logging & Base air transport specialists
DCPower Batteries
GT Oil / Greg Browne
Auto Brake and Clutch