Silver Fern Rally 2008: Andrew Grundy wins in New Zealand driving a Mazda RX7

The eight day marathon event that is the Silver Fern Rally was won by Andrew Grundy and Mark Smith (pictured above) in their Mazda RX7 which is affectionally known as the Batmobile.

Second was another Kiwi Graig Marshal in a Peugeot 206 GTI and then came the Classic winner Grant Shand in third in his Escort Mk2.

Grundy was lucky to win after suffering from mechanical problems and punctures on the final day. The rally consisted of 51 SS's and was 1200km long, running for eight days.

Grundy commented on his win:

Where is the area for us to do doughnuts in winning celebration.

It was a trying event but pretty sweet.”

Early leader Jimmy McRae crashed his Mk2 Escort into a fence post and was unable to continue though he very much enjoyed driving the car and wanted to bring it home with him.

Willie Rutherford made a rare comeback, driving a Porsche 911, after not having competed on an event for approx 20 years. He finished 6th in the classic's and 10th overall.

Video action from NZ Silver Fern 2008:

Willie Rutherford was in a Porsche for a rare rallying return

 Top Ten Results Silver Fern 2008:

Top Ten Silver Fern Classic Division Standings:

1st. Grant Shand / Chris Parsons UK Escort RS1800 3rd o/a
2nd. Brent Rawstron / Ian McKee NZ Escort RS1800 5th o/a
3rd. David Hills / David Callaghan Aust Escort RS1800 7th o/a
4th Simon Tysoe / Rob Dyson UK Escort RS1800 8th o/a
5th Euan Fuge / Mike Gibbs NZ Mazda RX3 9th o/a
6th Willie Rutherford / Chris Cunningham NZ Porsche 911 10th o/a
7th Merv Hatcher / James Cowles NZ Mitsubishi Starion 12th o/a
8th Ian Begg / Greg Scott NZ VW Golf GTi 13th o/a
9th Robbie Elliott / Neville Barton NZ/Aust Datsun Stanza 15th o/a
10th Gary Smith / Richard Skilton NZ Escort RS1800 16th o/a

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

• Press-on-Regardless (POR) SCCA Pro Rally Championship 1985 utube video: Rod Millen wins in his Mazda RX-7 4WD
• Dunlop Targa New Zealand 2008 Results: Richard Mason wins in his BNT/Dunlop Subaru
• 1983 New Zealand Rally, Walter wins for Lancia as Audi fall apart