All good things must end
10.5secs, which was a comfortable 21.7secs ahead of Christchurch’s Job Quantock and codriver Grant Marra in a Skoda Fabia. Wallacetown’s Carter Strang and Stewart Robbie took the podium’s third step, driving a Mitsubishi Evo 6.
Other notable achievements were Gore’s Derek Ayson and codriver Gavin McDermott, who claimed fifth overall and first in the 2WD class in a Ford Escort and Dunedin Toyota Corolladriving husband and wife team Richie and Rachel Chadwick, who won Class B for 1300 to 1600cc cars.
Hurtling through the final time control to clock the fastest set of stage times was a bittersweet moment for Graves. He is unsure whether he will take a step back, or a step up, next year.
‘‘After such a great season, I’m not sure how we top it,’’ he said.
One thing he can be sure of, is finding an eager replacement for Leebody. His son Hayden
(15) has sat in the codriver’s seat a couple of times and ‘‘he’s pretty keen to get back in there’’, Graves said.
OSCC clerk of the course Mike Hosken said Graves has won the Lawrence Rally exactly half of the eight times it has been held and congratulated him and Leebody on their great result, both last Saturday, and throughout their rally careers together.
He was pleased to see the entry list full and put the rally’s popularity down to the ‘‘very good roads’’, plus good support from the naming sponsor and the Lawrence community.
This year the event raised $2250 for the Lawrence Vintage Machinery Club and St John.
MERCEDESBENZ parent company Daimler and auto supplier Bosch plan to launch a selfdriving car pilot for the public in San Jose, California, in the second half of 2019.
The two German auto companies have been quietly collaborating to deliver advancements in an increasingly competitive global race to make autonomous cars a reality.
The pilot puts Daimler and Bosch on roughly the same pace as General Motors and slightly behind former Google car company Waymo. — TCA