Plenty to look forwards to this year

WITH a review of 2020 sales and part two of our annual picks of the year just past, this weekend’s edition draws a line under last year as far as Drivesouth is concerned.

Starting next week, normal service resumes with the first of our 2021 road tests, albeit with the first couple of those tests being cars that I drove before the

New Year.

While 2020 was certainly a far from easy year in the Kiwi motor industry, we have fared much better than expected, and much better than many other countries around the world. So — nationally and locally — we can move into 2021 with cautious optimism.

There is excitement at the arrival of new models. There is also hope that the global supply constraints that have led to substantial waiting lists or wait times for some established models will ease.

Motorsport has been quite heavily impacted by Covid19 of late, most notably with the Toyota Racing Series having to pull the plug on its hopedfor contingent of international competitors for the upcoming New Zealand Grand Prix and associated Castrolbacked series.

The cause of this decision — a lack of managed isolation facility places — seems bizarre given that the series had official status as an approved sports event able to access such places, but both Toyota and Motorsport New Zealand are putting on a brave face.

So, this weekend’s New Zealand Grand Prix will go ahead at Hampton Downs, albeit as a national event for what I am sure is the first time in its 65year history. We will certainly miss seeing some future international stars (F1 drivers Lando Norris and Lance Stroll are recent NZGP winners), but all the stops have been pulled out to secure a quality Kiwi lineup. History will also be made as 79yearold racing legend Ken Smith lines up for his 50th NZGP start.

This weekend also marks the start of the 2021 World Rally Championship; indeed, all going well the opening event — a truncated Monte Carlo Rally — should be well under way by the time you read this editorial. Several events have secured world championship status for the first time to produce a viable WRC calendar for 2021, including the Arctic Rally in Finland (replacing the Swedish Rally), the Ypres Rally in Belgium and the Croatia Rally.

Moreover, the Kenyan Safari Rally is set to return as a world championship round for the first time since 2002. I was lucky enough to work at that event as part of the media team in the late 1980s and doing so remains a highlight of my motoring life more than 30 years later.