Schoolboy racer in with best

He’s not yet 16, but South Otago High School student Scott Gouman, is a seasoned rally driver and co-driver.

A member of the Eastern Southland Car Club, the teen is no stranger to winning titles – he won the junior under-18 award and the new competitor award for the 2012-13 season when aged 12 years, the youngest contender to do so.

He has competed twice as codriver for his father Paul Gouman in their Mazda RX7 in The Catlins Coastal Rally, finishing the 2016 event in 20th position, far above their ranking of 64th and in challenging snowy, icy conditions. They also finished the 2015 rally in 45th position, again above their ranking. Scott has also taken part in two Rankleburn rallies in West Otago.

The club gives access to 10 to 15 events, five hill climbs, autocross events, and a track day at Teretonga with quarter-mile sprints and three laps of individual time trials round the track. His first drive was at an autocross event, which he described as heaps of fun, and very exciting and he later advanced to a caged car, which can be driven in rallies. His favourite drives are gravel hill climbs. ‘‘They are all different, up hills with sharp corners, fast corners.’’

He hopes to upgrade his class of car , first from under 1300cc to 1300 to 1600cc, with an eventual move to the four-wheel-drive C class. His car has never given him any problems, though it did start to lose power last year, but an upgrade to its motor means it is going ‘‘as well as ever’’ now.

Scott plans to become a mechanic by profession, having worked in his father’s garage and learnt something of the workings of a car there, gaining knowledge of their components and how to fix them.