GARAGE-OWNING CHAMPS
Richard and Sara Mason are breaking all the records in New Zealand rallying. The husband-and-wife garage-owning team from Masterton have set new marks this year as they clinched Richard’s fifth New Zealand Rally Championship in their BNT Subaru WRX STI.
They won the first four championship rallies this season to claim the title with two rounds remaining.
Richard grew up in a car-oriented household, as his father Tom ran Tom’s Autos in Masterton. The couple have now bought that business from Richard’s parents and run it themselves, still under the name of Tom’s Autos.
Richard is the first driver to win five national rally titles, and Sara’s fourth co-driver title makes her first equal with Bob Haldane in that category. Richard’s total of 27 NZRC rally victories is another record.
The couple have been together for 10 years, and both say that their close relationship is a key to their success. Richard emphasises that Sara’s ability as a co-driver – helped by her experience as a fast driver herself earlier on – is a crucial aspect of the team dynamics.
The importance of a good co-driver is probably not appreciated by the wider public, but the Masons understand it completely.
Taihape 1998 was Richard’s first rally, driving a Ford Escort Mark 1 that broke its differential after the first stage. “The next rally that I did, a month later, was the Daybreaker Rally and it started on tarmac,” he recalls.
“We passed three cars in the first stage, and then the car broke down before the end of the first stage. I like to think you’ve either got a bit of a feeling [for cars] or you don’t, and without being cocky I’ve felt it’s been in me a little bit.”
Sara grew up in Nelson and got her first rally car when she was only 14. “It was an old beaten-up Datsun Sunny, but I worked really hard for it, and my parents put in the extra money and I got the keys on the Christmas tree!” she says.
“I did the New Zealand two-wheel-drive championship in a Toyota Levin in 2002 and 2003. In the first year we actually got second, which was pretty cool. And then I went to university and finding the budget to run at that level was pretty difficult.
“Along came Richard and he said, ‘Why don’t you give co-driving a go?’ For me it was always going to be something short-term till I could get a budget to drive again, but we’ve never looked back. It’s worked so well for us, and we really enjoy it.”
Their first season was 2005, and Richard won the championship, while Sara just missed the co-driver title because university exams forced her to miss one event. She was doing a double major in biological sciences and accounting at Massey, but in the end her rallying commitments did not allow her to finish her degrees.
They have rallied Subarus all that time. “From time to time we’ve had some support from Subaru, but that hasn’t really been the reason we’ve stuck with their brand of vehicle,” Richard explains.
“Maybe it’s just one of those things you get used to. We’ve spent so much time doing testing and development with their cars it just seemed natural that when we buy a new one we stick with that configuration. With all that knowledge you’re carrying with you it’s maybe a little bit easier to put it in the new vehicle.”
Subaru and Mitsubishi have always been roughly equal in performance, he says. It used to be said that the Subarus handled a little better in the tight going, but the Mitsubishis had a little more power.
“Mitsubishi have come a long long way in their handling. We haven’t felt we’ve had an edge in handling for a long time, but by the same token Subaru has come a long way with horsepower over the years, so for the most part things have remained relatively even between Mitsubishi and Subaru.”
The art of the co-driver is not as easy as it might appear, Richard says. “The co-driver is quite a significant part of making you go quick. A really good co-driver that you can be confident in makes a massive difference. I fully believe that Sara’s ability as a codriver is bolstered by the fact that she’s been a driver.
“From that she understands what the tightness of the corner is, and she knows when a driver needs something, and when it’s a bad time to be speaking. There’s completely a timing thing about it.”
Sara agrees: “It’s been really important and valuable for the team for me to have had those years drivingm so I know how vital it is. I don’t want to have an accidentm and I half-own the car as well – a lot of