The Ariel rally this year was in the metropolis of Pahiatua where we found very comfortable digs in the now closed maternity hospital, recently taken over and we were in fact the first group to be fed and watered by the new owners. They did a great job. We ran this rally mid week to allow people from the south island to carry on to the Vintage car club's bi-annual motorcycle rally at Waitomo. Being mid week we unfortunately lost a few attendees but we still had a great rally in the countryside around Pahiatua. Only two breakdowns, one being Mike Hardman's Square four and he was very lucky we stopped when we did whereupon he noticed the oil return pipe had sprung a leak and was emptying the oil on to the road!
The other was more unfortunate; not an Ariel but a 1920-something Indian which had managed to keep up with the rather fast follow the leader route but expired within sight of the finish and seriously enough to prevent attendance at the Indian rally a week or so later.
