I didn't get to the New Zealand round of the World Rally Championship but watching the superb live TV coverage, on Sky, it didn't really matter. To watch the drama of the last few stages, as the Ford effort flagged, as it happened was remarkable.
The Raglan stages are remote, and go around a mountain, so getting any sort of TV signal is a challenge. To have live helicopter shots of the main competitors, which showed both Hirvonen and Latvala spin out, was brilliant. The live in-car from Hayden Paddon's [NZ Champ winning] car was patchy but remarkable it worked at all and awesome to see. It's going to be interesting to see this technology develop over the next few years.
It's New Zealand's biggest international sporting event and superbly executed. Kudos to the (literally) thousands, most volunteers, who make it happen and major sponsor Repco for supporting this event.
PS: Must add that Clint & Marty, despite over-using a few catch-phrases, did a great job with the commentary. Keeping it flowing for several hours, coping with some of the technical glitches, would have been tough but the insight from them & their guests was great.
