Father drives son round the bends

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 20, 13 October 1987, Page 3 (Supplement)

Father drives son round the bends

While others give up motorsport for "family reasons", rally driver Ken Adamson has got back into the sport for the good of his family. After six years in retirement from the sport, the Hamilton 44-year old last year decided to give into son Greg's pestering - to take him rallying, as a father and son team. And, after their standout sixth place finish of the AWA Clarion Rally of New Zealand the Adamsons are convinced that they've done the right thing. And that's not just be-

cause of their excellent result in the little U-Bix Copiers Toyota Corolla GT: "This rally in particular has been a great family occasion," Ken Adamson told the crowd at the rally prizegiving dinner. Apart from having his son navigating for him, his wife Ann had worked in the service crew, he explained - and was right then back in Hamilton working "to buy another 1.5 tyres for the car." But, more than that, he and Greg say that their relationship, always good, has developed into a very close-knit friendship and partnership since they started rallying together.

"We're more like good mates," says the 21 -year old Adamson junior. And his dad takes up the story: "Rallying has provided us with a great opportunity to get to know each other properly. "It's a highly stressful environment and I've seen a side of Greg in those situations that I never knew was there. "He's very laid-back, never gets flustered, whereas I'm afraid I've got a very short fuse. He does a great job just handling that. "Because we are so different I guess we make a very good team." Cont'd on p. 4

Father drives son

Cont'd from p. 3 To all of this, Greg looks embarrassed and says modestly that "sometimes" his approach works in calming the situation: "Sometimes I just have to ignore him," he laughs. Although Ken has years of motorsport experience behind him, with top performances including a 12th

in the 1979 international rally. a New Zealand production saloon championship title win in 1975 and the thrill of running in fourth place in the 1973 international for three days (until he crashed), he still takes orders from his son. "I drive solely on his pace-note calls," he confirms. Cont'd onp. 10 \

Father drives son

Cont'dfrom p. 4 The toughest thing to become accustomed to about rallying with his son navigating, he says, was coming to terms with the risks he was subjecting him to. "It put a whole new perspective on the risks of rallying, I can tell you. "Before, I'd always had a mad mate as a co-driver. I'd though that we were both grown men and if he chose

to sit beside me in the car, that was his business - he knew the risks. "But we're both big boys too and so we've sorted that out now." Their experiences so far included "a monumental" rollover in their first rally of the year - and the AWA Clarion, which Ken now proudly rates as his greatest moment in the sport ... so far.