Volunteer

Without volunteers, Rally New Zealand would not have built its past reputation as being one of the WRCs best-run events.

We are always looking for volunteers from motorsport fans, volunteer groups and communities to help us deliver iconic events.

Volunteers from all over the country contribute their time and experience in all areas including:

Event Volunteers:

Ticketing

Usually the first friendly face our spectators and fans see, responsible for making sure our spectators have the best experience for entering any of our venues.

Infomation Guides

The number one calling point for all our spectators and fans, you'll be on the ground being the first point of contact for all our spectators, providing top notch infomation on anything and everything event based. If you are a people's person and love meeting new people with a smile, this a role for you!

Enviromental Superstars

Have you got a passion for being green? And making sure we are minimising our impact on the environment as much as possible? Every event we strive to make sure we as an event organisation are doing our best to be sustainable and offset our carbon footprint to the best of our ability. But that doesn't happen easily, as an Environmental volunteer you will help coordinate our efforts to keep not only our competitors, but the public in line with our sustainability goals.

Sporting Volunteers:

Stage marshalling

The overriding function of safety and spectator marshals is to ensure the safety of the public. The role of safety or spectator marshal is extremely important to the effective running of the rally. Key tasks include attending pre-event briefings, being familiar with the layout and safety requirements of your location including parking, ticketing, dealing with media etc.

Timing

The effective and efficient operation of the start and finish controls on the Special Stages is an imperative part of the event. The timing crews operate the timing equipment and complete time cards for each competition car. Along with operating time controls within the Service Park, the timing team are responsible for producing a fair result for every competitor.

City of Auckland Rally 2020 - Geoff Ridder

Service Park

The Service Park is the hub, where teams are based throughout the rally and are able to work on the competition cars at set times throughout the day. Service Park volunteers assist with traffic flow in and out of the service park, as well as managing spectators in the area.

Washdown

A super fun and easy way to get involved – the cars often get covered in dirt and mud – and need to be cleaned in between stages so their livery can be seen again. The washdown crew staff the washdown bay and help make the cars look clean again!

Safety

Safety is a huge part of the rally. We require a large safety team and roles vary from Stage Commanders to Spectator Safety Officers. Being part of a large team, generally you will be allocated an area on a stage to look after, and often work with local volunteers on the ground to make sure the stage is set up correctly before the rally begins.

Rally Headquarters

Roles at HQ involve comms on radios, and admin in the Secretariat office. Good organisational and communication skills are needed in these roles.

Media centre

The Media Centre caters for all travelling and local media – a place where they can come to work once they have captured the images and stories out on the stages. The media centre requires volunteers who can assist with IT, printing, and answering questions from the media – directing them to the results or other info.

Benefits of volunteering:

Close to the action
Friendships, working with like-minded people
Supporting an event that gives back to the communities involved
Learning or sharing skills
Being part of iconic events, showcasing New Zealand to the world

Want to know a bit more about life as a volunteer? Meet the people who make our rally events possible. From timing, to marshalling, media relations to running the events - these are the people who make Rally New Zealand come to life.

Stuart Barnett

Rally New Zealand volunteers Stuart barnett

As we recently announced Willard Martin will be stepping down as Chairman of the International Rally of Whangarei after this year's event and Stuart Barnett will be taking over the role as Clerk of the Course.
Read a bit about Stuart below!

Many of you will know Stuart. He has been an active Rally New Zealand volunteer since 2004 and has undertaken Assistant Clerk of the Course, Deputy Clerk of the Course and Clerk of the Course responsibilities for WRC, APRC, NZRC and local events during this time. Stuart has also been a Rally New Zealand director since 2012 and continues to hold a Gold Clerk of the Course Rally licence.

He is married to Jenny with two children, Oliver and Isabella and lives on a small farm in Karaka in rural Auckland. He has a background in corporate business holding sales & marketing, commercial and strategy roles for some of New Zealand's largest corporates. He is currently self-employed working as a commercial and business strategy consultant.

Stuart has worked with the Rally NZ board to develop a strategic planning process for the company and for the promotion of rally sport in general. This framework has served to help facilitate direction and innovation to the management and promotion of our sport and has led to a number of new developments and successes with the format of the NZRC and initiatives to help develop young drivers and co-drivers.

Stuart is an enthusiastic and passionate volunteer and is looking forward to the opportunity of continuing to work with the dedicated volunteer team as we continue running successful events and as we get ready to hopefully host the WRC here in New Zealand once again.

Position in RNZ: Director and Clerk of the Course
Hometown: Auckland
Job outside of Rallying: Commercial Manager
Years involved in Rallying: 17
How did you get started in Rallying: Volunteer delivering bottled water to WRC Drivers at the end of stages
Best moment as a volunteer: ACOC (Field) at WRC Rally NZ 2006
All-time favourite Rally Driver: Tommi Makinen and Possum Bourne
Favourite Rally: Rally New Zealand
Favourite pastime outside of Rallying: Travelling and Fishing
Favourite place in the world: Florence, Italy
Favourite food: Italian, Crayfish and Bluff Oysters
Favourite movie/TV programme: Top Gun, Four Weddings and a Funeral

Russell Mann

mett the team rally nz russell mann

Russell is our Chief Timing Marshall at Rally NZ, and as most of you will know, he certainly puts in a tonne ofeffort to make sure the timing side of the event goes smoothly. Russell also helps out with all sorts of other odd jobs across event, including being a bit of a technical whizz. He is always thinking about others and trying to ensure that everyone has an enjoyable event.

Read a bit about Russell below!

Position in RNZ: Chief Timing Marshall
Hometown: Hamilton
Job outside of Rallying: Technical Manager / Managing Director / General Dogs Body
Years involved in Rallying: More than 25
How did you get started in Rallying: As a member of my Uncle's timing team
Best moment as a volunteer: A ride with Andrew Hawkeswood at Mystery Creek
All-time favourite Rally Driver: Colin McRae
Favourite Stages: Motu
The best thing about being a Rally NZ volunteer is: Being involved in delivering a successful event
Favourite pastime outside of Rallying: Water Skiing
Favourite place in the world: Piarere, NZ
Favourite food: Pass
Favourite movie/TV programme: 7 Days

Blair Bartels (BB)

Blair Bartels Rally New Zealand Volunteers

BB is our NZRC Coordinator and all round legend - spending his lunchbreaks helping with everything from packing competitor bags, to marketing or setting up for meetings. On event, he runs the livestream and all things NZRC.

Read a bit about Blair below!

He spent countless hours at Jacks Ridge last year helping get it ship-shape for the events, has the Competitors' phone numbers on speed dial and also sits round the Board table and on the General Committee. His rally knowledge gives Chris Grant a run for his money, and he will happily spend all of his spare time on rally 'stuff'. He is a champion and a real asset to the organisation.

Position in RNZ: Waterboy
Hometown: Auckland
Job outside of Rallying: Workshop technical & admin-ish
Years involved in Rallying: 20+
How did you get started in Rallying: Through family
Best moment as a volunteer: Really hard to pin point one, there have been so many special memories and now the fence I'm sitting on hurts
All-time favourite Rally Driver: Colin McRae
Favourite Stages: Oramahoe road
The best thing about being a Rally NZ volunteer is: The people
Favourite pastime outside of Rallying: Rallying? Is that allowed
Favourite place in the world: No place like home
Favourite food: Lots of it
Favourite movie/TV programme: Gone in 60 seconds

Steve Foster

Rally New Zealand volunteers Steve Foster

Steve has this year taken over as Chief Safety Officer and will also be Deputy Clerk of the Course at Whangarei.

Read a bit about Steve below!

Many of you will know Steve. He has been an active Rally New Zealand volunteer since 2003 and has undertaken various roles including Clerk of the Course and Deputy Clerk of the Course for Rally New Zealand's WRC, APRC, NZRC and local events during this time. Steve is also heavily involved in the Hawkes Bay Car Club and has run Rally Hawkes Bay over the years, and will be Event Chairman at this event this year.

He lives with his 'better half' Andrea Bourhill (Rally Control Manager) and family in Hastings. Steve works as a Specialist Technician at Bay Irrigation in the Hawkes Bay.

Steve is excited about the 2021 year and looks forward to shaping the Safety team going forward.

Position in RNZ: Chief Safety Officer, Deputy Clerk of the Course and Chairman
Hometown: Hastings
Job outside of Rallying: Irrigation Technician
Years involved in Rallying: 18
How did you get started in Rallying: As an apprentice my employer and his mate got me into the car club as they were racing and I then got made into Chairman of Hawkes Bay Car Club
Best moment as a volunteer: The euphoria of having organised an event and had it go well
All-time favourite Rally Driver: Colin McRae
Favourite Stages: Motu (Rotorua), Cricklewood (Hawkes Bay), Helena (Whangarei), Mohaka Coach Road (Hawkes Bay),
Favourite pastime outside of Rallying: Is there one?
Favourite place in the world: NZ
Favourite food: Mexican
Favourite movie/TV programme: Alice’s Restaurant and Vanishing Point

We offer a range of training leading up to events, depending on the role you are in. Our local Stage Coordinators and teams will have a local briefing before the event, while our Committee and key personnel will attend a pre-event briefing often on site. Other specific training sessions are arranged for timing and safety crews. We also may offer Q&As and quick fire training sessions online.

We also encourage on the job training and for new volunteers our aim is to buddy you with someone or a team that has experience and can support you in your new role.

More details will be published here when training sessions are coming up.