Last night we had our end of season prize giving which was my first one for rallying. 
I was super proud to achieve most the goals I had set for myself at the start of last year. 
I was very fortunate to win four awards. 
-3rd in class
-3rd in the sprint series 
-The trophy for top woman driver
-The trophy for top junior/under 25 driver
I am super honoured to be the first women to win the under 25’s trophy in the 33 years it has been awarded…Every dream is achievable no matter how big or small it may be.
Congratulations to all the other trophy winners, thanks to all the competitors for being so welcoming and for the awesome competition. 
There are so many people who have positively influenced my career in rallying so far which I am so grateful for. Also a big thanks to the many awesome people and volunteers who work hard behind the scenes and on the scene so we can go rallying. 
Going into this season I have some pretty ambitious goals to work toward and am looking forward to the journey ahead. 
I'll keep you all posted and will be announcing what I’ll be doing this year very soon 2 Attachments  

Lawrence rally 2018

In short I didn't have the best luck at this rally but did take away some tips from Matt on where I can improve.  Sitting at the start of stage one Matt noticed the temperature gauge starting to rise, every drivers nightmare..will my car cook... Will I cook.., as we turn the heater on full noise.  As we took off the temperature went down but we weren't taking any chances so I got to experience rallying in what felt like the middle of summer.  
Matt gave me some good points about staying in the tracks and that as my confidence grows with the car I'll be able to brake later too making gains.  
Service went smoothly, big thanks to Tom for being the man on the job.  Stage three went relatively well and having fixed the over heating issue it was back to normal temperature inside the car too.  
Unfortunately stage four ended our chances of any impressive race to the end when we broke the front axle not long after leaving the start line. We were lucky to not loose drive as we managed to nurse it to the end.  
Thanks to Matt for sitting beside me and giving me heaps of helpful advice. 
Big job on now to improve the car for next season and fix the front axle

Hanmer Rally:

Auchenflower Road Sprint

Last weekend I spent Saturday preparing my car and myself for Auchenflower sprint, the first really fast gravel sprint I would do and the first time I would use notes that I had written from watching other people's in car. Sunday morning I woke to a perfect sunny day and a bundle of nerves but once I got my suit and helmet on I was ready to go take on a new challenge. I knew I had to make the most of these final kilometres of practice before hanmer next weekend.  Those thoughts helped me immensely to push on through each run,  improving my time by 20 seconds throughout the day. Mum enjoyed her co driving experience and called the notes perfectly which helped install confidence that I could go harder and faster into corners.  At the start of the day I was so unsure I could enjoy the fast paced sprint but by the end of the day I was very comfortable in the car and super happy at how much I learnt and enjoyed it.  Now the race is on to get a LSD into my car before hanmer so I can learn to drive the corolla with more than one wheel pedaling..see you all there!

Kaiwara Road Gravel Sprint

Enjoyed being back behind the wheel last Sunday at the Kaiwara gravel sprint. Found the road a good challenge with fast downhills onto bridges,  multiple surface changes, crests and many other new things I got to experience. Was super happy to improve my time on the last run despite the fact that the rain had been falling since run two. Feels good to be building up the confidence leading up to my first rally. Looking forward to another opportunity to learn more about rallying at Auchenflower gravel sprint in a couple weeks

Taumutu Rally Sprint

So I think I'm safe to say I've learnt a massive lesson from my second rally sprint. On the first run I was 8th on the road and found I was still sweeping gravel off, it made it extremely challenging being my second time trying to drive fast on gravel. Unfortunately in the second run I tried to go a little too fast around the first corner considering the amount of gravel that was still loose on the road and ended up going off damaging my car. Luckily I only ripped the front bumper off. At the time I was very upset and should have handled the situation a lot better. Thinking about it later I realised how lucky I was to learn two lessons, first one being I need to find my limits and if it feels loose that means slow down till you're comfortable with the car. My passenger and myself were uninjured and the car is easily fixable so that's a massive plus. The second lesson learnt being how I handle myself after a small incident, it's not the end of the world, even the best drivers crash. I'll come back fighting, take onboard everything that happened and keep trying to improve everytime I get behind the wheel! Thanks to Matt Summerfield and my brother James O'Rourke for your support.

Cust Rally Sprint

The switch to Rally:

After being involved in a crash at round three of the 2kCup championship and finding myself in hospital and my car damaged I decided to try rallying. At first it seemed like a really hard decision swapping from circuit racing which I had known since I was 14 years old but after doing my first rally sprint it became a lot easier to realise that it is a very realistic Motorsport path to follow. I can't believe how much talent is required to go fast on gravel and I can't wait to learn more and improve my skill set. My 2018 Motorsport season has just changed path dramatically but it's only getting more exciting and I take on the rally scene!

Round two @Ruapuna

Didn't get the best start to round two because I spent Friday night before race day with some serious food poisoning. Managed to get there on Saturday morning only to not make it onto the track for qualifying and instead needing to go for a couple hours sleep to try and improve my chances at racing for the rest of the weekend. This meant I started race one of the back of the grid, despite still feeling sick I drove as hard as I could and gained four spots and got first in class. Luckily being a two day meeting I had Saturday night to try and keep feeling better. Sunday morning and I still wasn't feeling 100% for race two. Again starting off the back I knew I needed to work really hard if I wanted to get decent points. I made up six places and achieved a second in class which put me in a good position for race three.

By Sunday afternoon I was feeling a bit better again and really wanted my first round win in my class. Race three was disappointing as I started well up the grid but found myself being involved in two accidents in the first couple laps and had to work my way back up the grid. Happily I finished first in class again putting me in first equal for the overall round. This was really exciting as it would be my first round win and I was so happy considering I had been unwell all weekend as well. This put me currently in 3rd for the championship which is a  very comfortable place to be going into round three in. Next round will be back at Levels in November

Round one @Levels Raceway

Was good to be back in the car after a long six months off over winter. Plenty of work had been done on the car during the off season, the engine had a rebuild, new roll cage inserted and new improved brakes. Have to say a massive thanks to Autotech services and Braketech for their hard work and help to make the car better.

The first race saw that we were a little off the pace and with a change in tyre pressures improved for race two. I gained two places during race one but really wanted to improve my positions more for race two.

Race two again I was enjoying a great battle and managed to finish second in class and midpack overall. Found a little more car pace but had plenty more to find before round two.

During race three I was struggling to find grip as the track warmed up and found my laptimes were well off the pace of race one and two.

Wasn't a bad way to start the season though and I am currently sitting in 5th for my class championship. Looking forward to making some changes and becoming some real competition in the championship at round two.

OFF SEASON:

My circuit racing season is now over for the 3 months of winter so I've been spending some quality time with rally car driver M.Summerfield learning the engineering and driving side to his rally machine. Spending time behind the scenes at the workshop has been a really exciting way to learn some more about how the car functions and what makes them so strong and fast over the length of a rally. On top of this I have experienced being in the passenger seat of his rally car at a few rallysprints and am looking forward to the opportunity to get behind the wheel and have him mentor me around the gravel roads. This weekend the NZ Rally Championship will be heading to our hometown of Christchurch, this will be another chance for me to get involved in the Matt Summerfield Rallisport Team! So head along and show your support 🏁

Being cold and dark as winter usually is I have taken onboard extra fitness training for the off season and am enjoying feeling healthy and seeing some gains slowly coming along from dedication and hard work.

Looking toward the next season of circuit racing the team and I are looking at preparing something a little different for next season to take to the championship and hopefully win the class. Keep watching this space for a big announcement as next season gets closer!!