The Richard Mason Motorsport Team is a dedicated group of volunteers who work tirelessly to ensure everything goes to plan both during the rally season and also the off season.
The Team comprises of many people - from the Service Crew - all of whom are under 30 years of age, through to the Driver & Co-driver, the support crew (daughters, mums & dads, siblings, grandparents) and our Media Liaison person Chris. All are passionate about seeing the Team succeed and all are very proud of the Team's efforts.
The details on each member are slow filtering through - everyone is modest! We'll have more about the individual members later, but in the meantime, meet some of the members of the Richard Mason Motorsport Team.
The Service Crew:
 |
|
Photo taken at Rally Wairarapa 2012 The Team - (rear) Tom, Dwight, Richard, Daniel, Spike, Denny |
Co Driver:
Born: Nelson Sara started rallying as a driver - a week after turning 15! In 2003 she was NZRC 2WD runner up (as driver) in her Toyota Levin 2004 NZRC 2WD runner up (just 1 point away from the leader) heading into last 2 events when her car's engine blew & financial constraints ended her season. Sara has moved across into the Co-driver’s seat to gain more experience which will aid her in her driving career. Her first outing as a Co-driver was in the Mitsi early 2005 at the Rally Xtreme series round at Gisborne where she called Richard to a resounding victory. Second co-driving role 2005 NZRC Rally of Otago - 2nd overall; NZRC 1st Leg One & 1st Leg Two Third co-driving role 2005 Rally Wairarapa - 1st overall Sara finished the 2005 seaon as runner up to the NZRC Co-Driver champion - this was despite missing out on two rounds! She went on to win the 2006 season's NZRC Co-Drivers championship - becoming the youngest co-driver to ever win the title and the first female. Sara, who only began co-driving at the start of 2005, has never finished worse than 2nd in her NZRC co-driving career - recording 6 Wins and 3 x 2nds, 2 of the Seconds being decided by the Tie-Break Rule. |
Sara Randall
Next... The Cars
What's Being Said?
Remarkably, everyone in the Richard Mason Motorsport Team Service Crew is under 30 years old. "All the guys are awesome and I feel very
fortunate to have them", he says with genuine affection. "They believe in what we're doing, that we can succeed, and they put in the extra
effort to help make it happen".
"I might spend five or 10 hours driving the car, but the crew will spend 300 hours repairing it between rallies. That's a lot of after-hours work
given these are all people who have other jobs. I don't have any full-time employees because for us at the moment, its basically amatuer sport".
Air New Zealand Magazine May 2006
With family & friends chipping in the dollars, they set off with a tall goal of clinching each of the remaining five rallies of the
series. "The first day back rallying, we missed out" recounts Mason. "We didn't win that rally, but we pretty much won every day after that."
In the penultimate event of the six-rally series, in Hawkes Bay, Mason finally overtook defending national champion Chris West on the
scoreboard with an aggressive all-the-way victory, beating him home by 12 seconds. It was his third win in a row and Mason went on to make
it four in the final race at Nelson - a feat that has been achieved just once before in New Zealand rallying"
Air New Zealand Magazine May 2006
Completing the picture is his ace 19-year-old co-driver Sara Randall - physically tiny compared to Mason but packing just as much nerve
and ambition.
Randall's job is to feed Mason precise course and pace information so they don't waste a second on attack.
"She's well respected in her own right as a driver", says Mason, "but decided not to enter the national championship last year because she
didn't have the finances - she's a university student. So I swung her arm up behind her back to get her to co-drive for me".
It was the first time Randall had occupied what rally sorts call the silly seat, but the pair clicked from the first rev. "The best thing
about her co-driving is that she's been a driver. She knows what I want from a driver's point of view and exactly when I need the information
on the next corner. She's a very smart person too, which is essential because co-drivers have to do a heck of a lot of thinking. In all
honesty, the co-driver does a lot more than the driver".
Air New Zealand Magazine May 2006
©2013 BNT Mason Motorsport. Website by Bev Randall