Reigning New Zealand Rally Championship Historic 2WD champion Paul Fraser nearly didn’t enter the 2025 championship, but a tug on the heartstrings changed his mind.
Fraser was a late inclusion in his Nissan 240RS this year, having sold his championship-winning Ford Escort over the summer.
Initially, he wasn’t planning on competing, but the sight of the Nissan sitting in the shed and memories of these cars from their glory days of the 1980s inspired a change of heart.
“I bought it four years ago – it came over to do Otago from Australia the year it was cancelled because of COVID,” Fraser explained.
“So he left it here and was going to return the following year, but something happened, and so he sold it, and I bought it.
“It was sitting there doing nothing while I was using the Escort.
“When I sold the Escort, I wasn’t going to do the championship this year but never say never because now I’m doing the championship.”
The experienced Fraser ran a Masport tribute livery on his Ford Escort last year as a throwback. He decided to do something similar with the Nissan.
“These cars we watched back in the 80s – last year was a bit of nostalgia with the Escort – and this is a bit of nostalgia too.
“I followed the international in the mid-80s when these works cars came out.
“The car was there, and I thought I better use it.”
Fraser admits he had a much easier path to a title last year when he was effectively in a two-horse race, but the class has had an injection of entrants in 2025, and he doesn’t see a title battle on the horizon.
“It hasn’t got as much power as the Escort and won’t handle as well as the Escort – it won’t be competitive – so it is more about enjoying the drive,” he added.
“I got lucky last year, but there are six of us in the class this year, and I would expect it to be an Escort one-two if not one-two-three.”
Header Image: Geoff Ridder
