The first event Kevin competed in was the 1974 Woohill Rally in a Holden Torana XU1, coming home seventh outright. He has done numerous hill climbs over the years in a variety of cars – his most memorable being his VW Beetle powered with a Chev Corvair flat 6, which won the Auckland Interclub Hill Climb Championship several times in the 1980s. Another winning car, a lightweight rally sprint Subaru RX Turbo was jointly-owned with rally legend Possum Bourne. This car also secured the Auckland Hill Climb Championship. Kevin worked servicing/crewing for Possum on his New Zealand and international rally programs from the mid-1980s until Possum’s untimely death in 2003.
Kevin Sanderson - 1984 Toyota Hayabusa Starlet
The first event Kevin competed in was the 1974 Woohill Rally in a Holden Torana XU1, coming home seventh outright. He has done numerous hill climbs over the years in a variety of cars – his most memorable being his VW Beetle powered with a Chev Corvair flat 6, which won the Auckland Interclub Hill Climb Championship several times in the 1980s. Another winning car, a lightweight rally sprint Subaru RX Turbo was jointly-owned with rally legend Possum Bourne. This car also secured the Auckland Hill Climb Championship. Kevin worked servicing/crewing for Possum on his New Zealand and international rally programs from the mid-1980s until Possum’s untimely death in 2003.
1984 Toyota Hayabusa Starlet:
The KP61 Toyota Starlet was built in 2006, firstly powered with a Toyota 1580cc 5K pushrod engine and T50 close ratio gearbox. In 2012 Kevin re-powered it with a 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa gen 2 engine, which is 1340cc, producing 198hp@10200rpm. It has an 11400rpm limiter and comes standard with an ultra-close ratio 6-speed gearbox. The engine gearbox unit is very lightweight and weighs under 80kg. The diff is a 1984 AE86 with TRD limited slip diff. The brakes are Wilwood 4 pot calipers.In the 45 events this Starlet has done with the Hayabusa engine, it has been super reliable, finishing 44 of them. Its best result to date was first outright in the Taupo Classic 2WD Rally in August 2016.