The request came as a surprise for her, so she met Quinn recently at his Cromwell track and did a few laps with him in his Toyota 86 rally car.
For her 20 years, Clapperton has packed in plenty of racing.
A V8 touring car — yes.
A SsangYong racing ute — yes.
Sideways on gravel — never.
"It’s going to be interesting but a lot of fun. There has been a lot to learn in two weeks, that’s for sure," she said.
In her favour is that the Catlins event is a "blind" rally, where there is no recce, full pace notes are not provided and co-drivers call only the intersections and major cautions.
Gore-based Graves and his co-driver Jared Leebody will lead out an 89-car field of competitors on the six-stage, 122km event, which is based around Owaka.
Among them are two high-profile New Zealand Rally Championship drivers,
Ben Hunt and Matt Summerfield, who are not driving their national chargers, opting instead for older model Subarus.
Originally from Nelson, but now living in Auckland, Hunt was the 2015 NZRC champion, but has had a tough year in his new WRX STi.
"I am coming down to have some fun and to remember why we love rallying. We haven’t finished our last three rallies this season, so a finish would be good. That would put a smile on our faces," he said.
He will be driving Cantabrian Jeff Judd’s Impreza H6, while Summerfield — who is fresh from winning the Tauranga Rally — is entered in a Legacy RS.
Judd is seeded second in a WRX, with Kaiapoi’s Richard Baddock behind him in the same model car.
Ford Escorts make up the next four seeded spots, with their respective drivers Christchurch’s Deane Buist, Gore’s Derek Ayson, Regan Ross, of Kaikoura and Balclutha local Mike Verdoner.
The battle for class honours in Saturday’s rally will be just as fierce as the tussle for overall victory, especially in Class B.
It covers 2WD cars of 1301-1600cc engine capacity and one of the frontrunners should be Mosgiel driver Jake Thomas, who has compiled some outstanding results in the ultra-competitive class recently in his Toyota Corolla DX.
With co-driver Brayden Palmer alongside, his highlights are winning Class B at the Classic Rally of Otago and seventh overall at the 2015 Lawrence Rally.
The Catlins event is round four of the Mainland Rally Championship and also part of the Eastern Southland Car Club’s Rally Championship.
It is scheduled to depart from Owaka Motors in Campbell St, Owaka, at 10am. Servicing of the rally cars will take place in the township between stages.
The rally finishes back in Owaka at about 3.30pm.
