The Otago Sports Car Club will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Otago Rally in 2016, with many of the event’s former winners and organisers to be acknowledged over the weekend of April 8 to 10.

Organisers of the Otago Rally are encouraging competitors, spectators and rally fans to join the social media revolution by using an official hashtag for this year’s event.

With Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat now a part of everyday life for many of the population, the Otago Rally is embracing the technology.

The course for next year’s 40^th anniversary Otago Rally is taking shape, with the 2016 event likely to include around 280 competitive kilometres over 16 special stages.

Former World Rally Championship star, Alister McRae, will bring his Ford Escort RS1800 to contest this year’s Stadium Cars Otago International Classic Rally.

The Scotsman, who now lives in Perth on Australia’s west coast, won the 1995 British Rally Championship, before moving into the WRC where he contested 78 events for factory teams such as Subaru, Hyundai and Mitsubishi.

The 2016 Otago Rally will see the debut of a brand new Subaru WRX STi NR4 in the hands of the new New Zealand Rally Champion, Ben Hunt.

New Zealand’s home-grown World Rally Championship star, Hayden Paddon, has confirmed his entry in May’s Otago International Classic Rally, with regular co-driver John Kennard alongside.

The factory Hyundai driver will compete in the classic rally for the third time, once again driving the Stadium Finance BDA.

Finnish World Rally Championship star, Mikko Hirvonen, will contest next year’s Stadium Cars International Classic Rally of Otago in a huge coup for the New Zealand event.

Competitors, service crews, officials and rally fans are invited to attend a “Dinner with the Rally Stars” ahead of this year’s Otago Rally in Dunedin.

The 2016 Otago Rally “Intention To Enter” form  has been released, and can now be downloaded.

The entry list for the 2015 Otago Rally has been released, with nearly 80 cars to contest the event over the weekend of May 8-10.

Heading the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship list is American superstar Ken Block, while Scotland’s Alister McRae and World Championship driver Hayden Paddon will battle it out for honours in the Stadium Cars SsangYong Otago Classic Rally.