Photo Credit - Geoff Ridder
Published 30 March 2026
Mr Rally NZ, Morrie Chandler ONZM, has passed away. His contributions to the sport of rallying were recently praised as being immense on the global stage and simply incomparable here at home.
Chandler joined the Northern Sports Car Club in 1962 competing in Hillclimbs and Car Trials, before becoming president of the club from 1970-1974. He was elected to the Executive Board of Motorsport New Zealand in 1973, eventually becoming President in 1977 through to 1998.
He was a founding member of the Rally Organisers Association of New Zealand in 1974, which would become Rally New Zealand Ltd. He was chairman for 30 years, and is described as the driving force behind the FIA World Rally Championship becoming a regular visitor to New Zealand’s shores.
As a competitor, he is most well known for campaigning Mitsubishis, which would lead Chandler forming Ralliart New Zealand in the 1990s.
Chandler is credited with helping establish the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 1988, and was the Clerk of the Course for Rally New Zealand from 1984 to 2005.
He joined the FIA’s Rallies commission in 1983, and was President of the FIA World Rally Championship commission from 2006 to 2010. He also joined the FIA World Motorsport Council in 1996, being a Formula 1 steward in 1998 and ultimately becoming Vice President of the FIA in 2006, eventually retiring from the organisation in 2017.
Chandler was instrumental in the introduction of the Pirelli Star Driver project, which helped fund the entry to the World Rally Championship for five drivers from different regions around the world over three seasons. Included in the benefactors of the project were 2019 World Champion Ott Tanak and New Zealand’s most successful rally driver, Hayden Paddon.
Chandler was a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Halberg awards in 2018.
