Rally: Coxes zooming closer to top-five goal | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

Starting in first gear and hoping the car would get off to a smooth start is not ideal when in the competitive driving arena.

The gearbox in Sloan and Tarryn Cox's Mitsubishi has been overhauled this week and today they will test-drive it before next weekend's Rally of Wairarapa.

The Coxes have two rallies of the season done and dusted and are within reach of achieving their goal - a top five position. It's not beyond their capabilities with top four stage times recorded in Otago and the Rally of New Zealand.

"My stage times are faster than last year," Sloan, 19, said. "People I used to be competing against are a bit behind me. But I've made mistakes and had bad finishes. I think I can get into the top five.

"At Otago we were going for a fifth but then we ripped a wheel off," Sloan said.

"I've strained the gearbox too this year. I had to start the car in gear and hope it would go ... We got to the end but I didn't think we were going to make it."

He said they were having a good season speed-wise but it was now about being consistent.

With Sloan now on his level 3 automotive course at Waiariki Institute of Technology he has taken a front seat role in the car's servicing, able to carry out mid-stage roadside emergency repairs.

He said it's allowed him to know the car that little bit better, as well as help cut the Taslo Engineering team's budget.

Another cost-saving has been arranging private test-drives in the forest.

"We usually wouldn't have many test days as you normally have to organise them through Motorsport New Zealand and it's $400 each time," Tarryn, 21, said.

In another cost-cutting measure the pair are driving the same car - the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X - that has served them well in two previous seasons, including last year when Sloan was crowned junior rally champion.

Despite having six more years in the junior class Sloan now has to compete on the open circuit - once a junior champion you have to move up, under the rewritten rules.

And while they are up against drivers with twice as much experience the pair have set their sights high.

"My only target now is the big titles - New Zealand champion," Sloan said.

"It would be good to be like Dean Sumner and be another Rotorua driver to win it. We want to be as successful as him."

The Rally of Wairarapa is on May 28 and 29, and after that 284km race the Coxes will take a two-month break before the Rally of Whangarei, the penultimate rally of the series.