RallySport Magazine - July 2006

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OTAGO RALLY REPORT

CLASSIC RALLYING SPECIAL ● TOYOTA TAKE 1-2 IN ARC July 2006, Issue 19 $7.95 ISSN 1328-9241

07

● AUSTRALIA’S AMAZING SKELTA G-FORCE July 2006 - 1

Join the RallySport Magazine team on the

2006 Rally New Zealand Tour Did you miss out on the last RallySport Magazine “New Zealand Rally Tour?”

If you did, we suggest that you get in early and book for our exclusive 2006 tour.

I

Tour prices: New Zealand Rally Tour – 6 days/5 nights. $1999 ex-Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne.

* All prices are per person on a twin-share basis. Special options are available if required (eg: single room etc.)

n conjunction with Southern World Vacations (NZ), RallySport Magazine is hosting our 7th exciting tour which gives rally fans the opportunity to spectate at the 2006 Propecia Rally New Zealand on our 6 day/5 night tour.

The rally tour commences when we depart for New Zealand on Wednesday November 15, 2006, returning on Monday November 20, 2006. When it comes to organising New Zealand Rally tours, you can’t go past our experience and expertise – just ask any of the hundreds of satisfied tourists who have travelled with us before.

Full details including itinerary, prices and options are now available, so register your interest now. Places on the tour are strictly limited – our previous tours have been fully booked and many of our tour participants travel with us each year. You’ll find our tours are great value, fully escorted by members of the RallySport Magazine team (which ensures that your tour will be an experience to remember) and visits as many spectator areas and service parks as we can fit in. You’ll travel by luxury mini coaches driven by experienced drivers right to the heart of the action with minimal walking. Because we get so close to the action, you’ll avoid New Zealand’s notorious traffic jams.

Meet the locals!

Our tour includes quality hotel accommodation close to the rally action, daily breakfasts, lunch on the 3 rally days, all transfers, full spectator guide, experienced tour guide and much more.

Why not book early and take advantage of paying in 3 instalments? That way you will be sure of a place on the tour. What could be easier?

Join other rally enthusiasts

Look at these exclusive Rally New Zealand Tour features: • • • • • •

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Return flight from either Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne.

RallySport Magazine guides will meet you on your arrival at Auckland International Airport before transferring you by luxury coach to your accommodation.

Quality hotel accommodation close to Rally Headquarters includes breakfast each morning.

You have the opportunity to watch pre-event shakedown and attend the Ceremonial Start of Rally New Zealand.

Pre-rally get-together to meet your fellow travellers.

Mini coach transport picks up from and returns to your hotel each rally day to allow you to get to the best spectator points and service parks in adequate time to watch all the leading cars and more. Our drivers are the best in the business – we often get to several exclusive Tour-only vantage points.

Regular toilet stops and chance to stop for snacks and light meals en-route.

Boxed lunch on each of the three rally days.

Personally accompanied by a RallySport Magazine Tour Guide.

Official RallySport Magazine Rally NZ Tour cap.

For more information and a tour brochure and itinerary contact us on (03) 5722 1250 or email: carolyn@rallysportnews.com.au 2 - July 2006

See the action up-close!

l Chris Atkinson’s massive jump in the Rally of Italy damaged the suspension of his Subaru World Rally Car - we can’t imagine how!! (Pic: Subaru)

THIS MONTH IN RSM

8 10-11 12-14 16-19 20-22 24 27

l Why is Tommi Makinen in the Dead Sea? Find out on page 72.

Garry Connelly column Marcus Gronholm column The amazing Skelta G-Force Quit Forest Rally - ARC2 Rally of Italy - WRC7 Lake Mountain Sprint Win a trip to New Zealand

28-39 41-44 45-47 48-49 52-53 56-57 60-66

Otago Classic Rally special Alex Fiorio - Fabrizia Pons interview Round Australia Re-Run Remembering rallycross Where’s the WRC headed?

The lowdown on camshafts State columns

P35

July 2006 - 3

P.O. Box 784, Wangaratta, Victoria, 3676 Ph: (03) 5722 1250 Fax: (03) 5721 5590 www.rallysportmag.com Publisher

Jeff Whitten jeff@rallysportmag.com

Editor / Production

Peter Whitten peter@rallysportmag.com

Business Manager

Carolyn Schonafinger carolyn@rallysportmag.com

Advertising Manager

David Brown dgbmedia@bigpond.net.au Ph: (03) 9762 7018 Mob: 0408 562 962

CONTRIBUTORS Queensland: Tom Smith New South Wales: Neil Blackbourn Victoria: David Chapman-Kelly Tasmania: Adrian Morrisby South Australia: Kristian McMahon Western Australia: Karl Drummond Australian Capital Territory: Ray Baker World Rally Championship: Martin Holmes General: Will Carter, Graeme Sedgwick PHOTOGRAPHERS Peter Whitten, Martin Holmes, Maurice Selden, Neil Blackbourn, Andy Kerr, Morey Photography, Kristian McMahon, www.cmwi.net, John Doutch PUBLISHED BY: RallySport Magazine ABN 40 400 343 363 P.O. Box 784, Wangaratta 3676.

Printed by Prominent Press, 57-61 Drummond Road, Shepparton, Victoria, 3630 COPYRIGHT: No material, artwork or photos may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publishers. RallySport Magazine takes care in compiling specifications, prices and details but cannot accept responsibility for any errors. The opinions expressed by columnists and contributors to this magazine are not necessarily those of RallySport Magazine.

4 - July 2006

R

EDITORIAL

eaders will need to excuse our staff for a bit of self-indulgence this month in our reports of events that we have competed or been involved in.

Editor Peter Whitten’s report on the New Zealand rally scene and his successful finish in eighth place in a borrowed car on the Dunlop Otago Classic Rally may just inspire you to compete in this iconic event which is remarkably cheap for Aussies to compete in, thanks to a generous support package offered anually.

Jeff Whitten goes on to report on the recent Round Australia Rerun in which he and a mate contested in a Mk.1 Cortina, with surprisingly good results, while our business manager/travel organiser, Carolyn Schonafinger, reports on a successful tour to New Zealand when she took a party of mainly first-time spectators to Dunedin for the afore-mentioned Otago Classic.

It may seem like a journalist’s life is all fun and games, but it can also sometimes be sheer hard work – and there’s always that deadline to come back and face.

We’d like to think that our hands-on participation in rallying gives RallySport Magazine that personal touch that our readers appreciate. We hope that you enjoy this somewhat NZ-biased issue.

F

ord chief engineer Christian Loriaux made a most unusual statement recently when asked about the new Super 2000 rally concept, which makes us question whether there is something we don’t know about.

Loriaux admitted that the ongoing troubles with the mandatory FIA-specified SADEV gearbox and central differential in S2000 cars troubled him, saying: “If that’s

not sorted, then why not go to rear-wheel drive?”

He is reported as going on to say: “Some may ask how many rear-wheel drive road cars there are to make this relevant, yet I say, how many four-wheel drive road cars are there?”

He was quoted as saying that if you (the manufacturers) went rear-wheel drive, then you wouldn’t need active diffs and hydraulics. He also favours 2.5 litre engines, not 2.0 litre, for S2000 cars.

Which makes us ask (as we have before in these pages) what Ford Australia knows about Australian rallying’s future rules that we don’t.

After all, why would you perservere with an uncompetitive rear wheel drive Focus that will probably never be competitive against its 4WD opposition, unless you saw another window of opportunity not too far down the track?

Y

ou still have another couple of weeks to fill in our RallySport Magazine survey which appeared in last month’s magazine and be in the running to win a $500 prize pack of rally merchandise.

Already we have been flooded with replies from hundreds of our readers telling us what they like and dislike about a whole range of rallying subjects.

If you haven’t returned your survey form yet (photocopies are perfectly acceptable), please do it before June 30.

You never know, you could be the lucky winner, just for the cost of a 50c stamp and a few minutes of your time.

Until next month, The Editorial Team l As we’ve asked in the past, do Ford know something about the future rules of rallying that nobody else does? Christian Loriaux’s comments may indicate just that.

W

hile the emergency meeting of the FIA’s World Rally Championship Commission held in Paris on May 12, under the Acting Chairmanship of Morrie Chandler, reaffirmed existing policies in world championship rallying, finally a policy has been proposed regarding the Candidate World Championship Rallies.

As soon as all six events have been run, each will be matched against a set of secret criteria which are currently being formulated!

In the first meeting to be held after the resignation of President Jacques Regis and the death of caretaker Chairman Shekhar Mehta, many issues were considered. While most of the revolutionary policies put into effect by Regis were confirmed, notably the ‘winter Calendar’ (the August to May season, with the half-season in the opening months of 2007), this was the first indication of how the FIA will handle the political nightmare pressure from the official candidate rallies.

Each of the six events have paid 100,000 Euros to have their claim officially recognised, but until now there has been no assurance that a vacancy in the championship existed, and if it existed, how their respective chances would be measured.

On June 14 the WRCC will meet again not only to consider the reports of the Candidate rallies, but also to propose a calendar for the initial half-season series. The position of the candidate rallies will then be measured up against the criteria. This will be during the week following the Polish Rally, the last of the candidate rallies to be held.

“It is the general policy of the Commission to keep the number of events in the championship at 16,” Chandler confirmed, adding that two specific proposals from manufacturers as to how that could be guaranteed were rejected by the Commission.

Taking into account the possibility that the future championship might be heading towards 22 eligible events, one proposal

WRC policies proposed

l The Jordan Rally will soon know if they have a future in the World Rally Championship.

suggested having 14 main championship events, with other events being run for cars in the Junior or Production Car championships. Another proposed was a system of 10 permanent events, with the remaining 12 being subject to rotation, so each year there would still be 16.

Chandler commented: “Any form of event rotation was felt to be too hard to manage”.

He added that the future calendar would be based on “marketing, promotional, financial and logistical considerations”.

Aside from the thorny calendar issues, Chandler continued: “The WRC Commission has agreed on a number of proposals, including long-term goals for the future of the championship. These will be presented to the World Motor Sport Council in July.

The proposals, which have very broad support, will help to maintain the stability, cost effectiveness and increased value of the Championship.”

Other general policies confirmed by the

Commission included the following: l World Rally Cars should continue to be the primary formula for the World Rally Championship certainly for the next three years l Super 2000 work should continue to ensure these cars are fully comparable with Group N cars l introduction of control tyres, maybe as early as 2008 l the use of more ecologically friendly control fuel, in 2008 or 2009 l continued cost reduction policies and a systematic reduction of expensive technical specifications on rally cars.

In his position, New Zealander Morrie Chandler has been entrusted with presenting proposals to the World Council and creating within the next few months a direction for the future of the World Championship.

What do the teams think about it all?

Read Martin Holmes’ exclusive article on page 56.

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July 2006 - 5

News

Pirelli: Do it our way, or we’re out!

Pirelli’s involvement in world championship rallying, an activity that has continued (with only a very short break in the nineties when the company w a s re st r u c t u r i n g t h e i r production facilities) since the World Rally Championship started, is currently under review.

The uncertainties facing Pirelli were identified by a spokesman as being various. Some were predictable, for example the WRC’s reinstated intention to move on to single supplier control tyres in 2008, others quite unexpected, such as the decision by their rivals Michelin to rebrand their competition products under the name of a subsidiary company BF Goodrich.

Motor Sport Director Paul H e m b e r y ex p l a i n e d : “ We were dismayed when this name change was announced.

Competing against such an internationally well respected brand as Michelin was everything we wanted and enjoyed. The problem is that BF Goodrich is largely unknown in the product areas in which we are active”.

Pirelli personnel are studying other areas in motorsport in which future participation would be feasible.

Hembery: “Formula 1 is possible but the company wait to know what are the future policies about the design of tyres in F1, for example tyre sizes and other aspects of design.

“We could study the feasibility of attempting to win Le Mans outright, we could consider using the Scorpion range of tyres on rally raids, or we could continue as we are, hoping we can find extra teams with whom we can work.

“We need to talk with Michelin about this, but our policy is that

if Michelin continues to compete in the World Championship under the name of BF Goodrich, we will pull out of world rally competition and will support the concept of the control tyre. If they compete under the Michelin name, we will remain.”

- MARTIN HOLMES

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6 - July 2006

Former World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen will be a special guest at the UK’s premier rally car show which takes place at Castle Combe Circuit in Wiltshire on Saturday, July 22.

Ari Vatanen, now in a rather different hot seat as a Member of European Parliament, still remains one of the world’s most respected rallying celebrities and has a hugely enthusiastic following in the UK. This year marks 25 years since Ari won the 1981 World Rally Championship in the iconic Rothmans Ford Escort, and joining him once again in the passenger seat will be his original Championship winning co-driver David Richards CBE. Former Rothmans Rally Team Manager David Sutton, along with several members of his original rally team and a selection of genuine and replica Rothmans Escorts from the enthusiasts at www.rothmansescorts.com will be central to the celebrations.

Completing the World Championship reunion will be the most famous of all Rothmans Escorts, VLE 756X, which is rarely seen outside the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. The car will be reunited with Vatanen and Richards at Rallyday and driven in front of an estimated 10,000+ crowd to mark this very special occasion.

Other attractions at Rallyday 2006 include the 25th Anniver-

sary of Talbot winning the Manufacturer’s World Rally Championship with the Sunbeam Lotus.

Former British Rally Champion Russell Brookes will be driving the original Andrews Heat for Hire sponsored Sunbeam Lotus, and the Sunbeam Lotus Owners Club will have 40 cars and 5 ex-works rally cars on display at the show.

In addition, celebrating Lancia’s centenary, the Lancia Motor Club will be hosting a major display of evocative Italian machinery at the event.

Highlighting the company’s rallying pedigree will be a collection some of the world’s most iconic rally cars including Lancia Fulvia, Stratos, 037, S4 and Delta Integrale.

Further details of the 2006 programme, including the names of the star drivers, teams and attractions attending the show, will be confirmed in forthcoming press releases as well as listed on the Rallyday website.

For anyone not familiar with the event, Rallyday is an annual show which gives visitors a chance to enjoy the spectacle of seeing a wide range of rally cars, and rally stars, in an open and spectator friendly environment.

It comprises live action on the track with static displays in the paddock, and has something to offer everyone from the rally enthusiast to a family looking for an enjoyable day out.

5

minutes with ...

IKE TRELOAR

New Ford Impreza WRX An ingenious competitor in Ireland has built a car that has quickly become known as the Fubaru - a Ford Escort with Subaru Impreza WRX running gear.

The car features an Impreza version 5 floor pan and running gear, but has Escort Mk II body panels. It is about half the weight of a Group N Subaru.

The car also features Proflex suspension. Only in Ireland!

Name: Arthur (Ike) Treloar.

Lives: Redwood Park, SA. Age: 77 When did your motorsport career commence?

Mid-1948. I dabbled in Speedway then moved on to rallying long before CAMS came into being as it was less expensive and less dangerous than Speedway.

What aspects of the sport have you been involved in?

I have driven in car rallies, raced cars, competed in hillclimbs, motorkhanas, English-type trials, and so on. I have been around Australia five times in rallies.

l Escort or Impreza? An Irish driver has come up with a car that combines the best of both worlds - the Fubaru!

What else have you done during your motorsport career?

I’ve organized rallies and trials, assisted in building the Collingrove (SA) hillclimb, assisted in building an autocrosse track, checked rallies, manned controls, was timekeeper in the Darwin to Adelaide solar car event, been an official at all the F1 Grands Prix, Indy Cars and the V8 Supercars about 30 times. Assisted in mapping the Australian route of the London to Sydney Marathons, was an official in the Simpson Desert Cycle Challenge (12 times), official in the Kidney Car rallies (11 times), been an official in three Wynns Safaris, and served as a CAMS Councillor in SA and I’m currently a CAMS Steward.

Who are some of the people you have worked with over this period?

Colin Bond (at races including Bathurst,

Warwick Farm and Oran Park, and at rallies), George Shepheard, John Bryson (who organised for me to drive the first Mazda rally car in Australia), Barry Ferguson, John Boon, Bob Riley and others.

You appear to have had quite a few different navigators over the years. Are you a bad driver?

I can assure you that isn’t correct as I have only had one major accident, fortunately without any injuries. I borrowed my girlfriend’s car and wrote it off. And before you ask, yes, she still speaks to me!

How many cars have you had during your career?

I have had approximately 56 cars including competition and private vehicles. I was the first person to compete in Isuzu Bellet and Colt vehicles in Australia, and with some success. One of these was a 2-door Bellet GT which I raced and rallied. The Colts were 2 and 4-door models.

What circuits have you raced at? I’ve competed at circuits such as Bathurst, Catalina Park, Surfers Paradise, Lowood, Oran Park, Warwick Farm, Calder, Mallala and Sandown, and I’ve messed about at the old Port Wakefield track.

Have you kept count of all the events you’ve attended since 1948?

Yes, my records show I have raced, rallied, been an official or steward at approximately 1027 events and I’m still going strong and loving every minute of it.

After such a long and hectic motorsport career, surely you must have lost your sense of humour?

No, in fact I’m going to Hidden Valley (in the Northern Territory) in June this year to work on the race track. The problem is, if it’s hidden, I might have trouble finding it!

July 2006 - 7

connelly’s corner by garry connelly OFFICIALS

Much has been written about the need for rallying to attract and retain competitors. The increasing cost of competition impacts the viability of our sport and we have discussed this in one of my recent columns.

However of equal, if not greater, significance, is the necessity for the sport to retain its existing official base, and attract new officials.

Take for example the recent Quit Forest Rally in Western Australia. This round of the NEC Computers ARC is organised by an extremely professional team of people led by Ross Tapper – one of our most experienced Clerks of Course. However I have omitted one important word from the phrase “extremely professional team”.

That word is “unpaid”!

This rally, like many other rallies in this country, is the result of thousands of hours of voluntary work by highly experienced and qualified professionals. It’s unfortunate in some ways that the word “volunteer” conjures up the image of those wonderful people who worked on the Sydney Olympics.

Without in any way denigrating the outstanding roles they performed, the level of responsibility and expertise required to conduct a round of the NEC Computers Australian Rally Championship, or for that matter a state championship event, is more akin to that of a senior, well remunerated manager in a highly structured public company.

The responsibility for risk management, OH & S, detailed planning and logistics and overall event organization, requires skills that are pretty hard to find even in large corporations.

Yet those skills are demanded of a dedicated team of people for every major rally in this country – and we expect this team to do the work simply for the love of the sport and for whatever feeling of satisfaction they gain from the “job”.

Having been to many events in many countries, I can assure you that our rounds of the NEC Computers ARC are as well organised as many international events in other countries. I have seen certain WRC events which fall short in some areas (thankfully not many), of the standards achieved by our ARC organisers.

So next time you attend a round of the NEC Computers ARC – as a competitor, crew member or spectator – spare a thought for those who have given up their annual holidays, taken unpaid time off work, sacrificed family time and spent weekends and numerous evenings for 12 months planning and preparing for one weekend of rallying.

Even better, take the time to drop them

a note of appreciation. Believe me, a brief written “thank you” can make all the difference!

STEWARDS

I mentioned some months back that rallying is looking for more stewards. For those who don’t know what stewards do, allow me to quote from National Competition Rule 169 (from the CAMS Manual): “The Stewards of the Meeting shall have the general power and authority to enforce compliance with the Code (that’s the International Sporting Code of the FIA) these Rules, the Supplementary Regulations….”.

In other words, the Stewards are there to act as the senior CAMS authority at the event.

Late last year I attended a meeting in Sydney facilitated by CAMS Board member Kevin Moore, to discuss with representatives of other motor sport disciplines how we could attract appropriate people to the role of stewarding, at all levels.

Without doubt, motor sport in general in this country needs to keep attracting new people to roles which are currently filled by those who may wish to retire from the positions in the coming years. At that meeting we identified some essential characteristics or competencies for a potential Steward.

These included intelligence, logical thinking, problem solving, leadership, temperament, communication skills, integrity and “presence”.

It was interesting to note that most of those present did not consider that a potential steward needed to have had many years of experience in the sport.

So if you believe that you would like to try your hand at stewarding (another of those unpaid yet rewarding roles in the sport!) then why not drop a line to the Rally Manager Campbell Andrea at CAMS in Melbourne, with a CV and a note as to why you think you would be suited for the job.

RUMOURS, INNUENDO, FACT, FICTION AND JUST PLAIN LIES!

Earlier in this column I referred to the incredible value given to the sport by honorary officials. We are also fortunate that in addition to event officials, we have a band of people committed to serve the sport in honorary administrative roles.

These include the members of the CAMS Board, the Board of the AMSC (holder of the commercial rights for all CAMS championships), ARCom, the Board of Rallycorp, all the ARC Working Groups and in fact scores of national and state commissions, committees and panels which, in conjunction with the CAMS staff, enable motor sport to be administered in Australia.

One of the best ways for us to lose these honorary officials is to make public comments, especially in this age of internet groups and chat rooms, which promulgate gossip which in certain cases is pure rumour, speculation or in some instances, downright malicious untruths.

Motor sport officials give their valuable time freely in performing valuable roles for the sport. In many cases they don’t have the time to respond to some of the rubbish that is circulated. In other cases they are not even aware of it, but it rumbles away in the background and causes a great deal of damage to the fabric of the sport.

Now I am not, repeat not, referring to cases where people are offering genuine constructive criticism. This is something that is essential in any organisation. What I do find unhelpful is attacks on people where the premise on which the attack is based is false and no effort has been made to verify it prior to launching into print.

The CAMS Rally Manager will always provide answers to questions put to him in relation to the administration of rallying in this country. If he doesn’t have the answer he will obtain it from someone else in the organisation.

It would be a good thing for our sport if those who wish to complain checked their facts first. Too often we see people go on the public attack with inaccurate information, and then discover the facts later.

Nobody can object to criticism if it is based on fact. Nobody objects to genuine enquiries. And where people ask a question, they will receive an honest answer.

All sport administrators are responsible to that sport’s stakeholders and criticism is a healthy sign of a robust organisation.

However to be of any benefit, and not destructive, criticism needs to be based on fact, not fiction.

Garry Connelly Chairman, Australian Rally Commission Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Ltd. Editor’s Note: If you have a rallying item that you would like clarification on, please feel free to email Garry for an answer.

Email your questions to Garry Connelly: editorial@rallysportmag.com 8 - July 2006

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RallySport Magazine, P.O. Box 784, Wangaratta VIC 3676. Ph: (03) 5722 1250 Fax: (03) 5721 5590 July 2006 - 9

MarcusGronholm

I

think we were just unlucky to hit the stone in the road that ended our rally. Things had been going so well. I was not going crazy, yet in the first three stages in the morning we had pulled out a 40 second lead from our friend Sebastien Loeb, and in the middle of stage five we had already taken another five seconds off Loeb’s time.

Then it happened. I was braking and suddenly there was a big bang. The suspension was diving under compression but I did not see the stone we hit, I think it had been progressively unearthed where people were braking at that point.

After a few corners a warning sign came on and we realised something serious had happened and everything was finished for us. We had been leading the Sardinia Rally, and everyone in the BP-Ford World Rally Team had every reason to think we would be on our way to a third victory this year, but it just was not to happen. Our rival Mr Loeb was there to take advantage of our misfortune!

This year the general characteristics of the stages in Sardina were a little different to last year. Now there was not such a lot of emphasis on the slow nasty roads, this year they had included some faster roads and for me it was a lot better. Not only in the nature of the roads but also in the way they had prepared them, with fewer bad rocks alongside the road. Now the roads were quite smooth in comparison to before.

When you drive the Focus RS

MY WORLD

By Ford’s lead driver in the WRC, Marcus Gronholm

World Rally Car there is quite good visibility, which makes life easier for me. Good visibility for the driver is very important on this event because there are a lot of crests and not only do you strain your eyes to check which way the road goes, but also to check to see whether there are unexpected stones in the road.

It was surprising how much of the route was new this year. On the final day the route moved further north in the island where the roads are a little bit faster, in fact one of the stages there is almost Finland-like in its character, which makes me feel at home. There were also new roads in the furthest south part of the route a well.

For me, it was very disappointing getting no drivers’ points from Argentina. Before we started when we were 11

points behind our French rival, we felt we had a good chance to keep Sebastien Loeb within range in the championship, but now he has pulled much further ahead. Eleven points behind meant we could have caught him up, but now with 20 points difference it looks really difficult.

O

f course a lot of the difference has been to do with us driving a new car, while Loeb is driving a car which in most respects has been constantly developed for the last five years!

We had such high hopes after the first two rounds this year.

Straight out of the box the car was really good; we had gone to Monte Carlo with really not a lot of running experience of the car behind us, but now we

l While Loeb has the luck, Gronholm keeps finding new ways to retire. The championship is now almost gone.

10 - July 2006

have had a lot of small technical problems, not big ones. These days you cannot afford to have any technical problems.

We know very well we are running a car that is still completely new but we know that things are getting better all the time. I was in Sardinia the week before the rally for two days, non-stop driving all the time and we had no big problem at all. During this time we were spending a lot of time trying different set-ups with the differentials, and we were also checking the gear ratios so that the torque of the engine could be used to best advantage.

Testing work these days for us is doubly complicated, not only are we developing an essentially brand new type of car, but also because of the new rule saying that we must use passive front and rear differentials. Now that we cannot use electronic adjustments, it takes a lot longer to find the best set-ups.

It takes a lot of time physically changing the units when we are looking for improvements, and it isn’t so easy. You have to use items which have first been homologated, and sometimes you want a set-up which needs a specification of differential that hasn’t been homologated, or is one more variation of the specification than you are allowed to homologate. But we are confident things are going in the right direction.

One of the other important features about our pre-event preparation was the effect of the recent engine work that has been carried out. They have changed the characteristics so that the torque is now in the area of the engine revs which enables us to make the best advantage of the longer gear ratio. This means that it is easier to drive, because I do not have to keep shifting up and down like before.

That certainly makes the driving more comfortable and it makes me more confident in how I can drive. It shows how everything works in conjunction with other things: improvements with the engine does far more than simply make the engine better!

When we started the rally on the Friday morning the car felt good on the soft patches of gravel. It was quite a surprise that I could push as hard as I did and take so much time off Sebastien Loeb. When you are really confident in the car, that in turns helps your mind, it gives you the courage to push a little bit more.

I remember when we asked to rally the 206 WRC some years ago and there were so many

l Gronholm chats with his young protege, Kosti Katajamaki during the Rally of Italy.

arguments, especially down in Australia about the order in which we had to tackle the stages in the final day of the rally. It was just the same here.

Whatever the other drivers were saying I didn’t really mind, I was confident in the car.

On the first three stages, which we drove as second car on the road, we took a lot of time off Loeb who was running one car ahead, so when we tackled the stages again, later in the day when the conditions were clean, I expected he would really push to take something back. We kept checking the mid-stage split times and could see that we were still doing the same times as Sebastien. It was very encouraging.

I started the second day 35.4 seconds in front, and of course all the top cars were as usual running in reverse order, so we could control exactly how other people in front were doing. Then it all went wrong. The impact had broken the sumpguard and that then damaged the joint to an oil line to the oil cooler and the fluid leaked away.

Obviously the team are working out exactly what we can do for the Acropolis. Because we did not finish the Sardinia Rally we are exempted from the rule about restrictions on pairing components. Of course we have to fit a new engine, but how much of the rest of the car is now possible to change I do not know.

We are going to have two days of testing there beforehand, so maybe then the team will be able to plan what best to do.

Things are not so nice right now, we just need a bit of luck on our side. There are only two weeks between here and Greece and then the big rush of events will be at an end for the summer.

Having Neste Oil Rally

Finland coming one week after Germany will be another matter, because these events will be on successive weekends. Obviously we will be testing in the two months break after Greece and before Germany and I hope we will have a good car for my event. But what a difference there is these days to the days when my father used to go rallying.

F

inland was his one and only major rally in his season and it was stupid how much they used to drive in recceing before the rally, like there was nothing else to do in life. They used to recce 10 times each stage.

When I started this rally business it was still allowed to drive all the times on the stage, but I was working in our farm and did not have enough time.

For me three or four times a stage was all I had time to do!

Times really are changing. I am not so worried about our never-ending time schedules but I am worried because there are not so many teams active in the sport. I hope more teams will come along soon, the standard of the world championship needs more teams. But I cannot offer a magic formula to bring back the same numbers as used to be there.

I want us to stay with World Rally Cars, but how they can bring down the costs of running them I have no idea. People say that maybe we must move to Group N and Super 2000 cars in the future, and just maybe it won’t be my problem. Maybe I will stay at home instead. I don’t want to drive Group N cars for my living. I much prefer World Rally Cars!

Marcus Gronholm, as told to Martin Holmes in Olbia 20th May 2006 July 2006 - 11

Skelta G-Force An Aussie made tarmac special is setting the rally world on fire

R

acing car or tarmac rally car? Really, Ray Vandersee’s hybrid Skelta GForce could be either, but the development work on the car has primarily been about making it into a superb road car that tackles both disciplines of motorsport head on.

The Skelta is not your average-looking hot, 4-cylinder car that could have come from any one of a dozen or so different manufacturers.

Rather, it’s a unique and purposeful sports car that will turn heads for all the right reasons wherever it goes.

For instance, from head-on

Pics: Morey Photography, Lance Hastie, Skelta l Creator Ray Vandersee with his pride and joy - the super-fast Skelta G-Force which did so well at Targa 2006.

the view most people will get is of a car with a sharply-pointed nose which separates two huge air ducts and the all-enveloping cycle guards.

The Skelta takes its styling cues from a mix of Formula One and Le Mans racing car design, the result being a car that ends up being a no frills, performance machine.

Extensive use has been made of exotic materials – carbon fibre, Kevlar, chrome moly, magnesium and aluminium to

produce a body that’s not only aerodynamic but super strong as well.

There’s a full carbon fibre undertray for strength and an aero kit that, amongst other things, includes a front air splitter, rear diffusers and a dual-element rear wing.

Forward thinking has resulted in another unique design feature – a tilting/removable roof section with vortex generators.

Unimaginative design? Not this car!

Underneath there’s a chrome moly steel space frame with side pods and central tunnel made of a carbon-fibre and aluminium honeycomb for strength and lightness.

It’s a design feature that gives the car its strength and agility.

Suspension is taken care of by special Skelta-designed double wishbones supporting aluminium alloy uprights and inboard Proflex shock absorbers.

Fully adjustable at both ends, the suspension is infinitely adjustable for camber, caster, track, ride height and toe specifications.

P

l The Skelta is powered by Honda’s S2000 engine and develops an impressive 241bhp. It weighs just 650kg.

12 - July 2006

ower comes courtesy of a 1997cc Honda S2000 engine that has its exhaust gases extracted by special Skelta 4-into-1 extractors and exhaust system.

Power figures amaze – 180kW (241bhp) from a car weighing just 650kg, so you can appreciate that this is a serious motor car.

Getting all that power to the ground is taken care of by a Honda S2000 six-speed gearbox that transmits into a 4.1:1 differential with Torsen torquebias internals.

All the handling and performance attributes are of no use unless the whole package can be brought to a halt in the least possible time, and in this regard there is again no compromise.

Willwood 4-piston calipers act on 298mm drilled and ventilated discs at both front and rear, and

there’s a balance bar to give perfectly balanced braking on a variety of surfaces.

Big 7x16” ROH wheels or competition 3-piece wheels are shod with Kumho Ecsta V20A medium compound tarmac rally tyres of 205/45 x 16 size for optimum handling and grip.

Combine the grip of the tyres and the mechanical attributes and you can see why this Skelta G-Force can out-accelerate supercars costing four times as much.

From an Aussie design point of view, it has no peers and is without doubt unique throughout the world. l So near, yet so far away. The Skelta was all set for a podium finish in this year’s Targa Tasmania until last day gremlins intervened.

The Skelta’s potential is unlimited and RallySport Magazine has little doubt that in the

not-too-distant future it will be the car to beat in tarmac rallying.

Skelta background

M

otivated by outstanding performances during the Targa Tasmania rally of 2002, Toowoomba businessman and former Queensland Rally Champion, Ray Vandersee, set about engineering a road registered sports car to revolutionise the power to weight ratio of regular sports cars.

What has developed is the Skelta Sports Car. Testing took place throughout 2004 which culminated in the first competitive run for the Skelta Sports Car prototype during the annual Historic Leyburn Sprints.

The Skelta Sports Car project represents the implementation of design and construction elements that set the vehicle apart

l With a weight of only 650kg, stopping the Skelta isn’t a problem!

l The Skelta on the jig during its initial development stages.

l 2005 saw the Skelta’s debut at the Mount Buller Sprint. It’s seen here during the Mansfield prologue stage.

July 2006 - 13

Tech Spec SKELTA G-FORCE BODY Full carbon fibre construction.

Aero kit includes front splitter, flat undertray to rear diffusers, rear dual element wing, tiliting/removable roof section with vortex generators.

ENGINE H o n d a F 2 0 L f ro m S 2 0 0 0 .

1997cc, Skelta 4:1 extractors and exhaust system, Skelta cold air box with ram-air twin side-mounted radiators with thermofan.

TRANSMISSION Honda S2000 6-speed. 4.1:1 diff with Tarsen Torque bias diff.

CHASSIS Chrome moly steel space frame with integrated carbon fibre/ aluminium honeycomb sandwich tunnel and side pods.

SUSPENSION Skelta double wishbone front and rear. Skelta aluminium alloy uprights, inguard Proflex shocks, adjustable for camber, caster, track, ride height, and toe, front and rear.

BRAKES Wilwood 4 piston calipers on drilled ventilated 298mm discs all round. Adjustable balance bar.

WHEELS AND TYRES 7x16 ROH competition wheels (3 piece). Kuhmo Ecsta V70A medium compound tarmac rally tyres, 205/45x16.

l Servicing time for the Skelta during last year’s Targa New Zealand, the car’s first international event.

from other, more common, sports vehicle types.

There is a strong accent and major focus on the performance attributes of the vehicle under intense driving conditions, which further supports the Skelta Sports Car company slogan, ‘pure performance, no compromises.’

Additional input towards the car’s body shape design was provided by David Guscott, whose profession of music instrument modeller has been equated to a similar expertise in suggesting creative, yet practical elements of the Skelta Sports Car body shape.

The vehicle’s body shape draws inspiration from a combination of Formula One and

Le Mans racing cars, while the running gear is based on the Honda S2000.

A two seater and a true sports car, the Skelta boasts a no-frills design and has the capacity to satisfy any driver’s need for speed and smooth handling.

The car is available unassembled or fully factory built. The initial production was only in small numbers, manufactured entirely out of the Skelta Sports Car workshop in Toowoomba. Skelta Managing Director, Vandersee says the Skelta G-force is a truly composite design.

“To achieve the optimum in strength for weight, this car incorporates such materials as carbon-fibre, Kevlar, mag-

nesium, chrome-moly and aluminium to create a truly composite design where the optimum material is used in the construction of each component,” Vandersee said.

“We’ve taken a ‘no compromise’ approach when it comes to weight and strength.”

With a weight of 650kg and power output of 241bhp (180kW), this ‘no compromise’ approach ensures the Skelta will out-accelerate supercars costing four times as much.

With close attention to creating aerodynamic downforce in the design, plus utilising suspension inspired by the World Rally Cars, the Skelta has handling to match its speed.

- JEFF WHITTEN

SPONSORS / PROJECT ASSISTANCE * Kuhmo tyres – F-Sport. * Concept Paints * Vanderfield Hino & V-Rent, Darwin (truck rental).

VEHICLE HISTORY Competed in Targa NZ in 2005, was third outright at end of day three but rod-end failed. Fourth outright at Mt Buller Sprint 2006. Second in Targa Tasmania 2006 at lunch on final day, only to have CV joint boot fail, leading to failure of CV joint. Disappointing but showed potential of the car in tarmac events. A seriously competitive tarmac rally car!

14 - July 2006

l With everything built with weight and performance in mind, the car’s interior is typically ‘racey’.

Goldy’s back!

Clear skies greeted 29 AMSAG crews for the 2006 AMSAG Jenolan Rally, including quite a few new faces in this year’s series.

Leading the charge was the welcome return of Brad Goldsbrough, making it a family affair with new navigator Ashley Goldsbrough. Brad is having a rest from nipping at the heels of the ARC big boys and is concentrating on AMSAG this year.

Car 2 was Dave King of the KRS rally team, with brother Jason King on the notes, also making a big AMSAG comeback after taking most of last year off from rallying.

There were a few last minute cancellations, including the booming V8 of Ron and Jo Moore, meaning the V8 Stag of Tony Jordan and navigator Gavin Porter started as car 3.

AMSAG president, Eddie Aitchison, blew an engine before the event, and was another late withdrawal. It was also great to see the Long’s 1200 back in 2006 after a big roll last year.

Mike and Chris have the green machine looking the goods, but teething problems set in and the crew DNFed. New entries included the usual swag of 1600s coming out of the sheds (no fewer than 11 entered), a very interesting and well prepared V8 Mercedes featuring an auto transmission crewed by Matthew Stretton and Brent Twaddle, and the Thornleigh Club Captain, Andrew Crowley, in a nicely prepared LA coupe.

The event looked like a ding dong battle between the two heavyweights at the head of the field, Goldsbrough and King.

Mick Lipping and John Chezzi had mechanical issues and lasted only one stage, as did quite a few others, including the immaculate Lancer of Alex Muller who’s timing gear jumped a few teeth.

Bob Proudman was helped out by his faithful navigator, Glen Inkster, to push the Colt back onto the road after being caught out on a tricky section, losing 8 minutes in the process.

In the end it was Brad and Ashley Goldsbrough in their Datsun 1600, with all his practice in the ARC paying off with a 40 second gap over Dave and Jason King in the yellow 200B. With all the mechanical carnage going on with the rest of the field it was up to others to make the big jump onto the podium.

We have seen plenty of the fairer sex up on the rostrum before as navigators, but lady steerer Cathy Birmingham, with Matt Sosimenko, put in a great drive to finish third outright.

2006 Calendar: Port Macquarie 5-6 August; Oberon 2-3 September; Cowra 1 October.

For more information please contact Dave Aitchison on 0407 934264 or check the website: www.amsag.com.au - DREW McPHEE

l Cathy Birmingham finished with a brilliant third outright in her Datsun 200B, while Brad Goldsbrough (top) took victory.

July 2006 - 15

Toyota and their Group N (P) Corollas totally dominated the second round of the NEC ARC in Western Australia

1-2 FOR TOYOTA Toyota’s Simon and Sue Evans have moved into the lead of the NEC Computers Australian Rally Championship after taking out both Heats of the Quit Forest Rally in Western Australia.

The husband and wife duo took victory over team-mates Neal Bates and Coral Taylor in both Heats of the event, and now hold a five point advantage as they strive for their first national championship title.

The victory was the Evans’ first at ARC level since the WA event in 2004 – although they have won individual Heats since then, they had not taken a round victory for two years.

Dean Herridge finished the event third in his Subaru Deal-

ers of WA supported Impreza WRX, while privateer Darren Windus showed good speed to bring his Japanese Wholesale Spares Impreza home in fourth place.

T

he Australian Championship section of the Forest Rally attracted just 15 entries, although the actual rally numbers were boosted by competitors in the WA Championship and Clubman components. Nevertheless, it was a disappointing number for the ARC field.

Toyota’s re-branded team – now running under Toyota Racing Developments (TRD) – started the event as favourites, but their biggest challenge

was expected to come from Dean Herridge and Bill Hayes in their Subaru, and the works Ralliart Lancer Evo 9 of Scott Pedder and Glen Weston.

Darren Windus (Subaru), Stewart Reid (Toyota) and Kevin Shaw (Mitsubishi) were expected to fight it out to be the ‘best of the rest’, while Chinese Champion, Lang Xu, would make his ARC debut with reigning Australian Champion co-driver, Dale Moscatt, in the passenger seat.

Ford were again present with their Pirtek-backed Focus, and while the team had made some improvements to the car since its debut at the Rally of Canberra in March, driver Michael Guest didn’t expect the car to

l Neal Bates lost his championship lead, but was thrilled with his performance on roads he doesn’t like.

l Local knowledge couldn’t get Dean He

be well suited to the slippery WA forest roads.

HEAT 1

l Brit Barry Clark is contesting the FST in this year’s WRC. 16 - July 2006

As has become the norm for the Forest Rally, the event got underway with two runs around the tarmac super special stage in Busselton, the rally’s base, three hours south of Perth. As expected, the Toyotas were first and second on both stages, but most interest was on the following day’s eight stages.

Road conditions were typically dry, dusty and slippery and as Evans charged into a lead that he would hold until the end of the day, Mitsubishi’s Scott Pedder became the event’s

first retirement. After setting the second quickest time on the first forest stage, Pedder rolled the Lancer out of the event on the following 23km Ferndale stage, causing major damage to the rear of the car and the roof.

The stage also claimed two more casualties, with young Victorian Glen Raymond putting his newly-built Subaru Legacy off the road, and West Australian James Anderson rolling his Impreza WRX. The other major retirement was that of NSW driver Kevin Shaw. He rolled his Lancer on the sixth stage, repturing his fuel tank. The car then caught fire and burnt to the ground, however Shaw and co-driver John Allen were uninjured in the incident.

“The car burnt to the ground – it was a pretty spectacular fire,” Shaw said later. “The car’s gone, but both John and I are okay, and that’s the most

Photos: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Ford, Robyn Feaver

l The Fiesta series offers a cheaper way for competitors to make the move to the World Championship.

l A first day roll wasn’t on Scott Pedder’s ‘to do’ list, but he recovered well with third in the second Heat.

important thing.”

Out in front Evans was untroubled and was able to control his pace as team-mate Bates fought off a determined Herridge.

“I was just concentrating on keeping it really clean,” Evans said. “Keeping it straight coming out of every corner is hard to

do in Perth because the surface is so slippery, but we’ve had an absolutely perfect rally so far.”

Team boss Bates was pleased with the performance of the team, taking a one-two result, despite admitting that the event wasn’t his favourite.

“I wasn’t quite happy with the set-up in the morning, but

erridge over the line as his Subaru suffered from a recent lack of development.

l l l

l Chinese Champion Lang Xu impressed on his Australian debut.

July 2006 - 17

we made a minor change that made things a little bit more comfortable this afternoon.

“This is probably Simon’s favourite event - he drove exceptionally well today and did a superb job.”

Herridge finished the day nine seconds behind Bates and over a minute behind Evans, but was quick to point out that his car was identical to his 2005 Impreza, whereas the Toyotas had been upgraded since the same event last year.

In fourth place was Darren Windus after a great drive that saw he and John Mortimer finish a minute clear of Xu and Moscatt in their Mitsubishi, with WA’s Roman Watkins sixth in an Impreza. Windus’ drive was all the more impressive given that he had hit a bank early in the day and bent the chassis rails on the Subaru.

Michael Guest and Mark Stacey finished the day in 10th place in their Focus, although it must be said that only 11 cars finished the Heat, and post-event press releases heralding that the new Ford took its first top 10 finish seemed almost adventurous!

“The car was a big improvement on the opening event in Canberra and we really attacked the stages,” Guest said later. “The West Australian roads are very loose and not really suited to our car, but through adjustments we were able to get better traction.”

The Ford team had changed a radiator during the day after Guest damaged it after a heavy landing from a jump.

Other finishers in Heat 1 were Chris Anderson (8th), Brett Kipling (9 th) and Kira Douglas (11th).

HEAT 2

Heat 2 began back in Busselton with another two runs around the tarmac super special stage, and although Scott Pedder would miss the stages because his Lancer was still being repaired, he would rejoin the Heat the following morning.

“There was a lot of panel damage to the rear end, mainly the boot lid and the back half of the roof, and we had to change the intercooler, oil cooler and the front control arms,” TMR principal Alan Heaphy said.

“The guys did a terrific job in repairing the car by about 11pm Saturday which is a great credit to everyone involved.”

On Sunday morning crews headed back to the Nannup area for a further seven forest stages, with 13 cars facing the starter for the first stage.

Out before the day really even 18 - July 2006

l WA resident Darren Windus overcame an early off to finish fourth for the round in his Impreza WRX.

got started was the works Ford Focus of Guest and Stacey, which was sidelined with transmission failure.

“All of a sudden we had no drive,” Guest said. “We had a quick look at the gearbox and it was obvious that we had to retire from the leg. It was a disappointing way to end the event as we were very confident of a better result than Saturday.”

Evans set up his Heat 2 victory with fastest times on the first four forest stages of the day, and although the day’s proceedings were a lot closer than they had been on day one, he still managed to take a 16.6 second victory over Bates. He won 10 of the 19 stages.

“This is awesome,” he said at the finish. “The car was fantastic and I was surprised that by just dialing it back a little bit, you can actually go faster – I learnt that from Neal. I’m already looking forward to the next rally.”

Bates had been trailing both

Quit Forest Rally - ARC2 HEAT 1 1. Simon Evans / Sue Evans 2. Neal Bates / Coral Taylor 3. Dean Herridge / Bill Hayes 4. Darren Windus / Jon Mortimer 5. Lang Xu / Dale Moscatt 6. Roman Watkins / Gary Matthews 7. Stewart Reid / A. McLoughlin 8. Chris Anderson / Joel Lithgow 9. Brett Kipling / Matthew Sanders 10. Michael Guest / Mark Stacey

Toyota Corolla Sportivo Toyota Corolla Sportivo Subaru Impreza WRX Subaru Impreza WRX Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Subaru Impreza WRX Toyota Corolla Sportivo Subaru Impreza WRX Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Ford Focus

1h00m19.6s +52.8s +1m02.0s +2m19.5s +3m18.0s +3m30.2s +3m41.6s +4m41.6s +6m48.8s +8m18.4s

HEAT 2 1. Simon Evans / Sue Evans 2. Neal Bates / Coral Taylor 3. Scott Pedder / Glen Weston 4. Dean Herridge / Bill Hayes 5. Darren Windus / Jon Mortimer 6. Stewart Reid / A. McLoughlin 7. Chris Anderson / Joel Lithgow 8. Roman Watkins / Gary Matthews 9. Lang Xu / Dale Moscatt 10. Glen Raymond / Matt Raymond

Toyota Corolla Sportivo Toyota Corolla Sportivo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Subaru Impreza WRX Subaru Impreza WRX Toyota Corolla Sportivo Subaru Impreza WRX Subaru Impreza WRX Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Subaru Legacy RS Turbo

57m35.6s +16.6s +28.3s +36.8s +1m27.0s +2m39.8s +3m20.1s +3m28.3s +5m32.9s +10m42.2s

ARC POINTSCORE 1. Simon & Sue Evans 73, 2. Neal Bates / Coral Taylor 68, 3. Dean Herridge / Bill Hayes 56, 4. Scott Pedder / Glen Weston 41, 5. Darren Windus / Jon Mortimer 30.

l Kevin Shaw and John Allen’s smouldering wreck after their Heat 1 crash. (Pics: Robyn Feaver)

Herridge and Pedder during the morning’s stages, but turned up the wick in the afternoon to claim the second place on the podium.

“It’s been a dream weekend for Toyota,” he said. “For me personally, I’m very pleased to be in this position in WA. Simon drove a superb rally – we had the best cars for the job, the

l Ford’s Focus took small steps forward in Heat 1, before retiring early in Heat 2 with gearbox failure.

Focus to get new engine Improvements for the Pirtek Rally Team Ford Focus will include a new engine and transmission changes for Queensland.

“We have a new engine ready to go and we are working on a new gearbox as well,” said Technical Director Steve Hoinville (pictured).

“Over the course of the Forest Rally we noted a few more improvements, but overall things ran pretty much to plan.

“This was just our second event and we have made gains between events. I’m sure we can continue to improve throughout the year.

“We are very keen to finish both legs in Queensland. In saying that, we will also want Michael to drive at 100% as that’s the only way to improve the Focus.”

Teams head back across the country and north to the Sunshine Coast for the next round, the Coates Rally Queensland from June 16th to 18th.

best tyres for the job, and the best drivers for the job!”

After the disappointment of Heat 1, Pedder returned to set two fastest stage times late in the day, highlighting the potential of his Lancer, while Herridge claimed fourth place and third overall of the weekend, keeping alive his dream of winning his first Australian Championship.

Once again Darren Windus was the leading privateer in his Subaru, in fifth place, ahead of Queenslander Stewart Reid in his ex-works Toyota Corolla, and Chris Anderson’s Subaru.

They were followed by Roman Watkins, Lang Xu and Glen

Raymond.

Xu had been as high as sixth, but went off the road on the final stage and dropped back to ninth. Only 10 cars finished the second Heat.

Retirements for the day were Brett Kipling and Kira Douglas, both of whom crashed their Mitsubishis.

T

he Australian Rally Championship next heads to Queensland from June 16-18, where Toyota will again be expected to extend their championship advantage on what Simon Evans describes as his favourite event.

Brakes a hold up

Mitsubishi’s Alan Heaphy (pictured) lamented that the team had not had more time to test its new brake package prior to the Forest Rally.

The new four-piston calipers front and rear and bigger discs were only recently homologated by the FIA and the package was fitted to the Evo IX a few days

before the latest ARC round.

“We’ll be in better shape with these new brakes for the next round (of the NEC Computers Australian Rally Championship),” Heaphy said.

Pedder said the TMR crew had already made some “quite dramatic changes” during Sunday’s heat.

Rallying banned in Greece The Greek motorsport authorities have banned rallying through the summer, following a fatal accident to a young driver, but the Acropolis FIA World Championship rally (June 1-4) is exempted.

A driver lost his life during the Black Rose Rally when his Toyota Starlet crashed down a

mountainside at the Drosohori stage near Gravia, a section used in previous Acropolis Rallies. His co-driver was also injured. This follows another fatal rally crash a month earlier when a co-driver lost his life in an accident near Corinth.

The decision to suspend rallying has been taken so authorities can review current

standards, including licencing procedures and other ways to make rallying in Greece safer.

The ban continues until the end of August, and encompasses all rallying from local up to national level.

The European championship Elpa rally is due to be run in mid September and is not covered by the ban.

July 2006 - 19

40 seconds behind, Seb Loeb hit the same rock as leader Marcus Gronholm, but somehow survived to take his fifth straight win of the season!

Round 7 - Italy

Luck’s a fortune!

H

is fifth rally win in succession was nothing special for Sebastien Loeb, but when both he and co-driver Daniel Elena counted Rally Italia-Sardegna as their 25 th career world rally victory, this had special meaning, as no co-driver had won so many world rallies in the past.

It was one more achievement in Citroen’s rally history,

By Martin Holmes another day at work for the Kronos team. But once again, the winning inertia was not a foregone conclusion, as Marcus Gronholm had defied the gravel stage early-running bogey and pulled out a huge lead in the first three stages.

Then it all went wrong, the Ford bottomed heavily on a

l Dani Sordo has been the find of the season. The Spaniard took another podium place and again outshone Kronos #2 driver Xavier Pons.

20 - July 2006

stone in the track, the engine lost its oil, and the Citroen was suddenly well ahead of the rest of the field. Gronholm still remains second in the championship series, but Loeb now has almost twice the number of points.

Even before the start, the Frenchman was statistically in a commanding championship position, now the lead is embarrassingly great.

Sardinia was full of complexities, notably rules from the FIA which further restrict the changeability of components on cars. Pairing of components was mostly in relation to the forthcoming Acropolis Rally, but in instances they also related to the previous event in Argentina.

Quite a nightmare for team coordinators.

While the rivalry between the Ford team with their new Focus and the Kronos team with the old Xsara continued to be intriguing, there was great curiosity as to whether Subaru might this time break out of their run of bad luck. Pirelli had entered for the third and final time an old original Peugeot 307 WRC for Gigi Galli.

It was an excellent opportunity to be able to assess whether the performance of Subaru (the only team this year running Pirellis) had been down more to tyres or to other factors.

Like in Argentina, Galli showed that the tyres worked well

enough for him.

While Petter Solberg’s new Subaru had been plagued with troubles ranging from handling to thick dust inside the car, Galli’s bright yellow Peugeot had been driven with abandon and by mid-rally had risen to a splendid and convincing third place, but then for him as well it all went wrong. A water leak wrecked the engine and he was out.

It wasn’t only the magic of Gronholm that kept Ford ahead, as Mikko Hirvonen was driving the rally of his life. In the early stages Fords were 1-2 and Hirvonen then held second place behind Loeb through to the finish, a career best result.

Hirvonen apart, Citroen dominated the rally, with Sordo in the privately entered Kronos car gaining his third podium in seven rallies and Pons finishing fourth after various difficulties, all on BF Goodrich tyres.

Petter Solberg’s teammate, Chris Atkinson, had been hoping to finish fifth despite a long delay at service repairing a steering problem, but on the final stage he dropped back to tenth when dust inside the car obscured the driver’s vision and led to an off road excursion.

Solberg had a lot of tyre troubles on the opening day but gradually pulled back up till he was seventh on the penultimate stage, then followed Atkinson into misery on the final stage

when he had steering trouble and finished ninth.

For the first time since Sweden in February, all six registered manufacturers were present in Italy but the stories of the other teams were not convincing. Manfred Stohl’s seventh place gave Peugeot five points, but only after an event in which he could not get a good feeling with the car. Teammate Henning Solberg had been well ahead of him before he went off the road into a tree - and Galli had been consistently quicker

l Chris Atkinson prepares for the upcoming World Cup with some Aussie patriotism.

than both of them.

It was a bad event for Ford’s number two team, Stobart-VK because guest driver Kosto Katajamaki crashed and regular driver Matthew Wilson had endless delays. Red Bull Skoda struggled on after a pre-event disappointment when Harri Rovanpera crashed the test car, and Rovanpera struggled with the rally car, eventually being withdrawn with transmission trouble. Collectively, Rovanpera and Aigner went home with three points.

Francois Duval finished eighth ahead of the official cars, while Jan Kopecky, after having to miss all the first day because of an engine sensor failure, made fastest time of the rally on the final stage of the event.

This was the first time since Sweden we had seen a works run Mitsubishi World Rally Car

l Mikko Hirvonen’s second place was his best result at WRC level. His Ford survived, while Gronholm’s faltered.

on a world championship rally, this time in the hands of the reigning Asia Pacific champion, Jussi Valimaki, who drove extremely consistently through the event and eventually finished fifth overall. He used BF Goodrich tyres, while another important entry was the Red Devil Kazaz entry for Kristian Sohlberg’s Impreza who finished as the best Pirelli car.

BP Ford are now 20 points behind Kronos, only just over a maximum score behind, but nothing like as big a challenge their driver Gronholm has against Loeb.

T

yres were the critical factor of this event, not so much as the struggle between BF Goodrich and Pirelli, but against the common challenge of tyre wear.

Difficulties came immediately.

Around half the competitive

l Dust was a major problem in Italy, as this shot of Chris Atkinson’s Subaru clearly shows. It was dust that eventually cost him fifth place.

l Asia Pacific Champion, Jussi Valimaki, drove a Lancer World Rally Car to fifth place - his best WRC result yet.

distance this year was new.

Not only was the wear factor when stages were being run a second time unknown, but crews reported even on the first passages through stages that the type of sand and gravel was different to before, even though the stages were largely in the same area, which meant crews did not know the optimum way the tread patterns should be cut.

But the tyre wear was quite the most dominant factor. After running fourth, Solberg had a run of punctures on the first afternoon and stopped in the middle of stage six, but BF Goodrich users were in equally July 2006 - 21

l The Renaults did best in the JWRC after the favoured Citroens and Suzukis struck problems in Italy.

bad shape. Pons, Aigner, Sordo, Stohl, Sohlberg all had first day tyre woes, the lucky ones being those whose mousses stopped deflation, but mousses still meant drivers running with ill handling cars throughout the stages.

As the rally progressed came the problem of keeping within the limit of tyres allowed to be used, and none so desperate as the cars in the Junior World Championship, whose 200bhp front-wheel drive cars were only allowed 20 all event. The four-

l JWRC winner Patrik Sandell battles on in his Renault Clio.

wheel drive 300bhp World Rally Cars, on the other hand, were allowed 35 tyres in all.

This event was the first showdown between the official Suzuki team (Wilks and Andersson) and the PH Sport Citroens (Pressac and Tirabassi) after avoiding each other through the earlier four qualifying events this year.

While Andersson lost time early on when he went off the road (driving at the time with two flat front tyres), Wilks was comfortably controlling the event. He then stopped on the final day when the car lost its oil, while two stages from the finish Pressac lost his third place when he went off the road, while Tirabassi had stopped on the second day with electrical failure.

All this meant that first and second places went to Renault drivers! Patrik Sandell respected the conditions carefully and went for most of the rally without punctures, ahead of Conrad Rautenbach who had a series of punctures and whose engine failed right at the finish.

His car had to be pushed over the finish line.

Punctures played a dramatic part for JWRC teams, with cars frequently arriving back at service on wheels with no tyres attached, and then the agony of having to refit tyres which were already worn out! Quite an eventful three days for the little cars.

l Subaru’s scrap yard. Front bumpers going cheap - any offers? l Kristian Sohlberg finished in the top 10 in his Impreza WRCar.

Rally of Sardinia - WRC7

l Prokop’s Citroen C2 retired with broken suspension on stage 8.

22 - July 2006

1. Sebastien Loeb / Daniel Elena Citroen Xsara WRC 3h54m18.9s 2. Mikko Hirvonen / Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC +2m41.4s 3. Dani Sordo / Marc Marti Citroen Xsara WRC +3m27.7s 4. Xavier Pons / Carlos Del Barrio Citroen Xsara WRC +5m28.3s 5. Jussi Valimaki / Jarko Kalliolepo Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +7m08.8s 6. Kristian Sohlberg / Tomi Tuominen Subaru Impreza WRC +7m36.9s 7. Manfred Stohl / Ilka Minor Peugeot 307 WRC +8m18.4s 8. Francois Duval / Patrick Pivato Skoda Fabia WRC +9m45.8s 9. Petter Solberg / Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC +10m19.9s 10. Chris Atkinson / Glenn Macneall Subaru Impreza WRC +11m03.9s POINTS: Loeb 66, Gronholm 35, Sordo 30, Stohl 20, P. Solberg 18, Hirvonen 15, Galli 11, Pons 10, Bengue 9, Atkinson 8, etc.

RA RA RASPUTIN

O

ne of the enthralling features of rallysport is that it appears to have an inexhaustible capacity to stay alive, by subtle adjustment to the current global trends and by surviving what looked at the time to be irrational leadership decisions.

Many decisions seem irrational at the time, but prove ultimately to have been based on good sense, structured by someone with a sound long term perspective.

We have, however, been going through a lot of deep rooted decisions in recent years, but there has been very little evident long term structure behind them, indeed the huge majority have been reactive, not proactive, decisions, and this is worrying.

The regime of Jacques Regis at the helm of the FIA’s World Rally Championship Commission was profound. He injected a new system of non-consultative leadership, bringing fresh ideas which he pushed into the force of law, but then he prematurely left the job at short notice, leaving a vacuum behind him. The late Shekhar M e h ta , a l re a d y b u rd e n e d with the responsibilities of the Presidency of the Rallies Commission, agreed to take over Regis’ work as well as his own, but immediately fell ill and sadly died. This left the sport in a bad mess.

Morrie Chandler was asked to hold the reins for the moment and bravely chaired the first post-crisis meeting. We wanted to know the direction in which the sport was now pointing.

Were Regis’ bold new ideas (for example, pairing events and removing the need to finish rallies before scoring points)

still going to be pursued?

Would the FIA’s imaginative twists of circumstance continue (how great we still have “six manufacturers” in the championship) be bought down to earth?

Even though there were now only two manufacturers in the sport, should the collective wishes of the two remaining manufacturers be given as much weight in decision making as when there were six? Or would there be a moment of reflection, a moratorium in which counsel, possibly wiser, would be invoked?

Is there not a limit to the intense regulatory complexity of the sport? Isn’t it time to step back and consider the stupidity of what is happening now? How can the World Rally Championship be considered a sensible activity when competing teams are governed by different rules about the specification of the cars that can be driven, when drivers felt to be “too good” are banned from driving certain types of championship cars.

How can this be a justifiable championship when the great majority of championship cars are already obsolete? How sensible is a policy to downgrade technology in the name of making the sport appear less expensive, thus freeing up the leading teams into spending money in new directions?

T

he May 12 meeting was a testing moment, but the general consensus was apparently to proceed down Regis’ path. There is apparently no time to pause and think what was going on. Continue to make change, too late to stop now.

T h e re w a s o n e s p e c i f i c

decision which had to be taken, which was how to handle the Candidate Rally crisis. Define a policy about what to do. It was decided firstly that the six Candidate rallies should first be held, then announce the criteria on which a rally could be invited into the world championship calendar.

Will 16 be the limit? Signs are that the FIA are still thinking that 22 might be nearer the mark. Speaking from a media perspective, this is all very terrifying for the sport. There has been no media input into the recent decisions at all. Nobody at decision making level at the FIA has understood that the more rallies there are, the less proportional media coverage there will be.

Decisions continue to be made to encourage television coverage, but rallying television is currently in a downturn.

Rasputin was a man who, by all accounts, had special powers. It took several attempts on his life before he finally succumbed. Rallying has shown many indications that it can weather attempts on the sanity of its organisation and survive.

But don’t push your luck!

Remember, Rasputin, however, did not live for ever. Finally his life came to a premature end.

This is the time to pause and think whether the endless reactive decisions are what is best for the sport. Learn from Rasputin. We are dealing with dangerous situations, decisions which are potential killers of the sport. Even Rasputin subsequently discovered that one day his charmed life could be brought to an end. He could not avoid death forever, and nor can rallying.

- MARTIN HOLMES July 2006 - 23

A

Lamborghini Gallardo has taken outright honours in Australia’s newest tarmac rally, the Lake Mountain Sprint, held on May 27-28.

Tasmanian nephew/uncle duo, Jason and John White, dominated the event, held at Marysville in Victoria, posting top five fastest times on all but one of the eight timed laps up the access road to the cross-country ski resort.

Second outright and second in the modern division, was touring car legend, Peter Brock, proving that he has mastered the tarmac rally game in addition to his circuit expertise. Brock was partnered by Mick Hone in a Daytona Coupe. Third outright went to Paul Blackie and Mike Stoneman in a Porsche 911 Turbo.

“It is a fantastic event,” said winning co-driver, John White.

“It’s a nice piece of road but it’s very challenging. It was different every time we went out there, depending on the time of day and what was happening with the weather.”

His nephew was more succinct, adding: “Great road, great people and great fun!”

The Lake Mountain Sprint was also open to pre-1981 classic cars and the competition in this category was just as tight as in the modern car class.

At the end of the weekend, the final honours in this class went to Mark Bryant and Michael Pinder in a 1969 Chev Camaro.

Second outright was the reward for Michael Arundel and David Connolly in a 1963 Ford Cortina while John Keating and Joanna Price grabbed third in their 1975 Alfa Romeo Spider.

Thirty cars were entered for the event, put together by Melbourne businessman and competitor, Peter Washington, and

Photos: John Doutch

Whites are hot on icy mountain sprint his team who also run the highly successful Mt Buller Sprint.

Only four of the 30 entries had problems which prevented them from actually finishing, but there were no serious accidents and no injuries.

Among those who failed to finish was Richard Bendell, the brains behind the Motec engine management system and the creator of the Daytona Coupe.

He and his son were competing in the twin Daytona to Brock’s car, but an off-road excursion on Day One put an end to their plans.

The Toowoomba-built Skelta G-Force of Ray Vandersee and Jahmeil Taylor was running on course for a podium finish in the modern division until it headed out for the start of SS6 on Day Two when it broke an axle in the staging area. The crew was able to fix it in time for the remaining stages, but the resulting time penalty pushed the team well down the order.

l The Whites and their Lamborghini (top) won the event by 20 seconds, ahead of Peter Brock’s Daytona (above). Meanwhile, this spin by the Denmeade / Hammond combination was one of many for the weekend.

l The Bendell’s Daytona got caught out by thick frost and ice on the first run and backed their machine into the scenery.

The Lake Mountain Sprint was made up of eight timed laps up the access road to Lake Mountain which was closed for the

duration of competition, with the event headquarters in the nearby town of Marysville, 10km from the start.

2006 Lake Mountain Sprint 1. White / White 2. Brock / Hone 3. Blackie / Stoneman 4. Beaumont / Cole 5. Ford / Ford 6. Leahey / Flintoft 7. Jorgensen / Jorgensen 8. Tryhorn / O’Keefe 9. Schulz / Vanderbom 10. Kirwan-Hamilton / Mas 19. Bryant / Pinder 20. Arundel / Connolly 24 - July 2006

2006 Lamborghini Gallardo 2005 Daytona Coupe 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo 2000 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2006 Mini Cooper JCW 1989 Nissan Skyline GTR 1992 Porsche 911 RS 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 1989 Porsche 964 1969 Chevrolet Camaro 1963 Ford Cortina

38m33.75s 38.53.32 39.30.27 39.37.49 40.14.57 40.52.08 41.09.07 41.13.08 41.31.66 41.42.07 47.15.69 49.34.50

Fast track to success In this modern day of red tape, litigation and a distinct unwillingness for change, it is becoming increasingly difficult to build something out of the ordinary, especially when it is a motor sport complex.

A Queensland based car club, the Australian All Rally Group, has spent the last three years securing and building a motor sport complex at Clifton on the Darling Downs.

Once the block was secured it was two years of paper work, leases, approvals and finance searching before any activity took place on the new site.

The community as a whole embraced the new project, however it wasn’t without objection, and after many dedicated hours of discussions, deliberation and mountains of paper work the first rally sprint took place on April 9, 2006.

The complex is purpose built with grass roots rallying being the primary focus. With ever increasing costs to either get your rally car into the forest for a rally, or in the most part, get into rallying at an introductory level, it has created a void that this energetic club is eager to fill.

The AARG, along with its new

complex, have very cleverly set up their events to be able to cater to all levels of the sport.

Whether it’s a young person wanting to kick start into motor sport or the very experienced driver that just loves nothing more than fanging on the dirt.

Already the rally sprints are attracting healthy fields of entrants and they range from local club enthusiasts, old fossils dusting off the old rally car, through to experienced drivers following the Queensland Rally Championship.

All the roads and tracks on the 150 acre site have been carefully constructed to ensure safety and keeping the integrity of what a rally road is all about.

With safety in mind, the roads where designed to simulate any and all conditions you would find in a forest, which has provided both challenge and enjoyment to all entrants, whatever their level of experience and vehicle of choice.

Anyone interested in the Sandy Camp Motor Sport Complex or the AARG and its activities can obtain further information from club President Warren Southee, 0419 649612 or visit www.aarg. org.au.

l Jason White was second in Targa Tasmania using Porterfield pads.

Slow down - quickly!

You may never have heard of a company called V & A Spiteri, however their name will doubtless become well known in the future, thanks to an exciting range of brake material for which they have just been appointed distributors.

Porterfield brake pads are a high-performance pad suitable for all applications from street use to high performance rally and track work. The pads, available in five differing compounds, are rotor-friendly at all temperatures and are extremely quiet and dust-free.

The range starts with the R4-S range suitable for high performance street and autocross applications and concludes with the R-4 full race compound.

In between there’s the R4-1

vintage full race compound developed for the vintage racing fraternity, the R4-E Endurance Race compound designed to endure higher prolonged temperatures, and the R-11 Race Pad compound which is suitable for all heavy duty motorsport use. When used with cast iron and steel alloy rotors, the R-4 requires a minimum bed-in period, while the R-11 has all the proven qualities of the R-4 and will retain its high friction period during cooler sections of a race circuit or rally stage.

Technical information on the full range of Porterfield Brake Pads is available from V & A Spiteri, 34 Joseph Street, North Blackburn, 3130, phone (03) 9899 4851 or you can email them at spiteri@netspace.net.au

July 2006 - 25

F

irst time national championship winner, 30 year old Ryan Champion, became the first winner in the new-style British open series, run in North England.

The Pirelli International Rally was the opening event in the 2006 Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship, a slimmed down (six round) series in which World Rally Cars are now banned. The country’s premier event (Wales Rally GB) is included in the series, but the cars are divided into the FIA’s future Group R classifications rather than the current Appendix J rules, and with the support of the series sponsors a control fuel is used for all competitors.

As usual the event was divided into many different events catering for many different types of car, but the overall championship category attracted slightly higher numbers than last year.

More exciting was the much higher quality of drivers on the entry list. No fewer than seven previous national champion drivers were at the start! Of the 38 cars on the entry list, 29 were orthodox Group N Mitsubishis or Subarus with six Super 1600s, including one Suzuki team Ignis and two development Fiestas.

This was the first time the two Higgins brothers had vied against each other in Group N cars, Mark finishing second after two punctures and David fourth after differential troubles.

Champion the champion

l Barry Clark (above) won the Super 1600 category in his Fiesta, while Ryan Champion (top) won overall. (Pics: www.cmwi.net, Martin Holmes)

David Higgins took an early lead but by the end of the first

day Mark was well ahead. On the second stage of the second day he had the first of his punctures, letting Ryan Champion into the lead by 8.4 seconds.

Higgins could, however, regain that time in the remaining stages but the second puncture put paid to hopes of victory.

Champion, meanwhile, had

a series of problems including clutch trouble, gearbox failure, and then he had to drive the last few stages with no sumpguard under the car.

In a rally full of “what ifs”, veteran former champion driver, Gwyndaf Evans, was lying second overnight and in line to inherit the lead but for service delay penalties. The fates of other former champions were that Martin Rowe retired when fifth when he rolled, and Jonny Milner was delayed with fuel problems.

Alister McRae finished seventh and Tapio Laukkanen 11th.

The eventual winner of the S1600 category was reigning Group N champion Barry Clark (Fiesta) after Guy Wilks had led until the penultimate stage, despite suffering endless troubles en route, including brake troubles, rear suspension trouble, broken shock absorbers and finally engine failure.

- MARTIN HOLMES

Justin Dale: Renault Clio 16th O/R, 1st Class R3

Pirelli Rally - BRC1

08 8332 8811 26 - July 2006

1. Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley 2. Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy 3. Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis 4. David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas 5. Jonny Milner/Nick Beech 6. Phillip Morrow/Daniel Barritt

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Subaru Impreza Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo

1h.45m.37.8s.

1h.45m.50.6s.

1h.45m.58.4s.

1h.46m.56.6s.

1h.47m.16.6s.

1h.47m.30.1s.

WIN A TRIP FOR 2 TO THE RALLY OF NEW ZEALAND H

ow would you and a friend like to be spectating at this year’s Rally New Zealand (November 15 – 20) – absolutely free*? RallySport Magazine is giving you the opportunity of winning this fabulous 6 day/5 night WRC experience valued at $4,000.

We’ll fly you and a friend to Auckland with Air New Zealand, you’ll stay in first class accommodation with breakfast included, we’ll give you Gold Passes to the rally and chauffeur you around in our exclusive mini coach to the best spectator points and service parks.

This fabulous prize is only open to readers of RallySport Magazine – and you could be the lucky winner!

Just collect three (3) original tokens which you will find inside the June, July and August 2006 issues of RallySport Magazine, put them in an envelope with your name, address and daytime phone number on the back, and send them to : WIN A TRIP TO RALLY NZ, C/- RallySport Magazine, P.O. Box 784, Wangaratta, Vic. 3676.

You can enter as many times as you like but each entry must contain three (3) original coupons and must be in a separate envelope. All entries must be received by Friday, August 25. Winner will be notified and their name published in the October 2006 issue of RallySport Magazine (on sale September 15). *Full competition Terms and Conditions are availabile on our website www.rallysportmag.com

A WRC tour package valued at $4000

Rally New Zealand token

July 2006 - 27

THE GREAT GOURMET

Rally Experience

L

ate last year I was approached by a very good client of RallySport Magazine who was interested in giving some colleagues a unique rally experience.

This set the wheels in motion for the inaugural RallySport Magazine tour to the 2006 Otago Rally, based in Dunedin, New Zealand and held over the weekend of May 6 & 7.

With the event based within such close proximity to Dunedin, and therefore with not a lot of travelling required, this event was a perfect way to combine some rally action with an enjoyable weekend sampling the tastes and sights of the Otago region. Here’s how we spent the weekend…….

Arriving in Dunedin on Friday afternoon, the group of 12 were met by myself and transferred to our hotel to unpack. There wasn’t time to waste, though, as we gathered in the hotel bar for an ‘information’ session at 4.45pm before transferring to Forbury Park Raceway for the publicity stage of the rally.

Of the 12, only 4 had ever been to a rally before, so it was a real learning experience for most of the party. On the way to Forbury Park, a quick run-down was given on pacenoting, the different types of vehicles in the event, and other general rally information.

Friday night’s stage at Forbury Park saw a selected number of crews go head to head around the track and got everyone pumped up for the weekend’s action. The night was cold but our VIP spectator passes guaranteed us grandstand seats, so at least we were out of the wind.

After returning to our hotel and putting away the beanies and scarves, the group enjoyed a lovely dinner together.

Our mini bus driver Ken, from Otago Explorer Tours, collected 28 - July 2006

l The tour group enjoyed their Otago Rally experience (top), and their tour afterwards, which included a helicopter flight over this glacier.

us from the hotel at 8.30 on Saturday morning. Our first stop was on Special Stage 1, Whare Flat, a pine plantation stage only about 15 minutes from the city.

From here we headed a bit further south to the McIntosh Road stage, which provided sensational views of not only the rally action, but also the coast to our left and the mountains to our right. Most people took the opportunity to photograph the scenery as well as the cars.

The NZ Rally Championship competitors were first on the road, but most agreed the Classics were the ones they wanted to watch, and they didn’t disappoint. The sound of a BDA engine approaching is still an awesome sound 25 years on.

By now we were all a little hungry, so Ken recommended a pub lunch in Mosgiel (a ‘satellite suburb’ of Dunedin). In glorious sunshine we ate a delicious lunch and talked about the morning’s action, before heading back into Dunedin for the final stage of the day, the Super Special around the wharf area of the city. After watching

the entire field of about 80 cars (two at a time on the track), we returned to our hotel to shower before our three course dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.

S

unday’s start was a little earlier, with 7.30 the departure time. In thick fog, we headed straight to the start control of the day’s first stage and this gave everyone the opportunity to chat to the drivers and watch the cars accelerate from the start line.

Next stop was the service park at Lake Waihola which gave the group members a fascinating insight into rallying. They were impressed by the large service trucks the NZRC crews had, but more so by the privateers who changed their own tyres at service! After a cappuccino from the mobile coffee van, we then visited the last forest stage of the event, the Wenita Coast stage.

This was the longest stage of the rally at almost 45 km and proved to be the one to provide the most entertainment.

As everyone was focusing their cameras in readiness for the

arrival of the first car, the zero car approached. As cameras clicked, the Evo 9 managed a spectacular roll right before our eyes, ending his run there and then!

There was plenty of attrition on this stage, and Jimmy McRae was forced out on this stage. McRae’s co-driver was sent up the road to our corner to report their incident, and the still-pale Gary Smith told us they had rolled whilst flat out in fifth, ending their event.

It was now lunchtime again, and as the tour had become known as the Gourmet Rally Experience, we put it on Ken to come up with another great venue for lunch. He didn’t disappoint, and as the fog had lifted long ago, we again ate outdoors in the sunshine, enjoying some fine Otago hospitality.

Ken had promised us a sightseeing tour of Dunedin, so we set off to see the sights. The beautiful St. Kilda beach provided a great backdrop for our group photo, and we also saw some of Dunedin’s historic buildings.

Of course, no visit to Dunedin is complete without a visit to Baldwin Street (the world’s steepest street), and Ken gave us the real experience by actually driving the bus up to the top!

There were a couple of nervous passengers who chose to walk down, but all ended safely.

Back at the hotel we had time for a quick shower before heading off to the rally Presentation Dinner at the Dunedin Town Hall. After a smorgasbord meal, the prize giving took place, as did an auction of rally items, MC’d by Ross Dunkerton who had everyone in stitches. It was then time to return to the hotel for our last night in Dunedin.

Some of the group took the opportunity to stay on in New Zealand, whilst the rest returned home on Monday after a most enjoyable weekend.

The RallySport Magazine tour was a great success with all those taking part vowing to return to New Zealand’s South Island, and who knows, we may even see some of these new rally fans around the stages of their nearest rally some time in the future.

RallySport Magazine would like to thank Col Fletcher from Motor One Group for initiating the tour, and Ian McLean from Southern World Vacations NZ for making all the land arrangements.

Thanks also to Otago Explorer Tours, especially Ken, for a most enjoyable weekend.

- CAROLYN SCHONAFINGER

It took a come-from-behind drive and the closest result in 32 years of national championship rallying for Chris West to complete his hat trick of Otago Rally wins at the opening round of the New Zealand Rally Cham pionship.

A puncture through heat one’s opening stage meant West \ was on the back foot from the start.

He also had to combat a niggling problem with his Subaru’s centre differential over both heats of the event, but still managed to run his arch-rival and defending national champion Richard Mason (Subaru) to ground on the penultimate stage of the two day, two heat event.

Mason, who claimed the win in the opening heat by 9.5 seconds from West, found himself second by 9.7 seconds in the second heat. While the pair took equal national championship points from the weekend based on their placings in each heat, West’s 0.2 second advantage in the overall standings was enough to give him the rally win.

“It was a bit close,” said West.

“But it doesn’t matter how much you win by. After Saturday I thought that being in this position at the end would be an outside chance at best, but I gave it 110%, and just made it” Mason and West were both forced to give second-best to Emma Gilmour and Sam Murray on Sunday’s second heat.

Gilmour became the first woman to lead a heat of the national series after setting equalfastest time with West on heat two’s first stage and winning the second stage outright. She was beaten through the next stage

by West and Mason, but held off a strong challenge from Murray for the rest of the day to finish the heat in third place.

She was also placed as high

Hat trick for West

l Chris West and Garry Cowen took the narrowest victory in NZRC history, winning by just 0.2 of a second.

By David Thomson as second in Saturday’s opening heat, but slipped to fourth behind Mason, West and Murray after spinning her Subaru on the fifth special stage of the event.

“While Saturday was good, it was fantastic to start Sunday with those two stage wins,” Gilmour said. “In a sense I am disappointed because I was just a bit off the case on the next stages, and that was enough to allow West and Mason by.”

Fifth-placed honours for the rally went to Mitsubishi’s first driver, Brett Martin, who finished sixth in heat one and

l Emma Gilmour lead Heat 2 with two stage wins in her WRX.

seventh on heat two. Fellow Mitsubishi Lancer driver Dylan Turner was sixth for the weekend ahead of Todd Bawden (Subaru).

Mitsubishi trio Dermott Malley, Patrick Malley and Grant Barber completed the top ten.

Those to strike trouble included Dean Sumner (Mitsubishi) who retired with overheating on heat one, but returned to finish fifth on heat two. Glenn Smith (Subaru) was fifth on heat one, but retired from heat two with a broken driveshaft.

Promising teenager Haydon Paddon (Mitsubishi) finished ninth on heat one but suffered a turbo failure at the start of heat two, while Lee-Anne Barnes rolled her Mitsubishi Lancer Evo into retirement during leg two after finishing tenth in heat one.

Top-honours in the Kiwi 2 class from two-wheel-drive cars went to Kayne Barrie (Nissan) in heat one, and to Jason West (Suzuki) in heat two.

Aaron Cook (Honda) took the round win for the category with solid performances in both heats, ahead of West.

PHOTOS: Geoff Ridder, Greg Fitzgerald

l Aussie spectator, Col Fletcher, took these photos of Dunedin’s Mike Turfus rolling his Lancer Evo 9 at the spectator point near Waihola on Day 2. To make matters worse, Turfus was the zero car and ended up with cuts to his elbow!

Rally of Otago - NZRC1 NEW ZEALAND RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS - After Round 1 Silverstone Race to the Sky =1. Chris West / Garry Cowen Subaru Impreza WRX 59pts

l Sam Murray lies equal third in the NZRC after the Rally of Otago.

=1. Richard Mason / Sarah Randall =3. Emma Gilmour / Chris Cobham =3. Sam Murray / Robert Ryan 5. Brett Martin / Raymond Bennett 6. Dylan Turner / Sandy Bansal

Subaru Impreza WRX Subaru Impreza WRX Subaru Impreza WRX Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9

59 43 43 30 29 July 2006 - 29

Words: Peter Whitten Pics: Geoff Ridder, Greg Fitzgerald

PASI THE GREAT

F

inland’s Pasi Hagstrom put in a totally dominant performance to win the Dunlop International Classic Rally of Otago, bringing his Ford Escort RS1800 home over three minutes in front of his nearest challenger.

The test driver for the Subaru World Rally Team, Hagstrom won the event in 2004, but finished second to team-mate Jimmy McRae in 2005 after his car was delayed after a water crossing. However he made amends this year, winning nine of the event’s 13 stages.

This year’s entry featured 33 entries, headed by Hagstrom and McRae in the twin Rosendale Wines Escort BDAs, and joined in the same team by the Porsche 911 RS of Alex Fiorio and Fabrizia Pons. Aussie Ross Dunkerton was at the wheel of a hybrid rotary-powered Corolla, while local hotshots capable of a top three placing included Deane Buist and Jeff Judd in Escorts, and Duncan McCrostie in a Nissan Bluebird Turbo.

After torrential rain in the days leading up to the event

l Jimmy McRae reads the pacenotes prior to the first stage on Day 1.

– six inches fell in just 24 hours – the event got underway in brilliant weather with not a cloud in the sky.

DAY ONE

After a publicity start in Dunedin on the Friday night, competitors headed south west of the city for the stages proper.

Over the first day it was clear that Hagstrom was intent on stamping his authority on the

l Mark Laughton’s V8 Avenger - as spectacular as ever on the tarmac.

30 - July 2006

event, and despite holding a lead of nearly a minute and a half after the first day, he was adamant that it would only take a puncture for his lead to be gone.

Christchurch speedster Deane Buist, in a brand new, stateof-the-art Escort, lay second, winning the fourth stage (his favourite) which travels along a narrow hilltop before plunging steeply to the finish control. But

despite his efforts, Buist could not match the scintillating pace of the Finn.

Italian Alex Fiorio, making his Otago debut, was third in a Porsche that he was quickly getting to grips with, followed by Jeff Judd’s Escort and Dunkerton’s Corolla. Jimmy McRae was back in sixth place, suffering the effects of a pre-event motorbike accident which cracked one of the Scotsman’s ribs, and any hopes of a repeat victory looked dashed. He was over three minutes from the lead.

Duncan McCrostie had set a good time on the first stage just out of Dunedin, but the local driver’s hopes were dashed near the end of the stage when his Nissan broke its diff. He rejoined the event later in the day (as the classic rally rules allow), but he was now driving for fun, rather than for results.

Also out of the event on a day of surprisingly low attrition was Aussie Keith Callinan in his thundering 7 litre Monaro. He’d been an impressive eighth until the oil light came on during the final forest stage and he had to retire.

The weather remained fine throughout the day, and after a final refuel break at the Lake Waihola service park, crews headed back to Dunedin for the final stage of the day, a four lap tarmac dash around the streets of the city.

Of the other Australian crews competing, both in 2-litre Ford Escorts, Peter Whitten and Dunedin co-driver Roger Oakley had moved from 24th to 12th after a steady run, while Queenslanders Mike Page and Tony Best had suffered overheating problems before hitting a rock, damaging their front suspension and retiring on the final forest stage.

Both the crews running in the New Zealand Championship and the classic rally cars were free to do their own thing, meaning that many cars which retired on day one would return on day

l John Kershaw’s quick HSR Chevette on two wheels on Day 1.

two, giving spectators plenty of action to see.

DAY TWO

After overnight rain, the skies again cleared for the final six stages and 120km of competitive action in the Otago Classic Rally. The day started with the popular Waipori Gorge stage, a twisty 13km run which follows the Waipori River on a supersmooth road.

Deane Buist started the day well to knock Hagstrom off his perch, but it was only by 0.3 of a second, but when the Kiwi punctured a front tyre two stages later, he dropped nearly five minutes and was ultimately out of the running.

If day one had been relatively free of retirements, day two was the opposite. On the first stage Glen Buist (brother of Deane) retired his BDA Escort with oil pump failure, and Mark Laughton’s booming V8 Hillman Avenger expired with a dead fuel pump.

As Hagstrom continued to move ahead of the field, others faltered in his wake. Jimmy McRae went off the road for six minutes on the day’s third stage, then crashed out of the rally on the final forest stage, rolling his Escort off the road and onto its roof.

Dunkerton’s hopes were dashed when, on stage 11, his Corolla dramatically caught fire and he and co-driver Alan Stean were left trying desperately to stop the local car from burning to the ground. They did so successfully, but their rally was run.

Alex Fiorio, meanwhile, was having a troublefree run in the Porsche and secured second place as he proved to be more than a match for Jeff Judd over the final day. Buist recovered well to finish fourth after his puncture, while Chris Barnett

l Alex Fiorio was impressed with the Porsche 911 and is keen to return to Otago in 2007 to chase victory.

rounded out the top five in his Mazda RX7.

Two Triumph TR7 V8s were next – those of Garry Adcock and former Targa NZ winner Mark Parsons, while RallySport Magazine’s Peter Whitten moved up four places on the final day to finish eighth. Whitten had a good battle on the final day with John Kershaw in an ex-works Vauxhall Chevette HSR, eventually moving ahead on the final stage around the Forbury Park trotting track.

Pasi Hagstrom’s dominance of the event was almost total, despite the Finn driving the same Escort, in the same specification, as he did in 2004 and 2005.

To highlight his commitment this year, you need only to look at his times. On the Waipori Gorge stage this year he was 14 seconds quicker than in 2005, while on the following 20km Cinibar stage he was a massive 39 seconds faster. It just goes to show how much winning meant to him in 2006.

Once again the Otago Classic Rally was a huge success.

More spectators were apparent this year, and many of those included Australians who flew

l Crowd favourite, Deane Buist, drove a brand new Escort RS1800.

to the event with the idea of competing in 2007. With the competitor assistance packages on offer from the organisers, it’s likely that the event will go from strength to strength in the years to come.

And, with the participation of the international stars, it gives every competitor something to aim for, whether victory be a possibility or not.

OTAGO OFFERINGS PAGES 32-33

Dunlop Classic Rally of Otago

l Aussie Mike Page had a troubled rally in his 2-litre Escort.

1. Pasi Hagstrom / Ian McKee 2. Alex Fiorio / Fabrizia Pons 3. Jeff Judd / Richard Atkinson 4. Deane Buist / Rocky Hudson 5. Chris Barnett / Chris Lancaster 6. Garry Adcock / Mark Dalton 7. Mark Parsons / Mal Clark 8. Peter Whitten / Roger Oakley 9. John Kershaw / Jane Buckman 10. Merv Thatcher / James Cowles Leading retirements 1. Jimmy McRae / Gary Smith 5. Ross Dunkerton / Alan Stean 9. Duncan McCrostie / Murray Marshall 11. Michael Page / Tony Best 12. Steven Carr / Craig Millar 14. Glenn Buist / Greg Honour 16. Keith Callinan / Mary Anne Callinan 17. Mark Laughton / Michael Cooper

Ford Escort RS1800 Porsche 911 RS Ford Escort RS1800 Ford Escort RS1800 Mazda RX7 Triumph TR7 V8 Triumph TR7 V8 Ford Escort RS2000 Vauxhall Chevette HSR Mitsubishi Starion Turbo

2h18m55.9s +3m20.2s +4m26.0s +7m12.6s +10m42.1s +10m51.7s +16m18.0s +16m49.8s +16m55.7s +18m49.7s

Ford Escort RS1800 Toyota Corolla Rotary Nissan Bluebird Turbo Ford Escort RS2000 Mazda RX7 Ford Escort RS1800 Holden Monaro Hillman Avenger V8

Rolled SS12 Fire SS11 Diff SS1 Off road SS6 Gearbox SS12 Oil pump SS8 Engine SS6 Fuel pump SS8 July 2006 - 31

OTAGO OF

ONE PASS RECCE THAT WORKS

l Control officials rug up against the early morning cold on Day 2.

l Keith Callinan had an expensive engine failure late on the first day.

New Zealand’s national championship (and the Otago Classic Rally) is pacenoted but, unlike Australian events, use a Swedish pacenoting system where competitors are provided with a set of pacenotes, and then have the chance to check and/or amend the notes with a single pass reconnaissance.

Australian Championships events use a two-pass recce system where competitors are required to write their own notes, but the New Zealand system works quite well.

The notes are, on the main, very accurate and use a 1 to 8 number system. The recce took around nine hours and involves a lead car, and tail car, and two official vehicles in the middle of the pack to stop the competitors getting too spread out.

In New Zealand where dust is not as big a problem as in Australia, it works very well, but here in Australia it would perhaps take longer and involve a little more planning.

Nevertheless, the notes are accurate enough to drive fast on them, although like with any pacenotes, it’s up to the driver to put in his individual notes such as ‘keep in’ or ‘caution’ or other advisory advice that these notes don’t always include.

Overall though, it’s a great system and makes rallying a whole lot safer.

JUST HOLDEN TOGETHER?

Likeable Queenslander Keith Callinan thrills the crowds wherever he goes with the grunt and sound of his big V8 Holden Monaro, but in recent times has had trouble getting engines to last the distance.

For the Otago Rally he had a new 7-litre that, despite costing double his quoted rebuild figure, was producing 355kW at the rear wheels!

All was going well and he was in eighth place (some effort!) until the oil light came on near the end of the final forest stage of Day One, and he and wife Mary Anne had to retire.

It was a real shame for the excited spectators, and put an end to a potentially great result.

DUNK’S TERRORIST ATTACK

If Ross Dunkerton didn’t have an ending to his autobiography, he does now! For the second 32 - July 2006

year in a row Dunk drove a hybrid Corolla with a rotary engine.

All was going well until near the end of the final day. It appears that the dry sump tank in the boot of the car was leaking oil, and with rotaries back firing and shooting flames the way they do, it was a recipe for disaster.

At around 100mph, the oil and flame produced a mind-numbing explosion, sending flame shooting through the cabin and singeing co-driver Alan Stean’s eye brows (fair dinkum!). Dunk quickly pulled the car up, but the nylon in the boot lock had melted and he couldn’t get the boot open.

With the fire raging and the car looking like being burnt to the ground, our hero stood, arms raised, in the middle of the road as he waved the next competitive car down.

Said car had (of all things) a tyre lever in the boot, and the Corolla’s boot was eventually prised open and the fire extinguished. Dunk’s much-loved Mitsubishi jacket was badly singed in the fire, yet he remained upbeat about the drama and proudly wore his jacket around at the event finish and at the presentation night.

It was probably one of the Australian rallying legend’s most dramatic exits from a rally.

GOING ONCE ……..

One of the highlights of the Otago Rally each year is the auction at the presentation dinner, where many items of memorabilia are put under the hammer.

This year the highest money earner was a signed photograph of Jimmy McRae (taken last yer

by RallySport Mag’s Peter Whitten) which sold for $500.

Ross Dunkerton’s battered Mitsubishi jacket (see above) went for $400, while a number of other items ensured that there was plenty of money raised to help bring more international stars back to the event in 2007.

A FLYING SCOTSMAN – LITERALLY

Jimmy McRae had an eventful few days in New Zealand that he probably wants to forget. After winning the event in 2005 he was hopeful of a similar result, but things didn’t go at all to plan.

Before the event he and Pasi Hagstrom went motorbike riding, only for the Scot to fall off (at

FFERINGS low speed) and crack a rib.

Then on the event he went off the road on day two, losing six minutes, before eventually rolling out of the rally on the final forest stage, his Escort ending upside down in a creek.

“I approached the corner flat in fifth gear – I should have been in third gear,” he said afterwards.

Ouch!

YOU’LL NEVER LEARN, SON!

After his event-ending accident, McRae thought he’d better do the right thing and send text messages to his family, advising them of his accident and that he was okay.

The reply from son Colin went something along the lines of: “You have to calm down son.

How do you expect to make it to the top if you don’t calm yourself down?” Wonder where young Colin had heard that before?

AS LONG AS YOUR ARM

Two-time WRC runner-up, Alex Fiorio, was originally scheduled to drive one of the Rossendale team Escort BDAs at Otago, but when the Italian insisted he be given a left-hand drive car, things got tricky.

Team owner Brent Rawstron then purchased Gwynn Gilmour’s Porsche 911 a few days before the event. After a preevent test, Fiorio and co-driver Fabrizia Pons produced an A4 sheet of paper full of changes they required to be made to the car prior to the start.

The list included everything from shifting the tripmeter to putting in a false floor to get the pedals to Fiorio’s liking. A super human effort saw all the requests met, and Fiorio arrived at the start a happy man – although we’re not too sure the service crew had the same feelings.

A PLEASING PORCA

Fiorio admitted before the event that he expected his Porsche to be slow and (perhaps) unreliable. But he was quickly converted to classic rallying and described the car as “much faster than I expected”.

That the car ran faultlessly throughout the event and he finished second made him even happier, although he made it know at the finish that he’s keen to return in 2007 and beat Pasi Hagstrom at his own game.

That’s a battle we can’t wait to see.

l Ross Dunkerton and his Toyota - complete with ‘Dunko’ plates.

AUTOMATIC MAGIC

Tony Johnston had one of the most unusual cars in the classic rally field. While there have been many Ford Capris rallying over the years, we suspect very few would have been fitted with a V8 engine AND automatic transmission.

Johnston said the car was great fun to drive. “Once on the stage I left foot brake and just keep changing between second and third gears,” he said. His only problems come when he forgets to take the car out of D for drive when he starts a stage!

SLIP SLIDING AWAY

The Dunedin City Council did amazing things to ensure that the rally went ahead as scheduled. After six inches of rain fell on the Otago region in the week leading up to the rally, many land slides occurred and many roads were impassable.

The Whare Flat stage, just out of Dunedin, was the worst affected and looked like being lost, however the council put in a huge effort to repair three water crossings and much of the stage.

So impressive was their dedication to the rally, that they

put the rally repairs ahead of a bridge repair on the main bitumen road which was adjacent to the stage. Well done to the Dunedin Council!

THE BEST, SAYS WEST

Winner of the NZ Championship part of the Otago Rally, Chris West, is a former New Zealand Rally Champion. The Subaru NZ driver described the Otago Rally as the best in the series, which went down well with event organisers at the presentation.

The Otago roads are widely regarded as the best in the country as well.

MAN OF MANY TALENTS

l Gary Adcock and his booming Triumph TR7 V8 were sixth.

Otago Rally sponsorship and promotion manager, Roger Oakley, is a man of many talents.

Before the event he’s in charge of helping to get the big name drivers to the event, helping overseas competitors with assistance packages and arranging sponsorship for the rally, all of which is no mean feat.

This year, however, he added to his workload by co-driving for RallySport Mag’s Peter Whitten, a job he did with ease. As soon as the event was finished though, he put his event hat back on and set about organis-

ing the prizes for the presentation that night.

A few hours later he was back in his office at his other job, that of a civil engineer. It was some effort!

BETTER NOT ALWAYS QUICKER

Popular Kiwi driver, Deane Buist, debuted a brand new Escort RS1800 at Otago which featured many modern items of technology, such as Proflex suspension. His car was of a more modern specification to that of event winner Pasi Hagstrom. “I reckon I’ve got a better car than Pasi, but I can’t get near him on the stages,” was Buist’s honest reply when questioned about the Finn’s dominance.

LOCAL LEARNING

One stage that Pasi Hagstrom didn’t beat Deane Buist on in 2005 was the tricky (and dangerous) McIntosh Road test.

Hagstrom admitted to watching Buist’s in-car footage from the event before he flew to New Zealand, and vowed to copy his rival’s style on the stage.

Despite all his efforts though, it didn’t work as Buist again won the stage, albeit by only 1.5 seconds!

- PETER WHITTEN July 2006 - 33

OVERALL WINNER OTAGO CLASSIC 2002 & 2003 DRIVER BRIAN STOKES

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& 34 - July 2006

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Photos: Geoff Ridder, Clare Whitten, Greg Fitzgerald, Chris Garden

A weekend in

RALLY HEAVEN

Peter Whitten lives a dream by contesting the Otago Rally

L

ike any Australian rally fan who has grown up with images of Group B cars at the Rally of New Zealand foremost in their mind, it has always been my dream to compete in a rally in the land of the long white cloud.

I never thought that would be possible, but through my association with the Otago Rally and the Otago Sports Car Club, this year my dream came true as I fronted as part of the field in the event, held from May 5-8.

Initial discussions took place before Christmas with the event’s Roger Oakley, the man charged with organising sponsorship and promotion for the

popular rally. From the outset it was obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to afford the cost of freighting my own car to the event, so Roger started looking into the options of leasing a car in which to contest the rally.

Not long after, he came up with a deal to lease a Ford Escort Mk2 owned by former Otago Rally winning co-driver Bryce Biggs. A car with modest, yet reliable specifications, the Escort had a 2-litre Pinto motor developing around 160 horsepower, a close ratio four-speed gearbox, 3-link rear axle, LSD with a 4.4:1 centre, good brakes, and came with the ‘horny’ forest arches which Escorts became famous

for having.

With a service crew and petrol provided by the Otago Sports Car Club as part of the overseas entrant assistance package, everything seemed to be taken care of. All I had to do was find a co-driver and show up ready for the start.

A former national championship-level co-driver, Roger was more than willing to call the pacenotes in what would be his 17th Otago Rally, although he was quick to point out that his finishing rate wasn’t all that good. Nevertheless, I arrived in Dunedin ready and raring to go on the Wednesday before the rally got underway.

Having picked the car up from the freight company (it had arrived that day from Christchurch), we drove the car to Roger’s workshop to have a quick look at what needed doing the following day.

The car had recently been repaired after another Australian (who leased the car) had rolled it on an event last year, and it was resplendent in its new dark blue paint scheme. All that had to be done before our test session on the Thursday afternoon was to move the driver’s seat into a position that suited me, and do a check to make sure everything was in place and securely located – items such

July 2006 - 35

as the jack, spare wheel, safety triangles and the like.

Most of our pre-event preparation involved fitting a mount for a video camera, but this took less than an hour and we were soon ready to head south of Dunedin to do some testing – all of which was included in the lease fee.

The test road was on fellow competitor Duncan McCrostie’s farm near Balclutha, and while it wasn’t ideally suited to learning how to drive a new car because of its nasty crests and big drops, it did give me a feel for how the car handled and stopped. One of the pleasing things was that the brakes were set up perfectly, and I didn’t need to play with the bias adjuster at any time during the rally.

Once testing was complete we returned to Dunedin and while Roger and I spent Friday doing reconnaissance, service crew chief, Paul Goatley, and his team prepped the car in readiness for the event, fitting new tyres, applying event signage and giving everything a thorough check.

W

ith the rally underway I was determined not to doing anything silly and, most importantly, wanted to get the car to the finish and get the full value of the experience on offer. We started 24th of the 33 classic entries, so a target of a top 15 result seemed a realistic aim.

Things didn’t start well, however, when the intercom failed on the first stage, meaning I had to drive the stage ‘blind’. Despite being fitted with an expensive Peltor intercom, it went to prove that nothing is fool proof.

We also had a similar problem on another stage on the first day, and the team’s auto electrician later found that only two of the five wires in the intercom were connected.

It was one of those little things that can lead to frustration.

Mechanically the car ran perfectly on the first day, never missing a beat as I strived to get used to the endless South Island crests and the speed of the local hotshots (not easy with no intercom and hence, no pacenotes!).

Our only other glitch was when the car overheated on the third stage, but after we removed the radiator cap and added more water after the stage, we discovered that the problem was nothing more than an air blockage in the system – easily fixed.

We finished the first day with the first of two 40km plus stages, and while we never expected to be able to get near the big horsepower cars on a stage that seemed to

36 - July 2006

l The Escort proved to be reliable and more than up to the task. It was great fun to drive too!

N be forever uphill, we were more than happy with 13th quickest time and ended the day in 12th place.

Our hopes of a top 15 result were now well within reach, and I wondered whether a top 10 result was possible. Given the calibre of cars ahead of us, we wouldn’t get there on speed, but with a low attrition rate on Day One, it was almost expected that more cars would drop out on Day Two. We concluded the day with service at a local workshop where our crew went over the car from head to toe, fitted new tyres, repaired the intercom and made sure we were ready for another day of rallying.

A

little overnight rain did nothing to dampen our spirits as Sunday dawned fine and sunny. We had a further six stages to tackle, starting with probably the rally’s most famous, Waipori Gorge. The 13km stage runs up the valley beside and across the Waipori River, and is pretty much rally heaven. Nearly all the corners are second or third gear and the surface is smooth and hard packed.

Immediately the second day blues started for some crews and we passed two classic cars on the stage, one of which was ahead of us before the start. We were up to 11th.

The following stage was 20km long, but interestingly, finished with a run out of the forest which was around 5km long and the car was never out of third or fourth gear.

Seeing the shift light on the Escort repeatedly come on meant we we traveling at around 170km/h, but we later heard that

ot unexpectedly, car owner Bryce Biggs was like an expectant mother as he nervously paced around the service park during the Otago Rally.

While Bryce was being paid for the use of his car, it’s a nerve racking experience when an unknown driver is blasting through the countryside in your car.

But we couldn’t have had a better leasee. At no stage was I given instructions about how to drive the car, what to do or what not to do, and Bryce was always there ready to lend assistance to the service crew and make sure that my New Zealand ‘experience’ was everything that I wanted it to be.

It’s an experience I can’t recommend highly enough.

the more powerful cars, including Fiorio’s Porsche, were traveling at over 220km/h!

A slight fuel vaporisation problem surfaced on the next stage and slowed us for the first 10km of the stage, but back at service our ever efficient crew turned the fuel pressure

up by about a pound and the problem was solved.

The final two real stages were perhaps the most enjoyable of the event from inside our car. The first was a public road stage over 15km. It was true NZ rallying and the car launched continually over crests and in full drifts around the sweeping turns, all on perfectly smooth gravel. This stage did, however, see the end of Ross Dunkerton when his mount caught fire.

The last forest stage, true to Otago tradition, was the longest of the event. At nearly 45km in ensured that the event was still ‘live’ going into the final stage, and as expected, it produced a sting in the tail. Jimmy McRae crashed his Escort out of the event, and another top 10 runner in a Mazda RX7 retired with gearbox failure.

We had minor problems of our own, with the alternator light flashing on and off from the 20km mark of the stage, but fortunately it didn’t slow us down and 29 minutes and 22 seconds later we arrived at the stage finish with grins a mile wide, knowing that we had claimed a placing in the top 10.

My highlight of the stage was coming over a crest and seeing nothing but the ocean and a big tanker ship sailing north towards Dunedin. It took a few moments to get my mind back on the job after that!

With all the tricky stages under our belt, all that was left was to negotiate the final 2km stage around the Forbury Park trotting track, in front of a big Sunday afternoon crowd. Unbeknown to us, we trailed John Kershaw’s pretty Vauxhall Chevette HSR by just 0.1 of a second going into the stage. The Chevette crew were all too aware of this, but weren’t letting on.

Fortunately we managed to beat them by six seconds on the stage, and took eighth place into the bargain.

l The successful team after securing 8th place in the 2006 Otago Classic Rally.

Silverstone Tyres, Seemore Motorsport Equipment, and all the guys in the service crew. We hope to see you all again in 2007!

L There were celebrations all round at the finish, with the crew, the service crew and the car owner all jubilant, and all for their own reasons. Roger and I had completed our aim, the service crew were given a relatively easy weekend, and car owner Bryce had a straight car to prepare for the next event!

Since the event the car has spent some time on the dyno and according to the Kiwis, the car (as I drove it) had 117bhp at the back wheels. With some playing around with the Dellorto carbies that were fitted, it is now producing 135bhp at the rear wheels, with a similar increase in torque!

All in all it was the experience of lifetime, and I’m already hoping to return in 2007 for another crack at the best event on the New Zealand rally calendar. I’d advise any Australian rally fans to follow my lead, and follow your dreams!

R

allySport Magazine would like to sincerely thank the following people for making our Otago Rally adventure such a memorable one: Roger Oakley, the Otago Sports Car Club, Bryce Biggs, Paul Goatley, Mark Laughton,

easing a rally car for an overseas event makes plenty of sense, not the least because you don’t have to pay the exorbitant shipping costs to get your car from Australia to New Zealand – usually around $4000.

After paying your lease fee, you simply have to get yourself to the event, where you’ll find your car ready to go. There are no lastminute pre-event dramas in getting the car ready, no hassles in getting your service crew to the event on time, and no worries about having to get out at a service break and change the tyres yourself. It’s all organised.

Of course there’s a chance of a mechanical failure that could end your event early, but that could happen in your own car, and in many respects, in a lease car it’s probably less likely as the car owner has tried to ensure that everything is in tip-top condition and will last the full distance of the rally.

Then, once the event’s finished, you get out of the car, hand it back to the owner and head home, not having to worry about all the postevent repairs (unless you crash it), and being able to bask in the glory of your overseas rallying adventure.

As I said, it makes a lot of sense!

July 2006 - 37

wishes to thank the follow at the 2006 Internationa

38 - July 2006

wing for their assistance al Classic Rally of Otago

Photo by Geoff Ridder July 2006 - 39

40 - July 2006

ALEX & FAB When Alex Fiorio and Fabrizia Pons contested this year’s Otago Classic Rally, it was the first time two of Italy’s most successful rally competitors had teamed up to together. Their opening test, taken in the comfort of Rally HQ, was to talk with David Thomson about their very different careers in the sport.

G

iven his family background, with a grandfather who raced in the famous Mille Miglia, and a father, Cesare, who was Lancia Team Chief from early 1973 through to the late 1980s, when he took the same position in the Ferrari F1 team, one might have expected Alex Fiorio to have petrol in his blood from an early age, but it wasn’t so.

“You know, when I was younger I would never go and see an event,” he says. “My father was there, but it was not interesting for me. I was skiing, only skiing, since I was six years old. My heroes were in skiing because that was my job, I was in the Italian team.”

Indeed, Fiorio won the Italian down hill title as an age-grade junior. By 1983 – the year that his father’s Martini Lancia team stars beat arch-rivals Audi to the world rally crown – he was 18 years old, and a full time ski teacher and trainer.

One of the members of that Audi team was 28-year old Fabrizia Pons, who since the 1981 Portuguese Rally had been codriver to Frenchwoman Michele Mouton. Together, the pair had won four world rallies already, and finished runner-up in the 1982 championship.

“I had no family background in motor sport,” Pons says. “The interest came from myself, starting I am not sure when, but perhaps from the beginning of my life.”

“I started with motocross when I was very young. This was the 1970s and it caused a big scandal in Turino – a woman doing motocross was something terrible, but I really loved it so much.”

“With motocross I had a lot of accidents, and the last one was a really big one,” she recalls.

“I had to be operated on three times, and it was just by luck that the feet stayed with my body, and were not cut away. The doctors said that I had to stop.”

“I had had to find something else with an engine. Rally cars!”

Although best remembered as a co-driver, Pons commenced her rallying career as a driver in 1976, around the time that Fiorio was enjoying junior skiing success in his pre-teen years.

Her first rally car was a tiny Autobianchi (one would also feature at the start of Fiorio’s rally career, 10 years later). She made an immediate impression, winning the Italian Ladies Cup in both 1976 and 1977.

Now driving for Opel, 1978 provided another Italian championship success. It also delivered the top 10 San Remo Rally finish that would later allow her to enjoy the almost unique distinction of having scored WRC points as both a driver and co-driver.

“Ya, ya,” she acknowledges with a big grin when asked about this feat. “It wasn’t such a strong field perhaps, but we finished eighth, so yes I also score points as a driver in the world championship.”

“Only two of us have done this.

The other is Jean-Claude Lefebvre [whose recent involvement in rallying has included a press officer role for the Peugeot WRC

l They have outstanding careers on their own, but Alex Fiorio and Fabrizia Pons teamed up for the first time in New Zealand to finish second.

team], who did it long before me.

We are a club of just two!”

Pons’ decision to give up driving was caused by that most common of problems, difficulty in making the next step up.

“In ’78 I was driving a Group 1 car for Opel Italy,” she says.

“I knew absolutely how fast, or slow, I was with a Group 1 car, and now I wanted to grow, not be stuck in this Group 1. But I didn’t find a car to grow out of Group 1 and find if I was fast enough, or maybe not fast enough, to win a rally. That is when I decided to stop.

But Pons says she had not been ‘retired’ even for a month when an Italian driver – he raced under the nickname ‘Lucky’ – asked her to co-drive in Sicily because his regular co-driver was sick.

“I told him that I didn’t actually have a lot of experience in codriving, but he said it was better not a lot of experience than not

to do the event,” she says. “So I went there, and he asked me to continue all season. Some races we won, some we were very close to winning. It was a good partnership with the Fiat 131.”

Indeed the in their first full season together the pair won the International Mitropa Cup, a mini European Championship contested over selected events in Germany, Austria, Italy the Czech Republic, and Slovenia.

Ironically given her later career, the pair’s first win in a full-blown European championship win was against an Audi, driven by Germany’s Harald Demuth.

QUATTRO DAYS

After a season in the Italian national series with ‘Lucky’, Pons got the break that would make her for a time the highestprofile co-driver in international rallying.

“One day I received a funny

l Mouton and Pons heading for their historic first WRC victory in an Audi Quattro, at the Sanremo Rally in 1981.

July 2006 - 41

phone call from a lady saying: ‘OK Fabrizia, ciao, I am Michele Mouton, and I would like you to join me to do the world championship’.

“I was eating a meal with my mother at the time, and started to laugh, saying ‘yes, I am there already, OK, ciao’. Then when I had hung up I said to my mother what a bad I idea, someone is doing a joke on me!”

A day later Pons realized it was no joke, for the woman rang bank, very serious, and said: “Look, I am in Ingoldstadt, and everybody is here waiting for you. What are you doing?”

So began one of the most memmorable partnershps in Group B rallying. Mouton and Pons finished fourth on their first WRC event together in Portugal, and after a couple retirements and an average result in Finland, stunned the rallying fraternity by powering to victory on the San Remo.

“This was never a dream I had set myself, because my dream was always to contest the Safari,” Pons says. “In fact, in this period of my life I was only look-

ing in front of me: when I gave the time card for the last time control at San Remo, for me it was finished, and I was thinking about the next rally.”

“So everyone is saying to me ‘ Fabrizia you have just won’ , and I am saying ‘yes, OK, but in two I days I have to do testing, so please let me concentrate on what I have to do next!”

Asked if Audi management expected Mouton to be a world rally winner, Pons thinks carefully about a response.

“They were a little bit astonished when we started to fight to win,” she explains. And her team mates? “Yes, for sure, yes,” she says with a big smile. “This was the early 1980s, and it was a real shock for them!”

Mouton appeared from the outside to be a very particular driver, a view Pons confirms.

“Yes, her force was to concentrate on what she was doing, and to ask the absolute maximum from everybody. From herself first, and from all the team.”

1982, should have been the dream year for the pair, and with wins in Portugal, Greece

l Fabrizia Pons and Michele Mouton - together again in 2000.

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l Victory in Greece in 1982 - the season when Pons and Mouton so nearly won the World Rally Championship for Audi - they were second.

and Brazil they won more events than any other combination. In the end though, the might of Audi was not enough to prevent the ever-consistent Walter Rohrl from winning the title in his Opel Ascona.

The rallies Mouton led but retired from, including Rally New Zealand - on which the oil filter came loose on her car - and the Ivory Coast, where a series of bizarre incidents – including Pons losing her pace notes when the pair rolled – culminated in a terminal accident.

It was that accident that decided the championship, and the fact that Pons rather than Rohrl’s co-driver Christian Geistdorfer was awarded the coveted Halda Trophy seems to have been only a minor consolation. Indeed, even 24 years later Pons has a reflective tone in her voice as she describes the “absolute disappointment” she shared with Mouton at the end of the year.

1983 brought further disappointment in New Zealand, with another retirement, this time while leading by a massive margin when a big-end bolt broke.

“It was in our pocket, but while we could not really feel the problem, the team knew the engine was near the end,” she says. “They were reducing the power – turning down the boost to give less and less – but it was not enough.”

More positively, Pons fulfilled a lifetime ambition in 1983 when Audi decided it was time to tackle the awesome challenge of the Kenyan Safari with a three car team for Hannu Mikkola, Mouton and local ace Vic Preston Jnr. Pons’ Safari debut started well, but the Quattro kept stripping wheel nuts and shedding wheels.

“We lost five or six wheels and were fixing studs all the time,” she says. “This was of course a huge problem, and at the end we were third.”

A year later, they did not make the finish, but Pons’ enthusiasm for the event and the country is strong after further visits codriving for Piero Liatti.

“I love Kenya a lot,” she says.

“There are a lot of animals of course, and I just love animals.

For me it is a very nice place too because I have a lot of friends there. When we were there testing there was just a little bit of relaxation, this is for sure. When we were there only to prepare for it, it was hard, hard work.”

After a gruelling 11-rally WRC programme (remember, rallies and their associated pre-event preparation ran far longer back then), Mouton and Pons contested just a few of the five WRC rounds in ’84. An early-season highlight was finishing runnerup to Stig Blomqvist in the snow of Sweden, but the event Pons remembers is Pikes Peak.

Here, Mouton – initially driving on her own – took on the American establishment (not to mention Rod Millen). Her special Quattro was, by the standards of the day, a hugely advanced piece of technology, and even had an onboard computer (which alone weighed 100kg). Mouton, though, was missing her codriver alongside.

“She was supposed to go alone, but went once up hill, then phoned and said: ‘Fabrizia, without you I don’t do it’,” Pons says. “It was so funny, because the organisers did not expect a car with two drivers.”

“It wasn’t covered by the rules, and caused lots of little problems. For example they didn’t have the two stickers for the overalls that you needed in this time. Then when we actually won, they didn’t have two prizes… in the end they found me one, but it was a different one to Michele’s.”

1985 saw the pair forsake the world scene for the British Open Championship, driving at various points a standard Quattro, a Sport Quattro, and finally the ul-

timate Evolution 2 Quattro. While the year was a disaster – the pair led several rounds but finished only one – it did enable Pons to complete a record of having co-driven in every variant of the fearsome Group B Quattro.

“I was always interested in the technical aspect of the car, just as more recently it has been very nice to follow the development of the Volkswagen Touareg cross-country car from within the team,” Pons says. “But Volkswagen is still going, and I will not be there at the end. With Audi I really was there for each single, small step that made the whole story.”

She harbours few regrets about stopping when she did, at the end of 1985, after which

I had also met the man who I thought was the right man of my life, so I had no doubt. It was time.”

ENTER FIORIO

As the curtain fell on Group B and Pons settled down to start a family, so young Alex Fiorio found his way into rallying, taking up the sport after a broken leg forced a lay-off from skiing.

“Nobody knew because my father did not want it, but in winter ’84 I did some ice races,” Fiorio says. “I started with an Autobianci 112 car, a very little car.”

In 1985 Fiorio steped up to rallying with a Fiat Uno Turbo in the Italian championship. He showed early promise by winning the Fiat Uno Challenge,

l Fiorio driving for the Astra team on the 1992 Catalunya Rally.

Mouton moved to Peugeot and dominated the German championship. Fittingly perhaps, Pons was on hand when the fate of Group B was decided, back with Mouton for a one-off drive in Corsica.

“That bloody Corsica,” is how Pons describes the fateful 1986 event, on which Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto died.

“Actually [by the end of 1985] I was pretty well fed up and tired,” she explains of her decision to retire. “I had been doing four years or whatever of the championship, plus testing and everything, and needed to stop.

using part of the route for that year’s San Remo Rally. A year later he scored his first top-10 world championship finish on the same event, taking a Jolly Club Uno to seventh overall and second in Group A, behind that year’s Group A World Champion, Kenneth Eriksson.

“I did five events that year in Group A,” Fiorio explains, “Then in 1987 they stopped with Group B of course, and only had Group A and Group N. That was when I won the Group N world championship with Jolly Club in the Lancia.”

While Vittorio Caneva, who

was the more senior driver at Jolly Club, suffered numerous problems, Fiorio was consistent and quick. He ended up taking a handsome Group N world championship title, with class wins in Portugal, the United States and – most memorably – in Finland.

Here he was up against a young up-and-coming Finn in a near-identical car. His name was Tommi Makinen.

“On the last morning we start with Tommi 12 seconds behind me,” Fiorio remembers. “In the first stage he beat me by one second, and in the second stage he rolled. There is a very famous photo from Martin [Holmes] of his car standing on its nose.”

“Of our wins, that year’s best was in Finland, where nobody from outside [Scandinavia] had won before. After that Carlos Sainz won outright, then Didier Auriol. But before me, nobody.”

Fiorio, then, was a world champion in the class at the age of 22 years, a feat that would remain unmatched for many years, and the move to a full Group A car was thus a logical next step.

While his father would help him in other ways – such as forging a side-career in team management – driving in the works Martini Lancia Team was not an option so long as Cesare Fiorio was in charge.

“He was very clear on this,” Fiorio says. “He said ‘no, I cannot take you, because you are l Fiorio was outshone in his brief stint at Ford by Frenchman Francois Delecour - but so was World Champion Miki Biasion!

l Fiorio’s most successful years were with Lancia - a team run by his father in the 1980s.

my son’.

“I have some speaking with Toyota,” Fiorio adds. “But they say no no, you are coming here just to see our secrets, and then tell your father. It was a difficult position.”

So Fiorio stayed with Jolly Club, which at that time was very close in its standards and size to a full works team.

“Where Lancia would use 16 to 20 service vans on a big rally, Jolly Club would move with 14 vans,” Fiorio explains. “And, of course, when Lancia stopped officially they gave it all to Jolly Club. Today we see the same thing, with Citron and Ford in the WRC.” He would stick with the team through 1988 and 1989, finishing third in the world championship in ’88 and runner-up in ’89. Along the way, he finished second on six WRC events, in every case with a factory Martini Lancia – usually driven by Miki Biasion – ahead.

Fiorio won’t be drawn into discussing the possible politics that lay behind this, but given that he picks that class win on the 1000 Lakes as his world rallying highlight, one gathers that constant diet of podium placings without an outright win was frustrating.

“The worst was in San Remo July 2006 - 43

when I lose by five seconds to Miki after six days of race,” he says, recalling the 1989 event on which the pair (with Miki in a newer 16-valve car) fought a sustained battle with Carlos Sainz in his Toyota Celica. “It was the first time I cried at the end of a competition.”

In 1989, Fiorio’s father left Lancia for one of the top jobs in Italian sport, that of Ferrari F1 team chief.

Times had been tough for the Ferrari team of late, most notably in 1988, when McLaren drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost had won all but one race in the season. Ferrari, though, won three times in 1989, and for 1990 gained the services of reigning world champion Prost.

This time the Prost versus Senna battle was a Ferrari versus McLaren one, but it ended in tears for Prost and Ferrari with a famously controversial collision between the two drivers at Suzuka.

It was the Italian equivalent to the All Blacks stumbling in the World Cup, and just as the coach would come under intense pressure here, so the result was bad news for Ceasre Fiorio. He moved on to Ligier, and later Prost and Minardi. These days, he is an F1 commentator in Italy for Grand Prix racing.

44 - July 2006

With his father’s move to F1, Fiorio was able to drive a number of events for the Martini Lancia team in 1990. Third place on Rally Australia (he had finished fourth the year before) ahead of Possum Bourne was his best result, but it was the second of his three trips to Kenya for the Safari that he remembers most clearly.

“It is the best rally in the world because it is a very tactical rally,” he says. “You have to think so much: to know where to attack, to know where to go slower. You have to look after the car.

“I did all of the tests, and I think we stayed there about four months in all,” he says. “What I remember most is hitting big rocks and thinking the car must be destroyed, but it wasn’t. The car was built not to break!

Late in 1990 he shifted to Ford, making a promising start by finishing first of the factory team on his first attempt at the RAC Rally. 1991, however, started badly.

“When I arrive at Ford they say the car was fantastic, and [for 1991] this person arrives with me – nobody knows him – called Francois Delecour,” says Fiorio.

“It was me, Delecour, and Malcom Wilson at Monte Carlo, and Delecour was much the fastest of us [winning more stages than

any other driver].”

“So people started staying well the car is fine, but Fiorio doesn’t have it any more,” he recalls.

“He is just here for the money and does not want to race. That was not true – it was actually that Delecour, at that point on tarmac, before the accident, was not possible for anyone to beat.”

Fiorio justifies his claim by pointing to 1992, by which time he had been replaced on the Ford team by double World Champion Biaision.

“On tarmac the gap between him and Delecour is just the same as with me,” says Fiorio.

“That is when they understand that Delecour is very, very fast on these roads.”

With one ninth place, one tenth

place, and plenty of frustration to show for 1991, Fiorio was lining up a drive with Mazda from 1992, but after promising discussions in December 1991, the company announced in January it would be quitting world championship rallying.

“It was too late to find a factory drive of course, but then I find an Italian team, Astra, and we race six times in the WRC [over two seasons],” says Fiorio. “We had a good time, with fourth in Argentina, fifth in Spain, and five times in the top 10, all with a private car.”

The Astra team also contested several European championship rounds, with Fiorio making a speciality of the Cyprus Rally, on which he completed a hat trick of wins from 1992-1994.

Photos: Martin Holmes, Geoff Ridder, RallySport Magazine collection

NEXT MONTH: Ford & Subaru Fabrizia Pons teams up with Ari Vatanen, and Alex Fiorio becomes a team manager.

In Part 2, next month in RSM.

O

ne thing became very obvious to me in the recent 50th Anniversary Round Australia Rerun which was promoted by the Peugeot Car Club of Victoria, and that was that roads and driving conditions have changed substantially over the past 50 years.

As a result, the term “Rerun” which was given to the event was only marginally correct. Roads that once were nothing less than goat tracks in the Fifties are now (for the most part) wide sealed bitumen roads.

Rally schedules are now easily attainable, overnight stops are now spent in motels and cabins instead of on hotel front verandahs or on the floor of public halls. Finally, the task of keeping your car roadworthy or even moving in a forward direction is more a case today of checking the fluids and filling up with fuel than totally rebuilding anything that had broken or ceased to operate.

Nevertheless, for the 60 crews who tackled this 30 day, 10,000 kilometre circumnavigation of the eastern half of Australia, this year’s re-enactment was long enough and tough enough to satisfy most.

I had expected that the Rerun (initially to be called the Ampol Re-run but re-named due to Ampol’s reluctance to add its name to the event because of its intended aim of re-naming its Australian operations) to be a long, hard slog on mainly unsealed roads that proved so challenging in 1956.

I expected long, tough days on rough roads, de-bogging and de-ditching cars, and avoiding emus and kangaroos on outback sheep stations while trying to keep to impossible schedules. I should have known that it wasn’t – couldn’t be – anything like that in 2006.

Our current over-regulation of all things motoring prevented these features from being replicated and in some respects that was probably just as well.

When Wilf Murrell and Alan Taylor brought their near-standard Peugeot 403 to the finish line of the 1956 Ampol Trial in Sydney fifty years ago, motoring around Australia was regarded as one of the world’s greatest challenges.

It wasn’t just that 1950’s roads

The last great adventure?

were rough and rugged, it was also that motor cars were far less suitable for the sorts of driving that the Ampol Trial required. Imagine setting an event in those days!

Just finding suitable overnight stops in the Outback that could accommodate up to 200 crews, and that offered refueling facilities for the competing vehicles, or provided suitable communication in the event of an emergency! It was no small task.

Fortunately, technology and modern civilisaton has moved on, with the result that a true,

suitable for this event than the 1956 route) as a celebration of Peugeot’s win in that event 50 years on.

The route, starting in Sydney on April 23, went north as far as Bundaberg before turning south through Armidale and Parkes before reaching the half-way point in time and distance at Albury on May 6.

It was here that crews were able to either drop out of the event if they were unable to spare the time for the full event, or join to complete the second

RallySport Mag’s Round Oz adventure - pages 46 & 47

genuine re-run is no longer possible.

Be that as it may, Clerk of Course Graham Wallis did an admirable job in masterminding an event that was more ‘competitive tour’ than ‘re-run.’

Readers who have been following the story of RallySport Magazine’s Cortina preparation will know what the event was all about, however to refresh memories, the following will bring you up to date.

The aim of the re-run was to follow the route of the 1958 Ampol Trial (as it was more

half for the same reason.

T

he RallySport Magazine Cortina, crewed by Jeff Whitten and Terry Godde, was one of the latter.

From Albury the route headed west through Bendigo and Ballarat to Mildura and Renmark, completing its westward route at Port Augusta and Whyalla.

From Port Augusta the route generally followed the coast easterly through Adelaide, Mt Gambier, Melbourne and Lakes Entrance, finally spending a couple of days at Canberra be-

fore reaching the finish back in Sydney on May 21.

To compensate for the lack of 50’s-style trials tracks, Wallis introduced a number of sub-events (motorkhanas, hillclimbs, khanacrosses and autocrosses) at some well-known country locations where drivers were given their head against the clock.

These proved to be a great leveller and much anticipated after some rather long sections of bitumen road driving. There were also some navigation sections, including one night section from Wentworth in NSW to Renmark in SA which decimated the field, only 30% finding the correct route. In addition there were visits to places of interest (including the now-deserted Iron Knob open cut mine near Whyalla), car museums, historical sites and the mandatory Peugeot dealers on the route.

Many crews were familiar with the sort of event provided, having competed in the 1953 Redex Rerun, but there were a number of newcomers, like ourselves, who just wanted to experience a real Aussie car trial first hand.

What the Rerun did do was to draw out not only a number of the famous cars that competed in the 1956 event and others, but some of the winners and personalities who drove them.

If the original ’56 Ampol Trial couldn’t be followed to the letter, then nobody seemed to mind too much, given the progress in road construction mentioned earlier.

From RallySport Magazine’s point of view, 14 days living out of a suitcase was quite enough – those who were away for the whole event suffered this inconvenience for a month, yet didn’t complain all that much.

Bouquets to Graham Wallis and his team of helpers who took up the challenge of commemorating this early event, and kept the competitors entertained for a full month of rally re-enactment. It could be Wallis’s last long-duration event, which is a shame as he put an enormous amount of effort into ensuring that an iconic period of Australian trialling and rallying history was not forgotten.

The 1956 Round Australia 50th Anniversary Trial certainly did that.

- JEFF WHITTEN July 2006 - 45

S

tarting at the halfway point on the 2006 Peugeot Round Australia Re-run, RSM’s Jeff Whitten takes up the story after preparing a Mk. 1 Cortina for he and friend Terry Godde to drive in the re-enactment of the 1958 Round Australia Ampol Trial. Here’s how they got on:

Day 15

If early indications were anything to go by, then our entry in the Peugeot Car Club’s Round Australia Re-run was going to get off to a shaky start. Having arrived in Albury to join the field at the halfway point of this 30 day, 10,000 km epic on May 6, we met the 60-odd crews who had started the event in Sydney some two weeks earlier.

After a Services club meal and a chat to some old friends competing in the event, we were given all the necessary documents, door patches and numbers, plus the all-important road book, and headed to our motel for an early night, eager to get going on this big adventure the following morning.

We were woken by the sound of heavy rain on the roof, assuring us of a gloomy start as the weatherman had predicted.

BLOW BY BLOW Things didn’t get any better as we paced up and down waiting for our breakfast to be delivered to our room.

It seems the motel proprietor had slept in and our scheduled 7am breakfast became a late 7.45am one, and we were due at the start at 8am! The world food consumption record took a fair battering that day, and we made it to the start on the outskirts of Albury with just minutes to spare.

We needn’t have worried – rain had delayed the start of one of the sub-events with which we would become very familiar over the following fortnight. This one, in a working quarry owned by a local car club member, was rough, slippery and muddy, and we were worried that the Peugeots, always difficult to match over rough conditions, would blitz the other vehicles in the event – Cortinas, a Mercedes Fintail, several Holdens, two Simcas, a solitary Mini, a Volvo, a smattering of VWs, a Valiant

l Our man Terry Godde tackles a motorkhana at Ballarat on Day 16, with excellent results.

and a Citroen Goddess.

After unloading our suitcases, bags and tools (far in excess of what we needed) and laying them out on the roadside under a plastic sheet amid the pouring rain, we lined up in the queue of cars, waiting for our turn to drive the quarry stage.

My co-pilot, Terry Godde, and I had decided that we would share the driving of our borrowed Mk. 1 Consul Cortina – he would drive one day, I’d drive the next.

After all, we weren’t in contention for an outright award seeing

we’d joined half way through the event, so it didn’t matter who was the more competent driver or navigator. What we’d lose on the merry go round, we’d pick up on the swings, so to speak.

The big adventure was about to begin.

Helmet on and seat belts done up tight, I was flagged away on the khanacross, not knowing what the course was like or how the freshly-built Cortina would hold up to the sloppy conditions.

It only took a few minutes to complete the course, the Cor-

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tina slipping and sliding its way around the track, through huge bog holes and water splashes, and I was glad to see the finish garage appear through the mist.

Many years of motorkhanas and khanacrosses should have prepared me for my first mistake – not stopping in the garage – but that seemed the least of my worries as we re-loaded our baggage back into the car, a scenario that we would come to loathe each day, along with unloading it for each and every sub-event.

Torrential rain and strong winds followed us through Corowa, Tocumwal and Finley as the Cortina pounded its way along the main bitumen roads.

Despite the need for all crews to keep on the move and stay within their late time, everyone had the opportunity to stop somewhere along the route for a coffee, a meal, a refuel or a call of nature.

Consequently we would mix with a large proportion of the field on the road over the next few weeks, often catching up at a hot bakery or a local café. By the time we arrived at the town of Deniliquin, our trusty Cortina had begun to make strange noises from the location of the engine compartment.

Checking the fan belt for tension we discovered that the adjustment bracket on the alternator had broken in half (surprise, surprise, a broken alternator bracket on a Ford!), and, with no garage or welding service open on a Sunday afternoon, we jury-rigged a bolt and some large washers to the bracket to maintain the tension on the belt.

After a blast around the local car club’s Autocross track, we noticed more than normal interest in the Cortina than could be expected. Although our elapsed

time was nothing outstanding, apparently the sound of the Cortina’s engine breathing through twin side draft Webers, and a rorty exhaust as it sped around the track, was a new topic of conversation after the previous two weeks listening to a multitude of Peugeot engines.

Those Pugilists can only imagine how good it was sitting behind those same waffling Webers in the Cortina for 5,000 kilometres.

Sunday’s activities wound down as the route led back into Victoria and to Echuca where the entire field was displayed in the historic port area as the rain eased and the sun slipped over the horizon. The day hadn’t been such a disaster after all, but we still had to get that alternator bracket fixed. Maybe tomorrow.

Day 16

With the sun streaming through the car windows, the trip down the bitumen from Echuca to Bagshot, near Bendigo, was a pleasant start to the second day of our adventure.

We had 413 kilometres to cover to our overnight stop at Horsham in Victoria’s Western District, traveling via Bendigo and Ballarat. The previous day’s rain had successfully put an end to a planned autocross at the Bendigo Car Club’s interesting dirt circuit at Bagshot, so director Graham Wallis quickly substituted a motorkhana to appease the competitive drivers amongst us.

While the field was delayed so that the track could be set up, it was an ideal chance to catch up with some of the ‘icons’ who were competing – Barry Ferguson, Bob Watson, John Bryson, Hal Moloney and the winner of a previous Round Australia, Malcolm Brooks.

Conditions didn’t really suit

l Peering into the Mk 1 Cortina’s engine bay, only to find a broken alternator bracket.

l Veterans John Bryson (left) and Gerry Crown were popular competitors in their much-travelled EH Holden.

our Cortina, and Terry managed a mid-field 30th fastest on a quickly-drying track. Perhaps he should have started last!

With our broken alternator bracket still holding together, we arranged to visit Brian Canny’s ‘Mr Brakes’ outlet in Ballarat for a proper fix during the lunch break, where the job was handled quickly, efficiently, and just as importantly, free. Re-invigorated after lunch we visited the Ballarat Light Car Club’s dirt circuit at the local aerodrome for a pair of motorkhanas.

Showing his expertise in these sorts of events, Terry recorded a first and second fastest time from the two tests, so we were well pleased. All that remained on our second day was to drive to our overnight stop at Horsham where we bedded down for the night.

Day 17

Although there had been little real navigation so far in the second half, everyone was looking forward to the trip from Horsham to Mildura and the promised option of driving the famous Murrayville track through the sand dune country of the Mallee.

However we were to be disappointed as the track was too wet for normal 2WD vehicles on this occasion and we reverted to Plan B, a route that required a degree of navigation around places such as Lake Hindmarsh, Lake Albacutya and Hopetoun.

There was a short halt when we caught up with the set-up vehicle which had been bogged trying to circumnavigate the dry Lake Albacutya, and after giving them a half hour start, we pressed on through some great sandhills and shire roads in the Sunset Country.

The final section for the day was a blast around a loop near Mildura that included driving across a hard-packed salt lake

as fast as you were game. Mildura, a huge provincial city, was reached late afternoon.

Day 18

The following day was deemed a rest day which gave many crews the chance to fettle their vehicles in readiness for the remainder of the event.

We spent the day sightseeing as the Cortina required no more than a quick wash. Late in the afternoon, competitors drove over the Murray River to Wentworth where instructions were given out for the night navigation section to Renmark in South Australia, amongst much apprehension.

Using an old pre-metric map which didn’t show a new 75kmlong major road, 60% of the crews failed to find the correct route to the South Australian border, and pressed on in a desperate bid to stay within their late time.

Despite our best efforts, we were one of those who succumbed to being ‘misaligned’ and used the incredibly rough new road to Renmark, arriving there some time just before midnight. It had not been one of my better navigational experiences.

Day 19

Still licking my wounds from the previous day’s navigation debacle, we left Renmark enroute for Port Augusta and our overnight stop at Whyalla on the western side of the Spencer Gulf.

The day’s 450km route was mostly conducted over bitumen roads but there was an interesting little diversion through sandy scrub near Morgan which proved difficult to find but ultimately well-worth finding.

Finding the director’s intended route into Burra consumed some time for lots of crews, but Continued page 49 July 2006 - 47

I

n 1968 England’s famous RAC Rally was cancelled at the eleventh hour because of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease which was sweeping the British Isles’ cattle stocks. The decision caught the RAC Rally organisers by surprise and would have all but completely destroyed television broadcasting arrangements and commitments for that year’s RAC had it not been for some creative last-minute thinking by the organisers and the broadcaster who was locked into providing a live telecast of the event to millions of viewers.

The inspired creative thinking that saved the day and changed the way rallying was perceived, involved hastily converting an army tank testing track into a closed rally circuit and securing a handful of prime but unassigned RAC rally cars which were ultimately sent out on timed do-or-die laps of the redefined army tank testing complex.

Cameras were located at strategic action points around the track and caught the action which featured cars leaping through the air and sliding around the makeshift course, providing fantastic action television that rated its socks off.

In short, by default, the idea immediately became the inspiration for the ITV World of Sport team to conscript British rally aficionado John Sprinzel to organize a similar event in south east England the following year. ITV’s event was also a hit, but even more so because it featured four cars running at the same time over a much wider course. A new sport was born and branded ‘Rallycross.” Ratings soared and within a short space of time both ITV World of Sport and the BBC networks were on to it, televising the new outrageously spectacular and super-competitive thrill-a-minute sport to audiences of six million-plus. Not bad when you consider the size of television viewing markets back in the late 1960’s.

Such was the sport’s impact and appeal, it wasn’t long before manufacturers were also climbing on board, entering factory-backed teams allowing the new sport of Rallycross, in a very short space of time, to become a valuable promotional arena. It was an arena where new car sales were won and lost on the result of what was essentially a five minute battle around a course that combined a formula of high speed, close quarter competition, over tarmac, dirt, water, gravel, bumps and ‘yumps‘ that captivated audiences and the attention of marketers.

In Australia news of the sport’s frenetic style captured the attention of Jean Pasco, who, sight unseen, decided to put the necessary cash on the table to immediately establish the sport of Rallycross in Australia in August of that same year -1969.

The sport took off, accelerated by a clever deal with Channel Seven Television who took live coverage of the new highly-energetic sport’s format which rolled all kinds of motor sport into an exceptionally marketable television package, which Seven ran immediately following its Sunday midday footy panel.

The results were sensational. Appealing to drivers from both rally and race backgrounds, it combined all the unpredictability of rallying’s loose surface driving skills mixed with skills of wheel-to-wheel racing over tarmac surfaces, bumps, dips and a special water bath to make the competi-

48 - July 2006

RALLYCROSS Graeme Sedgwick remembers the good old days of Rallycross and suggests that it’s time it was brought back as a TV spectacular. tion just that little bit more interesting - as if the prospect of four drivers racing each other over such a course wasn’t enough.

The package had it all.

M

anufacturers Holden, Ford, Renault, Datsun and British Leyland, jumped into the excitement, directly and indirectly fielding entries. Furthermore, almost overnight a previously invisible group of driving talent also became public, because up until then the sport of rallying was essentially conducted at night. So you had the likes of track racers Peter Brock, Colin Bond and Alan Moffat being challenged and beaten by drivers like Bob Watson, Graham Alexander, and Bruce Hodgson fronting up in cars they’d been driving (on some occasions) all night because they’d just finished competing in a Championship rally which had started a day or two earlier. If that wasn’t enough there was also another band of equally skilled punters like journalists Michael Browning, Evan Green and even actors such as Toyotadriving Leonard Teale – whose prominence in those days was as visible as Blue Heeler’s John Wood. It was action, action, and great television sport.

Thirty seven years on, it’s about time the sport of Rallycross was re-launched. Timing could not be better. Television networks are scrambling for new program content

and reasons to capture flagging and/or new viewing audiences. Rallycross offers huge scope, its core attributes masking a television sport that’s bursting at the seams with energy and marketing opportunity.

The scope for a ‘new generation Rallycross‘ is breathtaking. Here’s what’s required: The venue. It needs to be ‘special‘ and definitely not one that’s only about slipping and sliding over a mud – slicked bump and bash track without facilities, kilometres from civilization.

Today’s ‘new generation Rallycross track needs to combine some, if not all, of the following qualities to capture the attention of all stakeholders and to establish itself as one of the nation’s greatest high-energy television motor sport action events around.

The course. Ideally it would probably need to be somewhere around two kilometres in length. Competition would start on tarmac and eventually veer off onto a hard-packed gravel surface which could feature fast sweeping bends leading on to a long-topped rise which could be followed by a series of shallow undulations. It could then sweep either left or right onto a concrete causeway that could incorporate a long, wide but shallow water splash, followed by a sequence of bends and dips over hard packed sand before heading up and over a rise and into a banked left or right hander. The track could then run downhill towards another long

l Australian Champion Bob Watson created a super lightweight Renault R8 Gordini which allowed him to snatch outright wins when others least expected it.

yump rather than a suspension busting abrupt jump, before re-joining the tarmac with a sweeping corner back into the start finish line straight.

The competition. The format should reflect that of the 70’s winning style which broadly consisted of a number of 3-lap heats, the winners of which moved through to 4-lap semi finals and ultimately into a 5-lap grand final. Eligibility would clearly be an area of keen discussion and opinion so it would be important to consider manufacturers’ interests, and offer categories that promote and foster rear, front, and all wheel drive vehicle entries, with the possibility of some other categories such as ‘Classics‘ and or ‘Specials‘ for the likes of purpose built rally cross vehicles.

The sport of ‘Rallycross‘ is there for the taking as a proven format that’s ideally suited to television whilst also boasting a special blend of competitive action that has its own distinctive character and magnetism to capture the attention of a diversity of competitors and spectators as never before.

The only question that now remains is who is going to seize the opportunity that’s now before them? The prospects and scope,

l Rallying veteran Graham Alexander (above) in a Torana GTR often traded wins with Peter Brock, while Allan Moffatt (left) drove a turbocharged Lotus Cortina with some success.

at least on paper, are certainly refreshing. Team owner and racing driver, Larry Perkins, has enjoyed the glory of being the country’s only nationally-recognised Ral-

lycross Champion, a title that in itself is deserving, after all these years, of a new Champion’s name. So bring it on. Bring it back!

Yeomans takes out Golden Jubilee Rally Current NSW Group N State Champions, Garry Yeomans and Kam Baker (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1), took overall victory in the Kempsey Sporting Car Club’s “Golden Jubilee Rally” which was held in the Tamban and Ingalba forests north of Kempsey.

Battling dry and dusty conditions, the crew increased their one second halfway lead to a gap of 45 seconds at the finish.

There were eight special stages totaling 135km to be tackled by the outright and Clubman entrants, while the Novice, Gemini and Northern NSW crews had seven stages totalling 125km.

The Gold Coast team of Glenn Brinkman and Steve Richardson finished second in their Subaru Impreza WRX, while Steve Slade and Con Constantine were third in their Mitsubishi Evo 4. The latter could have challenged for victory if not for a flat tyre that they were forced to change early in the 25km opening stage.

Three minutes and eight seconds behind

By Bernie Keast the winners, Slade and Constantine beat home Steve Mitchell and Micky Rourke (WRX), while the Taree crew of Peter Neal and Megan Quinn rounded out the top 5 in their Liberty RS. The NSW Clubman category was fought out by a pair of Mitsubishi Galant VR4s, with Paul Newman and Matt Sosimenko overhauling the similar machine of Peter Jerie and Owen Greenwell during the event’s final stage.

The gap between the pair was just nine seconds! Andrew Crane and Matthew Williams piloted their Peugeot 504 to third in the Clubman category, also taking victory in the Novice section.

Molly Taylor and Mick Ryan brought their Gemini to second spot in Novice and were the third Gemini home. Two seconds in arrears were Shane Griffis and John Douglas.

The Gemini category was taken out by Adam Phillips and Nick Bell while firstround winners Col and Scott Fletcher were placed second. Yeomans and Baker won the Northern NSW category from Brinkman/Stevenson and Slade/Constantine.

Despite the event being held in their backyard, local Kempsey crews all recorded disappointing results. Jeff Hawkins and Lloyd Graham were the first to falter when their Gemini succumbed to engine failure half way through the opening stage.

Bernie Keast and Darren Spohr retired at the end of SS2 with broken rear suspension on their Datsun 1600, while Erkki Kytola and Pete Graham stopped on the same stage to repair their Impreza’s suspension, losing around eight minutes and any chance of a top 5 result.

24 crews were classified as finishers.

The Kempsey Sporting Car Club wishes to thank the SES groups from Kempsey, Nambucca and Gladstone, as well as the volunteers and clubs who assisted.

Round Australia Re-Run 2006 From page 47 from then on it was a simple drive north west to Port Augusta via the magnificent road through the Port Germain Gorge, and then south to the mining city of Whyalla.

It had been a long drive and the motel was a welcoming sight late in the afternoon. Our Cortina was still going well (albeit using too much of the $1.50 per litre Premium Unleaded we were feeding it at 25mpg!)

Follow the adventures of the RallySport Cortina in next month’s RallySport Magazine and see how the crew fared in the remainder of the event.

- JEFF WHITTEN

l Dave Condon pushes his Mini to the limit during a motorkhana at Bagshot, near Bendigo.

July 2006 - 49

Shakedown Rally The NSSCC has a long history of events based out in the Hampton area, not far from the town of Oberon.

This year, the pacenoted Shakedown Rally was run for the second time, and with recce in the morning and the rally in the afternoon and evening, the dry dusty stages were going to be a challenge.

Quick from the very first stage, as you would expect, was the ARC crew of David Hills and David Callaghan (Evo VII Lancer).

The pair took an easy win in the end, with little drama occurring in the Lancer.

Challenging them on speed on some stages, despite only being the zero car, was ARC regular and ex-Privateers Champion Brad Goldsbrough, who had his brother calling the corners with him in the Subaru for the first time.

Second, and looking fast all day, was the Lancer Evo III of Darren Gee. He led home the VR4 of Emanuele Mazzei and Graham Ellul.

It was a true shakedown rally for the Lancer Evo VI of Gerald

l Regular ARC runners David Hills and David Callaghan won the Shakedown Rally in their Lancer Evo 7.

Schofield, this time co-driven by a person that results guru Phil Morley described as ‘Bob Sell and Buy Wood.’ Selby-Wood and Schofield came fourth after battling some light issues on the night stages.

The first of the class winners was fifth outright, a remarkable effort as a completely-sideways Matt and Karen Martin also remodelled the Datsun 240K on a cow! Having seen the biggest wombat in my life on one of the night road sections, I can only imagine what hitting a cow would be like! Sixth was taken

by Mark Dunn and Jonathon Cuniowski in their VR4.

Much entertainment was de-

rived from the newly repainted Commodore of Robert Inall and Scott Fletcher. The paint is now in the colours of the 1985/86 Mobil 1 HDT livery, however the noise was sensational in the bush – you can hear that car coming for ages! Inall said the car only had one straight panel on it after the Bay last year, so he decided to do something with the colour scheme.

With the cold and the darkness descending the aim for many of the crews was to simply finish, and the learning process is sometimes never easy. But with events such as this, to have such a relaxed atmosphere was a

great ‘plus’ for the crews.

It was also an opportunity to compete on an event that may or may not be a state round in 2006.

The event included the popular Starters Rally concept, where some would even be able to run road cars. Some took advantage of this, including one very standard looking WRX hatch, complete with roof racks! These guys were on road books only, but a lot of fun was had by all.

Let’s see how the event runs in 2007 – it will be an interesting one!

- Words and Photos by Neil Blackbourn

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l Matt Martin was as spectacular as ever in his Datsun 240K Coupe.

l Not Brock, but Inall, driving a replica of the 80’s HDT Commodore.

Young guns make their mark Three drivers made their debut fastest times in world championship rallying in Argentina.

Firstly, the Spanish driver Xavier Pons, Kronos Citroen team-mate to world champion Sebastien Loeb, was fastest in the bad weather on stage 13.

Then three stages later, Henning Solberg spectacularly equalled his brother Petter’s best time (over seven years since brothers Colin and Alister

McRae shared best time on the opening stage of the 1998 Network Q Rally) and finally, too late for most media sources to report, 19 year old Matthew Wilson made fastest time on the very last stage of the rally, the second run on the stadium superspecial.

W i l s o n h a s b e co m e t h e youngest driver ever to win a special stage on a world championship rally.

- MARTIN HOLMES

CLASSIC

BOOM

Why are we so slow to take up the rally world’s latest craze?

Classic rallying seems to be booming everywhere but in Australia, which in many respects is quite strange.

In New Zealand events happily cater for older rally cars, as they do in the UK, but in Australia there has been difficulty in getting a series for classics up and running.

Recently, through the efforts of Ross Dunkerton, Bill Dunn and Darryn Snooks, separate classics rallies have started appearing at the front of state championship fields, and this is a trend that will hopefully continue in the future as interest grows.

There’s no doubt that the cars are out there, although there are a lot fewer BDA Escorts, Porsches and Fiats than in other countries. Events such as the navigation trials run by the Historic Rally Association in Victoria attract all sorts of different rally cars, including Volvos, Cortinas, BMWs and Datsuns of all descriptions.

However the difference so far has been that these events are for competitors who are still keen on map reading and giving the navigator equal footing with the driver.

Overseas, the trend has been to provide special stage rallying so that the cars can be driven as they were back in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Once such event is the Robin Hood Historic Stages Rally in the UK which caters for classic and historic rally cars, as well as having a class for the latest four-wheel drive turbo

l Colin McRae is just one of many well known British drivers contesting classic rallies. McRae drives his own Escort.

rally cars. By piggy-backing the events together, the events are guaranteed of a healthy entry list, and competitors of all types and interests are given an event to compete in.

This year’s Robin Hood Classic Rally had three classic categories – historic, post-historic, and classic. The types of cars entered in each category were as follows: Historic: Sunbeam Tiger, Ford Lotus Cortina, Mini Cooper S, Saab 96 Sport and Volvo Amazon.

Post-Historic: Ford Escort RS1600, RS2000 and Mexico, Porsche 911, Toyota Celica GT, Triumph Dolomite Sprint, Lancia Stratos and Skoda 120s.

Classic: Ford Escort RS1800 and RS2000, Talbot Sunbeam Lotus and Toyota Corolla.

The combined classic entry was over 90 cars, while 62 cars entered the modern rally.

British rallying is obviously a far cry from Australian rallying, but it just shows what is happening in other parts of the world, and where classic rallying could head in the future down under.

- PETER WHITTEN

l British classic rallies have a wide range of cars competing in their events, from Porsche 911s to Lancia Stratos’. (Pics: www.cmwi.net) July 2006 - 51

l Chris Atkinson has probably benefited from the SuperRally rules more than any other driver.

(Photo: Sport The Library)

INTO THE FUTURE

I

n these confusing days when the future of the World Rally Championship is being planned, the strength of the influence of the manufacturers is one of the major points of debate, for two reasons.

Firstly, there are only two manufacturers active in the sport this year whereas there were six in 2005 and seven in 1999 and 2000. So, are the manufacturers collectively entitled to assume they have the same total degree of influence they previously enjoyed?

KRONOS CITROEN (private team, team principal Marc Vandalen) 52 - July 2006

By Martin Holmes And secondly, there are widespread suspicions that the opinions and wishes of the manufacturers and the teams differ widely in many aspects and they do not present themselves with a united front.

The first issue is for the sport’s governors to handle - but to what degree are the participants of the same mind?

We had a chance in Sardinia to ask the proprietors of the

RED BULL SKODA (private team, Armin Schwarz, joint proprietor of the team)

two active teams and two of the independent teams for their opinions on certain key issues,

so we could tell to what extent the teams all spoke with a like mind.

What the teams think ...

1. What is the ideal number of rallies in WCR each year?

KRONOS CITROEN 12 maximum.

RED BULL SKODA 14 maximum.

BP FORD We could not handle more than 16, but 14

would be ideal SUBARU No more than 14-16, but more important

than the number is choosing the right

events for marketing benefits.

BP FORD (two teams, one a manufacturers’ team and the other private. Malcolm Wilson, proprietor of M-Sport which runs both teams)

SUBARU (manufacturers’ team, Richard Taylor, Team Director of Subaru World Rally Team)

2. Should the sport continue to use only a single central service park?

KRONOS CITROEN We could accept a second venue but only

if the rally is materially improved in this

way.

RED BULL SKODA 2 or 3 would be acceptable, but only if it

makes a better range of stages available

and if good advance notice given.

BP FORD Must be single location.

SUBARU Prefer one only, to maximise promotional

opportunities.

3. Is it acceptable that championship points are issued to competitors who do not complete the route of a championship rally, through the SupeRally system?

KRONOS CITROEN Now getting more used to it.

RED BULL SKODA Don’t like the idea but it is good to be

able to keep the cars running.

BP FORD Yes. SUBARU For championship reasons it doesn’t

“seem right”, but it is good to have the

SupeRally system to allow cars to keep

running.

4. Do you think the new world championship split season system (August-May) is acceptable?

KRONOS CITROEN Not sure, waiting to know if this is better

for media exposure.

RED BULL SKODA Very Bad idea.

BP FORD Yes, if it avoids clashes with other

sporting activities.

SUBARU Probably alright but must keep the

same events as now.

5. Do you think that Reverse Seeding for top drivers on Saturdays and Sundays helps the sport?

KRONOS CITROEN Good on gravel rallies, pointless on

asphalt.

RED BULL SKODA Bad idea.

BP FORD Yes. SUBARU Depends on individual events.

BP FORD Don’t know without knowing more about

how it would work.

SUBARU Yes, it would save costs, it might even

be possible to inject characteristics

into the tyres which will make the sport

more visually attractive.

10. Should Teams be eligible for the manufacturers’ championship, in addition to the official manufacturers’ teams?

KRONOS CITROEN Yes. RED BULL SKODA Yes. Saves costs BP FORD Good for private teams, it improves

entries on rallies.

SUBARU It’s OK. 11. Are you happy with the system event and component pairing?

KRONOS CITROEN No. Does not save cost. Much better

would be a pairing system of events

with a parc ferme between consecutive

events.

RED BULL SKODA Can be good, for example Spain and

Corsica was good.

BP FORD It is good always to look for solutions.

I think freezing engine specifications

will also be important.

SUBARU Principle is OK so long as it actually

saves costs.

12. Would you be involved if the WRC ran Group N and S2000?

KRONOS CITROEN We must stay with World Rally Cars

because of the investment in these cars.

RED BULL SKODA Yes! BP FORD I cannot speak for Ford, but drivers

always love driving!

SUBARU We suspect Subaru would not approve!

6. Is rotation of events an answer to the overcrowded calendar?

KRONOS CITROEN No. We should have a ranking system

like football, where you can relegate the

worst events and promote others.

RED BULL SKODA Bad for organisers.

BP FORD Bad, It would be very unfair on

organisers.

SUBARU Bad for organisers.

7. Do you consider certain events are essential for the WCR? KRONOS CITROEN Yes. Classic events (Monte Carlo,

Acropolis etc) and those with strong

marketing reasons (Spain etc).

RED BULL SKODA It is most important always to have the

same first and last events, for example

Monte Carlo and Great Britain.

BP FORD No specific opinions. The problem is the

late decisions about calendar policies.

SUBARU Yes - those with the greatest marketing

opportunities.

8. Are some events meaningless for the WCR? KRONOS CITROEN The weakness is the Acropolis/Cyprus/

Turkey triangle.

RED BULL SKODA I can name two events which should

never be in the championship...

BP FORD The Greece/Cyprus/Turkey thing is crazy!

SUBARU Yes those with little or no marketing

potential.

9. Are single supplier control tyres a good idea?

KRONOS CITROEN A very bad idea.

RED BULL SKODA Bad idea. It takes away the competitive

spirit of the sport and rejects the

interest in the sport from tyre

companies.

July 2006 - 53

ö

Letters

inder etc). The benefits of this could be: - cheaper horspower - modern, more environmentally friendly - parts would be easier to obtain - would allow an abundance of potent machinery gathering cobwebs in sheds all over Australia to be used for something other than Autocross/Khanacross. To me it just makes sense to allow this simple, yet beneficial, modification.

Jason Lowther, Pannawonica, WA.

READER’S FORUM

A

fter reading your magazine last month with regard to spectator excitement, value for money, and the way of rallying for the future, I have a very biased suggestion - I bought a V8 Holden ute a while ago for rallying.

An unusual car, but it was set up and I thought it would be a very strong car to compete in, and not too expensive to run (apart from rear tyres!!).

So far I have been absolutely stunned by the response from EVERYONE - control officials, spectators, general public, you name it. Everyone loves the ute.

It gets photos taken everywhere.

It sounds unreal. Sponsors love it. I love it! And it is more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

In fact it is fantastic to drive and it has been absolutely bullet

l Richard McNay says his Commodore Ute is great fun to drive, and has proven to be reliable on the stages, and popular with the spectators.

proof, stock standard. Which lead me to think - look at the success of the V8 SuperCars.

Perhaps Australian rallying needs to take a leaf from their book, and stop following the world so faithfully in every way.

It is very hard for people to get excited about cars we cannot buy here. And as much as I love the idea of the Hyundai Excel series as an ideal entry for young drivers, I do not believe we are going to coax people out to watch them!

But the V8 has simply amazed me with its appeal. Interested?

It is as much fun as you will have

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with your pants on! Imagine half a dozen of them thundering round the rally scene. Just a thought.

Richard McNay, Geelong, Vic.

I

would firstly like to say what a great mag you guys produce! I would like to comment on the current status on grass roots rallying.

Over here in WA, the beloved 2WD rally car is slowly becoming a museum artefact. You only have to look at the entry list for the 2006 Forest Rally to see that 4WD Cars have taken over.

Now I have to admit that 4WD rally cars are the pinnacle of our sport, but they lack something.

They just can’t beat the sound of a Weber fed engine echoing through the bush.

The ARC, in part, have recognised the need to add spectacle back into the sport by allowing S2000 cars in 2007. I think this will be great for Australian rallying, and will be looking forward to seeing these vehicles compete.

Now it’s all good and well looking after the ARC, but now it’s time to have a look at state/ clubman levels of rallying. 2WD entries are gradually declining as competitors find the cost of being competitive too great. A quick 2WD probably costs the same to build and maintain as a reasonable 4WD turbo rally car.

Now I realise that my following suggestion has been circulating for some time now, but I thought why not re-ignite it?

Why not allow engine freedoms with all 2WD cars, that specify engines must be from the same manufacturer and be of the same configuration (ie 4 cyl-

@

R

egarding the Letter to the Editor from Stephanie in last month’s RallySport Magazine: Thank you to Stephanie, R a l ly S p o r t M a g a z i n e a n d everyone else for your support, it is so encouraging.

We acknowledge that Stephanie thought RallySport Magazine wrote “lipstick at the ready” and “stiletto to the pedal”, while they were our words.

Nonetheless, we remain unapologetic - we don’t feel that promoting our femininity demeans our competitiveness; rather, it is what sets us apart from everyone else.

We agree with Stephanie that many of the pictures of women in motor sport magazines are models paid to look good - and it shouldn’t be that way. The way that we have generated publicity is by writing the material ourselves (with help from our PR friends Red Carpet Projects) and submitting it to whoever will listen or publish.

We encourage other women participants in rallying - whether you are a co-driver, service crew member or official - to write interesting stories, attach pictures and send them in.

The more we do this, the more women will be in the press for the right reasons.

“Lipstick at the ready” and “stiletto to the pedal” are funny, attention grabbing phrases.

We are girly, we wear lipstick, we wear stilettos and we go hard in a rally car. We think the best thing about Both Girls Racing is that we are living proof that chicks can be seriously completive AND feminine, and we’re proud of it!

Melinda & Jasmine Both, Both Girls Racing, www.bothgirlsracing.com

Send your letters to: email: editorial@rallysportnews.com.au Preference given to letters of 150 words or less

T

hose of us old enough to remember the heady days of Group B rally cars will be aware that it is now 20 years since the category was to blame for the deaths of Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto.

The pair lost their lives when their Lancia Delta spun off the side of a road in Corsica during the 1986 Tour de Corse, their car cartwheeling down a deep ravine and bursting into flames, incinerating the crew.

Toivonen was widely regarded as one of the coming stars in rallying, with a big future ahead of him. Widely popular amongst his rivals and his followers, Toivonen had all the makings of a future World Rally Champion.

Prior to his death, he had won the previous year’s RAC Rally of Great Britain, and had started the 1986 season by winning at Monte Carlo, was leading in Sweden before he was sidelined with a blown engine and was second in Portugal before the works drivers pulled out in response to spectators being killed by a Group B Ford RS200 that had crashed into a crowd.

It was a result of Toivonen’s accident that the FIA immediately moved to ban Group B, a move that many believe should have been made long before.

The rally cars of the era were phenomenally fast, extremely difficult to drive and very fragile.

Group B was sparked by the Audi Quattro and immediately other manufacturers decided to follow with Group B ‘monsters’ of their own.

They boasted enormous horsepower (up to 445kW in the case of the S1 Audi Quattro) which was developed with the aid of a turbocharger and a supercharger, used a fuel cocktail that was almost lethal in itself, but worst of all, were fragile in the extreme.

Group B cars were becoming a liability and the FIA were bound to step in and ban the category, but, in Toivonen and Cresto’s case, too late.

B p u o r G

20 YEARS ON

By Jeff Whitten The rot had set in earlier that year, 1986. Ford had just released its new Group B RS200 just, as it turned out, in the category’s death throes.

Joachim Santos lost control of his new RS200 in the hills near Lisbon in March 1986, spearing off the road and into spectators, killing three and injuring 30. In protest at the accident and the lack of spectator control, all the leading WRC drivers refused to continue, withdrawing from the event immediately.

Sensing that the end for Group B was near, the Audi factory withdrew from international rallying for good, never to return.

But Group B was alive, if not well, and just two months later the straw that broke Group B’s back was the accident involving Toivonen and Cresto.

The following day, it was announced by the FIA’s Jean Balestre that Group B would cease at the end of the year, to be replaced by Group A. The proposed Group S that had been talked about for some time to replace Group B, was shelved.

Sadly, it took the death of spectators and several competitors for the FIA to sit up and take notice that the category was finished, only just before, one

suspects, the authorities did it for them.

Today’s WRCars are as fast as their 1980s brethren but infinitely safer.

That it took such an unnecessary accident for common sense

to prevail is something that the sport, and those who can remember it, will remember for a long time.

The deaths of Toivonen and Cresto might just have saved the lives of others.

l Clockwise from top: Lancia Rallye 037, Peugeot 205 T16 E2, Audi Quattro S1, Lancia Delta S4, and the MG Metro 6R4. (Pics: Holmes)

July 2006 - 55

TechnicalFeature

Flow, squish and the bumpy stick!

Simon Gardiner gets into the mysterious world of camshafts and explains how to get the best bumpy stick for your money.

C

am timing is a sport only for nerds, or the intellectually over-privileged.

Everyone knows this. It’s especially true if you don’t know how to set up a cam in an engine.

I remember being an apprentice and having a friend who could quote all of the cam timing figures from every Kenworth truck engine built. I was truly amazed. (a) that he had no other life than to know this stuff and (b) that he knew this stuff. Years later I had it pointed out that there were some rather large holes in his information and in fact he didn’t know what he was really talking about at all. Armed with this new knowledge I breathed a sigh of relief and settled back to thinking my friend just did not have a life.

For me though it was many years before I was faced with needing to know something about what the bumpy stick did.

The mere thought of doing anything other than bolting a cam in as it came back from the cam grinder was enough to induce a quivery bottom lip.

I am not saying that we can become experts on camshafts and camshaft design. This is a very specialist field and the good cam grinders have years of experience to call on to help

l The Mad Professor (Simon Gardiner) checking valve lift at top dead centre on a 4 cylinder Ford motor.

select an appropriate profile or to design a new one. For most naturally-aspirated engines it is the combination of compression ratio, head flow and camshaft choice that governs the engine’s main torque and horsepower potential.

We often get engines to tune where the components are mis-matched. Assume you have a 3-litre engine: the camshaft choice is good to go to 7,500 rpm where you would like peak HP to be. However, there is only 9.2:1

l Gear driven camshafts on a Honda S2000 motor.

56 - July 2006

compression ratio. But you do have 98 octane fuels. The final nail in the coffin though, is that the head only flows 185hp. Is it going to be hard to make 100hp per litre from this package?

The trap now is that we go into hope mode. Ok, so the head flow is down, but it’s not the end of the world, is it? Instead of using three 45 DCOE Webers I’ll use a set of 55s.

That should make it easier to get the air in. I’ll also put some big jets in because if it’s going to make a heap of grunt it’ll need a heap of fuel and that will take care of the inlets. Everyone knows that exhausts mustn’t have any back pressure so I’ll put on a set of pipes that would suit a top fuel dragster. Instant no back pressure! The cam will just have to be bigger and hotter to get the job done!

These types of engine packages end in tears. The new cam will start to work at 6,000, but will pull hard to 8,500. There isn’t enough compression ratio to drive the milder camshaft, let alone the hotter one and the head didn’t flow anyway.

So you’ve spent all that money building it and it’s on the dyno.

What have you got? The engine

is very doughy and unresponsive down low. Finally it comes on the cam in a very limp-wristed fashion at about 6,000 revs and you’re away.

The torque isn’t very good but it is starting to run more smoothly. As you rev it harder it makes its peak HP at about 6,250rpm and then power falls off, because you have run out of head flow. If you’re thinking like Bill Cosby at this stage, the one thing you’ve got that’s cool, is PIPES.

M

ost engines fail to perform, because of the mis-match between camshafts, compression ratio and head flow capabilities. Let’s call these three functions primary functions. When the manifolds or ports are too big for the job there is no air speed in the inlet or exhaust ports. This lack of air speed inhibits scavenging and filling of the cylinder. In the scheme of things, most of the restriction in getting air in and out of a cylinder head is the 90 degree turn (or less) that the air makes to go past the valve from the port and into the combustion chamber. Take care of this area

and most engines make a big jump forward.

One of my good friends and teachers has always tried to instill in me to be analytical about what I am building or tuning. When I first started building engines I was very lucky. I had some good engines that had great power and drivability. I remember saying to myself “How hard is this to make a great engine? I’m a hero.”

It only took about 10 years from there for it to sink in that I had fluked a lot of what I thought I knew. I’m sure it will be the same in another 10 years. I now keep far better records of every engine that we build in the shop and when we get the opportunity I like to be more thorough with testing and optimising on the engine and chassis dyno.

In being more analytical, it is important to look at the efficiency of an engine. In simple

While peak horsepower and peak torque figures are very important, what really matters is the average torque and average horsepower. So if you know that your engine will operate from 5,000 to 7,500 rpm for most of its time, then you want to know whether you have made a gain or a loss anywhere in this region.

S

ome tuners may record the power and torque at 500 rpm intervals, and then add up all the figures giving a total number for the desired rev range. This way if they make a change and re-test the engine, they can see not only if they have increased a peak figure but the effect on the more important average.

With some data logging and fuel injection management systems it has become easier to narrow down the rev range that

l Valve train components laid out and ready for a new engine.

terms, a typical older style twovalve naturally-aspirated engine on pump fuel is doing well to make over 100 horsepower and 80 ft/lbs of torque per litre.

When you start having better parts like fuel injection, special roller cams, high ratio roller rockers and more cutting edge cylinder head design, then you get to a typically V8 tourer level of development.

At 5 litres they might have around 630hp and 460 ft/lbs of torque. This equates to around 125hp and 90 ft/lbs of torque per litre from pump fuels. It’s a credit to the people who build these things, especially the ones that hang together. These gains have been made in the ones and twos over many years to get to this level.

TechnicalFeature

you should be concerned about.

It is easy to concentrate on peak RPM when in fact the data logging may show some different requirements. I have a circuit race car and peak horsepower is at 8,500 rpm.

At a tight track like Winton Raceway the engine spends most of its time at 100 percent throttle from 6,250 to 7,250 rpm.

At a faster circuit like Sandown the engine is working more in the 6,500 to 7,750 range. It’s critical that the package has the goods through this whole area, or I would need a different engine setup for each track.

My engine is now using a fourvalve per cylinder head and this has the advantage typically of a broader torque band than the two-valve head we used to use,

l Removable cam cover for adjustable cam timing on a Healey.

so I have a flatter, wider torque curve.

As the engine can be made to rev harder you tend to make the biggest jumps in horsepower, not torque. A few years ago we were playing with a Suzuki 1000cc race bike; we fitted MoTeC management and modified the engine for circuit racing.

The engine developed around 185 HP but still had around 90 ft/lbs of torque.

F1 engine designers have the uncanny ability each year to squeeze more rpm out of their engines and hence more horsepower.

Over 800 horsepower seems a little ridiculous for 2.4-litres, doesn’t it, at 19,500rpm? Yet I was talking to an engineer in the UK recently who is involved in testing a new engine running to a massive 23,500 rpm. That’s just insane.

Modern F1 engines don’t use camshafts as such. Their valves

are operated pneumatically or hydraulically with electronic solenoids and a heap of very secret stuff I’m still trying to find out about. Most of our engines do still use camshafts and the principles are the same. They all control the sequences of valve opening and closing in order to optimize cylinder filling and make power.

There are various designs for variable cam timing, most swing the position of the camshaft relative to the crankshaft position rather than keeping it fixed.

The reason to have the cam timing move at different points in the rev range is to broaden the torque curve and the drivability of the engine.

By moving the camshaft position you can fool the engine into thinking it has a milder or hotter cam.

More next month.

Simon Gardiner Powerplay Automotive

l Checking the cam timing on an Austin Healey with a degree wheel.

July 2006 - 57

WRX trifecta in Tassie It was a cold south-westerly wind that greeted the field for the second round of the Tasmanian Rally Series, the 7BU/ Bayside Inn Hellyer Rally.

The event has traditionally been dominated by crews from the north of the state, but the leading southern drivers, Waldon, Stoneman and Peterson, were determined to change that this year.

Craig Brooks and Adrian Hodgetts (Subaru WRX) soon dashed all hopes of a southern victory when they demoralised the field with a massive 9 second win over the eight kilometre stage 1. Robert and Micheal Stoneman (Evo Lancer) had an intercooler pipe slip off and had to spend the first four stages without boost

l Craig Brooks proved to be the dominant force in the Hellyer Rally, winning by 41 seconds. (Pics: Morey)

By Adrian Morrisby early. The fastest husband and wife crew in the state, Ben and Bec Sheldrick (Datsun 1600) were keen on cementing their

dramas happening around him, Murfett cruised to a win in Heat One with Nick Kingston and Ben Kopershoek (VH Commodore) second and Hunt third.

Heat Two was another corker with Brooks/Hodgetts winning the heat but only after a big scare on the last stage at the famous ‘turn left after crest’ and lost some 14 seconds to Waldon/ Ferguson, leaving them with a 6 second winning margin. Waldon also had his fair share of problems with a nasty overshoot and a spin which cost them a win, but they were more than happy with a second place as they head to their home event next.

Coming home third outright after a rally that included a flat tyre and three spins were Peterson/Booker only 1.20 behind Waldon, then it was another

2.30s. back to the Stoneman brothers who were 1min ahead of Rattray/Hills.

The 2WD section was another good battle with Sheldrick coming out of the blocks hard and carrying a handy lead into the last stage. He was followed by Murfett and Sault, the latter suffering from a navigator with a crook tummy.

It was the last stage that decided the battle with the flamboyant Ben Sheldrick throwing his rocketship Datsun 1600 at the scenery in front of the spectators. It cost him the heat, an engine, and a cracked bone in his arm.

Byron Murfett/Julian Moore took the heat, from Hunt/Eastley with Sault/Creswell coming in for a third. The next round is the Mt Lloyd rally on June 24.

Final Results: Hellyer Rally l Lee Peterson slides his way to third place, making it a WRX trifecta.

until they could get to service.

Equally frustrated were Lynn Rattray and Lindon Hills (WRX) when they suffered brake dramas and were forced to “cruise for points.”

Brooks and Hodgetts dominated the rest of Heat One, only losing one stage to the southern crew of David Waldon and Ross Ferguson (WRX) when Brooks had gear selection problems in Stage 3. Brooks eventually took the heat by 35 seconds from Waldon and was followed by Lee Peterson and James Booker (WRX) who had been thrilling the crowd with some alternate lines over the “infamous” crest!

The 2WD section was a huge battle with Brad Gunn and Fiona Mackie (Charade) out for revenge after being robbed of a win in the first round when drive shaft problems ended their rally 58 - July 2006

lead in the series. Northern hard chargers, Byron Murfett and Julian Moore (Nissan Skyline) and Kelly Hunt/Paul Eastley (Mitsubishi Lancer) were out for victory and keen to throw a spanner in the works of the series regulars.

Stage 1 was all Murfett, with Sheldrick firing up for second, with Craig Sault/Scott Creswell (VL) having a big crack. Sault/ Creswell showed they meant business when they took second to the Sheldricks in the next stage with Hunty in third.

The wheels really started to fall off some wagons after that, with Gunn leaving the road (twice), Sheldrick pulling a castor bush out, and Sault leaving the road and getting dry bogged which caused a small brush fire. Not to be outdone, Hunt rubbed a bank and moved the diff. With all the

1. Craig Brooks / Adrian Hodgetts Subaru Impreza WRX 1.09:27 2. David Waldron/Ross Ferguson Subaru Impreza WRX 1.10:08 3. Lee Peterson/James Booker Subaru Impreza WRX 1.11:30 4. Robert Stoneman/Michael Stoneman Mitsubishi Lancer 1.14:10 5. Lynn Rattryay/Lindon Hills Subaru Impreza WRX 1.15:08 6. Tim Auty/Kerry Auty Toyota Celica (1st. P6) 1.17:57

l Warren Chugg and Scott Murfet in their front-wheel drive Mazda 323.

Akademos - it’s all Greek to me!

A little research reveals that Akademos is a legendary hero of Greek mythology and whilst this is not the true origin of the name for this event, it certainly is the case that heroic efforts were needed by competitors, organisers, officials and spectators alike in order to deal with the extreme weather conditions that prevailed on Sunday, May 7th.

The thirty-ninth running of the legendary Akademos Rally took place in the Alexandra/Thornton areas and the northern Yarra Ranges of Victoria.

The week preceding the event had provided almost perfect conditions with just the right amount of rain to ensure a firm but fairly dust free run in this premier event on the RACEtech Steel Victorian Rally Championship calendar.

These near perfect conditions were confirmed during recce on Saturday, with crews all smiles at seeing that once again many of the favourite roads were in use which would ensure a challenging, fast and spectacular event.

Unfortunately though, Zeus the “Cloud Gatherer” had a surprise in store, and in the twelve hours immediately preceding the Sunday morning start, the rain came. And didn’t it bucket down! Yes, a good half an inch of rain (in the old money) fell in those few hours preceding the event, however event Director Peter Otzen bravely predicted at crew briefing that the rain would cease by 10.00am, this being the planned start time for the first competitive.

And so it did, as if by commandment exactly at the stroke of 10.00am on Warburton Road at the start of SS1, the torrential rain suddenly stopped as predicted by Peter, and for a while at least the clouds lifted, and the event began soon

Photos: Nathan Hubble

l With brakes glowing, Eli Evans and Matt McAdam charge to victory in horrendous conditions in VRC2.

thereafter.

In the battle however between event director and legendary Greek god, it seems though that Zeus had the final say as soon thereafter more weather came, and this time it wasn’t confined to mere rain.

No, bring on the hail and the

of competitive actually run) the event that ensued made for an adventure for all crews i n t h e q u i t e t re a c h e ro u s but nonetheless interesting conditions.

The outright event win in what was the longest of short events as every metre of road was

l Victorian Champion Justin Dowel took second place in his Lancer Evo 6.

sleet and the snow! Yes, we had it all, and in a wise move by organisers in conjunction with the local forester, the event was shortened somewhat in order the roads could be protected and the future ability to conduct events in this area could also be protected.

Still, even with what possibly is the shortest Akademos ever (with just over 43 kilometres

l Emma Cugley (above left) debuted her pink Hyundai Excel in style.

a challenge in itself, went to Eli Evans and Matt McAdam (Subaru Impreza), who led from start to finish taking the win by 36 seconds from reigning Victorian Rally Champions Justin Dowel and Matt Lee in the Activ Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer.

A further minute behind in third was the consistently quick and safe hands of Jesse and Sam Robison in their Subaru Legacy.

As with Eli and Matt, who are competing in both the VRC and the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship in 2006, Jesse and Sam are also competing in two series in 2006 with the VRC and the BP Ultimate Challenge.

In fact the consistency and speed of Jesse and Sam is now shining through with them as at time of writing currently leading both series.

Making it two wins in a row, honours in the two wheel drive championship category (and fourth outright) were easily won by Gavin Edwards and Rhianon Smyth in the Zed, with family rivalry a plenty with second place in the 2WD class (and ninth outright) going to Rhianon’s younger brother, Nathan Reeves, with co-driver Scott Spedding calling the notes, in one of the quickest Datsun 1600’s currently running around.

Third place in 2WD going to 2005 2WD champs Brian Semmens and David Leoncini in the Nissan 200SX. Completing the family rivalry triple was the youngest of the Reeves clan, Brendan, with Robin Smalley alongside performing the dual roles of calling the notes in competitive sections and being the “accompanying licensed driver” for liaison sections with Brendan being the first of the approved by ARCom so called unlicensed drivers to compete in Victoria.

And drive Brendan did, with the challenging conditions not fazing him one bit and Brendo bringing home a borrowed Subaru RS as first class N and seventh outright and thus ensuring three Continued page 60

Akademos Rally - VRC2 1. Eli Evans/Matt McAdam Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 2. Justin Dowel/Matt Lee Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5 3. Jesse Robison/Sam Robison Subaru Legacy RS 4. Gavin Edwards/Rhianon Smyth Datsun 240Z 5. Craig Morris/Carrie Morris Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3 6. Hilary Evans/Doug Fernie Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 2 7. Brendan Reeves/Robin Smalley Subaru Impreza RS 8. Wayne Stewart/Kevin Wilson Subaru WRX 9. Nathan Reeves/Scott Spedding Datsun 1600 10. Brian Semmens/David Leoncini Datsun 200SX RV S12 July 2006 - 59

SA news

by Kristian McMahon

Krichauff battles mud to win Michael Krichauff (Subaru Impreza) emerged from the mud pit that became the Walkerville All Cars Club’s ‘Walky Park’ on April 29 to score his second victory in as many rounds of the Autosport South Australia Clubman Series in trying conditions.

None of the 40-strong entries, including the invited (for the first time) off-road buggies, expected the deluge that rendered the course virtually impossible to complete, let alone without incident.

There were some 13 voluntary retirements as a result of the conditions. Among them was 2003 SARC champion Sam Brand who admitted to being a little worried on the course.

“It’s pretty slippery out there”, he said.

“After a couple of close calls we decided that it was not worth the risk to the car and we had to pull out” Of those that persisted and managed to avoid becoming stranded, were Jason Sims (180B) and Shaun Osborn (Evo1) who secured the remaining top places.

With the rallysprint shortened to only two (instead of three) passes on each of the three courses, competitors fought hard for traction and, ultimately, safety, with Krichauff doing it best.

“We knew that if we played it safe, but attacked in places where it was possible to, we would be in with a chance”, he said.

l Michael Krichauff showed the cleanest pair of heels in his WRX wagon.

Tyres used as barriers to line parts of the course often became hazards and slowed, even stopped, some competitors mid-stage.

On the somewhat drier Track 2 and in a 2WD Datsun 180B, Sims managed to snatch back 18 seconds form Krichauff, but couldn’t match the pace of the

eventual winner in the mud and fell almost 2 minutes short in total with Osborn a further 2m.25 seconds behind.

The buggies fared better in the mud however and, in the State Rallysprint Championship component, Aaron Haby steered his buggy home ahead of Bob Strawbridge (Southern Cross Buggy) and Russell Marker (WRX).

The WACC series component saw Lindsay Foster (Buggy) finish in front of Gavin Fowler (Datsun 1600) and Shaun Osborn (Evo1).

Despite the conditions, the event was hailed as a huge success, thanks in particular to Clerk of Course Ethan Pickstock and his dedicated supporters, not only for their supreme efforts in promoting and organizing the meeting, but Ethan’s ability and adaptability on the day itself.

l The Buggies fared best in the conditions but encountered problems of their own on the slippery roads.

Akademos - it’s all Greek to me!

From page 59 siblings in the top ten in different cars in this VRC event.

Prize for unrewarded persistence must however go to Dean Price and Greg Day in the Proton, who somewhere on Blue Range Road managed to have rear wheel and the entire hub assembly part company from the car and disappear past some road closure officlals and off into a gully.

Not deterred by this, the crew pressed on through the rest of the stage dragging the rear of the car and without brakes, however still managed a time for this stage faster than a quarter of the field.

S a d ly t h o u g h , a s i t w a s 60 - July 2006

impossible for them to drive back to the event end via the final liaison stage, a finish in the event was to escape them despite their heroic efforts.

Not sure what the collective noun is for a group of Hyundai’s (perhaps a “pack” as they all tend to be closely matched and thus hunt together?), but a half dozen of the new Victorian Hyundai series cars also were out and about to show their stuff in the Aka. Less than two minutes ended up splitting the five that finished the event, with Tom and Loretta Kaitler showing the way to lead the pack home in 21st outright.

R e m a r k a b ly d e s p i te t h e treacherous conditions 30 of

the 39 starters in the 2006 Akademos Rally finished the event with just a few cars left stranded off road in various

stages of “stuckness” due to the slippery conditions.

- DAVID CHAPMAN-KELLY

l Liam Dunn finished 12th and third 2WD car in his Datsun Stanza.

Victorian news

by David Chapman-Kelly

W

atching out the window from my current towerdwelling perch, there are the unmistakable autumnal hues of the leaves in nearby parks, but despite the onset of cold winter days and long dark nights, the smiles on the faces of those in the Victorian rally community are wide as these seasonal changes mean one thing.

Yes, the season is now in full swing with events a-plenty to keep even the most cynical of rally enthusiasts happy.

they would have won the event by 59 seconds.

The tricky roads and close proximity of trees did catch a few people out and there will need to be a fair bit of panel beating activity for a number of crews before the next round of the VCRS, the Nissan Nightmoves on July 1, at Rushworth in the central goldfields area.

Supp. Regs. for this always over-subscribed event are out now on the VicRally site, so the recommendation is to get entries in early to avoid disappointment.

MURRINDINDI MAGIC

The first round of the HRA Rally Championship was run and won with the Murrindindi Magic Rally contested in the upper reaches of the Yarra Valley. A healthy field of 34 crews headed out into the forests in this event which in recent years has been restricted to 2WD vehicles, be they of HRA classes or PRC class.

Andrew Taylor and Ben Courtney came back again in the Sunny B310 to defend their win from 2005 and won again in 2006 by well over three minutes, from the interesting combination of Rob Dyer and Steuart Snooks in another Sunny, this time a 210.

HRA stalwarts Alan Upton and Mark Laidlay made up the last podium position in yet another Datsun with Datsuns in fact filling six of the top ten places.

It is interesting to note that whilst there were four DNF’s in this event, all were mechanical!

These HRA people certainly are well behaved, or so it seems!

Akademos, Bog-aduck, ARC Forest Rally and a Triple Treat

Elsewhere in these pages you can read about the Akademos Rally 2006, the third round of the VRC and Eli Evans’ victory in that event. Alongside the Aka, MUCC also ran the Bog-a-Duck as a piggy-back multi-club event that it must be said, did not attract an incredibly large field.

However this assisted the other Victorian hyphenated rally folks, Mark and Deb Howard-Jones, to get what surely must be their best-ever result with a second outright in the tiny Daihatsu Charade. Another Evans, this time Kylie, with Adam Wright co-driving, notched up another May win for the Evans clan in the Bog-a-Duck.

The great news though is that there were no DNF’s in the Bog-a-Duck event, despite the challenging road conditions in

l Nathan Reeves slides to second in the VCRS round in the Killawarra Forest.

the rain, sleet, hail and snow.

This was a lucky thing too, as with just the two starters in the event, the organisers were praying for more than a first place getter!

To round out a great month for the Evans clan, Simon and Sue cleaned up both legs of the Quit Forest Rally in WA and secured a well deserved round win, making it three out of three for the Evans family in May.

AUTUMN SPRINT

The Traction Tyres Yokohama Victorian Club Rally Series leapt into Round 2 with the Autumn Sprint Rally run under special stage conditions in the Killawarra Forest near Wangaratta in the North East under the direction of Neville and Rosemary Bell and all the crew from North Eastern Car Club.

As a VCRS event, a relatively healthy field should be assured, and mixed with the very popular Killawarra forest roads, 46 crews made their way to Wangaratta on Saturday May 20 to support the NECC and for a day of fun in the sun. And fun it was too, although dust was the order of the day, which surprised many crews after the recent spate of wet events.

With results reminiscent of the 2005 VCRS series, save that 2005 VCRS champ Gerald Mammi appears to be taking a sabbatical, Wayne and Kim Stewart won a very closely-fought event in their WRX from a very quick Nathan Reeves in the 1600, this time with big sis, Rhianon Smyth, pointing the way.

Richard Gill and Leeham Bamsagi in the Sprinter that is sounding less and less like Nanna’s car and more like a hiperformance forest rocket, were

close by in third with yet another Reeves (Brendan) and Robin Smalley relegated to fourth after incurring a one minute penalty for a display of a little youthful exuberance at the start of the first stage in contravention of the event regulations.

Former VRC Champs Craig and Carrie Morris were quickest on the road at Killawarra and showed everyone how to do it, and but for their gradings making them ineligible for awards,

BEGA

The now annual interstate rivalry of the combined NSW, ACT and Victorian rally championship round at Bega is almost upon us as this issue goes to press, so there’ll be more tall tales and true from the south coast of NSW next month.

As always, please keep the news coming to me via either david.chapman-kelly@vline. com.au or on 0417 389 546, or just a tap on the shoulder if you see me at an event or round about.

- Davo

l Damien Tout found the roads a little narrow and the trees a little close for the big Valiant Pacer! (Photos: John Doutch)

Autumn Sprint Rally - VCRS2 1. Wayne Stewart/Kim Stewart 2. Nathan Reeves/Rhianon Smyth 3. Richard Gill/Leeham Bamsagi 4. Brendan Reeves/Robin Smalley 5. Scott Spedding/Matt Lee 6. Simon Boyer/Ian Rice 7. Campbell Eastwood/Darren Miller 8. Andrew Taylor/Ben Courtney 9. Mark Millar/Dion Clayton 10. Brock Snowdon/Ben Philemon

Subaru Impreza WRX Datsun 1600 Toyota Sprinter Datsun 240Z Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 1 Datsun 1600 Datsun 180B Datsun Sunny Datsun 1600 Daihatsu De Tomaso July 2006 - 61

ACT news BRM SILVERSTONE SAFARI RALLY

What a great event the Silverstone Safari was, comprising a small but quality field, good stages and great atmosphere. The LCCC put on a corker of an event but it’s a shame there weren’t more entries but the ones who turned up were treated to a great day’s rallying.

With Cam Waller making a return to competition and young gun Ray Day out to prove that his speed at Captains Flat wasn’t a one off, it was bound to be an exciting rally. Karl Willett was having a run with experienced local navigating Lyndall Drake sitting next to him.

A fine, dry day saw 32 cars make the start, led off by Willett, with John Stilling being Car 2. Stilling made an early break, winning the first stage from Willett, with Waller not far behind. The top four were neck and neck at the first service after three stages, but a notable DNF was Ian Jeffery and his wife Renee in their first rally, blowing a clutch 190m into the first stage. Mark Sessions withdrew after stage 1 with engine issues.

The battle for the Top Four was close right throughout the whole event, with everyone hanging at each service to see who was in the lead. In the end the win went to Cam Waller from Ray Day, and John Stilling third.

Willett went off on the last stage only about 7km from the end.

There was a big battle for ACT Clubman between Blake Stevens, Roland Schmitz after Kagan Skipper. Skipper was leading Clubman but broke his gearbox when in seventh outright. Another Clubman contender, Mark Kent, had a disagreement with a bank at the corner after the Mineshaft, breaking his suspension and retiring. Blake Stevens ended up beating Schmitz by 50 secs, which was very close after so many kilometres.

ACT Novice was heavily contested, with Captain’s Flat winner Kate Bowler hoping for another win, but this time she was After getting into rallying four years ago, starting with a two-wheel drive car seemed to be the first step. After getting amongst the 4WD cars in the NSW Rally Championship over the last few years the question was, ‘how would I go in a modern 4WD car?’

So the plan was to build one up, and after coming across a near-new Subaru Spec C it became the platform to which I would build one.

Six months of work preparing and building a new rally car from scratch takes its toll, not only mentally and physically, but financially as well. With the vision of being able to compete in the NSW championship with the new Spec C high up there, it soon become apparent that it might not be possible, and we had to come to terms, leading up to round one, that it probably wasn’t going to happen due to a lack of funds.

Word had got around that I probably would not be competing in the first round and two weeks before the first round I had an offer of support from “Search for a Rally Star” owner Frank Barker, along with support from my wife Sue and close friend Tony Sullens (who would be my service crew).

62 - July 2006

by Ray Baker pushed hard by another lady, Lizzy Ferme, having her first rally in “Spot,” the Zebra Gemini. Kate came out in front, finishing 14th outright while Lizzy was15th. Marc Kelly was a notable DNF in his Camira after breaking a driveshaft.

Most improved driver in the rally would have to have been Patrick Malycha in his Corolla. Patrick has had his car for a few years now and has been building his knowledge of the local roads, and with a better handling car and a new navigator,Russ Hannah, Pat finished 12th outright and set some very quick times. Seems he has night eyes too, going very quickly in the night stages. Well done to Tamsey and his team for putting on a great event.

TARGA TASSIE

A few Canberrans headed to Tassie for this year’s Targa, including Lyndall Drake who was co-driving for Dena Evans in the Mazda MPS. They finished a creditable 39th outright against a field of much more powerful cars.

Frank Brookhouse was navving in a Lotus and finished 73 outright. Barrie Smith and Col Trinder had a few dramas in the Porsche GT3 but managed to finish 87th. Bernie Webb was with Steve Glenney; what a shame it was that they were forced to DNF after such a great run.

Also retiring were Bob Hughes and Greg Sutton, both in Evos. Ex-ACT Gold Cup competitor Peter Skinner blew his engine on the first day. Barry Faux, driving his Mazda RX7 was probably one of the best ACT finishers, finishing fifth outright in the Classic competition, less than 2 minutes behind first place.

NEW WEBSITE – RALLYCHICKS.COM

For all those girls out there who feel like they need to get away from the guy-orientated websites, well this is for you. With

NSW competitor Michael South talks about his move from 2WD to 4WD rallying Also playing an important role was Gary Harrison from Gary’s Motor Sport Tyres.

Gary has helped with all the parts to build the car from the start, including tyres to get through the event.

Everyone was right behind me to bring it all together and enable me to have a go at the NSWRC. To top it off, another friend, Dale Moscatt, was able to sit in the co-driver’s seat, which was the final part of the puzzle to make it all complete.

Round one has been run and won, and for

input from girls from all over Australia, Rallychicks.com features profiles, rally photos, lively forums and even a ‘how to get started section.’

COMING EVENTS

The ever-popular Bega Valley Rally is being held on the Queen’s Birthday weekend and there should be a real battle between the Classic cars. Geoff Portman is rumoured to be having a run and will take on Ross Dunkerton who will be in a newly-built Stanza.

I’ll be sitting next to Gerald Schofield in the Classic Escort. State round competitors will relish the use of the Shire roads, but possibly for the last time as there are rumours that next year Bega will not be using the Shire roads.

Rally of Queensland is the week after Bega, quite a few heading up to compete, officiate and service.

John Stilling will be making the drive up with his EVO in tow to do zero car for the event. Depending how he fares at Bega with which car he takes up the 3 or the 6? I’ll be sitting next to Gerald again in the EVO doing the privateer challenge.

Later in the month we have the SNAP ON Fyshwick Stages Rally being held in the forests to the west of Canberra. This is a predominantly novice event, with the whole event based out of Uriarra Settlement. The rally will include the Mineshaft as well, so if you have a hankering to go fast over the Mineshaft, then why not enter? If you aren’t competing we still need officials, so log onto the BMSC website to find out details.

SEND YOUR NEWS

Well that’s about all from me. If you don’t see me at a rally, pop me a line at ray@bakermotorsport.net or give me a ring on 0417 057 361 - Ray Baker my first rally in 4WD it was a steep learning curve. Everything I learnt in 2WD went out the window. 4WD cars require much more commitment and a different driving style, the grip is like driving on rails and it takes you to another level.

The average person probably would not comprehend just how much grip you have on dirt in a 4WD. The first round didn’t start off too well. It became apparent that the electronic centre diff controller wasn’t working and as such we only had 35% front drive and it drove much like a rear-wheel drive car. In the last service we came up with an answer that allowed us to override the controller and run the centre diff fully locked.

The last two stages would be my first drive with complete 4WD, and it made all the difference! With more time in the car I can see more speed to come from me and from the car.

The round ended with us coming third outright, a great start to the Championship year.

Thanks to all who have helped to make this all happen.

- MICHAEL SOUTH

NSW news

by Neil Blackbourn

l Michael and Sue South drove their Spec C Impreza to victory.

there will be a tick box provided for the state series event directors to show whether they want to run their event as a pace noted event or to leave it as a blind rally in 2007.

Significant rumours abound that there WILL be at least two in the NSWRC next year. And with the recent NSSCC Shakedown rally (run on one day, recce morning, rally afternoon and evening) and another pace noted event in the planning (see separate story), then the move to a partly pace noted series is gaining serious momentum.

WATAGAN RALLYSPRINT

This event finally got off the ground but due to the lack of rain, the event had to contend with dust, and the rallysprint format of one minute intervals made this exciting in places, to say the least. Using a loop road off the Prickly Ridge/ Sauls Road area, the stage included the hairpin spectator point, which was a downhill left for the first three runs, and reversed to make an uphill right for the second run.

The section of road used was rough, due to the dryness of the forest, and about 7.5km long.

This year’s events in the rallysprint series are more forestbased than they have been in recent years, and it is a returnee to the series, Steve Tapner, who now leads it in the yellow exJohn Mitchell Evo 3.

The entry for the series events has been great, with names such as Chris Giddins, Tony Sullens, Michael South, Frank Barker, Dave Darby, Gerald Schofield, John McInnes, Eric Kytola and Scott McCloy making their presence felt. Sullens pulled out of the Watagans event after just one run, he and co driver Anthony Barkley unfortunate to have a minor problem with the exhaust threaten to trigger something evil in the engine management system.

No-one was going to catch Michael South (with wife Sue alongside for a second time this year) despite attacking the front of the car almost straight after the start of the first run, taking out a drain on the right hander just before the jump. Cosmetic damage was all that was caused to the Spec C Impreza, and they went on to record their second win for the year. Steve Tapner and Russel Skeffington took second and the title lead, whilst third was taken by Frank Barker and Nigel Walters in the SFARS

l Mark Foreman’s Datsun 200B was indecently quick, finishing fourth.

Lancer Evo VII. A remarkable fourth, surrounded by 4WD turbos, was Lake Maquarie’s Mark Foreman and Jayke Skeffington in Mark’s indecently quick Datsun 200B two door. Quite a run!

The next NSW Rallysprint Series event is set down for Coffs Harbour on June 24, followed by Awaba in July and Kempsey in August. Let’s see who will come up on top in ex-ARC territory!

Thanks to Steve Tapner for the update on this one.

SO LONG 2GO RALLY

And speaking of the Watagans: the 2GO Rally is no more! Possibly the most famous event on the NSWRC calendar, the 2GO will not be run in 2006, and possibly never again. Event director Graham Roser has said that it was becoming nearly impossible to run the event due to the fact that the authorities, amonst other things, now had no need to keep up maintenance on the roads. So, RIP the 2GO, let’s see what else we can do for the state series. There is more news to come – read on!

PACENOTES

Maybe I should change the name of the column! I refer to the fact that at the recent Rally Panel meeting, the much-mooted subject was finalised.

Next year it is proposed that

THE MYALL STAGES

Late last year Graham Humphreys and I had a conversation regarding his wish to run a club-based pace noted event in 2006. That is now the case, the Nissan-Datsun Drivers Club planning to run a pacenoted event on August 19 and 20.

There will be two runs of a 50km loop, a total 100km competitive all up. Recce will be on Saturday, the rally on Sunday and all in daylight.

As most of the state series features night stages (keep them, please, night rallying is sensational!), the move to all-daylight is another way of running pace noted events.

More information on this event is available from Graham Humphries (0409 126 308) or Col Fletcher (0419 234 249.)

THE GOLDEN JUBILEE RALLY

The Kempsey Sporting Car Club held its Golden Jubilee Rally on the weekend of May 20 (see separate report), and the result was a little beauty for NSW-Q rallying, with a field that included the leaders of the Queensland state championship, the travelling rallyer Glenn Brinkman and Steve Richardson in their Impreza WRX. However it was Armidale’s Garry Yeomans with Gloucester’s Kam Baker who took the

win in Richard Opie’s Lancer Evo I.

FOREST RALLY, WA

The ARC made its trek west without me for the first time since 1996, and I missed my first ARC round since the end of 1999.

Oh well, all good things must come to an end apparently!

However the ten finishers in the ARC registered field made it hard to convince me that the series is in good health!

Queensland will be a different kettle of fish entirely, with the restart of the BP privateers series, where the field runs on the 98 octane unleaded you and I can buy from the local servo.

A few NSW entrants are running in that, Gerald Schofield and Martin Lintott amongst them. One who was going to be at the pointy end was Kevin Shaw, who unfortunately destroyed his Evo VI at the Forest Rally.

One bright spot for NSW was the performance of not only Neal Bates and Coral Taylor, but Dale Moscatt with Chinese champion Xu Lang.

Had it not been for a late-Sunday ‘off’, the pair would have taken fifth outright for both heats. Still, progress is being made, and Dale’s gamble of putting his faith in Xu Lang is surely going to be rewarded.

RALLY CHICKS

I have no doubt that my ACT mate, Ray Baker, will tell you more about this one, but I am excited about the prospect of helping some ‘rallying chicks’ promote themselves, and others.

The intent of ‘rallychicks.com’ is to promote the sport of rallying to other girls, and the point is that it is not just for the ones that compete.

It is for all the officials, wives of drivers as well as the competitors out there.

Ray is looking after the site, and I hope to contribute words and pics. It’s a great initiative by a few of the more active girls on the NSW/ ACT rally scene.

Check it out at www.rallychicks.com: Thanks to all who provided content for me this month, and keep it coming during the season. If you don’t tell me, I can’t tell everyone else! See you all in Bega! blacky@blacky.com.au.

July 2006 - 63

Queensland news Thanks to the necessity for magazine deadlines, this issue will go to print after the running of the second of the KCF Rallysport Short Course events.

Needless to say, I will endeavour to obtain and provide results of the KCF event for the RallySport website in the week after the rally, and include a report in the following issue.

Speaking with BSCC official Craig Porter recently he confirmed that 36 entries were received for ‘KCF No. 2’, which is in line with the usual numbers for these compact events.

Given its proximity to the ARC round, it’s expected that a number of crews will take the opportunity to hone their pacenoting skills over the multiple runs of two short stages.

Coates Rally Queensland promises plenty, with its new home at Twin Waters reducing the travelling time to the forests of Imbil for competing crews and service personnel alike.

I would certainly encourage anyone not competing or officiating to come up to the beautiful Sunshine Coast and partake of some top-class rallying – whether you simply watch the start at Mooloolabah on the Friday night, and the return of cars to Twin Waters on Saturday night – or head up to Imbil township and watch some of the action.

Admittedly it’s winter, but because of this the huge number of accommodation destinations on the Sunshine Coast will be no doubt happy to offer attractive rates.

‘Sideways in the Sun’ – remember!

ANTHONY’S ADVENTURES

One of Brisbane’s most successful crop of co-drivers, Anthony McLoughlin, has been a very busy boy with his international exploits and has re-joined former teammate Stewie Reid for the ARC events.

‘Ant’ reported that he actually had two rally-free months recently since returning from his last Shanghai event.

He and his driver, Dong, managed a seventh place finish, despite a flat tyre on the second last stage, and that the new Prodrive car was down on power due to the fact that the team was using ‘not-so-good’ Chinese Avgas.

For the next event, the team will be using a batch of Shell Turbo Rally fuel out of Europe.

‘Ant’ was pleasantly surprised 64 - July 2006

to find that one of the Prodrive representatives provided to assist the team in Shanghai was none other than ex-Brisbane-ite Adrian Bukmanis!

His Prodrive travelling companions were not aware of their mate’s fame as a rally gun, and were most impressed with the tall stories that followed.

At the time of writing, Ant was in Western Australia with Stewie Reid in the Toyota Corolla but will be heading straight to Rotorua for the next round of the APRC with Chinese teammate Dong where they have leased an Evo 6 Lancer.

Anthony will provide an update after the NZ event and a report will appear in RallySport.

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN

My good friends up at the Twin Cities Auto Club in Townsville are a busy lot and seem to provide lots of events for their members and northern enthusiasts.

Recently the first round of the ‘King of the Mountain’ bitumen hillclimb series was held on April 30.

A healthy field of 30 cars was present on the day, featuring some of our recognised rally stars along with a number of other obviously very capable drivers in pretty exciting machinery.

Showing the diversity of both cars and drivers, fastest time of the day was taken by Russell Newman in a Nissan Skyline GTR (4WD), followed by Nathan Mullins in a Nissan Skyline (2001-3000cc class) with third quickest on the day plundered by Shane Satchwell in his Datsun 1200 ute!!

Fourth fastest was Don Grierson in a V8 Holden Torana and fifth quickest for the day went to Ray Gibson in his Datsun 1600 turbo.

Other cars in the event included an Evo 8 Lancer (Graeme MacDonnell), a Birkin Clubman (Terry Saville) and a Porsche 914/6 in the hands of Neil Jaunzems.

More rounds of the series follow and I will provide results as supplied by Ron White from the TCAC club.

BORDER RANGES RALLY

Another reminder that the Gold Coast Tweed Motorsporting Club’s event for July 8 will be worth a visit to the northern NSW town of Urbenville.

Long time rally competitor, Jason Delaney, has supported

by Tom Smith the club and event by providing sponsorship.

Jason has also recently purchased a classic Escort rally car from Victoria especially for the event, and the hope is that a successful outing may see this become a regular clubman event on the Queensland/NSW calendar.

The field is to be restricted to just 35 cars for this inaugural event.

All classes of registered rally cars are eligible to compete.

Supplementary Regulations will be available from June 7 and the Club will allow pre-event scrutiny in both Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.

For further information, or to register your interest, please contact John Careless on 5534 8986 (home) or at rcare5@eq. edu.au.

QUEENSLAND RALLY ADVISORY PANEL

For those who may not be aware, it is possible to download the minutes from the monthly meetings of the Queensland Rally Advisory Panel.

This is done by going to the CAMS website and following your nose.

It’s quite well laid out and not difficult to find.

Although the minutes are fairly concise, there may be some information in there that is of interest to CAMS members.

Be careful not to read the minutes in the incorrect context, so if there’s anything you’re not sure of please contact either the CAMS office for reference or Margot Knowles, the unstoppa-

ble Chairperson of the QRAP.

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE

I have to pass on my compliments to the medical personnel who make themselves available to assist at our rally events.

These men and ladies are very special indeed, and although it’s likely you’ll find a different crew at each rally they know their business and handle the circumstances in the most professional manner.

At Philcomm’s Rally Benarkin my teammate Steve Shepheard and I had what I’d call a slow rollover and ended up back on our wheels.

During the course of the roll, my door window broke and a rock came through the window, giving me a bloody lip.

Although we were both fundamentally fine, upon returning to the end of stage we were asked to see the paramedics for a quick check-up.

The gent who attended us, looked us in the eye (for signs of shock, concussion or lunacy) and wiped down my cuts with a sterile pad.

He even went to lengths to explain how we should look for signs of post-accident trauma during the rest of the day and evening – and avoid alcohol….. which was when we really did go into shock!!

These paramedics were also first on the scene for at least one road accident which occurred nearby during the event – they do a great job!!

Top award for Emma “Stunned, delighted and honoured,” is how New Zealand’s top woman rally driver Emma Gilmour describes her feelings after winning the country’s most prestigious rallying award, the Rally Founders Trophy.

The Rally Founders Trophy is awarded annually to the rally driver who not only performs with distinction, but who also

demonstrates a sportsmanlike attitude and is a worthy ambassador for the sport.

“I feel really hugely honoured, especially to win the Trophy so early in my driving career,” says Gilmour. “Among the past winners are many of the great names of Kiwi rallying, including Possum Bourne, who won it four times in his life,” she said.

- DAVID THOMSON

WA news A couple of months ago I spoke of the Safari Rally and how there were difficulties in organising the event. The good news is that for 2006 the rally has been allowed to run.

This will however, be the final time that the Sotico plantation may be used for local rallying.

Entries for the Safari will have closed by the time you read this column but rest assured that the Safari organisers will be searching for new areas in which to run the event in 2007.

While WA is keeping the Safari this year, it seems that the WARC is going to lose a round.

Due to several reasons, including the Water Corporation situation, the Stirling Stages Rally has been cancelled. This means the WARC will be decided on four rounds, with the last round being the Experts Cup. Due to the Stirling’s cancellation the Clubman Series will then be back to its normal five rounds rather than six.

Whilst it is somewhat disappointing that the Stirling and the Safari will lose their homes after this year, it is an opportunity to search for new venues in which to host these great rallies. Both organising car clubs have hinted at other areas that they may like to run the events. It’s not all bad news, and there are definitely some positives to be taken from this scenario.

RALLY AUSTRALIA

With the WARC season ending in July this year, there may be enough time for more WA competitors to have a go at Rally Australia in late October.

As this is the last time that Rally Oz will run in WA, and also the very last chance to contest the Sotico jumps and water splash, why not think about it? If you’ve never contested Rally Australia before but had aspirations to do it, then this is your last chance on home soil. Speaking from personal experience, competing in Rally Australia is definitely worth it.

I’ll write more info on Rally Australia 2006 as the year progresses.

by Karl Drummond

l Alex Stone leads the WA Rally Championship after the first round at Nannup. (Pics: Robyn Feaver)

have been organizing events for a long time and that’s part of the problem. There are not many people stepping up to the plate to assist with the organisation of rallies. Maybe people think it’s an arduous task and a burden borne alone. In reality this is not necessarily the case. What is needed are some enthusiastic people who may wish to assist and learn how to run a rally.

Do you think if you put you’re hand up you’ll be hurled into the deep end? That’s another common myth. Those experienced organisers out there would love the assistance and would be there to help every step of the way. Furthermore, any people new to organising would more than likely observe and learn from behind the scenes to start with.

Does organising mean that I need to be the Clerk of Course?

No. There are many organising duties that are required for each rally including event secretary, road director, official’s co-ordinator, assistant clerk of course, etc. Like the editor mentioned, rallying needs an “all parties” approach for the sport to con-

tinue. Whilst everyone would like to see more competitors, the people organising rallies now will not be able to organise them forever.

If you’d like to learn more about being a rally official or indeed being involved with organising, contact The Ascot Motor Club, the Light Car Club, or the WA Car Club. All of these clubs would love to hear from you. Contact details for one or all of these clubs can be sought from the Perth CAMS office.

RALLYING ON TV

Ever competed in a State or Clubman rally and had a microphone shoved in your face at the end of a stage? Ever seen video camera people out on the stages and wondered what happens to the footage? There’s a good chance the people you’ve greeted or seen are from RallyWA. As well as maintaining a website for all things rallying in WA (www.rallywa.com), the team are busy producing annual rallying documentaries. The RallyWA team voluntarily covers every round of the WARC and Clubman

series to compile end of year reviews of each competition. The DVDs produced are then retailed through the Pitstop Bookshop in Perth.

The 2005 DVDs are in stock now and the 2006 editions will be available later this year or early next year. Both DVDs are good quality and great value for money (RSM conducted a great DVD review in a previous issue this year.) For your copy, drop into or contact the Pitstop Book Shop, King St Perth.

COMING UP

I know last month I said I’d have a report on the WARC side of the Quit Forest Rally in this issue of RSM. So to keep our friendly editors happy and not have to worry about the hangover from the Sunday night afterparty, the WARC QFR review will be printed next month.

With the WA rally season in full swing, it’s time to don a suit, helmet and gloves to do battle with the WA forests. Hope to see you out there.

Karl Drummond Ph: 040 993 0996 E-mail: karl@iinet.net.au

FUTURE OF RALLYING

In the June issue of RallySport Magazine, Peter Whitten raised some interesting points regarding the future of rallying, particularly in regard to rally organisers. Certainly the task of organising an event in 2006 is more complicated than 20 or 30 years ago.

Most of the WA organisers

l RallySport Mag columnis Karl Drummond struts his stuff during the Quit Forest Rally, WA’s ARC round.

July 2006 - 65

Tasmania news FALCON GOOD THING

Ray Skeggs, along with the colourful Allan Roark in the co-pilot’s seat, debuted his newly-acquired EF Falcon at the Hellyer Rally and proved to be a “grin factory” all day for both himself and the spectators which included a monumental ‘off’ on the last stage.

The big red hunk of Henry’s finest speared off at the last spectator point and hit a stump, sending the car almost into orbit with one keen eyed photographer scoring a pearler of a shot (see Mark Kyles photo’s on www.500carclub.com.au)

GOOD WILL HUNTY

Kelly Hunt made a welcome return to the gravel scene at Hellyer but not without the normal dramas that surround the man when it comes to making a plan.

The Team Lancer lead driver had to make up an axle out of a Datsun 720 ute item the week before, losing the end of his thumb whilst on the lathe, then suffered a navigator loss at the last minute.

Despite only finding a replacement at 10.30pm the night be-

by Adrian Morrisby

fore the event, they came home first in class and third 2WD, which was a top effort!

THE BRIDGE WITH NO SIDES

The Hellyer Rally has long been renowned for its challenging roads, and equally challenging road book.

Many crews suffered from long calls leading into “sticky situations”, one in particular ended with “Care! Bridge with no sides.”

This proved to be a good chance to scare the wits out of the navigators - Byron Murfet’s navigator, Julian Moorey, letting rip with “We still have to make it to the finish, you @%^*head.

Along with Hunt/Eastley and Grave/Dobson, they all survived the bridge and stayed dry.

FIRE IN THE WHOLE

I was lucky enough to be at the end of the sixth stage at Hellyer and witnessed a strange set of circumstances.

When the Sault/Creswell Commodore left the road and started a small grass fire, several people down the road slowed down following crews, one of which

complained about the time lost by slowing for a “non incident.”

He claimed it cost him a podium position because when he arrived the fire was out and the situation was under control.

After the untimely passing of a navigator this year in the WRC Junior Series whilst changing a flat tyre, I can only say, when is too much caution not enough?

MURFET SHOW

Second generation rally drivers Shaun and Scott Murfet took to the gravel, both in the navigator’s seat at Hellyer.

Dad, Andrew, a past ARC competitor and State Champion himself, appeared to need a navigator himself as he attempted to find the service area to pass some sandwiches to the lads but was some 15km away!

Both young men did a top job bringing home their drivers in a hard rally, Shaun winning P2 with demon driver “Chuggy” in a Ford Laser.

ORANGE PEOPLE

Craig Brooks’ special little band of people have turned orange, not their skin but their clothing.

Decked out in matching attire, they resembled a bunch of witches hats at a motorkhana!

Special mention to Pete O’Reilly who has put his rally career on hold to build and maintain the Team Brooks WRX.

CALLING FOR A RE-SHELLdrick

Datsun freaks and hot favourites for the 2WD title, Ben and wife Bec, Sheldrick, have shown some real speed in the 2WD scene this year in their lightning-quick 1600.

At the Hellyer Rally, local fastman Byron Murfett was questioned by another driver regarding his wild lines in the gravel.

His reply was “It isn’t me, it’s that mad #@%&*$# in the Datto in front of me!”

Unfortunately the Datsun finished the event on a tow rope behind the sweep car after an altercation with a stump popped the radiator and seized the engine.

SPORTY AUTY

COMING EVENTS

Date June 17-18 June 24 June 24-25 Championships: ARC – Australian, July 7-9 APRC – Asia Pacific, WRC – World, July 8-9 QRC – QLD, NSWRC – NSW, VRC – Victorian, TRC – Tasmanian, SARC July 15-16 – SA, WARC – WA. July 29 Please note: All dates are correct July 29 July 29-30 as at time of printing. Please advise us of any incorrect dates or August 5 August 11-13 calendar changes.

66 - July 2006

Event Classification Coates Rally Q’land ARC3/QRC 2 & 3 Mt. Lloyd Rally TRC3 Safari Rally WARC3 Rally Japan APRC4 Eden Valley Rally SARC1 Safari Tasmania ARC4/TRC4 Experts Cup WARC4 Capricorn RallyQRC4 Rallye Burnie Port Panthers Rally NSWRC3 Deutschland Rally WRC9

Venue Caloundra South Boddington Hokkaido Cambrai Hobart Collie Yeppoon North West Port Macquarie

The second outing for the Team Auty Celica was another success, the crew coming home in sixth outright.

With a tyre budget that challenges most other team’s food bill for the weekend, I gave them ‘drive of the rally.’ Equally impressive was the 70’s rallying beard that Tim was sporting.

KHANA KARMELEON

The Maxboost Rally Team recently travelled to the MSCT Khanacross event at the Powranna venue, and had a ripper day.

The circuit consisted of 1km of gravel road that was used for three-lap journeys. By the end of the second lap I was worn out after all the dialling that was required to keep our ‘khana special Triumph 2500 in a forward direction, which I failed to do quite a few times.

Graham Malcolm managed to win first outright and Tim “Crash” Gadsby came home second in their shared Skyline special.

Good mate Jonny Hamburger took out the “Radial class” in the Trumpeter, giving us three of the four trophies on offer.

The 500 Club will soon be staging an event on their newly acquired land adjacent to the Hobart Airport.

Nissan Nightmoves Organisation for the 2006 Nissan Nightmoves Trial, the third round of the Traction Tyres Victorian Club Rally Series, is well underway, and the event – scheduled for July 1 – is set to uphold the reputation it has developed as one of Victoria’s premier club events.

In the tradition of previous years, the event promises maximum competitive distance in the Redcastle, Rushworth and Whroo forests.

The start, service and finish location is at the combined location of the Rushworth Sport and Recreation Ground, approximately two hours from Melbourne.

The route have been combined in an all-new manner to give a total of approximately 160 competitive kilometres. The favourite roads are still a feature, but there are some new roads thrown in to keep

l The last round of the VCRS produced some havoc. Will the Nissan Nightmoves do the same? (Pic: Doutch)

crews thinking, and to reward crew co-operation.

Many prizes have been donated by a number of event sponsors - these prizes will be in the form of goods and will be given to outright places and to class

Bega Valley Rally This year’s Bega Valley Motors Rally is to be headed by a group of 15 Classic rally cars, two of which will be driven by ex-Australian Rally Champions Ross Dunkerton and Geoff Portman.

Dunkerton and Portman are set to re ignite the forests and shire roads of the NSW South Coast, around the town ships of Bega and Eden on the Queens Birtday weekend of June 10 & 11.

The Bega Rally will be the second round of the 2006 Classic Rally Challenge, a series that is designed to showcase the cars of the ‘golden era’, being driven in a manner that was intended. The rally is also a round of the NSW, Victorian and ACT state championships The cars entered in this section will include the very rapid turbo 4WD Mitsubishi Evo’s and Subaru WRX’s.

Whilst Dunkerton will be competing in the Classic section in a Datsun Stanza similar to his 1980 Southern Cross Rally-winning car, Portman will be at the wheel of a V8-engined Commodore, similar to the car in which he recently won the Alpine.

But they won’t have it all their own way. Darryn Snooks in another Stanza, and Shawn Urquhart in a Fiat 131 Abarth will be very hard to beat. The

Fiat 131 Abarth is a replica of the vehicle Greg Carr and Fred Gocentas used in the early 80’s in Australia.

Gerald Schofield will be at the wheel of his trusty Ford Escort RS Mk2, very much a crowd-pleasing vehicle with its Cosworth - Holbay engine creating a fantastic sound in the forests. Matt Ruggles in his Triumph TR7 V8 will be looking for a podium finish after his solid run in Victoria.

Gerry Duyvestyn’s Lancia Stratos, in Alitalia livery, will also be one car worth watching. This car is an original Stratos, and is currently valued at over $200,000.

A Classic car with a lot of history which will compete is the XY Falcon of Warren Ridge, this car having done the London to Mexico, London to Sydney and Panama to Alaska rallies.

There will be a static display of the cars on Saturday afternoon, at Bega Valley Motors between 2 and 4pm on Saturday June 10.

Action in the rally starts on Sunday June 11 on the shire roads around the towns of Bega and Eden.

Spectator information can be obtained from Rally Headquarters – Bega RSL from 9am on the Saturday or log onto www. classicrallycars.com - in the week prior for more information.

stage awards. There will a flood lit spectator point a short distance from the start location that crews will tackle twice during the event.

Supp Regs are now available from the event secretary,

Kylie Thorpe on 9435 4254 or download them from www. nissancarclub.org.au.

Remember that this event has had an over-subscribed field for the past few years and this year looks no different!

l The ARC regulars head for Tasmania’s Huon Valley in July.

New Super Special for Safari Tasmania Next month’s Tasmanian round of the ARC, the Subaru Safari Tasmania, will feature a new super-special stage at Geeveston, 60km south of Hobart.

The super special has been planned by the organisers in conjunction with the Huon Valley Council and will feature a specially-designed 400metre course at the Ossie Kile Reserve, near the Kermanie Oval in Geeveston.

The new stage will replace the popular stage which has traditionally been held at the Derwent Entertainment Centre.

The aim of the new stage is to allow spectators not only to watch the action without having to go into the forests, but to enable them to sew the cars being serviced in the adjacent service park.

The super special will be used four times during the 2-day rally, with each car doing two laps per run.

Entries had not closed for the July 15 & 16 event as we went to press but the organizers expect a field of around 40 cars which will include crews competing in the Tasmanian Rally Championship component.

July 2006 - 67

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Zulu Rally to McRae Alister McRae made a spectacular return to top level rallying when he won the Zulu Rally South Africa, that country’s world championship candidate event.

Not only has he proved that the years lost to his career after the Mitsubishi world championship withdrawal in 2002 have not dulled his rallying skills, but this was also one of the first times a Group N car has beaten the new Super 2000 cars on even terms anywhere in the world.

Behind his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII came a series of Toyota and Volkswagen Super 2000 cars with the top seven finishers all qualifying for the new FIArecognised Eurosport Challenge series on its inaugural event.

Run in KwaZulu Natal province and based at Durban, the event used stages that were new to all competitors, the stages divided into three distinctly different types. Only one of the venues was in the sugar cane plantations which Durbanbased rallies traditionally use, others used some remarkably twisty mountain tracks in the Valley of 1000 Hills area towards Pietermaritzburg and on the final day classic British-type forest stages were run.

Only on the narrow, undulating mountain stages did the Super 2000 cars have the measure of the Group N cars. 60 crews took the start, ranging from FIA African championship drivers, through regular South African competitors, and encouraged by the Eurosport series came a factory Fiat Punto Abarth S2000, entered by N Technology for the 21 year old Italian driver Umberto Scandola.

No fewer than six S2000 cars took part, the highest recorded number for these cars anywhere!

On the first day McRae led from the start until VW driver Kuun passed, going into the lead on the very twisty and narrow stage 4, but Kuun lost time in the afternoon of the first day with a mysterious loss of engine power, letting both McRae and the Toyota driver Serge Damseaux ahead.

On the first day the official VW team driver and reigning national champion Jan Habig retired with engine overheating, and Scandola also retired.

Near the end of stage 4 the Fiat had a damaged rear suspension after impacting a rock, but more fundamentally the car was withdrawn at service when

l Three types of Super 2000 cars lined up at the start of the Zulu Rally.

l Enzo Kuun (VW Polo) finished nearly a minute behind McRae.

it was found the engine was misfiring, thought to be due to fuel quality problems.

The final two stages were defining. Shortened to 32km from the projected 44km, these were double runs over the forest stages and on the first run through the section Hergen Fekken’s Polo, McRae’s Mitsubishi and Kuun’s VW were separated by only four seconds!

It was a bad day for the Toyota S2000s.

Serge Damseaux went off the road, Lourens dropped three

minutes and fell back behind Robbie Head after electrical problems. Going into the final stage McRae was 45 seconds in front of Kuun and took another 11 seconds off him, to win by nearly a minute.

In the final stage Fekken went off the road into a tree and like Serge Damseaux, was eventually classified under SupeRally rules, so that of the six S2000 cars only two completed the route, finishing second and third.

- STORY & PHOTOS

BY MARTIN HOLMES

Zulu Rally South Africa

l The normally-aspirated engine of the Super 2000 Fiat Punto.

68 - July 2006

Zulu Rally South Africa 26/27.05.2006 1. Alister McRae/Gordon Noble 2. Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson 3. Etienne Lourens/Andre Vermeulen 4. Robbie Head/Robin Houghton 5. Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries 6. Fernando Rueda/Martin Botha 60 starters. 49 finishers.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII (N) VW Polo S2000 Toyota RunX Rsi S2000 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (N) VW Polo S2000 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (N)

2h.31m.48s.

2h.32m.44s.

2h.37m.16s.

2h.37m.58s.

2h.38m.19s.

2h.38m.36s.

PITSTOP

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NEW ADDRESS: 11/62 Newton Rd, Wetherill Park 2164 Ph: (02) 9756 0202 Fax: (02) 9756 0203 E: sales@simpsonraceproducts.com.au July 2006 - 69

Mason wins transTasman battle Reigning New Zealand Rally Champion, Richard Mason, beat his Australian counterpart Cody Crocker to victory by just 8.9 seconds after a thrilling two-day battle on the Rotorua International Rally.

Contending with wet and muddy conditions on the event, which was a round of both the Asia-Pacific and New Zealand championships, Mason and Crocker were a cut above the rest of the field. The Kiwi won six of the 12 special stages, his trans-Tasman rival five, and the battling pair finished more than eight minutes clear of thirdplaced Sam Murray.

Former New Zealand champion Chris West was the other stage winner, but retired with a blown turbo on leg one while third overall. He was sidelined again in Sunday’s second heat by consequential engine problems.

Mason set the early pace by winning Saturday’s first two stages. Crocker then set fastest time through the famous 48km Motu test. He hit the rally lead two stages later, and held a 13 second buffer by the end of the day.

Come Sunday morning, Mason struck back with a string of fastest times, and eventually hit the lead three stages from the end.

Despite Crocker’s best efforts on the final stage, Mason held on for the win, his first on a fullblown international event.

“I was surprised by Richard Mason pulling it out of the hat,” Crocker admitted at the finish. “I had a few moments with braking today [Sunday]. The Motu stage was an amazing experience.

We had 50 pages of notes, and it was the longest and most challenging stage I’ve done in a long time.”

By David Thomson Todd Bawden completed a Subaru clean-sweep of the top four places, with Brett Martin the first Mitsubishi driver home in fifth. He was followed by Indonesian Asia-Pacific driver Rifat Sungar (Mitsubishi), Glenn Smith (Subaru) and Mark Tapper (Ford Fiesta).

Emma Gilmour claimed ninth place having battled differential problems throughout, suffered three punctures, and four spins. Her results from the two national ‘heats’ that comprised the event – 10th and 5th – were enough to keep her placed fourth in the Kiwi championship, behind Mason, Murray and Bawden.

Eli Evans made a good start in the second Les Walden car. He was fourth overall and second in the APRC field after the Motu stage, but slid off the road and into retirement on the next stage.

With Evans out, Sungkar was able to claim second place in the APRC field on day one, ahead of Brian Green, Subhan Aksa, Dermott Malley and Fan Fan. The other APRC casualty on leg one was Hiroshi Yanagisawa, who was out with mechanical problems before the first stage.

Evans returned on Sunday, completing the day second in the APRC field behind Crocker.

Sungkar was again third, this time ahead of Malley and Fan Fan. Green retired with a blown turbo and Aksa put his Evo 8 off the road. Crocker, Sungkar, Fan Fan and Dermott Malley were the only APRC drivers to complete both days of competition.

Crocker and Mason now lead in their respective championships,

l Kiwi Champ Richard Mason (above) beat his Aussie rival Cody Crocker (below) by just 8.9 seconds after a great battle. (Photos: Geoff Ridder)

Crocker having passed Katuhiko Taguchi (who did not contest Rotorua), and Mason having pulled clear of Chris West.

The NZRC resumes in Northland on July 1-2, and the APRC continues in Japan the following weekend.

l Eli Evans (top) went off the road on day one, but Mark Tapper (above) took ninth in a Ford Fiesta, and Sam Murray (left) finished third.

Rally of Rotorua - APRC3 1. Richard Mason/Sara Randall Subaru Impreza WRX STI 2. Cody Crocker/Ben Atkinson Subaru Impreza WRX STI 3. Sam Murray/Rob Ryan Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4. Todd Bawden/Damon McLachlan Subaru Impreza WRX STI 5. Brett Martin/Raymond Bennett Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 6. Rifat Sungkar/Herkusuna Mohamad Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 7. Glenn Smith/Colin Smith Subaru Impreza WRX STI 8. Mark Tapper/Jeff Cress Ford Fiesta 9. Emma Gilmour/Chris Cobham Subaru Impreza WRX STI 10. Grant Barber/Bede O’Connor Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 70 - July 2006

3h12m38s +8.9secs +8m21.7s +9:15.4 +12:27.5 +15:20.8 +15:45.0 +16:29.5 +18.00.3 +18:46.9

NEXT MONTH

THE GERMANS ARE COMING!! l The soccer World Cup is on in Germany and we get into the spirit of things by featuring two of Germany’s best - a BMW and a Volkswagen - both rally prepped and great fun in their own right!

WIN A TRIP TO THE 2006 ND LA e A E Z W E N Y L L th RA e to cross

your chanc ’s best rally Don’t miss orld d see the w Tasman an us! n o drivers

IN-CAR CAMERAS l We show you how to make a video car mount for your rally car - for under $10.

It’s easier than you think, and the results are sensational!

RALLY QUEENSLAND l Can anyone stop the Toyota steamroller from winning on the Sunshine Coast?

We’ll have all the action from round 3 of the NEC Australian Rally Championship.

Plus all our regular columns, classifieds, news and much more!

On sale July 14 July 2006 - 71

Al-Attiyah’s Jordan Rally Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Ulster co-driver Chris Patterson extended their overall advantage in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship to 16 points, after taking a start to finish victory in the Jordan Rally, an official WRC candidate event held under the patronage of HRH Prince Feisal Al-Hussein, Chairman of Jordan Motorsport.

Al-Attiyah was fastest on 13 of the 17 timed special stages on the Dead Sea-based event and eventually finished 4min 13.8sec ahead of second-placed Dubai driver Sheikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum and co-driver Wael Marjan, who duly moved up to second place in the regional series.

“This was a very difficult and specialised event and I am so happy to win again,” said Al-Attiyah. “We were trying a different suspension set-up today. I had more confidence with it and the car was more stable.

But we took no risks. The event has made massive progress in the last 12 months and I am convinced that it could easily become a round of the WRC.” Jordanian Amjad Farrah and former championship-winning co-driver Khaled Zakaria completed the podium positions with third overall and the honour of being the highest-placed Jordanian crew on what has been labelled as the most important event in the 23-year history of the FIA Middle East Championship.

Unseasonably hot weather, which had been caused by hot desert winds from Saudi

l Victory went to Middle East series leader Nasser Al-Attiyah in a Subaru Impreza WRX.

Arabia, abated on the second leg and teams were able to benefit from slightly cooler temperatures for the remaining seven special stages.

Twenty-two of the original 28 cars started the second leg, with 12 benefiting from the SupeRally ruling. There were 19 finishers.

While competitors in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship now switch their attention to the fifth round of the series in Lebanon at the end of June, Jordan Motorsport officials will be working behind the scenes to bolster their bid for inclusion in the WRC. A decision is expected at the FIA World Council meeting in early July.

- PHOTOS BY MAURICE SELDEN

l World Champions at play. Tommi Makinen relaxes in the Dead Sea, while Luis Moya enjoys a Dead Sea beauty treatment.

l What a view! This young fan has the best seat in the house, courtesy of his trusty donkey.

MERCHANDISE BOOKS - DVDs - VIDEOS - MODELS

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CLASSIFIEDS HALDAS WANTED – dead or alive. Spares, gears, T pieces, servicing, repairs and restoration also available. Phone Mike (02) 6238 3159, 0412 904 638 or email mikemorris@ozemail.com.au

LANCER EVO 5. Built to max Group N rules, Compomotive wheels, Michelin tyres many spares including turbo & computer.

Velo seats, fire bomb, light pod.

Need quick sale for 2006 rally entry.

SA rally rego XBE 619. Contact Bob 0418 816 889.

DATSUN 1200 COUPE. PRC specs, Webers, extractors, hydraulic handbrake, Koni/Pedders suspension, cage, new harnesses October ‘05, log book, engineers certificate. Heaps of spares.

Mortgage forces sale. June 2006 rego. Urgent sale. Reg. ATR 65M. Best offer. Phone 0413 461 447 or (02) 6654 2884.

MAZDA RALLY CAR. 1.6 litre 2WD turbo. Log book, fully tagged steel cage, adjustable suspension, hydraulic handbrake, adjustable bias. Terratrip, Terraphone, 4 Cibies, 12 wheels, good set of tyres.

Spare gearbox and shafts. Very competitive club car. Reg. QWK693. $7000. Phone (02) 9875 3134 coliza@optusnet.com.au

HOLDEN CAMIRA rally car. CAMS log book, full Bond roll cage, Bilstein suspension/King springs, Terratrip, Terraphone, harnesses and race seats. Originally built

by Rod Browning and Norm Singleton. Expired ACT rally registration. Ideal entry level car for rallying, motorkhanas, khanacrosses. Engine No. 16JH 25034842. $3,000. Phone 0438 768 225.

SUBARU WRX RA V2. Autronics c o m p u t e r, 2 0 k g . c e n t r e d i ff , mechanical STi front diff, DMS suspension, underbody protection, upgraded brakes and braided lines.

12 rims and tyres, 3” exhaust and more. 3” harnesses. Very competitive state car. Spares package included. Very new and tidy car. Reg. SI 0060. Contact Ian on 0407 876 511. $27,000.

TOYOTA COROLLA KE35. 2TG engine with Yamaha head, side draught carbies, ectractors and 2.25” exhaust. Front vented brakes, rebuilt gearbox, Corona diff, seats and harnesses. 3 events old. Reg. FB 5200. $6,000. Phone 0407 876 511.

WITH PHOTO HALDAS WANTED – dead or alive. Spares, gears, T pieces, servicing, repairs and restoration also available. Phone Mike (02) 6238 3159, 0412 904 638 or email mikemorris@ozemail.com.au.

LANCER EVO 1 – 2 and some 3 parts. Engines, gearboxes, diffs, suspension arms, cross members, drive shafts, tail shafts, body parts, brakes, radiators, intercoolers etc. I have dismantled many cars over the last 12 months so I have many bits.

Call or email for more information.

Phone (03) 5823 1911 BH or email cvapbigpond.com GOT SOMETHING TO SELL? Advertise your car or parts in RallySport Magazine and you’ll have your advert read all around the country. Next deadline June 26.

SUBARU WRX Sti RA RALLY CAR. This professionally prepared and presented car features the following: Pedigree history. Outright winning car at any level in the right hands New engine, forged pistons, Possumlink engine management system, new 6 speed STi non-DCCD gearbox, DMS 50mm coilover struts (3 events since rebuild). New 2005-complied Sparco Evo seats, new 2005-complied Sabelt six-point turnbuckle harnesses, DMS underbody protection, carbon fibre fuel tank protection. Body fully seam welded and strengthened – repainted 2005. Drummond Motorsport FIA integral rollcage, firebomb and 2 x 1kg handheld fire extinguishers. New Pagid Blue brake pads, 4 piston Group N calipers, new 2 piece DBA 5000 slotted rotors with aluminium hats. Hi Tech Mufflers exhaust system, Cibie diving lights in removable bonnet pod, Coralba C-Giant, Peltor Intercom. 8 Compomotive wheels and tyres. Very comprehensive & professional spares package available including a 5-speed Hollinger dogbox running RA ratios.

Rego: AIY 40B. $41,000. Ring Andrew on (02) 94493688.

Donuts can be dangerous There was a post rally shock for rally winner Sebastien Loeb and three of his colleagues when the Stewards received reports than Loeb, third placed Gigi Galli, fourth place Manfred Stohl and sixth place Daniel Sordo were all given a one-rally exclusion penalties after the event - to be suspended for the rest of the season unless their infringements were repeated.

The offence committed by each of them was that they carried out “donuts” in the stadium at the end of the rally. Each of the drivers were told to perform these spectacular spin-turns by officials who did not realise that this manoeuvre is banned these days, on safety grounds, by the FIA.

Sell your car through the pages of ● 25 cents per word - 1 word per box ● Min. of $10 per ad (plus 10% GST) ● Additional $5 for useGreatest of photoYears in adof Rallying - 70s Rally Cars l The RALLY name CRASH VIDEOS - 3 to choose Advertisers and address from. Phone for full details. $29 each.

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The stewards asked the crews to identify and summon the officials concerned, but by then this was no longer possible.

Donut turns in the Cordoba stadium are already one of the legends of this rally.

In 1991 the reigning world champion, Carlos Sainz, entered the stadium as the winner of the 11th Rally Argentina, performed his spin turns for the fun of the spectators, and in doing so promptly broke the gearbox on his Toyota Celica ST165.

To the delight of the thousands of spectators and the horror and bewilderment of officials, Sainz proceeded to drive up to the finish podium to receive his awards, in reverse gear.

- MARTIN HOLMES

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July 2006 - 73

Big value Begonia The Begonia Rally will run on October 14 this year as a round of the Victorian Rally Championship.

The event will be a day-night affair offering competitors 180km of competitive stages, with a total distance of around 400km.

As well as the VRC component, the event will also include separate events for historic and classic rally cars.

Following a start at Lake Wendouree, the event will utilise roads in the Creswick, Wombat, Enfield and Linton forest areas.

Your one-stop rally shop There would be few more familiar faces in NSW rallying than that of Gary Harrison, owner of Gary’s Motorsport Tyres and the Sparco Super Store.

For over 22 years Gary and his team of experts have been the Dunlop Motorsport dealer in NSW and have provided a tyre sales and fitting service at all of the major motorsport events in NSW, including rallying.

Despite having a staff of just three (Gary, Peter Jones and David Heinecke), the guys have also found the time in the past three years to open and run the Sparco Super Store, which offers competitors a wide range of motorsport equipment.

BUSINESS PROFILE They proudly sell the full range of Sparco gear, as well as other well known brands, including Stilo, Oakley and Chicane.

Whether it’s gravel or tarmac rallying that is your game, Gary’s Motorsport Tyres and the Sparco Super Store are bound to have just what you’re looking for.

“We like to think of ourselves as the ‘one stop shop’ for tyres and race gear,” Gary Harrison says. “We’re on hand with tyres

and race and safety gear at all the NSW motorsport events that we cover.”

So next time you’re in the market for round, black things, or something to go inside your rally car, give the guys a call.

They are situated just 1km from Eastern Creek Raceway, at 13 Penny Place, Arndell Park, or give them a call on (02) 9676 8655.

New ‘jungle juice’ from Martini Martini Racing Fuels have been a leading manufacturer of supreme quality unleaded race fuels for some time now.

On the eve of the release of their latest fuel, called Targa 100, Martini has released a technical bulletin on their range of race fuels.

Martini M102 is a 101.9 octane race fuel designed to comply with CAMS/FIA Schedule G fuel regulations. Advertised under the “ Not all control fuels are equal” banner, this fuel has won over the hearts of drivers and team owners, hungry for power and reliability but yet restricted to the CAMS “box rule” of Schedule G race fuel requirements Martini M110 is Martini’s pride and joy of racing fuels. In terms of energy per pound this is the most powerfull unleaded race fuel in the world, as we know it.

A stratospheric specific gravity and high oxygen content transforms the engine output of highly tuned, high boost engines. This fuel can provide an economical alternative to the M102 for some applications if mixed with 98 octane in the quantities listed below.

Martini’s latest baby is Targa100. A fuel that is CAMS/FIA Schedule G compliant and legal, under “pump fuel” rulings.

This fuel is clearly aimed at the Tarmac rally market, not just in name but in nature with a price tag that is more than easy to swallow and with enough goodies in the form of high tech motorsport chemistry, to see 74 - July 2006

that substantial gains over a “normal” pump 100 octane are achieved.

If you are one for a “tip-in” alternative to a proper race fuel, then consider Martini’s Super Boost Octane booster.

Specific gravity and oxygen content are really what counts when it comes down to power making potential, not just octane.

For example, the Martini M102 race fuel will always win out on power compared to a mix of 100 octane pump and Super Boost.

Despite the two mixes having 102 octane each, it’s the M102 that has the extra goodies to make more grunt.

The chart below shows resultant octane numbers when mixed with different types of pump fuel, however bear in mind that too many people look at an octane number and think it immediately means power. Not so! It’s the chemistry behind the label and the octane numbers that provide the punch.

Contact Martini Racing direct on 03 97630977 or visit www. martiniracing.com.au for your local dealer and more info.

This chart should be used as a guide only.

July 2006 - 75

RETROSPECTIVE

May 2006 was the 20th anniversary of the death of Henri Toivonen, the man who could have been the greatest rally driver ever. Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto were killed when their Lancia Delta S4 crashed and burst into flames on the 1986 Tour de Corse Rally. The accident saw the immediate banning of the fire-breathing Group B rally cars. (Pic: Holmes)

76 - July 2006