RallySport Magazine July 2016

Dedicated coverage of rallying in Australia and New Zealand 

Issue #3 - July 2016 

EVENT REPORT 

Holder takes 

first NZRC title 

WRC POLAND 

HEARTACHE 

FOR TANAK 

INTERVIEWS 

Harry Bates 

David Waldon 

FEATURED 

South African 

rallying 

5 MINUTES WITH 

Jack 

Monkhouse 

FAMOUS STAGES 

Canberra’s 

Mineshaft 

PLUS: RALLY QLD l JIM RICHARDS l HYUNDAI’S RALLYING HISTORY 

rallysportmag.com.au 

JULY 2016 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 1

OFFICIAL 2016 

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CLICK HERE to download 

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Tour brochure 

The tour includes: 

➜ Five nights twin share hotel room at Aanuka Beach Resort 

➜ Cooked breakfast each day ➜ Boxed lunches on 3 rally days 

➜ Tours and transfers by private coach with driver 

➜ Exclusive tour activity pre-event 

➜ Welcome dinner function on Wednesday evening 

➜ 3-day Rally Super Pass 

➜ Official RallySport Magazine tour merchandise 

➜ Priority viewing at Ceremonial Finish and/or Power Stage 

➜ Pre-event Shakedown, Rally Show and Ceremonial Start 

➜ Farewell dinner on Sunday night 

Official Rally Australia Tour hosted by RallySport Magazine 

2 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - JULY 2016

CONTENTS - #3 JULY 2016 

FEATURES EVENT REPORTS REGULARS 

FOLLOW 

US ON: 

12 DAVID WALDON INTERVIEW 

THE ARC CHAIRMAN SAYS THE 2016 

SERIES IS MAKING PROGRESS 

19 THE MINESHAFT 

AN INFAMOUS ROAD JUST OUT OF 

THE NATION’S CAPITAL 

29 GENTLEMAN JIM 

JIM RICHARDS HAS A SUCCESSFUL 

RALLYING BACKGROUND 

42 HYUNDAI IN RALLYING 

IT ALL STARTED IN AUSTRALIA 

50 SOUTH AFRICAN RALLYING 

A UNIQUE RALLYING HISTORY 

68 HYUNDAI I20 R5 

A CLOSE LOOK AT A THE NEW I20 

70 HARRY BATES INTERVIEW 

WE CHAT TO THE SURPRISE ARC 

LEADER 

24 RALLY OF QUEENSLAND 

ROUND 3 OF THE 2016 ARC 

34 WRC ITALY 

HYUNDAI’S THEIRRY NEUVILLE 

FINALLY RETURNED TO FORM 

38 RALLY OF GISBORNE 

DAVID HOLDER CLINCHED HIS FIRST 

NZRC TITLE 

56 HEARTBREAK FOR TANAK 

WET AND WILD IN THE WEST 

60 CLASSIC OUTBACK TRIAL 

CLASSIC CREWS HAD A BALL IN 

AUSTRALIA’S OUTBACK 

63 YPRES RALLY 

BELGIUM’S ERC ROUND 

77 EVANS DOES IT AGAIN 

3 OUT OF 5 FOR YOUNG STAR, BUT 

NOT ALL SURVIVED (BELOW) 

04 EDITORIAL 

GIRL POWER IS EMPOWERING IN 

LOCAL RALLYING AT PRESENT 

05 RALLY ROUND-UP 

NEWS FROM AROUND THE SPORT 

64 BOOK REVIEWS 

TITLES TO ADD TO YOUR LIBRARY 

66 COMING EVENTS 

EVENTS WORTH CHECKING OUT 

72 RALLY CLASSIFIEDS 

WHAT’S FOR SALE THIS MONTH? 

74 HOLMES COLUMN 

MARTIN HOLMES AND HIS MONTHLY 

RALLY COLUMN 

SEE 

THIS? 

Click the link and 

watch the video 

LISTEN TO THE 

PODCAST HERE 

MANAGING EDITOR 

PETER WHITTEN 

peter@rallysportmag.com.au 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Martin Holmes, Luke Whitten, 

Blair Bartels, Jeff Whitten, Dallas 

Dogger, Matthew Whitten, Geoff 

Ridder, John Doutch, Craig O’Brien 

SENIOR WRITER 

TOM SMITH 

tom@rallysportmag.com.au 

PUBLISHED BY: 

Peter Whitten 

RallySport Magazine 

peter@rallysportmag.com.au 

www.rallysportmag.com.au 

ADVERTISING 

Dominic Corkeron, 0499 981 188 

dominic@rallysportmag.com.au 

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. 


EDITORIAL 

Rallying in its purest form 

By PETER WHITTEN 

I’ll be the first to admit that there’s 

no sight in rallying more exciting 

than watching a World Rally Car 

being thrown through the forest by one 

of the world’s greatest rally drivers. 

But for sheer pleasure, I’m not sure 

anything beats standing in a dark 

forest listening to the sound of an 

approaching rally car, then watching it 

trail off into the distance. 

Night rallying is, perhaps, rallying in 

its most pure form. As a road closure 

official, waiting in the forest on your 

own, it simply doesn’t get much better. 

Picture this …. 

We’ve been set up for three hours, 

ensuring that the roads are closed and 

that nobody can enter the forest and 

cause any unplanned incidents. 

It was 4pm when we were dropped 

off at our “private spectator point”, 

and in the ensuing three hours we’ve 

gathered enough fire wood to keep 

ourselves warm on a chilly winter’s 

night, cooked ourselves some sausages 

on the gas barbecue, and kicked the 

footy around to pass the time. 

Once it’s completely dark, we wait 

some more as the start time for the 

stage draws nearer. 

It’s a clear night, there’s not a cloud in 

the sky, or a breath of wind, and right 

on schedule at 7.10pm we hear the 

first car leave the start control, some 

5km away. 

Having driven into our location 

via the rally route, we listen to the 

approaching Commodore and 

visualise the pieces of road he’s 

attacking as the engine revs rise and 

fall, and it makes its way towards us. 

A couple of kilometres from us, we 

hear the big Holden brake hard and 

turn right off the main road, before 

heading in our direction via a tight 

and undulating forest track. 

Moments later we see the flicker 

of headlights in the distance, and 

watch as the car ducks and weaves 

its way in and out of the trees, 

before finally sliding around our 

private corner and powering its way 

towards the stage finish in an everdiminishing 

glare of tail lights. 

Even before the Commodore has 

reached us, however, we also hear 

the far off grumble of a Subaru WRX 

as it leaves the start and also heads 

in our direction. Pretty soon there 

“Moments later 

we see the flicker 

of headlights as 

the car ducks and 

weaves in and out 

of the trees” 

are finely tuned engine notes echoing 

all through the forest as our senses are 

alive with the sounds of rallying. 

The pièce de résistance, however, 

is the performance of eventual rally 

winner Luke Sytema and his Ford 

Escort. The sound of the Escort 

powering through the forest is like 

a Bach symphony for petrol heads, 

and the few minutes listening to that 

car alone makes the three-hour wait 

worthwhile. 

In a nutshell, we came, we saw, we 

conquered. Surely it doesn’t get any 

better than that? 

But try explaining that experience to 

a non-rally person, and you’d probably 

be looked at strangely as though you 

have two heads. Similarly, a circuit 

racing fan used to a track environment 

and the blare of commentators on the 

loud speakers would also struggle to 

Listen and watch Luke 

Sytema in action in the 

Nissan Nightmoves Rally. 

really connect with what you’re trying to 

explain. 

Even those fans of daylight-only 

state or national championship rallies 

wouldn’t know of the sheer thrill of 

watching a club rally at night. 

If you’ve never experienced it, do 

yourself a favour and contact your local 

car club. Find out when their next night 

event is, and volunteer to man a road 

closure and experience the real ‘sounds 

of rallying’. Believe me, you won’t be 

disappointed. 

You’ll notice in this third issue of 

RallySport Magazine that there 

is an increased advertising 

presence, and to those businesses I am 

extremely grateful. 

I urge you all to patrionise our advertisers, 

for without their support of RSM, 

there will be no magazine in the future. 

I’d forgotten just how much work 

goes into producing a monthly 

magazine, but I hope that you, the 

readers, are enjoying the new era of the 

magazine as much as we are enjoying 

bringing it to you each month. 

My continued thanks go to Tom Smith 

and Martin Holmes for their tireless 

efforts in helping to produce the 

content each month. 

Their support, research and skills are 

invaluable. 

See you next month! 


NEWS@RALLYSPORTMAG.COM.AU 

TASSIE TARGETS ARC RETURN 

A group of key rally 

people in Tasmania are 

well down the track in 

attempting to bring a round 

of the Australian Rally 

Championship back to the 

island state. 

While still some way from 

coming to fruition, the 

event would be based on 

the state’s north west coast, 

using roads not used in the 

ARC since the early 1990s. 

ARC Chairman, David 

Waldon, himself a 

Tasmanian, told RallySport 

Magazine that the plans 

were well advanced. 

“There’s a group who 

are very, very keen and 

they’ve been talking about 

it for some 18 months. 

They’ve done a lot of the 

groundwork so far,” Waldon 

said. 

However, he stressed 

that it wasn’t simply a case 

of Tasmania applying for a 

round and being given one. 

“From the championship’s 

perspective, we have to a 

fine line between a series 

that’s sustainable with a 

certain number of events. 

There’s no good just putting 

a heap of events forward to 

have nobody turn up. 

“I think there’s a number 

of hurdles for Tassie at the 

moment, and for any other 

event that wants to hop into 

the fray, for that matter.” 

The ARC will return to 

Victoria in 2017 with an 

event based in Ballarat. 

That event was originally to 

be held in November this 

year, but a last-minute date 

change for Rally Australia 

saw the new Victorian 

event postponed until the 

following year. 

ARC FOCUSED ON MODERN CARS 

The future of the Australian Rally 

Championship will continue to involve 

four-wheel drive cars, but the age 

of the machinery eligible to win the 

championship will be restricted. 

Australian Rally Championship 

Chairman, David Waldon, says that 

while there is virtually no age limit on 

cars this year, that will change in the 

next couple of years, meaning that cars 

like Simon Evans’ 1998 Subaru Impreza 

WRX won’t be eligible to score points. 

“ The simplest way to manage the 

process is exactly the same way we 

manage all the other classes, with a 

rolling timeframe,” Waldon said. 

“At the moment we’ve taken that 

away and we have something like a 20 

year time period, but I think the reality 

is that in a couple of years time it will be 

The ARC will focus on 

modern cars in the coming 

years. (Photo: Geoff Ridder) 

a five and 10 year process.” 

Cars such as Evans’ Subaru would run 

in a second tier championship. 

“But we’ll certainly keep the national 

series open for those kinds of cars,” 

Waldon said. 

Read the full interview on page 12. 

- Peter Whitten 

COFFS COAST NSW 

17-20 NOVEMBER 2016 FOLLOW 

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Subaru Australia Managing Director, 

Nick Senior, has explained 

the reasons behind running Molly 

FLYING 

Taylor’s WRX STi as a standard Group N 

car in the wake of another stirring drive 

from the 27-year-old in Canberra. 

Many have questioned Subaru’s 

reasoning for entering a car that is an 

incredible 280kg heavier than Harry 

Bates’ Super 2000 Corolla, and up to 

VISIT 

180 horsepower down on some of its 

other rivals. 

However, Senior believes that Subaru 

is heading down the right path, and that 

Taylor’s stock standard WRX is showing 

just how competitive Group N cars can 

still be. 

Brendan Reeves’ Kiwi Mazda AP4 Test likely to be a one-off 

National Capital Rally winner, 

Brendan Reeves, made a 

rushed trip to New Zealand late 

in June to test drive Andrew Hawkeswood’s 

AP4-spec Mazda. 

While Reeves currently has no plans 

to compete in a car of that specification, 

it was a good opportunity for him to 

sample a specification of car that has 

not yet reached Australian shores. 

“There is a lot of talk and hype about 

the new AP4 rules. We have seen Maxi 

and Proto cars in the ARC, but haven’t 

seen the new versions built by Force 

Motorsport in New Zealand,” Reeves 

told RallySport Magazine. 

“I’d been talking to Andrew 

Hawkeswood all year about testing 

one to get a first hand impression, and 

maybe helping the development and 

awareness. 

“Along with actually driving the car 

on the day, we made some set-up 

changes throughout the day. Andrew’s 

6 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - JULY 2016 

Mazda 2 runs MCA suspension built by 

Murray Coote in Queensland. 

“The cars have been built fast to a 

high demand, so Andrew hadn’t had 

much development time, so we were 

able to help him with that.” 

As expected, the differences between 

Reeves’ PRC Subaru and the AP4 Mazda 

are vast. 

“There are quite a lot of freedoms in 

PRC, but my car is close to Group N,” he 

explained. 

“The most notable thing is the mass. 

The AP4 is nearly 200kg lighter, making 

the performance and drivability better. 

It feels like a race car to drive with its 

6-speed sequential gearbox, pedal box 

and huge suspension travel. 

“The Mazda had a 1.8-litre turbo 

motor, but Force Motorsport tell me 

they have plans to develop a 1.6-litre 

turbo in the future to comply with the 

new rules.” 

Although the test drive was, at this 

Brendan Reeves tests 

the NZ-built Mazda 2 AP4 

recently (above). Photos: 

Ian Moss, Geoff Ridder 

stage, a one-off, Reeves believes that 

the AP4 car would be well suited to 

Australian conditions. 

“I’d love to try one out in competition, 

for sure. Australia is a tough 

battleground for a rally championship. 

We have a huge landmass, with the 

most diverse roads of any national 

championship in the world. I think a 

car of that quality would do really well 

here.” 

In Europe, the R5 class has been 

a tremendous success, with many 

manufacturers involved in the sport 

at the highest level. The introduction 

of the AP4 class in Australia and New 

Zealand has been a joint process 

between the countries in order to get 

manufacturers involved in the sport, 

and to offer a stable set of rules in the 

region. 

“The AP4 rules are certainly a 

cheaper option than an R5 car, with 

similar performance, but a PRC car is 

where most teams can afford to be in 

Australia,” Reeves says. 

“AP4 is a way of getting different 

models of cars out on the stages and 

will hopefully help the sport grow.” 

Australia has seen a Peugeot Maxi 

Car running in the hands of Mark 

Pedder, and a Hyundai i20 Proto with 

Justin Dowel at the wheel, but Reeves 

says regardless of what cars are being 

used at a national level, stability in the 

rules is imperative. 

“Each car has their own differences, 

but aim to give the same result. The 

biggest thing is that the rules need to 

be sorted and set until at least 2020, so 

teams can get on with building new cars 

and enjoying the competition,” he said.

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RALLY ROUND-UP 

Macneall joins Makinen 

Australian co-driver, Glenn 

Macneall, has landed a 

lucrative deal with Tommi 

Makinen Racing (TMR) for the 

remainder of 2016, co-driving 

for up-and-coming Japanese 

driver Hiroki Arai. 

Macneall recently 

completed a four-day test 

with TMR, and also attended 

one of Toyota’s tests for their 

new 2017 World Rally Car. 

“Straight after Canberra 

I went to Finland where 

we did a four-day test in 

R5 Fiestas. Markko Martin 

Motorsport is running the R5 

cars for us this year, with the 

whole programme managed 

by TMR,” Macneall told 

RallySport Magazine. 

“Hiroki did a brilliant job in 

his first rally in an R5 car and 

set fastest time overall on 

the first stage of the Finnish 

Championship rally last 

weekend.” 

The next step in the 

program is to enter the 

European Rally Championship 

Rally Estonia, and then WRC 

Rally Finland. 

“It is a seriously impressive 

program,” Macneall adds. 

“Toyota are really committed 

to the whole project.” 

Rallycross at Raleigh 

Raleigh International 

Raceway, near Coffs 

Harbour, will host a fourround 

rallycross series in 

2016. 

The track is the first to 

receive CAMS approval 

since the mid 1980s, and 

come and try days have 

already been successfully 

held. 

The 1.1 kilometre circuit 

consists of 50% dirt and 

50% tarmac, and includes 

a 132-metre “Joker Lap” 

section. 

According to Raleigh 

Motorsports Association Inc. 

marketing manager, Helen 

Haworth, they are now in 

the process of extending 

the track to a length of 

1.5km, with the ultimate 

goal of hosting a round of 

the FIA World Rallycross 

Championship. 

The Raleigh International 

Raceway has previously 

hosted rounds of 

the International 

Championships for Go- 

Karting. 

Proudly announcing the 

Southern Cross 

Gold Anniversary Rally 

November 8 to 19, 2016 

Re-trace the 1966 route through 

Victoria and then via Canberra to 

Sydney to enjoy the classic roads 

of the later Southern Cross Rallies 

around Port Macquarie. 

The rally finishes in Coffs Harbour 

where you’ll join the field of 

WRC cars competing in the final 

round of the 2016 World Rally 

Championship and compete on 

some of the WRC route.. 

Another Classic HRA re-run 

www.hra.org.au 

Daily competitive 

sections including: 

• Closed road 

stages 

• Hillclimbs 

• Timed track 

sections 

Each day finishes 

in time to enjoy a 

meal and lots of 

socialising! 

Head to the website for more information 

www.southerncrossanniversaryrally.com.au 

Albury Mansfield Sale Jindabyne Canberra 

Parramatta Taree Port Macquarie Coffs Harbour 

The new rallycross looks challenging and exciting. 

Sordo injured in test shunt 

Dani Sordo crashed his 

latest spec Hyundai NG 

i20 WRC in pre-Neste Rally 

testing in Finland when a 

suspension arm failed. 

The impact sent the car 

off the road in sixth gear 

into a massive track side 

rock, which shot the car 

high into the air before 

landing on the driver’s side 

of the car. 

Sordo suffered a fractured 

vertebrae in the accident. 

This is a remarkable 

replay of the accident for 

Sordo during the 2006 rally, 

which again ended when he 

impacted a very big rock. 

As a result to the accident, 

the test session was 

cancelled, as was his entry 

in this weekend’s Autoglym 

Rally. 

It is reported that the 

crash happened on the 

Pihlajakoski stage, 400 

metres from where Pekka 

Mällinen crashed his 

Escort RS2000 during the 

Thousand Lakes in 1983, 

which cost the life of codriver 

Reijo Nygren. 

- Martin Holmes 


Emma Gilmour will 

compete in the Italian Baja. 



AUSTRALIA’S LOSS IS NZ’S GAIN 

Irishman’s all-new Fiesta Proto will compete in NZRC in 2017 


Sydney-based Irishman, Richie Dalton, 

is eagerly awaiting the arrival 

of his brand new Ford Fiesta Proto 

that is on its way to Australia from 

Poland. 

The Fiesta will run with Mitsubishi 

Lancer Evo 9 running gear, and after a 

debut in Australia later this year, Dalton 

and co-driver John Allen will contest the 

2017 New Zealand Rally Championship 

in the purposeful looking car. 

When he ordered the building of 

the car, Dalton had originally planned 

to contest the Australian Rally 

Championship, but a change in the 

regulations now means that the car’s 

double-fin rear wing is not eligible in 

the ARC. 

An application by Dalton and 

his Shamrock Motorsport team to 

alternatively run a single fin wing from 

a Fiesta rallycross car was subsequently 

rejected by the Australian Rally 

Commission, meaning New Zealanders 

will now get the enjoyment of watching 

the new Fiesta in action. (Read ARC 

Chairman David Waldon’s thoughts on 

the issue HERE) 

“The car is running six months 

late and still hasn’t arrived, so we 

may look to debut it in the NSW 

Rally Championship round that runs 

alongside Rally Australia in November,” 

Dalton told RallySport Magazine. 

“I decided to build a car to the G4 

regulations rather than the new AP4 

rules, because the big wings that the G4 

cars can run really look the part. 

“However, as the car is no longer 

eligible in Australia, we’ll be heading to 

New Zealand next year.” 

Dalton says by the time 

the car is finished it will 

have cost a similar price 

to an AP4 car, and after a 

recent visit to the Rally of 

Canterbury in NZ (where he 

was a guest of the NZRC), 

he can’t wait to compete 

over there. 

“I’m not interested in all 

the politics, I just want to 

drive the car and have fun,” 

he says. 

“The way the New 

Zealand Rally Championship is run is 

very appealing to me, with less time 

away from work and less restrictions. 

“The Otago and Whangarei events 

have been on my ‘Bucket List’ for a 

while now, and with smoother roads 

and events that are cheaper to run in, 

I can’t wait.” 

The Fiesta Proto is the first righthand 

drive car built in Poland, a 

decision Dalton made to help with 

the re-sale of the car in a couple of 

years time. 

He also ordered a spare WRC body 

kit, which he will use to make spare 

bumpers and other parts from. 

Other than a debut run in 

November, it looks like Australian 

rally fans will miss out on seeing the 

Fiesta in action – something that is 

certainly New Zealand’s gain. 

Richie Dalton’s Fiesta 

Proto is an impressive 

looking machine. 

Tasmania targets ARC return - page 5 


Who the heck 

is “Stonie”? 

Adelaide’s John Stoneham, a.k.a. ‘Stonie’, 

is a motoring and motorsport cartoonistillustrator 

who has been producing his uniquely 

Australian cartoons for over 40 years. 

‘Stonie’ is no stranger to rallying, having 

been a successful navigator in his day. 

He co-drove twice for Team Toyota in the 

media car, finishing eighth in the 1990 SA 

Forest Rally and sixth outright in the first ever 

Targa Tasmania, with Tim Lynas in a Ford Laser 

TX3. 

In his 70th year, he has been a regular 

contributor to the national Auto Action 

weekly magazine and the monthly Unique Cars 

magazine. 

RallySport Magazine is proud to be able to 

continue to publish some of Stonie’s favourites. 

YOUNG LAPS UP JAPAN DEBUT 

Michael Young has 

delivered his promise 

of securing a finish at 

Rally Toya, a round 

of the Japanese Rally 

Championship (JRC), 

where he was invited to 

compete with his Cusco 

team. 

Piloting a Cuscoprepared 

Subaru 

Impreza, Young and 

local co-driver Takahiro 

Yasui overcame 

multiple challenges 

throughout the two day event to finish 

in sixth place after holding third for 

most of the rally. 

At the rally finish, Young said: “It was 

a tough rally, that’s for sure, though I’m 

really happy to finish. Yasui-san and I 

worked well together all weekend and 

we showed some good speed over the 

weekend, and even won a stage. 

“Cusco has asked me if I’d like to 

come back and obviously, I would love 

to!” Young said. 

“They [Cusco] looked after me and 

I really enjoy rallying with them. Plus 

rallying in Japan is simply awesome and 

I love it.” 


INTERVIEW: DAVID WALDON 

FORWARD PLANNING 

ON TRACK FOR ARC 


Tasmanian David Waldon took 

over the role as Chairman of the 

Australian Rally Championship 

(ARC) in December 2015, and has so 

far been working flat out to regenerate 

the championship and to attract more 

entries to the once fledgling series. 

With a change in rules this year, and 

with a kit bag full of ideas and plans for 

the future, Waldon’s efforts (and those 

of the ARC committee) are already 

bearing the fruits of his labour. 

Increased competitor numbers and 

a spike in public interest are just two of 

the most notable positives to come out 

of the season so far. 

RallySport Magazine’s Peter Whitten 

chatted to Waldon to check on the 

progress the ARC has made in 2016. 

RSM: Three events into 2016, has this 

year’s ARC been a success so far 

DW: It’s the start of a success, and 

certainly some of the goals we set out 

to achieve at the beginning of the year 

have been achieved. But I very much 

treat it as a work in progress, as it’s a 

transitional year, and a year of review in 

how the championship needs to build, 

and in what directions. 

Certainly the promotional side of 

things has been a success, but there are 

more tricks in the bag to play with yet, 

and we need to make sure we achieve 

what we set out to achieve in the first 

instance. 

Are the changes in vehicle regulations 

working? 

Yes they are, and again it’s only in 

the transitional period, but the future 

direction is what we’re really focussing 

on at the moment. The change in 

regulations to allow four-wheel drive 

cars, and effectively four-wheel drives 

of all ages, was a methodology to entice 

people to compete again and making 

sure there were no roadblocks for state 

competitors to move up into the ARC. 

Clearly that’s not something that 

is sustainable in the long term - the 

championship needs to eventually 

regain its point of being the modern 

championship, rather than one for all 

comers – but having said that, that 

doesn’t mean we need to 

lock the door for those cars 

either. 

It’s been a mistake in 

the past to formulate a 

championship that didn’t 

allow everybody the 

opportunity to compete. So 

I think yes, overall it’s going 

to plan. 

Subaru’s Nick Senior made 

some interesting comments 

regarding a one-make ARC in 

the June issue of RallySport 

Magazine. What are your 

thoughts on that? 

I love the idea of a one-make series, 

and that’s always been successful in the 

past when it’s been well supported, but 

I don’t like the V8 Supercar model for 

rallying. 

I don’t see that there’s any life in 

having a one-make series as the 

outright championship, and that would 

be a pretty poor world to be in, I think. 

There are the fundamentals of 

rallying that is a bit of a ‘run what you 

brung’ kind of thing that’s gone on over 

50 years or so, and that’s part of the 

attraction. 

What about a control tyre? In the same way 

that a one-make car restricts opportunities, 

does a one-make tyre do the same? 

The tyre supply is a very difficult part 

of this whole process, and it’s the one 

thing we can do that maintains a sense 

of parity and tries to keep a cap on 

costs for the competitors. 

If you wind back 10 years or more 

when we had an open slather, we had 

some very special tyres being flown in 

from Europe overnight for competitors, 

and that made it unreachable for most. 

We go back to that same 

conversation about what the regulation 

changes meant, and without the control 

tyre it takes away any chance of a state 

competitor stepping up and taking on 

the big guns. 

Having said that, competition in the 

market place, if we contained it well, is 

something that’s in the future, but at 

the moment tyre supply is something 

that helps the championship pay 

its way and gives exposure to the 

competitors. 

They (the competitors) have to realise 

that the money basically bounces over 

to promoting the championship and to 

them individually, and it has a net effect 

to the bottom line. 

Certainly, from a parity point of 

view, it has achieved that role pretty 

well, and I don’t get much grief from 

the competitors about the one-make 

tyre supply. A couple of the pseudo 

manufacturer teams would like to go 

off in a different direction, but mostly 

it’s well received. 

Playing Devil’s advocate, it seems 

disappointing that two of the three events 

have been won by drivers who aren’t 

registered for points. Is this how you see it? 

No, I have to say that I spin it the 

other way. 

Going back to the plan of knocking 

down the fences and making it easier 

for people to compete, I think it’s great 

that guys can drop in and out of the 

championship. It bolsters numbers 

from a financial and economical point 

of view, it bolsters championship 

numbers by having more competitors 

drop in and compete, and it has an 

effect on the outright results at each 

event. I think that’s a great thing. 

Yes, it would be great if they could 

find the dollars and sign up for the 

championship as a whole, but maybe 

Photo: Geoff Ridder 


this year is a bit of a toe in the water for 

some of those guys as well. 

I like the idea that people know 

that they can drop in and out of the 

championship when they like, and I 

think that makes a big difference for 

individual events. 

Canberra was probably a classic 

case – in 2015 they had 8 or 10 ARC 

entries, this year it had 28 – so for me 

that’s building the profile, building the 

show and making sure we actually have 

something to sell to the big wide world, 

and also to make sure there’s enough 

motivation to compete. 

I’d like to see numbers of 60 to 80 at 

every round, and the only way you’re 

going to achieve that is by having no 

hindrance to guys dropping in and 

doing selected events. 

I’d want to get back to where we see 

guys actually wanting to do their own 

ARC round as their one big event of the 

year, rather than foregoing it to do all 

the other state rounds instead. In years 

gone by that was the case, but it isn’t 

happening as much these days. 

The ARC registration fee to score points 

is $3300, yet in NZ the fee is only $750. NZ 

have a dedicated PR team and TV programs 

after each event. How can there be such a 

discrepancy, and where is the money going? 

I can’t comment on what New 

Zealand does, as I don’t know how 

they fund their process and their 

championship, but in Australia the bulk 

of our registration fee goes into the 

basic back-end of management of the 

sport. 

There’s a portion that goes straight 

to CAMS, that then utilises that to pay 

for airfares, car hire and other costs for 

the key personnel that is required for a 

“The championship 

needs to eventually 

regain its point of 

being the modern 

championship, rather 

than one for all 

comers.” 

championship, such as the Sporting and 

Technical Director, the series scrutineer 

and the series steward. 

Also bear in mind that the cost to 

fly these guys around to the various 

rounds in Australia is considerably 

more expensive than flying them up 

and down through New Zealand. 

The rest of that (money) just goes into 

the staffing of the administration in the 

back-end, so it’s not an ad-hoc cost that 

we throw towards everything else. 

In reality, none of that money goes 

towards the promotion. The work that 

we do with individual sponsors and 

the tyre deals, that’s what pays for the 

promotion. 

Has the idea of charging a smaller 

registration fee and getting more competitors 

to register been considered as a better way 

of building the championship? 

Absolutely, and it totally comes down 

to busting up that overall cost in the 

year across the entry base. 

I have no doubt there’s a review 

process to take place on all of the 

fundamentals to make the cost process 

better – the way the events have to 

pay their permit fees, the way the 

insurance is covered off, even the costs 

of the things we bring to the events 

can probably be managed in a slightly 

different manner to push them across 

the entry base better. 

More entries are the obvious answer, 

and even another 20 entries in one 

single event can make a massive 

difference to the bottom line. 

Richie Dalton has declared that he’ll run 

his new Fiesta Proto in NZ because the twinfin 

rear wing doesn’t comply with Australian 

rules. Surely this is a non-issue in terms of 

the car’s overall performance? 

I don’t know the exact reasons, but 

Richie is certainly passionate about 

running a car and having it as wild 

looking and as spectacular as possible, 

which is a great thing. 

He, along with others, bought cars 

that currently sit outside the vast 

rulings that were put together between 

Australia and New Zealand. 

There’s an agreement to what AP4 

cars look like, what G4 looks like, and 

by all means we can look at change, 

but there’s no way in the world we can 

change half way through the year. 

That’s not fair and reasonable on 

anyone, and to me that’s a key indicator 

that one of the issues with rallysport 

over the last 10 years is that there’s 

been too many changes mid-season. 

Bear in mind that those changes 

are made by the Australian Rally 

Commission, not the championship. We 

have a point of view, and make it fairly 

forcibly I have to say, but at the end of 

the day the Australian and New Zealand 

rally commissions are working pretty 

hard to come up with a solution for the 

next three to five years. 

This involes AP4, and what they 

categorise as AP4 Plus (cars running 

Australia and New Zealand are 

working hard to ensure that 

the new AP4 category has a 

strong future.. 


INTERVIEW: DAVID WALDON 

engines with more capacity than what 

the AP4 rules allow), which I think is a 

good thing. We’re pretty close to getting 

that put to bed. 

I’m unaware that Richie put in an 

application as I haven’t seen it, and 

certainly popping through information 

and saying this is where he wants 

to go is probably not considered an 

application for change. 

Having said that, if we run with AP4 

Plus in this country, which may be on 

the cards for a transitional period, the 

twin plane wing probably doesn’t have 

any issue with running in Australia. 

I can’t guarantee that, and I don’t 

know yet, but that’s certainly the 

direction we’re heading. 

There are all kinds of issues with the 

FIA on what they like and don’t like. The 

twin rear wings make the cars look like 

a WRC car and take away what the AP4 

platform was sold to them on, which 

is a more cost-effective Asia-Pacific 

version of the R5 car. 

If we march out and say we’re going 

to put a WRC rear wing on the cars, and 

who knows what else, that goes well 

away from what they were trying to do 

in the first place with R5. 

There’s a fine line to tread, and it 

seems such an innocuous little thing 

to just put a wing on a car, but from a 

global perspective – and certainly from 

the story that was sold from Australia 

and New Zealand to the FIA – we’re 

definitely trying to contain costs, but 

still have a car that can move off into 

the future and be compatible with the 

desires of the manufacturers long term, 

and meeting their requirements for 

smaller engines. 

The transition period has allowed 

for the 1800 and 2000cc engines to 

be used in the AP4 cars initially, but 

long term the goal is to have 1.6 litre 

engines, which is what the rest of the 

world are doing. 

On a more positive note, the return of 

Subaru has been tremendous for the ARC. 

Are there other manufacturers interested in 

joining the championship, and if so, what is 

attracting them to the ARC? 

Interestingly enough, yes there are, 

although obviously I can’t name names. 

One thing that is attracting them is 

the move to AP4, and most of those 

manufacturers don’t have a car that 

they can roll off the showroom floor as 

a production style car. 

That’s been most off-putting for them 

in the past, and they also don’t want 

to have to build a million dollar car, 

they need to be able to cost effectively 

produce something. 

Subaru is in a world of its own 

because they can roll something off the 

floor, but that’s probably not something 

that will go on forever. 

AP4 is a fairly simplistic and 

well-managed category whereby 

manufacturers can still run a car that 

still looks like their shopping trolley, 

they can put some ‘GT’ stickers on, and 

is a car that they can advertise on the 

Monday. 

Holden’s commitment to a two-car AP4 

program in New Zealand in 2017 is obviously a 

case in point. 

That’s exactly right, and most of the 

manufacturers that I have spoken 

to are very, very keen to see it well 

regulated. They don’t want the rules to 

chop and change, which is why we’re 

working so hard with New Zealand to 

make sure that what we put in place 

works for both sides of the water, so 

that there’s no discrepancies. 

I suppose the biggest thing to lock 

down is timeframes, so perhaps a 

timeframe for outright eligibility for 

2019 would be cars built within a five 

year period – and I’m only thinking out 

loud here because none of this is put 

to bed – but certainly there will be a 

timeframe rolling forward that would 

eventually see most of the cars running 

today fitting into a second tier series. 

So older cars such as Simon Evans’ 

Subaru WRX would be eligible to compete 

and win, but wouldn’t be eligible to score 

championship points? 

That’s how I see it. The simplest way 

to manage the process is exactly the 

“If we run with AP4 

Plus in this country ... 

the twin plane wing 

probably doesn’t 

have any issue with 

running in Australia.” 


Cars like Simon Evans’ 1990s 

Impreza WRX will be part of a 

second tier ARC, Waldon says. 

(Photo: Peter Whitten)

same way we manage all the other 

classes, with a rolling timeframe. 

At the moment we’ve taken that away 

and we have something like a 20 year 

time period, but I think the reality is 

that in a couple of years time it will be a 

five and 10 year process. 

Eventually those cars will slot into 

a second tier, and certainly they can 

still go and win the event outright, 

but in terms of scoring points for 

the championship, I think that will 

eventually die a natural death. 

But we’ll certainly keep the national 

series open for those kinds of cars. 

Many years ago there was a Trans Tasman 

Cup conducted between Australia and New 

Zealand. Is that something that’s on the 

cards again? 

Yeah, we’ve had quite a few 

discussions about this, and somebody 

jokingly named it ‘the grudge match’, 

which I quite like. 

Look, a series of many events is 

probably the ultimate goal, but short 

term, maybe a singular event either 

side of the water, with an away game 

advantage for each one, has probably 

got a lot of legs in the short term. 

If we can get the rules put to bed, 

and we’re working on the same set 

of rules, then I see no reason why we 

can’t nominate an event on either side. 

I think that would be pretty good, to be 

honest. 

There’s been talk of an ARC return to 

Tasmania, with a gravel event based on the 

north west coast. Is that a distinct possibility 

“Eventually those 

cars will slot into 

a second tier 

championship.” 

in the coming seasons? 

There’s a group in Tasmania who are 

very, very keen and they’ve been talking 

about it for some 18 months. They’ve 

done a lot of the groundwork so far. 

From the championship’s perspective, 

we have to have a fine line between a 

series that’s sustainable with a certain 

number of events. There’s no good just 

putting a heap of events forward to 

have nobody turn up. 

I think there’s a number of hurdles 

for Tassie at the moment, and for any 

other event that wants to hop into the 

fray, for that matter. 

I did put everybody on notice that 

we’ll be reviewing all events over the 

course of the year. Everything is on the 

table and nothing is sacred. 

Certainly, we have some difficulties 

because we’re restricted by the FIA 

calendar with Rally Australia and the 

Rally of Queensland, so we’ve got some 

hurdles to work our way over there. 

I wouldn’t like to see the three week 

gap between Canberra and Queensland 

again, that was madness, so we’ll be 

pushing very had to make sure we get 

as much notice on, at least, the Asia- 

Pacific calendar as possible. 

Is Victoria still scheduled to return to the 

championship in 2017? 

The factory Mitsubishi of Juha 

Kangas in the Tasmanian ARC 

round in 2004. 

(Photo: Peter Whitten) 

Yes, and that’s working very well at 

the moment, we’re progressing towards 

that and it will be lovely to have Victoria 

back on board. There’s a very strong 

rally community in Victoria. 

We’re right in the middle of calendar 

works at the moment, so I can’t commit 

as to when the date will be, however. 

What’s your vision for the ARC for the next 

5 years, and how will it look in 2020 or 2021? 

I’m committed to rolling out a fixed 

vision for the championship, maybe in 

the next three or four weeks. Coming 

off our discussions with New Zealand, 

once they’re put to bed we’ll roll out 

this vision, but certainly a return to 

the modern championship in the next 

couple of years is a focus. 

I’d like to see that we have a strong 

championship, with good manufacturer 

support, within the next two to three 

years. But not at the sacrifice of what 

we’re building at the moment, with the 

current attractiveness to come and 

compete in the ARC for all of our state 

based competitors. 

I think we have a very good and very 

strong representation out of each state, 

and it doesn’t require much to enable 

them to step up into ARC. 

I do have a few ideas as well, which I 

will roll out, in terms of making it a little 

bit easier for the state competitors to 

slot into the ARC without having to be 

registered competitors and having to 

do any more rounds, and just making 

the task of them stepping up a little bit 

more feasible. 

I think the future for the ARC is 

looking very good. 


FIVE MINUTES WITH .... 

Jack Monkhouse only competes occasionally 

these days. We caught up with him to find out why. 

5 

minutes with ... 

JACK MONKHOUSE 

Age: 35 

Marital status: Married 

Children: 1x Datsun 

Occupation: Professional Driver 

Place of birth: Adelaide, SA. 

Where do you live: Sydney, New 

South Wales and lots of different 

motels around Australia (52 so far in 

2016, but who’s counting?) 

Does your spouse / partner like 

rallying? Yes, but she doesn’t really have 

a choice ;) 

Favourites 

Food: Custard tart 

Drink: Two months ago I would have 

said ginger beer, but now I’m hooked 

on the serious stuff, water! 


Sports person: Toby Price. The guy is 

an absolute machine and a great guy to 

boot! 

Film star: Shane Jacobson. Champion 

of a guy! 

Holiday destination: What’s a holiday? 

Actually, I have been to the snow in 

Park City, Utah USA, and Jasper in 

Canada, and loved it! 

THE BURNING QUESTIONS 

How did you start out? 

Going to watch my dad compete in 

Off Road racing as an eight-year old 

and then navigated for him when I 

turned 15. He would always bring home 

Australian Rallysport News and I slowly 

got converted from off road racing to 

rallying! 

I had a great friendship with the 

late Mike and Mark Armitage, from 

automotive company Autosport 

through dad’s off roading, and 

bought my first rally car from 

them. They supported me from 

day one and still to this day, my car 

runs the Autosport signage on it! 

The car I bought off them was 

a Datsun 1200 Coupe! It was a 

prepped car, but hadn’t been 

maintained in a long time and 

needed some TLC! It had been 

parked in their front yard for years 

and had grass around it higher 

than the windows! 

First driver / co-driver you sat with: 

A good mate from high school 

(still in year 12 at the time), Adam 

Greg, sat with me for the first 

year. Then he moved to Kalgoolie 

for work in mines, but still was 

my service crew during selected 

events with VR4, Evo7, S15 and at 

last year’s Alpine Rally. 

First event: Waikerie Rally 1999 

First car: First official car was a 

540cc Suzuki Alto that I built with 

dad out of a wreck when I turned 

14 and used at an off road hire 

park on the weekends, and the 

odd khanacross here and there. 

When it came time to compete, 

we first built a Datsun 180B for 

off road and weekends at the 

Pt Gawler hire park. Then, when it 

was time to start rallying, the Datsun 

1200 Coupe mentioned above was 

purchased with my savings. 

Which car club do you belong to? 

Walkerville All Cars Club and the 

Historic Rally Association. 

Do you ever officiate on events? I did road 

closures and a start control at Alpine 

2013 when I had a back injury, and have 

been a course car driver/official at state 

rally rounds and the well-known Classic 

Adelaide Rally four times. 

Have you competed overseas? Nope. But 

I have a tested a Global Rallycross Lites 

car in the USA!! 

Where and when? March 2014. 

Favourite rally car: 

Neal Bates’s RA40 Celica. A ride in 

that car on a good gravel road will blow 

your mind! 

Favourite rally driver: I’ve always looked 

up to and admired Simon Evans. His 

driving style and never give up attitude 

is what inspires me time after time. He 

was a struggling privateer who then 

made it with a factory team and went 

on to win the national championship 

a few times! Even today, he still drives 

with the same spectacular flair and on 

the edge style! 

Favourite forest or event: Rally South 

Australia prior to 2012 when it was 80 

per cent amazing shire roads and 20 

per cent forest. 

Things you dislike about rallying? The 

cost and how easily your world can 

be turned upside down with just the 

smallest misjudgment. 

Best result: 

Alpine Rally in 2015! To win such a 

famous event that’s historically such 

a huge part of Australian rallying in a 

very basic, outdated car, with only two 

service crew, run on an absolute shoe 

string budget against a huge field of 

world class machinery and teams was 

just unimaginable :)

The exciting Jack Monkhouse in a Galant 

VR4, jumping his Nissan Siliva, and on 

his way to winning the Alpine Rally in a 

Datsun 180B. (Photos: Peter Whitten, 

John Thomas, John Doutch. 

Best rally memory: The rally family 

coming together after my huge accident 

at Rally SA and starting #bringjackback 

to help raise some dollars after losing 

absolutely everything in the fire. To 

know that all these people will get 

behind you and do anything to help you 

get back out into the forest is the most 

amazing feeling ever! 

Strangest incident on a rally: Running 

wide on a tightening corner on the 

famous Mt Slide stage at Rally of 

Melbourne in 2004, and rolling the 

Galant VR4 off the cliff, amongst the 

trees, and for it to then somehow land 

on its wheels was crazy! 

Then I restarted it and drove up the 

near sheer vertical cliff face back up 

onto the stage, only losing 12 seconds, 

with minimal damage! It was just 

unheard of. People have destroyed cars 

on that same corner just by spinning 

and backing into the trees! 

Biggest accident: Rally SA 2014. 

Clipping a small rock hidden on the 

apex of a flat out 180km/h+ 6th gear 

left-hander, on a brow, with the left 

front tyre. It then sent us flying 40 

metres down the road and, terrifyingly, 

rolling roof first into the trees. We 

somehow, miraculously, escaped 

unharmed, but to then have no option 

but to watch your pride and joy burn 

to the ground is something that’s 

incredibly hard to take onboard and 

accept. It was such a huge punishment 

for a tiny error. 

But yes, so eternally grateful we both 

walked away with basically no injuries! 

Achievements gained from rallying: Lots 

of absolutely amazing friends who are 

basically family that you can really rely 

on all over Australia - including Tassie ;) 

Also I’d have to thank rallying for 

giving me the skills that helped me 

get my current job of eight years with 

the Precision Driving Team. Being 

paid to slide, jump and drive cars on 

two wheels all around the country is a 

dream come true. 

If you had $100,000 to spend on rallying, 

what would you do? 

Give the old Datto 

a real good freshen 

up and take it to NZ 

for Otago, Silver Fern 

and events around 

Australia. 

When are we next going 

to see you competing? 

2016 was always 

going to be a quiet 

year. Had plans to do 

the Bega Rally that 

was unfortunately 

postponed due to the 

crazy weather, but the 

Datto is 100 per cent 

prepped and ready 

to go, so maybe a small event close to 

Sydney could be on the cards. 

In what car will that be in? 

In the Alpine wining Datsun 180B! 

Do you have plans for a regular return to 

rallying, either in the SARC or the ARC? 

The one major negative of my job is 

the weekend commitment requirement. 

That means chasing a championship 

or series is pretty much impossible. 

I’d love to do Rally SA, but it clashed 

with work last year and then this year 

it’s on the same weekend as Adelaide 

Show! So there are a few of us that will 

be missing that event due to the clash. 

Maybe a NSW or SA state round here 

and there, or even WRC in November 

if the cash can be raised. If not, I’ll save 

my pennies for one or two events next 

year, before the mighty Alpine! 

Other than money, what decision or rule 

change would make you ‘have’ to make a 

comeback? 

Allow more freedoms for cars such as 

the RWD Silvias to be more reliable and 

competitive, as I believe they are the 

best bang for buck car and by far the 

most enjoyable to watch and drive! We 

need more exciting, cost effective cars 

in the championship, not necessarily 

faster cars. 

Photos: John Doutch, Peter Whitten 


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THE MINESHAFT 

THE MINESHAFT 

It’s Australian rallying’s most famous piece of 

road, and stirs emotions from both spectators 

and competitors alike. 

But what makes it so daunting? 

Main: Ed Ordynski charges down the 

Mineshaft in his LWR Lancer, and (inset) 

Bob Watson’s Renault A110 in the Don 

Capasco Rally in the 1970s 


FAMOUS STAGES: THE MINESHAFT 

MEMORIES ALL THAT’S LEFT 

Canberra’s most famous piece of rally road, the 

Mineshaft, hasn’t been used in an event run 

by the Brindabella Motor Sport Club for six or 

seven years, and isn’t likely to be in the near future. 

The short piece of road in the Brindabella Ranges 

is now badly rutted as a result of rogue four-wheel 

drivers trying to claw their way up the incline in the 

wet, but according to current National Capital Rally 

clerk of course, Adrian Dudok, that’s not the reason it is 

no longer used. 

“I refuse to use it, as I fear someone will get badly 

injured there one day, and that’s not going to happen 

on my watch,” Dudok told RallySport Magazine. 

“I never felt comfortable going down it as a 

competitor, and that didn’t change when I started 

directing events. 

“Unfortunately there are competitors out there who 

see it as a challenge to see how far you can jump down 

it, but that could easily end in disaster,” he says. 

Over the years the Mineshaft has changed a lot in its 

characteristics. In the 1970s it was a lot narrower when 

it was used by events like the Don Capasco and Castrol 

International rallies, and often had ruts all the way 

down it from running water. 

That meant it was nowhere near as fast as it became 

in later years. More recently the road was widened, the 

bump at the bottom was taken out and it became a lot 

faster to drive down. 

“It was always a great spectator point, but as I said, 

I’m worried that someone will get seriously injured, or 

worse, if we use it now,” Dudok added. 

With the introduction of digital cameras and smart 

phones, frame-by-frame footage of a Mineshaft 

disaster would be on social media in minutes, 

potentially doing irreversible damage to the sport. 

While many of us remember the exciting action 

and the huge spectator numbers who flocked to 

the famous location every year, it seems that those 

memories may now be all we have. 

As much as we’d like to see the Mineshaft return, you 

can’t knock Adrian Dudok’s logic. 

- Peter Whitten 

Above: Greg Carr charges down the Mineshaft in the 1980 Castrol 

International Rally, while (below) members of the Subaru WRX Club pack 

the spectator area during the 2004 Subaru Rally of Canberra. 


THE DRIVER: CODY CROCKER 

It’s amazing how the 

mineshaft has changed 

over the years. 

My first experience of the 

mineshaft was in 1994 when 

we competed in the the 

Australian Rallysport News 

Junior Challenge in Canberra 

as the final of the challenge. 

We spent a bit of time doing 

recce prior to the rally and 

used our Mazda 323 as the 

recce car. It was a rally car 

itself and was probably the 

only time in history that a recce 

car was significantly faster than our rally car - the old Mazda 

RX5. 

We were fairly new to this pacenote stuff so we took an 

experienced rally expert by the name of Malcolm Hoborough 

with us to show us the ropes. 

Mal doesn’t think that the mineshaft is 

much of a challenge because he fell asleep 

in the back seat while we were doing recce 

- including a run over the mineshaft! I’m 

sure he’s the only person in history to do 

that. 

Over the next 15 years I got to see many 

changes in the mineshaft. Early on there 

were plenty of trees at the top to guide 

you because it’s not a straight approach, 

there’s a slight left turn at the top. 

After the bushfires and logging in the 

early 2000s it became a lot harder to sight 

the exact line needed on approach. This 

caused plenty of drama for my team mates 

while competing with MotorImage in the 

APRC rounds from 2006. 

First was Eli Evans who nearly landed 

at the bottom on his first attempt. Then came Rifat Sungkar, 

my Indonesian team mate in 07-08. He wanted to know what 

speed to go over it at. I told him I’ve never been able to look 

at the speedo in a rally so I don’t know. 

I remember once in recce I was doing around 80kmh and 

just lifted a wheel off the ground so I told him that 90k’s is 

about the max speed. Rifat thought this was a good idea and 

decided to add a few k’s to that. His jump was one of the 

biggest ever and he also landed near the bottom - and the 

car survived. 

When he finally came clean he declared that he might have 

added around 30kmh to my speed and hence jumped a bit 

further than planned. 

It’s definitely one of the most thrilling pieces of road 

anywhere in the world and will always be one of the most 

challenging jumps to attack. I rate it as 10 out of 10 for 

excitement for both driver and spectator. 

- Cody Crocker 

Click to see how 

not to tackle the 

Mineshaft 

This Datsun 180B driver’s attack on the Mineshaft is 

not to be recommended. 


FAMOUS STAGES: THE MINESHAFT 

ICONIC SPECTATING 

No self respecting rally fan would ever admit to visiting 

Canberra for a rally without visiting the iconic 

Mineshaft. Of all the special spectator points used in 

Canberra rallies, the Mineshaft is far and away the most visited 

and the most iconic spot for exciting rally action. 

A visit to the Mineshaft will not only strike a chord with rally 

fans during an event, but also a feeling of dread amongst rally 

crews. It’s that kind of road. 

The Mineshaft, a particularly awesome piece of forest track 

reached from Paddy’s River Road in Pierces Creek forest, south 

west of Canberra, was used in the “good old days” of Castrol 

International rallies back in the 1970s and possibly even 

earlier. 

It’s a favourite stretch of road for event directors, too, who 

almost invariably use it to challenge rally crews and to add a 

little spice to spectator viewing. 

But there are those of you who have heard of the spot, but 

have never been there and are asking what the attraction is. 

The Mineshaft features surely the steepest descent of any 

trafficable roads in the Canberra area or even further afield, 

the slope (or descent) something like 1 in 3 – in other words, 

too steep to drive up and only able to be walked up with a 

great deal of difficulty. 

Not that rally route instructions ever require competitors 

to drive up this unique geographic feature, for that would 

be tempting disaster. And where other forest roads in the 

area are relatively feature-less, the Mineshaft is the Bathurst 

“Dipper” of scary terrain. 

Route instructions usually include dire warnings about the 

severity of the descent and anyone foolish enough to ignore 

the advice given usually pays the price for their bit of bravado. 

All within 100 metres or so, competitors plunge off the forest 

track, the road beneath them falling away like a Big Dipper at 

an amusement park. One hundred metres or so later the valley 

floor levels out and the road continues into a rising left hand 

corner. 

If you’re brave, it’s all over in a matter of seconds, if you’re 

fatalistic it could see you momentarily flying into the void, 

before executing a serious crash landing, as has been done on 

multiple occasions. 

No words, I’m told, could truly describe what it feels like to 

go over the top of the Mineshaft at anything more than a fast 

canter. Many have tried and paid the price, caught out by a 

heavy landing or from not tackling it in a circumspect manner, 

much to the delight of the presence of (usually) hundreds of 

fans waiting in anticipation below. 

New Zealand has its Motu, Bathurst has its Dipper, but 

there’s only one Mineshaft, and as a competitor you’re not 

likely to find this type of an adrenalin rush anywhere else in 

the world. 

- Jeff Whitten 

4WDs have made a mess of 

the Mineshaft’s surface. 

The approach is fast and straight. 

The view from the top of the 

Mineshaft is daunting. 

Find us at: www.chicane.co.nz 

Call us o 


THE CO-DRIVER: GLENN MACNEALL 

The mineshaft is a pretty intimidating piece of road 

and clearly very iconic throughout Australia. I have 

also had several rally friends from around the world 

comment on that ‘crazy steep piece of road’. 

I was lucky enough to work in Canberra helping to put 

together the Rally of Canberra for several years, so I have 

driven over the Mineshaft several times, mind you it was never 

very fast. 

I am pretty sure that the only times I have gone over the 

Mineshaft in competition were with Dean Herridge in the Rally 

of Canberra around 2003 and 2004. Dean is a very calculated 

and intelligent driver and there was never any rush of blood 

heading over the Mineshaft. 

I am not sure what speed we hit it at, but certainly I think we 

only flew for a short distance. 

Approaching the Mineshaft is a pretty intimidating feeling 

and it’s a bit of a sense of relief once you round the left hand 

corner at the bottom. 

I remember helping with a Subaru vehicle launch in Canberra 

and venturing out to the Mineshaft with a group of engineers 

from Japan. We were four-up in a standard Forester, we were 

showing them the drive course for the following day’s launch 

that included driving up the Mineshaft. 

To say that they were a little stunned when we came around 

the corner at the bottom to be greeted by a near vertical 

climb would have been an 

understatement. None of them 

thought it was possible to drive 

up the MIneshaft. 

With white knuckles 

clenching the door handles 

we headed up and they were 

pleasantly surprised and 

relieved that the Forester 

made light work of the climb. 

Several photos and big smiles 

later and we were on our way. 

The Mineshaft certainly 

leaves an impression on 

people. 

- Glenn Macneall 

Juha Kangas launches off the top of the 

Mineshaft in his Lancer in 2004, as does 

Greg Carr in the factory Escort RS1800 in 1980. 

HJC MOTORSPORTS 

n: AU 1800 CHICANE or NZ 0800 CHICANE 


RALLY OF QUEENSLAND - ARC 3 

Ryan Smart and John Allen 

took an unexpected win 

on their home event. 

COMEBACK A SMART MOVE 

18 months out of 

the seat proved no 

deterrent for local 

hero Ryan Smart 

Report: 

PETER WHITTEN 

Photos: GEOFF RIDDER, 

PETE JOHNSON 

Local hot shot, Ryan Smart, and 

co-driver, John Allen, took a surprising 

win in round three of the 

Australian Rally Championship, the International 

Rally of Queensland, leading 

for all but three stages in a dominant 

performance. 

Despite not having rallied for 18 

months, and not being eligible for 

championship points, Smart drove his 

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 brilliantly to win 

both heats of the rain-shortened event. 

A consistent drive from Harry Bates 

and John McCarthy now sees them with 

a 27 point lead in the championship, 

after Simon Evans and Ben Searcy 

crashed out of the event in wet and 

slippery conditions on day two. 

Molly Taylor and Tom Wilde are 

separated by just one point to lie third 

and fourth in the title race. 

PRE-EVENT 

All the talk in the lead-up to the 

Sunshine Coast-based event was on 

the weather, with “monsoonal” type 


rain forecast during the rally. Although 

Saturday’s stages were held in dry 

conditions, the rain arrived overnight 

and by the time crews headed out for 

Sunday’s stages, the road surfaces had 

deteriorated significantly. 

The rally was also a round of the Asia- 

Pacific Rally Championship, meaning 

the ARC cars would start behind the 

APRC field. 

Evans started the rally as favourite 

in his Subaru WRX, but there were 

plenty of drivers more than capable 

of keeping him honest. Smart’s return 

was welcomed, although no one knew 

exactly how quick he’d be in his extarmac 

Lancer, although his record as 

a former ARC event winner held him in 

good stead. 

HEAT 1 

Evans led from the start, but his rally 

started to come apart at the seams 

from stage four onwards. He had to 

overcome broken suspension, a flat 

tyre and a time penalty earned as a 

result of forgetting his helmet was on 

the roof of his car as he drove off on a 

liaison stage. 

To make up for the lost time, Evans 

drove like a man possessed during the 

afternoon’s stage, twice going faster in 

his 1999-model Impreza than Gaurav 

Gill in the latest specification Skoda 

Fabia R5. 

But it wasn’t enough, and sixth place 

was the best he could achieve, nearly 

three minutes behind Smart.

Local knowledge no doubt had 

a bit to do with Smart’s speed, but 

ARC heats aren’t easy to win, and 

the Nambour local did a sterling 

job to finish with a 21.7 second lead 

over Harry Bates’ Toyota Corolla 

S2000. 

Running in the APRC field, Nathan 

Quinn was third in another Lancer 

Evo 9, but more than a minute 

behind Bates. 

Fourth place went the way of 

Tom Wilde and Sam Hill in their 

Impreza WRX, nearly a minute clear 

of the consistent Molly Taylor and 

Bill Hayes in fifth. Taylor suffered 

damage to a rear lower suspension 

control arm late in the day, but that 

was replaced by the Les Walkden 

Rallying team at the end of day 

service. 

Brad Markovic’s miserable season 

continued and ninth (and last place) 

was the best he and Scott Beckwith 

could manage in their Subaru. Gearbox 

and clutch problems hampered their 

day after an off-road excursion on just 

the first stage. 

Both Mark Pedder and Justin Dowel 

are also having seasons they’d rather 

forget. Pedder’s Peugeot 208 Maxi 

suffered engine problems on the 

second stage and retired, while Dowel 

had suspension failure on his Hyundai 

i20 Proto on stage three. 

Only nine cars in the ARC field made 

it to the finish on Saturday afternoon. 

Neal Bates once again proved too 

good in the Classics, driving his Celica 

to a three-minute victory over the 

similar car of Clay Badenoch, with Mal 

Consistency has been the 

key so far for WA’s Tom 

Wilde and his Subaru. 

Keough’s Audi Quattro S1 replica in 

third place. 

The exciting Thomas Dermody 

rolled the ex-Alister McRae Ford Escort 

RS1800 on stage five and wouldn’t reappear 

on day two. 

HEAT 2 

The rain arrived for Sunday’s stages 

and conditions were treacherous for all 

crews. 

Simon Evans started day two like a 

man possessed, setting the fastest time 

by 23.1 seconds on the first stage of the 

day as he strove to take a much-needed 

heat win. He won the second stage as 

well, but the tricky conditions caught 

out the four-time champion on the 

Cutters Reverse test. Evans’ Subaru slid 

off the road at speed and ended up on 

its roof. 

The car was badly damaged, but the 

Evans Motorsport team repaired the 

car in order for Evans to arrive at the 

final control of the day, and secure one 

championship point – something that 

may be valuable later in the year. 

Tom Wilde was putting in one of 

his best drives of the year, winning 

stages 11 and 12, but by the time crews 

arrived back in Imbil for servicing after 

the opening four stages, the weather 

was getting worse. 

Smart still led comfortably from Bates 

and Wilde, but all the talk was on the 

weather, and the quickly deteriorating 

road conditions. 

With the final four stages all repeats 

of the morning’s tests, organisers 

made the wise decision to cancel all 

the remaining forest stages, except 

for a super short 1.20km blast on the 

Kandanga stage used on the first day. 

That gave Bates his first stage victory 

Harry Bates finds himself 

leading the championship 

after 3 of the 5 rounds. 

2016 National Capital Rally - Heat 1 

1. Evans/Searcy Subaru Impreza WRX, 1h07m35.2s 

2. Reeves/Gelsomino Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec C +1:18.7 

3. Quinn/Calder Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +2:07.0 

4. Wilde/Hill Subaru Impreza WRX STI +2:58.8 

5. Taylor/Hayes Subaru WRX STI +3:53.1 

6. Patton/Webb Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +4.00.9s 

7. Harding/Thornburn Subaru Impreza WRX +5.21.1 

8. Hatton/Allen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +6.04.7 

9. Markovic/Macneall Subaru Impreza WRX +6.52.1 

10. Clarke/Preston Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +7.29.3 


RALLY OF QUEENSLAND - ARC 3 

of the weekend, but 

it meant little in the 

overall scheme of 

things, and Smart and 

Allen took a popular 

home town victory. 

“To be honest I didn’t 

expect to be on the 

pace. I haven’t done a 

rally in 18 months, and 

I had only done a quick 

shakedown of the car 

just before I started the 

rally,” Smart said. 

“I wanted to come out 

and have some fun and 

see if I still had some 

pace. 

“We’re really stoked 

to get the result we did 

and it’s a big thank you 

to everyone that has 

helped us this weekend. 

“I’ve actually been 

overwhelmed with the 

help we have received 

- people have offered 

their time, support, spare parts, 

vehicles for service and expertise for 

nothing. We wouldn’t have been able to 

be here without them.” 

With Smart not registered for 

championship points, second placed 

Harry Bates was given an added bonus 

after a consistent and measured drive 

in the worst conditions he had ever 

driven in. 

“This rally is a big challenge, with lots 

of tightening bends, fast corners and 

sharp crests,” Bates said. 

“We drove a front-wheel drive Corolla 

in this event last year so I got a feel for 

the surface, and the all-wheel drive 

Corolla S2000 was a blast to steer here. 

“Day two was diabolically wet; some 

sections were as slippery as ice. But 

we were able to maintain our dry stage 

times, which was amazing,” he added. 

Nathan Quinn took his 

second good result in 

consecutive events, but is 

not registered for points. 

2016 Rally of Queensland - ARC round 3 of 5 

RALLY HIGHLIGHTS 

Heat 1 

1. Ryan Smart / John Allen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1:15:21.7 

2. Harry Bates / John McCarthy Toyota Corolla S2000 +00:21.7 

3. Nathan Quinn / David Calder Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +01:26.2 

4. Tom Wilde / Sam Hill Subaru Impreza WRX STI +01:54.3 

5. Molly Taylor / Bill Hayes Subaru WRX STI +02:50.1 

Heat 2 

1. Ryan Smart / John Allen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1:47:00.9 

2. Harry Bates / John McCarthy Toyota Corolla S2000 +00:59.6 

3. Tom Wilde / Sam Hill Subaru Impreza WRX STI +02:06.6 

4. Molly Taylor / Bill Hayes Subaru WRX STI +03:55.4 

5. Nathan Quinn / David Calder Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +05:31.4 

Pointscore: 1. Harry Bates 211, 2. Simon Evans 184, 3. Molly Taylor 176, 4. Tom Wilde 175. 

Chris Higgs and his 

Subaru Impreza lie fifth in 

the ARC. 

Third place on day two was a fine 

reward for Tom Wilde, while Molly 

Taylor and Nathan Quinn rounded 

out the top five. 

“It was extremely slippery. With 

our car being lower on horsepower, 

it allowed us to drive through it 

and keep the forward momentum,” 

Wilde said. 

“We had a sixth gear moment on 

SS4 and I thought we were going to 

end up in the trees. 

“The plan for the weekend was 

always to keep the car on the road, 

but that was actually pretty hard.” 

For the third event in a row, 

Taylor was a model of consistency, 

and is still well in the running for 

the championship, just 35 points 

from the lead with two events still 


to come. The Subaru pairing of Chris Higgs and 

Kirra Penny had a consistent run in their Subaru 

Impreza and now lie an impressive fifth in the 

championship, ahead of the more fancied Dowel, 

Pedder, Markovic and Coppin. 

The championship now goes into a two 

month break, reactivating in South Australia in 

September. 

Queensland quickies... 

▲ The promotional start at Mooloolaba foreshore 

reportedly attracted about 5000 people. 

▲ Local media reported heavily on the event 

in the lead-up to the weekend about the 

dangerous weather expected for the weekend 

- especially Sunday. 

▲ Ross and Lisa Dunkerton ran a Nissan Silvia 

commandeered from their son, who had bought 

it for a drift car. They had fuel filter problems and 

retired on Saturday. 

▲ Mike Bailey/Steve Andrews ran their 

Pulsar GTI-R as Classic C4+ (now eligible) but 

their gearbox lost most gears on the Sunday 

morning stages. 

▲ The presentation back at Imbil was brought 

forward to 2.30pm, due to the early finish and 

shortened distance. Rain fell through the whole 

presentation, with officials and crews all getting 

wet!! 

▲ Despite the weather (particularly on 

Sunday) the event ran to schedule – there were 

no serious delays in the running schedule. 

- Tom Smith 

BORDER RANGES RALLY 

Round 4 of the 2016 MRF Tyres Queensland Rally Championship / Clubman Series 

Additional Categories 

> FORZA Rally Challenge for automobiles fitted with FORZA Brake Pads 

> Zupp Property Group Classic Rally Challenge for Classic Rally Cars 

Multiple Otago 

Winner Derek Ayson 

MKII Escort 

2015 Alpine Winner 

Jack Monkhouse 

V8 Manta 

Stage 

sponsorship 

packages 

available 

26 th & 27 th August 2016 Kyogle NSW 

> Border Ranges Escort Challenge for Classic Ford Escorts 

> Invitational for vehicles meeting Schedule R 

Limited to 55 entries 

Rallysafe for all crews 

Compact format and central servicing 

Nine world class (WRC) Shire Road Stages 

All competitors do all the stages 

Optional Recce on Friday for all stages 

Full Road Book Supplied 

One fantastic night spectator stage 

Two passes of the ‘Super Special’ as the finale 

Media Stage on Friday for invited crews 

Rally Forum Friday night in Kyogle 

Promotional start in Kyogle Saturday morning 

Where to find all the important information 

> Event documents at www.borderrangesrally.com.au 

> On Facebook and at gctmc.org.au 

> Supp-Regs available July 18 

Service Park with camping & local catering at the Kyogle Showgrounds 

Affordable accommodation in Kyogle, Lismore, Casino & throughout the region 

www.facebook.com/BorderRangesRally/ 

‘the best on the best’ 

best cars 

best drivers 

best roads 

Classics 

start at the 

front of the 

field 

Reserve your own 

‘spectator point’ by 

contacting ‘JT’ our 

Officials Co-ordinator 

jptruskinger@gmail.com 

0407 656 044 

www.borderrangesrally.com.au 


RALLY OF QUEENSLAND - APRC 2 

SKODA DOMINATES 

Gaurav Gill has emerged victorious 

after a dramatic end to 

the second round of the Asia 

Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), held 

at the International Rally of Queensland 

in Australia’s Sunshine Coast. 

With heavy overnight rain, which 

continued during the late-morning, rally 

organisers had to cancel the final four 

stages due to safety concerns, although 

it didn’t affect Gill’s position as he had 

already built up a substantial lead of 1 

minutes 59 seconds over team-mate 

Fabian Kreim on day one of the event. 

Gill, of India, won all 13 stages in his 

Team MRF Skoda Fabia R5 at the event 

and said: “It was quite a challenging 

rally, quite difficult with the conditions 

changing all the time. But yeah, we 

got a good setup in the morning on 

Saturday, and pushed a little bit [to 

build up the lead]. 

“The MRF team did exceptionally well. 

It was really difficult for everyone as the 

conditions were so harsh but we were 

lucky to have no dramas.” 

Team-mate Fabian Kreim of Germany, 

who finished in second, was ecstatic 

over another podium finish in his first 

season of gravel rallying and during his 

first visit to Australia. 

On his return to the service park on 

Saturday, Kreim said: “It was another 

really good experience for us… we are 

always learning. The speed we had was 

good, especially in the first stage [SS9] 

because there was no mud.” 

Rounding out the podium in third was 

New Zealander Michael Young in his 

Cusco EZY Racing Subaru Impreza. 

“It is a really good result for us. 

India’s fastest rally driver 

was in a class of his own, 

while Mike Young (below) 

took a strong third. 

(Photos: Geoff Ridder) 

We made the wrong tyre choice on 

Saturday morning but it all worked out 

in the end,” said Young. 

“It’s always hard going against the 

[Skoda] R5 cars but I think we showed 

what we’ve got.” 

Local driver Nathan Quinn finished 

fourth, after suffering a boost issue on 

day one, followed by a blown driveshaft 

during the first stage of Sunday, ending 

his chances of a podium place. 

“We only just made it! It was a pretty 

embarrassing rally for us but we’re glad 

to make it.” 

The two Japanese crews, Atsushi 

Masumura (Mitsubishi Evolution) and 

Fuyuhiko Takahashi (Subaru Impreza) 

finished in fifth and sixth respectively 

after a trouble free run. 

Mark Beard, the only other Australian 

competitor in the international field, 

finished in seventh overall behind the 

wheel of his naturally aspirated Subaru 

Impreza RS. 

Rounding out the top APRC cars 

was Sanjay Takale of India, in a Cuscoprepared 

Subaru Impreza. After taking 

a short break from the APRC last year, 

Takale was just happy to finish this 

tricky round. 

“We finally finished! We had some 

problems but I think that’s the 

character of the event. It’s dry, wet, 

slippy and very difficult terrain and you 

have to always be on the ball, as it can 

catch you off guard easily. I’m just very 

happy to be here because finishing this 

rally is a big challenge,” said Takale. 

Gaurav Gill and co-driver Glenn 

Macneall still lead the overall APRC 

Championship with four rounds to go, 

ahead of Fabian Kreim/Frank Christian 

and Michael Young/Malcolm Read. 

The Pacific Cup, contested over the 

New Zealand and Australian rounds, 

was also awarded at the podium 

ceremony in Australia and was won 

by Fabian Kreim and co-driver Frank 

Christian. 

The next round of the APRC is a new 

venue for 2016 at the China Rally, held 

in Zhangye, near the Mongolian border. 


RETROSPECTIVE: JIM RICHARDS 

Setting a blistering pace 

in the early stages of 

the ‘73 Heatway. It’s 

a different Jim at the 

wheel, complete with 

moustache! 

GENTLEMAN JIM RICHARDS 

In 2005 we talked rallying with Kiwi legend 

Jim Richards, a man whose proudest 

achievement behind the wheel came in a 

Mk 1 Escort, way back in 1973. 

He’s won the Bathurst 1000 race 

seven times, taken victory in 

Targa Tasmania on eight occasions 

and won countless other races 

and championships, but Jim Richards’ 

proudest motorsport achievement 

is something that very few rally fans 

would know. 

And it’s not surprising, given that 

result was achieved back in his home 

country of New Zealand, and way back 

in the year 1973. 

Richards was always going to be a 

circuit racer, but rallying played an 

important part in his career and saw 

him drive cars as diverse as Datsuns, 

Triumphs, Marinas and Escorts. 

RallySport Magazine’s Peter Whitten 

caught up with Richards in between 

Porsche Carerra Cup meetings, and 

chatted about his rallying days in New 

Zealand, unearthing some amazing 

stories. 

Story: 

PETER WHITTEN 

Like a fair majority of successful 

motorsport drivers, Jim Richards 

started in go-karts at the age of 

11 or 12, and then progressed to something 

a little bigger when he turned 15 

and was able to get his drivers’ licence 

in New Zealand. His first event was a 

standing and flying quarter mile in a 

Mini, but soon after that he sold the 

‘brick’ and purchased a Ford Anglia 

105E and went circuit racing. 

Back in the late 1960s there were 

a lot of trials-type events going on in 

New Zealand, but when the Silver Fern 

Rally was first run in 1969, the idea 

of “thrashing around the back roads” 

appealed to Richards, and he entered 

the event in a Datsun 1600, finishing 

second. 



The ‘72 Heatway Rally 

was “great fun”, but 

suspension problems 

hampered the works 

Morris Marinas. 

Richards was having some 

success in 1300cc Escorts, and 

then the Twin Cam variety 

in cars owned by friend 

Jim Carney. With Carney 

paying the bills and Richards 

doing the driving, he won a 

championship along the way, 

before eventually moving to 

Australia to further his career 

in 1975. 

“It was great fun, but my focus back 

then was on circuit racing because 

I really couldn’t afford to have two 

competition cars,” he remembers. 

However, rallying was still a carrot 

dangling in front of his face, and he 

entered one of the first Heatway rallies 

(the precursor to the current Rally 

of New Zealand) in a Triumph 2.5 PI. 

Running in the top three, Richards then 

dropped out of contention, firstly with 

a gearbox problem, and then when he 

rolled the car. 

“It was on a stage where we caught 

a slower car and the roads were pretty 

Below: Richards punts the Marina 

around the Hopu Hopu rallycross track 

during the 1972 Heatway Rally. 


narrow. The car in front virtually came 

to a stop and we were only going about 

two miles an hour, but because I had 

no first gear I had to pass the car on the 

outside, but the two outside wheels fell 

down on the side part of the road and 

the car went ‘plop’, over on to its roof 

and back on to its wheels. 

“We were only there about five 

minutes and I drove the car back out, 

but that was a bit of a disaster because 

the car was buggered!” 

Meanwhile, circuit racing still played 

the major part in his career. Racing 

firstly Anglias and then Escorts, 

But rallying was still 

playing a part, although 

only through invitational 

drives when someone 

offered him a car for a particular 

event. One of these was a 

works drive for British Leyland 

in the 1972 Heatway Rally, 

driving a Morris Marina. BL 

had entered four cars in the 

event – two Marinas and two 

Mini Clubmans – with Scotsman 

Andrew Cowan driving 

one of the Minis. 

Cowan had originally been 

penciled in to drive one of the Marinas, 

but changed his mind and elected to 

drive the Mini when it became apparent 

that the Clubman would be much 

more competitive. It was a decision 

that proved important, with the Minis 

finishing first (Cowan) and fifth (Angus 

Hyslop), and the Marinas a lowly 52 nd 

and 63 rd . 

The Marinas suffered badly from 

suspension woes, which Richards 

remembers vividly. 

“Basically the suspension was miles 

too soft, and every time you hit a 

serious pothole it would develop a 

couple of inches of toe-out.” 

He had the Marina in the top 

four early on, but the suspension 

problems, and then gearbox 

trouble, put paid to his chances. 

Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable 

experience. 

“We had an absolute ball. On 

some of the stages we were as 

quick as the Twin Cam Escorts, 

so the little car wasn’t that bad. I 

remember we had a tremendous 

battle with Mike Marshall (in an 

1600cc Twin Cam Escort) who you 

could say was the gun rally driver 

in New Zealand at that time. 

“The one that springs to 

mind,” he chuckles, “was a 

reasonably long stage where 

we started in front of Mike. We 

had an overshoot and as we 

were backing up we saw lights 

coming and Mike got in front of 

us. We could then see where he 

was going, so we caught him up 

and he obviously didn’t know it 

was us – because he wouldn’t

Jim’s Escorts were often airborne, 

and were always quick. Rallying’s 

loss was circuit racing’s gain! 

“To be honest, my car was 

probably a bit of a floor 

sweeper against the two 

other works cars.” 

have pulled up for a Morris Marina – but we passed 

him, despite getting all our lights broken, and we then 

pulled away from him!” 

Marshall won 20 stages for the event to Richards’ 

two, but the Escort driver left the road and eventually 

finished 48 th . 

The following year’s Heatway Rally, in 1973, was 

a real marathon that ran over eight days in the 

South and North islands of New Zealand, and 

covered over 5000km, 2810km of which was competitive. 

Richards drove a Dulux-sponsored BDA Escort 

that year, and despite the 1000 Lakes winner Hannu 

Mikkola heading the entry list, Ford chose Richards 

as one of their three points-scoring drivers for 

Manufacturers points, rather than the Finnish star. 

Mikkola and Marshall drove 2-litre alloy block BDAs 

with five-speed ZF gearboxes, while Richards drove an 

1800cc steel block BDA with a four-speed gearbox. 

“To Paddon’s be honest, office my has car already was probably a bit of a floor 

sweeper proved against a successful the two testing other works-spec cars, so the 

ground for WRC success. 

focus was really on the other two cars.” 

Man-handling the big Triumph 2.5 PI in 

the 1971 Heatway Rally. He led after Leg 

1, but then the rear suspension failed. 

Check out the huge steering wheel! 



Richards in typical 

Escort pose in the 

Maramarua Forest, 

south of Auckland. 

in the morning. When the 

sun eventually came up and 

we looked down, the car was 

perched on a little outcrop of 

rocks, and when we’d pushed 

the car onto its wheels we 

damn near pushed it right over 

and it would have gone forever 

– we couldn’t see the bottom. 

So if the car hadn’t stopped 

there, we probably wouldn’t be 

doing this story!” 

But all that soon changed, at least 

from the media’s point of view, when he 

led the event after stage two. Despite 

then going off the road, Richards 

stormed back and in the second half of 

the event set more fastest stage times 

than Mikkola in a performance he still 

rates as his best in motorsport. He 

takes up the story: 

“We put it off the road on, I think, day 

one on a stage down in the Southland/ 

Otago area when we were in second 

place behind Mikkola. It was about two 

o’clock in the morning on a stage called 

Dansey’s Pass and we’d been told there 

could be some ice around. I’d never 

driven on ice before so I didn’t know 

what to expect. 

“Coming down the other side of 

the pass we hit the ice and I had no 


steering, no brakes, no nothing, and 

we slid to the outside of the road and 

nearly went off. But I still didn’t realise 

what it was because there was no snow 

and no evidence of ice on the road. 

“On the next corner we went straight 

off and over the bank. It was pitch 

black, we were rolling and rolling, and I 

wondered when it was all going to stop. 

Richard Halls, who was my navigator, 

and I leapt out of the car and the first 

thing we thought to do was push the 

thing back on its wheels, because there 

was no thought of not continuing, and 

we didn’t want all the oil to run out of 

the engine and transmission. 

“So we pushed it back onto its wheels 

and scrambled up the bank and ended 

up sitting on the side of the road in the 

snow and the ice until about six o’clock 

Getting the car back on 

the road involved a 

huge four-wheel drive 

tractor and a big winch. The 

car was badly damaged: one 

of the doors was ripped off it, 

both the windscreens were out 

of it, the wheels were pointing 

in pretty much the right 

direction, but the steering rack 

was bent. 

“When we got it up the first 

thing I did was turn the key. It went 

‘brrp’ and started up. I thought ‘sh—‘ 

and threw the door and all the broken 

bits and pieces in through the back 

window and drove it about 200km to 

the next service park.” 

Richards thought his rally was over, 

but sponsors Dulux were keen for them 

to continue and with the help of the 

local Ford dealer the car was put back 

into some semblance of shape and they 

rejoined the rally – a day later – at the 

back of the field. 

“From there on we set more fastest 

stage times than Mikkola, but it was 

hard work because every day we had to 

start last and on some stages we’d pass 

20 cars on little narrow roads.” 

But despite being rank amateurs, 

prior to the event Richards and 

co-driver Halls had borrowed an 

automatic HR Holden station wagon 

and driven over the South Island 

stages, making basic notes of the 

stages, getting an idea of what each 

stage was like. 

“Funnily enough,” he says, “we 

made the notes using the same 

system that Barry (Oliver) and I now 

use to pacenote the Targas, using 

fast, medium and slow.” 

Beating MIkkola on so many 

stages still ranks highly. “On a 

personal note, I still think now that 

it was one of the best things that I 

ever did, because we were absolute 

nobodies, that was only the third or 

fourth rally that I’d ever been in and 

I’d never driven the car before. And 

here we were setting faster times 

than this World Champion.” 

Richards also had a great duel 

with Australian rallying legend Colin 

Bond, who was in a works Holden

Torana XU1. “Bondy had gone off the 

road early in the event as well and was 

starting stages a couple of places in 

front of us, and we had some fantastic 

battles and would check each others’ 

times at the end of each stage.” 

At the end of that ’73 event Mikkkola 

had won 23 stages, Richards 16 and 

Bond 9, but it’s worth remembering 

that Richards had missed a day and a 

half of the rally! 

Unfortuntately, despite that 

success, it never really led on to 

anything. Although he loved his 

rallying, Richards says he was definitely 

going down the tar seal path and circuit 

racing dominated his motorsport life. 

He still did the odd rally, but only when 

someone was kind enough to lend him 

a car. 

So there ended, temporarily at least, 

one of the greatest stories in New 

Zealand rallying. Richards’ rallying 

career came to a premature close, 

but many Kiwis believe that had he 

achieved those results three or four 

years later, when rallying in that 

country really started to evolve, the 

world could literally have been Jim 

Richards’ oyster. 

“I’m sure that if I had decided to go 

rallying full time, and not circuit racing, I 

could have done alright,” he adds. “After 

those results a guy by the name of Gus 

Staunton, who was the PR manager 

for British Leyland in Australia, wrote 

to me and asked if I’d go across and go 

rallying in Australia. But at that stage 

I was pretty well ensconced in the tar 

seal circuit racing and I couldn’t do 

both, which was unfortunate.” 

Apart from a couple of rallies in a 

2-litre Mk 1 Escort and a couple in a 

Torana XU1, that was all the rallying 

he did until he arrived in Australia, and 

then his rallying was only in a couple of 

invitational rallysprints in the 1980s in 

Canberra. 

“It got back to the fact that if you 

wanted to be good at something you 

had to specialise in it, and circuit racing 

was where my career had headed, plus 

the fact that I didn’t have a car,” he says. 

Between then and the much-reported 

Targa Tasmania successes, Richards 

continued to rack up victories on the 

circuit, winning an incredible seven 

Bathurst 1000s along the way. His 

teaming with Barry Oliver has since 

given him the reputation as Australia’s 

greatest all-round driver, and rightly so. 

His decision, all those years ago, has 

certainly been circuit racing’s gain, but 

Richards freely admits that, these days, 

the tarmac rallies are by far the most 

enjoyable events he does. With that in 

mind, it appears we haven’t seen the 

last of the great man yet! 

The Marina was quick, but couldn’t match the team’s Mini Clubmans, in which Andrew Cowan 

took victory in 1972. (All photos courtesy of Jim Richards’ personal collection) 

Briefly .... 

Long before Possum 

Bourne, Jim Richards and 

Richard Halls were Kiwi 

rallying’s quickest team. 

The term “Gentleman Jim” is 

probably one that Richards 

has loved and loathed over 

the years, but it’s one that couldn’t be 

closer to the truth. Sitting in his office 

and chatting about motorsport shows 

that Richards has forgotten little of his 

past, although some of the finer details 

have become a little sketchy, as can be 

expected over a career that has so far 

lasted over 35 years. 

Richards’ office is surprisingly small 

for someone with his successful 

background, but with the absence of 

a computer, you get the feeling he’d 

much rather be out in the workshop 

tinkering with one of the Porsches than 

cooped up in the office. 

There’s plenty of pictures and posters 

of his racing machines in the factory, 

and the walls are lined with dozens of 

trophies that represent his many years 

in motorsport. 

“They were all just sitting in boxes, so 

I thought I might as well put them on 

display,” he says. 

The day after our interview, he was 

off to Oran Park for the next round of 

the Carrera Cup series. “Will you drive 

the truck up or fly to Sydney,” I asked. 

“Try to keep him out of the driver’s 

seat,” his mechanic calls from a corner 

of the office! 

Interestingly, Richards had an offer 

to compete in the Otago Classic Rally in 

New Zealand earlier this year, driving 

an Escort RS1800, but declined the 

offer, mainly due to a lack of gravel 

driving in the past 30 years. 

”I’d like to be competitive, and without 

plenty of practice beforehand that 

wasn’t going to be the case. Perhaps 

in a few years I can go over there and 

compete when there isn’t as much 

expected of me – that’s sounds like it 

will be great fun.” 

- October 2005 


RALLY OF ITALY - WRC 6 

Story: 

MARTIN HOLMES 

Thierry Neuville made a 

welcome return to form for 

Hyundai. 


THE COMEBACK 

Another rally, another winner. Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was 

the fifth different driver to win a WRC event this year, and one of 

seven drivers to score a fastest time on this event. 

Exactly like when back-runner 

Kris Meeke won in Portugal, 

Neuville benefitted from his 

late running order, showing remarkable 

improvement in his personal 

career fortunes. 

There was also a spectacular 

improvement in M-Sport’s speed, 

with both the team’s drivers scoring 

fastest stage times. Jari-Matti 

Latvala upheld Volkswagen honour 

by challenging Neuville throughout 

the event, finishing second, but was 

unable to match Neuville’s pace in 

the latter stages. 

Volkswagen was again not the 

dominant team, with Sebastien Ogier 

involuntarily suffering from the 

conditions, but also when Andreas 

Mikkelsen stopped when he hit a 

rock which broke the suspension. 

The world champion team has now 

not won a WRC rally since Mexico, 

and their leading driver Ogier since 

Sweden, although its lead in the 

series had increased to 70 points. 

Latvala lost touch with Neuville 

when he went off on stage 13, Monti 

di Ala, where he has a history of 

misfortunes in previous years. The 

attention therefore was on Hyundai, 

who came to Sardinia after a 

disappointing rally in Portugal. 

Once again they were running four 

cars, replacing Hayden Paddon’s 

new car which was burned out in 

Portugal with another brand new car, 

with Neuville again relegated to their 

second level support team, and test 

driver Kevin Abbring in a 2015 car. 

Neuville was his usual enigmatic 

self. He was in disgrace before the 

rally with the organisers, three times 

breaking speed limits in recce – but 

then honourably proving his speed 

on the rally by winning nine special 

stages. 

Paddon was gradually gaining his 

Jari-Matti Latvala was another 

driver thankful for a podium 

finish after a torrid run. 

pace when he strangely went off 

the road on the Friday, rolling off 

the road and damaging his car too 

much to be allowed to carry on. Dani 

Sordo, once again, proved his usual 

reliable self, finishing fourth overall 

for the fourth successive time this 

year. 

With Citroen absent from this 

event, M-Sport fielded their usual 

drivers, benefitting from a good 

pre-event test session in which 


RALLY OF ITALY - WRC 6 

their celebrated downshift problem was 

apparently solved. 

Finally there were smiles again on the 

face of Mads Ostberg, who was now much 

faster, notably when he adopted his own 

tyre selection strategy and won the 

first run over Monte Lerno stage, 

the longest stage of the rally. 

Teammate Eric Camilli continued to 

impress after his misfortunes earlier in the 

year, but he lost time with transmission 

trouble on the first full day. Ostberg was 

lying fourth, at one moment only 0.3 

seconds behind Ogier, but on the last 

stage on Saturday he hit a rock, which 

wrecked a driveshaft and then damaged 

the engine. 

Disappointment also came to the DMack 

team driver Ott Tanak, who suffered tyre 

problems on the long, hot, abrasive stages. 

Two major topics of debate emerged 

during the rally, firstly concerning 

the way that tyre management 

issues were critical. These were brought 

about by the strict availability rules, introduced 

when Michelin took over the championship 

supply work from Pirelli. 

These rules were designed to cater for 

unexpected and potentially dangerous 

changes in weather, but have led over the 

years unexpectedly to the current cross 

matching of tyres and other tactics. 

And if anyone questions the wisdom 

of the FIA’s current running order rules, 

they have contributed spectacularly to 

the excitement of the championship, with 

the unhappy World Champion, Sebastien 

Ogier, still struggling in bad stage 

conditions (winning only two orthodox 

stages all event), but yet enhancing his 

championship lead yet again! 

Find us at: www.chicane.co.nz 

Call us o 


Conditions in Sardinia were even 

more favourable for the later running 

drivers, as the stages were unusually 

still in uncleaned state even for the 

second passage. 

Neuville’s poor form earlier in the 

season suited him perfectly 

on days 1 and 2, running 

eighth and then 

seventh on 

the 

rooted emotions were released, 

positively from the Neuville family – 

this being the first WRC victory which 

Thierry had deservedly won. 

Here were two negative reactions, 

however. Mikkelsen said he 

deliberately did not try for a good time 

on the Power Stage because he did 

not want extra championship points, 

as he did not want to start the next 

rally, Poland, in an unnecessarily high 

starting position. That was not what 

the rule makers had thought of. 

Then the highly popular World Rally 

Car sportsman Martin Prokop, who had 

stoically driven a rally which was always 

a favourite event of his, demoralised 

by a five minute pre-rally penalty for 

a preparation error, of the punitive 

level as if he had been a sporting 

criminal. 

He has long felt that the 

sport was not geared up for 

privateers. This was proof. 

He said he did not want 

to take part in the WRC 

anymore. Very sad! 

Footnote: Prokop’s 

penalty was later 

overtuned by the FIA. 


road. Despite very degraded 

conditions on the power stage, 

the final stage went ahead, and 

despite being thrown off line by the 

ruts, the now tenth running Ogier made 

best time ahead of Kevin Abbring and 

Latvala. 

At the end of the stage some deep 

HJC MOTORSPORTS 

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RALLY OF GISBORNE - NZRC 4 

Story: 

BLAIR BARTELS 

TITLE HOLDER 

As crews headed to Rally Gisborne 

for round four of the 

Brian Green Property Group 

New Zealand Rally Championship, 26 

teams were still in with a mathematical 

chance of taking the NZRC title, with 

the championship more open than in 

recent memory. 

However, Mount Maunganui’s David 

Holder put in a masterful drive, not only 

taking maximum points and leading 

from the very first stage, but with his 

rivals faltering, also claimed his maiden 

NZRC title with a round to spare. 

Despite plenty of heavy rain in the 

lead up to the event, a fine but cold 

day greeted the 44 starters, with clear 

conditions and negative temperatures 

making for a couple of tricky stages first 

up. 

Several cars had made changes prior 

to the event in a search for more speed, 

most notably Andrew Hawkeswood, 

being the first of the AP4 cars to add 

a restrictor, which not only gave the 

Mazda 2 a more usable power band, 

but a healthy increase in torque as well. 

Although the team kept the change 

quiet in the build up to the event, those 

in the know were picking a strong 

improvement in overall speed. 

First into the stages, Holder and codriver 

Jason Farmer set the pace on the 

opening test despite struggling with 

a faulty intercom. Hawkeswood was 

next quickest through, having recorded 

a faster split by five seconds midway 

through the stage, despite stalling on 

the start line, but he was one of many 

teams to cook their brakes on a tricky 

downhill section towards the end of 

the stage and stopped the clocks 8.5 

seconds slower. 

A return to form saw Graham 

Featherstone third fastest a further 

two seconds back, while Dylan Turner 

returned to the series with a fifth 

fastest time, edging out outgoing 

It was a miserable event for round 

three winner Emma Gilmour. 

New champs 

David Holder 

(right) and Jason 

Farmer. 


national champion, Ben Hunt, who 

completed the top five. 

The opening stage results were a 

bonus for the top five, with organisers 

running the Power Stage on the opener, 

giving them potentially crucial bonus 

points. Of note was Emma Gilmour, 

previous round winner and Holder’s 

closest championship rival, only eighth 

fastest as she struggled for grip in the 

tricky conditions. 

The second stage was more of the 

same for Holder, who once again had 

intercom dramas but set the pace, this 

time 20 seconds clear of the chasing 

pack. 

Hawkeswood was once again lighting 

up the split times, 11 seconds up on 

Holder at the half way point, before a 

missed gear change led to a broken 

input shaft, ending his rally and the 

chance to really show the potential of 

the new and improved Mazda. 

That left Turner to go second fastest, 

despite an overshoot, also taking that 

place overall, while Gilmour upped her 

speed for the third fastest time, lifting 

her to fifth overall. 

A standout drive was coming from 

Grant Blackberry, setting the fourth 

fastest time in his older Evo 6, ahead of 

Lance Williams, running MRF Tyres for 

the first time. 

As crews headed back to service, 

there were plenty of tales of woe and 

Lance Williams was a strong third in 

his Subaru Impreza WRX. 

already talk of big shakeups in the 

leaderboard. Holder, however, was 

surprised with the lead having been 

struck with his intercom issues. 

For the likes of Sloan Cox, one who 

had been tipped as a contender prior 

Photos: Geoff Ridder 


RALLY OF GISBORNE - NZRC 4 

Another roll ended 

2015 champ Ben Hunt’s 

rally prematurely. 

to the event, major brake issues left 

him with stopping power on just three 

wheels and he checked in to service in 

seventh, but checked out with a further 

three minutes of penalties, dropping 

him to 21 st place and out of contention. 

Some contenders were having 

an even worse time of it, with Clint 

Cunningham’s car dying thanks to a 

crank angle sensor failure on the tour 

to stage one, while Marcus van Klink 

hardly got much further when he 

beached his Mazda RX-7 on a fence 

1.5km into stage one. 

Glenn Inkster was another to get 

caught out, walloping a rock in stage 

two. 

The class battles were intense also, 

with Lee Robson taking 

the lead in the Gull Rally 

Challenge on stage one, 

but spent the latter part 

of the stage stuck in third 

gear, a problem that 

would eventually end his 

rally. 

That ailment allowed 

Grant Blackberry to claim 

the lead with a storming 

drive, something he may 

have done in stage one if 

it weren’t for a spin on a 

narrow section of road. 

A great start for Jono 

Shapley saw him second 

ahead of Kingsley Jones, 

while Jeff Torkington led 

the two-wheel drive Rally 

Challenge. 

The open twowheel 

drive class saw 

Dave Strong take the 

HIGHLIGHTS 1 

HIGHLIGHTS 2 

HIGHLIGHTS 3 

lead, while Anthony Jones struggled 

with gearbox problems that would 

eventually lead to retirement on stage 

three. 

Dylan Thompson was set to inherit 

second, only to have an electrical failure 

in his Fiesta. That left Andy Martin to 

claim second spot, despite spending 

five minutes off the road in his Suzuki 

Swift after the similar car of Jack 

Williamson failed between scrutineering 

and the rally start. 

John Silcock (Mazda RX7) held an 

unchallenged lead in the Historic 

category after van Klink’s off. 

Stage three would be one of the most 

critical in the championship. With two 

of the top five already having retired, 

Holder was pushing on and took the 

stage win, but what happened behind 

him would effectively wrap up the 

championship for him. 

Not only did Hunt stop with a fuel 

pump failure, but crucially, an engine 

failure for Gilmour left Holder in a 

position to claim the title, although with 

three gruelling stages remaining. 

The first of these was the longest 

of the event at 38 kilometres, 

Wharekopae, and given the morning’s 

drama, no-one was expecting the full 

field to come out unscathed. 

With a lead of more than a minute, 

Holder took less risks but still set the 

third fastest time, while Turner created 

a stranglehold on the runner-up spot 

with the fastest time, 

Dylan Turner returned 

to the NZRC and 

grabbed second place. 

just quicker than Cox, 

who was charging 

back through the field. 

Amazingly, only 

Ben Hunt, who had 

rejoined the event, 

2016 Rally of Gisborne - N 

10. Dave Strong/Bruce McKenzie 

1. David Holder/Jason Farmer 

2. Dylan Turner/Rob Scott 

3. Lance Williams/Raymond Be 

4. Graham Featherstone/D. Dev 

5. Grant Blackberry/Ric Chalme 

6. Sloan Cox/Malcolm Read 

7. Shannon Chambers/Warwick 

8. Kingsley Jones/Waverly Jones 

9. Phil Campbell/Venita Fabrro 

ADVERTISE IN 

For more details ca 

or email domini 


fell victim to the stage when he rolled his 

Subaru, although Phil Campbell fell from 

fifth place with a misfire. Fourth fastest 

was enough to move Lance Williams into 

third, finally having some luck go his way 

after a tough start to the season. 

While Turner and Cox would take a stage 

win apiece in the final two stages, there 

was little movement inside the top 10 in 

the closing stages, outside of Carl Davies 

going off the road. 

There was certainly no change at the top, 

where a convincing victory of just under 

one and a half minutes handed David 

Holder and Jason Farmer the NZRC title, 

quite incredible considering the series 

was described as the most open in years 

heading in to the penultimate round. 

A superb return to the series netted 

Turner a comfortable second place, a 

career best result, while Williams’ return to 

form came via a third place. 

Outside of a big spin, a solid day netted 

Featherstone fourth, while Gull Rally 

Challenge winner Blackberry came home 

fifth outright, a superb result that netted 

him both the Gull Rally Scholarship and 

Dunlop Drive of the Rally. 

A recovering Cox, Shannon Chambers, 

Kingsley Jones, Campbell and two-wheel 

drive winner Strong rounded out the top 

10. 

Blackberry took Gull Rally Challenge 

honours ahead of Jones and Warwick 

Redfern, while Jeff Torkington took the twowheel 

drive challenge. Silcock was pleased 

to take the Historic class win in his RX-7, 

and Strong led home Andy Martin in open 

two-wheel drive. 

Teams now turn their attention to the 

series finale, Mahindra Goldrush Rally 

Coromandel on August 20, where eight 

cars are separated by 12 points in the fight 

for second place. 

Grant Blackberry was 

fifth and won the Gulf 

Rally Challenge event. 

ZRC round 4 of 5 

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 1:44:03.6 

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 +1:25.5 

nnett Subaru Impreza WRX +2:05.3 

onport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7 +2:13.9 

rs Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5 +2:57.7 


Searle Volkswagen Polo R +5:03.2 



Honda Civic Type R +8:37.5 

Ninth place went to Phil 

Campbell in what has been 

a challenging season. 

ll Dominic on 0499 981 188 

c@rallysportmag.com.au 


FEATURE: HYUNDAI IN RALLYING 

THE RISE 

AND RISE 

OF HYUNDAI 

Wayne Bell (right) and multiple 

Australian Rally Champion, Greg 

Carr, at Rally Australia in 1991. 

Story: TOM SMITH 

Photos: 

MARTIN HOLMES, 

RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE 

The Hyundai i20 World Rally Car is now 

respected as a regular outright contender in 

the World Rally Championship in the hands 

of Haydon Paddon, Thierry Neuville and Dani 

Sordo. However, the success of recent years 

was not without its humble beginnings. 

Tom Smith looks back on the Korean 

manufacturer’s rally beginnings. 

Hyundai’s decision to enter the 

world of rallying can be traced 

back to the early 1990s, with the 

tough and sturdy (but underpowered) 

Lantra, followed by the pretty Hyundai 

Coupe which saw the company debut 

in the WRC, and the effective Accent 

WRCar of the early 2000s. 

While the factory took a break for 

nearly 10 years from 2003 to 2012, the 

current team is proving to be incredibly 

successful. 

There is no doubt that Australia 

played an integral role in Hyundai’s 

venture into the world of motorsport, 

and in fact local legend, Wayne Bell, 

is recognised as having been a major 

influence in the early success of the 

Korean manufacturer. 

As part of the launch of the then-new 

model, Hyundai Australia was looking at 

running two Lantras in a rally near Alice 

Springs. 

Bell was put in touch with Hyundai 

Marketing’s Kevin Wall, and the story 

begins there. 

“I built two (standard) Group N Lantra 

cars,” says Bell. “One was for Barry 

Ferguson and one for me. Everything 

was set to go ... and the rally was 

cancelled. 

“Hyundai was committed to launching 

the car in Alice Springs, so we took the 


Wayne Bell: Hyundai pioneer. 

“It wasn’t long before 

the parent company in 

Korea sat up and 

took notice.” 

cars out there and did demonstration 

runs.” 

After that, Hyundai agreed to 

run a car in the Australian Rally 

Championship under the Formula 2 

category, and the Lantra won F2 on 

debut in Bell’s hands. 

It wasn’t long before the parent 

company in Korea sat up and took 

notice and an approach was made 

for Bell to run cars in the Asia-Pacific 

Rally Championship (APRC). The cars 

were still relatively standard J1 Lantras, 

Alister McRae: WRC star. 

however, their incredible success in F2 

was attributed to great handling and 

the ability to be driven on the limit, all 

day. 

An F2 class win in the APRC was 

complemented by a win in the Hong 

Kong-Beijing Rally, and Bell and Greg 

Carr finished the Australian round of 

the WRC in first and second places in F2 

(1600cc). 

The order was given to build a Group 

A version of the car with a prototype J1, 

developed before the J2 was released. 

With strength and reliability (only one 

DNF in 24 events), the team finished 

second in the APRC, behind ‘Monster’ 

Tajima in a factory Suzuki. 

Bell continues the story: “Hyundai 

Korea was a company that could 

achieve anything if they wanted. 

Although they knew very little of

allying, they could see the 

potential to be gained in 

marketing their product through 

motorsport.” 

The company then decided 

that a Kit Car based on the Coupe 

model should be developed, 

but Bell unsuccessfully lobbied 

for a 2.0 Accent (200 needed for 

homologation). 

The wheelbase of the J2 and 

Coupe were identical - being the 

same as a Lancer Evolution of 

the day – but potentially too long 

for a front-wheel drive car. The 

cylinder head only flow-tested at 

240bhp, when the competition 

was making around 260-280 bhp. 

Bell confesses to having a 

test car already built (including 

sequential FFD 6-speed gearbox) 

before the ‘go-ahead’ was given 

by HMC Korea. Twenty kits were 

required for inspection by CAMS 

and the FIA, including throttle 

bodies and manifolds, extractors, 

spoilers and induction systems. 

The Coupe was competitive in the 

APRC, proving to be stable under all 

conditions and well suited to rough 

or fast-flowing roads, although 

it only had 240bhp at 8000rpm. 

Unfortunately, it proved too big, and 

not powerful enough for the European 

F2 competition. 

While the Aussie-Korean relationship 

was sound, Bell was taken off guard 

when Korea decided to run a World 

Championship program out of the UK. 

Motor Sport Developments (MSD) 

put Swede Kenneth Eriksson into the 

lead car, with Wayne Bell to be joined 

by Iain Stewart for five events, while 

MSD chased Scotsman Alister McRae to 

join the team. 

Unfortunately, reliability was a 

problem for the high-spec Coupe 

while the team developed the Accent 

Wayne Bell puts the original 

Hyundai Lantra through its paces 

at the Rally of Wagga. 

WRC car. Bell, in particular, had 

recurring gearbox problems that really 

constrained the potential of the car. 

In September 1999, Hyundai unveiled 

the Accent WRC, and a debut 

followed at the 2000 Swedish 

Rally. Later that year the team achieved 

its first top 10 result when Alister 

McRae and Kenneth Eriksson finished 

seventh and eighth respectively at the 

Rally Argentina. 

It wasn’t the fastest car, but the 

Lantra was strong and reliable, 

and could be driven hard. 



The Hyundai Coupe ran in the 

Formula 2 category, and is seen 

here at the Rally of Queensland. 

McRae takes up the story: “Having 

competed in a number of WRC events 

with VW, the opportunity came up for 

me to run an extra two WRC events 

alongside with Hyundai in 1998. 

“This gave me an insight into the 

team and obviously we started 

discussing the possibility of joining in 

’99 for a year in F2, whilst developing 

the Accent WRC for 2000.” 

It was David Whitehead, owner of 

MSD, who had enjoyed a previous 

working relationship with Alister’s 

father, the legendary Jimmy McRae. 

The two worked together in the 

Vauxhall Opel days and with the 

company’s experience in rallying, 

German touring cars and British 

touring cars, the package was right for 

Alister. 

“The team definitely had the 

resources and ability to succeed, but 

at the time other manufacturers were 

spending massive budgets, so it was 

always going to be difficult. Personally, 

my job was to drive and help develop 

the cars,” McRae told RallySport 

Magazine. 

The obvious attraction for McRae was 

the introduction of a new manufacturer 

into the World Rally Championship, 

the all-new WRC car and the chance to 

compete on a full WRC program, with 

he and Kenneth Eriksson carrying out 

all the testing of the new vehicle. 

“The Accent’s handling and balance 

was very good from the start, but 

as always there was room for 

improvement,” Alister recalls. “The 

engine was the weaker part of the car.” 

By mid to late 2001, the car was 

really starting to work very well, and 

a brilliant fourth outright on Rally GB 

Then and now. Wayne Bell (above) driving the Lantra to 18th place and fourth in two-wheel 

drive in the 1996 Rally of New Zealand, while (below) Tim Dillon still competes in the exfactory 

Lantra, and regularly wins his class in QRC and Clubman events. (Photo: Sam Tickell) 


in 2001 was the team’s high point. By 

that time the car was definitely getting 

closer to the front-runners. 

For McRae, Rally GB was the last 

event with the team after three years, 

and it was a great way to finish the 

season. 

“I had a good relationship with the 

team and knew that development for 

the next season would bring the car 

closer again. But the opportunity to 

drive for Mitsubishi - the team that had 

taken Tommi Makinen to four world 

titles – was something not to miss.” 

In September 2003, after a season 

hampered by budget constraints, 

Hyundai announced their withdrawal 

from the WRC and advised their 

plans to return in 2006, which unfortunately 

did not eventuate. 

Then, during the Paris Motor Show in 

September 2012, Hyundai announced 

an intention to return to the WRC with 

a completely new four‐wheel‐drive, 

turbocharged car and a completely new 

team based at Hyundai Motorsport in 

Frankfurt, Germany. It was 21 years 

to the week after the remarkable first 

appearance on the world championship 

scene, back at the 1991 Rally Australia, 

using the Lantra two‐wheel drive 

normally‐aspirated cars. 

As it transpired, the decision to 

re-enter the world championship was 

made at the last possible moment if 

they were to be able to fit into the FIA’s 

new time frame system of when they 

would be able to homologate new rally 

cars. 

This was a tricky situation, made 

even more complex by the commercial 

need to introduce a new rally car at a 

time that matched the schedule of the 

manufacturer’s production car model 

on which the rally car could be based. 

In the end, the decision was taken to 

undertake a two-phase project. 

In this way an initial World Rally Car 

would be homologated in time for use 

in the 2014 rally season, then a second 

model would be introduced, based on a 

new production model, during the 2015 

Hyundai driver Kenneth Eriksson 

and MSD boss David Whitehead, 

Rally of Portugal 1998. 

season. 

The Hyundai WRC project was a 

very hurried exercise. It was not 

only the time taken to establish 

a headquarters and related engineering 

and administration facilities, to appoint 

and train an effective workforce and to 

master completely new technologies 

required for developing present-day 

rally cars – it was just as vital to select 

who should be the drivers to represent 

them. 

Being present on the start line at 

Monte Carlo Rally 2014 was critical 

to everything, and finally this was 

Alister McRae pushes the Hyundai 

Accent World Rally Car hard during 

the 2001 Acropolis Rally in Greece. 



Bull Global Rally Cross Series under the 

Rhys Millen Racing banner. 

Kiwi Emma Gilmour, one of the 

fastest woman rally drivers in the world, 

was the number two driver in the team 

in 2014, achieving excellent results 

throughout the challenging series. 

achieved. 

Their star driver, Thierry Neuville, 

crashed on the first stage (nothing 

significant there, Monte Carlo has 

always proved a special challenge for 

the Belgian driver!) but guest second 

driver, Dani Sordo, achieved a secondbest 

stage time before a very minor 

electrical failure caused his retirement. 

Sweden saw both cars suffering 

suspension damage, but Neuville 

achieved two second fastest stage 

times, while guest driver, Juho 

Hanninen, made times in the top six on 

nine occasions. 

The inclusion of young New 

Zealander, Hayden Paddon, into the 

Hyundai World Rally Team, initially 

on a limited program, was nothing 

short of genius. The Kiwi, with the 

support of a whole country behind him, 

showed genuine early pace in the i20 

Wayne Bell (right) and Hyundai’s Mr Choi. 

and brought the team stage wins and 

a podium in Rally Italia 2015, before 

being elevated to a full time program 

and rewarding that trust with his first 

WRC win in Argentina in 2016. 

With the support of the parent 

company, Paddon and regular codriver, 

John Kennard, have also been 

seen competing in the New Zealand 

Rally Championship in their own 

local version of the i20, built to AP4 

regulations, with minor variations. 

Looking for all intents and purposes 

like a full WRC car, the AP4 car sports an 

almost-standard 1.8litre turbocharged 

Hyundai engine (AP4 rules actually only 

allow engines of 1.6 litres in capacity), 

and took a stunning nine minute victory 

on debut at the Otago Rally in April. 

Hyundai’s name in the United States 

is also highly recognisable with the 

Veloster Coupe competing in the Red 

There is little doubt that Hyundai 

is a company committed to longterm 

rally success, with recent 

announcements of the company’s development 

of an R5 version of the i20, 

and potentially at R2 entry to follow. 

It is also abundantly clear that the 

Hyundai World Rally Team is the equal 

of their WRC opponents in terms of 

performance, with promises of further 

success in the hands of drivers of the 

calibre of Paddon, who is not only 

shaping up to the European established 

drivers, but is a marketing delight. 

Nevertheless, Hyundai’s rally 

origins in suburban Australia cannot 

be ignored, nor forgotten, and the 

‘Godfather’ of Hyundai’s rally effort, 

Wayne Bell, is remembered fondly by 

the company. 

“I was invited to Portugal by Hyundai 

Motor Sport to see the new WRC factory 

team,” Bell explains. 

“Mr Choi wanted my opinion on the 

cars and team. I was given full access 

to the cars and was impressed with 

the standard of workmanship and 

engineering that had gone into the 

cars, although I thought some of the 

suspension was too light and suited 

more for racing that a rough rally. 

“The current cars are much stronger 

and can take a good knock without 

breaking things, and will win more 

events and, I suspect, eventually the 

championship. I just wish I was 30 years 

younger,” Bell says. 

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1977 RALLY OF NEW ZEALAND 

VATANEN SHOWS BLINDING SPEED 

Story: 

MARTIN HOLMES 

Ari Vatanen came from a small 

Finnish village close to the 

border with Russia. His rallying 

took off spectacularly when Ford 

offered to help develop his career in 

1975, only one year after he had first 

appeared on the international scene. 

He emerged from Finland at a 

sensitive time when the motor industry 

in Britain was recovering from a severe 

recession. Ford’s apparent willingness 

to supply one bodyshell after another 

for the young driver was therefore a 

shock! 

A combination of fearlessness and 

self assurance hallmarked his whole 

life and gave a glamour which the sport 

had not been witnessed before. One 

of Vatanen’s greatest fans was always 

Colin McRae, and the parallels in career 

patterns were striking. 

Vatanen stands alone among rally 

drivers for the emotion he attracts. 

Statistically he was the winner of 10 

world championship rallies and the only 

world driver champion who gained his 

title with a privately funded team. He 

was the first rally driver to possess a 

devil-may-care approach to the sport. 

The New Zealand Rally in 1977 was 

his eighth world rally and the first such 

event he ever finished - nearly all the 

previous events ended off the road. His 

championship aspirations ended with 

a near-fatal crash in Argentina in 1985 

which then led to another successful 

aspect to his career - cross country 

marathons. 

He made sporadic appearances in the 

World series after that - his 100th WRC 

start was at Network Q Rally of GB in 

1998, and made his final appearance in 

2003 on Neste Rally Finland at the age 

of 51. Initial successes were in Fords, 

later he drove for Peugeot, Mitsubishi 

and Subaru, with various events also 

with Opel and Citroen. 

“1977 had been a particularly hard 

year. I had been away from home 

continuously for two and a half months. 

“I remember exactly what we did. 

Ari Vatanen and Jim 

Scott put in a sensational 

performance on the 1977 

Rally of New Zealand. 

It started off with East African Safari, 

which for me had always been a dream, 

but demanded a lot of time for recce 

beforehand. Then I went to do the 

recce for Acropolis, in the middle of 

which I went back to Britain to take part 

on the Welsh Rally. Then I returned for 

the Acropolis, and finally I was off to 

New Zealand. 

“The only time away from rallying was 

a short break in the Seychelles. On the 

journey down to New Zealand I was so 

tired I think I slept all the way. We went 

via Hong Kong and I could not resist the 

chance to go for a few hours into town. 

I was still so tired I even left a bag in 

my taxi with a whole lot of new digital 

watches that I had bought for friends 

back home. 

“My co-driver for New Zealand was 

not my then regular partner, Atso Aho, 

this time. It seemed to be something 

about the Ford system that things had 

to be done a special way, which in this 

case meant having a local co-driver, 

who turned out to be Jim Scott. 

“Our Escort BDA was really good, 

however, but it was very difficult to 

prepare for the rally even though I had 

arrived in good time. The rally itself 

was about 2000 kilometres long, so you 

can imagine that if everything went well 

it was going to take a very great amount 

of work beforehand! 

“Things did not work out well at 

all. Despite the fact we had so much 

recceing to do, this was the time of year 

that Jim Scott could not afford to spend 

much time away from home. It was his 

peak time for selling lawnmowers! 

“I had come all the way from the 

other side of the world, I was itching to 


1977 RALLY OF NEW ZEALAND 

get going and I found the rally clashed 

with peak lawnmower sales time. I was 

waiting in my motel for Jim to sell his 

stock. With just one week left to go we 

started the recce. 

“We drove from four o’clock in the 

morning till ten in the evening every 

day. It wasn’t just driving the stages 

- we still had to drive the long road 

sections in between. As it was we had 

to make our notes for 300-400km a day. 

We hardly slept, and of course there 

was no way we had a chance to check 

the notes. 

“In those days I did not have much 

pacenote experience, Jim - from a 

country where the other rallies were 

secret - even less. As for me - being 

a young fast impatient driver was a 

potential recipe for disaster! 

“It wasn’t long before the dramas 

started. I will never forget a long right 

hand downhill corner on tarmac and 

the first pacenote arrived late. 

“We went off the road, straight 

through some trees, a long way down 

the hill. The only way back was to use 

a winch, which thankfully we had in the 

car, but to get back we had to stretch 

the wire across the actual road of the 

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“As for me - being a 

young fast impatient 

driver was a potential 

recipe for disaster!” 

stage, so for every passing car we had 

to slacken the line. 

“We lost something like 25 minutes in 

the process. We started off again and 

did some great times. For these stages 

we had Dunlop A2 tyres that were 

splendid on mixed surfaces - when 

they did not puncture - and we had a 

fantastic engine. 

“The dramas, however, continued. 

More offs were to come, small and 

bigger ones, sometimes (like when a 

big boulder had fallen down a hill after 

rain) unlucky ones. 

“The car was getting progressively 

more battered as the rally went on, 

although the wheels were still pointing 

in the right direction and the engine 

never missed a beat. But what a hard 

time the car had. 

“I remember one time the car was 

sliding down a tarmac stretch of road 

on its side so that the guttering above 

the door was completely flattened. 

I drove off after that incident and 

discovered the handling was odd. The 

right hand front McPherson strut had 

popped outside the wing. 

“It took me some while to realise 

what the strange object was that I saw 

through the windscreen. I can still 

remember the look on the face of our 

chief mechanic, Robin Vokins, when he 

saw that. 

“The highlight of the rally for me was 

a 102km long stage on the east coast of 

the North Island, near Gisborne. What 

a stage! At this time I was running 

fourth car on the road and the notes 

had not been checked: the stage was 

very fast indeed and it was in the 

middle of the night. 

“The first three cars on the road were 

our main rivals, the three works Fiat 

Abarth 131s, driven by Fulvio Bacchelli, 

Simo Lampinen and Markku Alen. I 

think the first Fiat I caught was Simo’s, 

then another 30km or so later I caught 

Markku, and after another 20km 

Bacchelli. 

“Bacchelli thought it was Alen who 

was behind him. He didn’t want to be 

beaten by his teammate and let me 

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Dominic on 0499 981 188

suffer in his flying stones. It had never 

occurred to him that the fourth car on 

the road would now be right behind 

him! 

“Otherwise everything was working 

so well - me, engine, co-driver, tyres, it 

was truly a beautiful experience. We 

had even finished our formalities with 

the time keepers at the end of the 

stage, and driven away from the control 

still without any of the Fiats in sight. I 

had made fastest time by nearly three 

minutes on that stage! 

“At that time the Fiat team manager 

was Daniele Audetto. He could not 

believe what was happening when we 

saw our times. 

“He invited me into his motorhome 

and he told everyone else to go outside 

while we spoke. He asked me to drive 

for Fiat next year and offered me 

US$100,000. 

“I was on my second year with Ford. 

My first year (1976) I earned £5000, this 

year £16,000, so Audetto’s offer was at 

least three times what I had received in 

two years. The money he mentioned 

seemed like an offer to win a lottery! 

“I told him even if Ford did not pay 

one penny more next year I could 

not accept his offer. I didn’t ever play 

cat-and-mouse games with the people 

I worked for. Ford had been loyal to 

me and I would be loyal to them. Fiat’s 

offer, however gratifying, did not feel 

right morally. 

“Finally we finished the rally in second 

place. After all that distance we were 

only 94 seconds behind Bacchelli, and 

eventually I learned that Bacchelli’s 

engine was so badly damaged they 

doubted if he could have done another 

stage at all. 

“It also turned out to be the longest 

ever world championship special stage 

event, the only time even the winner 

took longer than one day on the stages. 

What a memory, and how I must have 

The three works Fiat 

Abarth 131s of Bacchelli, 

Alen and Lampinen. 

caused poor Jim to age prematurely. 

He started the rally looking like my 

father, and ended with him looking like 

my grandfather. 

“But I will also never forget how well 

that car went, with its A2 tyres. The old 

rear-drive Escorts really suited my style 

of driving. 

“I will never really know if I would 

have been so well known if I had driven 

any other type of car in my early days.” 


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FEATURE: SOUTH AFRICAN RALLYING 

Peter Baragwanath and 

Charles Reeler in their 

potent Nissan. 

OUT OF AFRICA 

Story: TOM SMITH 

Most Aussies and Kiwis who 

are passionate about rallying 

acknowledge obvious links to 

the UK and Europe, certainly know that 

rallying is alive and well in Japan and 

south-east Asia, and might also admit 

to having watched some of the Chinese 

Rally Championship on YouTube. 

Most recently the Argentinean round 

of the World Rally Championship 

probably also put the spotlight on parts 

of South America, particularly because 

of the efforts of Hayden Paddon and 

John Kennard in their Hyundai i20 

WRCar. 

And yes, rallying exists in North 

America, but most Antipodeans will 

probably hone in on Ken Block’s 

brilliant series of Gymkhana videos as 

typical of the sport in the US of A. 

Africa is something of a mystery, but 

later generations of rallyists will recall 

that the East African Safari was part 

of the World Championship for many 

years. However, most of us know little 

about the sport in South Africa, other 

than the fact that over many years, the 

best drivers and the rally machinery 

Glyn Hall and Martin 

Botha, Ford Laser, in the 

NGK Rally. 

coming out of SA were a match for 

anything in the rest of the world. 

In recent years, under the G2 ARC 

regulations, a number of South Africansourced 

2.0-litre VW Polos made their 

way to Australia for local competitors. 

Neal Bates also sought advice from his 

Toyota counterparts when building his 

own S2000 Corolla. 

Various well-known African rallyists 

have made Australia their home over 

past decades, including experienced codriver 

Lofty Drews, and Marius Swart, 

who has been a Brisbane ‘local’ for 

some years now in his Polo S2000, to 

name just two. 

Thanks to the evolution of Facebook, 

information from South Africa posted 

by fellow enthusiasts is much more 

readily available, and regular photos 

and memories of past eras of rallying 

can be enjoyed by everyone. 

RallySport Magazine set out to 

reveal some of the glory of South 

African rallying and has established 

contact with former South African 

rallying journalists, Loen Joubert and 

Roger Houghton, both of whom have 

contributed to this profile, along with 

respected rally scribe Martin Holmes. 

In past years, the sport of rallying 

in South Africa enjoyed tremendously 

popular manufacturer and spectator 


support. Most Japanese manufacturers 

have been involved, including Toyota, 

Nissan and Mazda, while European 

marques have included Peugeot, Ford, 

Fiat, Audi and Volkswagen. 

In earlier days when a lot of the cars 

on the roads in South Africa did not 

match models seen elsewhere in the 

world, manufacturers decided amongst 

themselves what sort of cars they 

wanted to run in rallying. When the 

latest European cars became available, 

this situation led to a competition 

imbalance in the sport, but never 

so much as the turbo domination 

scenario in which Audi Quattros were 

untouchable. 

This was a major disincentive for 

other manufacturers, but Nissan 

built a “monster” Skyline and 

Toyota fabricated a four-wheel drive 

Conquest (Corolla hatch) powered by a 

2.2-litre, twin-spark Toyota turbo engine 

from Toyota Team Europe. 

The Nissan had a solitary win and the 

Toyota won five times, but it remained 

an era when the Audi Quattro was king. 

Monster cars were spectacular, but 

not helping the sport. Locals had either 

to buy such cars from Europe or build 

their own, but in either case, it was 

costly. 

Having clearly defined rules 

applicable to everyone was essential. 

The first serious formula aimed at 

making a fair challenge for everyone 

came when the 2-litre, normally 

aspirated four-wheel drive formula was 

introduced in 1989. Immediately this 

attracted entries from Ford, Nissan, 

Toyota and VW. The formula selected 

involved the use of production cars 

into which normally-aspirated two-litre 

engines were installed, together with 

four-wheel drive transmission. 

Visitors to South Africa had always 

noticed the curious mixture of cars on 

the roads of South Africa and which 

abounded in the sport. Some were 

familiar makes under different names 

(Opels and Vauxhalls were run as 

Chevrolets, the official Nissan rally team 

ran Fiats, Ford, for a while, rallied a car 

that began life as a Mazda 323, Datsun 

ran cars called 160Js or Stanzas, and so 

on), while manufacturers who were not 

regular competitors in Europe, such as 

Alfa Romeo, took rallying seriously in 

this country. 

The entry lists were always 

an amalgam of locally built and 

internationally homologated cars. 

The Ford Escort RS1800s were the 

first FIA homologated cars that were 

used regularly on South African events, 

and were run by the Ford importers’ 

team. The arrival of the Audi Quattro 

with its four-wheel drive brought a 

further trend towards FIA homologated 

Hannes Grobbelaar’s 

Nissan ‘Monster’ Skyline. 

The Nissan Sentra of 

Winston Sentra and 

Lyle Marais. 

More recently, the top 

cars in South Africa 

have looked more like 

those from Europe. 


FEATURE: SOUTH AFRICAN RALLYING 

“Cars which were 

never used as 

competition cars in 

Europe, such as the 

Ford Escort RS1700T 

and the Opel Kadett 

400, found their way to 

South Africa!” 

cars, though the variety still existed. 

Cars which were never used as 

competition cars in Europe, such as 

the Ford Escort RS1700T and the Opel 

Kadett 400, found their way to South 

Africa and were used in competition 

there. Toyota never ran anything 

close to FIA rules, and Nissan built the 

four-wheel drive, turbocharged Skyline 

monster car. Ford also developed local 

six-cylinder Cortinas. 

Gradually the manufacturers’ 

involvement dwindled away so that, 

towards the end of the ‘90s, when only 

Toyota and VW were left, the national 

federation decided that the FIA’s 2-litre 

front-drive, normally aspirated “Kit 

Cars” should become the top national 

formula instead. 

After a final season in 1997, this 

formula took effect in 1998 and meant 

that even more of the top cars on 

national events were now full FIA cars 

and internationally available, though 

all of them had to be nationally, rather 

than internationally, homologated. 

In relation to the regulations and local 

rules regarding rallies, in past years 

there were not the “nanny restrictions” 

of the current era, and the country was 

still functioning well under a regime 

when roads were well maintained. It 

meant that there was a huge selection 


Jan Hettema’s home-built car 

“Autokami”, which had a midengined 

Mazda Rotary engine 

with Audi transmission. 

of enticing public 

gravel roads (mainly 

mountain passes) in 

the outback that could 

be used as disguised 

special stages (mainly 

at night). 

In later years when 

special stage rallying 

became the norm, 

South Africa had huge 

forest reserves (also in 

adjoining Swaziland). 

One entire National 

Championship rally 

was run just in the 

Louw’s Creek forest reserve. That 

same reserve also had one infamous 

80km special stage (in a forest) and it’s 

central service area became known as 

“Piccadilly Circus”. 

For the most part it appears that 

rallies are now generally all short 

distance “cloverleaf” events, mainly 

based around a single, central location. 

Professional rally drivers in the early 

years included Jan Hettema and Sarel 

van der Merwe, but even some parttimers 

were often paid a small salary, 

were allocated a free company car, 

supplied with kit, and of course had all 

travel expenses paid for. 

“Supervan” Sarel van der Merwe was 

the dominant force in local rallying 

from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, 

with 11 drivers titles won in the 14 

years between 1975 and 1988. During 

this period he only missed out in 1976 

(Jan Hettema won the title), 1986 

(Hannes Grobler) and 1987 (Geoff 

Mortimer). Van der Merwe won 66 

rallies during his amazing career. 

Serge Damseaux, who retired at the 

end of 2007, was the dominant driver 

following van der Merwe’s retirement. 

He won 10 driver’s titles and a record 

74 national championship rallies 

between 1985 and 2007. 

The third most successful rally driver 

is double Springbok Jan Hettema, who 

was a champion cyclist before turning 

to motor sport. Hettema collected 

five national titles and won 36 rallies. 

He also set a record for the number 

of different co-drivers he used when 

he won those rallies – 11 co-drivers 

in all: Mike Hooper (7 wins), Raggy 

Schjolberg (6), Willem van Heerden 

(6), Tom Oerder (4), Franz Boshoff (4), 

Robbie Broekmeyer (2), Stuart Pegg

(2), Leon Joubert (2) and Hennie 

Steenkamp, Gus Menzies, Dave 

Higson-Smith (all one win each). 

Sadly, it has only been in recent 

weeks that 82 year Hettema 

died cruelly after being shot 

by robbers at his smallholding 

home near Pretoria (see separate 

story). 

Most recently, Mark Cronje 

has taken three national 

championships since 2012, 

driving a Ford Fiesta S2000, and 

in 2015 in a Toyota Yaris S2000. 

In 2014 and ’15 he was partnered 

by Elvene Coetze. 

The sport is alive and well 

in South Africa, and Rallysport 

Magazine will continue to inform 

readers on the state of play in 

future editions. 

Right: Hergen Fekken’s 

Toyota looks the goods during a 

2014 round of the South African 

Rally Championship. 

SOUTH AFRICA MOURNS THE TRAGIC DEATH OF JAN HETTEMA 

82 year old South African rally driver, 

Jan Hettema, died cruelly after being 

shot by robbers at his smallholding 

home near Pretoria. 

Dutch born, he had escaped wth his 

family one week before the outbreak 

of WW2 and took up competitive 

cycling, gaining a Springbok title in that 

sport by representing his new country 

at the 1960 Olympics. 

His cycling activities were then 

limited after being branded a 

professional, having won ¬£10 at a 

race earlier in his career! 

He then turned to motorsport, 

rallied for 40 years, was five times 

national champion and won more than 

100 events, including being the first 

winner of the celebrated Roof of Africa 

event. 

His record of national championship 

rally wins was only surpassed by Sarel 

van der Merwe and Serge Damsaux. 

He competed a half dozen times on 

Rallye Monte Carlo, becoming the first 

works rally driver for Toyota in 1968. 



Ross Dunkerton, 1977 South 

RETROSPECTIVE - DATSUN 710 

George Fury, 1976 Castrol International Rally. 

Rauno Aaltonen, 1977 Southern Cross Rally. 

Harry Kallstrom, 1977 Southern Cross Rally. 


ern Cross Rally. 

RALLYING HISTORY 

The 710 SSS is perhaps the most beloved of 

all Datsun rally cars, and made an indelible 

mark on spectators at the Southern Cross 

Rally in the 1970s. These photos from Bruce 

Keys, Ken Cusack and Mike Harding show the 

factory cars in full flight. 

Join the Australian Rally 

History group on Facebook 

Harry Kallstrom, 1977 Southern Cross Rally. 


RALLY POLAND - WRC 7 

HEARTBREAK 

FOR TANAK 

Story: 

MARTIN HOLMES 

Heartbreak came to Poland 

when the stifling hot summer 

weather conditions changed 

dramatically on the final day of Rally 

Poland and a puncture on the penultimate 

stage deprived Ott Tanak and 

the DMack tyre suppliers of a maiden 

WRC victory. 

It was the Fiesta driver Tanak’s 

second successive disappointment on 

this event. 

Andreas Mikkelsen gained a last 

minute victory for Volkswagen, which 

made him the sixth different WRC 

winner in six events, on the weekend 

that marked his 10th anniversary in 

the sport. 

WRC’s running order rules cost 

world champion Sebastien Ogier 

dearly, the championship leader 

gaining his worst result for nine 

months. 

Competitors were faced with 

atrocious stage conditions on the final 

day and Tanak, with countless other 

drivers, had their rally hearts broken. 

In the WRC2 category there was a 

similar story when the leader, Skoda 

driver Esapekka Lappi, dropped to 

third on the penultimate stage, while 

in the Drive DMack Fiesta series the 

leader, Osian Pryce, dropped behind 

Jon Armstrong three stages from the 

56 

Photos: | RALLYSPORT 

Red 

MAGAZINE 

Bull Content 

- JULY 2016 

Pool 

end – also because of punctures. 

THE EVENT 

No fewer than seven drivers 

scored stage scratch times on the 

first two days over the fast, sandy 

gravel tracks in northern Poland, and 

competition was close. The battle 

was immediately drawn between 

Mikkelsen, Hyundai driver Hayden 

Paddon and Tanak. 

After pushing hard during the 

morning Mikkelsen’s lead on Friday 

midday was 2.6 seconds, but as the 

stage conditions deteriorated on the 

second pass both he and Paddon had 

handling difficulties. 

Disadvantaged first runner Ogier, 

meanwhile, kept in touch impressively 

well and by Friday evening was only 

16.3 seconds behind the leader, 

Tanak. Ogier’s hopes dwindled on 

the Saturday, however, when his 

disadvantage became very significant 

and after only three stages he was 

lying sixth overall. 

While Tanak was predictably 

enjoying the fruits of his eighth 

running position, third runner 

Mikkelsen was gradually slipping 

back, but Ogier was now almost a 

minute behind the leader. Fourth 

running Mads Ostberg (Fiesta) was 

just in the top 10, and second running 

Dani Sordo (Hyundai) was not even in 

the top 10. 

By the Saturday evening Thierry 

Neuville’s Hyundai was fourth 

and Jari-Matti Latvala’s VW fifth. Then 

the rains arrived! 

There were only four stages on 

the Sunday, but everything was now 

very different. Tanak started the 

last morning 21.3 seconds ahead of 

Mikkelsen. A cool head should bring 

victory, but deep mud and dislodged 

rocks on the penultimate stage 

brought punctures galore. 

Survival was the name of the game, 

and it was here, cruelly, that Tanak 

had the puncture that cost him the 

win. Mikkelsen won the rally by 26 

seconds. 

It had been a long time since the 

M-Sport cars had been considered 

challengers for an overall victory, but 

on DMack’s latest generation gravel 

tyres Tanak was suddenly in the 

frame. 

The official M-Sport team cars 

were not so impressive, though. 

Eric Camilli was impressively leading 

teammate Ostberg before he had an 

extraordinary incident on the final 

morning. He spun off the road at the 

end of a stage, through inadvertently 

selecting engine road mode. This

Ott Tanak was 

devastated after a 

puncture cost him his 

first victory, but was 

later consoled by World 

Champion Sebastien 

Ogier. 

dropped him behind Mads, who 

finished eighth. 

Hyundai had a mixed story. Neuville 

led the rally overall on the opening 

super special, but was troubled by poor 

pacenotes on Day 1, and both he and 

Paddon had set-up problems. 

As the rally progressed with none of 

the top runners suffering delays, Sordo 

was unable to challenge at all and at 

the finish their top driver was Paddon 

who finished third, 0.8 of a second in 

front of Neuville, but almost half minute 

behind Mikkelsen! Sordo retired on the 

final day with suspension damage. 

Volkswagen could only stand by and 

watch Ogier struggling, but Latvala was 

running inconsistently so everything 

rested on Mikkelsen, who did not 

disappoint. 

What never really became evident 

was the superb efforts once again 

by Ogier, who hoped for a show 

of splendour on the final day, but 

his only happy moment was a 

traditional win in the Power Stage. 

One of the delights of the rally was 


RALLY OF POLAND - WRC 7 

the battle between the two Citroen 

cadet drivers Sebastien Lefebvre 

and Craig Breen, each sensing their 

prospects with the team could be 

judged by their performance here. 

They both put up an incredible fight 

for a long time, leading both M-Sport 

official team cars, but Lefebvre touched 

a tree two stages from the end and 

suspension damage dropped him to 

ninth. Breen finished a happy seventh. 

Volkswagen’s lead in the 

Manufacturers series’ slipped to 

61 points ahead of Hyundai, while 

Volkswagen 2 (the one car team) had 

closed to within a point of (the two car) 

M-Sport WRT. Mikkelsen had retaken 

second place in the Drivers’ series, 

behind Ogier, with Paddon third and 

Sordo and Latvala equal fourth. 

This was truly a rally of two parts, 

but the first two days has whetted 

the appetite for the next world 

championship event, the Neste Rally 

Finland, where the speeds are the 

highest in the championship and where 

DMack declared the stages also suited 

their new generation gravel tyres. 

Mikkelsen rounded off his 10 

years in the sport in fine style and 

was effusive in his respect and 

sympathy for Tanak. 

“We needed a fast pace to 

keep the pressure on Ott. What 

happened to Ott had happened 

(last year) to me in Sweden…” Ott 

was ebullient: “It was hard to take, 

but there will be a pay-back time!” 

There was a remarkable 25- 

car entry for WRC2 where four 

different drivers held the lead, 

Karl Kruuda (Ford) and the Skodas 

of Teemu Suninen and the two 

official team drivers Pontus 

Tidemand and Esapekka Lappi. 

The private Oreca team driver 

Suninen won, but chasing hard 

through the event was the Fiesta 

Evo of series leader Elfyn Evans 

who finished second. 

Evans retained his lead in the 

series ahead of Suninen, Fuchs 

and Tidemand. 

In WRC3, the Junior 

championship drivers were 

unchallenged with Simone Tempestini 

finishing over three minutes ahead of 

Sebastien Loeb’s protégé Terry Folb, 

after Ole Christian Veiby dropped 

back late on Saturday with a broken 

driveshaft. 

In the Drive DMack Fiesta Trophy 

category, the little cars suffered from 

running at the rear of the field and 

most of the drivers suffered punctures. 

In the end the win went to the Ulster 

driver, Jon Armstrong, who beat Osian 

Pryce, with Bernardo Sousa third. 

Above: Andreas Mikkelsen (right) and Anders Jaeger 

celebrate their win, while Hayden Paddon returned 

to form with a strong third place (below). 


Scott Pedder’s excellent adventure 

continued at Rally Poland 

in June, based in Mikolajki, 

several hours north of Warsaw. 

He and co-driver Dale Moscatt 

faced a weekend of bad luck and 

misadventure in their Skoda Fabia R5, 

but after several high speed spins, 

a flat tyre, and even a light rollover 

– it was a broken control arm that 

stopped the Australian Pedders team 

within sight of the finish. 

Much had been written about the 

high speed nature of the Polish event, 

but the ill-handling Fabia on this event 

did not deliver the precision needed 

to attack the roads flat out. Pedder’s 

diagnosis was that the car had a 

diff-related issue, causing uncertainty 

under brakes and turning. 

Outside the WRC2 top 10 on 

Thursday night’s opening Super 

Special Stage, Pedder immediately 

began to claw back time against his 

red hot rivals on the first leg. 

Three spins and a stall frustrated 

the quick Aussie, but his confidence 

remained high, predicting a 

good result and even a possible 

podium due to the closeness of the 

competition. 

A brilliant effort in treacherous 

conditions on day two saw the team 

climb to fifth WRC2 by late in the 

afternoon, before a simple ‘off’ caused 

a 30 second time loss when the car 

went into a field and the team had 

troubles finding their way back to 

the road! A flat tyre followed, which 

relegated the Pedders crew to eighth, 

with a short final day in front of the 

field. 

Forecast rain hit overnight and on 

the second stage Pedder hit a massive 

PEDDER IN POLAND 

Pedder and Moscatt had another challenging 

event, but showed good speed. 

(Photos: Red Bull, Martin Holmes) 

puddle, missing a chicane completely 

and on the next corner a concentration 

loss saw him run wide and lightly roll. 

Enthusiastically returned to its wheels 

by the Polish crowd, an unrelated broken 

control arm caused an early rally finish, 

and left them stranded in the next stage. 

While disappointing, the team 

continues to make progress in their 

Fabia R5 and looks forward to Rally 

Finland, where they finished fourth in 

WRC 2 last year. 

- Tom Smith 

$ 

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CAMS: The Official History, celebrates 60 years of CAMS, 1953-2013, 

a complete history of its formation and development. 

The 512 page hard cover book contains more than 1000 photographs 

– and just as importantly – an accurate and detailed documentation of 

our sport’s foundation. 

Written by some of Australia’s most proficient motorsport historians 

and journalists, CAMS: The Official History is a must have for every 

motor sport enthusiast. 

Be armed with more knowledge than has ever been documented before; 

purchase your numbered and signed copy of CAMS: The Official History. 

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE 

CAMSSHOP 


CLASSIC OUTBACK TRIAL 

Andrew and David Travis won 

the event for the third time. 

(Photo: Ian Smith) 

OUTBACK TAKES ITS TOLL 

Story: CRAIG O’BRIEN 

Bathurst son and father combination, 

Andrew and David Travis, 

added an extraordinary third 

Classic Outback Trial (COT) win in four 

attempts when they took honours in 

the Classic category of the biennial 

endurance event in a Nissan Gazelle on 

June 24. 

The defending classic champions took 

a sensational victory by 26 minutes and 

54 seconds, ahead of the Peugeot 504 

of Andy Crane and Dave Anderson, with 

local driver Phil Kerr, paired with the 

experienced Jenny Cole, rounding out 

the podium in a Datsun 1600. 

Based out of Alice Springs, the rally 

was to compromised of six days of 

special stages covering more than 1000 

competitive kilometres across some of 

the most varied terrain in the Northern 

Territory. 

A total of 52 crews, including two 

from the UK and one each from 

Argentina and Switzerland, and across 

four classes consisting of classic rally 

cars, modern rally cars, cross country 

and regularity, would tackle the outback 

challenge. 

DAY ONE 

A freak storm which lashed the area 

just 36 hours before the scheduled 

start caused the first day of competition 

to be cancelled on June 18, due to 

localised flooding and road damage to 

the stages down south. 


Nevertheless, the ceremonial start 

took place as planned outside the 

Convention Centre in a more relaxed 

atmosphere, with crews knowing it was 

another 24 hours until competition got 

underway. 

DAY TWO 

Under clear blue skies on a chilly 

morning at the foot of the sun-kissed 

MacDonnell Ranges, the COT finally got 

underway, but it was very much short 

lived for the Sawyer brothers’ Datsun 

1600 of Michael and Andrew, which 

terminated an engine en route to the 

opening stage and their adventure was 

over before it started. 

The great unknown of the event 

would be how the internationals would 

fair against strong local competition, 

but Argentine pair Jorge Perez Companc 

and Jose Volta in the Viking Motorsports 

Escort RS1800 were blistering on the 

opening 52 kilometre stage, with a 29 

second advantage over the Datsun 

200B of Neil Cuthbert and Sue Evans, 

with Andrew and David Travis a further 

minute and a half behind. 

Meanwhile, there were dramas for 

the UK entered Corolla of John Midgley 

and John Pullan, with a head gasket 

being replaced at the first major service 

at Gem Tree after blowing a hose and 

losing all their water. 

The news wasn’t good for the 

Victorian crew of Joel Wald and Tracey 

Dewhurst (Datsun Stanza) either, when 

they stopped on the second stage of 

the morning, rolling the car after hitting 

a waterway. Tony Jordan (Triumph) and 

Ted Perkins (Ford Cortina) also came 

unstuck in the morning, but managed 

to return to service, albeit with some 

panel damage to show for their efforts. 

By day’s end the challenge for classic 

competition honours would be between 

Cuthbert/Evans and Travis/Travis, with 

the Argentines keeping them within 

striking distance 

DAY THREE 

Day three was two time Australian 

navigator champion, Kate Officer’s 

birthday, but it was anything but 

a celebration if you were driving a 

Porsche 911 or a Datsun 200B. 

Gearbox dramas hit both the Swiss 

entered Porsche of Josef and Yves 

Huber, with the crew electing to change 

it at the first service, while James 

Calvert-Jones somehow managed 

competitive times throughout the day, 

despite only having first, second and 

fourth gear, but after the last stage the 

gearbox completely failed, and without 

a spare their event was over. 

The afternoon stages saw Cuthbert/ 

Evans lose 10 minutes and the lead 

due to navigational errors, while Andy 

Crane made his move with a string of 

consistently quick times to move up the 

order from 12 th .

Kerr/Cole maintained their 

consistency to stay in the hunt in a car 

that had previously won in the hands of 

Travis. 

Despite a scare and a trip through the 

scenery after a big moment through 

a water splash, the Travis’ survived, to 

lead the classic competition heading 

into day four. 

DAY FOUR 

The rally was thrown into turmoil 

when up to 15 cars got bogged on a 

sandy section approximately 30km 

into the day’s third stage, with some 

crews losing in excess of two hours. 

Amongst the chaos of the sandy section 

that beached so many, stories of 

camaraderie and sportsmanship shone. 

Stephen Riley, in his outrageous 

Holden Ute, was just one example of 

someone who elected to stop to help 

recover many of the stranded Classic 

and Modern competitors. 

A stage was later cancelled to avoid 

crews running into the darkness due to 

the excessive late running as a result. 

Cuthbert/Evans faced another 

setback when a fuel pressure problem 

cost them more valuable time and their 

chances of victory faded further. 

DAY FIVE 

The penultimate day of the rally 

opened with the longest of the event, 

with a 121km test along some of the 

best roads the Northern Territory has 

to offer. Described by Andrew Travis as 

“one of the best stages I’ve done in my 

life”, and Michael Ward as “Rally Finland 

in the desert”, the stage consisted of 

a series of crests and cambers to test 

even the bravest of crews. 

Former Australian Rally Champions, 

David and Kate Officer, showed they 

had lost none of their speed over the 

years with an impressive third fastest 

time behind Crane and Travis. 

Third placed Phil Kerr and 

Jenny Cole, Datsun 1600. 

(Photo: Craig O’Brien) 

Day five would also be a game 

changer, with the Cuthbert/Evans 

challenge coming to an end with 

mechanical failure, and the strong run 

of Ian Reddiex/Mike Mitchell in a Celica 

halted. 

Prior to the beginning of the final 

stage there were ominous signs for the 

second placed Argentine Escort, with 

coolant leaking from the front end. A 

few kilometres later their outstanding 

debut run ended with engine failure. 

DAY SIX 

The COT that had produced so much 

drama had one more twist on the final 

day when the Officers, who started 

the day with a relatively comfortable 

fourth place, were stuck in a hole on 

stage, damaging the front end and 

breaking the exhaust. They eventually 

resumed, but dropped 32 minutes. 

Their downfall was Penny Swan 

and Tony Robinson’s gain as they 

would finish the event in a brilliant 

fourth place in their Volvo, despite a 

spectacular roll on the final stage. 

When the fat lady sang on the final 

stage, it was fitting the Travis’ were 

fastest as they cemented back-to-back 

victories. 

In the Modern competition, for 

much of the event it looked like local 

Ben Kittle would be hard to beat 

in his VR Commodore, but a blown 

differential on day five dropped him 

out of contention, elevating Peter 

Neal and Craig Whyburn (Subaru) to 

first, almost 14 minutes clear of Bill 

Monkhouse and Andrew Booker (Suzuki 

Vitara), with Evan and Caroline Vale 

taking the final step of the podium in 

the ex-MRT Subaru Forester. 

In Cross Country, Stephen Riley and 

John Doble (Holden VF Utility) took the 

honours by almost an hour from Reg 

Owen and Russell Cairns (Isuzu MU- 

Above: Andy Crane’s Peugeot 504 and 

(below) Steve Riley’s Commodore Ute. 

(Photos: Ian Smith, Craig O’Brien) 

X), and Murray Young/Paul McBean 

(Mitsubishi Pajero). 

The only all-female entry of locals 

Debra McCormack and Leonie 

Kerr, in a Mitsubishi Magna, won in 

regularity, ahead of the well-travelled 

Phil and Laurette Macwhirter in the 

most unlikely of vehicles to tackle the 

outback challenge, a British Morgan 

Plus 8 sports car. 


RALLY OF QUEENSLAND - QRC 3 

SMART LEADS 

THE WAY IN QRC 

Story & Photos: 

SAM TICKELL 

The third round of the MRF Tyres 

Queensland Rally Championship 

(QRC) took place as part of the 

International Rally of Queensland on 

the Sunshine Coast in June. 

Competing on the same stages as the 

Australian Rally Championship (ARC), 

the QRC competitors were taking part 

in an endurance round - the first that 

had been held in the championship for 

many years. 

The endurance element resulted in a 

short service at the end of day one, with 

both days counting towards the round 

and the championship, rather than two 

single day rounds that had taken place 

in the past. 

This contributed to a lower than usual 

entry list for the QRC, with 23 starters 

lining up on the start line. 

As with previous years, this round 

does bring in a number of one-off 

drives, including Ryan Smart/John Allen 

in their Lancer Evo IX, Tim and Debbie 

Dillon in their Hyundai Lantra, and rally 

legend Ross Dunkerton/Lisa Dunkerton 

in a Nissan Silvia. 

The rally would run over 12 stages - 

eight on day one and four on day two. 

Saturday saw dry conditions, but 

rain that had fallen previously ensured 

that there would be slippery patches 

through the stages. 

Come the end of the first stage, the 

14.48km Kandanga, it was immediately 

clear that the Smart/Allen duo would 

take some beating. The pair was cross 

entered in the ARC and it was also clear 

that they would be challenging at the 

front of that field. 

Smart and Allen arrived in 9 minutes 

27 seconds, almost one minute faster 

than anybody else. This continued 

throughout the day and at the end of 

the day, they would be more than five 

minutes ahead of Ian Menzies and 

Robert McGowen. 

Fortunately for the QRC competitors, 

Smart isn’t registered for points, 

meaning Menzies, Kent Lawrence/ 

James Wilson, Robert Bishop/Neill 

Woolley and Marius Swart/Peta Davies 

would be fighting for the overall QRC 

prize. 


Menzeis/McGowen would be the best 

of the rest in the QRC field and the P5 

field. Bishop/Woolley would be next 

and lead the P5 field. 

In the other categories, Jay Davison/ 

Timmy Bryant (Ford Escort) led Classic; 

Clay Weston/Brendon Wigley (Ford 

Fiesta) led P2; Matthew Linning/Craig 

Morrison (Ford Escort) P3; and Ross and 

Lisa Dunkerton P3. 

The only retirement during the 

day would be the Escort of Thomas 

Dermody and Eoin Moynihan after they 

rolled on SS5. 

However, there would be more 

retirements overnight with Swart/ 

Davies’ Volkswagen retiring with a 

problem that wasn’t diagnosed in the 

service park. Ross Dunkerton would 

also pull out overnight. 

Come day two, there was no doubt 

that it was wet. Heavy overnight rain 

had drenched the stages, with driving 

rain throughout the day ensuring that 

many crews backed off to make sure 

they made the end of the rally. It also 

resulted in some of the stages being 

shortened. 

But the order of the day was the 

same as Saturday - Smart/Allen would 

dominate from Bishop/Woolley and 

Menzies/McGowen. 

After the morning refuel, Mike Bailey/ 

Stephen Andrews in their Nissan Pulsar 

withdrew, as did Rod Reid/Belinda 

Reid’s Mitsubishi Mirage, and Melinda 

Bergman/Larisa Biggar’s Subaru. 

The final two stages were 

waterlogged and the competitors 

were in ‘get it home’ mode, driving to 

the conditions, mercifully with no one 

throwing it off the road. 

Sixteen of the 23 that started made 

the finish, with Smart/Allen taking the 

win by a massive 6m33s over Bishop/ 

Wolley - the winning championship QRC 

team. Davidson/Bryant won the Classic 

division, Weston/Wriggley took P2; and 

Linning/Morrison P3. 

In a side note, the Far Keen Rally 

crew had a difficult rally. Their Subaru 

Impreza was the ‘0’ car and on the 

Saturday stages came into contact with 

livestock and was sidelined. As such, 

one of their road cars was used for the 

rest of the rally. To add insult to injury, 

in the Sunday night storms, some of 

their equipment was damaged, proving 

the toughness of this event. 

The next round of the championship 

takes place at the Border Ranges Rally 

on August 27. 

Full results are available HERE.

YPRES RALLY 

11 WINS FOR 

FAST FREDDY 

Forty-five year old Belgian Skoda 

driver, Freddy Loix, won the 

European Rally Championship 

Ypres Rally for the 11th time, an event 

in which Belgian drivers took five of the 

six top places. 

Leader through day 1 was French 

Citroen driver, Brian Bouffier, but he 

retired when lying second with gear 

selection problems with six stages to 

go. 

Star of the rally was French Citroen 

driver, Stephane Lefebvre, who had a 

disadvantageous running position after 

missing the Qualifying stage because of 

an engine change, then losing time with 

overheating gearbox trouble on Day 1, 

falling to 16th place overall. 

He recovered until he was only 5.3 

seconds behind the leader Loix with 

four stages to run, when he had to 

retire with more gearbox trouble. 

Loix finally won with a margin of 

just under a minute from Peugeot 

driver, Kris Princen, with Fiesta driver 

Bernd Casier third. The only other top 

retirement was for Alexey Lukyanuk 

who crashed his Fiesta R5 on the 

opening stage. 

A surprise non-starter was DMack 

driver Ott Tanak. 

Opel Adam R2 cars took the top 

three places in the Junior category with 

Marijan Griebel finishing a half minute 

in front of teammates Chris Ingram and 

Julius Tannert. Another Adam driver, 

Lukasz Pieniazek, was lying fourth until 

he retired two stages from the end. 

A special feature of the event was 

the appearance of Kevin Abbring in a 

prototype Hyundai i20 R5, who ran the 

stages ahead of the field as a special 

zero car, but whose special stage times 

were not announced. 

The next ERC event is Rally Estonia in 

mid July. This rally had no effect on the 

race for the ERC title. None of the top 

14 drivers in the standings before the 

event started, and Kajetan Kajetanowicz 

still leads the series. 


Bryan Bouffier 

Marijan Griebel 

Alexey Lukyanuk 


LATEST BOOK REVIEWS - BY JEFF WHITTEN 

CAMS - The Official History 

You could be excused for thinking 

that a book on the first 

60 years of CAMS would be a 

pretty boring read, full of “CAMS is 

great” and “CAMS can do no wrong” 

chapters. 

Strangely, nothing could be further 

from the truth and this huge 512 

page history is surprisingly readable 

and one that has been extremely well 

researched. 

Over the years, many of us (yes, this 

reviewer too) have been very critical 

of the direction that our national body 

has taken. But it has learnt a lot during 

its first 60 years, corrected many bad 

policy decisions and sometimes charted 

an unpopular path. 

Yet by going public with this huge 

permanent record, commencing with 

CAMS’ inception, the publishers have 

taken the bold step of exposing the 

good, the bad and the ugly. 

Formed in 1953, CAMS’ charter to 

control motorsport in Australia has 

been a rocky one and, in fact, has 

led to litigation, death threats, office 

bugging, and even the determination 

of the outcome of the World Touring 

Car Championship on the evidence 

of a CAMS official. These topics and 

incidents are covered in chapters 

entitled CAMS Wars 1, 2 and 3, just 

three of the 20 chapters in 

the book. 

Whoever was 

responsible for 

researching and recording 

these and many other 

“warts and all” chapters 

has encapsulated all that 

the national body stands 

for and has aimed to 

achieve. Fortunately, much 

of this history has been 

gathered from many of 

the sport’s leading figures, 

while the facts were able 

to be recorded, ie: while 

these pioneers were still 

alive. 

But the book is not just all about 

facts and figures, for it covers a much 

broader base – the early beginnings, 

the leading figures, the presidents, 

the administrators, the Australian 

Grand Prix, the events, circuits and 

rally stages, our champions past and 

present, the varying categories, and lots 

more. 

Lavishly illustrated with a plethora 

of contemporary photos, “CAMS – The 

official history” is a treasure trove of 

motorsport history and CAMS are to 

be congratulated for instigating what 

must have been a mammoth task to 

put it together. A brief review of the 

book doesn’t do justice to this new 

publication, however, it fills a muchneeded 

void in the history of Australia’s 

motorsport governing body. It will sit 

proudly on our bookshelf. 

Proceeds from the book’s sales in 

their entirety are going to the CAMS 

Foundation to help young motorsport 

participants pursue their international 

careers. 

Limited to 1100 copies, the book can 

be ordered from CAMS on page 59 of 

this issue of RallySport Mag. It sells for 

$99 per copy, money well spent. 

1968 London to Sydney Marathon 

It’s now 48 years since the first 

London – Sydney Marathon took 

place in November 1968, so you’d 

assume that everything that could be 

written about that original (and some 

say best) cross-continent event, has 

been written. 

Nevertheless, an American by the 

name of Robert Connor has gone all out 

with a 280 page soft-cover offering that 

concentrates not so much on the dozen 

or so leading crews, but the “also-rans” 

who made up the balance of the field. 

Connor has managed to track down 

60 or so of the competitors in that 

first iconic event and drawn on their 

personal recollections, despite many of 

them being well into their senior years. 

Unfortunately many of the stories 

are of similar content where the 

experiences from competitor to 

competitor are similar in their detail. 

That’s not to say that they’re not 

interesting, as much of the material 

emphasises the difficulty and the 

individual dramas that many of them 

had. 

Other books on the subject have been 

written by competitors and participants 

over the years, including Nick Brittan, 

John Smailes, Paddy Hopkirk, Andrew 

Cowan and others, but Connor’s 

version “The 1968 London to Sydney 

Marathon” will appeal to many readers 

who were there at the time and can 

remember the excitement that the 

event generated. 

Well written and supported by lots 

of period black and white photos, the 

fact that Connor is an American and 

uses a range of “Americanisms” tends 

to suggest that the book was written 

for Americans. A “for instance”? – 

bonnet becomes “trunk”, fuel or petrol 

becomes “gas”, mudguard becomes 

“fender”, and so on. 

Despite these little idiosyncrasies, 

the book is an interesting read that this 

reviewer had trouble putting down. As 

well as the comprehensive text, there 

are the usual list of entrants, finishers 

and so on, a bibliography and more. 

Recommended reading if you were 

around in ’68 or simply want to soak up 

some LSM magic. 

Our copy from the Eurospan group. 

- Jeff Whitten 


GET OUT THERE AND DO IT 

GOOD TIMES ARE NOW! 

Story: 

DALLAS DOGGER 

They were iconic times – the late 

70s early 80s. We had the Castrol, 

the Southern Cross, Alpine, 

and later, the 2GO and the Esanda. 

All epic events, and many of us were 

lucky enough to compete in them. For 

those who did, there are plenty of tales 

of adventure, perseverance, challenge 

and even fun. 

Importantly, there was sacrifice. Many 

of us forgave relationships, put work 

and family on hold and scrimped, but 

found the money to compete. 

Plenty will argue that it costs more 

now to compete than in those years. 

I paid $6000 for my Escort (JHV-260 

featured in the May issue). I spent a 

whole lot more than that on it, that’s for 

sure. 

The late Mike Bell paid $15,000 for his 

ex-works BDA from Colin Bond. I was 

there the day he picked it up. He, along 

with a few others, were the privileged 

who could afford a top national level 

car. 

I was earning $14,000 at the time. My 

car was close to six months of wages to 

buy. Mike’s BDA, over a year’s wages, 

and out of the question for anyone 

“I 

other 

can’t 

than a 

believe 

fairly well off business 

it, I 

owner. 

really didn’t think I 

Commonly, most good rally cars of 

stood a chance before 

the time were in the $5000 to $8000 

range. An SP52 Dunlop rally tyre was 

the $54. last stage after 

I asked Justin Dowel at the start of 

losing Rally Queensland time a few to weeks Ogier back 

how much you could build a Proto car 

this morning.” 

for, and he indicated around $150,000. 

It sounds expensive, but in today’s cash, 

is it? 

In times past, to win an ARC or 

international local rally you needed 

three things. Money, the car and the 

backup. 

In the early 80s you needed a top 

Stanza or Escort BDA. Nothing else 

could match them for sheer speed and 

handling, and you needed plenty of 

spares and tyres – hundreds of them. 

The comparison is clear to now. Only 

those with the financial resources to 

support a top flight Stanza or BDA 

could win then, and in 2016 Justin’s car, 

Molly’s Subaru (at circa 100k) are the 

equivalent of our yesteryear cars. Times 

are comparative. 

Alarmingly, our youth do not share 

our enthusiasm for all things sideways. 

I believe it’s 

because they 

have not seen 

the spectacle 

our sport can be, 

nor have many 

of their parents. 

Our youth are 

the ones who will 

replace us in car 

clubs and in the 

forests watching 

rallies, but only if 

we show them the 

way. 

Rallying is one 

of the most family 

friendly activities, 

with something 

for everyone, 

from helping out 

to competing and servicing. You just 

have to be there. 

Moreover, it’s an adventure. Driving 

back from a meeting at Coffs Harbour 

for Rally Australia recently, I drove from 

Coramba to Dorrigo – 56km of the best 

road you will ever drive on. Part tarmac, 

part gravel. 

Then I remembered it. It was used 

in the 1980 Southern Cross Rally. Part 

of my rallying history. There are so 

many roads you drive past and just 

remember back. 

It’s up to all of us to share our memories, 

our good times at events, 

our fun times competing, servicing 

and spectating. For us elders, we have 

vivid memories of heroes in classic cars 

- Vatanen, Waldegaard, Aaltonen, Carr, 

Dunkerton, Fury and many, many more. 

I really hope that the next generation 

are adding to their memories the 

likes of Bates, Bourne, Pedder, Dowel, 

Smart, Monkhouse and the others that 

compete at the top level locally, and 

equally, our new crop of WRC stars. 

Our older heroes were great. These 

new WRC guys are the best our sport 

will ever be. Period. 

Some will argue that rallying is not 

the same. They are right to some 

extent, but I contend that rallying has 

evolved. We lived in a simpler world 

back then with less regulation and less 

to contend with. 

We saved, worked two jobs, and 

wrangled money off sponsors so we 

could go rallying. We never questioned 

Bjorn Waldegaard and a young fan at 

the start of the 1979 Southern Cross 

Rally. Photo: Dallas Dogger. 

the event, nor the costs to go. 

The event was everything to us. We 

had to be there. To compete in the 

same event with your heroes was 

something to be treasured. 

Very few get to compete in sports 

with the best, and rallying affords 

us that luxury. And if you were not 

competing you were helping out, and 

even spectating. 

So the question is, are you going to 

scrimp and save and work two jobs to 

go to Rally Australia? 

How could you not want to be there if 

you love rallying? 

Can’t get time off, costs too much 

to enter, car’s not ready, tyres are too 

dear, engine needs a rebuild, it could 

be hot, it could be cold, it could be 

rough….. 

When the big events are on, forget 

trying to line up ducks to compete. You 

just have to be there. Regardless. 

Find a way to be there, because in 

40 years’ time you are going to need to 

find stories to tell your grandkids of the 

time you competed in Australia’s (and 

one of the world’s) best rallies and got 

your backside handed well and truly on 

a plate by Ogier, Latvala and co. 

If you can’t compete, then be there 

anyway to witness a true spectacle. The 

pace of WRC cars today make Group B 

look like Group A. 

In our day it was a privilege to be in 

the same rally as the world’s best, and 

nothing has changed. Start today on 

your memories for the future. 

Thank me later at the bar at Coffs. 


COMING EVENTS 

AYSON, JACK FOR BORDER RANGES 

The Brakes Direct Border Ranges 

Rally is set to sweep through 

shire roads among the ranges 

bordering Queensland and New South 

Wales again this August. 

The event, based in the northern 

New South Wales town of Kyogle, is 

focussing on the best drivers in the best 

cars on the best roads which will form 

Round 4 of the MRF Tyres Queensland 

Rally Championship and Clubman 

Series. 

After three rounds, the MRF Tyres 

Queensland Rally Championship has 

become a tight contest with Rob Bishop 

leading the way only 8 points ahead of 

nearest rival Kent Lawrence with Ian 

Menzies a further 17 points behind 

in third. Shaun Dragona leads the 

Clubman Series comfortably but like 

those in the State Championship, he is 

not able to relax and cruise. 

The big story at this year’s Brakes 

Direct Border Ranges Rally is the 

confirmation of two of the hottest and 

most exciting drivers from Australia 

and New Zealand. First to confirm is 

the spectacular crowd favourite and 

Alpine Rally winner Jack Monkhouse. He 

will be driving an Opel Manta powered 

by a 3.5L V8. Built in England, the car 

is a great example of the historic rear 

drive format and Jack is no stranger 

to hanging it all out while winning at 

the same time. Recently re-built, the 

bellowing Manta is expected to be at 

the head of the time sheets and the car 

to watch. 

Pitted against him will be New 

Zealand’s Derek Ayson piloting the 

Ed Mulligan Group 4 Ford Escort. 

No stranger to Escorts, Derek is a 

champion driver and sure to push 

Monkhouse and the rest of the field all 

the way to the finish the only way he 

knows how. 

Within the normal CAMS classes at 

this year’s Brakes Direct Border Ranges 

Rally, there are events within the event. 

Monkhouse and Ayson will both be 

entered in the Zupp Property Group 

Classic Rally Challenge for Classic Rally 

Cars which will run at the head of the 

field. 

The FORZA Rally Challenge is also 

new for this year’s event. Entrants fitted 

with FORZA brake pads will compete for 

prizes of $250 for first, $100 for second 

and $50 for third. 

Additionally, each of these receives 

a new set of Forza brake pads. Other 

special categories are the Border 

Ranges Escort Rally Challenge and 

an invitational class for any rally 

car meeting the CAMS Schedule R 

regulations. 

The rally will comprise eleven world 

class stages, nine of which have been 

used by the WRC in previous years. 

Starting at 9:45am, they promise to 

be smooth and challenging with the 

tight schedule finishing with a couple 

of fast blasts in and around the Kyogle 

Showgrounds under lights in the early 

evening. 

Continuing the growing trend to 

cater for all types, the rally is allowing 

entrants to run as a blind event with full 

road book or use pace notes with the 

stages open to recce on the Friday. 

Spectators have not been left out with 

the popular Hillyards position returning 

featuring commentary, catering 

and amenities. Other spectating 

opportunities will be available at the 

Toonumbar stage and the Kyogle 

Showgrounds. 

The Brakes Direct Border Ranges 

Rally has a limited entry of only 55 

and places are expected to fill fast. 

Supplementary Regulations are 

available from July 18. 

For further information, updates 

and entry forms for the Brakes Direct 

Border Ranges Rally, visit their website. 

- Dominic Corkeron 

New Zealand star, Derek 

Ayson, will contest the 

Border Ranges Rally in a 

Ford Escort. 

PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS 


BACK TO THE FUTURE FOR IRONBARK TOUR 

The Historic Rally Association will 

conduct the Magical Ironbark Tour, a 

classic Touring Road Event on August 

6, that will remind competitors of the 

simple events of more than 20 years 

ago 

It’s an event that will need minimal 

car preparation and is truly suitable 

for sensible road cars. Based around 

Heathcote, it will feature daytime 

and evening closed road sections, a 

motorkhana and touring sections. 

Crews will enjoy nearly 300km of 

competition for an entry fee of $230. 

Crews will need just a CAMS 2S licence. 

The organisers expect to attract 

a huge variety of cars and crew 

experience levels. They are opening 

up the classes to road cars on road 

tyres, cars from the club’s Standard 

Car Series (which allows minor 

modifications for point penalties), right 

up to Historic and PRC rally cars that 

have more performance freedoms. 

The closed road stages will require 

crews to wear helmets, but the touring 

sections, which are not a test of speed, 

will be driven without helmets. Indeed, 

on the touring sections, all road rules 

and speed limits will be observed and 

crews that work best as a team will be 

first home. 

Details are on the club’s website at 

www.hra.org.au 

RALLYSAFE INTRODUCTORY RALLY 

The forests will be alive to the 

sound of newcomers to rallying 

this September, when the RallySafe 

Introductory Rally takes to the 

stages of Lightforce Rally SA. 

The RallySafe Introductory Rally 

provides newcomers to the sport 

a unique opportunity to compete 

on the same stages as the Kumho 

Tyre Australian Rally Championship 

competitors. People with an interest 

in rallying can ‘come and try’ in a 

controlled environment away from 

public roads. 

Run on Sunday, September 11 

during the final leg of the 2016 

Lightforce Rally SA, competitors will 

get four hours of competition, and as 

part of the RallySafe partnership get 

access to the same advanced safety 

equipment as leading competitors. 

New competitors can try rallying 

for minimum cost, with entry open 

to road cars without roll cages, and 

competitors timed to the minute in a 

relatively relaxed introduction to the 

sport. 

2016 marks the second year of the 

Introductory Rally, continuing under 

the naming rights sponsorship of 

Australian motorsport safety company 

RallySafe. 

RallySafe Managing Director, 

Stephen Sims, was enthusiastic about 

the partnership. “RallySafe is all about 

making the sport of rallying safer with 

our innovative technology. We are 

pleased to support Lightforce Rally SA 

competitors trying the sport out as 

newcomers, or returnees, by providing 

our proven tracking units free of 

charge.” 

Lightforce Rally SA Clerk of Course, 

Ivar Stanelis, was encouraged by the 

2015 event. 

“We had a great turnout for the first 

RallySafe Introductory Rally last year, 

and we’re excited that RallySafe have 

chosen to support this concept again. 

We look forward to welcoming a range 

of competitors, new and old, back to 

the RallySafe Introductory Rally this 

September.” 

The 2015 event was warmly 

welcomed by the South Australian 

rallying community. It saw a range of 

competitors new to the sport, as well 

as those returning after several years. 

KILLAWARRA 

RUSH - SEPT. 24 

An all-new multi-club special 

stage rally will be conducted 

by the North Eastern Car Club 

in Victoria on Saturday, September 24. 

The 2016 Killawarra Rush will be an 

all-daylight rally run in the Killawarra 

Forest, near Wangaratta, and will offer 

competitors a compact four-stage 

event. 

Two stages will be run in the morning, 

with a further two stages in the 

afternoon, with a competitive distance 

of 70km. 

Planning for the event is well 

underway, and Supp Regs will be 

available in the coming weeks. 

The event was previously calendared 

for November, but the NECC has moved 

the date forward to a September slot to 

ensure cooler weather for competitors. 

Further details on the Killawarra 

Rush will be made available in the 

coming weeks, and those interested in 

competing should keep an eye on the 

NECC website. 

For more details call Dominic on 0499 981 188 

or email dominic@rallysportmag.com.au 


HYUNDAI NG I20 R5 

Story: 

MARTIN HOLMES 

NEW R5 

CHALLENGER 

Scheduled for FIA homologation 

in September, Hyundai’s new NG 

i20 R5 car is the second prototype 

to make its first public appearance in 

pre-homologation form as zero car on 

the ERC Ypres Rally. 

The model is the figurehead of 

Hyundai’s new Customer Racing 

division, a major secondary activity for 

the German-based WRC team. Details 

of the project were officially released 

at a pre-event test session in Belgium 

in the hands of team test driver Kevin 

Abbring. 

Customer Racing chief, Andrea 

Adamo, was cleared to give a run down 

on the latest plans for this car, which is 

based on the “New Generation” four- 


door model used on the 2016 version 

World Rally Car. 

“The plan is for the car to be 

inspected by FIA people after Rally 

Poland in July. We will still have a gravel 

test beforehand and then we will start 

to deliver cars that have already been 

ordered,” Adamo said. 

“For now the development process 

continues to carry out some fine 

refinement work, but the most 

important milestone has already been 

done. 

“The basic road car chassis is the 

same, so we have used experience 

taken from WRC design to make the 

chassis, with just slight modification, 

such as changing materials because we 

also have to face the R5 target cost. 

The engine is based on a 2-litre 

turbo engine that is already in the 

Hyundai production car range, used 

a lot in Korea and in the USA for a 

Genesis model. It is already a 

well advanced engine with 

good power, with good 

reliability already 

in the road car, 

and is an 

engine 

already used to manage high power. 

“We reduced its capacity to adapt 

to FIA rules, reducing the bore and 

stroke down to 1600cc (not the class 

maximum limit of 1620cc), with special 

things such as the turbo. It is a very 

robust engine with lots of torque and 

we have never had a problem till now! 

In final specification the i20 R5 has the 

widest bore and shortest stroke of all 

the R5s.” 

As for suppliers, the transmission is 

by Ricardo, suspension has been very 

well developed with close links to the 

WRC, but adapted to R5. The dampers 

are made in-house at Hyundai. 

With the suspension the R5 team 

engineers started with a very good 

base, as much has been done by the 

WRC teams, and then adapted to the 

R5 car. Brembo brakes are used. 

As predicted by Hyundai Motorsport 

Director, Michel Nandan, when the 

R5 project was first announced in 

December the main challenge to be 

overcome is cost limitation. 

Adamo: “That has been a huge 

challenge. Then the cooling is the 

biggest technical headache, in my 

opinion.” 

Coupled with the design of the car 

is working out the best form of the 

technical support for the teams running 

the cars. 

“We are planning to support them 

as long as we have customer 

requests. The cars will 

be used in various 

championships, 

European or WRC2, national 

championships for sure, and we will 

find some way to support them some 

how, providing engineering support 

as well as on the electronic, engine or 

chassis side. 

“It is something we are discussing 

with many customers in order to let 

them be as competitive as possible 

in their own targets. I think that in 

their market the most important thing 

is not the car itself, but the way they 

can have a proper relationship with 

the customers department of every 

manufacturer. 

“I think that if you have the nicest 

car, but you not be able to manage it 

properly, you are putting money into 

something from which you cannot get 

your value back. So speaking about a 

car like the R5 is not giving you a proper 

picture of the situation, you have to see 

the whole picture.” 

The whole project started off nine 

months ago, and already 12-14 cars 

have been ordered and are in course of 

basic construction. 

“If you look at the amount of money 

we have spent building up stocks of 

parts to both building cars and also to 

sell as spares, it’s an amazingly high 

amount of money. We have to acquire 

everything first, because we cannot sell 

cars without spare bumpers and things 

like that. 

“We need to have available spares for 

customers. If we don’t, for example, 

have spare bumpers, people will start 

to copy them and I don’t want to be in 

that position.” 

Physically this is the biggest R5 car 

so far. It has the longest overall length 

and the longest wheelbase. 

“I am not worried about that. You 

must know that this is a customer car, 

which will not be driven by professional, 

but by semi pro-drivers, or some who 

are still very young or, let me say, 

pro-am drivers that would run it in the 

Sunday or Saturday rallies. 

“The longer a car in terms of 

wheelbase the more stable it will be, 

and as long as you can manage the 

weight distribution it will not affect the 

handling of the car. We have made 

many miles in narrow mountain roads, 

and we found a good compromise. 

“In my opinion the car is very stable. 

Also, with the WRC car you can see that 

our longer dimension is not affecting it 

at all.” 

And finally, is there any particular 

part of the project that makes this car 

really special? 

“Yes, the enthusiasm that we are 

bringing to it,” Adamo concluded. 

Photos: Martin Holmes, Hyundai 


INTERVIEW: HARRY BATES 

HEIR APPARENT 

Harry Bates’ rise from nowhere 

to be one of Australia’s fastest 

rally drivers has been as fast as 

it has been unexpected. 

Although the son of four-time 

Australian Rally Champion, Neal Bates, 

had the genes to become a fast rally 

driver, his interest in competing came 

very late. 

Now, he leads the national 

championship after three of 2016’s five 

rounds, and Luke Whitten asked Harry 

how he’s seen his season so far, and 

what he expects for the remainder of 

the year, and into the future. 

RSM: You’ve risen to the top of the sport 

in this country quite quickly. Have you been 

surprised at how fast things have moved? 

HB: Yes and no. When you sit back 

and look at where I was less than two 

years ago, competing in my first rally in 

a standard front-wheel drive Corolla, 

and where I am now, competing in 

the ARC in an S2000 car, it is probably 

surprising to most people that things 

have moved this quickly. 

For me, each step up, be it in 

machinery or event status, has been 

something I have wanted, so it has just 

been a case of trying to make decisions 

along the way that will be best for my 

learning and improvement. 

The one thing that does surprise me 

is that when I was a 16-17 year old, I 

only had an interest in motorsport as 

a spectator, and I had no real desire 

to compete in rallying myself. Now, 

motorsport has pretty much become 

my life and I spend every spare second I 

have thinking about the next time I’ll be 

driving a rally car! 

Three rounds into the season, you are 

leading the championship. What would your 

reaction have been if someone had old you 

that at the start of the season? 

I probably would have suggested that 

they lower their expectations a little! 

I was being very realistic at the start 

of the year - I knew I was up against 

former Australian champions and 

plenty of others who have done all of 

the rallies lots of times. 

It was hard for us to have any real 

idea where we were going to fit in to 


the championship on pace. 

What do you think has been the key to your 

successes so far this season? 

I actually don’t know. I’m very critical 

of my own performances, so after 

each event, John (McCarthy) and I try 

to analyse onboard videos and have 

a chat about where my driving can 

improve, or what didn’t work so well in 

the pacenotes. That has definitely been 

helpful, particularly given how much I 

still have to learn. 

Having said that, if I nail a corner or 

do a really cool jump, I’m pretty quick 

to point them out to John at the end 

of the stage, or sometimes during the 

stage! 

The S2000 Corolla is obviously a very 

strong and quick car. What are its 

biggest strengths? 

It’s an amazing car. To 

think that it was built in 

2007 and it is still competitive against 

cars that were built this year is a 

testament to the guys at Neal Bates 

Motorsport and what they created. 

Any S2000 car is definitely better 

suited to flowing roads, thanks mainly 

to its weight of 1200kg, so I think our 

strength this year has been in the 

fourth and fifth gear corners. 

It’s also very strong in the rough stuff 

and I keep having to remind 

myself to not worry about the 

car when it is rough, because 

nothing seems to affect it! 

The biggest struggle this year has 

been top speed, as we are 30km/h 

down on other competitors, and that 

is not ideal heading in to Rally 

South Australia. We are 

just going to have to 

do the best we 

can where 

it suits the car, and take a beating on 

some of the silly stages with multiple 

1-2km straights between junctions! 

What are your plans in the time between 

now, and the next round in South Australia in 

September? 

I’m competing in the Narooma 

Forest Rally on July 23. I’ve done this 

rally twice before and enjoyed some

Story: LUKE WHITTEN 

I guess I still want to take that 

approach regardless, because I 

want to keep pushing as we have 

been. I don’t think I would gain much 

by driving around at 80 per cent, and 

the aim for this year was always to 

learn as much as possible. 

Moving into the future, do you plan on 

taking your rallying abroad and competing 

overseas in the future? 

I definitely want to compete overseas 

sometime soon. Before this season, 

I would have said that I wasn’t 

ready, but I think with another 

year of rallying under my 

belt, I’ll be better equipped 

for rallies overseas. 

success there, but this time I’m actually 

co-driving, so it’s a bit different. My 

younger brother, Lewis, is doing his first 

ever rally, so I’ve agreed to co-drive for 

him. 

I don’t ever really get nervous before 

a rally, but I’ve been dealing with nerves 

for weeks now for this one! Hopefully I 

can keep my cool, because I want to try 

my best to do a good job on the notes! 

Other than that, no seat time planned 

at this point. I’ll use this break in the 

season to start to work on our 2017 

plans as well. 

You’ve said before that this year is as 

much about gaining experience than anything 

else. Has the success you’ve had this season 

changed the way you’ve approached things? 

Surely it must be all about the championship 

now? 

For sure that is one way of looking at 

it. But I think if I was sitting in seventh 

in the championship, I would be looking 

at an all out attack for the remaining 

rallies, the same way we started the 

year. 

It would obviously be a huge step up 

and a bit of an uphill battle, but this is 

what I want to do. My goals are centred 

around the WRC, so being over there 

and competing against other young 

drivers is the only way to know where I 

have to improve. 

I’m lucky that we have had lots of 

Australians show the way in recent 

times (Chris Atkinson, Molly Taylor, 

Brendan Reeves and currently, Scott 

Pedder), so I can’t sit here and say it’s 

impossible. 

Continuted page72 


INTERVIEW: HARRY BATES 

You’ve done some laps 

and had some involvement in 

the new Toyota 86 series. Is 

tarmac rallying or circuit racing 

something that interests you into 

the future? 

I was able to take part 

in some of the early 

development and testing of 

the Toyota 86 Racing Series 

car, which was lots of fun 

and really interesting. Circuit 

racing is definitely something 

that interests me. Dad and 

Rick (Uncle) have always 

been incredibly versatile in 

motorsport, arguably the most versatile 

drivers in the country, and I certainly 

don’t want to fail at living up to that! 

Every kilometre in a car is a good 

thing, and I enjoy it when I can get out 

on to a racetrack. Tarmac rallying is 

moving up my list of priorities, because 

you can’t compete overseas without 

tarmac experience. 

A lot of the European guys started 

on tarmac and actually have limited 

experience on gravel by comparison! 

Like gravel rallying, tarmac rallying 

is incredibly technical, so I need to 

practice writing pacenotes and learn 

how to set up a car well for that surface. 

I competed in Targa Tasmania as a 

co-driver this year, which was lots of 

fun. Now all I can think about is what 

car to do that event in next year! 

What impact has your friendship with Molly 

Taylor had on your rallying? What kind of 

things have you been able to gain from her 

vast experience from rallying overseas? 

Where do I even start? I did my first 

ever recce with Molly co-driving, and I 

also did my first ever rally with Molly 

co-driving. Molly is very good at writing 

pacenotes and describing the road, so 

she was able to help me out a lot in that 

area, and I have adapted (or stolen) her 

pacenote system almost word for word. 

We still have many 

conversations about 

pacenotes during rallies, 

which is easy because we 

use the same system and 

all of the same words to 

describe the same things! 

She is also incredibly hard 

working and disciplined, 

probably more than anyone 

I know, so it has been really 

helpful to see what sort 

of work goes in to making 

things happen in this sport. 

Molly is very 

knowledgeable and 

experienced in the 

commercial/sponsorship arena too, so 

when I’ve had meetings with potential 

sponsors, I’ve picked her brain about 

that as well! It has definitely been 

helpful being friends with someone 

who has competed in the WRC and 

has so much experience dealing with 

everything our sport can throw at you. 

For sure, if I had to pick someone 

other than Dad who has had a big 

influence on how I do things, Molly 

would be that person. 

What is your ultimate rally goal? 

To reach the WRC and become World 

Champion. 

- Luke Whitten 

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RALLY CLASSIFIEDS 

RALLY CLASSIFIEDS 

JA STARION TURBO (REG & RWC) with 

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Price: $9500 

Phone Tony Ahearne 0419 190 542 or 

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1971 Datsun 1600 

99% complete Datsun 1600 club rally car, 

very near ready to log book. Basically I 

want to get into a 4WD, so want to move 

the 1600 on to make this happen. Shell 

- 1971 Datsun 1600, yellow - full welded 

in Bond roll cage (registered/stickered 

with CAMS) - No rust as far as I can see. 

Driveline – - Nissan CA18DE (twin cam 

1809cc naturally aspirated) - Xtreme 

clutch - Silvia 5speed - Locked 4.6 R180 

Suspension – Front, 180B struts (larger 

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65mm i.d King Springs, height adjustment, 

camber adjustment, Stewart Wilkins 

adjustable caster rods. Rear, 700lb King 

Springs, brand new Bilstein shocks from 

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Brakes – Front, 276mm vented and slotted 

rotors, Commodore calipers. - Rear, 

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handbrake. Wilwood proportioning 

valve - ALL lines front to back, left to 

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joints, track rod and steering idler replaced 

with new 555 parts - a lot of rewiring done 

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clutch master and slave cylinder with 

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Lancer Evolution 4 - new 

My genuine Evolution 4 Lancer, one of 

only a handful in Australia is now ready for 

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Full Bond cage, Racetech seat, 

harnesses, big exhaust sounds absolutely 

beautiful, 12 Compomotive wheels. Pretty 

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Make a great rally car, circuit club car, 

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as an investment. There are very few of 

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last of the Evos to win a World Rally 

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This car has never been driven and has 

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HOLMES COLUMN 

HOLMES 

INSIDE 

LINE 

POLAND PONDERED 

Forget about Ott Tanak and his 

sad last morning puncture in 

Poland, what about the poor 

journos and their almost-finished and 

now-wasted stories? 

Ott was not the only highly frustrated 

person on the final morning of Rally 

Poland - think about the last minute 

re-writing panics for the occupants of 

the Media Centre who were also about 

to congratulate DMack on their most 

important debut victory at the event. 

Tanak’s victory at Rally Poland using 

DMack tyres would have marked the 

end of a remarkable duopoly of tyre 

manufacturers for Michelin/BFG and 

Pirelli in the World Rally Championship. 

Every world championship rally since 

Ivory Coast in 1992 had been won by 

either of these tyre suppliers, since 

Kenjiro Shinozuka’s winning Mitsubishi 

ran on Yokohama tyres. That event was 

a round of the subsidiary Drivers’ world 

championship. 

The last time a full Manufacturers’ 

world championship rally was won 

exclusively using tyres from another 

supplier was when Michele Mouton’s 

Audi Quattro won Brazil Rally in 1982, 

using Kleber tyres. 

This was not Kleber’s final win, 

because in the course of Hannu 

Mikkola’s win in Finland that year, his 

Quattro used Kleber, Michelin and 

Pirelli on the same event! 

Note that during 2006 and 2007, 

Michelin rebranded their rally tyres 

under the name of their associated 

company BF Goodrich, for marketing 

reasons. 

Sorry, Ott, no disrespect intended, we 

won’t ever forget that Sunday morning. 

Story: 

MARTIN HOLMES 

with a win. The last time a Ford driver 

had been standing on the top step 

of the podium was Rally GB in 2012, 

with Jari-Matti Latvala, a few months 

after Mads Ostberg had won Rally of 

Portugal. 

Another last minute disappointment 

in Poland befell the Fiesta R5 of the 

Brazilian driver Ilo Diehl dos Santos. 

He prepared himself in his hotel for 

the final day of action ready to drive 

to the Service Park, but found that his 

hotel was completely landlocked by the 

closed roads. He was imprisoned for 

doing nothing wrong. 

One cannot fail to be impressed 

by the tireless diligence of the 

FIA officials in checking the 

honesty of WRC competitors, from 

issues like controlling that the seals on 

components are maintained (that was 

at the centre of the row over Martin 

Prokop’s car before Sardinia), the correctness 

of the quality of fuel, the tracking 

of the cars (as much a safety activity 

as anti-cheating), and their elaborate 

process of continual weight controls. 

There has been no serious case of 

cars running under-weight since Tommi 

Makinen’s Subaru was excluded in 

Australia in 2002. One of the curiosities 

of the rules is that there is not only a 

minimum weight limit for the car alone, 

but another for the combined weight of 

car with crew inside. 

The FIA allow a crew to account for 

150kg. If the crew check in at less, it 

is possible that their car will have to 

run at greater than their permitted 

minimum, to balance. 

Interesting details emerge from these 

controls. The heaviest crew in Poland 

were the Hungarian Fiesta R5 crew, 

Frigyes Turan and Gabor Zsiros, who 

weighed in at 215kg (note: their car 

still has to comply with the minimum 

weight for the car on its own), and the 

lightest were Citroen DS3 R3T crew 

Vincent Dubert and Alexandre Coria, 

who weighed 133kg. 

The FIA’s June World Motor Sport 

Council (WMSC) came and went 

without issuing directions on 

several of the most pressing current 

discussions. 

The only statement of consequence 

concerned who could compete in 2017 

World Rally Cars. The answer was only 

crews entered by official Manfacturer 

teams. 

This means that the drivers entered 

by second-level WRC teams could 

not. Within minutes, rally watchers 

worked out that it seemed that one 

of the three regular VW drivers would 

be banned from driving 2017 cars, 

but moments later it became evident 

that this statement could not be the 

final story, because nothing had been 

decided about the proposal that there 

should be not two, but three drivers in 

Manufacturers’ teams. 

We were assured that everything 

would be revealed at the September 

WMSC meeting. 

This was all very well, but now is 

the time when contracts are being 

Last minute disappointments can 

always happen in rallying, and 

the Ford team twice had broken 

hearts in a major way. There is often a 

happy ending, however. 

Francois Delecour was leading Monte 

Carlo on the last stage in 1991 before 

his Sierra had transmission trouble and 

he finished third. Three years later he 

won Monte in an Escort. 

Bjorn Waldegard was leading Monte 

in 1979 in an Escort, before he was 

beaten on the final stage by Bernard 

Darniche. Bjorn ended up World 

Champion that year. 

It is all part of the sport and for the 

drivers concerned, one of the toughest 

parts. M-Sport could really have done 

Then and now: Denis Giraudet with Juha Kankkunen in 1993, and at Rally Poland in 2016. 


considered for the future, and these 

cannot be handled while this issue is in 

abeyance. 

Remember 2004 when drivers 

suddenly found their promised 

contracts nullified when the September 

2003 WMSC meeting said that 

Manufacturers’ teams should only be 

for two drivers? 

Meanwhile, team managers have 

been heard suggesting they cannot 

wait for the FIA to make up their 

minds. Citroen has suggested they 

will only run two cars, Hyundai three, 

M-Sport have not even started running 

a 2017 specification car, and VW are 

still looking for someone to direct their 

team after Jost Capito finally moves 

over to Formula 1. 

The drivers stand and wait to know 

where their future will be. 

Denis’ current total of WRC events is 

182, making him the most experienced 

of current competitors, and not far 

short of the 196 events of drivers Carlos 

Sainz and the 188 of Petter Solberg. 

Denis is popular with everyone 

who knows him, and most of all with 

drivers. He proved himself inordinately 

brave, refusing to give in after suffering 

a serious back injury in Finland in 2012 

that later kept him out of the sport for 

six months. 

He has won five WRC events, and his 

two first wins (Finland ‘93 and Corsica 

‘96) proved him to be not only a highly 

RAUNO RETURNS 

Michele Mouton and Fabrizia Pons won the 

Brazil Rally in 1982 using Kleber tyres on their 

Audi Quattro. (Photo: Martin Holmes) 

skilled co-driver, but with an attribute 

which drivers highly value. Being lucky, 

being in the right place at the right 

time. 

My favourite memory of Denis was 

at breakfast in the official rally hotel 

in New Zealand in 1993. I asked Juha 

Kankkunen to stand next to Denis and 

took their picture. Denis asked me why. 

I told him that he was going to be 

Toyota driver Kankkunen’s co-driver on 

the forthcoming rally in Finland. His 

face was a treat. Ove Andersson hadn’t 

at that time gotten around to asking 

him … 

Now a moment to talk about 

someone who is never far away 

when a rally is going on. French 

co-driver, Denis Giraudet, always seems 

to spend a weekend in some rally car or 

another. 

Records suggest he has competed in 

330 rallies, but it is believed the actual 

number is probably a lot more. 

In the first half of 2016 he has been 

active in world championship, French 

asphalt championship, French classic 

and French club events. This year he 

has been on three WRC events, always 

with Yoann Bonato. 

O 

ne of the original “Flying Finns”, Rauno 

Aaltonen, will be in Australia later this 

year to take part in the Southern Cross Rally 

Festival. 

Director, Dan White, has confirmed that 

Aaltonen will be guest driving a number of 

cars during the event. Aaltonen competed 

in the original Southern Cross Rallies in the 

1970s, driving for the factory Datsun team. 



The passion 

for rallying – 

once you start, 

you can’t stop 

As a 14-year old rally fan, a lot 

of my friends ask me: “What is 

so exciting about watching cars 

drive past you at 100km/h”. I tell them 

there is nothing like it. 

The thing that gets me going is the 

sound, the smell of the dust and burnt 

fuel. 

Sometimes they try to relate my 

interests to their own. Then they 

start talking about Lamborghinis and 

Ferraris, but their comments are far 

from relevant. Rallying isn’t just about 

fast cars, it is about fast drivers like 

Sebastien Ogier, Hayden Paddon, and 

whoever else you want to add to that 

list. 

I also find that if I mention rallying, 

most of them haven’t heard of 

Sebastien Loeb or Colin McRae (or 

any rally driver for that matter). Most 

of them wouldn’t know the difference 

between a roll cage and a pace note. 

I guarantee that if I (and probably 

most of you) took one of your friends, 

one that didn’t have any interest in 

motor sport, out to spectate at a rally, 

they would be very surprised at the 

excitement of rallying. 

Their excitement would be taken to 

another level if they were to sit beside a 

good driver, blasting through the forest. 

I am still trying to figure out why they 

haven’t heard much about rallying. 

Obviously, it is because their parents 

and friends don’t have an interest in the 

sport, but why? Is it because of the lack 

of rallying around? The lack of publicity 

it gets on radio and TV? Maybe they 

have heard of it, but the cost of running 

a car and competing is too expensive? 

I don’t know, but imagine if it was well 

publicised? Imagine if there were more 

events around for people to go and 

see? We could see lots more people 

spectating, volunteering and even 

competing. 

Either way, the promotion of rallying 

has seen some significant changes 

this year that have turbo boosted the 

popularity of the sport back up to 

somewhere near where we would like 

it. 

There’s still a long way to go, but at 

least that’s a step in the right direction. 

- Matthew Whitten 

The Quit Experts Cup in Collie 

turned out to be a dream run 

for all the Western Australian 

Rally Championship competitors, and a 

positive turning point in the season for 

many. 

Even the conditions were close to 

perfect, with the rain holding off on 

the Saturday to give competitors a dry 

event. 

The round was dominated by Dylan 

King and co-driver Abbey Hayes, 

navigating their Subaru WRX through 

the forest terrain to win all six stages. 

“It was a better weekend for us, that’s 

for sure!” said King. “We’re pretty happy 

with winning all six stages.” 

Competitors will now have an eight 

week break before the next round. King 

says he is looking forward to the time 

off. 

In second place, with less than a 

minute to the leaders, was Maximum 

Motorsport duo Brad Markovic and 

co-driver Glenn Macneall. The team 

took a break from the Australian Rally 

Championship to re-join their home 

HAVE YOU HEARD? 

World Champion, Sebastien Ogier, 

has thrown his support behind 

both Australia and New Zealand as 

rounds of the WRC, according to NZ 

website velocitynews.co.nz 

“Both are very beautiful rallies that’s 

for sure,” Ogier said. 

“But I guess all the drivers have the 

wish to come back to New Zealand 

one day. For me I would love to go to 

New Zealand, but also I don’t want to 

quit Australia as this is also a really 

nice rally. 

“So maybe something like an 

alternating event like we had few 

years ago would be a good idea.” 

Did you 

know? 

Young 

factory 

Skoda 

driver, 

Pontus 

Tidemand, 

is the 

step-son of 

long-time 

WRC driver 

Henning 

Solberg? 

Mitchel Clarke won the 

Clubman Cup component in 

his Datsun 1600. 

DREAM RUN FOR EXPERTS 

series for this round. It hasn’t been 

an ideal start to the rally season for 

Markovic, who has had difficulty with 

his confidence after his Subaru WRX 

caught fire at the Forest Rally. 

Markovic’s Maximum Motorsport 

stablemates John O’Dowd and Ben 

Searcy rounded out the top three with 

just under a minute and a half to the 

leaders. 

2WD 

Razvan Vlad and co-driver Daymon 

Nicoli continue to be seemingly 

untouchable in the 2WD category this 

year. Kody Reynolds and co-driver 

Anthony Staltari came in 2 minutes and 

10 seconds behind the category leaders 

in their Subaru Impreza, with David 

Farnworth and co-driver Nick Clements 

third. 

Clubman Cup 

Mitchel Clarke and Stuart Clarke 

finished top of the podium in the 

Clubman Cup. Dene Courtis and Carl 

Rattenbury were second and third. 

Photo: CMR Photographic 


NICKY GRIST STAGES 

THREE FOR ELFYN 

Final results: 

1. Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry, Ford Fiesta R5 

2. Tom Cave/James Morgan, Ford Fiesta R5, +1m11.4s 

3. Desi Henry /Liam Moynihan, Skoda Fabia R5, +2m01.8s 

4. David Bogie/James O‘Reilly, Skoda Fabia R5, +2m48.5s 

5. Josh Moffett/John Rowan, Ford Fiesta R5, +3m05.9ss 

Ford Fiesta R5 Evo driver, 

Elfyn Evans, scored his third 

win out of five MSA British 

Rally Championship rounds at the 

two-day mixed surfaced Nicky Grist 

Stages Rally in Central Wales. 

Evans beat fellow Welsh Fiesta R5 

driver, Tom Cave, and Ulster Skoda 

driver Desi Henry. 

His main challenger for victory 

was Fredrik Ahlin, but he slid off 

the road early on Day 1 while in 

third place behind Cave and David 

Bogie. 

Evans had spun on the opening 

stage and then had a problem with 

the pop-off valve, allowing Cave to 

take an early lead. By stage three, 

Evans was ahead and uncatchable. 

Bogie was slowed by turbo 

problems and finished fourth. 

Robert Duggan led the BRC Junior 

category from start to finish ahead 

of fellow Opel Adam driver, Mattias 

Adielsson, while Sindre Furuseth 

was third in his Renault Twingo. 

The only finisher in the BRC 2 

category for Group N based cars 

was the Lancer Evo 9 of Matt 

Edwards. 

Bad weather made for tricky 

conditions on the first day, then 

there were long delays on Day 

2 due to the need to re-erect 

chicanes on the fast military 

asphalt roads on the Epynt Ranges. 

Finally the organisation was 

disrupted on the afternoon of Day 

2 due to an accident, and the last 

three stages were not run. 

Fredrik Ahlin crashed his 

Ford Fiesta on Day 1. 

Matt Edwards slides his Lancer Evo 

9 to victory in the BRC 2 category. 

Chris Mellors’ Proton 

Satria Neo was 9th. 


PHOTO OF THE MONTH 


Luke Sytema and Blaise McNamara on their 

way to winning the 2016 Nissan Nightmoves 

Rally in Victoria on June 18. 

Photo: John Doutch 


15 YEARS AGO .... JULY 2001 

$5.50 including GST rallysportnews.com.au 

HOT SCOT WINS 

TWO ON THE TROT! 

WRC aspirations rise and fall in the Cyprus heat .... 

JULY 2001 Vol. 12 No. 10 

SAINZ: another podium SOLBERG: fiery end MACNEALL: Aussie joy 

● Lowndes lands 

second Ralliart drive 

for Rally Queensland 

● Top OS results 

for Dunk, Murphy, 

Cremen & Parker 

Come with us on a fully escorted 

Rally NZ tour - details inside! 

ARN Front Page 1 

6/6/01, 2:32 PM 

● Titles hot up in 

Tassie, Victoria and 

Western Australia 

JULY 2001 

WORKS DRIVE FOR LOWNDES 

27-year old Melbourne driver Spencer 

Lowndes has landed the plum drive of a 

second Mitsubishi Ralliart Lancer Evo 6 in the 

Falken Tyres Rally Queensland. 

After months of uncertainty, Lowndes was 

awarded the drive ahead of 9 other hopefuls. 

PROTONS EXCLUDED IN ARC 

The three 1.3 litre Proton Satrias entered for 

the recent Subaru Rally of Canberra were 

unceremoniously dumped from the results 

at post-event scrutineering. 

The three cars, crewed by Dave King/Mark 

Blume, Peter Lockhart/Trevor King and Tod 

Reed/Brian Reed, were excluded from the 

results after irregularities were found in all 

three cars. 

BIG FIELD FOR RALLY QUEENSLAND 

Almost 70 crews have entered for this weekend’s Falken Tyres Rally Queensland. 

Heading the list will be the two World Rally Cars of Neal Bates and Possum 

Bourne, who are certain to be the pacesetters in this popular Caloundra-based 

event. 

MCRAE WINS BATTLE OF THE BRITS 

Colin McRae and Richard Burns once again fought a fierce battle to the 

chequered flag in the World Rally Championship. But, like in Argentina, it was 

McRae who won the battle of the Brits in Cyprus. 

QLD BOUND 

Recent reports indicate that 

Queensland driver Wayne Morton has 

taken delivery of a Toyota Corolla S2000 

from Africa. 

The car is a full FIA homologation spec, 

and will be a change from the Daihatsu 

Charade, usually pedalled by Morton. 

He intends to run the car in the 

Queensland Rally Championship. 

The deal was brokered by African ex-pat 

- Brisbane driver Marius Swart. 

- Tom Smith 

THE 

MIGHTY 

MOTU 

NEXT 

MONTH 

New Zealand’s 

most famous 

rally stage 

AVAILABLE AUGUST 11 

at www.rallysportmag.com.au or www.issuu.com 


David Holder interview 

Rally Finland 

Coromandel Rally 

Build a Hyundai Excel rally car

RallySport Magazine July 2016

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