RallySport Magazine June 2016

Dedicated coverage of rallying in Australia and New Zealand 

Issue #2 - June 2016 

SUBARU’S 

GpN LOGIC 

Rally NZ 

update 

rallysportmag.com.au 

REEVES WINS 

NAT CAP RALLY 

JUNE 2016 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 1

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➜ 3-day Rally Super Pass 

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2 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - JUNE 2016

CONTENTS - #2 JUNE 2016 

FEATURES EVENT REPORTS REGULARS 

FOLLOW 

US ON: 

10 IN THE HOT SEAT 

RIDING WITH 4X AUSTRALIAN 

CHAMPION SIMON EVANS 

13 RALLY NEW ZEALAND 

THE KIWIS ARE READY FOR A 2018 

RETURN TO THE WRC 

26 ALADDIN’S CAVE 

INSIDE TOYOTA’S SECRET 

MOTORSPORT MUSEUM 

36 QUATTRO-PHOBIA 

AN AUDI S1 REPLICA IN AUSTRALIA 

42 1996 ASIA-PACIFIC 

MARTIN HOLMES REMEMBERS A 

MEMORABLE RALLYING YEAR 

46 FORGOTTEN LANCER 

THE LANCER WAS A RALLY WINNER 

60 GREAT SCOTT 

16 NATIONAL CAPITAL RALLY 

ROUND 2 OF THE 2016 ARC 

32 CANTERBURY RALLY 

EMMA GILMOUR FINALLY WON HER 

FIRST NZRC ROUND 

48 RALLY OF PORTUGAL 

PORTUGAL PRODUCED THE THIRD 

WRC WINNER IN THREE EVENTS 

62 TARGA SOUTH WEST 

WET AND WILD IN THE WEST 

63 LAKE MOUNTAIN SPRINT 

RAIN, SLEET, SNOW AND FOG MADE 

CONDITIONS DIFFICULT 

66 WOWAN RALLY 

BROTHERS WIN QRC ROUND 

70 MITTA MOUNTAIN RALLY 

WINDUS TOO GOOD IN VICTORIA 

04 EDITORIAL 

GIRL POWER IS EMPOWERING IN 

LOCAL RALLYING AT PRESENT 

06 RALLY ROUND-UP 

NEWS FROM AROUND THE SPORT 

53 RALLY PROMOTION 

TIPS ON HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR 

RALLY TEAM 

54 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 

FORMER ARC CHAMP ED ORDYNSKI 

72 RALLY CLASSIFIEDS 

WHAT’S FOR SALE THIS MONTH? 

SEE 

THIS? 

Click the link and 

watch the video 

MANAGING EDITOR 

PETER WHITTEN 

SENIOR WRITER 

TOM SMITH 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Martin Holmes, Luke Whitten, Blair 

Bartels, Jeff Whitten, Dallas Dogger, 

Matthew Whitten, Geoff Ridder, John 

Doutch, Tim Allott, Craig O’Brien 

ADVERTISING 

Dominic Corkeron, 0499 981 188, dominic@rallysportmag.com.au 

PUBLISHED BY: 

Peter Whitten 

RallySport Magazine 

peter@rallysportmag.com.au 

www.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 

Girl power gains momentum 

By PETER WHITTEN 

The great Michele Mouton forged 

the path in the 1980s, and Emma 

Gilmour and Molly Taylor are 

continuing the trend in our part of the 

world, both achieving incredible success 

in a male-dominated sport. 

Gilmour’s victory in the third round of 

the New Zealand Rally Championship 

last weekend follows on from Taylor’s 

victory in Canberra last year, and 

proves once and for all that gender has 

nothing to do with success behind a 

steering wheel. 

Ladies may not dominate the results 

like their male counterparts, but pound 

for pound they punch well above their 

weight. 

After 12 years of trying, the Dunedinbased 

Gilmour finally had luck on 

her side and took a dominant victory 

against a hugely competitive field, while 

Taylor continues to achieve results in 

a Group N Subaru that is competing 

against cars with much more power, 

and hundreds of kilograms less in 

weight. 

Championship organisers in both 

countries should be promoting their 

leading ladies for all they’re worth, as 

success in the rough and tumble of 

rallying is surely something that will 

grab headlines across all media forms. 

The girls are achieving results on their 

own merits, and all power to them. 

The response to the first digital 

issue of RallySport Magazine has 

been great, with readers lapping 

up the content that the first issue 

provided. 

To date, the May 2016 issue has 

been viewed by over 30,000 people, 

reaching all corners of the globe, but 

we still need the support of advertisers 

to ensure the long-term viability of the 

magazine. 

If you’re a business owner, we’re 

confident that your business will 

benefit from being a part of RallySport 

Magazine, and we encourage you to 

contact us ASAP for more information. 

Or, if you know of someone who’ll 

benefit from an involvement, please 

pass their details on to us to follow up. 

Rallying in Australia and New Zealand 

has a story to tell – let us continue to 

provide that outlet. 

RallySport Magazine is thrilled 

to feature a brilliant new rally 

cartoon by the legendary John 

“Stonie” Stoneham in this issue. 

Based on the current Hyundai i20 

World Rally Car, we think the cartoon 

really captures the spirit of rallying, and 

is something that we plan to use on 

some merchandise down the track. 

Emma Gilmour 

broke through 

for her first win. 

Even more exciting is that we’ll be 

featuring some of Stonie’s classic rally 

cartoons over the coming issues, which 

we’re sure you’ll enjoy. 

Until next issue, enjoy your rallying, 

and spread the word about RallySport 

Magazine. 


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NEWS@RALLYSPORTMAG.COM.AU 

Subaru Australia Managing Direc- 

the reasons behind running Molly 

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 

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. 

“Look at East West – 17km and Molly 

was 20 seconds off Brendan Reeves 

and 13 seconds off Harry Bates the first 

time through – and 52 seconds quicker 

than her time last year,” Senior told 

RallySport Magazine. 

“The second run she was 18 behind 

Brendan and 11 behind Harry. Now a 

lot of that is Molly’s talent, but here’s 

a production car that is running third 

in the championship and consistently 

Round 2 of the 

ARC promises to 

be tor, a Nick cracker Senior, has explained in 

the forests around 

Canberra. 


around 1-1.5 seconds a kilometre 

behind lighter, more powerful 

machinery. A bit more time in the car 

and Molly will consistently have the gap 

down to a second. 

“For sure, we could spend more 

money on the car and increase the 

power and reduce the weight, but the 

“I think we – indeed 

the sport - has a 

responsibility to all 

the stakeholders to 

contain costs.” 

SUBARU BACK GROU 

days of throwing endless money at a 

rally program are gone,” Senior said. 

“I think we – indeed the sport - has 

a responsibility to all the stakeholders 

to contain costs, and one of the best 

ways to do it is to restrict freedoms. 

I am also a great believer in having a 

very close link between motorsport and 

showroom floor, hence another reason 

we went with Group N. 

“The glory days of the ARC were 

probably 10 to 15 years ago when we 

had Subaru, Toyota and Mitsubishi all 

spending big money. The world has 

Photos: Subaru Australia 


P N LOGIC IN ARC 

changed and that level of spending will 

never be repeated, but if we want to 

attract more people let’s cap costs and 

be brutal about it.” 

Senior admitted that they could 

easily up-spec Taylor’s car to compete 

on equal terms with their main rivals, 

including Simon Evans, but questions 

whether that’s the best way forward for 

the championship. 

“Les (Walkden) and myself set a goal 

of trying to build a competitive car for 

$100,000. 

“We’ve built Molly’s current car, 

including the purchase price , for just 

over $100,000, and it’s proving to be a 

very competitive package,” he added. 

“Les reckons the next one he builds 

will be under $100,000. 

“Simon has taken full advantage 

of the current rules, but I’m not sure 

whether having 17-year-old Subarus 

win events is the right thing for the 

championship, but that’s for the series 

organisers to decide. 

“Personally, and for the sport in the 

immediate future, I’d love to see the 

ARC contested by the top 20 drivers 

in identical cars. We could build 20 

identical Group N Subarus WRX STIs, 

run a control tyre, control suspension, 

dog box, seal everything you could, 

and we would bring 20 identical ECUs 

to every event and hand them out 

randomly. 

“At $100,000 or so depending on 

currency – try buying an R5 for that 

sort of money – what do people want 

for them, 180,000 Euros or 150,000 

pounds? That’s too much money for 

Australia and as we have seen for 

the past few years, they are largely 

irrelevant in our market. 

“If we did that one make ARC then 

the brand becomes a lesser part of 

the equation – the driver becomes the 

ultimate hero. 

“Of course, people are going to say, 

‘Well that’s great for Subaru, but what if 

another manufacturer wants to enter?’ 

“Let’s be realistic - do we see a whole 

lot of manufacturers lining up wanting 

to take part in the ARC? And the risk is, 

if someone comes in a factory R5 they 

will make a one make series anyhow – 

with one competitor.” 

That may seem as though he’s trying 

to corner the market, but Subaru’s 

long-time boss firmly believes that if the 

WRX STI is the car that best fits the bill 

at the time, then so be it. Further down 

the track it may be another car that 

could be chosen. 

“I would be quite happy to go to 

tender every three years. That’s a 

reasonable timeframe for a $100,000 

purchase,” Senior says. 

“Sell the cars for, say $40K, and 

people have had three years of top 

flight rallying for perhaps $20K a year 

depreciation. Those cars would then be 

fed into state championships. 

“I’m also sure that the winner of an 

ARC against 20 top drivers in a NR4 car 

would be highly regarded overseas.” 

Subaru ran a one-make series for 

non-turbocharged Impreza RS’ in the 

early 2000s, a series that gave drivers 

such as Eli Evans and Steve Glenney the 

head-start in rallying that has enabled 

them to go on to bigger and better 

things. 

“As I said, the days are gone of having 

massive budgets to run teams. 

“If we could come up with a package 

that was affordable and reliable for 

competitors, then I think that would be 

great for the championship,” he said. 

A close look at Molly Taylor’s stage 

times from the National Capital Rally 

show just how competitive the Group 

N car is. 

Subaru has committed to a two-year 

ARC program (2016 and 2017), with a 

second WRX currently being built by Les 

Walkden Rallying in Tasmania. 

Taylor is likely to debut this car at 

Rally Australia in November, with the 

current car likely to be made available 

as a customer car in future events. 


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RALLY ROUND-UP 

Gilmour back for more 

Following their successful 

selection in the FIA Women 

in Motorsport and QMMF 

cross country rally project, 

and their debut in April’s 

Sealine Cross Country 

Rally, New Zealand’s 

Emma Gilmour and Sandra 

Labuscagne have been 

given the opportunity to 

contest the Italian Baja (23- 

26 June), the fourth round 

of the FIA World Cup for 

Cross Country Rallies. 

Nasser Al Attiyah, multiple 

rally and cross country 

champion, as well as double 

Dakar Rally victor, has 

invited the rookie cross 

country crew to become 

part of his winning team for 

this event and will support 

the duo as they continue to 

hone their skills in the world 

of cross country rallying. 

The crew will drive a T2 

production class Mitsubishi 

Pajero run by Ralliart 

Italy on the event, with 

the support of the Italian 

Baja organiser who is also 

providing a free entry for 

the all-female crew. 

Even though Gilmour and 

Labuscagne were not paired 

together for the Sealine 

Cross Country Rally, FIA 

Women in Motorsport cross 

country project mentors 

Jutta Kleinschmidt and 

Fabrizia Pons considered 

them to be the best allround 

performers in the 

deserts of Qatar, hence 

their selection for the Italian 

Baja. 

“I’m really excited to have 

the opportunity to continue 

following my cross country 

rallying dream,” Emma said. 

“It will be great to team up 

with Sandra and see what 

we can achieve. 

“I am extremely grateful 

to Nasser for giving us this 

chance and to the Italian 

Baja event organisers for 

supporting our entry.” 

Michèle Mouton, 

President of the FIA Women 

in Motorsport Commission, 

was equally enthusiastic 

of this unexpected 

opportunity: “This is an 

incredibly generous offer 

by Nasser and something 

we never dreamed could 

happen. For Emma and 

Sandra to have the chance 

to learn from one of the 

greatest drivers in this 

discipline really is a once in 

a lifetime opportunity.” 

The Italian Baja takes in 

334.34km competitive in a 

total distance of 560.21km. 

Fierce storms create havoc 

The Bega Rally, which was 

due to be held on the long 

weekend in June, has been 

postponed due to the rain 

and storms that have lashed 

the east coast of Australia. 

The damage to the region 

the rally was to run in has 

been significant, with several 

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 

bridges on the route of the 

rally washed away, and 

extensive road damage on 

other stages. 

The event is a round of 

the NSW and Victorian Rally 

Championships, and will be 

re-scheduled for later in the 

year. 

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 

Emma Gilmour will 

compete in the Italian Baja. 

Albury Mansfield Sale Jindabyne Canberra 

Parramatta Taree Port Macquarie Coffs Harbour 


IN THE HOT SEAT 

WHAT A RIDE! 

Luke Whitten rides shotgun with 

four-time Australian Rally Champion 

Simon Evans in Canberra. 

The anticipation for the National Capital Rally was high 

for many, but I can guarantee you, no-one’s anticipation 

was higher than mine. 

I was set to go for a ride with four-time Australian 

Champion, Simon Evans, on board ‘The Beast’ – something 

that had been a dream of mine for a long time, and I simply 

couldn’t wait to get strapped in. 

The voices of the likes of Julien Ingrassia and John Kennard 

are common soundtracks in our lounge room, but despite 

watching hours and hours of footage, I knew that nothing 

could prepare me for what the real experience of ‘being in 

the hot seat’ would be like. 

But as I stepped out of the car on arrival at shakedown, 

there wasn’t much ‘hot’ about anything. My hands were 

shaking uncontrollably… it was freezing! The blustery weather 

looked like it was here to stay for the weekend. 

The icicle characteristics of my fingers were soon a distant 

memory, as within five minutes, I was collecting my helmet, 

and making my way over towards the Evans Motorsport 

camp. 

Mr. Evans was sitting casually behind the wheel, and I was 

welcomed with open arms by the team. 


A hello, a shake of the hand from Simon, a photo, and I was 

already squeezing my way into the Impreza. 

Ben Searcy (the man whose seat I was occupying) said a 

quick hello, and helped me with my belts, as well as giving me 

instructions on how to operate the on-board cameras. 

All we needed to do was press the button, and my 

experience of a lifetime was recorded forever. The joys of 

modern technology. 

New for this year’s shakedown, the stage itself was a short 

two-kilometre blast around an old pine plantation beside the 

National Arboretum, south of Canberra. 

Once everything was sorted, we got the car running and 

rolled on up towards the start line. As we were doing this, 

I quizzed Simon on a couple of things regarding the car. I 

wanted to learn as much as I could. 

He then had a question for me: “Have you ever been in a 

4WD before?” 

“No,” I said. “The only car I’ve gone for a ride in is my Dad’s 

Escort.” 

“Okay,” he replied, and looked to have a little chuckle, as I 

pulled on my belts one last time. 

We sat on the start line for about 30 seconds or so before 

Simon Evans prepares 

to give Luke Whitten the 

ride of his life. 

into the first corner, with the ultimate trust I’d need to 

become accustomed to in this short 90-second blast. 

The tyres gripped up on the exit of the corner, and the 

acceleration still astonished me. It’s got so much grunt. 

I wasn’t surprised, but impressed more than anything by 

Simon’s commitment in the car. His ability to trust the tyres, 

suspension, and his own skill set to get through the stage in 

the fastest possible way was incredible. 

After a series of flowing, and 90-degree corners, the ride 

was almost over, and coming down the hill to the last corner, 

I finally remembered what I wanted to do prior to jumping in 

with Simon – to watch a professional at work. 

I gave the countdown from five. As there was no intercom, I 

found myself almost to the point of yelling over the top of the 

revving engine as I made it down to the last couple of calls. 

We were off … and immediately, the whine of the straight 

cut gearbox, and sound of the mighty GC8 were music to my 

ears. This was the first time I’d heard the car ‘live’, and I was 

inside! 

The forces pushing me back against my seat were greater 

than I expected. Much more than the 2WD Escort I mentioned 

before. This thing was a beast! 

The speed off the line was incredible. The car was thrown 

The final corner was executed with absolute precision, 

and in the blink of an eye, it was all over. I don’t think the 

smile was wiped off my face for the rest of the day. 

After my ride was finished, Simon gave another lucky VIP 

a ride, but regretfully had to put ‘The Beast’ away. 

He said, “They’re not letting me drive it anymore, or else 

I’ll break it! It’s so cool. I love this thing!” 

I have to agree with him. What a car, and what a ride! 

➜ Luke and RallySport Magazine would like to thank 

Simon, Ben and all the Evans Motorsport team for this 

amazing experience, and wish them the best of luck for 

the remainder of the season. 



HOLDEN FOR NZRC AP4 CLASS 

Former V8 Supercar driver, Greg 

Murphy, and experienced rally 

driver, Josh Marston, will drive 

a pair of Holden backed AP4 (NZ spec) 

cars in the 2017 New Zealand Rally 

Championship. 

Two Holden Barinas will be prepared 

during 2016 and will be debuted in the 

first round of the championship in April 

next year. 

“I have to be part of it,” Murphy said 

at the launch of the program. “The new 

AP4 class is so exciting, it’s not hard to 

make the decision to be involved. 

“I’m not expecting top results, but 

want to be part of it, being involved at 

the top end of this exciting category of 

motorsport.” 

Josh Marston (31) from Christchurch, 

won the national two-wheel drive title 

in 2013 in a Ford Fiesta R2, having 

finished runner-up the previous year. 

“The team has been considering for 

a while where we want to go next in 

rallying,” Marston said. 

“At that time the AP4 class was in its 

infancy and we started looking at how 

we could get involved, and it has now 

eventuated in to what we will do in 

2017.” 

The NZ spec AP4 class has evolved 

out of an ageing fleet of Group N 4WD 

Mitsubishis and Subaru rally cars. After 

much discussion and review, it was 

established that a new and affordable 

class was needed. 

A decision was made by Motorsport 

NZ to follow the principles and 

specifications of the new FIA R5 car, 

but at a much more affordable cost, 

ensuring it could be locally constructed 

from locally sourced components. 

The starting point for new cars is still 

a series production car. Suspension 

arms, uprights, hubs and turrets are 

all common control components, 

while shocks and dampers may be 

freely sourced. Engines must be from 

the same manufacturer as the model 

represented and the transmissions 

must be approved. 

The newly formed team will shortly 

take possession of two production 

Josh Marston (left) and 

Greg Murphy will drive 

AP4 Holden Barinas. 

Holden Barinas that will be stripped 

down at the RDL Performance 

workshop in Christchurch. The bare 

body shells will then be sent north 

to Force Motorsport for completion 

of fabrication work and sign-off from 

Motorsport New Zealand. 

From there the two cars will come 

back to the team’s Christchurch 

workshop and the rest of the work will 

be carried out. 

“At this stage we are working on 

sourcing an engine from the GM range,” 

Marston explained. “It looks like it will 

be an Ecotech 2.0-litre turbo out of an 

Astra VXR that will end up in the car as 

a 1.8-litre turbo.” 

HOLMES 

HONOURED 

Renowned rally journalist and former co-driver, 

Martin Holmes, was recognised at the recent Rally 

of Portugal in honour of his 500th WRC rally. 

World Rally Championship Commission chairman, Carlos 

Barbosa, presented Martin with a desk clock designed in 

the fashion of the time clocks used in historic rally cars. 

Martin made a short speech, highlighting his fond 

memories of the Portuguese event over the years, both as 

a competitor and a journalist. 

The FIA announced that Portugal was the 550th WRC 

event, although Martin believes the number to be 563. 

“By my calculation Portugal was 563, including Sanremo 

1986 and 2-litre world rallies. I did not know when to stop 

counting,” he said. 

Whatever the number, it’s a magnificent effort, 

Martin Holmes (left) 

receives his award from 

Carlos Barbosa. 

and RallySport Magazine congratulates Martin on his 

achievement, and looks forward to many more Holmes 

stories. 

WRC Radio’s Colin Clark interviewed Martin before Rally 

Portugal. CLICK HERE to listen to the interview. 


RALLY NEW ZEALAND FUTURE 

RALLY NZ PLANS ON TRACK 

Rally NZ Chairman, PJ Johnson, explains the event’s push 

to get back into the WRC calendar in 2018 

Rally New Zealand continues to 

push towards a return to the 

World Rally Championship, 

despite having been out of the WRC 

since 2012, and without any certainty 

that they’ll get their coveted place in 

the calendar back again. 

After the year-on, year-off scheduling 

was shelved after 2012 because of 

the difficulties that it brought about, 

New Zealand has been in the WRC 

wilderness ever since. 

With the emergence of Hayden 

Paddon as one of the world’s fastest 

drivers, and with a concerted effort by 

Rally New Zealand to build a new event 

from the ground up, their chances of 

regaining a round of the WRC seem to 

be increasing. 

After their last event in 2012, a 

so-called three-year agreement was 

supposed to see Australia host a round 

for three years, before New Zealand 

took their turn for the following three 

years. But that hasn’t happened, and it 

turns out the agreement wasn’t worth 

the paper it was never written on. 

“There was never a contract in place, 

it was simply a gentleman’s agreement 

between myself, Morrie Chandler and 

the WRC promoter, Oliver Ciesla,” Rally 

New Zealand chairman, PJ Johnson, 

told RallySport Magazine. 

“We were under the impression that 


“There was never 

a contract in place, 

it was simply 

a gentleman’s 

agreement.” 

- PJ Johnson 

Rally New Zealand Chairman, 

PJ Johnson. (Photo: Geoff Ridder) 

it was a three-year deal, but I’m not 

going to harp on about it, except to say 

that Australia has had a good crack at 

it, we’re ready to go now, and we think 

it’s time for us to have a turn.” 

Johnson says Rally New Zealand 

has taken a fresh approach to their 

new event, and have the roads, the 

infrastructure, the organising team, 

and Hayden Paddon, to make it a 

success. 

“Neither New Zealand or Australia 

could operate on a yearly cycle with 

an event every second year. It was too 

hard as you were putting staff on, then 

laying them off, then having to reemploy 

staff. 

“We made a suggestion to the 

promoter that we have a three-year 

deal for the event to run in Australia, 

and then for three years in New 

Zealand. It was all about retaining staff 

and making sure we could run a better 

event,” he said. 

Unfortunately for the Kiwis, the 

agreement was never honoured, and 

was something that current Rally 

Australia Clerk of Course, Wayne 

Kenny, knows nothing about. 

“I have no idea about any agreement 

that New Zealand had,” Kenny said. 

“We have a contract until the end 

of 2017, and we’ll be putting in a 


RALLY NEW ZEALAND FUTURE 

Nine-time World Champion 

Sebastien Loeb on the 

Whaanga coast stage. 

Hayden Paddon is 

pushing hard for a Rally 

NZ return - WATCH HERE 

“I don’t want to knock 

Australia, because 

they’ve done a good 

job, but we feel it’s our 

turn now.” 

submission to the FIA to run an event in 

2018, 2019 and 2020. It’s then up to the 

promoters to decide which events get 

in the championship.” 

Kenny agreed that it would be great 

to have two events ‘down under’, and 

that he’d love to see Rally New Zealand 

back in the championship – but not at 

the expense of Rally Australia. 

Johnson and the Rally New Zealand 

team will head to Sardinia in mid-June 

(as this issue is published) to meet with 

Oliver Ciesla to go through the proper 

process of trying to get the WRC back 

to New Zealand. There is plenty of 

interest in returning, but negotiations 

are ongoing. 

“Having Hayden doing so well is great 

for us, but nothing is a given,” Johnson 

stressed. 

“There are other countries vying for 

a round of the WRC as well, but at the 

end of the day, we think Australia has 

had its run. We’ve got better roads, 

better infrastructure and we believe we 

can put on a better show for the world. 

“I don’t want to knock Australia, 

because they’ve done a good job, 

but we feel it’s our turn now. We 

have backing from local and federal 

government and we have two or three 

very big corporates who have said 

they will stand behind us, so we have a 

naming rights sponsor lined up.” 

There has been some talk that 

New Zealand’s grey vehicle import 

rules are putting the teams off from 

coming down under for a WRC round, 

but Johnson says that is “absolute 

bullsh@#”. 

“We have got manufacturer support 

Jari-Matti Latvala on one 

of NZ’s magnificent gravel 

stages. 


from all five marques locally – Hyundai, 

Volkswagen, Ford, Toyota and Citroen – 

who have all got behind the event and 

want to see it back in New Zealand,” he 

added. 

“We’re pushing forward to get a slot 

in the calendar. We’ve had very, very 

good feedback from people within the 

FIA who think it’s time the event came 

back to New Zealand. Hayden has 

made a big difference, and we have a 

hugely strong national championship at 

present, with more than 40 cars in each 

round. 

“As I said, I don’t want to be seen to 

be knocking Australia because I think 

“Talk that NZ’s grey 

vehicle import rules 

are putting the teams 

off from coming down 

under for a WRC 

round is ‘absolute 

bullsh@#’.” 

they’ve done a really good job, but 

I think it’s time New Zealand had its 

turn.” 

The ‘new’ Rally New Zealand will be 

based in Tauranga, on the east coast 

of the North Island, about 90 minutes 

south of Auckland. With a population 

of over 117,000 people, the city has a 

major airport and shipping port. 

The event will use a state-of-theart 

events centre as its base, which 

includes an 18,000-seat speedway track 

within 100 metres of the facility that 

would be used for an exciting Super 

Special Stage. 

The rally will be run as a round of 

the New Zealand Rally Championship 

in 2017, with the proposed WRC 

round spending the first day in the 

Coromandel region on some rally 

stages made famous in the 1970s. 

The second day would be based 

around nearby Rotorua and include 

the famous Motu stage, while the third 

and final day would use stages around 

Tauranga. 

Rally New Zealand organisers are well 

on track to see a return of the WRC to 

their shores. All they need now is for 

the FIA and the series promoter to look 

favourably on their application. 

- Peter Whitten 

Carlos Sainz on the famous 

Hella jump in the 2002 

Rally of New Zealand. 

BIGGER AND BETTER IN ‘16 - KENNY 

In brief ..... 

Rally Australia Clerk of Course, 

Wayne Kenny, is confident that 

this year’s round of the WRC 

will be the best yet in Coffs Harbour, 

with a number of changes set to make 

the event bigger and better. 

A new Super Special Stage and 

some other innovations to the route 

will provide spectators with some 

exciting new viewing options, and 

will hopefully impress the teams and 

series promoter. 

“We have a contract until the 

end of 2017, but we’re competing 

against all countries for a spot in the 

championship, not just New Zealand,” 

Kenny said. “The promoters want a lot 

out of rallies, not just nice roads, so 

if you fall off your perch by dropping 

your standards, you won’t have a rally. 

“Rally Australia has always set high 

standards, but the events cost more 

to run these days. There was more 

money available in the 90s, and we’re 

finding that we have to try and do 

more with less. 

“Last year’s event was a step up 

from the previous year, and we’re 

confident this year’s Rally Australia will 

be much better than last year’s,” he 

added. 

- Peter Whitten 


NATIONAL CAPITAL RALLY - ARC 2 

BRENDO’S BACK 

In only his third event in nearly two years, 

Brendan Reeves drove his Subaru to victory in 

the National Capital Rally, the second round of 

the Kumho Tyre Australian Rally Championship, 

from May 27 to 29. 

Report: 

PETER WHITTEN 


Victorious siblings Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Gelsomino. 



With sister Rhianon Gelsomino 

calling the pacenotes, Reeves 

finished second on the opening 

day, before winning day two and 

finishing ahead of Nathan Quinn and 

David Calder in the overall standings. 

Championship leaders, Simon Evans 

and Ben Searcy, convincingly won the 

first heat, but an off-road excursion saw 

them drop to 10th on day two. Their 

overall result still gave them sufficient 

points to retain their ARC lead. 

Equal fourth place for the weekend 

went to the Subarus of Tom Wilde/Sam 

Hill, and Molly Taylor/Bill Hayes. 

The Canberra-based event once 

again proved to be a survival of the 

fittest, with bent panels and mechanical 

problems a feature of the three-day, 14 

stage event. 

PRE-EVENT 

The pre-event media day and 

shakedown was held at the National 

Arboretum on the site where the 

Greenhills plantation used to host Rally 

of Canberra stages. 

The location was suggested by local 

Adrian Coppin, and proved to be the 

perfect spot to watch the action, as 

well as getting up close to the cars and 

crews. 

Most of the leading crews had a 

story to tell, starting with road-sweeper 

Nathan Quinn whose Lancer Evo 9 was 

suffering from a mis-fire when they 

drove the car off the trailer. His team 

quickly had this sorted. 

With a new engine fitted to his 

Peugeot since WA, Mark Pedder had 

more dramas in testing with a power 

steering issue that the Race Torque 

team were quickly on top of. They 

changed the power steering pump and 

the steering rack, and the little Pug was 

ready to go. 

Brendan Reeves had to abandon his 

test day when a centre diff problem 

surfaced in his Subaru, but with that 

fixed, he did as many shakedown runs 

as possible to get some time in the 

car and make minor changes to his 

suspension. 

Lots of changes had been made to 

Harry Bates’ Corolla S2000 since WA in 

order to get more grip. The young Bates 

was looking forward to his home event, 

particularly the Sunday stages that he 

felt suited his car better, being tighter 

and twistier than Saturday’s Kowen 

Forest tests. 

“I need to go out and push to see 

what our pace is,” Bates said. “Pushing 

against Simon and finding our limits 

is part of the plan, but we were a little 

surprised by our speed in WA, so we 

need to keep that in mind and be 

realistic about our goals.” 

Series leader Simon Evans was finetuning 

his Subaru, but many hours 

work from his team hand-making a new 

intercooler proved to be in vain as it 

actually made the car run hotter. 

“I’m absolutely shattered,” Evans 

said. “We’re calling it the inter-warmer! 

I know now why Subaru spent so much 

Cars gathered for the start on 

the banks of Lake Burley Griffin. 

Photo: John Doutch 

Craig Brooks’ weekend started 

badly and got worse from then on. 

Photo: Luke Whitten 

time and effort engineering their cars.” 

The team fitted a standard WRX 

intercooler for the event, and they 

suffered no problems in the cooler 

weather. 

Despite having a car that was heavier 

and with less power than her rivals, 

Molly Taylor was getting into the groove 

of driving Subaru’s Group N WRX, and 

was impressing everyone, including codriver 

Bill Hayes. 

“I’ve never seen anyone work harder,” 

Hayes told RallySport Magazine before 

the event. “She would have watched 

in-car footage from last year’s stages 

at least 50 or 60 times, and she knows 

every corner. 

“I’ve co-driven for a lot of great 

drivers, and her preparation is second 

Find us at: www.chicane.co.nz 

Call us o 


to none,” he said. 

Tasmanian Craig Brooks was looking 

forward to his 2016 ARC campaign, but 

his pretty Impreza tripped and fell on 

the final corner of the shakedown stage 

in what was an incredibly unlucky crash. 

A bank on the inside of the corner saw 

many cars getting onto two wheels, and 

Brooks must have been asking “why 

me?”. 

Unfortunately his luck was to go from 

bad to worse the following morning. 

HEAT 1 

In front of a good crowd who braved 

cold and windy conditions, the rally got 

underway on the banks of Lake Burley 

Griffin with a short 1.54km tarmac 

stage on Friday night. 

On his ARC return, Brendan Reeves 

took the stage victory, just 0.1 of a 

second clear of Simon Evans, with Harry 

Bates a further second and a half back. 

Justin Dowel’s Hyundai i20 failed to 

leave the start line when it broke a 

propshaft, temporarily retiring on the 

spot, while Michael Harding (Subaru) 

added some extra distance to his stage 

after getting confused midway through 

the twisty tarmac test. 

With times relatively tight, it was clear 

that the super special stage results 

would count for little when the gravel 

stages got underway the following 

morning. 

Saturday began with three stages in 

the Kowen Forest totalling a distance 

Nathan Quinn finished a fine 

second after a controlled drive. 


Harry Bates again impressed and 

remains second in the championship. 

Photo: Peter Whitten 

“I’ve never seen 

anyone work harder. 

I’ve co-driven for 

some great drivers 

and her preparation is 

second to none.” 

- Bill Hayes 

of 55km, under cloudy skies that 

threatened rain. By the time Nathan 

Quinn left the start line of the 4.56km 

Settlement 1 test the light rain was 

already falling, making road conditions 

even grippier. 

Almost immediately, Brendan Reeves 

was in trouble in his Subaru. A little 

over a kilometre into the stage, at the 

end of a long straight, he went from 

fifth gear to fourth, grabbed second 

by mistake, and would subsequently 

spend the rest of the day without first 

and second gears. 

“It was a simple mistake and one 

that came from getting used to the 

‘H’ pattern gearbox again,” Reeves 

admitted. “We’ll try and replace the 

gearbox at service, but it could be a 

long afternoon if we can’t.” 

The rain continued to fall over parts 

of the stages, but it didn’t slow Simon 

Evans. When he reached the service 

after the opening three gravel stages 

his lead was already 31.2 seconds over 

the struggling Reeves, with a bent rim 

and a loose gearbox cross-member 

mount Evans’ only problems. 

“We’re pushing hard,” he admitted. 

“The plan was to attack on the long 

stages this morning and try and build 

an advantage, which we’ve managed to 

do. The stages are very grippy and the 

car’s going really well.” 

Nathan Quinn was a further 43 

seconds behind Reeves, but with 

problems of his own. 

“We had a rear suspension arm 

come adrift which cost us some time, 

and we’ve also had a puncture,” Quinn 

lamented. “It looks like we’ll need to 

weld the suspension arm at service. My 

poor luck in Canberra continues!” 

Harry Bates’ chances of victory on 

his home event had already, literally, 

turned upside down. Running wide on 

a slow corner on stage five, the Corolla 

HJC MOTORSPORTS 

n: AU 1800 CHICANE or NZ 0800 CHICANE 



tripped up and ended up on its roof. 

It was mechanically undamaged, but 

upside down. 

Initially, co-driver John McCarthy told 

Bates to stay in the car while he pushed 

the car back onto its wheels, but that 

proved impossible. It took the pair 

nearly 25 minutes to jack up the car by 

the roof, then put more and more rocks 

under the roof, until they were able to 

push it back onto its wheels. 

“We were glad to get the car upright 

again and moving before Neal (Bates) 

came along,” McCarthy said. “That 

wasn’t something we wanted to wait 

around for!” 

Tom Wilde had quietly moved into 

fourth place in his Subaru, with Mark 

Pedder fifth, despite an overshoot 

on SS3, a fogging windscreen and 

admitting to “not driving fast enough”. 

After repairing his car after his roll 

on shakedown, Craig Brooks’ rally went 

from terrible to heartbreaking on stage 

four. The Tasmanian failed to take a 

90 degree left hander after a long, fast 

crest, jumped over a fence and landed 

some 100 metres off the road. The car 

landed on its wheels, but it immediately 

caught fire and burnt to the ground. 

Neither Brooks nor co-driver 

Reubecca Sheldrick were injured, but 

the next car on the road – ironically, 

Brad Markovic, whose own Subaru 

had burnt to the ground in similar 

circumstances in WA – saw only smoke 

and flames and he was quite concerned 

until he saw that Brooks and Sheldrick 

were out of the car and okay. 

“After what happened in WA, it was 

probably the worst possible thing to 

come across, and it took a while to get 

the confidence back,” Markovic said. 

After a service break back in 

Canberra, Evans set about further 

blitzing his ailing competitors over 

the afternoon’s three repeated gravel 

stages, and the tarmac super stage 

back in Canberra. 

It was an event Justin 

Dowel would rather forget. 


He won all the day’s stages, including 

setting the equal fastest time with 

Quinn on SS8, and ended the day 

1m18.7s in front of Reeves. 

“It’s been pretty much the perfect 

day, and ‘The Beast’ has gone 

brilliantly,” Evans said at day’s end. 

“We were glad to get 

the car upright and 

moving before Neal 

came along. That 

wasn’t something we 

wanted to wait around 

for.” - John McCarthy 

“This afternoon’s stages were rougher 

than this morning, but everything has 

worked well.” 

Reeves’ crew were unable to change 

his gearbox at service, yet he completed 

the day in an amazing second place, 

49 seconds ahead of Quinn, despite 

struggling badly off the start line of 

stages and over the tight and tricky 

tarmac stage that concluded the day. 

“It’s been an interesting day,” he 

admitted. “We had the turbo boost pipe 

come off on the first two stages this 

afternoon and that cost us some time, 

but other than that it’s just been a case 

of driving around the gearbox problem 

and getting the car home.” 

The team replaced the gearbox at 

the end of day service, giving the young 

Victorian a healthy Subaru to tackle 

Sunday’s stages. 

Coffs Harbour’s favourite son, Nathan 

Quinn, maintained his third place 

throughout the afternoon, but it wasn’t 

without its dramas, an exhaust falling 

off and burning the rear bumper just 

one of his concerns. He also clipped 

a kangaroo, but fortunately without 

damage to car or ‘roo. 

Tom Wilde’s day was uneventful, but 

netted a brilliant fourth place for the 

West Australian, with new co-driver 

Sam Hill calling the pacenotes. It was 

a great result for Dean Herridge’s ex- 

Bathurst 12 Hour car. 

Fifth place went to the factory Subaru 

of Molly Taylor and Bill Hayes, but only 

after struggling through the last stage 

and a half with only rear-wheel drive. 

The WRX broke a front diff on the final 

gravel stage, something that Subaru 

boss, Nick Senior, admitted was a 

rarity, even in the days when Subaru 

dominated the ARC in the 1990s and 

2000s. 

“The front diff was the main problem, 

but we suspect there could also be a 

rear diff problem,” co-driver Bill Hayes 

said. “When checking the tyre pressures 

before the final tarmac stage, one 

Dean Herridge talks tactics with Tom Wilde and Sam Hill on Day 1. Photo: Luke Whitten 


It was a weekend 

of highs and lows 

for Simon Evans, 

but he still leads 

the Australian Rally 

Championship . 

of the rear wheels was red hot, so 

we’ll have to investigate that before 

tomorrow.” 

Former Rally Australia ‘prize drive’ 

winner, Mick Patton, finished the day a 

brilliant sixth in his Lancer Evo X, with 

the top 10 rounded out by Michael 

Harding (Subaru), JJ Hatton (Mitsubishi), 

Brad Markovic (Subaru) and Tom 

Clarke’s Mitsubishi. 

Markovic’s co-driver, Glenn Macneall, 

finished the day with a sore back after 

continuous front suspension problems 

hampered their efforts. 

“The front suspension was way too 

hard all day,” Markovic explained. “It’s 

the same Reiger suspension that was 

in the car that burnt out, which was 

tested, but not pulled apart after it was 

found to be okay. 

“However, there’s obviously a 

problem there somewhere, so we’ll 

install the Ohlins struts that came 

with the car, and hope that improves 

the handling for 

tomorrow.” 

Harry Bates had 

a better afternoon, 

setting two second 

fastest stage times in 

his slightly battered, 

but mechanically 

sound Corolla, and 

stressing that “getting 

back on the horse” 

was the best thing 

he could do for his 

confidence. 

“It’s disappointing, 

because I’m the first 

person to put a mark 

on this car, and it’s 

won an ARC title 

before, but I guess 

that’s the way it goes,” Bates said. 

“By the end of the day I had the same 

feeling in the car as I had in WA, so I’m 

pleased that we’ve been able to set 

Thomas Dermody was a popular attraction 

in his Escort RS1800, while Neal Bates once 

again showed his class to win the Classics. 

Photos: John Doutch, Luke Whitten 



some good times and build on that 

confidence ahead of heat two.” 

Bates ended the day in 13 th place. 

Justin Dowel had a heat he’d rather 

forget, starting with a broken propshaft 

on the first stage. He had a spin and 

stalled the car on stage five, had a 

gearbox temperature light distracting 

him on stage seven, and generally had 

a day where nothing really went right. 

He finished the heat in 14 th place. 

Still, his day finished better than 

either Mark Pedder or Adrian Coppin’s. 

Pedder broke a rear suspension arm on 

the first stage after service, repaired it 

with a screwdriver, only to have it fail 

for good on the following stage. 

Coppin had a similarly frustrating day, 

which eventually ended when the car 

stopped with a fluid leak prior to stage 

seven. 

But problems aside, there was no 

doubting Simon Evans’ dominance on 

the first heat, and it was clear that it 

would take a super-human effort (and 

a slice of luck) for anyone to challenge 

the four-time champion for the heat 

two win. 

In the Classics, Neal Bates took a 

dominant victory of nearly two and 

a half minutes, in front of the similar 

Toyota Celica RA40 of Clay Badenoch, 

with Mal Keough third in his Audi 

Quattro S1 replica. 

HEAT 2 

As Sunday morning dawned, parts of 

Canberra were blanketed in a thick fog 

as competitors made their way west of 

the city for the day’s three stages – each 

to be repeated twice. 

Once the fog lifted it revealed frosty 

conditions, with the temperature 

Mick Patton has emerged into 

one of the championship’s most 

consistent performers. 


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 

dropping to as low as minus two 

degrees, masking the hot competition 

that would soon be underway. 

Molly Taylor was neat and tidy yet again, 

taking fourth place for Subaru. 


Victory on the opening three stages 

of the day quickly saw Brendan Reeves 

open up a decisive 46.9 second lead 

over Nathan Quinn, with his 

Subaru now running on-song after 

the previous day’s gearbox woes. 

When Simon Evans went off the 

road on the second stage, it eased 

the pressure on Reeves, his only 

problem being when he ripped 

most of the rear spoiler of the 

Impreza on the long 30km Cottage 

5 Ways stage. 

“I just threw the car into a 

tight corner and there was a low 

hanging branch which ripped the 

spoiler off,” he said later. The team 

borrowed a spare from fellow 

competitor Michael Harding, and 

the car was soon looking like new 

again. 

Evans had started the day as 

aggressively as he’d finished the 

first, but soon paid a big price, 

spearing off the road on the final 

corner of SS10, doing extensive 

damage to his Subaru and getting 

stuck in a ditch for over 11 

minutes. 


Broken front and rear control arms, 

and front and rear driveshafts were 

some of the problems the Evans 

Motorsport team needed to fix, and 

after he and Searcy lost another four 

and a half minutes crawling through 

SS11, they were now nearly 16 minutes 

from the lead. 

“It was a corner I know well, and a 

corner I’ve always been able to drive flat 

out through – but obviously not in this 

car,” Evans said later. 

“We got really good grip coming out 

of the corner, but we ran wide into 

the ditch and from then I was just a 

passenger and ran out of talent!” 

Quinn was again going well, despite 

admitting to “driving slowly” on the East 

West stage, where he’d crashed before. 

Nevertheless, he was 18 seconds clear 

of third placed Molly Taylor, with Harry 

Bates a further five seconds behind 

after a spin on the long stage cost him 

some time. 

Tom Wilde had again slipped into a 

top five place in his Subaru, but others 

were already striking problems. 

Justin Dowel retired his Hyundai 

i20 after clouting a big rock and rearranging 

the right rear suspension on 

the opening stage (he would restart 

again after service), while JJ Hatton had 

transmission failure in his Lancer. Mal 

Keough also retired his crowd-pleasing 

Audi Quattro with gearbox woes. 

Brad Markovic decided to park 

his Subaru after the first stage. 

After changing the front suspension 

overnight, it was discovered that there 

was no pre-load on the diffs and the car 

neither wanted to turn in, or drive out 

of corners. Markovic nearly crashed the 

car twice on the first stage, so wisely 

decided to quit while he was ahead, 

and preserve the car for the next round 

in Queensland. 

“It was a corner I know 

well, and a corner I’ve 

always been able to 

drive flat out through 

- but obviously not in 

this car!” 

- Simon Evans 

The morning’s three stages were 

repeated again after a service back in 

Canberra, and when Reeves won the 

repeat of Hyles Block, his victory was 

getting closer. He admitted to simply 

driving in the middle of the road to 

avoid problems and finishing the event 

with two second fastest stage times 

secured a one minute and 6.5 second 

victory for he and sister Rhianon 

Gelsomino. 

“It’s a fantastic result and we’re 

Tom Clarke rolled his Lancer on Day 2, but 

still managed two top 10 finishes. 

Photo: Matt Whitten 

Mechanical problems hampered Mark 

Pedder’s chances of a top result. 

Photo: Matt Whitten 

thrilled,” Reeves said. “We had a sticking 

throttle on the last stage, but just drove 

through carefully to get the car home.” 

Quinn also spent the afternoon 

driving with plenty in reserve and 

was pleased to finally get a result in 

Canberra – something that had eluded 

him previously. He’s a driver that the 

ARC needs to see more of. 

With neither Reeves nor Quinn 

registered for ARC points, the Heat 2 

series victory went to Harry Bates and 

John McCarthy, who took third place, 

some 1m44.2s behind the rally winner. 

A slight brake problem on the first 

stage of the afternoon loop was soon 

sorted, before a minor scrape against 

an earth bank on the final test cost no 

time, but ripped a third of the front 

bumper bar from the car – much to 

Bates’ dismay. 

“We’ve had a good day,” he said 

back in Canberra. “The team changed 

the gearbox overnight, and the taller 

ratios weren’t ideally suited to today’s 



twistier stages, but we’ve got through 

and secured some good points in the 

championship. 

“We’re already looking forward to 

Queensland.” 

For the second event in a row, Molly 

Taylor brought the works Subaru 

home without a scratch on it, securing 

fourth place in the process and further 

enhancing her reputation. 

“We had a really good battle with 

Tom (Wilde) today, and it was great to 

finish in front.” 

The margin between the two was 

just 0.6 of a second after the day’s six 

stages. 

“It was a pretty trouble free rally, 

and I learnt lots for the future,” Wilde 

reported. 

“We had no pacenotes from 

previous years, so after the running of 

this morning’s stages we went back to 

service and watched some of the in-car 

footage, then made some changes to 

the notes for the afternoon. It seemed 

to help.” 

Another neat and tidy drive netted 

Mick Patton and Bernie Webb sixth 

place, ahead of a frustrated Mark 

Pedder, whose day was challenging to 

say the least. 

His Peugeot 208 Maxi mis-fired its 

way through the first long stage, then 

on SS13 he encountered intermittent 

centre diff problems that made the car 

difficult to drive. 

Then, to cap it off, on the final stage 

of the rally the turbo started to fall off 

the manifold and he and Dale Moscatt 

only just made it home. 

Despite a small off-road excursion 

on SS11, Michael Harding brought his 

Subaru home in eighth place, Tom 

Clarke survived a roll in his Lancer to 

take ninth (finishing the event with no 

front or rear windscreen), while Simon 

Evans rounded out the top 10 in his 

Subaru, gaining enough points to 

retain his lead in the championship. 

Once again, Canberra had proved 

a tough nut to crack, and Sunday’s 

attrition rate once again showed that 

conquering the National Capital Rally 

is no easy task. 

Brendan Reeves’ second win in three 

years proved that he’s a driver who 

loves the challenge, and is more than 

up for it. 

Neal Bates took another 

comprehensive Classics win, driving 

his Celica to a victory of just under five 

minutes. Second place went to the 

consistent Thomas Dermody in a Ford 

Escort RS1800, with Brett Stephens’ 

well-rallied Nissan Bluebird rounding 

out the top three. 

The battle for the championship will 

now move to the International Rally of 

Queensland from June 17 to 19. 

DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS 

DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS 

GO-PRO FOOTAGE 

ADVERTISE WITH US 


It was a disappointing home event 

for Canberra’s Adrian Coppin. 


Driver turned mechanic, 

Brendan Reeves. 


JJ Hatton two wheels his Lancer 

at the pre-event shakedown. 


2016 National Capital Rally - Heat 2 

1. Reeves/Gelsomino Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec C 1h15m54.1s 

2. Quinn/Calder Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +01:06.5 

3. Bates/McCarthy Toyota Corolla S2000 +01:44.2 

4. Taylor/Hayes Subaru WRX STi +02:01.2 

5. Wilde/Hill Subaru Impreza WRX STI +02:01.8 

6. Patton/Webb Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X +04:41.3 

7. Pedder/Moscatt Peugeot 208 Maxi +05:37.0 

8. Harding/Thornburn Subaru Impreza WRX STi +05:47.5 

9. Clarke/Preston Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +09:34.7 

10. Evans/Searcy Subaru Impreza WRX +15:43.1 

For more details call Dominic on 0499 981 188 

or email dominic@rallysportmag.com.au 


FEATURE: TOYOTA’S MOTORSPORT MUSEUM 

ALADDIN 


Story and Photos: 

PETER WHITTEN 

Story and Photos: 

PETER WHITTEN 

’S CAVE 



Deep in the bowels of Toyota 

Motorsport in suburban Cologne, 

Germany, lies a treasure chest of 

cars that most motorsport fans 

would give their right arm 

to walk amongst and touch. 

Peter Whitten was like a kid in a 

lolly shop as he took in some of the 

cars that have made Toyota one of 

world rallying’s most successful 

brands, and cars he has seen on 

the world’s rally stages. 


When I took a short business 

trip to Germany in late 

2014, I spent three nights in 

Cologne, which just happens to be the 

European home of Toyota. Naturally, a 

visit to Toyota Motorsport seemed like 

too good an opportunity to miss out 

on. 

With my German language skills 

limited to Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes 

and Guten Tag, I bumbled my way 

from central Cologne to Marsdorf, 

the suburb where Toyota Motorsport 

resides. 

A short walk from the train station 

had me in ‘Toyota Allee’, and I was 

soon at the security gate for Toyota 

Motorsport, where I met up with my 

guide, Robin D’Alquen. A friendly guy 

with six months’ experience on the job, 

Robin was nearly as excited as I was to 

be heading into the museum – not only 

to get out of the office for an hour or 

so, but to take a walk through Toyota’s 

motorsport history. 

With security cleared, Robin led me 

through office complexes and corridors 

until, eventually, we reached a set of 

big double doors that are usually off 

limits. 

When the doors opened and the 

lights went on, I’m certain my heart 

skipped a beat. There, before my very 

eyes, were some of the fastest cars 

ever built, worth literally millions and 

millions of dollars, if you could put a 

value on them. 

But while most museum pieces are 

behind glass or annoying barriers and 

ropes, the vast array of rally, Formula 1 

and Le Mans cars sit unobstructed, and 

ready to be admired. 

This is a museum like no other. 

Situated on the ground floor, it is, 

for all intents and purposes, the 

Celicas, Corollas, Group B, Group 

A, World Rally Cars and Formula 1 - 

the Toyota Motorsport Museum in 

Cologne, Germany, is an Aladdin’s Cave 

of motorsport history. 

Paddon’s office has already 

proved a successful testing 

ground for WRC success. 



basement of the building. The roof is 

a mishmash of air conditioning ducts, 

water pipes and electrical wiring, and 

concrete pillars make the floor area a 

real jigsaw. When the air conditioning 

suddenly, and unexpectedly, turns on, 

the noise is almost deafening and gives 

you quite a fright. 

However, it’s all these features that 

make it so unique, and all the more 

surprising that some of the world’s 

most technologically advanced cars 

grace the floor. 

Robin had been in here a few times 

before, and while he looked at the cars 

himself, he was happy to let me take 

my time, photograph what I wanted, 

and sit in the cars that have made 

Toyota one of the most respected 

brands in motorsport. 

Eleven Formula 1 cars, four 

Sportscars, seven rally cars and a few 

‘other’ Toyota specials sat before me. 

Before I’d arrived at the museum 

it was the Group B Celica Twin Cam 

Turbo (TA64) that I was most looking 

forward to seeing. I saw the car 

in action in the 1984 Rally of New 

Zealand, and seeing it again brought 

back a lot of memories. Sitting behind 

the steering wheel was a surreal 

feeling. 

However, it was Carlos Sainz’s 

gorgeous Group A Celica ST185 that 

I kept being drawn back to. Sitting in 

its tarmac-spec Tour de Corse livery, 

the car looked fast just sitting there. 

It was one of the best sounding rally 

cars ever, and was the car that took 

the Spaniard to two World Rally 

Championship titles. 

It was also the model of Celica that 

Sainz spectacularly crashed three 

times in the 1991 Rally Australia – the 

final time dramatically when he rolled 

seven or eight times in the Bunnings 

plantation. 

There were Corolla World Rally Cars 

from the late 1990s, and a couple of 

early Celicas driven by Ove Andersson, 

the man who would eventually be the 

head of Toyota Team Europe. 

Perhaps the most unique car, 

however, was the mid-80s MR2 that 

was built for the Group S regulations 

that never saw the light of day, 

following the outlawing of Group B. 

Fitted with a Toyota 503E 2140cc, 

turbocharged in-line four cylinder, 

water-cooled 16 valve engine, it 

reportedly produced 600 horsepower 

at 8500rpm, with 640 Nm of torque. 

Painted in jet black, the car looked 

decidedly beastly, and one wonders 

just how fast it would have been. 

For anyone with an eye for Formula 

1 history and technology, 

the museum offers just about all 

you could wish to see. 

The manufacturer’s range of F1 

machines sit idle (and hanging from the 

roof), including the car that Toyota never 

raced – the 2010 model that many in 

the company believed was going to be 

their best yet. 

Despite competing in 140 races and 

taking 13 podium finishes, Toyota 

never won a Grand Prix. 

Toyota Formula 1 cars galore, and 

literally hanging from the ceiliing. 

Inset: Sainz’s Group A Celica in tarmac 

spec, complete with front brake 

cooling discs. 


Above: the Editor with Carlos Sainz’s 

Group A Celica ST185. 

Right: Toyota’s Le Mans Sportscar, 

the Group B MR2 that never rallied, 

and (below) the interior of Toyota’s 

Group B Celica Twin Cam Turbo. 

While I was there, a return to 

the World Rally Championship for 

Toyota had long been rumoured, 

although nobody within the 

Toyota Motorsport complex was 

giving anything away. 

I could talk for hours about the 

cars that appear in the museum, 

their history, their results and 

their place in world motorsport 

folklore, but a picture is worth a 

thousand words, and I took plenty. 

You may never get the 

opportunity to go deep into the 

bowels of Toyota Motorsport 

yourself, but the photos on these 

pages help to give you a tour 

through the museum and relive 

some of motorsport’s finest 

machines. 

My thanks to Toyota’s Alastair 

Moffitt, Robin D’Alquen and 

Mike Breen for making the tour 

possible. 


CANTERBURY RALLY - NZRC 3 

GILMOUR WINS DRAMA 

FILLED CANTERBURY RALLY 

Story: 

BLAIR BARTELS 

Photos: 

GEOFF RIDDER 

Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour has taken 

her first ever victoy at the third round 

of the Brian Green Property Group New 

Zealand Rally Championship, the Joe’s 

Garage/Lonestar Rally Canterbury, held 

in the forests north of Christchurch. 

Gilmour’s Suzuki Swift led home the 

After 12 years of 

trying, Emma Gilmour 

has finally won her 

first NZRC round 

Mazda 2 of Andrew Hawkeswood, and 

Carl Davies’ Subaru. 

While Gilmour and co-driver Anthony 

McLoughlin took the lead on the second 

stage and never relinquished it, there 

It was another event to forget for 

NZ Champion Ben Hunt. 

were plenty of surprises in store for 

the 36 national championship entries, 

of which only 16 made the finish, many 

after battling through the day. 

With as many as 15 combinations 

realistically fighting for the podium, 

there was pressure a plenty on all 

the front runners to make a strong 

start. The expected challenge from 

local driver Matt Summerfield saw 

him set the fastest time through the 

opening stage, with Gilmour second 

and Hawkeswood third fastest, despite 

a spin. 

It was a ford 12km 

into the 19km stage that 

would provide most of 

the early drama, with 

defending champion 

Ben Hunt suffering a 

fogged windscreen in his 

Subaru, as did Sloan Cox’s 

Mitsubishi, while ingesting 

water cost championship 

leader David Holder, 

Richard Baddock, Lance 

Williams and Glenn Inkster, 

the latter losing close to 

half an hour. 

Also in trouble was Chris 

West, the 2004 champion’s 

return to the series cut 

short by a split intercooler 

on the Ralliart Mitsubishi 

Mirage. 

The second stage 


saw further drama when 

Summerfield’s engine failed, 

later traced to a broken exhaust 

cam wheel. Hunt also stopped 

in the stage with overheating, 

while Darren Galbraith, runner 

up at the event in 2015, also had 

engine failure. 

On top of that, Richard 

Baddock left the road after 

a misunderstanding in his 

pacenotes, destroying his Subaru 

and ending up a long, long way 

from the road. 

That left stage winner Gilmour 

to move into the lead, ahead of 

Hawkeswood and Phil Campbell, 

whose clean start was paying 

dividends. Two others having a 

clean run were Clint Cunningham 

and Carl Davies, claiming fourth 

and fifth respectively. 

The bruising opening loop of 

stages also hit the class battles. Marcus 

van Klink led historics, but the challenge 

from Jeff Judd ended when he left the 

road and rolled on the sixth corner of 

the rally. Tony Gosling’s similar Ford 

Escort RS1800 suffered bent rear 

suspension in stage two, leaving Regan 

Ross second to uphold Escort honours, 

and John Silcock third in a Mazda RX-7 

almost identical to van Klink’s. 

Anthony Jones’s run at the front of 

the open two-wheel drive class came to 

an end when a propshaft failed in the 

opening stage, leaving Dave Strong to 

lead the class ahead of Dylan Thomson. 

Thomson would retire in stage three 

Andrew Hawkeswood took 

second place in his Mazda 2, 

despite this spin. 

“Baddock left the 

road, destroying his 

Subaru and ending 

up a long, long way 

from the road” 

after hitting a rock, leaving Strong to 

take the class win for the day, despite 

losing 25 minutes changing a fan belt in 

stage three. 

A loop of two more stages further 

north awaited the teams, the first of 

which was won by Cox, showing what 

may have been without the stage one 

delay. Gilmour was second fastest to 

extend her lead, with Inkster setting the 

third fastest time. 

Further drama hit in stage four, 

Williams losing 18 minutes with a 

damaged wheel rim, while Campbell’s 

engine expired at the stage end, 

moving Cunningham into third by just 

six-tenths of a second over Davies, but 

worried about noises coming from the 

gearbox. Hot on their heels were the 

recovering Holder and Cox. 

A tough morning also hit the Gull 

Spectators brave the freezing 

conditions as Phil Campbell 

slides his Lancer through an 

early morning stage. 


CANTERBURY RALLY - NZRC 3 

Rally Challenge. When stage one winner 

Galbraith retired, Lee Robson assumed 

the lead on his first visit to the event, 

ahead of Richard Bateman and Kingsley 

Jones, who delayed himself with a 

couple of spins. 

Other potential front runners, 

Warwick Redfern and Wayne Pittams, 

went off the road in stage two, 

and when Bateman broke his rear 

suspension, Jason Clark moved into 

third place, the podium positions that 

would stand to the end of the event, 

with Bryn Smith claiming fourth. 

Greg Murphy was the only two-wheel 

drive car in the challenge, overcoming 

head gasket problems to claim the class 

win. 

Stage five was a repeat of one and 

the ford would once again play a crucial 

role in the outcome of the event. 

Holder, Gilmour and Cox all suffered 

in the water crossing, the latter having 

to stop and replace an alternator belt, 

ending his charge. 

Worse was to come when the VW 

Polo of Shannon Chambers drowned in 

the crossing, causing mass confusion. 

Next into the stage, Clint Cunningham, 

stopped in the middle of the road 

to avoid further cars getting stuck in 

the ford, which was deeper than the 

morning pass. 

However, a later inquiry found the 

road was passable and while the other 

dozen cars that stopped were given 

an assessed time, Cunningham wasn’t 

as he was deemed the cause of the 

blockage. 

That moved Davies into third with 

Holder hard on his heels, although 

the championship leader would roll 

out of the rally on the following stage, 

promoting the ever-consistent Graham 

Featherstone to fourth. 

The final three stages saw little 

change in the running order with the 

stage wins being shared between 

Gilmour, Cox and Hawkeswood, 

Gilmour also claiming the five bonus 

points for the Power Stage. 

So it was that Gilmour took her first 

NZRC round win after 12 years of trying, 

one minute and 15 seconds ahead of 

Hawkeswood, with Davies a further two 

minutes and 15 seconds back. 

Featherstone, Robson, van Klink, 

Jones, FIA two-wheel drive class winner 

Max Bayley, Cox and Clark rounded out 

the top 10. 

Silcock came home second historic 

and 11th overall after drivetrain failure 

for Regan Ross, ahead of Bryn Smith, a 

fuming Cunningham, Williams, Murphy 

and Strong rounding out the NZRC 

finishers. 

While Holder failed to score, he still 

leads the championship, but Gilmour 

has now closed the gap to just six 

points. Although he will contest no 

further rounds, Hayden Paddon still 

holds third, ahead of van Klink and 

Hawkeswood. 

The series now heads for Rally 

Gisborne on July 2. 

Max Bayley took eighth place in his 

Fiesta. 

Marcus van Klink led the historic 

field once again in his crowdpleasing 

Mazda RX7. 

Find us at: www.chicane.co.nz 

Call us o 


Once the frost melted it 

was a beautiful Canterbury 

day. Sloan Cox hits a water 

crossing in his Lancer. 

Fingers crossed for Emma 

Gilmour with one stage to go. 

2016 Canterbury Rally - June 5 

1. Emma Gilmour / Anthony McLoughlin Suzuki Swift AP4 1h54m31.4s 

2. Andrew Hawkeswood / Jeff Cress Mazda 2 AP4 +1m15.0s 

3. Carl Davies / Tracey Miller Subaru Impreza WRX +3.30.4 

4. G. Featherstone / D. Devonport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7 +4.05.0 

5. Lee Robson / Glenn Goldring Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4 +5.39.8 

6. Marcus van Klink / Dave Neill Mazda RX7 +6.31.9 

7. Kingsley Jones / Waverley Jones Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7 +6.554 

8. Max Bayley / Lisa Hudson Ford Fiesta +7.22.2 

9. Sloan Cox / Malcolm Read Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 +10.13.8 

10. Jason Clark / Tracey Clark Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5 +11.06.5 

Morning highlights - CLICK HERE 

Afternoon highlights - CLICK HERE 

HJC MOTORSPORTS 

n: AU 1800 CHICANE or NZ 0800 CHICANE 


FEATURE: AUDI QUATTRO S1 REPLICA 

QUATTROP 

The ultimate Group B rally cars of the 80s were the 

epitome of the sport’s cutting-edge technology, 

with wild wings, belching flames and almost 

unfathomable acceleration and speed. 

Tom Smith takes a close look at Stewart Reid’s 

incredible Audi Quattro S1 replica. 

Story: 

TOM SMITH 

Photos: 

PETE JOHNSON 

The ultimate Group 

were, for most ent 

the sport’s cutting 

wild wings, belching flam 

able acceleration and spe 

For competitors, these 

desirable rally machinery 

indeed for most, complet 


HOBIA 

B rally cars of the 80s 

husiasts, the epitome of 

-edge technology, with 

es and almost unfathomed. 

cars were the most 

on the planet, and 

ely unaffordable. 

Whilst these vehicles naturally held their specific 

appeal to those who supported either Peugeot, 

Lancia, Ford or Toyota, it was Audi’s S1 Quattro 

that was perhaps the most identifiable and most 

wildly modified of the era. 

The ‘short’ Quattro proved unbelievably fast in 

the hands of some of the most talented drivers of 

the time. Think Walter Rohrl in his prime. 

Such is the popularity of classic rallying in the 

modern era, the improvements in technology and 

the ambition of some ‘artists’ to re-create Group 

B rally cars, it has enabled such re-births to occur 

much more readily than ever before. 

With this in mind, just how did an Audi Sport 

Quattro S1 end up safely tucked away in a 

workshop in Redcliffe to the north of Brisbane? 



Stewart Reid is one of Australia’s 

best known rally drivers, having 

competed at all levels over the last 

30 years since making the move from 

his native Scotland to Queensland. 

He has experience in a range of rally 

machinery from his early Gemini debut, 

through Starion, Mitsubishi Evos, Celica 

GT4, Gp N(P) Toyota Corolla and a 

range of BDG Mk 2 Escorts. 

Focussing on his very successful 

business, SR Automotive, in recent 

years has not dulled his passion for the 

sport, nor his abilities behind the wheel. 

While the rally workshop contains 

some incredible customer cars (more 

on that later), Stewie has finally 

achieved what he once only dreamed 

about – an Audi Quattro S1 replica 

which looks, feels and sounds like the 

real thing! 

“Sometimes when I’ve not had such 

a great day at work, I just come out to 

the rally workshop and spend time with 

the car,” confesses Reid, owner of one 

of two Audi Quattro S1 replica rally cars 

in Australia. 

Such is the appeal of this magnificent 

hand-made creation that the RallySport 

Magazine team jumped at the chance 

to visit the SR Automotive workshop to 

profile man and machine. 

Of course the special thing about this 

car – and the other vehicle owned by 

Mal Keough from Coffs Harbour – is 

that both men are not scared to put 

their beautiful machines on the line. 

“Sometimes I pinch myself,” he says. 

“As a teenager, I saw Ari Vatanen’s black 

Shell BDG Escort and Hannu Mikkola’s 

Eaton Yale car in the UK. 

“Now, I own my dream cars – a 2-litre 

BDG Mk 2 Escort and the S1 Quattro.” 

Much has been written about this 

particular Quattro, and it’s no secret 

that it was originally the Andrew 

Hawkeswood car built in a North Island 

workshop in New Zealand. 

After competing in the car for a 

couple of years after construction, 

Hawkeswood’s rallying strategy took a 

new direction to focus his support on 

NZ rallying with his first Mazda 2 AP4 

rally weapon. 

Local Australian driver and 

businessman, Dave Thompson, 

acquired the Audi and brought it across 

the ditch. 

Stewie recalls the conversation when 

the sale of the unique Quattro was 

discussed. 

“I told Dave I’d happily sell my 

Mk 2 Escort to buy the Audi,” Reid 

remembers. “Dave looked at me and 

said ‘Too late mate, I just bought it!’” 

Thankfully, as history now has it, 

Stewie became the trusted mechanic 

for the Quattro and Dave Thompson’s 

Metro 6R4, which still occupies a hoist 

at the SR Automotive workshop. 

After turning spanners on the car for 

a couple of years, the inevitable change 

of hands occurred and a very amicable 

deal saw Reid take ownership. 

Stewie explains that the Audi is 

essentially the same specification as it 

was when built. 

Since taking delivery of the car, he 

has continually aimed to subtly improve 

it and with some careful fettling, the 

car makes about 100 horsepower more 

than it previously did. 

One of the key ‘restorations’ on the 

car is a new factory inlet manifold, 

located and imported to replace the 

previous version that was reasonably 

effective, but not original. 

Such items do not come cheaply, and 

Stewie let go of one of his toys (a BMW 

bike) to re-invest the funds in this rare 

manifold. 

Readers may recall that this Audi has 

Subaru running gear, with a floorpan 

basically stitched into the Quattro body. 

While maintaining the practical 

Subaru equipment, Reid has upgraded 

the components with a range of 

Modena bits. The car now sports a 

sequential 6-speed gearbox, upgraded 

diffs front and rear, and unbreakable 

WRC-spec driveshafts. The drivetrain is 

designed to take more power than the 

car currently makes, and reliability has 

not been an issue. 

At the time of RallySport Magazine’s 

tour of the workshop, the car looked 


Watch in-car and drone 

footage of the 

Audi at Baskerville 

Raceway during an 

Audi press day. 



magnificent in its tarmac specification, 

featuring 6-pot Alcon calipers on the 

front over the biggest discs that will fit 

inside the 18” tarmac wheels. Four-pot 

Alcon calipers occupy the rear, similarly 

over enormous discs. 

As one might expect, MCA suspension 

from his old Redcliffe mate, Murray 

Coote, does the job nicely, and Stewie 

has a gravel brake and suspension setup 

for dirt events. 

The car currently sits at an incredibly 

light 1208 kilograms, but with plans 

to replace some of the fibreglass 

components with carbon-fibre, the 

weight will reduce further. 

When still owned by Dave Thompson, 

the Quattro was driven by the 

legendary Ari Vatanen during a visit 

to Australia a few years ago, with a 

number of special guests enjoying the 

experience of sitting beside the Finnish 

master. 

With the attitude and response of 

the Quattro typically aggressive and 

sometimes unreadable, it is only the 

tremendous reflexes and ability of 

these drivers that mean the powerful 

Audi can be controlled and driven to 

win. 

During Ari’s visit the Quattro earned 

a nickname of ‘The Beast’ by mutual 

agreement. 

“Dave Thompson took a group of 

people to dinner while Ari and his wife 

were here,” explained Stewie. 

“When the wine list was presented, 

Ari saw a local Australian red labelled 


‘The Beast’ ... that was the first of many 

bottles that night!!” 

Stewie’s impressive and successful 

business enables him to build a great 

local customer base, but also maintain 

one of the most impressive rally 

workshops around. 

At the time of our visit, the workshop 

also hosted Dave Thompson’s genuine 

Metro 6R4 in Rothmans colours, a 

Toyota Celica rally car from Thompson’s 

collection, Stewie’s own recently 

acquired Escort BDG (which he ran for 

the first time at Rally Otago 2016) and 

his restored Toyota Corolla Gp N(P) rally 

car … amongst other gems. 

One thing is obvious, this very 

special car brings smiles to the faces 

of enthusiasts and spectators alike, 

and Reid is genuine in his willingness 

to ensure this car is seen and enjoyed. 

This is definitely no museum piece. 

There is no doubt that the Quattro 

S1 will see action again this year, with 

invitations to the World Time Attack 

Challenge in Sydney, and Classic 

Adelaide Rally on the calendar. 

The car will return to New Zealand for 

the Waimate 50 weekend of motosport 

in October, and Reid has confirmed his 

intention to contest perhaps the best 

modern long-distance classic rally in the 

world – the Silver Fern Rally – but will 

use his Escort Mk 2 BDG. 

He has not confirmed a co-driver 

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS ... 

New Zealand businessman and 

miner, Andrew Hawkeswood, had this 

car built in 2008 at his North Island 

workshop in Auckland. 

After driving an incredibly powerful 

Lancer Evo, he wanted an S1 Quattro 

rally car, and set about building one for 

himself. 

Similar to the original factory ‘design’, 

for the Silver Fern and can be 

contacted by interested parties at SR 

Automotive. 

With the interview ending with the 

expected question: “Will you ever sell 

the car?” Stewie replies with a gleam 

in his eye. 

“I can’t imagine it ... I thought about 

that wish where you get buried in 

the car when you pass on, but I’m 

too selfish!! I couldn’t take it out of 

circulation. It needs to be driven and 

seen.” 

Hawkeswood’s car was cobbled 

together from components bought 

locally and based on a $23,000 2WD 

Audi GT. The S1 body kit came from 

Sweden. 

Only one engine was ever going 

to do, and that’s an Audi in-line-five 

cylinder with a DOHC 20V head. Finding 

an ‘RR’ engine in New Zealand was not 

easy, with only three 20V Quattros 

sold new in New Zealand. To get his 

hands on this engine, Andrew had to 

purchase a complete car. 

Hawkeswood was offered an original 

gearbox for a reputed $150,000, but 

decided to use the more modern 

option of a 2007 Subaru driveline to 

avoid the massive expense. 


FEATURE: 1996 APRC 

Story & Photos 

MARTIN HOLMES 

1996, A GOLDEN YEAR 

One of the worst decisions made by the FIA and its 

predecessors, which was imposed on the World 

Rally Championship, was the Event Rotation system 

between 1994 and 1996, ostensibly to reduce the costs of contesting 

an ailing championship. 

The deal was that each WRC event would be asked to forego 

their championship status for one of the three years concerned 

(the FIA would decide which year …), and instead the organisers 

would be awarded a place in the World 2-litre Championship 

for Makes. 

42 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - JUNE 2016 

Clockwise from top: Drama at the flooded Bunnings creek crossing at 

Rally Australia; Japan’s Kenjiro Shinozuka in Malaysia, and the 1996 

APRC Champion, Kenneth Eriksson.

This was catastrophic for organisers 

who found the rhythm of their event, 

its public appeal, the commercial 

support and the human resources 

support were all disrupted. 

By 1996 the WRC was at one of 

its lowest levels in recent times, not 

helped by the exclusion from the 

WRC of Toyota. There were only three 

active manufacturers (Subaru, 

Mitsubishi and Ford). 

Gradually attention was drawn to 

the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship 

(APRC) as a support championship for 

the WRC. APRC was convenient, as 

two of the six events were the same 

events as in the WRC. Things have 

moved on since then! 

Nowadays the APRC is one of six 

regional championships run by the 

FIA. The first was the European series 

that started in 1953, at that time the 

only centrally run championship (the 

WRC only started in 1973), followed 

by the African series in 1982 and the 

Middle East series in 1984. 

The concept of the APRC originated 

from the initiative of Yoong Yin Fah, 

then organiser of the Malaysian Rally 

and the father of racing driver Alex 

Yoong. He launched a local series 

called the Far East Challenge, the 

success of which led to the decision to 

launch the APRC in 1988. 

The APRC was immediately 

welcomed by the various Japanese 

manufacturers active in international 

rallying, leading to the ascendancy 

of the series into the middle ‘90s, 

helped because the Rotation System 

gave regular WRC drivers time on 

their hands, and various Japanese 

manufacturers had budgets to spare. 

The APRC brought together 

many major motorsport leaders in the 

Far East. The first event was Morrie 

Chandler’s New Zealand Rally in 1988, 

won by Josef Haider’s Opel Kadett 

GSi (incidentally the only two-wheeldrive 

car to be an APRC winner), the 

second event was Yin Fah’s Malaysian 

Rally, and third was Nazir Hossein’s 

ambitious Himalayan Rally in India. 

Apart from the regular WRC events 

in the region, other major events were 

soon brought into the series, such as 

Indonesia, Thailand, and for several 

years, the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally. 

Participating manufacturers 

included Mazda, Mitsubishi and 

Suzuki and shortly afterwards came 

Subaru, and Mitsubishi’s Kenjiro 

Shinozuka became the first Japanese 

Ford’s Carlos Sainz on a slippery 

Rally of Indonesia. 

“By 1996 the WRC was at 

one of its lowest levels in 

recent times, not helped 

by the exclusion from the 

WRC of Toyota.” 


FEATURE: 1996 APRC 

driver to be an FIA rally champion. 

By the mid ‘90s European drivers were 

competing regularly on these events 

and the first European driver to gain 

the APRC title through regular success 

on the non-WRC events was Kenneth 

Eriksson. By 1996 the whole scene had 

really gelled. 

The first event in 1996 was Thailand, 

based at the upcountry town of 

Phrae. The top five seeded drivers were 

Tommi Makinen (Mitsubishi), Eriksson 

(Subaru), Richard Burns (Mitsubishi), 

Piero Liatti and Colin McRae (Subarus). 

For me, every visit to the APRC was 

memorable, but somehow Thailand was 

special. 

Walking through the streets of 

Phrae on a balmy evening, looking for 

somewhere to eat and finding world 

famous drivers in most unexpected 

places, was unforgettable. 

The APRC then switched to the 

torrid humidity of Indonesia where 

even main roads were amazingly 

narrow. In 1996 Indonesia was also 

a WRC qualifier. This turned out to 

be Ford’s first major win in two years, 

but only six hours after the finish was 

this confirmed after officials finished 

arguing with the organisers about 

whether the Ford team had fallen foul 

of servicing regulations. 

Malaysia came next and stage security 

was high on the agenda after countless 

Kenneth Eriksson, Colin McRae and 

Piero Liatti take a rickshaw ride in Asia. 

“The APRC then 

switched to the torrid 

humidity of Indonesia, 

where even main 

roads were narrow.” 

reports of non-competing vehicles 

entering live stages in the plantations. 

Stage cancellations were inevitable and 

teams “donated” personnel to help the 

organisers man the remaining stages. 

Then came New Zealand, this year 

a “2-litre” event and the scene of the 

first rally win for Richard Burns outside 

Britain (his first WRC win would not be 

for another two years). 

“Monster” Tajima’s Suzuki Baleno 

Wagon was 7th on the Hong Kong- 

Beijing Rally. 


Jimmy McRae pushes son, Colin, out 

of the Bunnings water crossing at 

Rally Australia in 1996. 


Entries by the Skoda and SEAT teams, 

contenders in the WRC’s 2-litre series, 

provided strong opposition to the 

regular two-wheel-drive teams from 

Suzuki, Hyundai and now Kia as well. 

Australia was the penultimate round 

of the 1996 APRC season, an event 

immortalised by a suddenly swollen 

deep water crossing which, in full view 

of hundreds of spectators, the top cars 

Richard Burns took victory on 

the Rally of New Zealand in his 

Mitsubishi Lancer. 

found to be impassable. 

Finally came the Hong Kong-Beijing 

where Ari Vatanen made a guest 

appearance for the Mitsubishi team 

and won the six-day event, and where 

Liatti, Eriksson and Yoshio Fujimoto 

retired off the road. 

Every rally was its own adventure, 

and it was impossible to come home 

without countless stories from the 

events to tell. 

Kenneth Eriksson won the Drivers’ 

title in 1996, for the second successive 

time, going on to his third title in 

1997. Subaru scored more points than 

Mitsubishi, but because of the best of 

four scores rule it was Mitsubishi that 

took the Manufacturers’ title, while 

the ebullient Suzuki driver, Nobuhiro 

Tajima, won the APRC’s ’F2’ title. 

1996 was the end of an era in 

many ways, not the least because 

this was the final year that Group 

A was the premier formula in the 

sport, as the World Rally Cars were 

going to arrive in 1997. 

The event rotation system was 

about to end, meaning that the 

world’s top rally drivers were no 

longer to be found strolling through 

the streets of unheard-of Asian 

towns, or having to contend with 

the intense humidity of the Oriental 

plantations. 

The Japanese manufacturers were 

coming under serious pressure 

from the renewed activities of 

European manufacturers. Much 

of the global glamour of the APRC 

was lost when the FIA ordered that 

WRC events should not also qualify 

for regional championships, and 

the FIA also ordered that World 

Rally Cars should be banned from 

regional events as well. 

1996 was an unforgettable year. 


MITSUBISHI LANCER 

THE FORGOTTEN ONE? 

Story: JEFF WHITTEN 

Scan the entry list of any classic 

rallies these days and you’ll find 

an abundance of different makes 

and models. 

It’s a safe bet that the list will be 

dominated by Datsun 1600s, Stanzas, 

200Bs, Silvias and the like, Escorts of 

the 2-litre and BDA/BDG configuration, 

Toyotas, Galants, the odd Cortina, 

Torana, 260Z – and the list goes on. 

When you consider that all these 

makes and models were around in 

the “good old days” of the Southern 

Cross Rally, it’s surprising that today’s 

list is unlikely to include one of the 

world’s most successful Japanese cars, 

a vehicle that is now rarely seen in club 

and major events. 

That car is the A73 Mitsubishi Lancer, 

a car that was almost invincible in the 

days of the famous Southern Cross. 

Plenty of Datsun 1600s still exist, as do 

a new wave of Escorts, still competitive 

even 40 years on, but the Lancer seems 

to be non-existent. 

When you take into account the fact 

that Lancers (and we’re not talking 

about the later 4WD turbocharged 

version) swept all before them in the 

‘Cross between 1972 to 1977, plus 

other major events all over the world, 

you have to ask why. 

Lightweight, compact, strong and 

ultra-competitive, the Lancer LA and LB 

models were introduced to the world 

in February 1973 as a successor to the 

also-rallied Colt Fastback and Galant 

Scotsman Andrew Cowan was 

Mitsubishi’s hero, taking five 

Southern Cross Rally wins, from 

1972 to 1976. 

that had been the company’s rallying 

mainstays until then. 

At that stage Mitsubishi were keen 

to break into the Australian market 

and chose to promote the Lancer 

in Australia as a tough family car 

that would be on the average family 

motorist’s shopping list. 

At the time it offered almost 

everything that Australian motorists 

were looking for, and showroom sales 

before (and certainly after) major 

events like the ‘Cross, and also the East 

African Safari, shot through the roof. 

Thanks to its engineering simplicity, 

the Lancer cut a swathe through the 

road-going family car market. 

While the earlier versions were 

powered by a 1400cc powerplant, the 

“rally-ised” 1600 GSR was the Japanese 

company’s secret weapon as far as 

performance was concerned. 

Mitsubishi made certain that they 

obtained the maximum benefit from 

their Southern Cross Rally entries, 

signing up the canny Scot, Andrew 

Cowan, as its lead driver in 1972, with 

Australia’s leading navigator at the 

time, John Bryson, calling the shots. 

So successful were the pair that not 

only did they win the event outright, 

but went on to take victory in 1973, ’74, 

’75 and ’76, plus a fifth in 1977, all in 

1600 GSR models. 

PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS 


The Singh / Connelly Lancer 

was second on the 1974 

Southern Cross Rally. 

1974 Southern 

Cross Rally 

Also featuring on the leaderboard in 

those years were Joginder Singh/Garry 

Connelly, Doug Chivas/Peter Meyer, 

Barry Ferguson/Wayne Gregson and 

Japan’s ever-consistent driver, Kenjiro 

Shinozuka, all of whom tasted victory 

during Mitsubishi’s whitewash of the 

major placings. 

So popular had the hot little 

Mitsubishi Lancers become, of the 

90 crews entered for the 1976 event, 

nearly 25 per cent of the entry list (20 

cars) were Lancers. 

Even the might of overseas factory 

teams such as Ford, who entered 

several RS1800 BDA Escorts, and Nissan 

with their Datsun 710s, failed to blunt 

the Mitsubishi steamroller’s attempts at 

victory. 

But the pace was moving on and 

it got decidedly more difficult for 

Mitsubishi to maintain that winning 

edge. Of course Australia was not the 

only country to see Lancers continue 

their winning streak. 

Victories in the East African Safari, 

one of the roughest and toughest 

events in the world in 1975 and 1976, 

confirmed the competitiveness of the 

1600 GSR, as well as its strength and 

durability. 

By the time Andrew Cowan had won 

the Southern Cross yet again in 1976, 

Lancers had clocked up seven major 

overall victories, proving that they were 

masters of their game. 

But the question remains – why are 

there so few two-wheel drive Mitsubishi 

Lancers rallying today? 

It’s not as though they would not 

be competitive against the hordes 

of Datsuns and the proliferation of 

Escorts, for it’s relatively easy to slot a 

2-litre or 2.4-litre Sigma motor into their 

accommodating body shell. And there 

should be no shortage of parts and 

panels available. 

You would think that auto 

dismantlers would also be a good 

source of two or four door shells, not to 

mention gearboxes and running gear. 

Compared to a good 2-litre Escort, 

there should be little difference in their 

relative performance and handling. 

We’d like to be proved wrong when 

we say that the Lancer is no more than 

a forgotten breed. If you have a good 

photo of your LA or LB Lancer taken 

either today or in times past, we’d love 

to see it. 

SOUTHERN CROSS RALLY FESTIVAL 

The 2016 Southern Cross Rally 

Festival starts in Melbourne on Friday, 

October 21 and runs through to the 

finale celebrations in Sydney during 

the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, 

October 29 and 30. 

The Festival program offers a 

selection of special events and social 

activities from which to choose, along 

with a choice of a fully-sealed route 

or a mix of bitumen and gravel on 

the touring event. Five days of driving 

will take crews over memorable rally 

roads of old, from Healesville to 

Jenolan Caves House. 

The 2016 Southern Cross Rally 

Festival will also be on show during 

Melbourne’s ‘MotorClassica’ weekend 

at the Royal Exhibition Building in 

Carlton from Friday, October 21 to 

Sunday, October 23. 

Promoted by RACV, Motorclassica is 

the Australian International Concours 

d’Elegance and Classic Motor Show. 

The Southern Cross Rally Festival 

will be represented at with a display of 

memorabilia depicting the Southern 

Cross Rally era from 1966 up to 1980. 

Vehicles that are of particular 

significance regarding the history 

of the event can be made available 

for display at Motorclassica, 

and any current car owners are 

invited to contact Dan White at 

southerncrossrally.com.au 

The event is classified as a National 

event with ‘non-speed’ skill tests. 

The 2016 event will wrap up with 

a Twilight Dinner Cruise on Sydney 

Harbour on Saturday, October 29. 

- Tom Smith 




MASTERFUL ME 

RALLY OF PORTUGAL - WRC 5 

Kris Meeke held the lead through 

three full days, impressively 

withstanding the pressure 

of the battling Volkswagen 

drivers Andreas Mikkelsen and 

Sebastien Ogier. 

Story: 

MARTIN HOLMES 


EKE 



The Hyundais flew high, but it 

was an event to forget, while 

for the third event in a row, 

Sebastien Ogier didn’t win. 

His unregistered Citroen provided 

the third different winning 

make of car in successive WRC 

rallies, and he drove a four year old DS3 

WRC, chassis 17, in earlier years rallied 

by Sebastien Loeb, scoring its 11th 

outright WRC win. 

Obliterating the many moments of 

disappointment earlier in his career, 36- 

year old Meeke drove a faultless event, 

taking full advantage of his favourable 

running order position, to which he was 

entitled by lack of earlier results this 

season. 

It was a disappointing event for 

Hyundai with only Dani Sordo’s fourth 

place to savour, but M-Sport’s fifth 

placed Eric Camilli finally showed his 

long anticipated promise, while his 

teammate, Mads Ostberg, was troubled 

by transmission and gearshifting 

trouble. 

Ostberg, however, retained his third 

place in the Drivers’ championship, 

behind Ogier and now Mikkelsen. 

It was great to see Citroen back 

again for the first time since Sweden. 

This time they had Meeke, Stephane 

Lefebvre and the team’s patron Khalid 

Al Qassimi driving. 

His recent championship absence 

had served Meeke well. Noticeable was 

a new demeanour for Meeke. It was 

the first time he had been through a 

WRC event with an even mind, open to 

enjoying the occasion, not complaining 

about the misfortunes of his career. 

It was a disappointing occasion for 


sixth 

placed Lefebvre. Just as 

soon as the real action started for the 

second day he was off the road, while 

Al Qassimi went off himself a little while 

afterwards. But all the while Meeke 

drove in a most professional and 

competent style. It was a real pleasure 

to see his success. 

It was also a pleasure that we were 

not treated to the usual tirade of 

the problems of the life of a multi-world 

champion from Sebastien Ogier. 

Once again running two full days as 

first car on the road was no pleasure, 

but true to his talent he held second 

place from the middle of Day 1, once 

he had shaken off the challenge 

of Dani Sordo, until he came under 

pressure 

from fellow VW driver Andreas 

Mikkelsen. 

So Ogier finished third overall 

which was unusual, and even then 

he was extremely fortunate. On the 

final morning he had a slow puncture 

when he only had one spare, which 

demanded caution until the end of the 

event, and then he had another slow 

puncture. He was able to reach the 

finish. 

Mikkelsen started the rally in his 

usual measured pace, but when his 

VW teammate, Jari-Matti Latvala, had 

power steering problems on the Friday 

afternoon and fell back, Mikkelsen was 

given the order to attack, ultimately

ending up overtaking Ogier! Mikkelsen: 

“I was sick and tired of going slow!” 

Hyundai came away from South 

America believing they were genuinely 

capable of challenging VW. They 

entered four cars, Hayden Paddon and 

Sordo in the main team, with Thierry 

Neuville as the second team driver. 

The team also tried to register Kevin 

Abbring as a second driver in the lower 

level team, which the Stewards refused 

to allow because Abbring was driving 

an old 2015 designed car. 

This was a rally Hyundai will wish to 

forget. Abbring was allowed to start as 

a non-championship driver, but went 

off the road in similar circumstances 

on two days. While Sordo was lying 

third at the end of Day 1, Neuville was 

two places behind, but then on Day 

2 Neuville ran out of fuel in what was 

described as “human error”. 

Hyundai’s major disaster, however, 

was the loss on only its second event 

of Paddon’s car, which caught fire and 

was destroyed after going off the road 

on Friday morning. This left Sordo to 

uphold the team’s honour, which he 

did splendidly, but he was unable to 

resist the attack of the newly charging 

Mikkelsen. 

Encouraging for M-Sport was 

the result for Eric Camilli after 

disappointments on earlier events. 

Unwelcome news was renewed 

downshifting problems for Mads 

Ostberg, which was then followed by a 

driveshaft failure on Day 2, followed by 

differential failure. 

Unfortunately all this dropped him 

from sixth, behind Latvala. But by the 

end of the rally, far too late to recover, 

Ostberg was going better and ended 

up seventh. M-Sport was also running 

the DMack team Fiesta WRC of Ott 

Tanak who crashed at the same place 

on stage 5 as Paddon, and only quick 

reactions from the crews of these cars 

and spectators saved it from also being 

destroyed. 

Tanak’s car was too badly damaged 

to continue. Henning Solberg also 

Aussies Scott Pedder and Dale 

Moscatt, Skoda Fabia R5. 

Scott Pedder shows his national 

pride. Photo: Colin Clark 

PEDDER IN PORTUGAL 

In brief ..... 

Former Australian Rally Champion, 

Scott Pedder, showed that 

at age 39, he’s lost none of his 

confidence nor speed with a fantastic 

drive at the Rally de Portugal last 

month. 

Running in the eye catching 

Pedders Suspension colour scheme 

more familiar to Australian crowds, 

Pedder and co-driver, Dale Moscatt, 

set a cracking pace in a brand new 

Skoda Fabia R5, after an early upset 

when the car suffered a light roll in 

the shakedown. 

The Auto Tek Motorsports team 

had the crew back in action for the 

event, with Pedder still showing great 

confidence in the rapid little weapon. 

In an amazing effort, Pedder 

banked his first WRC2 outright stage 

win, becoming the first Australian to 

take a stage win in a WRC event since 

Chris Atkinson. 

Finishing day 1 in fourth place 

in WRC2 was rewarding, and 

with overnight rain and the field 

showing extreme caution about 

road conditions, Pedder used his 

experience growing up on red clay 

roads in Victoria to great advantage 

Despite his WRC2 CV only including 

a total driving distance of about 400 

competitive kilometres in R5 cars, 

Pedder showed he was serious, 

despite missing out on a podium 

position by only 0.2 of a second. 

While disappointing to come so 

close, the result showed that Pedder 

can push hard and be competitive 

with the top drivers in the WRC2 

category. 

The Pedders team continues their 

WRC2 challenge with the Rally of 

Poland next on the calendar, on 

a fast, flat-out style event where 

traditionally Scott has shown maturity 

and strength. 

While no longer a regular 

competitor in the ARC series, Scott 

Pedder is arguably driving as well 

as ever and has taken the step 

that so many drivers fear to tread 

– he has taken the plunge into the 

international arena and shown that 

success on the world stage cannot 

help but be noticed! 

- Tom Smith 



went off the road and again narrowly 

escaped serious fire damage. 

WRC2 was a runaway success for 

Skoda, whose cars took five of the top 

six places. M-Sport placed their trust 

in Elfyn Evans, but all through Day 1 he 

was struggling with power loss and on 

Day 2 he went off the road. 

Pontus Tidemand was unbeatable, 

his only misfortune being a puncture 

on the afternoon of Day 2 when Nicolas 

Fuchs momentarily took the lead. 

Tidemand changed the tyre on the 

stage within two minutes, restarting on 

the dusty stage in front of Fuchs. The 

top Fiesta was Marius Aasen in third 

place. 

Australian Scott Pedder (Skoda 

Fabia R5) had made his way into third 

place after earlier rolling lightly on the 

shakedown stage, but a spin on the 

final stage saw him surrender that 

place to Aasen’s Fiesta. 

An early casualty was Teemu Suninen 

with suspension failure, incurring heavy 

Rally2 penalties, but returning later to 

demonstrate his undoubted speed. 

Despite finishing outside the points, 

Evans retained his lead in the series, 

seven points ahead of Fuchs with 

Tidemand holding third place. 

Simone Tempestini eventually won 

the WRC3 category. Sebastien Loeb’s 

protégé, Terry Folb, finished third. 

There was heartbreak on this the 

opening round of the 2016 Drive DMack 

Fiesta Trophy series for Portuguese 

driver, Bernardo Sousa, who had been 

leading for over half the event when he 

rolled his car on the final stage, which 

allowed Osian Pryce to win. 

Fellow British driver, Gus Greensmith, 

had led earlier, but punctured and had 

driveshaft trouble. 

2016 YPF Rally of Argentina - WRC round 4 

1. K. Meeke / P. Nagle Citroën DS3 WRC 3:59.01.0 

2. A. Mikkelsen / A. Jaeger Volkswagen Polo R WRC +29.7s 

3. S. Ogier / J. Ingrassia Volkswagen Polo R WRC +34.5s 

4. D. Sordo / M. Marti Hyundai New Generation i20 WRC +1m37.1s 

5. E. Camilli / B. Veillas Ford Fiesta RS WRC +4m01.6s 

6. J-M. Latvala / M. Anttila Volkswagen Polo R WRC +4m06.9s 

7. M. Østberg / O. Floene Ford Fiesta RS WRC +6m53.6s 

8. M. Prokop / J. Tomanek Ford Fiesta RS WRC +10m24.1s 

9. P. Tidemand / J. Andersson Skoda WRC2 +11m45.2s 

10. N. Fuchs / F. Mussano Skoda WRC2 +13m14.0s 

13. S. Pedder / D. Moscatt Skoda WRC2 +15m05.1s 

Jari-Matti Latvala is having a 

season to forget, with more 

problems in Portugal. 


PROMOTE YOUR RALLY TEAM 

5 STEP PROMOTION PLAN 

Story: 

DALLAS DOGGER 

Rallying is one of the most 

extreme sports on earth. 

Very few sports enjoy the 

fulfilment that rallying delivers. 

We all know it’s a secret 

though. Generally, rallying only 

receives coverage due to a 

mishap – a car crashing off the 

road, or worse, into a crowd. 

Traditionally, rallying got media 

coverage because events either 

bought coverage or paid for TV 

coverage. 

Media managers would slave 

over a hot computer, churning 

out story after story, diligently 

sending them out to anyone who 

would take them. The occasional 

story was published. 

With massive change in media 

ownership and new low cost 

ways to deliver fast content, the 

methods to promote rallying 

and the teams who compete in it 

have changed markedly. 

Social media now plays a 

pivotal role in rally marketing, 

and for any team or event, 

building a profile on social media 

platforms is something everyone 

involved can be part of. 

The first round of the ARC had 

over 160,000 Facebook views. This is 

much more coverage than a TV show 

can deliver and importantly, teams and 

crews can leverage off this exposure. 

Interestingly, rallying as a marketing 

medium is highly under-utilised. The 

sport enjoys a diverse demographic 

with concentration on males, but there 

is solid interest by females and the 

sport is well represented by women, 

Coral and Molly Taylor, and Emma 

Gilmour being shining examples. 

Many businesses need a cut through 

message – one that is clear and 

one that may not be challenged by 

competition. Rallying offers advertisers 

a unique medium to get to potential 

customers at very affordable prices. 

A company looking to sponsor a 

major ARC team could get major 

promotional value for far less than the 

cost of a bonnet in Supercars. 

So how do you help make your team 

sparkle in this new era of promotion? 

• Ensure you and your team look 

the part at events. 

A team Facebook page, like this one for Evans Motorsport, 

is essential for team promotion. 

“Rallying offers 

advertisers a 

unique medium to 

reach customers.” 

Team clothing and a good clear 

message on your vehicle are critical to 

building your profile. Top teams all look 

good, so invest in team clothing 

• Fill out the event media 

information sheet 

Many crews fail to fill out the ‘Media 

Information” forms for events. Media 

managers are always looking for 

content, they need your information so 

they can promote you. Commentators 

need your information,. That 

information comes from those forms. 

• Create a team page on Facebook 

Facebook has the best reach for 

competitors. Having a team page 

means you can post photos of your 

car in events, and others can too. 

Link your pages to 

events you compete in, 

take advantage of the 

supporters that most 

events have. That will 

increase your reach 

Link your team with your 

sponsor 

Your sponsor might have 

very good social media 

presence, but if they don’t, 

your team activity will 

help build interest in their 

products. 

Steve Mackenzie is a 

good example of a driver 

with good links to his 

business – Opticoat. Link 

the business to the team. 

• Introduce yourself to 

the Media Manager of the 

event 

Make the time to go and 

see the Media Manager 

of the event. Hand him 

some press kits that you 

can make up easily. He 

can give them to visiting 

media. 

Media exposure and 

profile building is your 

responsibility. If the 

media team have your 

information, then they will 

use it. 

Whilst you may only be competing 

for fun, very few can compete without 

financial help. Give back to those who 

dip into their pockets to help you by 

promoting them. 

Media teams at events don’t have 

crystal balls – they scrabble every 

rally for information and so do the 

commentary team, updating them will 

get you coverage that others complain 

about. 

At Rally Australia last year, I heard 

many mumbles about Haydon 

Paddon’s supporters. He is a shining 

example of a guy with a huge 

social media following. He was the 

competitor with his own busload of 

supporters. 

You can do it too! 

And three last tips: 

1. Drive fast, that always works 

2. Be outspoken – don’t be afraid to 

say what’s on your mind. 

3. Be available and friendly to the 

media, and give them something 

to report on. 


WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 

? WHERE 

are they now 

ED ORDYNSKI ... PART 2 

A ‘mild-mannered’ school teacher 

by profession, Ed Ordynski was the 

consummate rally professional 

– fast, reliable, presentable, articulate 

and a champion many 

times over. 

Tom Smith asks 

the questions ..... 

Story: 

TOM SMITH 


Ordynski’s original Galant VR4 

saw him win the 1990 Australian 

Rally Championship. 

What’s your perception of the next 

generation of competitors like Molly Taylor 

and Harry Bates, for instance? 

I think they showcase the future of 

the sport exceptionally well and it’s 

great to see the opportunities they have 

at a much younger age than the drivers 

of my era were able to achieve. They’re 

not bogged down with building and 

preparing their own cars and are media 

savvy in all of the areas required of a 

sportsperson these days. They are free 

to concentrate on the elements that 

make you a champion over and above 

being a fast driver in a fast car. 

Is there a young Australian driver you have 

identified as our next potential champion 

(and why?) 

No, I’m not close enough to the sport 

to answer with accuracy. One thing 

I would say is that there are a large 

number of candidates throughout 

Australia who are clearly addressing 

the full package requirements to be a 

champion. 

However, you do still have to be the 

fastest to make it to the top. Being 

fast is your basic, turn-up-for-work 

responsibility. If you’re not the fastest 

in the category you’re in, it’s probably 

not going to happen as a works driver 

unless you pay to be there. You have 

to be fast in whatever you drive and 

a master of the top six or eight things 

that make a champion. That applies to 

all levels of the sport. 

Do you still try to spend some time visiting 

local or international rallies? 

Not as a spectator. I was never a 

good spectator even before starting 

rallying. I‘ve had a close association 

with Targa events, fulfilling numerous 

roles since I retired. I’ve done the odd 

road closure or course car driving 

on gravel events. I quite like the 

involvement with the tarmac events 

because it’s something fresh to me and 

the events are more like the rallies I 

was brought up on, with long stages, 

multi-days, servicing in different towns 

and so on. 

For the last two years or so I worked 

as an advisor to CAMS, the Tasmania 

Police and the Dept of Justice in 

Tasmania on an inquiry into a Targa 

fatality that resulted in a 

full inquest. It was a very 

difficult experience, but the 

outcome has been incredibly 

positive for tarmac rallying 

and indeed, rallying in 

general. 

Many said the inquest will 

end Targa, but it just had 

its biggest entry by far and 

many of the on-going safety 

issues have finally been 

addressed. The inquest 

outcome has helped make 

Targa sustainable. 

Do you still have professional 

alignments with Mitsubishi – 

and on what level? 

Yes, occasionally, on 

one-off projects. Most 

of the people I worked 

closely with at Mitsubishi 

are long gone and it’s very 

special to see that the new, 

younger generation still 

know about the past and 

value motorsport history. 

The Head of Corporate 

Communications is Shayna Welsh, 

daughter of long-term Victorian rally 

competitor, Mike Welsh. The CEO, 

Mutsuhiro Oshikiri, was first here at 

Mitsubishi as a young executive in my 

Galant VR4 days when we won the ARC 

outright in a Group N car. 

I have worked with Mitsubishi on a 

number of projects, especially involving 

energy efficient vehicles. For example, I 

did some initial testing of the Outlander 

PHEV (plug-in hybrid) and designed a 

drive program to showcase the vehicle 

at its media launch. I was then involved 

with the initial planning on that vehicle 


WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 

being in a motorsport activity and when 

the budget was approved, I was invited 

to drive the Outlander PHEV on the 

Australasian Safari. 

I don’t even have a competition 

licence anymore and didn’t want to 

trigger all of the things in which you 

need to be absolutely on top of your 

game, to drive for a manufacturer, so I 

assisted Mitsubishi in finding the best 

crew and team for the job. 

I thought that’d be the extent of my 

involvement, but Mitsubishi then asked 

me to come along on the actual event 

for two weeks, to help ensure the best 

possible return on investment. It was 

an outstanding project and a great 

example of how motorsport can assist 

with the single-most important area for 

a manufacturer, these days – energy 

efficiency. 

The Safari organisers were really 

supportive and understood the need to 

do far more than simply provide a class 

for the vehicle. Steve Glenney, Bernie 

Webb and Alan Heaphy’s crew were 

the professionals you’d expect and did 

absolutely everything required. 

Do you find yourself in demand locally as a 

mentor for up-and-coming drivers? 

Very rarely these days, and usually 

just over the phone or meeting for a 

chat over a coffee. I’ve had a phone 

conference with Molly Taylor about 

pacenoting and Neal Bates sent me 

some of Harry’s in-car vision to provide 

some feedback, and I’ve discussed a 

few things with motoring journalist, 

Paul Gover, who’s helping Harry as he 

Group N was Ordynski’s domain, 

and he won multiple times at 

World Championship level. 

Photo: Stuart Bowes 

did Neal, in hopefully getting some of 

the breaks he deserves. 

During my career I did provide 

training to competitors, many of 

whom have gone on to much bigger 

and better things – Cody Crocker, 

Katsu Taguchi, Brendan Reeves, 

Steven Shepheard, Scott Pedder, Mark 

Pedder, Justin Dowel, David West, 

Marty Beckton, and co-drivers like 

Greg Foletta, Dale Moscatt, Rhianon 

Gelsomino, and Matt Lee, to name just 

a few as there were many more. 

It usually centred on pacenoting and, 

in particular, how to relate and deliver 

pacenotes to best position the car on 

the road, not just following the shape 

of the road, and to ensure the driver is 

ultimately the person responsible for 

the writing and delivery of the notes in 

the best manner for them. 

It’s something I’m very proud of 

– having a small role with so many 

competitors. I remember meeting 

Steve Glenney for the first time 

for a chat over a coffee and seeing 

immediately the understanding he 

had of being across the whole package 

required for success. 

Some of my peers said I was crazy to 

assist others, but I never failed to learn 

something myself each time and I saw it 

as helping the sport to be stronger and 

more competitive, which was better for 

us as works drivers. 

Are you still active in the rally scene at 

home in South Australia? 

No, almost no involvement other 

than the occasional chat to Ivar Stanelis 

about items related to the SA ARC 

event. I helped Walkerville All Cars Club 

obtain sanctioning for its club track and 

have provided a small level of guidance 

to SA champs James Rodda, Russell 

Marker and co-driver Karien Heimsohn. 

It sounds odd when I say it, but I feel 

least knowledgeable about SA rallying, 

as it’s actually the state I competed in 

least during my career. My home of 

rallying at the professional level has 

been based mainly in Tasmania, with 

Les Walkden, or NSW with Ralliart. 

Do you think the current rally formula in 

the Australian Championship is working? 

The season is only just beginning 


“A manufacturer 

needs to see 

consistency and 

stability in the 

regulations, a level 

playing field for all 

involved.” 

so impossible to say with all the 

recent rule changes. There needs to 

be time to monitor the outcome. As 

far as factory involvement goes, a 

manufacturer needs to see consistency 

and stability in the regulations, a level 

playing field for all involved, and most 

of all, a large number of competitive 

teams. 

Manufacturers have to take a 5 to 

10 year view of their involvement to 

maximise the return on the initial 

investment. They need the confidence 

in the sport to know the rules won’t 

change next year or through something 

out of left field. 

The same probably applies to 

privateers, because to contest the 

ARC properly, it’s an enormous 

commitment, virtually requiring you to 

give up everything else in life. 

There needs to be a confident 

and stable vision for the ARC and a 

commitment to that vision over a 5 to 

10 year window that realistically attracts 

investors and openly encourages state 

competitors to events, as equals. 

What are your thoughts on the success of 

classic rally cars? 

It’s great to see it starting to happen 

in Australia. The stand-alone events 

like the Alpine are showing the way 

and anything the HRA in Victoria does 

seems to be very well thought out 

and planned to inspire competitors. I 

think that’s part of the key – the events 

themselves need to allow competitors 

to not only experience the cars, but 

the style of rally of the era – e.g. long 

stages, some night-time, no pacenotes, 

everyone in the event on an equal 

footing when you enter, etc. 

What would be your choice of rally car in 

the classic category? 

It’s hard to say as part of me would 

want to study all the regulations 

out there at the moment and build 

something that makes the most of the 

Driving Ralliart Australia’s 

Group A Lancer in the 

Rally of Melbourne. 

Ordynski and the Les Walkden 

Rallying Lancer Evo 3 in the 

Rally of Canberra. 

(Spook Photographics) 

freedoms, like Neal Bates has done – a 

2016 version of a classic car. 

However, I think mainly I’d like to 

revisit what it felt like to rally in the 

era I remember as classic rallying and 

therefore do HRA style events in, say, 

a Datsun 1600 built to the simple spec 

I used to run. It’d be slow for sure, but 

great to experience again. 

I think for me personally, classic 

rallying needs to be a car in the spec 

it was run in the era, in an event that 

most replicates that style of rallying, 

but I recognise that’s not necessarily for 

everyone. Maybe a fairly basic Datsun, 

two litre, Webers, good gearbox, and 

LSD in, say, the Silver Fern in NZ, would 

be good or indeed, some night-time 

navigation events. 

Will we see Ed Ordynski in a classic rally 

car at any time? 

There’s nothing to prevent me 

running one – it’s purely finding the 

time while doing all the things I’ve 

mentioned about life after rallying. 

Many who compete in classics had 

around 15 or 20 years out of the sport 

before returning, so its very different 

for me having had such a long, 

continuous career. 

It’s not on my list of things to do at 

the moment and probably receding 

into the distance. But I still have a 

good Datsun shell and all the parts to 

replicate the one I used to run, just in 

case. 

- Tom Smith 


INTERVIEW: CARLOS BARBOSA 

THE CHANGING 

FACE OF THE WRC 

Carlos Barbosa is a rally chief support rallying any longer as they 

with two hats. At home he is only wanted to support golf and 

the President of the Automobile beaches. That was worrying, but our 

Club of Portugal, internationally he is new government is now studying 

the FIA’s President of the World Rally again the situation. The new Secretary 

Championship Commission. 

of State said the support of the rally 

Portugal’s premier rally has been had worked very well in the previous 

changing its face these days. Their governments. She well knows the 

world championship qualifying event 

is again based back in the north of 

the country, the region considered its 

spiritual home, for the second year, 

after a decade of being held in the 

south of the country. 

Before this year’s event took to the 

streets, we asked Carlos why the rally 

ever went down to the Algarve, when it 

had been so popular in the north. 

Carlos Barbosa: When the rally came 

back to the world championship in 2007 

we didn’t have the commercial support 

of the authorities in the centre of the 

country. We had to go to the south 

because we had the support of the 

power and the money the rally brings. 

Tourism of Portugal to do that. 

And she’s hoping to revive their official 

They wanted to promote the south support again next year. 

because it is a much more popular 

tourist part of Portugal where there Putting on your FIA hat, things are 

are beaches, the golf courses and changing internationally as well. How happy 

everything. So we went there and were 

are you with the way the 2017 new WRC 

very well received. 

It was ideal for us because the stages 

formula, is developing? 

were fantastic and the local authorities CB: I’m very happy, because I know 

ensured the work was very well done. that the new cars have been tested 

We had good hotels, we had everything. for some time. I think the new cars 

Then, after seven years, the FIA said 

will be very impressive. They will be 

they wanted the rally to be seen by 

much faster, beautiful, stronger. For 

more spectators than was possible in 

the fans they will be more like the old 

the Algarve. The north is the “home” 

Group B. We are very happy with the 

of rallying in Portugal, like we saw 

return of Toyota. It will be a very good 

last year when the event attracted 1.5 

championship 

million people over the weekend. It MH: A lot of people are very nervous about 

was fantastic. 

the increased performance, particularly when 

So we came back to the home of 

the rally. We are already working on 

thinking about security. 

developing the theme for 2017. 

CB: I think there is no reason for 

that. Look at how the experiences 

Where will the rally be based in the future? in Argentina were handled, for 

CB: We are thinking of starting the example. Last year it was an example 

2017 rally in Arganil, then use the of bad security. This year they made a 

stages up to Porto. If we use the fantastic job. 

Arganil area just for the first day of Michele Mouton (FIA’s safety 

the rally, there will be no available delegate) is making a very good 

infrastructure problem. There is now job. She often goes two or three 

good support for this concept. 

weeks before each rally to make sure 

Two or three years ago, Portuguese everything works. This was done in 

Tourism said they didn’t want to 

Argentina to help overcome their 

problem controlling the crowds, now 

we are working with Poland, which is 

the next one we must check. So I’m not 

worried on this aspect. 

The arrival of the 2017 cars means there 

will in effect be one more formula of rally 

cars in the sport. What will happen for the 

then redundant 2016 World Rally Cars? Is 

there an opportunity for a new championship, 

maybe for example a Privateers’ Cup, for the 

present generation cars? 

CB: We are studying this 

because I think that the world rally 

championship should not only be 

for the manufacturers. We want to 

give privateers the chance of winning 

a title so they can be recognised 

like the manufacturers 

are. The (World Rally 

Championship) Commission 

can see there are now so 

many privateers in the 

championship appearing in 

the championship events 

with R5 cars. 

We are seeing what we 

can do for the privateers. 

Regarding the future of 

2016 specification World 

Rally Cars, we are studying 

this with our technical 

department. We do not want 

these cars to be left behind in 

the garage. 

It is not our proposal to abandon 

these cars, we want to see more and 

more cars on the rallies, more people 

making rallies. 

What is going to happen about all these 

new rallies wanting to be in the WRC? Can 

we expect the FIA to go back to a rotation 

system for events? 

CB: Yes, there is a lot of enthusiasm 

from new countries. Jordan, Brazil, 

even at one time Iran. There are many 

countries that want to have a rally in 

the world championship. 

We are studying proposals. Of course 

we cannot have them all in the series! 

Many countries want to enter the WRC 

because they see how our television 

coverage has changed completely in 

the last two years, and they know their 

countries can be seen by millions and 

millions of people. 

Finally, are there any other new initiatives, 

new ideas which you hope will come to 

fruition in the future? 

CB: Yes, we have some, but I cannot 

tell you. We will discuss them at the 

Commission to see what is going to 

do to make the championship more 

exciting next year. 

- Martin Holmes 


BE PREPARED 

PREPARATION 101 

14-year old Matthew 

Whitten on the job at the 

recent Mitta Mountain 

Rally in Victoria. 

Officials need to be 

just as prepared as 

competitors when 

heading into the bush 

No matter what type of rallying 

you are into - WRC, ARC, NZRC, 

club rallying or any other - I 

think there are two types of rally fans. 

I’m not talking about if you volunteer 

for controls, road closures, or anything 

like that, I am talking about your 

preparation. 

To my knowledge, I think that one 

type are people who are VERY well 

prepared. As a confession (and I’m 

not sure if it is bad or good), my family 

is the type that is always very well 

prepared. 

We always have a big Esky (or Chilly 

Bin) - no, not full of beer, but full of 

food. Burgers and sausages, pre-cut 

rolls for the burgers, lettuce, tomatoes, 

cucumber, carrot, beetroot, and 

whatever other salads that go with 

burgers (all packed into their own 

special containers, of course). To cook 

the meat, we have the trusty butane 

stove. 

And not forgetting the deck chairs, 

packed for maximum comfort. 

Sometimes, we even go to the extent to 

buying the most expensive toilet paper 

for the ‘rally roll’, to make your bush 

toilet experience the best possible 

(don’t forget the spade!). 

As you can see, we are well prepared. 

We always seem to pack way too much 

food! 

The other type of people, in my 

opinion, are usually a group of two or 

three mates doing a road closure. They 

only take the bare minimum: sausages, 

bread, and tomato sauce. A grill to 

cook the sausages on, some matches 

to start the fire, and of course, the 

tongs. 

Their ‘rally roll’ looks like it has been 

in the back of the car for about seven 

years. 

And, sometimes, if they remember, 

Story: 

MATTHEW WHITTEN 

the trusty portable radio (which is only 

trusty when it has battery). 

Don’t get me wrong, I love the 

excess food, it is like an all-you-can-eat 

buffet. On the other hand, sometimes I 

would rather Mum and Dad employed 

the simpler strategy, or the bare 

minimums strategy. 

I think when you are on the bare 

minimums strategy, you get more of 

the rallying experience. 

Nevertheless, neither way is better 

or worse. The main thing is that you 

are out there, helping out, showing 

support, and enjoying some time in the 

bush, watching the sport we all love, 

rallying. 


RETROSPECTIVE: JIM SCOTT 

GREAT SCOTT! 

Story: 

JEFF WHITTEN 

The fastest, most accident-prone rally driver in the world is 

coming to New Zealand for a major rally and is looking for 

someone to occupy the co-driver’s hot seat. 

You are New Zealand’s top 

co-driver, mid-forties, married 

with children. You contemplate 

his world championship record – seven 

starts, seven retirements, four through 

crashes – and decline the chance. Right? 

Wrong. 

You call Masport boss Doug Benefield 

(the owner of the car to be used), ask 

for the job, and get it.” 

So reports David Thomson and 

Martin Holmes in the book “The New 

Zealand Rally” about Jim Scott, well 

known team manager, competitor 

relations officer, co-driver and walking 

storehouse of rally knowledge. 

In 1977 Jim Scott was one of 

New Zealand’s best, if not the best, 

navigator/co-driver, having won the 

New Zealand Rally twice previously with 

Scot Andrew Cowan – in 1972 in a Mini 

Clubman GT and in 1976 in a Hillman 

Avenger. 

So who better suited to sit beside the 

world’s fastest (albeit most desperate) 

rally driver, Ari Vatanen, than Scott 

himself? 

It wasn’t a job that anyone would 

have taken on lightly, but Scott was 

prepared to take the risk. His input 

could have given Vatanen an outright 

win in the event (and it almost did), 

as well as giving them both their first 

world championship win. 

With a reputation like Vatanen’s, 

Scott’s family were naturally very 

concerned about his well-being and 

the story goes that he rang home after 

every leg of the rally to let his family 

know that he was okay. 

“Mother was very interested, but 

with all those reports coming in over 

the radio along the lines of ‘Vatanen’s 

been off again’, I could understand 

the concern. I used to ring up and let 

people know we were still in one piece,” 

Scott is reported to have said at the 

time. 

1977 was the year that Ari Vatanen and 

Jim Scott so nearly won the Rally of New 

Zealand, in a brilliant drive that ended 

with the pair in second spot. Had the 

rally lasted one more stage, the 25 yearold 

Finn, and the New Zealander 25 

years his senior, might have snatched 

victory from the works Fiat 131 Abarth 

driven by Fulvio Bacchelli and Francesco 

Rossetti. 

In 1977 Fiat came to New Zealand 

with three works-entered 131 Abarths 

in a bid to gain a lead over Ford in the 

World Manufacturers Championship. 

So keen were Fiat to turn the tables 

on Ford that they shipped three cars 

to the Shaky Isles, along with nearly 

500 tyres and truckloads of spares, the 

whole assault rumoured to have cost 

$400,000, a figure unheard of in 1977. 

The plan was for one vehicle to win 

the event, while the other two would 

be foils to prevent Ford from picking 

up points. Along with Bacchelli, Fiat 

had Markku Alen in the second car and 

Simo Lampinen in the third, collectively 

a highly experienced trio. 

The Vatanen/Scott Escort RS1800, 

prepared by Masport in NZ, was the 

only real challenger to the Fiats, apart 

from a similar Masport Escort driven by 

Blair Robson. 

The Masport Escort Team (left to right): Blair Robson, Chris Potter, Ari Vatanen and Jim Scott. 

(Photos: Martin Holmes) 


Vatanen, with the innocent Scott 

alongside, was expected to be 

the equal of the Fiat steamroller, 

despite his reputation for being astonishingly 

quick but likely to have huge 

accidents. Fiat weren’t looking forward 

to the 2000 kilometre event, for it was 

almost twice as long as most European 

rallies of the era. 

Right from the start the Fiats battled 

it out with Vatanen, but once the 

longer stages commenced, the Finn 

opened the Escort up and took the

WATCH 

HIGHLIGHTS 

The 1977 South Pacific Rally in New Zealand was Ari Vatanen’s first World Rally Championship finish. 

lead. As many people had predicted, 

Vatanen put the Escort off the road 

and lost 23 minutes getting the car out 

of a paddock and back onto the road, 

seemingly putting himself and Scott 

into an unwinnable position. 

Bacchelli, then in front, extended 

his lead to nearly six minutes over 

teammate Lampinen. Alen had 

overheating problems and dropped 

back, but was still ahead of Vatanen 

and Scott, who were back in 32 nd 

position. 

Putting their accident behind them, 

Vatanen and Scott showed what they 

were capable of by winning nine of the 

following 10 stages to take them from 

32 nd to 8 th outright. 

Of course it was too good to be true 

and on the next (overnight) leg, Vatanen 

tipped the Escort up on two wheels on 

the first stage, breaking the suspension 

as it landed. His string of fastest times 

from the previous night were lost there 

and then. Nevertheless, they continued 

to mix it with the Fiats and by the end 

of the leg they were back to within 21 

minutes of Bacchelli and, amazingly, in 

fifth position. 

However, there were legal wrangles 

going on in the Fiat camp – Lampinen 

was found to be carrying a two-way 

radio in his car in contravention of the 

regulations, and Alen was clocked by 

the police doing 132km/h on a public 

road. 

Vatanen and Scott put all that behind 

them and concentrated on the job 

at hand. Winning nine of the next 11 

stages, they were beginning to open up 

a chink in the Fiat’s armour and by the 

end of the leg, both Bacchelli and Alen’s 

131s were leaking copius quantities of 

oil. 

The marathon fourth leg of the 

rally, all 22 hours of it from 

Gisborne to Rotorua, was where 

Vatanen was to make his mark. Crashing 

yet again in an early night stage, it 

all came together for the pairing on the 

102 kilometre Pehiri-Rakauroa stage. 

Starting behind the Fiats, Vatanen 

blitzed the field, overtaking all three 

Fiats in the stage. “Rally New Zealand” 

reports that Jim Scott recounted after 

the rally that the Finn’s performance 

was pure artistry. 

“We caught the first set of tail lights 

about halfway through and this just 

seemed to set Ari alight to a level of 

expertise even higher than he’d been 

before. It wasn’t long before we caught 

the second car and passed it, and as we 

passed Bacchelli, Ari just said ‘Now I die 

happy’.” 

The famous Motu stage was next 

and Bacchelli won that after the Escort 

holed an oil tank. But the Italian left 

the road a little later, putting Vatanen 

and Scott up into third place, less than 

10 minutes behind the leading Fiat, a 

minute behind Lampinen and half a 

minute ahead of Alen. 

With just one leg left in which to 

catch Bacchelli, Vatanen won six of the 

next nine stages and looked set for 

victory when the leading Fiat lost its oil 

pressure and Bacchelli took a wrong 

turn. The gap between the Ford and the 

NEXT MONTH: 

Fiat was down to just over two minutes, 

but the leading Fiat required major 

work on its engine so that it could make 

the start of the final stage in Auckland. 

Bacchelli crawled through the stage 

to win, admitting afterwards that had 

there been one more stage in the event, 

there was no way they would have 

completed the stage with the engine in 

such a poor condition. Alen took third 

place, 20 minutes behind Vatanen with 

Lampinen fourth. 

Vatanen, the Finn, and Scott, the New 

Zealander, had so nearly won the event 

after a mighty drive through the field, 

comprehensively splitting the Fiat’s 1-3- 

4 finishing result. 

It might not have been Jim Scott’s 

finest hour, but it was undoubtedly the 

most exciting ride in his rallying career. 

The next time Vatanen appeared in 

Rally New Zealand, he had enlisted the 

aid of the legendary David Richards as 

his co-driver. Jim Scott had groomed 

Vatanen well, that pairing going on to 

bigger and better things in the future. 

Not too many people can claim to 

have co-driven Ari Vatanen in a major 

international event, but Jim Scott was 

one of them. It must have been one hell 

of a ride! 

Source: “The New Zealand Rally – Celebrating 

25 Years”, by David Thomson and Martin Holmes. 

The 1977 South Pacific Rally from 

Ari Vatanen’s perspective. 


TARGA SOUTH WEST 

WET AND 

WILD 

IN 

THE WEST 

Mark Greenham conquered the 

conditions to win Targa South 

West in his Mitsubishi Lancer. 

Photos: Tim Allott 

Unfavourable weather conditions in WA may have put 

the brakes on Quit Targa South West entrant’s competitive 

spirit, but not the enjoyment of tarmac rallying 

on some of Pemberton and Manjimup’s most picturesque 

roads. 

In a first for this year, sixteen out of the twenty one special 

stages were competitive and attracted points for the WA 

Targa Cup. 

Going into the event, Will White was leading the points 

table for the WA Targa Cup and was looking to further 

extend his lead. However, 

the weather conditions 

quickly shifted his and 

other competitors’ focus 

towards preservation 

mode, not wanting to risk 

any damage before the 

Quit Targa West event in 

August. 

It was a smart strategy 

as the slippery road 

conditions quickly took 

their toll on several teams 

- none in more spectacular 

style than the R33 Nissan 

Skyline of Denver Parker 

and Lachlan Beresford 

Simon Gunson had a smooth 

weekend in the Capri Perana 

to win the Classic trophy. 

who found themselves upside down in a creek bed. 

“It was just a slippery road. We came into a corner and just 

pinched the front brakes, from there we found ourselves very 

quickly skating across the road. 

“Denver tried to grab the handbrake and turn it in but 

the car wouldn’t cooperate. We caught the edge of the 

bridge, cleared the creek and it then rolled onto its lid,” said 

Beresford. 

In what seemed like a theme ‘Skylines on their lids’, Bruce 

Hawley and Mark McEwen’s event was going smoothly until 

their R34 Skyline GTR left the road on SS7 and rolled. 

The end of first day saw Mark Greenham and Mandy Lister 

leading the Competition Modern category in the Mitsubishi 

Evo 7, almost two minutes in front of the Mitsubishi Evo 9 

driven by Will White and Matthew Thompson. 

If keeping a car on the road with the assistance of modern 

technology was hard enough, a thought needed to be spared 

for the guys and girls in the Classic category, whose pre- 

1986 cars are light on technology, often lucky to have power 

steering. 

Long-time Targa Classic category competitor Frank Huber 

also had the weather cause them some drama when his 1964 

Ford Falcon Sprint hit a puddle and left the road. 

Simon Gunson and Murray Armenti in the Capri Perana 

were leading the Competition Classic at the end of the first 

day, with last year’s Quit Targa West winner Peter Major and 

Kim Screigh in a Porsche 911RS very close behind with a 12 

second gap. 

Will White was on a 

stage winning streak at 

the beginning of Day Two, 

until SS17 when a rotor 

on his Mitsubishi Evo 

shattered. 

White’s exit from the 

event left Mark Greenham 

and Mandy Lister with 

a comfortable lead of 

almost five minutes over 

the now second placed 

Brendan Templemann 

and Peter Howlett in the 

Mitsubishi Evo 8. 

Mark Greenham and 

Mandy Lister managed to hang onto their lead to cross 

the finish line as outright winners and the winners of the 

Competition Modern category, with Greenham also accruing 

points for the WA Targa Cup. 

“Today was just about driving really steady and 

consolidating the lead we built up from the first day,” said 

Greenham. “We really couldn’t do much more than lose the 

rally so it was just about keeping it on the road, off the kerbs, 

and bringing it home for the win.” 

Simon Gunson and Murray Armenti also managed to keep 

hold of the lead they created on Day One, despite Peter 

Major and Kim Screigh using Day Two to consistently chip 

away at the gap between themselves and the leaders. 

Gunson’s win will also accrue him points for his WA Targa 

Cup total. 

He is currently leading the Early Classic category. 

The next event in the WA Targa Cup calendar will be the 

first running of the Bunbury City Sprint on June 26, before 

Quit Targa West in Perth from August 11-14. 


LAKE MOUNTAIN SPRINT 

Adam Kaplan mastered 

rain, sleet, snow and fog in 

his Mazda RX7. 

KAPLAN 

CONQUERS 

Sydney businessman Adam Kaplan 

has taken outright victory in the 

second round of the 2016 Australian 

Tarmac Rally Championship, doing 

battle with rain, fog, sleet and snow on 

the way to the achievement. 

Kaplan and co-driver Mary Hughes 

brought their 1985 Mazda RX 7 home in 

first place in the Lake Mountain Sprint, 

despite their gearbox almost giving 

up the ghost on the final stage. They 

came home ahead of Canberra’s Max 

Williams and Bruce Bush in an Audi TT 

RS while Hobart’s Tim O’Connor and 

Steve Glenney (2006 Subaru WRX STi) 

finished third in the battle for outright 

honours. 

In the classic division, victory (and 

eighth outright) went to Melbourne’s 

Rob Devenish and Nick Du Plessis and 

their 1970 Datsun 240Z. They finished 

ahead of Mark Hammond from the 

NSW Central West and Lisa Dunkerton 

in their 1980 Jaguar XJS. 

The event in Victoria’s Yarra Ranges 

National Park was run in mixed 

conditions on May 28-29, with rain, 

fog, sleet and some snow forcing the 

downgrading of several stages on 

Saturday, before conditions became 

much drier for Sunday. 

The route was made up of 16 closed 

road special stages. 

“It was definitely an event with the 

most challenging road conditions I have 

ever seen,” Kaplan said. 

“Very scary, because you literally 

didn’t know what was around the next 

corner, but the car got through. 

Rob Devenish, who took the honours 

in the classic category, says finishing a 

rally is always good, so finishing first is 

even better. 

“We had a good event, aside from 

a spin on the mountain on Saturday 

where we knocked the front of the car 

around a bit,” Devenish said. 

It was a difficult weekend for the 2015 

ATRC champions Craig Dean and Jenny 

Cole, who finished sixth outright in their 

Mustang which struggled in the slippery 

conditions, while last year’s classic stars 

Laurie Burton and Russell Hannah 

had an offroad excursion in their 

Datsun 260Z in Saturday’s treacherous 

weather. 

Four events make up the ATRC title 

battle, all of which are run through 

alpine country. The next round is not 

until the weekend of September 24-25 – 

the Snowy River Sprint, based at Lakes 

Entrance. 

Eighteen ‘rookies’ tested their 

tarmac rallying potential in the event’s 

‘touring category’, in which would-be 

competitors can enter their road car 

and enjoy the safety of the closed 

roads at a ‘spirited speed’, following 

an experienced rally driver across the 

course. 

Hayley Galea (above) keeps dry in the miserable 

weather, while Craig Dean battles the 

treacherous conditions in his powerful Ford 

Mustang. (Photos: Ivan Glavas) 


TARGA ROTORUA 

Leigh Hopper won Targa 

Rotorua for the fourth time. 

HOPPER’S 

LUCK HOLDS 

Luck was with the winners of this 

year’s Targa Rotorua tarmac 

rally, Leigh Hopper and co-driver 

Michael Goudie. At least it was for all 

but the last few metres of the twoday/320km 

event, held in and around 

the southern and eastern Waikato and 

Rotorua regions of New Zealand. 

Where number one seeds Jason Gill 

and Mark Robinson had a gearbox 

problem with their Mitsubishi Evo 

9 - literally - just after the start at on 

Saturday morning, Hopper and Goudie 

had a dream run in their earlier model 

Mitsubishi Evo 3- until the last two 

stages on Sunday. 

On Saturday the pair, from Orewa 

north of Auckland, won all six timed 

stages to lead their class and the event 

outright. 

After repairing his car, Gill was back in 

the event, and won five of the six stages 

on Sunday. But by always finishing just 

a place or two behind, Hopper and 

Goudie were able to maintain their 

class and outright leads and win the 

event by just over a minute from multi 

Targa New Zealand event winners, 

Tony Quinn and Naomi Tillett (Nissan 

GT-R35), and gravel rally star Chris West 

and co-driver Chris Cobham (Mitsubishi 

Mirage Evo). 

“We blew a head gasket on the 

second to last stage,” Hopper told the 

crowd of well-wishers at the finish. 

“Fortunately we had a service stop 

between it and the last stage, so we 

flushed what was left of the coolant in 

the system, put some Bars Leaks in it, 

and backed off the boost and the pace 

to hopefully get us home.” 

It was a strategy that worked - just. 

The car got to the ceremonial Targa 

arch and was flagged home for a finish, 

but would not restart and had to be 

pushed to its pit bay in the hotel car 

park. 

For five-time Targa NZ winner, Tony 

Quinn, and four-time winning co-driver, 

Naomi Tillett, the event was a case of 

‘close but no cigar.’ 

“Look, I enjoyed it,” said Quinn, “but 

you know, maybe I started my run 

too late? If this was a main Targa look 

where I’d be on the third day. Leigh 

would be out, Jason would have too 

big a deficit to make up and I’d be in 

the box seat. But I don’t know, I just felt 

awkward in the car on the first day. The 

stages were good but perhaps some of 

Winners first time out in 2WD 

Modern was Martin Dippie in his 

new Porsche GT3 RS. 

Photos: Fast Company/ProShotz. 

them were not appropriate for a car as 

big as the GT-R.” 

The annual two-day Targa Rotorua 

event attracted 59 starters across three 

competitive classes, plus 25 entries in 

the allied Targa Tour category. 

Dunedin pair Martin Dippie and 

Jona Grant made the long trip north 

worthwhile with a dominant win in the 

Modern 2WD class and fourth place 

overall in Dippie’s new Porsche GT3 RS. 

Dippie and Grant topped their class 

in three of the six stages on Saturday 

and all six on Sunday to claim a 

comprehensive class win from fellow 

stage class winner, Tauranga ace Simon 

Clark and co-driver Richard Raglan in 

Clark’s own new car, a 2015 BMW M3 

Turbo, and a hard driving Clark Proctor 

and co-driver Sue O’Neill in Proctor’s 

old-skool Nissan V6-turbo engined Ford 

Escort. 

Meanwhile, long-time Targa event 

supporters Andy Mygind and Anthony 

Baker from Auckland claimed a 

popular win in their Datsun 240Z in 

the Metalman Classic 2WD class after 

a three-way battle with the BMW 325i 

of Rex McDonald and late-call co-driver 

David Dixon, and the Peugeot 205 GTi 

of Paul McCulla and Andrew McLean. 

Early on in the event the Metalman 

class was the closest and most 

competitive it has been in years, with 

at least three other pairings - Taranaki 

duo Michael Jury and Steve Hildred 

in Jury’s Holden VL Commodore, 

Rick Finucane and Derek White from 

Whakatane in a Toyota MR2, and Pat 

and Toni Dillon from Wanganui in 

Dillon’s low-line Ford Anglia - buying 

into the fight for a spot on the class 

podium. 

All, however, struck mechanical 

problems of one sort or another. 

Leigh Hopper won his first Targa 

Rotorua event with son Gray co-driving, 

in 2011, and his second - with Simon 

Kirkpatrick reading the notes - in 2013. 

He and Kirkpatrick also won the 

three-day Targa North Island event that 

ended in Rotorua in 2014. 



COUNTRIES BID 

FOR WRC STATUS 

Up to 13 countries are hoping 

to host a round of the World Rally 

Championship in the coming years. 

The list is believed to include Abu 

Dhabi, Canada, Chile, Croatia, India, 

Japan, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, New 

Zealand, Northern Ireland, Russia 

and Turkey. 

All are reported to be at various 

stages of readiness to run a WRC 

round. 

WINDUS FURTHERS DEVELOPMEMT 

Young Victorian Arron Windus, 

has pulled out of his drive in the 

Vauxhall Junior Rally Team for 

the remainder of this year’s British Rally 

Championship to concentrate on his 

driver development in Australia. 

In a team statement, Windus said: 

“This year is a development year, so 

trying to win a championship was my 

last priority over there, and to solely 

develop my driving and noting skills. A 

joint decision made by myself and the 

team, with the objective of cost savings, 

was to pull out of the remainder of this 

year’s BRC and compete at home 

in Australia to focus on a full attack 

on next year’s BRC with the Vauxhall 

Motorsport Junior Rally Team.” 

Windus will get further experience in 

the remaining rounds of the Victorian 

Rally Championship, with the possibility 

of some ARC rounds later in the year. 

MOURA WINS ERC AZORES RALLY 

Reliability helped Azores resident 

driver, Ricardo Moura, win the Azores 

Rally, fourth round of the 2016 FIA 

European Rally Championship, an 

event in which the lead changed six 

times in 16 stages. 

Moura was the first local driver to 

win the event since 1971. Ford Fiesta 

R5 cars took the top three places. 

For most of the event the lead 

was fought out between the ERC 

champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz from 

Poland, who had a broken driveshaft 

three stages from the end, and the 

Russian Alexey Lukyanuk, who was 

slowed on the final morning by a 

loose turbo pipe, a problem he had 

also suffered on the previous ERC 

round. 

An early challenger was the round 

three (Acropolis Rally) winner Ralfs 

Sirmacis from Latvia, who retired on 

the final day when lying third, with 

broken steering. 

Best non-Fiesta driver was the 

Hungarian David Botka’s Citroen DS3 

R5, which snatched fourth place when 

another Fiesta driver, Jaroslav Orsak 

from Czech Republic, was delayed on 

a road section before the final stage 

changing a flat tyre. 

The overall championship is led 

by Kajetanowicz with 92 points, 

ahead of Lukyanuk’s 77 points. 

The championship now returns to 

mainland Europe for the next round, 

the Ypres Rally in Belgium at the end 

of June. 

- Martin Holmes 


WOWAN RALLY - QRC 2 

CARRIGAN BROTHERS DOMINATE 

Story & Photos: 

SAM TICKELL 

Kent Lawrence’s Lancer powers 

through the dust in the Wowan 

Rally, while Jason Holding was 

10th in his Toyota Supra (below). 

Competitors travelled to the 

small rural town of Wowan, west of 

Rockhampton on Queensland’s central 

coast, for a warm welcome at round 

two of the MRF Tyres Queensland Rally 

Championship. 

The Pedders Suspension 

Rockhampton Wowan Rally was held 

on fast shire and farming roads and 

welcomed an impressive 39 starters 

who faced 13 special stages and almost 

140 competitive kilometres. Numbers 

were significantly up on 2015, with 

more than 15 new entries to this rally. 

Of note coming into the rally was the 

newly acquired Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 

9 of Ian Menzies and Bob McGowan, 

running for the first time at Wowan 

and sweeping the roads for the rest of 

the field. 

The rally kicked off with a nine 

kilometre blast through Honimans - the 

stage to the north of the service park 

was the only one to be used just once 

for the event. 

It was an unfortunate start for Rob 

Bishop/Neill Woolley who were late out 

of the service park, receiving a 1m55s 

penalty before the rally had even 

started. 

Worse was to come for Ross Cox/ 

Arnold Sluce whose Mitsubishi VR4 

would not make the start line, pulling 

up within two kilometres of the stage 

start. Engine problems 

would sideline him, 

where electrical problems 

plagued the Nissan 200SX 

of Darren Baker and 

Mikayla MacDonald. The 

final victim of stage 1 was 

Allan Arney/Mat Rowe, 

whose Holden Torana 

would experience engine 

trouble. 

The challenging stages 

continued, with Russell’s 

Run (20.37km), Bundy 

Road (7.96km), Villa Mossa (13.79km) 

and Showgrounds (1.4km) seeing a 

great fight at the front emerge between 

the Evos of Menzies/McGowan, Kent 

Lawrence/James Wilson and Tristan 

Carrigan/Andrew Carrigan. Bishop/ 

Woolley were pushing hard to make up 

time from their early problems. 

The warm and dry conditions 

ensured there was plenty of dust 

around, but that didn’t stop the 

Carrigan brothers opening up a 30 

second lead, completing the 52km in a 

time of just 25m23s. 

Other retirees in the first leg included 

Kim Acworth/Ian Swinbourne (Subaru) 

after clutch issues, David Kayess/ 

Peter Kayess (Datsun), Martin Penfold/ 

Annette Thompson (Nissan Silvia) 

and Bruce McCarthy/Chris Harrison 

(Mitsubishi Starion). 

Mechanical issues would hit Menzies/ 

McGowan and while they completed 

leg one, they would not start leg two. 

This would promote Marius Swart/ 

Peta Davies’ Volkswagen Polo S2000 

to real contention for the podium, 

despite being at quite a disadvantage 

compared to the Production class cars. 

Top speeds were a contributing 

factor and on such a fast rally the 

cars did hit their top speeds, with the 

VW topping out at 161km/h, and the 

Mitsubishis hit a genuine 200km/h. 

The Carrigans put their stamp on the 

rally in the second leg, extending their 

30 second lead to 1min 35sec over 

Lawrence/Wilson. 

Over the third and final loop, 

Carrigan held his nerve and the lead, 

PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS 


even pulling out an additional 42 

seconds on any other car, and 60 

seconds on Lawrence/Wilson. 

The rally had one sting in the 

tail, with the final stage - the final 

run around the showgrounds - 

unfortunately cancelled as the hanging 

dust made it impossible for the drivers 

to see where they were going. Even 

worse, the spectators could barely see 

the cars from the sidelines. 

It was particularly cruel for Wayne 

Menzies/Matthew Davidson who made 

the end of the final completed stage, 

but did not make it to the start of the 

cancelled showgrounds stage. 

Overall the Carrigans won by more 

than 2min30sec from Lawrence/ 

Wilson in second, and Bishop/Woolley 

rounding out the top three. 

The Carrigans were not registered 

for QRC points, elevating the VW of 

Swart/Davies to the championship 

podium. 

Shaun and Annette Dragona 

(Subaru) won the Clubman class, Jason 

and David Holding (Toyota) won the 

Multi-club 2WD class, Keith Fackrell/ 

Tony Best (Ford Escort) won Classics, 

The Carrigan brothers took a 

comprehensive win, but were not 

registered for QRC points. 

and Morgan Douglas/Jennifer Garth 

(Hyundai) won the Novice class. 

Overall 21 competitors finished, 

with no cars retiring through accident 

damage. 

Round three of the MRF Tyres 

Queensland Rally Championship 

takes place at the International Rally 

of Queensland in the Sunshine Coast 

hinterland on June 17-19. 

GOOD FIELD FOR RALLY OF QLD 

Drivers representing five countries 

headline a top-flight entry list for 

the annual International Rally of 

Queensland on the Sunshine Coast on 

June 17-19. 

Hosting rounds of the FIA Asia 

Pacific, Australian and State Rally 

Championships, Queensland’s only 

international motorsport event has 

attracted more than 40 entries to tackle 

240 kilometres of challenging forest 

stages around Imbil, in the Coast’s 

northern hinterland. 

The entry list is headed by India’s MRF 

Tyres team, winner of five of the past 

six events and of every APRC driver and 

manufacturer title since 2012. 

Their factory-backed Skoda Fabia R5 

cars will be driven by 2010 Queensland 

winner and 2013 champion Gaurav Gill 

of India and 24-year-old German Fabian 

Kreim (pictured right). 

Gill leads the championship after 

winning Round 1 in New Zealand last 

month. Other drivers entered for 

Queensland this year are from Japan, 

New Zealand and Australia. 

Starting his sixth season of 

international rallying, New Zealand’s 

Mike Young, 25, showed he will be 

the defending champions’ strongest 

rival after claiming several stage wins 

aboard his Subaru in his home event. 

Australia’s challenge will be led by 

Coffs Harbour-based Nathan Quinn. 

The Mitsubishi driver has had extensive 

international experience from China to 

New Zealand. 

Round 3 of the Kumho Tyres 

Australian Rally Championship will be 

equally hard-fought, with the season 

invigorated by new rules allowing the 

return of all-wheel drive cars. 

The field features Australia’s fastest 

gravel drivers, including four-time 

champion Simon Evans (Subaru), junior 

star Harry Bates (Toyota), Tom Wilde, 

Molly Taylor and Brad Marcovich (all 

Subarus), Mark Pedder (Peugeot) and 

Queenslander Ryan Smart (Mitsubishi). 

Major attractions among Classic-car 

entrants will be Neal Bates, in a 1980 

Toyota Celica RA40, and Mal Keough in 

a replica of the infamous Group B Audi 

Quattro S1 world rally car. 

Twenty cars are entered for the MRF 

Tyres Queensland Rally Championship 

third round. 

For spectator information visit the 

Rally of Queensland website. 




KARRI RALLY - WARC 

DYLAN IS KING OF THE WET 

Dylan King and Abbey Hayes 

overcame the slippery conditions 

at the Trade Hire Karri 

Rally round of the Onslow Contracting 

Western Australian Rally Championship 

to claim a convincing win over last 

year’s champions Garry Whittle and 

Stephen Vass. 

The course, situated in the Wheatley 

Forest near Manjimup, comprised 

of two stages - one borrowed from 

previous years and a completely new 

stage. The recent rains on the new 

stage made conditions slippery, giving 

headaches to those who weren’t 

driving four wheel drives. Even one of 

the recovery trucks needed assistance 

exiting the stage. 

The first two stage wins were claimed 

by John Macara (Pickering Brook) and 

Lee Tierney (Hillarys), but their luck 

unfortunately turned in SS3 when their 

Asiat Instruments Mitsubish Evo lost a 

turbo hose putting the rally stalwarts 

out of the lead. 

Dylan King and Abbey Hayes, who 

had been close behind Macara and 

Tierney in the first two stages, went 

on to win the remaining four in their 

Subaru STI to become overall winner. 

King said it was a combination of luck 

and focus that clinched the win for the 

DK Earthworkx team. 

“We were lucky that John Macara 

dropped out. We had a bit of drama 

ourselves when a kilometre into the 

second stage we lost fifth gear, but we 

managed to get to the end and win the 

rally,” said King. 

“We’ve had a fairly bad streak the 

past two years now and more recently 

when we blew an engine at the Forest 

Rally and had to basically rebuild it by 

the side of road, so we wanted to get 

back on track. The aim was to win and 

that’s what we did – we are more than 

happy with the result!” 

Outright second went to last year’s 

winner Garry Whittle and co-driver 

Stephen Vass in the Rezolt Subaru 

WRX, coming almost 2 and half minutes 

behind the leaders. 

There were three teams battling it 

out for third, Michael Steele and Alex 

Butler, Doug Tostevin and Tammy 

Adams, and John O’Dowd and Ben 

Searcy. Third place was held by Tostevin 

and Adams until the penultimate stage 

when the driveshaft broke on their 

S-Technic Subaru STI, leaving them to 

complete the rest of the event in three 

wheel drive. 

In the end it was the duo of Steele 

and Butler in the Japline Subaru STI 

that clinched third, just over a minute 

behind Whittle and Vass. 

The conditions quickly reduced the 

amount of competitors in the two 

wheel drive category, with both the 

Onslow Contracting team of Shane 

Harmer and Nicholas Anyan, and Mike 

Top: Victors Dylan King and Abbey 

Hayes splash their way to victory, 

while Raz Vlad won the 2WD 

category in his Fiesta. 

Joss Racing Team of Mike Joss and 

Megan Logue leaving the road to hug 

the trees. 

After battling gearbox issues for the 

past two years, Raz Vlad and Daymon 

Niccoli made a triumphant return to WA 

rallying in their MAXYrally Ford Fiesta, 

winning the round in the 2WD category. 

“This year is going a bit better than 

last year for us – we were able to 

complete a rally with almost no issues, 

this is the first time in a long time,” said 

Vlad. 

Second place was a battle between 

David Farnworth and Alexandra 

Martin in the Allout Towing Services 

Toyota Corolla FX-GT and 17-year old 

newcomer Kody Reynolds and Anthony 

Staltari in the Trade Hire Subaru 

Impreza – with both of them completing 

SS3 in equal time. Reynolds and Staltari 

ended up the victors for second place 

managing to put a 20 second buffer 

between themselves and Farnworth 

and Martin. 

Photos: Tim Allott 


HIGGINS SMASHES RECORD 

Manx rally driver Mark Higgins 

has smashed his own Isle of 

Man record for cars, completing 

the 37.73-mile course in a blistering 

17m35s, an average speed of 128.73 mph. 

That beats the 17m49.75s time he 

clocked during a practice run, as well as 

the previous official record of 19m15.88d 

he set in 2014. 

Higgins’ new record was set in a highlymodified 

Subaru WRX STI, whereas the 

previous official record was set using a 

WRX STI that was virtually stock. 

His latest car is thought to be 

developing close to 600 horsepower. It’s 

also shod with racing slicks and a drag 

reduction system. 

Higgins is a former British Rally Champ. 

▲ 

Story & Photos: 

TIM ALLOTT 

Doug Tostevin took victory 

in his Subaru, while Greg 

Flood (below) took the top 

2WD honours in his Lancer. 

TOSTEVIN 

BOUNCES BACK 

Doug Tostevin and Tammy Adams have won the MRF 

Tyres Boddington Rally, held on June 4. 

Driving a Subaru WRX STI, the pair trailed the Subaru of 

Dylan King and Abbey Hayes by 

a minute after stage two, but 

mechanical failure robbed King 

of back-to-back wins when his 

car stopped on the following 

stage. 

Greg and Dean Flood were the 

first two-wheel drive competitors 

home in their Mitsubishi Lancer, 

while Carl and Tracey Rattenbury 

took out the Clubman Cup 

component of the event in their 

Ford Escort. 

Garry Whittle and Stephen 

Vass were leading the Western 

Australian Rally Championship 

heading into the event, but failed to finish in their Subaru. 

The Boddington Rally used a new location in 2016, with 

stages ranging from a 1km town stage around the local 

football ground, to a 26km test in the forest. 


MITTA MOUNTAIN RALLY 

STR QUALITY 

WATCH 

Story: 

CRAIG O’BRIEN 

Darren Windus and Joe Brick 

obliterated the competition to 

take victory by an incredible 

four minutes in their Subaru Impreza 

WRX at the Border Oils and Batteries 

Mitta Mountain Rally on May 14. 

The Mitsubishi of Warren Lee/David 

Lethlean was second, with birthday 

boy Viv Dilkes-Frayne/Tracey Dewhurst 

(Subaru) rounding out the podium 

places a further 31 seconds behind. 

Round two of the Focus on Furniture 

Neil Schey was the leading 2WD 

finisher in his Escort, while Darren 

Windus (top) used all the road on his 

way to victory. (Photos: Luke Whitten) 

Victorian Rally Championship was 

held deep in the state’s high country 

near Mitta Mitta. A solid field of 43 

presented at the local recreation 

reserve for the unique 8am start under 

the rolling fog of the region. 

The rally, which is a new addition 

to the calendar, consisted of four 

‘endurance’ like stages for a total 

competitive distance of 145 kilometres, 

with a combination of tight, twisty and 

open sections. 

Windus and Brick set up victory with 

blistering times on the first two stages 

to win the opening heat by almost three 

minutes, while Dilkes-Frayne, after a scare 

into the scenery, edged out Lee/Lethlean, 

who were slowed with a puncture by five 

seconds, before the latter got the upper 

hand in heat two. 

There were plenty of dramas with the 

slippery conditions created by heavy 

rains in the days prior, catching out a 

handful of crews in the opening heat, and 

it quickly became apparent it would be a 

battle of survival. 

Andrew Murchdoch/Steven MacKenzie’s 

(Subaru) podium aspirations were dealt 

an early blow with engine dramas and a 

snapped gear shift, while Ivan Regester/ 

Paul Humm’s (Subaru) charge into the 

top three was halted with a mechanical 

retirement with one stage to go. 

In an ever-competitive 2WD class, a 

titanic battle would ultimately be fought 

between three Escorts. After heat one, 

a mere 10 seconds covered Neil Schey/ 

Scott Middleton (RS2000), Grant Walker/ 

Bianca Lowe (RS1800) and Michael 

Conway/Jenny Cole. The order would 

remain the same come rally end, with 

Schey taking victory by 21 seconds. 

Two times Australian Rally Champion 

and all round motorsport legend, ‘Farmer’ 

George Fury, made a guest appearance as 

event patron and took particular interest 

in the Datsun Stanza of Andrew Daniell 

as he reminded the young charger of 

Australian rallying’s golden years. 

Unfortunately for Daniell, he spent 

much of the day chasing set up issues 

before a gearbox drama further 

hampered his running. 


Meanwhile, leading Hyundai 

crew, Stephen Eccles and Simon 

Pilepich, took class honours over 

the returning Blaise McNamara/ 

Russell Woollard in the Our Auto 

Rally Series for Hyundai Excels. 

The next round sees the 

Victorian Rally Championship 

return to the popular roads in 

southern NSW for the iconic Bega 

Valley Rally on June 12. 

Stephen Eccles won the Excel 

class, and George Fury was a 

popular event patron. 

Photos: Craig O’Brien 

Warren Lee had little time to 

admire the beautiful Mitta Mitta 

scenery in his Lancer Evo. 

Photos: Ivan Glavas 

IMPROVED WRC GAME UPDATE COMING SOON 

WRC 6, the official video game of the FIA World Rally 

Championship, will be released in the second half 

of 2016. 

The 2016 edition will contain major improvements, 

including enhanced graphics and audio, exciting fresh 

features and new and longer special stages. 

It will be the only game to present authentic and current 

car liveries, with Volkswagen Motorsport, Abu Dhabi Total 

World Rally Team, Hyundai Motorsport and M-Sport World 

Rally Team represented with their World Rally Cars in 

2016 colours. 

Rally China, which returns to WRC in September for 

the first time since 1999, will be added to the game, 

increasing the number of rallies to 14. 

Gamers will be able to select from all the sport’s 

leading World Rally Car drivers, including New 

Zealand’s Hayden Paddon, along with a wide 

selection of WRC 2 and Junior WRC competitors. 

WRC 6 will be published by Bigben Interactive and 

developed by French development studio Kylotonn 

Racing Games. 

“The experience gained from WRC 5 helped 

the team to completely understand rallying fans’ 

expectations,” said game director Alain Jarniou. 

“Roads were too wide in WRC 5. They will be 

narrower and bumpier in WRC 6. Stages were 

sometimes too short. We created new longer stages 

and reworked everything to make them more challenging.” 

WRC Promoter managing director Oliver Ciesla said WRC 6 

would provide an even more realistic challenge for gamers. 

“If you enjoyed WRC 5, then you will love WRC 6. The 

developers have introduced significant improvements to 

make the playing experience even more exciting and true to 

life,” he said. 

WRC 6 will be available for PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and 

PC/Steam. 


RALLY CLASSIFIEDS 


Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec C 

FIA spec roll cage, Kevlar underbody. 

New engine with forged pistons, Manly 

rods, ARP head studs, Nitrated crank, 

new clutch, Spec C headers. Modena 

6-speed dog box with flat shift knob. Spec 

C R180 rear diff, quick rack steering, all 

alloy rims. Carbon cold air intake box 

and silicone intake tube. Motel engine 

and centre diff ECUs, fire bomb, Cobra 

wing seats, Coralba, carbon door trims 

and foot trays. AP brakes front and rear, 

new Endless pads. Complete repaint just 

completed. DMS 5-way suspension (fitted 

recently). 5 WORK rims (white or gold). 

New horror flaps and mudflats. Restrictor 

not fitted, have 36mm MMS made ready 

to fit when engine is run in. Will need a 

retune if fitting restrictor. Professionally 

built and maintained, done very little work. 

Any further info required is available from 

Darren on Ph 0477 559 267 or email 

darren@wvct.com.au Price: $58,000 as is, 

or negotiable without gearbox 

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 

stubs), Koni adjustable inserts, 175lb 

65mm i.d King Springs, height adjustment, 

camber adjustment, Stewart Wilkins 

adjustable caster rods. Rear, 700lb King 

Springs, brand new Bilstein shocks from 

Quadrant, Datsport reconditioned arms. 

Brakes – Front, 276mm vented and slotted 

rotors, Commodore calipers. - Rear, 

260mm solid disc, R31 calipers (Datsport 

conversion). Stewart Wilkins hydraulic 

handbrake. Wilwood proportioning 

valve - ALL lines front to back, left to 

right replaced with braided lines and run 

through the cabin (over $1500 in that 

alone). Other – Braided fuel lines through 

cabin, all others replaced with new rubber 

ones - new surge tank - tie rod ends, ball 

joints, track rod and steering idler replaced 

with new 555 parts - a lot of rewiring done 

with old wires, relays etc, replaced - New 

clutch master and slave cylinder with 

braided line.Contact Jay anytime, Phone 

0409 010 763, Email: jayquirk83@gmail. 

com - or check out more details on the car 

on the RallySport Mag website HERE. 

Stilo WRC Des helmet size XL 

1 year old - used a handful of times. 

Includes Tinted Visor. Has Hans Posts. 

Brand new condition. Can throw in a 

sheepskin carry bag. $1100, Perth. Phone 

Ashley on 0400 249 407. 

ROH Fireball rims 

Five rims and Yokohama tyres, 6” x 14”. 

4x 110mm & 4x 114.3mm stud patterns. 

25ET offset (approx). Located Northside 

Brisbane. Can ship interstate if you want 

to organise. $250. Phone Ben 0402 

349100. 

Box trailer. Measures 4.1m L x 2m 

h x 1.85m w. Hydraulic brakes, LED 

lights, near new light truck tyres, recent 

maintenance underneath. Previously used 

as service trailer, tows great and is only 

being sold as upgraded to a truck. $3000. 

Warragul, Victoria. Phone Glen on 0407 

805702. 

Ben Atkinson pacenote books 

exclusive to RallySport Mag. 

Ben’s pacenote books have been refined 

over many years, and have helped him to 

successfully call the notes for Cody Crocker 

in their successful APRC campaigns. Books 

are $19 each, postage of $15 (Express 

Post) applies to orders up to 3 books. 

To order CLICK HERE. 



FORD FIESTA S2000 

Manufactured to FIA Regulations 2000R, 

FIA Homoglation #61 - 00322, MSNZ Log 

Book #16533, Roll Cage Homoglation # 

NZ 7801, LSTA Registration #2000R 

Car Specifications: 

Engine: 2.0Ltr Ford Duratech, Cast Alloy 

Sump, Cosworth Crank, Arrow Rods - 

JE Pistons, Motec ECU, Carbon Inlet 

Manifold 

Transmission: SADEV 6 Speed Sequintal, 

Flat Shift Up Change, Load Cell on 

Gearlever, Remote oil cooler, 

Differential: SADEV 4.3, Oil Pump + 

Cooler, Hydraulic Drive Release 

Brakes: 4 Piston Brembo Caliper, 300mm 

Coleman Rotors, TITON Floor Mounted 

Pedal Box, Pressure Display on Dash 

Bodywork: Chrome Moly Extensive Cage, 

Chrome Moly Seat Tubes, RACETECH 

Seat Willian Belts, Monit TC 100 Trip 

Meter, Carbon Roof Vents, Kelvar Under 

Body, Carbon Fiber Co-Driver Foot Rest, 

Flocked Dash, Welded Jack Point 

Suspension: Drummond 5 way Adjustable, 

Triple Poistion Sway Bars, Compression 

Struts, Minebea Rod Ends 

Wheels: 16 X 15” Braid Rims 

Fuel Tank: 75 Ltr A.T.L. Fuel Cell, Dry 

Brake Refuel Couplers 

Wiring: Air Grade Multi Plugs & Loom, 

Motec Dash to Laptop Pluglead, Motec 

Dash Display Addtional Notes: As MSNZ 

National Championship no longer require 

homoglated vehicles to compete, several 

sensible upgrades have been made, 

beyond the S2000 rules - the bonnet & 

rear hatch are now fiberglass, All parts 

required to revert to S2000 are supplied 

within the spares, package, Complete 

set of C.A.D. drawings for manufacture 

of components, Motec E.C.U. Addtional 

Software allowing for Tuning to 2000R 

Regulations, Launch control + Traction 

Control. Priced at $AU100k FOB to 

Auckland sea port. 

Get more info by CLICKING HERE. 

Contact Andrew Keighley for further 

details: NZ +64 021 994545 or 

refrigeration@xtra.co.nz 

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PHOTO OF THE MONTH 

Hyundai team members pick through the remains of 

Hayden Paddon’s burnt-out i20 World Rally Car after 

its firey end to the Rally of Portugal. 

Photo: WRC Media 



READER PRAISE 

Fantastic effort with the new RSM! If 

that isn’t a winner, I don’t know what 

is!! 

Looks really good. It’s great to see a 

magazine 

Issue 

covering 

#2 - June 

Australasian 

2016 

rallying 

again. - John Crouch 

Wow, can it BE any better? Thanks all. 

- Alan Baker 

I really missed this! Well done! - Alan 

Marshall 

Great to see and read, thanks to all 

who made it. - Ken Curtis 

Welcome back, RSM!! You have been 

missed! It was a case of “you don’t know 

what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”. Let’s make 

sure it stays this time! - John Doutch 

Just lost the last 2 hours at work, 

thanks very much for an awesome 

magazine. – David Kirk 

Extremely excited that the @ 

RallySportMag is back. This was always 

one of my favourite magazines in its 

time. Happy to see it’s back! - Rhianon 

Gelsomino 

Good to check out your #1 edition. 

Proud to have been part of it! What 

a professional presentation. - Martin 

Holmes 

Thanks to our readers for their 

compliments from our first issue. 

Here’s some of their comments. 

Hot off the digital press, this is as exciting 

as your first coffee of the day! Actually it 

will go well with that! What a great read! 

Well done all! 

- @rallylivenz 

Just a quick email to say the new 

magazine fantastic, had a quick look 

through this morning and the variety of 

content has left me counting down the 

minutes (although there are still quite 

a few to go!) until I can get home and 

read the whole lot! - Blair Bartels 

Even from Italy we read this amazing #1 

issue ! Congrats to the editor ! - 

Antonio Liberato 

Congratulations RallySport Mag. Great 

to have you back. - Classic Outback 

Trial 

Just a quick note to say what an awesome 

job you have done on this first edition of 

your new magazine. - Dave Neill 

Great layout, excellent pics and writing. 

Here’s hoping the advertisers can’t 

resist the opportunity you are offering. 

- Greg Quinn 

Where there was once the Speedsport 

and NZ Racer, it’s great to see Peter 

and Rallysport Mag have filled the empty 

space and started producing this great 

free online magazine covering NZ and 

Australia rallying! - Hayden Paddon 

Just stole the kids IPad and read 

it from cover to cover! Just like I 

remember and lots of awesome 

pictures! Well done on a great 

publication! - Craig Lee 

Awesome job on the online magazine. 

Great to see it back. - Glenn Macneall 

I just wanted to drop you a quick note 

to congratulate you on the awesome 

job you have done on the magazine. 

Everything from the mix of content to 

the layout is spot on and i wish you 

every success with it going forward. 

- Justin Keogh 

Congratulations, your new magazine is 

FANTASTIC!!!! What a great read! Well 

done to all of the team at RallySport Mag. 

Long may it continue in its new format. 

- Martin Warneke 

NEXT 

MONTH 

Rally of QLD 

Pikes Peak 

Gisborne Rally 

WRC reports 

Features 

And much more 


AVAILABLE JULY 13 

at www.rallysportmag.com.au 

JIM RICHARDS 

INTERVIEW

RallySport Magazine June 2016

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