RallySport Magazine August 2016

OBITUARY
STEVE ASHTON: 1954 - 2016
Steve Ashton discovered rallying while
at Melbourne University studying
architecture. He remained a member
of the Melbourne University Car Club.
Rosemary (Ro) Nixon became his codriver
in 1979. They married in 1985 and
continued to compete together regularly.
Like many in those days, Steve started
rallying his road going Datsun 1600, until
he got serious, and moved into a very
competitive “Datrally” built 1600. It was in
this car that the pair came to prominence
with a fine third outright in the 1982 Alpine,
the final round of the ARC in that year.
They latched onto the 4WD and Group N
revolution, being one of the early punters
of a Mazda Familia, followed by a Mitsubishi Galant VR4,
Lancer Evo 3 and Evo 7, with its ‘pick-up-sticks’ paint job,
and successfully shared ownership and driving with Chris
Snell. With the progress of time, Steve was attracted to
historic rallying and
campaigned a 1972
Galant in a team
with Dinta Officer.
Steve honed
his long distance
rallying skills
driving a back up
vehicle for Ralliart
in the Australian
Safaris from 1987
to 1989. This
involved piloting a
Pajero long wheel
base heavily laden
with axles, gearboxes and other spares, swiftly, but not too
swiftly, so as to not make it to the end of the day with both
necessary spares and co-driver/mechanic onboard. He and
Peter Gale finished first 2WD car in the very tough inaugural
1985 Safari.
Steve and Ro had lots of podium results in major events,
including third outright in the 1995 Round Australia Trial, and
second outright in the 2009 and 2012 Classic Outback Trials.
Steve rarely crashed as he knew exactly where his
limitations were and never let ego take over and go for
‘boom or bust’. This may have appeared to not be the case
in the 1993 London to Sydney Marathon, where they were
32 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - AUGUST 2016
in third position on the third last day until caught out by a
corner in the Flinders Ranges, and rolled some distance off
the road.
Bob Watson, the event road director, graciously admitted
20 years later, on revisiting the corner, that it should have
been triple cautioned. There was a crowd of locals on hand,
obviously expecting some carnage, so they got going again to
finish 10 th outright.
Steve joined the CAMS National Rally Panel (as it was
known then) in 1990, which was replaced by the skills based
Australian Rally Commission (ARCom). Gary Connelly astutely
recruited Steve for his business experience, strategic outlook
and good understanding of grass roots rallying issues, and
Rallycorp P/L was created in 1999 to manage the commercial
side of CAMS rallying.
In July 1995, Steve was appointed Deputy Chairman of
ARCom, a position he held until December 2006 when he
retired from ARCom and from Rallycorp in 2009. During
that time he acted as chairman of the Rally of Canberra
Organising Committee, and oversaw a successful period
in Australian and Asia- Pacific rallying, including being an
FIA Observer to a number of events from 2001 to 2007.
For his contribution to motorsport, Steve was awarded Life
Membership of CAMS in March this year.
Outside rallying, Steve was a founding partner in Ashton
Raggatt MacDougall Architecture, later to become ARM
Architecture.
The recent AIA Gold Medal awarded to the partners is a
prestigious and rare honour, but their achievements can
be seen in the many striking buildings around the country
that they have designed, including: the National Museum,
Canberra (2001), Geelong Library and
Heritage Centre (2015), and RMIT Storey
Hall, Melbourne (1996) where a memorial
service will be held for Steve at 5pm,
Monday, August 29.
Steve succumbed to mesothelioma
on July 25, likely to have been caused by
exposure to brake dust. He is survived by
wife Ro, and daughters Louisa and Kate.
In order that something good emerges
from this tragedy, Steve and Ro have
used insurance money to establish
a philanthropic fund to support
architecture, medical research and
environmental causes. Donations are
welcome at:
http://www.ashtonnixonbequest.com
- ROSS RUNNALLS