RallySport Magazine September 2016

Issue #5 - September 2016 

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EVENT REPORTS 

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Bunnings ‘96 

INTERVIEW 

Rob Herridge 

Mads Ostberg 

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SEPTEMBER 2016 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 1

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2 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2016

CONTENTS - #5 SEPTEMBER 2016 

FEATURES EVENT REPORTS REGULARS 

FOLLOW 

US ON: 

30 FAMOUS STAGES 

BUNNINGS IN 1996 WAS WET AND 

WILD AS THE WRC HIT WA 

42 PLAYING IT SAFE 

AN AUSTRALIAN INVENTION IS NOW 

ON THE WORLD STAGE 

52 F1 PEDIGREE 

THIS RENAULT CLIO IS PERFECT FOR 

TARMAC RALLYING 

58 KIWI ON THE RISE 

ARI PETTIGREW HAS THE NAME AND 

THE TALENT TO MATCH 

59 GET BOGGED 

RALLYING IN THE 60S WAS A 

DIFFERENT SPORT 

68 MADS TURNS 100 

MADS OSTBERG TALKS ABOUT HIS 

CAREER IN THE WRC 

72 ONLY IN CHINA 

CHINA SPORTS A HOST OF RALLY 

CARS NOT SEEN ANYWHERE ELSE 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Luke Whitten, Martin Holmes, 

Blair Bartels, Geoff Ridder, Craig 

O’Brien, John Doutch, Euan Cameron, 

Ross Teesdale, Ivan Glavas 

19 LIGHTFORCE RALLY SA 

BRENDAN REEVES WINS 

✸DID The passion for rallying .... 

MANAGING EDITOR 

PETER WHITTEN 

peter@rallysportmag.com.au 

SENIOR WRITER 

TOM SMITH 

tom@rallysportmag.com.au 

24 COROMANDEL RALLY 

AN AUSSIE WINS THE FINAL ROUND 

OF THE 2016 NZ CHAMPIONSHIP 

44 RALLY GERMANY 

SEBASTIEN OGIER WAS BACK TO HIS 

WINNING WAYS IN GERMANY 

50 RALLY OF THE BAY 

PETER ROBERTS WAS TOO GOOD 

FOR THE FIELD IN THE NSWRC 

62 BORDER RANGES RALLY 

THE BRAKES DIRECT SPONSORED 

EVENT WAS A BIG SUCCESS 

70 PYRENEES RUSH 

YOUNG GUN ARRON WINDUS TAKES 

A NAIL-BITING VICTORY 

PUBLISHED BY: 

Peter Whitten 

RallySport Magazine 

peter@rallysportmag.com.au 

www.rallysportmag.com.au 

ADVERTISING 

Dominic Corkeron, 0499 981 188 

dominic@rallysportmag.com.au 

04 EDITORIAL 

SOCIAL MEDIA IS A POWERFUL TOOL 

05 LATEST RALLY NEWS 

NEWS FROM AROUND THE SPORT 

14 5 MINUTES WITH ... 

ARC REGULAR BRAD MARKOVIC 

16 5 MINUTES WITH ... 

WRC CO-DRIVER JOHN KENNARD 

36 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 

FORMER SUBARU FACTORY DRIVER 

ROB HERRIDGE 

48 HOLMES COLUMN 

MARTIN HOLMES AND HIS MONTHLY 

RALLY COLUMN 

74 PHOTO OF THE MONTH 

THIS MONTH’S “TOP SHOT” 

YOU KNOW? 

You can click on an advert or website address to 

go directly to an advertiser’s website? 

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. 

Don’t miss an issue of RallySport Magazine .... 

Click the 

magazine 

covers to read 

previous issues 


EDITORIAL 

KEEPING UP WITH TECHNOLOGY 

By PETER WHITTEN 

It’s now 25 years since the world 

was introduced to the internet, and 

email and the world wide web have 

changed the way we live, and the way 

we do business. 

Back in 1991, Australian Rallysport 

News (as we were then known) was 

only a couple of years old, and the 

highlight each morning was walking 

into the office and seeing the rolls 

of paper streaming out of the fax 

machine. 

The day would be spent retyping 

reports on the WRC, and the 

reports and columns from our state 

correspondents. 

Going to collect the mail from the 

post office was just as much fun. 

Photographs from recent events would 

fill the post box and would, literally, be 

the first time we’d seen images from 

events in far off locations. They were 

great times. 

But the internet changed all that. 25 

years on, greedy consumers need to 

know results and see images and video 

as it happens. If Hayden Paddon spins 

on stage five of the Monte Carlo Rally, 

millions of rally fans around the world 

know about it instantly, rather than 

hours or days later, as was the case in a 

time past. 

Technology has enabled publications 

like RallySport Magazine to be 

produced online for free, with readers 

anywhere in the world able to take in 

the content 24 hours a day, 7 days a 

week. 

Long gone are the days when 

we would finish the magazine on a 

Monday, send it to the printer on a 

Tuesday, and it wouldn’t be seen on 

newsagents’ shelves until the following 

week (at the earliest). 

My family have fond memories of 

bagging and addressing the 800 or 

more issues that would be mailed 

directly to subscribers’ letterboxes 

each month. While it was tedious work, 

the extravagant suppers that followed 

made those Tuesday nights something 

to look forward to. 

Moving forward to 2016, social media 

has amplified our need for information 

100 fold. 

“If it’s not on Facebook it can’t be 

true” may not be a mantra that we 

should live by, but there’s a good 

argument that Facebook is ‘the’ place 

to get your snippets of information – or 

4 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2016 

The rally car jumping the dog 

video went viral on Facebook. 

just a place to waste hours of your day. 

A recent video we placed on the 

RallySport Magazine Facebook page is a 

case in point. The hilarious clip of a dog 

being jumped over by a rally car was 

sent directly to us by an overseas rally 

fan, and within minutes the clip had 

gone viral. 

A couple of hours later it had also 

been posted by a national betting 

agency, and the clip then appeared on 

the Nine Network’s nightly news. It was 

a perfect example of how something so 

small can build a life of its own. 

In just two days the video had 

reached 360,000 people, had been 

viewed 145,000 times, and had 

been shared by 2555 people. These 

incredible figures show just how 

powerful social media can be. 

But despite the pull of social media, 

dedicated publications like RallySport 

Magazine still have their place in our 

ever-evolving world. 

Feature articles, event reports and 

high quality images continue to be a key 

to the success of magazines the world 

over and, social media or not, we hope 

that RallySport Magazine can continue 

to be an important part of your monthly 

news feed. 

We may not all love the internet with 

the same passion, but without it, our 

lives would be very different. 

The unsung heros 

H 

arry Bates’ team did an incredible 

job repairing his car after his day 

one accident in South Australia, again 

highlighting the incredible efforts of 

rally mechanics around the country. 

As can be seen, the damage to the 

Bates Corolla was extensive, and most 

workshops would have spent weeks 

getting the car back in shape. 

But the team got stuck in, ripping 

parts off Adrian Coppin’s Corolla (which 

was in the team truck) and getting it 

fixed and ready for the following day’s 

stages. 

That the car ran faultlessly for 

the duration of the second day is a 

testament to their efforts. Well done 

guys, and a big pat on the back for all 

the dedicated services crews around 

the country - at all levels of rallying.

NEWS@RALLYSPORTMAG.COM.AU 

AP4 GATHERS MOMENTUM 


Interest in the AP4 category is gaining 

momentum in Australia, with 

Neal Bates Motorsport seriously 

looking into the possibilities of a new 

Toyota Yaris. 

Australian Rally Championship 

front-runner, Harry Bates, is currently 

campaigning a nine-year old Corolla 

Super 2000 that is still proving 

competitive, but is coming to the end of 

its life span. 

Neal Bates said that the team were 

in the early stages of planning, and 

that Toyota wouldn’t be involved in the 

building of a new car, but that an AP4 

Yaris was certainly on their radar. 

“The S2000 car is still relatively 

competitive and we have parts lying 

around the workshop for it, but 

those parts are getting less and less – 

especially after incidents like Harry’s 

crash in Heat 1,” Bates said in South 

Australia. 

If the Bates team wish to continue 

using a Toyota product in the ARC, then 

building a new car seems their only 

option, and a Yaris could be the perfect 

platform. 

Neal Bates wouldn’t be drawn on 

what engine the proposed AP4 car 

would use, but it is believed a 1.6-litre 

turbo motor would be chosen. 

Yaris could be 

first Aussie AP4 

Meanwhile, Maximum Motorsport are 

also looking into what they could build 

under the AP4 regulations. 

With a link to Subaru through their 

motorsport parts sales, Dean Herridge 

confirmed that they had considered the 

possibilities of an XV AP4 car, but that 

they were still a long way from making 

any decisions. 

“Obviously we’d like to build an AP4 

car, but who foots the cost of the build 

is the first consideration,” Herridge told 

RallySport Magazine. 

Maximum Motorsport have run 

two WRX’s in this year’s ARC, for Brad 

Markovic and Tom Wilde. 

COFFS COAST, NSW 

17-20 NOVEMBER 2016 

FOLLOW 

THE ACTION 

AS IT HAPPENS 

SEE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR 

FANTASTIC PRIZES AND OFFERS 

#YOUHAVETOBETHERE 



NEW FIESTA SERIES FOR 2017 VRC 

Photo: Greg Roslon 

The 2017 Victorian Rally Championship 

is set to receive a major 

boost, with news that a onemake 

series for Ford Fiestas will be 

incorporated into next year‘s series. 

The Fiesta Rally Series is intended as 

the next stepping stone up from the 

highly successful Excel Rally Series, 

which is now in its 11th year in Victoria. 

Whilst the Excel series is a very low 

cost series, the Fiesta series will be 

more expensive dependent on the level 

of modification. Standard cars with all 

of the required safety equipment can 

compete, which will allow owners to 

progressively build the car up to the 

full-on R2 specification. 

The Fiesta Rally Series is intended 

as a medium cost rally series, with 

enjoyment and fellowship equally as 

important as awards. Cars eligible 

will be Fiestas from 2002 to current, 

and they will comply to FIA R1 or R2 

regulations, or to CAMS PRC rules. 

The series will run as part of the 

Victorian Rally Championship, with the 

competitors themselves agreeing on 

the number and type of events included 

in the 2017 series. 

The emphasis will be on the series 

being run on the same informal basis 

as the Excel series, with informal pub 

dinner meetings twice a year. 

Brendan Reeves, a driver with many 

years of Fiesta competition under his 

belt, has agreed to be Patron of the 

Victorian series. 

The level of interest has been terrific 

already, with seven teams indicating 

expressions of interest in taking part. 

A public meeting will be held in 

Melbourne on September 19 to further 

discuss the series. The meeting will 

be held at the Queensberry Hotel, 

Queensberry Street, Carlton, starting at 

6.30pm. 

A Fiesta Competitor Relations Officer 

will be appointed to oversee the series. 

Series organisers are actively building 

a support team to help build the series. 

If you are interested and believe you 

can offer help to the series, please 

contact John Carney at gunnawyn@ 

yahoo.com 

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6 | Classic_Rally_RallySportMag_v1.indd RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 20161 

2/09/2016 3:35 PM

ARC TO GET ITS FIRST R5 CAR 

As his wretched run 

of bad luck continued 

in South Australia, 

Mark Pedder revealed 

to RallySport Magazine 

that he’s eyeing an R5 

specification Ford Fiesta 

for next year’s Australian 

Rally Championship. 

Pedder’s current Peugeot 

208 Maxi (pictured) has 

suffered a myriad of 

mechanical problems this 

season, culminating in an 

engine failure in Lightforce 

Rally SA. 

While Pedder is still 

hopeful of driving a Skoda 

Fabia R5 in Kennards Hire 

Rally Australia, he says a 

Fiesta seems more likely 

for 2017. 

“Our company supplies 

some product to M-Sport 

in the UK, so driving a 

Fiesta next season makes 

more sense,” Pedder said. 

“We need to work out 

the logistics of it all, as the 

parts for the Ford are more 

expensive than for a Skoda 

R5, but that’s where we are 

looking at this stage.” 

Pedder’s entry would 

be the first for an R5 car 

in the Australian Rally 

Championship, and would 

be seen as a further boost 

to a series. 

- PETER WHITTEN 

Photo: Luke Whitten 

A one-make series would 

give young drivers, like Arron 

Windus, a clear path to follow 

in the ARC. 

EXCITING ARC PLANS ON TRACK 


Australian Rally Championship 

chairman, David Waldon, spoke 

at length to RallySport Magazine 

in South Australia, revealing some 

exciting plans for the series over the 

coming seasons. 

While many of the plans are a work 

in progress and will hopefully be 

ratified in due course, among other 

things, Waldon revealed: 

• z Strategic direction for the ARC 

for the next three years will soon be 

announced by the Australian Rally 

Commission, with further plans to 

provide long-term stability in the 

regulations until the end of 2025. 

• z There are plans to support state 

championship competitors to more 

easily step into the ARC, by introducing 

a number of measures designed to 

remove barriers. This may include 

a state championship-based points 

system with prize pool, and a threeevent 

national series for drivers in 

older model cars. 

• z The reduction of the championship 

registration costs is also being 

pursued, with Waldon believing that 

all competitors should enjoy the 

opportunity to compete against their 

peers. 

• z A one-make series is being 

seriously assessed, as a way of giving 

drivers a clear path up the rallying 

ladder, and a junior development 

series could again be re-introduced 

into the ARC, with a sponsor already 

being courted. 

• z A continuation of the successful 

growth of digital media exposure is 

being expanded, with key partnerships 

being formalised with national media 

outlets. 

• z The new Victorian round of the 

ARC, based in Ballarat, is likely to 

be the opening round of next year’s 

championship. 

• z There is also strong support for 

future rounds of the ARC, including 

Tasmania, and the potential calendar is 

currently under review. 



SCOTT PEDDER 

EXPANDS WRC PLANS 

FLAT OUT 

Mark Pedder has confirmed 

that his brother, Scott, is hoping 

to embark on an expanded 

World Rally Championship campaign 

next year. 

Scott Pedder’s limited program this 

year has seen him set impressive stage 

times in a Skoda Fabia R5, but he could 

contest up to eight events in next year’s 

WRC2 championship. 

Events such as Mexico and Argentina 

would be included on the program, 

giving the former Australian Rally 

Champion a better chance of taking out 


a World Rally Championship title. 

Meanwhile, the Pedders team are 

still investigating the chances of Scott 

driving a Fiesta World Rally Car at Rally 

Australia in November. 

If the plans were to come to fruition, 

Pedder would drive the Fiesta that 

Henning Solberg has campaigned in 

several WRC rounds this season. 

Should that drive eventuate, it may 

mean that Mark Pedder would drive 

the Fabia R5 that Scott has driven so far 

this year. 

- PETER WHITTEN 

FOR 2017 

Around a dozen of the current 

top level drivers have been 

actively working on the development 

of the 2017 specification World Rally 

Cars. 

This is in addition to a number of 

experienced drivers who have been 

invited to give teams their personal 

opinions, and other drivers who are 

engaged as permanent test drivers 

for the teams. 

At all the teams there is a veil of 

secrecy over the work of the test 

teams, with drivers banned from 

giving meaningful information to the 

media. 

There is little knowledge as 

to what extent the cars they 

have tested represent the final 

technical specification that will be 

homologated, and the anticipated 

degree of increase of performance 

can be expected next year. 

It is far from clear exactly who will 

be allowed, and who the FIA will be 

forbid from rallying 2017 version 

cars. It is clear, however, that top 

drivers who have been engaged in 

serious test work are those who are 

expected to continue with the team 

after the end of the year. 

This throws a spotlight on which 

current team drivers have NOT been 

allowed to drive the new version 

cars. Two names are prominent: 

Neuville has not driven the new 

Hyundai, or Ostberg the next version 

Ford. 

2017 car drivers so far: 

Citroen - Meeke, Breen and 

Lefebvre; 

Hyundai - Abbring, Paddon and 

Sordo; 

M-Sport - Camilli, Tanak, also 

Prokop, Malcolm and, mostly, 

Matthew Wilson; 

Toyota - Hanninen and Nikara (also 

Hirvonen and Lappi, with Makinen); 

VW - Ogier, Latvala and Mikkelsen, 

with Gronhlm and mainly Depping. 

- MARTIN HOLMES

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The tour includes: 

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➜ Exclusive tour activity pre-event 

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Adrian Coppin slides 

his Corolla through the 

mud at the Kennards 

Hire Rally Australia 

launch last month. 

PHOTO: Bruce Thomas 

Proudly announcing the 

Southern Cross 

Gold Anniversary Rally 

November 8 to 19, 2016 

Re-trace the 1966 route through 

Victoria and then via Canberra to 

Sydney to enjoy the classic roads 

of the later Southern Cross Rallies 

around Port Macquarie. 

The rally finishes in Coffs Harbour 

where you’ll join the field of 

WRC cars competing in the final 

round of the 2016 World Rally 

Championship and compete on 

some of the WRC route.. 

Another Classic HRA re-run 

www.hra.org.au 

Daily competitive 

sections including: 

• Closed road 

stages 

• Hillclimbs 

• Timed track 

sections 

Each day finishes 

in time to enjoy a 

meal and lots of 

socialising! 

Head to the website for more information 

www.southerncrossanniversaryrally.com.au 

Albury Mansfield Sale Jindabyne Canberra 

Parramatta Taree Port Macquarie Coffs Harbour 

Stanza V8 re-emerges 

Long time Queensland 

competitor and enthusiast, 

Paul Williamson, has 

recently revealed that he 

has acquired the original 

Tony Masling Nissan 

Stanza V8 (pictured), which 

challenged the factory cars 

in the ARC in the early 80s. 

The car moved on to 

North Queenslander, 

Geoff Keys, who continued 

competing locally and 

nationally for some years. 

Paul says he intends to 

restore it to its original 

condition, meaning it may 

not meet current CAMS 

safety specifications, but 

will be eligible to compete 

elsewhere. 

- TOM SMITH 

Carrigans selling Evo 9 

Toowoomba driver, 

Tristan Carrigan, has his 

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 

up for sale. Carrigan and 

brother, Andy, set the 

Queenland rally scene 

on fire in the early 2000s, 

winning a Queensland 

Championship outright in a 

Ford Laser Tx3 (2WD). 

The young brothers gave 

rallying away for many 

years to build families and 

businesses, but have reemerged 

in recent years, . 

Tristan admitted that he 

would prefer to get back 

into a ‘serious’ front-wheel 

drive car! Stay tuned. 

- TOM SMITH 


Emma Gilmour will 

compete in the Italian Baja. 



U 

P 

D 

NZ news 

A 

TE 

Photo: 

Geoff 

Ridder 

By BLAIR BARTELS 

2017 sees the return of Rally New Zealand as 

organisers look to put together a candidate 

WRC event. The two-day event will run out of 

the East Coast city of Tauranga, the base for the 

proposed 2018 WRC round. Teams will also be 

competing for the Rally New Zealand trophy, 

which was first presented in 1969 and was last 

won in 2012, by Sebastien Loeb. 

Four time NZRC historic champion, Marcus 

van Klink, will step away from the class next 

year and move into the open two-wheel drive 

class with a freshly built Mazda RX-8. The new 

car features a 20B triple rotor engine, six speed 

sequential gearbox and MCA suspension, all 

wrapped in a large amount of carbon fibre. 

For new New Zealand Rally Champion, David 

Holder (pictured below), the Mahindra 

Goldrush Rally Coromandel ended an astounding 

run. It was the first event of his career he had 

finished without standing on the podium. 

Rally Coromandel saw record crowds out 

spectating on the day, with several spectators 

getting to some of the more remote spots via 

helicopter in a service put together by regular 

competitor, Shannon Chambers, who missed the 

event after selling his VW Polo. 

Rally Coromandel also saw the final round of the 

new Group A Challenge, which was taken out 

by Matt Adams, son of former national champion 

Paul. Not only was Paul on hand to see the win, 

but Matt’s grandfather and children were also 

on event, completing a four generation support 

team. Second place went to Simon Bell, with third 

going to Phil Collins. 

New special stages with 

excellent viewing choices, 

worldwide live television 

coverage, greater local support 

and a more open fight for the FIA 

World Rally Championship look 

set to make the 2016 Kennards 

Hire Rally Australia the best in the 

event’s 25-year history. 

The event on the New 

South Wales Coffs Coast from 

November 17-20 will welcome 

top manufacturer teams from 

Europe and the best competitors 

from around Australia to tackle a 

315 kilometre course comprising 

23 special stages designed to 

challenge the world’s fastest rally 

drivers. 

Chairman Ben Rainsford said 

everything was set for another 

successful event. 

“Every year since we came 

to the Coffs Coast in 2011, 

Rally Australia has grown in 

popularity, partner support and 

organisational and presentation 

standards. Last year, it generated 

a $14.3 million boost to the 

regional economy,” Mr Rainsford 

said. 

“Our new Destination NSW 

Super Special Stage – at the Jetty 

precinct literally alongside Coffs 

Harbour – other special stage 

enhancements including the 

exciting Flooded Gum spectator 

point on the final stage, and truly 

spectacular opening and closing 

ceremonies will all be highlights 

for our ticket holders. 

“WRC TV’s live coverage of the 

Friday Jetty super special and two 

passes through Wedding Bells on 

Sunday, plus its daily wrap shows 

and news feeds, will showcase the 

region to a massive audience.” 

While most of the competition 

roads to the north and south 

of the Coffs Harbour base are 

unchanged from 2015, organisers 

have added a second Super 

Special Stage at Raleigh, a 1.37km 

sprint at a multi-motorsports 

facility 20km south of Coffs 

Harbour on the Pacific Highway. 

Adult tickets to the Raleight 

stage will be just $10 and sold 

only at the gate. 

At nine spectator points across 

the course, event ticket holders 

will see stunning up-close action 

from the world’s fastest rally 

drivers. 

Two-for-one spectator deal 

Kennards Hire Rally Australia are offering a fantastic “buy one, 

get one free” deal for tickets to the Super Special Stage of the World 

Rally Championship round in November. 

The exciting new stage will be held on the Coffs Harbour 

foreshore on the Friday and Saturday night of the event, featuring 

the WRC’s biggest stars, including Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala 

and Hayden Paddon. 

Tickets are just $30 per person, with a bonus ticket thrown in free 

of charge. The offer is available from now until November 1, with 

tickets available from www.ticketek.com.au 

Photo: Geoff Ridder 



FIVE MINUTES WITH .... 

5 

minutes with ... 

BRAD MARKOVIC 

New Zealand’s fastest lady rally driver is 

more than a match for her male rivals. 

It’s been a tough 

season for the 

talented WA 

driver 

Name: Brad Markovic 

Age: 38 

Marital status: Married to Joanne 

Children: 2 daughters Alexis (9) and 

Amelie (7) 

Occupation: Director of Auto One 

Australia and Franchise owner Auto 

One Kalamunda 

Place of birth: Kalamunda, WA 

Where do you live: Kalamunda, WA 

Any other hobbies? Golf and Gym 

Markovic and Macneall 

on the charge in a round 

of the WA Championship. 

Photo: Gemma Lucas 

RSM: It’s been a tough start to the year. 

Has it been more a mental strain on you, or a 

financial one? 

BM: It’s been both. I’m very fortunate 

to be surrounded and supported by 

many commercial partners, family and 

friends, so the decision to acquire a 

new car as soon as possible to get us 

to Canberra was an easy decision to 

make. Unfortunately, I underestimated 

the impact the fire was to have on my 

mental state going forward. 

The fire in WA must have been even more 

frustrating given that you showed incredible 

speed early in the event. Is that the case? 

That was the biggest disappoint for 

us as Glenn (Macneall) and myself had 

worked so hard last year on refining 

my driving and the car to showcase our 

speed against Australia’s best. To come 

away with no car and no result when 

we were sitting in second place behind 

Harry (Bates) and in front of Simon 

(Evans) was the hardest pill to swallow. 

Things didn’t go to plan with the new car 

in Canberra. Did that further knock your 

confidence, or was it more the car set-up 

that frustrated you? 

With the short turnaround time of 

three weeks between events, to even 

get to Canberra was a huge win for 

us and the team. Unfortunately, the 

time taken in transporting the car 

back and forward across the Nullabor 

meant that we weren’t able to test or 

run it in a similar specification as our 

previous one, so the media day was an 

interesting drive, to say the least. 

As for the confidence, unfortunately 

the very first real rally stage on the 

Saturday morning in Canberra, Glenn 

and myself were the first car on the 


scene of Craig Brooks’ Subaru fire, who 

thankfully they were both unhurt, but 

knocked me around mentally to the 

degree that I didn’t want to get back in 

the car at all that day. 

How important has the influence of Dean 

Herridge and the Maximum Motorsport team 

been this season, and in what ways have they 

helped you get through it? 

Dean and I have been best mates 

for nearly 20 years and with his father, 

Rob, I feel part of the family. So their 

influence to my rallying, and especially 

the friendship and commercial support 

this year, has been huge, especially 

since the fire. Just being able to talk 

about what’s been on mind and not 

bottle up the emotions has kept me 

motivated to get back out there. 

Similarly, how big an influence has Glenn 

Macneall been on your rallying, and your 

driving in particular? 

Glenn, without a doubt, would have 

to be the biggest change and influence 

to my driving and increase of speed 

over the last few years. His passion 

and experience, both in and out of 

the car, has given me confidence to 

compete at a level I didn’t believe I 

could ever achieve. I just wish I’d had 

the opportunity to have him in the car 

15 years ago when I was younger. 

There’s been plenty of discussion on 

whether the ARC should be only for modern 

cars, or for older cars like it is this year. 

What are your thoughts? 

Commercially I understand people’s 

views on a field of modern cars, and my 

commercial partners want to see me 

in a modern car, but realistically I think 

Brad Markovic on his way 

to third place in Heat 1 of 

Rally SA. 

(Photos: Peter Whitten) 

we need to create a championship 

that attracts the most competitors 

in the short to medium term. If that 

means the older cars enable the 

championship to continue and grow, 

that’s the outcome we should be trying 

to achieve. 

What’s your rallying goal over the next 

three years? 

Firstly, to keep 

enjoying it. This year 

was all about learning 

the events for a larger 

attack on the 2017 

championship, and I 

would love to do some 

events in New Zealand. 

What are three key points 

that the ARC needs to 

concentrate on? 

This is my first year 

doing the whole ARC, but from a 

business perspective I would see the 

strategic/business plan requiring 

consistency for technical regulations 

for the next five years, looking for ways 

to increase the content of our social 

media platforms, and maintaining our 

competitor numbers. 

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FIVE MINUTES WITH ... 

5 

minutes with ... 

JOHN 

KENNARD 

The 2016 season has 

been the best yet for the 

WRC’s oldest co-driver 


You’re a resident of Finland when you’re 

in Europe. Why is this, and do you see your 

future in Finland or in New Zealand once 

you’re out of the WRC? 

My wife, Satu, is a Finn and we have 

a “summer” cottage there, about 1.5 

hours north of Jyväskylä, where WRC 

Rally Finland is based. 

As the cottage is also good enough 

to stay in during winter, it’s a natural 

location to base myself, rather than the 

long haul back and forth to NZ all the 

time. 

Long term I’m sure I’ll end up back 

in NZ, as both Satu and I consider it 

home and our wine business is based in 

Marlborough. 

You spent some time with the Subaru World 

Rally Team in the 90s. What did that involve, 

and did that benefit you once you became a 

WRC regular? 

I was logistics co-ordinator, and 

occasional team manager, for SWRT 

from the mid 90s, then, just before 

the millennium, when WRC changed 

to central service and some of the 

challenge of the job disappeared, I 

swapped over to do the same job 

for the customer side of Prodrive, 

mainly on the French and Polish 

championships. 

In the beginning much of the job 

involved not only getting people, 

vehicles and parts to and from events, 


“(Hayden) had a calm, 

analytical approach, 

and a level of skill that 

reminded me of some 

champions I’d already 

worked with.” 

but also service planning to get vans 

and/or trucks to service areas after 

every few stages, on rallies with up to 

40 stages, in places like the French Alps, 

Corsica and even in Kenya, for Safari 

Rally. 

It was often like a puzzle to make it 

all work, and, with much less in the way 

of communications, one you had to get 

right from the start, as there was little 

opportunity to put it right once things 

were underway. 

Having been in this role, I had a 

great understanding of both how WRC 

worked, the places and the people, 

which I think was a help in finding 

Hayden’s path into it all. 

When Hayden first approached you to codrive 

for him, did it take some convincing to 

get you in the seat? 

During my time at Prodrive I worked 

with some young customer drivers, 

usually from wealthy backgrounds, who 

weren’t the easiest people to deal with, 

so I was a bit reticent. But as soon as 

we got in the car together I realised he 

was the polar opposite, very grounded 

and mature, with a huge passion to 

reach his ultimate goal, WRC champion. 

He also had a calm, analytical 

approach, and a level of skill, even then, 

that reminded me of some champions 

I’d already worked with, and together it 

all suggested he could go a long way. 

What’s been the most noticeable 

improvement in Hayden’s driving in 2016, 

and do you think there’s still more speed to 

come? 

I don’t think there’s been one big 

improvement. When you’re looking 

for those last fractions of a second 

it’s always about looking at the many 

things you need to go that quick, and 

improving each and every one if you 

can. 

How much of an improvement has the “New 

Generation” i20 been this year? 

The New Generation i20 WRC has 

been a great step forward in many 

areas, but especially the engine. 

Hayden also felt quite at home in the 

car from our first test, so I think this has 

also been a plus for us. 

On gravel, the VWs run a lot lower to the 

ground than the Hyundais. Does this give the 

VWs an advantage, and why don’t the team 

run your i20s that low?

It’s extremely hard to compare the 

New Generation i20WRC with the 

other cars, as it’s the only one we drive, 

and each of the other cars has subtle 

differences in how they’re set up and 

work the best. 

You are the oldest winner of a WRC event, 

which is a great achievement. Are you still 

improving as a co-driver, and if so, how? 

Thanks. I’m not sure about improving, 

but I think I still learn something on 

most rallies, and that accumulated 

knowledge certainly helps. 

Have you ridden in the 2017 car, and can 

you tell us what it’s like compared to the 

current car? 

We’re into the test programme with 

the 2017 car now, which, along with pre 

event tests and rallies, makes life quite 

busy. 

It’s always good fun developing 

something new, and I think people will 

be impressed with the cars when they 

see them on the stages next year. 

Is 2017 a realistic title opportunity for 

Hayden and yourself, or do you think you 

still need another year of experience and 

improvement to being a real threat? 

While it would be great to say it was 

a realistic goal, I think it’ll be a case of 

starting it as a dress rehearsal year and 

seeing how things develop. 

RALLYCROSS 

SUCCESS AT 

RALEIGH 

A championship almost always 

requires a mix of speed, skill, 

experience and luck, so approaching 

it this way allows for a season where 

by being right there, anything might 

happen if the dice fall the right way. 

The growing popularity of 

rallycross was on show 

again recently when Raleigh 

International Raceway hosted 30 

cars in round three of the Raleigh 

RallyX Series. 

Entrants from as far as 

Queensland and Victoria 

descended upon Raleigh (20 

minutes south west of Coffs 

Harbour) for an epic day of 

rallycross action. 

Cars were separated into three classifications: Rallycross 

1 vehicles (autocross automobiles) in Restricted and 

Unrestricted classes, and Rallycross 2 (rally-bred machines). 

The 1.1km track comprises 50% tarmac and 50% dirt/ 

gravel, and participants had heats of four laps and had to 

include a “Joker” lap (a slow section of the course) on at 

least one of the four laps. 

The Raleigh event 

attracted all types of 

makes and models. 

(Photo: Bruce Thomas) 

The heavy hitters of Rallycross 2 included the Will Orders, 

Justin Dowel, Sean Bolger and Michael Coyne. 

Rallycross 1 consisted of a field of 26 that ranged from 

Excels, Charades and Mirage hatches to V6 and V8 Falcons 

and Commodores. Winners were: 

Rallycross 1 Restricted – Kerry Taylor - Commodore 

Rallycross 1 Unrestricted – John Kelly - Mitsubishi FTO 

Rallycross 2 – Will Orders – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 



APRIL FOR OTAGO RALLY 

The Otago Rally will be the 

first round of the 2017 New 

Zealand Rally Championship, 

and will again incorporate the 

hugely popular Otago Classic Rally. 

To be held from April 7 to 9, the rally 

will be centred around the South Island 

city of Dunedin, with a ceremonial start 

on Friday evening, before competitive 

stages on Saturday and Sunday. 

The date is conditional on the 

announcement of the World and Asia- 

Pacific Rally Championship dates, but 

presently fits well with the proposed 

2017 NZ Championship calendar. 

“Route planning is well underway 

and will incorporate a combination 

of forestry and the fast flowing public 

roads that the Otago Rally is renowned 

for,” Clerk of Course, Norman Oakley, 

said. 

“Classic stages such as Waipori Gorge, 

Whare Flat and Kuri Bush are certain to 

be included.” 

The 2017 New Zealand Rally 

Championship looks set to be the most 

competitive for many years, with a 

host of current and new AP4 cars set to 

contest next April’s Otago Rally. 

A strong field of competitors is also 

expected in the Otago Classic Rally, 

including a number of Australians, and 

the regular guest appearance of a star 

driver from the northern hemisphere. 

In 2016, Estonia’s Markko Martin 

blitzed the field in the Classics, while 

Hyundai WRC star, Hayden Paddon, 

performed similar heroics in the NZRC. 

CLASSIC ADELAIDE OFFER TOURIST TROPHY 


On the mend after big shunt 

Victorian Rally Championship 

competitors, Viv Dilkes-Frayne 

and Tracey Dewhurst, are on the road 

to recovery after a serious crash in 

the recent Pyrenees Rush Rally in the 

Victorian goldfields. 

Dilkes-Frayne suffered a fractured 

pelvis when the car hit a tree headon 

at high speed, while Dewhurst 

also received a fractured pelvis and a 

broken coccyx. 

The RallySafe unit in the car 

recorded the Subaru’s impact with a 

tree at 8g after the car got light on a 

crest, hit a stump with a rear wheel 

and was speared into the tree. 

The Classic Adelaide Rally returns with 21 stages 

through the Adelaide Hills and surrounds from November 

17-19. 

With a focus on pre-1986 model vehicles vying for outright 

and handicap honours, the field is large and diverse. 

This year, organisers are offering up a “Tourist Trophy” for 

interstate entries. The fastest visitor to the state will receive 

a commemorative trophy and $3495 credit towards a future 

entry in the event. 

“We have seen a number of gravel rally cars converted to 

tarmac for this event that celebrates classic rallying as the 

premium category,” event spokesman, Tim Possingham, 

said. 

“The tight course we have this year has boosted entries 

from lower powered, but better handling cars, and it has 

evened up the playing field a lot. 

“It’s great to see such a mix of entries including Renault 

Alpines, Lotus Cortinas, Cosworth Escorts and a heap more. 

Entries close soon, with further information available from 

www.classicadelaide.com.au

LIGHTFORCE RALLY SA - ARC 4 

WIDE 

OPEN 

Simon Evans pushing 

hard on day one of 

Lightforce Rally SA. 

Six points separate 

top three in title fight 

Story: 

LUKE WHITTEN 

PHOTOS: Peter Whitten, Luke Whitten 

Lightforce Rally SA blew the championship 

wide open and now not 

one, not two, but three drivers 

will be a part of a thrilling battle in the 

final round on the beautiful Coffs Coast. 

Simon Evans, Molly Taylor and Harry 

Bates left the Barossa Valley with just 

six points separating them. 

PRE EVENT 

The pre-event ride day and 

shakedown was cancelled on Thursday 

night due to heavy rain, leaving crews 

to twiddle thumbs and wander amongst 

themselves, waiting for a decision on a 

revised route from the rally organisers. 

Rally winner Brendan Reeves was in top form. 

Simon Evans, who relinquished his 

championship lead to Harry Bates last 

time out in Queensland, was sporting 

a repaired and repainted Subaru. The 

light blue colour of the paint was visible 

if you looked hard enough, but the 

matte black vinyl covering it was the 

same as in previous events. 

Championship leader, Harry Bates, 

was looking for a consistent weekend. 

With no major changes to the car since 

the last round, he was no doubt aiming 

to keep ticking boxes on the road to the 

championship title. 

ARC newcomer, Arron Windus, 

fresh off his win in a Victorian Rally 

Championship round was, admittedly, 

like all the drivers, rueing the 

cancelled shakedown. 

“I’m not worried about the result 

this weekend,” he said before the 

event. “It’s all about learning and 

getting experience.” 

Early on the Friday, Waterholes 

was the first stage to be cancelled 

(how ironic). This was followed by QH, 

Buddys and Gum Flat, which were all 

left out of the route. 

It was looking like another 

shortened event like the previous 

round in Queensland, but rally 

organisers swiftly scheduled the 

repeat of three shire road stages, 

including the ‘driver’s favourite’ 

Goldfields. 

HEAT ONE 

The first loop of stages of the 

morning was in fact, not a loop at 

Weather fails to dampen SA spirits 

Despite mother nature throwing 

everything it could, Lightforce 

Rally SA was a resounding 

success, despite many difficulties in the 

lead up to the event. 

Over two inches of rain fell in the 

Mount Crawford region throughout 

Thursday and Friday, causing 

headaches for Clerk of Course, Ivar 

Stanelis, and his experienced team. 

However, rather than simply cancel 

stages, the organising team swiftly put 

in place a brand new itinerary, only 

losing 20km of distance in the process. 

The cancelled stages were to an 

extent, replaced, and it was business as 

usual. 

Four stages, Waterholes, QH, Gum 

Flat and the popular Buddys, were 

cancelled, but three longer shire road 

stages were all run a second time. 

This provided value for competitors, 

spectators and media, who perhaps 

thought the event was in serious doubt 

early on Friday morning. 



“On a fast left hand 

bend, his Corolla left 

the road at 150km/h. 

Bates and McCarthy 

were fortunately okay.” 

all. A short blast through the short, 

6.37km of Cromer proved rather 

straightforward. 

Brendan Reeves set the early pace by 

2.2 seconds from Evans. Mark Pedder 

completed the stage a promising third 

quickest in his fully rebuilt Peugeot 208 

Maxi. 

The Goldfields stage, set northwest 

of the Mount Pleasant base, is a driver’s 

favourite, but was dominated by 

Brendan Reeves. This took his tally to 

three stage wins out of three, and a 21 

second lead was quickly built. 

Molly Taylor was a surprising eighth 

quickest in SS1, but a faulty wire caused 

no anti-lag on her Subaru, dropping the 

car’s power. This was easily fixed by the 

crew after the stage. 

A kangaroo attempted to derail 

Simon Evans’ stage two, but that, 

coupled with a spin on the last corner 

of the stage, meant he dropped to 

third, behind Harry Bates. 

“We have major rear brake lock up, 

which is stalling the engine,” Evans 

lamented. 

Mark Pedder, although not troubled 

through the first lot of stages, found 

the roads slippery but was in fifth place, 

behind the debuting Arron Windus, 

who had survived a big spin on the first 

run through Goldfields. 

Taylor had recovered somewhat to 

be sixth, just clear of Tasmanian Eddie 

Maguire in a Lancer Evo 9, and WA’s 

Brad Markovic. 

In the first afternoon stage, disaster 

struck for the championship leader, 

Harry Bates. On a fast left hand bend, 

Bates was third before 

his accident on day one. 

Harry Bates’ Corolla 

took a big hit. 

his Corolla left the road at 150km/h. 

Bates and co-driver John McCarthy 

were fortunately okay, but their car 

was in desperate need of repair, and 

perhaps requiring a miracle to make it 

to the start of heat two. 

“We took a slight cut across the grass 

and it was a lot slipperier than it had 

been in recce,” Bates explained. 

“The car slid to the outside of the 

road and for a second I thought I had 

it under control. But it hit the trees, 

ripping a front wheel off and doing 

significant damage.” 

With the stage 

temporarily stopped, 

Bates’ crew were able 

to extract the car 

from the stage (see 

separate story) and 

trailer it back to the 

service park, where a 

12-hour rebuild got 

underway. 

Fixing a brake bias 

issue (by turning the 

brake bias adjuster!) 

from earlier in the 

day, and driving 

a little smoother, 

meant Simon Evans netted a stage win 

on ‘Crawford’. He was now building 

momentum and was looking forward to 

the night stages. 

An exhaust leak was Reeves’ only 

dilemma as he led heading into the 

night. 

Arron Windus had started the event 

well and was third outright at one 

stage, but four spins in the most recent 

two stages were not ideal for the 20 

year-old. 

“We’re just trying a bit too hard. We 

Brendan Reeves 

has now won three 

events in a row. 


Miss Consistent. Molly Taylor 

drove superbly once again. 

need to adapt to the conditions better,” 

he said. 

A broken driveshaft then meant he 

lost time, and dropped to fifth for the 

heat. 

Mark Pedder’s cruel run of bad luck 

continued as well, with his Peugeot 

blowing an engine and cutting his rally 

short. 

The night stages threw up plenty 

of dramas. Running first on the road, 

Evans was eager to make use of his 

considerable night rallying experience, 

and while he set a strong fastest time 

on the first of the two stages, it came at 

Leading SA competitor, James 

Rodda was fourth in Heat One. 

“It’s ridiculous. There 

were thousands of 

kangaroos out there 

and we were lucky to 

only hit one.” 

a cost. 

Another altercation with a kangaroo 

just 300 metres from the end of the first 

night stage did considerable damage 

to the Subaru, including smashing his 

driving lights and holing the radiator. 

He limped through the final stage, 

but dropped a whopping 13m44s to 

Reeves, and eventually finished the 

heat seventh (although luckily, fourth of 

the ARC pointscorers). 

“It was ridiculous,” Evans fumed back 

at service. “There were thousands of 

kangaroos out there and we were lucky 

to only hit one. It’s ruined our day, and 

possibly our championship!” 

Reeves hit trouble too, when a water 

splash on the Telephone Road stage 

destroyed his Subaru’s air cleaner. The 

team had a spare, but the rally leader 

had to make do with a low on power 

engine for the remaining night stage. 

His exhaust leak had also worsened, 

with the heat build up melting the front 

sway bar mounts. 

However, Reeves would not 

relinquish his lead, taking the heat one 

honours by over two minutes after a 

drama filled day. 

The consistent Taylor steered her 

way through all the drama to finish 

the day in second place (and the top 

ARC pointscorer), while Brad Markovic 

grabbed his best result of the season so 

far, taking third place in his Subaru, just 

two seconds behind the factory WRX. 

James Rodda put in a great drive to 

be fourth outright and the top South 

Australian home in his Lancer Evo 9, 

with Windus rounding out the top five. 



Brad Markovic on his 

way to third place in 

Heat One. 

Championship standings 

after round 4 of 5: 

1. Simon Evans 251 

2. Molly Taylor 246 

3. Harry Bates 245 

4. Tom Wilde 175 

5. Chris Higgs 172 

6. Brad Markovic 113 

Watch the highlights HERE 

* Heat 1 * Heat 2 

Eddie Maguire’s great run came to an 

end on the final stage when he slid off 

the road into a tree stump, damaging 

his Lancer’s front suspension. 

In the classics, Mal Keough’s Quattro 

was a clear winner over Tony Quinn’s 

BMW. 

After the previous days of rain, crews 

were happy that day one of the event 

had proven to be fine, albeit it overcast. 

With better weather forecast for heat 

two, there was plenty to be excited 

about. 

HEAT TWO 

Molly Taylor started heat two, 

much to her surprise, as the ARC 

championship leader. 

“It’s exciting for us, but it doesn’t 

change our approach in any way,” she 

said. “Consistency is our strength, and 

we just need to keep scoring points.” 

Harry Bates, who lost his 

championship lead to Taylor, had his 

Corolla looking brand new again after 

a tremendous effort by the Neal Bates 

Motorsport mechanics overnight. 

The car was driven into Parc Ferme at 

3.00am, and Harry was yet to drive the 

car. His father, Neal, had driven the car 

up the road and back after the repair, 

and everyone had their fingers crossed 

that it was back in one piece. 

It was a slow stage one for Bates, but 

he admitted it was good to get back on 

the horse after the biggest accident of 

his short career. 

“I can’t thank the team enough,” 

he said. “It was my error, and I’m so 

thankful that the team were able to get 


the car finished in time. The drinks are 

on me!” 

Windus and Markovic, both showing 

pace throughout the weekend, came 

unstuck on the same corner of Trial Hill, 

the day’s second stage. 

Windus rolled gently while trying to 

avoid the tree that Markovic eventually 

hit. Neither car was badly damaged, 

and while Markovic missed a couple 

of stages and rejoined later in the day, 

Windus’ car had ended on its roof, 

so the team were unwillingly to risk 

damaging the engine by restarting it. 

Reeves had started day two were 

he left off on day one, and after the 

opening two stages his lead was 

already out to 21.6 seconds and victory 

looked his. Evans, meanwhile, was 

letting Reeves run his own rally and was 

determined to finish with a good haul 

of points, knowing that he only needed 

to keep an eye on the times of Bates 

and Taylor. 

Bates had settled into third place, 

ahead of Taylor and Maguire, but the 

pretty BMW M3 of Tony Quinn had 

retired with driveshaft failure. 

With the sun shining brightly, the 

status quo remained on the repeat 

runs of Corryton Park and Trial Hill, and 

nobody appeared to be willing to risk 

anything. 

The final two stages, Telephone Road 

and Crawford, were run for the third 

time each, and while the roads had cut 

Crowd favourite, Mal 

Keough, took the 

classics victory.

up somewhat, they held up remarkably 

well. 

In the end it was Brendan Reeves 

and Rhianon Gelsomino who took a 

convincing 27.2 second win in heat two, 

securing their third win in succession, 

across two countries. 

“Everything has gone perfectly and we 

couldn’t be happier,” Reeves said. 

“The fast shire roads really suit my 

driving style and the car, so when the 

organisers had to re-route the event 

and include more shire roads, I was 

really happy! 

“The rally organisers should be 

congratulated for their efforts in 

providing a fantastic event, despite 

all the difficulties they had with the 

weather. We had a ball,” he added. 

Evans and Ben Searcy were thrilled 

as well, having a trouble-free day that 

ended with them in second place, and 

with a five point lead in the ARC heading 

into the final round. 

“Being this close going into the final 

round wasn’t exactly in my plans, but 

we’ll take it and move on to an exciting 

Rally Australia,” he said. 

Third place for Harry Bates and John 

McCarthy was a brilliant 

result, not only for the duo, 

but for their team who 

repaired a car that ran 

faultlessly over the final 

day’s stages. They are just six 

points behind Evans in the 

title race, and still well in the 

running. 

For the fourth straight rally, 

Molly Taylor and Bill Hayes 

finished without a scratch 

on the car, and truly deserve 

their second place in the ARC. 

The Group N WRX may not 

have been as well suited to 

Night rallying made a welcome ARC return, 

with Eddie Maguire lighting up the night sky. 

Mark Pedder’s horror 

run of back luck 

continued. 

the fast SA roads as some of their rivals, 

but they did a stellar job. 

“Rally Australia is the pinnacle event 

in the championship, and to be second 

in the series heading into the event 

gives us a huge boost,” Taylor said. 

“It may be two months away, but 

we’re already looking forward to the 

challenge.” 

Eddie Maguire’s return to gravel 

rallying ended successfully with fifth 

place for the day, and gave him much 

needed experience heading towards 

Rally Australia. He admitted that his 

driving needed to be more aggressive 

than it is on tarmac, but he enjoyed the 

challenge. 

Chris Higgs and stand-in co-driver, 

Steve Glenney, took sixth place in their 

Subaru, ahead of Rodda (who was 

delayed by a puncture), Adam Kaplan in 

a Mazda RX7, and Brad Markovic in his 

repaired Subaru. 

Mal Keough and ‘Pip’ Bennett once 

again took the classics victory in their 

Audi Quattro S1 replica. 

The championship now concludes 

with the running of Kennards Hire Rally 

Australia, to be held on the Coffs Coast 

of NSW from November 18 to 20. 

Removal of Bates’ 

Corolla explained ... 

Claims that Harry Bates’ team 

received special dispensation 

from the organisers have 

been refuted by Lightforce Rally SA, 

after Bates crashed on day one of 

the event. 

After the Corolla of Bates and 

John McCarthy slid off the road and 

hit trees at around 150km/h, the 

“Telephone Road” stage was stopped 

for considerable time. 

The location of the car was 

assessed by event officials, and the 

Neal Bates Motorsport crew were 

then allowed to extricate the car 

from the forest before the stage was 

restarted. 

On a Facebook post, Lightforce 

Rally SA clarified the situation as 

follows: 

- Car 4 went off on Telephone 

Road during Heat One 

- Medical Intervention Vehicles and 

Recovery vehicles were sent into the 

stage to assess and provide medical 

attention 

- Based on reports and photos 

from the stage coupled with 

extensive knowledge of the road 

involved, the Clerk of Course made 

the decision that the car was in an 

unsafe position. 

- The only way to recover the 

vehicle to a safe position was to 

extract it from the stage, and as the 

car had significant damage including 

missing wheels this took longer than 

originally anticipated. 

- Car 4 did not finish Heat One, so 

received no championship points. 

- The Kumho Tyre Australian Rally 

Championship do not run events 

on the ground - this is down to the 

local organising team, who made an 

impartial assessment based on all 

the facts. 

- Car 4 was able to complete 

repairs and book in before their 4am 

deadline. 

Regards, 

Lightforce Rally SA 


COROMANDEL RALLY - NZRC 5 

GOLDRUSH 

Aussie duo rob Kiwis of victory in final round 

Story: BLAIR BARTELS 

Photos: GEOFF RIDDER 


Watch the highlights HERE 



Carl Davies pushing 

hard in his pretty 

Subaru WRX STI. 

The final round of the Brian Green 

Property Group New Zealand 

Rally Championship saw teams 

head to the holiday town of Whitianga 

for the Mahindra Goldrush Rally Coromandel, 

with 120 kilometres of twisting 

and demanding roads on offer. 

Although the overall title had been 

well and truly wrapped up by David 

Holder and Jason Farmer, a large group 

of cars were in contention for the 

runner-up spot in the championship, 

while the Gull Rally Challenge two and 

four-wheel drive classes, open twowheel 

drive, Rookie and Junior titles 

were still all up for grabs. 

As well as this, there were several 

surprise one-off entries for the event, 

including three-time New Zealand 

champion, Neil Allport, in his Ford 

Escort RS1600, and Australian gun 

Brendan Reeves, jumping behind 

the wheel of Force Motorsport’s first 

generation Mazda 2 AP4+ car, run over 

the past three seasons by Andrew 

Hawkeswood. 

However, the drama started early 

when Emma Gilmour, who came into 

the event second in the championship, 

was forced to withdraw prior to the 

start when her new engine started 

throwing water out in fairly severe 

quantities. 

Fears of dust saw the top five 

(reduced to four) start order draw 

see no change to the running order, 

with Holder leading away Graham 

Featherstone, Sloan Cox and Andrew 

Hawkeswood. 

Outgoing champion Ben Hunt, Matt 

Summerfield, Reeves, Dylan Turner, 

Lance Williams and Phil Campbell 

rounded out the top 10 on the road. 

In the end, fears of dust were 

alleviated when overnight rain fell, just 

enough to dampen the dust, but still 

leaving a layer of gravel on top for the 

leaders to sweep away. 

The opening stage, unchanged over 

the past three years on the outskirts 

of town, got underway with overcast 


“Reeves immediately 

set the pace, 3.4 

seconds ahead of 

Hawkeswood, with 

Glenn Inkster third 

fastest.” 

and threatening conditions overhead. 

Straight away the stage threw up some 

surprises, with Holder struggling to 

eighth fastest, Featherstone 11 th , and 

Cox getting accustomed to a change in 

tyres, coming in fifth fastest. 

Reeves immediately set the pace, 3.4 

seconds ahead of Hawkeswood, with 

12th seed Glenn Inkster third fastest, 

despite a misfire developing late in the 

stage. 

Summerfield was fastest of the 

non-AP4 cars in fourth, ahead of Cox 

and Turner. Grant Blackberry was the 

fastest of the Gull Rally Challenge cars 

in seventh, ahead of Holder, Kingsley 

Jones and Hunt, who was struggling 

with an electrical problem that left him 

down on boost. 

A long tour took teams to a new stage 

Andrew Hawkeswood in 

the second generation 

Mazda 2 AP4. 

at the top of the Coromandel Peninsula, 

Port Charles. At 16.5km, it proved a real 

opportunity for someone to make a 

break. 

It was Reeves that took that 

opportunity, 8.6 seconds quicker than 

Summerfield, who moved up to third, 

and Turner, who moved into fourth 

place. Hawkeswood’s fifth fastest time 

kept him in the runner-up spot. 

Blackberry was on a charge, fourth 

fastest in the Evo 6, with Robson 

chasing him hard for class honours, 

sixth fastest and only 4.2 seconds 

behind his rival. 

Tony Gosling was a man on a mission 

in the Historics early on, climbing into 

14th outright to take the class lead after 

stage two, having taken more than 30 

seconds out of normal class pace setter 

Marcus van Klink. 

John Silcock was also giving van 

Klink a hard time, beating him through 

stage two, and eight seconds clear of 

Jeff Judd, who he was battling with for 

second in the historic championship, 

the pair having entered the event level 

on points. 

The high horsepower open two-wheel 

drive cars were struggling with the 

abrasive nature of the road surface,

with Anthony Jones managing to reduce 

a pair of rear tyres to canvas across the 

opening three stages. Despite that, his 

Escort led the class from Dave Strong, 

who needed only to finish to secure the 

title. 

However, Strong was coming under 

more pressure from rookie Dylan 

Thomson, who was only 15 seconds 

behind and well clear of Jack Williamson 

in fourth. 

Reeves continued his domination of 

the opening loop of stages with a five 

second win on stage three, heading 

home a surprised Blackberry, who 

continued his storming drive with a 

second fastest time to move into the 

top five. 

Turner signaled his intent with third 

fastest, ahead of Summerfield and a 

frustrated Clint Cunningham, whose top 

five time was despite a misfire holding 

him back. 

Sixth fastest meant Hawkeswood 

stayed ahead of Summerfield for 

second, 23.6 seconds behind Reeves 

and only a tenth of a second ahead of 

Summerfield, with Turner lurking less 

than six seconds behind. 

As teams headed for service, weather 

was becoming a big talking point and 

the dark clouds lurking ensured several 

different opinions would show in tyre 

choice. 

With the first pass through the 

longest stage of the rally, the 23 

kilometre Tapu-Coroglen stage, as well 

as a repeat run through the 309 road 

used as stage three, some compromise 

was inevitable, but the weather factor 

was throwing in a further unwanted 

complication. 

On top of tyre choices, there were 

plenty of dramas for teams to work 

with. Inkster, who was on the pace 

in stage one, was forced to replace a 

broken spark plug to fix his misfire, 

while Lance Williams’ morning, that 

began with a puncture, was taking 

a worrying turn with an overheating 

engine, ironically an issue that dogged 

him on this event last year (to the point 

where later in the day, he would stop 

and take water from the same spots as 

the year before) was starting to cause a 

few concerns. 

Not as many as the Ben Hunt team, 

however, who were unable to sort the 

Jeff Judd was as 

spectacular as 

always in his Escort. 

cause of the power loss and made the 

difficult decision to retire rather than 

risk the car. 

Kiwi hopes continued to dwindle as 

Sloan Cox secured 

second in the 2016 

NZRC in Coromandel. 

Reeves took his fourth stage win in a 

row as the rain began to fall, although 

an almighty effort from Inkster saw him 

only three seconds behind over the 

23km, despite a broken gear display, 

causing difficulty in judging speed with 

the sequential gearbox in the Skoda. 

Kingsley Jones showed Blackberry 

was not the only Gull Challenge 

competitor in a hurry with the third 

fastest time, just ahead of Summerfield 

and Turner, both of whom leapfrogged 

Hawkeswood in the stage, as did 

Blackberry and Inkster, after a tyre 

choice went horribly wrong on the 

Mazda and he could only set the 14th 

fastest time. 

With some suspension changes at 

service, Holder increased his pace 

slightly to seventh fastest in stage four, 

but showed why he is the national 

champion in stage five, claiming the 

stage win and the first driver to take a 

stage win off Reeves. 

The stage win moved Holder up 

three positions to seventh place and 

into what was becoming an intense 

battle for the top five, with 3.1 seconds 

separating fifth to seventh. 

Summerfield moved himself into 

a solid second place with the second 

fastest time, while a wound up 

Hawkeswood recovered some of the 

time lost with the third fastest time, 

Dylan Turner was 

impressive once 

again in his Lancer. 



Queenslander Bruce 

Fullerton contested the 

event in a Mitsubishi Starion. 

which took him past Inkster to fifth. 

Turner and Blackberry were equal 

fourth fastest, leaving Turner with 

the same 7.1 second margin over 

Blackberry in the fight for the final 

podium spot. 

As one shower passed, another 

threatened while teams returned to 

the service park before repeating 

the previous two stages. Once again 

Reeves headed home Inkster through 

Tapu Coroglen, this time just over 

eight seconds separating the pair, 

while Graham Featherstone finally 

was able to show the speed that had 

him as a favourite for second in the 

championship prior to the round, with 

the third fastest time. He edged out 

Turner and Cox, who had made major 

tyre changes in an effort to rekindle his 

fight for the championship runner-up 

spot. 

Once again the big loser on the 

stage was Hawkeswood, who again 

missed out on picking the right tyres 

in the service park and slipped back to 

seventh, behind Holder. 

The third and final run through the 

309 road stage was another Reeves 

benefit, putting the victory well beyond 

doubt with a margin of 47.6 seconds 

with only three stages remaining, two 

of which were a short tarmac publicity 

stage. 

Featherstone once again showed 

what might have been with a time only 

0.4 of a second off the Australian’s 

pace. Summerfield’s third fastest time 

made his second place look increasingly 

comfortable, while Turner held third, 

just over 10 seconds ahead of Inkster, 

who was now under no pressure from 

behind after Blackberry spun and found 

himself stuck in a ditch. Although he did 

no damage, he was unable to regain 

the road. 

Hawkeswood moved back into fifth 

after a spin from Holder, who now had 

Featherstone only 2.4 seconds off his 


tail, and Kingsley Jones moved into 

the Gull Rally Challenge lead following 

Blackberry’s demise and an oil leak 

for Robson, that meant he was now 

keeping an eye on third placed Jono 

Walker, who was having his best run of 

the season. 

Gosling continued to dominate the 

Historics and would continue on to 

take a well-deserved victory, as well as 

claiming top two-wheel drive overall 

for the event, and the power stage for 

extra bragging rights 

and bonus points. 

Graham 

Featherstone. 

Second place for 

Silcock secured 

him second in the 

championship 

behind van Klink, 

who retired from 

Coromandel with an 

alternator failure, 

while Judd’s third 

place meant he took 

third for the year. 

Anthony Jones 

took his third round 

win of the year in his 

Escort, but second place was enough 

for Dave Strong to take the Open twowheel 

drive championship for the year 

in his Honda Civic. 

Third in the class, and a stage win, 

was enough for Dylan Thomson to be 

awarded the Dunlop Drive of the Rally 

and the free set of Dunlops that go with 

it, while Jack Williamson rounded out a 

tough season with a solid fourth place. 

The Gull Rally Challenge on the day 

and for the year would go the way of 

Kingsley Jones, ahead of Lee Robson, 

while Jono Walker’s third place on the 

day won him the Gull Rally Scholarship 

prize of a drum of Gull Force Pro E85 

liquid horsepower, but it wasn’t enough 

to stop Warwick Redfern taking third for 

the series. 

Jeff Torkington took the round win for 

two-wheel drive and with it, victory for 

the year over an absent Greg Murphy. 

Other championship classes saw 

Max Bayley take out FIA two-wheel 

drive (without contesting the finale), 

Carl Davies come home for the Rookie 

title and Sloan Cox become Junior 

Champion for the second time. 

With only one gravel stage remaining, 

the major placings and the minor 

money were fairly sorted, but with 

a tight battle for the championship 

runner-up spot behind Holder, the 

power stage and the bonus points 

would wind up crucial. 

Hawkeswood blasted through the 

stage to claim the stage win and the 

big haul of points, but it was a second 

fastest time for Sloan Cox that sealed 

him second in the championship, only 

one point ahead of Hawkeswood. 

Turner set the third fastest time 

and that meant he would take fifth 

in the championship, just behind 

Featherstone. 

Inkster complimented his fourth 

overall with fourth in power stage to 

claim two bonus points. But a single 

bonus point for fifth fastest would 

hardly have mattered to Reeves, who 

claimed a magnificent victory, the first 

for Mazda in the NZRC in 23 years and 

by a margin of 23.6 seconds. 

Summerfield was relieved to round 

out a tough season with second place, 

while Turner continued his run of 

podium finishes this season, now up to 

three from three starts, with another 

third - not bad considering he had 

never had an NZRC podium at the start 

of the season. 

Inkster, Hawkeswood, Holder, 

Cox, Featherstone, Kingsley Jones 

and Robson rounded out the top 10, 

narrowly edging out the frustrated 

Cunningham and Phil Campbell. 

Jono Walker, Carl Davies and series 

sponsor, Brian Green, rounded out the 

top 15 on an event that started with 

the highest numbers of the season, 

and ironically offered up the least DNFs 

after a crazy season of rallying.

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FAMOUS STAGES: BUNNINGS 1996 

THE BIG WET 

AT BUNNINGS 


The Bunnings 

watersplash became 

a WRC car park at 

Rally Australia in 1996. 

(Photo: Martin Holmes) 

Heavy rain at Rally Australia in 1996 saw 

the stages waterlogged and the famous 

Bunnings watercrossing flooded to the 

brim as the WRC stars of the day were 

stopped in their tracks. 

Story : 

PETER WHITTEN 



THE BIG WET 

Back in the late 1980s and early 

1990s, the newest event on the 

World Rally Championship calendar 

quickly established itself as an innovator, 

and set standards that perhaps 

have never been bettered since. 

Rally Australia burst on to the WRC 

scene in 1989, and over the coming 

years the Langley Park Super Special 

Stage and the stages in the Bunnings 

forest complex, south of Perth, became 

legendary the world over. We’ll look 

closely at Langley Park some other 

time, but for a real rally fan, spectating 

simply didn’t get any better than a day 

at ‘Bunnings’. 

The complex featured an area large 

enough to ‘house’ the entire service 

park, with three stages starting and 

finishing all within easy walking 

distance. 

By walking less than a kilometre, rally 

fans could watch high-speed corners, 

low-speed corners, big jumps and 

a spectacular water crossing in the 

surrounds of a natural amphitheatre 

that was perfect for spectators. The 

area provided a full day of rally viewing, 

in one location. 

There’s probably not a rally fan who 

hasn’t seen spectacular images of Colin 

McRae launching his Subaru Impreza 

over the two big Bunnings jumps, 

before sliding sideways through the 

water splash and up the hill to the finish 

line. Such images are now as iconic as 


cars sliding their way over Monte 

Carlo’s Col de Turini, or flying over 

Finland’s Ouninpohja jumps. 

Some of the most memorable 

Bunnings images come from 

1996, with heavy rain on the day 

of the rally swelling the water 

crossing to a level higher than 

it had ever been before. As 

spectators arrived and took their 

vantage points, the water level 

was literally rising before their 

very eyes and the anticipation 

that something special was 

about to happen gained 

momentum. 

As a treat for spectators that 

year, touring car legends Peter 

Brock and Dick Johnson were 

given a Commodore and a 

Falcon to drive through the 

famous Bunnings stage before 

the rally cars, helping to get 

the crowds ready for the real 

action when the WRC stars hit 

the stage. 

While Johnson managed to cross the 

ford in his Ford, Brock’s Holden was left 

stranded, much to the delight of the 

hundreds of onlookers. The volunteer 

marshals weren’t as impressed, though, 

because they were forced to wade into 

the swollen creek to push Brock and his 

Commodore onto drier ground. 

But once the real action started, 

things really got interesting. While 

Tommi 

Makinen made it through unscathed, 

Colin McRae wasn’t so lucky, and the 

sight of his father, Jimmy, knee deep in 

water as he pushed the stricken Subaru 

out of the crossing is one that is etched 

in many memories. 

When Carlos Sainz’s Ford Escort 

ground to a halt, co-driver Luis Moya 

waded across the water (with no regard 

Photos: Stuart Bowes, Martin Holmes, Peter Whitten

“Such images are now 

as iconic as cars on 

Monte Carlo’s Col de 

Turini or flying over 

Finland’s Ouninpohja 

jumps.” 

for his expensive overalls) to warn fellow 

competitors that the water was too deep 

to traverse. 

From then on there was complete 

chaos. The road immediately after the 

crossing resembled a car park for dead 

WRC cars, while those drivers who didn’t 

dare to chance their luck parked their 

cars on the entry to the ford, wondering 

what to do next. 

The stage was (literally) awash with 

cars, drivers, co-drivers, team managers, 

mechanics and photographers as 

everyone tried to make sense of the 

situation. Bewildered spectators could 

only watch on, wondering what to make 

of it, and what would happen next. For 

those of us who were there, wandering 

among the cars, it was something quite 

surreal, and something that, surely, we’ll 

never witness again. 

Peter Brock’s 

Commodore was stuck 

in the ‘ford’ prior to the 

WRC cars arrving. 

Our event report from November 1996 

included the following explanation: 

“McRae once again had a bad day, 

forever choosing the wrong tyres for the 

conditions which had turned nasty, with 

constantly falling rain and the ground 

very soft. 

The rainfall did nothing to help 

the marshals at the Bunnings forest 

complex, who worried about the height 

of the water at the famous ford, which 

two different stages were to use. 

The excitement came at the first of 

the water crossings. Makinen, winner of 

this year’s Safari, could see the risks and 

took to the water remarkably gently, and 

came through to the other side under his 

own power. 

Then came Sainz with more speed 

and stopped, having to be pushed to 

the other side with a dead engine. Then 

the same for Eriksson and McRae, but 

the Scot then restarted the engine and 

drove out past the others to the end of 

the stage. 

News travelled fast, and suddenly 

there was chaos at the scene. Mindful 

this was a no-service zone, engineers 

ran down and gave instructions to the 

drivers as to what they must do. 

Thiry removed the plugs and the 

starter motor turned the engine so that 

water spurted spectacularly out of the 

plughole, while Sainz and Eriksson could 

The stage was stopped 

and cars returned back 

up the stage to the 

service park. 



“Stewards argued he 

was trying to block the 

track deliberately.” 

A distraught Carlos 

Sainz after his Escort’s 

engine stopped in the 

ford. 

All hands on deck. David Richards and Carlos Sainz 

(above) push Eriksson’s Subaru, while Jimmy McRae 

lends a hand to son, Colin. 

only glumly wonder if their engines had 

been wrecked. 

Prodrive chief, David Richards, tried 

to push Eriksson’s car, but it became 

jammed across the track and FIA 

stewards argued that he was trying to 

block the track deliberately! 

Sainz’s co-driver, Luis Moya, stood at 

the water’s edge and waved other drivers 

down to dissuade them from trying to 

cross the water, while team managers 

stood amidst the crowds in the middle 

of the track giving their opinions in 

television interviews! 

It was a most amazing scene. Sainz 

was walking round, hand on his head, 

looking forever like a man who had just 

witnessed the end of his championship 

aspirations – which it could well have 

been. 

The stage was duly stopped, and then 

came the problem of how to extricate 

the drivers waiting to cross the water, 

because the obvious alternative route 

would have taken them along the next 

special stage. 

The organisers sent breakdown trucks 

to pull the stranded cars up to the service 

area. First decision was how to rearrange 

the rally. Second was for the mechanics 

to see whether there had been serious 

engine damage, thirdly (which could wait 

until later in the day), was how to handle 

the stage results, and what to do about 

competitors that were towed away. 

Tommi Makinen explained: “I knew 

that the engine inlet air came from the 

top of the engine compartment, so I had 

to make sure that the bonnet did not 

get covered by the water. We also knew 

exactly how bad it was because both 

our gravel note cars broke their engines 

trying to cross the water.” 

In the end, all the stricken cars were 

able to restart, with some having their 

turbochargers changed as a precaution.” 

MUST WATCH 

➜ All the action from the 

Bunnings stage in 1996. 


FEATURE: SAAB 99EMS 

Story : 

TOM SMITH 

A LITTLE BIT 

OF SWEDEN 

Queensland competitor, Ross 

Perry, has been around for 

quite a few years and might be 

best remembered by some as co-driver 

for Ian Reddiex back in the early 

nineties when the crew ran the Maxim 

Motors Peugeot 205 GTi in the Australian 

Rally Championship. 

Not only is Ross a long-time 

enthusiast, competing and servicing for 

a number of mates in local and national 

events, he is a gun mechanic, preparing 

rally machinery for a number of people 

and recognised as an expert Saab 

technician and former part-owner of 

the SaabCare workshop in Brisbane. 

It was therefore inevitable that Ross 

would find the time and inclination to 

build his own Saab competition car, and 

chose a 1974 99EMS as the weapon of 

choice. 

The Saab was the first car of Ross’s 

eldest daughter, Lindsay, who took 

ownership when she was 16, and then 

parked it when she moved on to better 

things. 

It sat for about 12 months until the 

decision was finally made to build it into 

a rally car. 

With robust strength and being a 

good size, the 99EMS was a good base 

to start with, and having worked on 

Saabs for most of his career, the project 

was always going to happen one way or 

the other. 

Recalling the early days of the real 

factory cars of Stig Blomqvist was 

inspiration for both Ross and his good 

mate and co-worker, Bill Spurway, who 

commenced the build after hours one 

night at the SaabCare workshop in 

suburban Brisbane. 

As a labour of love, the build took 

seven years – mostly after hours. 

The steel roll cage was built by friend 

and fellow competitor, Paul Andrews, 

and the interior remains standard, 

apart from trim removal and the fitting 

of a fire bomb and essential safety 

equipment. 

Mechanically the engine’s bottom 

end is standard, apart from balancing, 

thanks to a steel crank as standard. The 

head is machined to improve flow rates, 

but valve size remains standard, with 

upgraded camshaft and springs. 

The cam is too big for the original 

manifold, and so quad throttle bodies 

from a Suzuki GSXR have just been 

fitted, instead of the original Bosch 

D-Jetronic injection. 

Saab gearboxes are a weak link, and 

even with the best one available and 

a Modena LSD, it proved unsuitable 

for competition use and failed in 

spectacular fashion. An FLD straight 

cut gearbox has been sourced from 

Sweden and just fitted. 

Shock absorbers for the car are the 

ever-reliable Bilsteins, re-valved by 

MCA. 

Brakes are upgraded Saab 9000 

turbo rotors and callipers front and 

rear, which bolt on with no additional 

modifications, resulting in a nicely 

balanced car all round. 

The car is painted in factory colours 

from the era, not the traditional black 

with yellow and blue of other Saabs. 

While Ross primarily uses the car for 

khanacross’ and the odd sprint rally, 

there is interest for a possible entry 

in the Alpine Rally in 2017, subject to 

the approval of the original owner – 

daughter Lindsay! 

Ross also suggests that coaxing Ian 

Reddiex back into a car with him is 

Ross Perry’s Saab 99EMS 

is a perfect example of a 

classic rally car. 

possible, but Ian currently enjoys the 

occasional event with Mike Mitchell, 

owner of a classic Toyota Celica twin 

cam. 


WHERE ARE THEY NOW: ROB HERRIDGE 

? WHERE 

are they now 

ROB HERRIDGE 

Story: 

TOM SMITH 

PHOTOS: Peter Whitten, 

Stuart Bowes, Richard Eustace 


Repeatedly making the long 

trip across the Nullabor from 

WA to the eastern states, Rob 

Herridge proved to be a fast 

and entertaining driver, winning 

Australian Rally Championships 

in 1991 and 1992. 

Tom Smith found Rob Herridge 

in a reflective mood, and found 

out what he’s been up in the 25 (!) 

years since his initial ARC title. 



1991 Coffs Harbour Rally. 

While Subaru Australia has 

firmly committed to the current 

Australian Rally Championship, 

the company has long been a 

feature of the Australian rally scene. 

In the heady days of the Australian 

Rally Championship during the early to 

mid nineties, the Legacy RS Turbo was 

the best rally car in the championship 

in the hands of a couple of outstanding 

personalities. 

One of those was the great Possum 

Bourne, but the other was a talented 

West Australian who initially backed 

himself, before being invited to join the 

factory Subaru team. 

Repeatedly making the long trip 

across the Nullabor from WA to the 

eastern states, Rob Herridge proved to 

be a fast and entertaining driver, and 

an equally entertaining speaker who 

gained a reputation for his sometimesprovocative 

rally dinner acceptance 

speeches. 

Winning Australian Championships in 

1991 and 1992 cemented his reputation 

as one of the all time Australian greats, 

and the gene pool spilled over with son 

Dean also proving himself a capable 

and competitive ambassador for the 

Subaru brand. 

RallySport Magazine found Rob 

Herridge in a reflective mood, and 

found out what he’s been up in the 25 

(!) years since his initial ARC title. 

What keeps you busy these days, Rob? 

Still busy day-to-day with Maximum 

Motorsport, but spending very little 

spare time on the boat. The enigma is 

that I need to be retired to do the boat 

justice, and if I retire I can’t afford to 

keep the boat. 

I have started clay target shooting 

again for the first time in 35 years. 

Interestingly, I only stopped shooting 

to do a bit of rallying and get the 

‘motorsport bug’ out of my system. 

Well, I still seem to be infected with the 


1990 Rally Australia. 

“I still have my 

original Subaru 

Legacy, the one I 

built to contest, and 

ultimately win, the 

1991 ARC.” 

Herridge and Nelson check out a works 

Group A Legacy that fell off a truck on the 

way from Sydney to Perth for Rally Australia. 

bug. 

Also, spending a bit more time on the 

farm in the wheat belt, overdue time 

spent with long suffering wife Debbie 

(and a small amount of time in her 

garden), four children, 10 grandchildren 

and supporting our rally operations in 

WA and elsewhere doesn’t leave a lot of 

spare time. 

Do you actively try to attend local, or other 

rally events? 

Yes, I attend nearly every rally that 

Maximum campaigns a car in, whether 

gravel in WA or the ARC, Targa events 

or tarmac and/or gravel corporate or 

sponsors days. 

Clearly, Dean is now the organiser 

and facilitator (as has to happen for 

normal progression), but of course I 

am still needed as truck driver (funny 

how everybody says that someone else 

can drive the truck, but nobody else 

gets their truck driving licence), or the 

ultimate backstop if any special build or 

fabrication is required. 

What does a typical day for Rob Herridge 

look like? 

I go in to work every day and 

bounce off whatever is going on. 

Whether assisting in the workshop, 

dropping off or picking up stuff, 

prepping motorsport cars, fabricating 

components for sale or whatever 

vehicle we may be preparing for 

competition. I don’t necessarily meet 

and greet customers day to day, 

but sadly they all know where my 

fabrication area and my office are. 

I have come to realise all customers 

bring ‘happiness’, some by arriving and 

some by leaving. However, I am very 

fortunate as every day I look forward 

to going to work, and at the end of the 

day, I look forward to going home. 

Most people in rallying know that my 

founding partner, Steve Wisby, sadly 

succumbed to cancer at only 49 years

of age about five years ago. Over the 

years as Dean came into the business, 

Steve became my best mate and he 

was very generous in his support of my 

rallying, and then Dean’s motorsport 

career. 

But time marches on and in the time 

since his passing, Dean and I have 

been very busy, not only consolidating 

the business and embracing the IT 

and social media opportunities, but 

also moving in to new purpose built 

premises, taking on distribution of 

Seibon Carbon products, Shining 

Monkey car care products, and 

reinforcing our long term connection 

with the Subaru brand by proudly being 

recognised as an STI Motorsport Parts 

retailer for Australia. 

We understand that you still have your first 

championship-winning Legacy? 

Yes, I still have my original Subaru 

Legacy, the one I built to contest, 

and ultimately win, the 1991 ARC. (I 

borrowed every dollar off the bank, 

with a condition if I was coming 

nowhere by the middle of the year, I 

would sell the car. Yeah, right!). 

I was supported in a small way by 

BP and the car was campaigned in 

BP colours in 1991. (A very distinctive 

livery, but as Steve pointed out 

years later, an American motorsport 

superstition is that green is bad luck on 

race cars.) 

When I won the 1992 title, I was 

driving the Team Subaru Australia 

(PBMS built) Group N “Liberty” 

alongside Possum Bourne. These 

cars were painted the very distinctive 

1992 Esanda Rally of Canberra. 

“The 90s were great 

years for the ARC, 

aided of course 

by the fact we 

(WA) hosted Rally 

Australia.” 

Chrome yellow with reflective blue ‘mud 

splashes’. 

For 1992 and most of 1993, until 

the demise of Team Subaru Australia 

(following the tragic death of Rodger 

Freeth in Rally Australia), my BP 

coloured car was used by Subaru for 

promotional purposes and repainted 

yellow, as per the team cars. It is still in 

this base colour today. 

Dean and I campaigned it locally 

and for some interstate events with 

three more WA titles and many event 

victories achieved to add to its national 

title. Over the years it has been rebuilt, 

upgraded and adjusted to suit tarmac. I 

used it to place third outright in the first 

Targa West, and then it was leased a 

couple more times after that. 

The last time it was used was by Dean 

at Barbagallo Raceway in a couple of 

street car circuit races, to enable him 

to gain experience to get a license 

to compete in the Bathurst 12 hour 

international endurance events. 

Quite a few people have tried to buy 

it over the years, and everybody has an 

opinion on what I should do with it. 

I am undecided whether to run it in 

some tarmac events, return it to its 

gravel roots, or maybe completely strip 

it and rebuild it to show spec (although 

it is in quite spectacular condition) and 

repaint to the original BP colours. 

As far as I am aware, it is one of 

only a few cars to be still owned by 

the person who bought it new, built it, 

campaigned it and won an ARC outright 

title in it. 

Being consigned to a rally museum, 

or other car museum, is the most likely 

scenario. 

So, do you miss competing in rallying? 

Of course yes, I miss competing. The 

90s were certainly great years for the 

ARC, aided of course by the fact that we 

(WA) hosted Rally Australia in the 90s 

and the 2000 years. The sport had a 

high profile because of tourism dollars 



1993 Coffs Harbour Rally. 

promoting it, and manufacturers 

utilising rallying as a promotional 

opportunity. 

I think the years before then and after 

then have all had their periods in the 

sun, and I’m sure they will again. 

The Australasian Safari had my name 

written all over it and I thoroughly 

enjoyed the challenge of building a 

Subaru to be competitive in an event 

in which we were considered such an 

underdog. Placing second and fourth 

outright in two of the four years we 

competed was very encouraging, and I 

was in the process of building up a very 

special (but still production-based) XV 

when the event was discontinued. 

I am trying to convince myself (and 

Dean) to finish this car, just in case the 

Safari rises from the ashes. 

Who was your main competition back then 

and just how tough was the competition? 

25 years ago! Where did that quarter 

of a century go? 

The competition then, was as it is 

now. Difficult to win at the top. The 

competitors I remember most were 

Neal Bates (Toyota) of course (sparring 

partners in and out of CAMS Appeals 

Courts), Murray Coote (Mazda), 

Ed Ordynski and Ross Dunkerton 

(Mitsubishi). My 1992 and 1993 Team 

Subaru leader and team mate, Possum 

Bourne, Michael Guest (Mitsubishi, 

mostly) David Eadie (Subaru) and every 

other absolute local maniac that made 

our life difficult at their local ARC event. 

This local knowledge was always 

difficult to quantify, but ultimately was 

one of the reasons that limited pacenoting 

was introduced. At the time, I 

didn’t give any thought to the profile of 

the championship, just like Dean after 

me and the next generation after that, 

we just wanted to compete in, and win 


“Local knowledge 

was difficult to 

quantify, but was one 

of the reasons that 

limited pacenoting 

was introduced.” 

rallies at the highest level we could 

afford. 

Just like now, whether it was 

worthwhile, viable, affordable or had 

any direction then or after didn’t seem 

to matter. Commonsense never comes 

in to motorsport decisions. 

My father died when I was a teenager, 

and if he was still alive and we were still 

living and working on the farm, there is 

no way I would have ever been allowed 

to go rallying, he was way too sensible 

and practical for such frivolity! 

Now, about your rally dinner speeches – is 

there a memorable heckle? 

Yes, this is a curly one. What can I 

say? I didn’t set out to be infamous for 

some of my comments, speeches at 

presentations, or in any of my/our rally 

commentary. 

It just happened. I thought it was all 

a bit boring, everyone thanking their 

mum and dad, the neighbour, the man 

at the garage for putting air in their 

tyres, etc, etc. I think people just latched 

on to my self-effacing comments and 

my character assassinations. 

And of course once I was encouraged, 

I sometimes went too far, then I was 

castigated by the very ones who 

encouraged me. 

There were very few heckles, at least 

when I was speaking, I think because 

I could always come back harder at 

them. You’re always funnier if you win 

the rally, because nobody gets to speak 

after you. 

I think the best way to summarise 

it is, “the same mouth that got me in 

trouble, was the same mouth that got 

me noticed in the first place”. 

Do you maintain contact with any of the 

rallying cohorts of the era? 

Well, Dunko of course, initially 

commentating together at ARC events 

and Rally Australia, becoming good 

mates through our mutual boating 

and other interests. Even now, with 

Ross and Lisa in Cairns, we often see 

one another and shoot s#@t just like 

always. 

Apart from a few business dealings 

and occasionally bumping in to the 

regulars from that period at ARC rallies, 

I don’t get to mix with others much. 

Neal Bates goes out of his way to 

call in and see how we’re going, and Ed 

Ordynski has also dropped in to MMS a 

couple of times. 

Interestingly, Dean got to compete 

against most of the same ARC stars 

as myself. Ironically my fiercest 

adversaries, Dunko from Mitsubishi, 

and Neal from Toyota, have stayed in 

touch the most. 

In the last few years of Rally Australia, 

Lisa Dunkerton was instrumental in 

arranging ‘demonstration’ runs of all 

the ARC champions (fewer than you 

think), which of course turned into very 

fiercely fought ‘parade’ laps. This was 

great fun and allowed us to keep in 

touch and relive old rivalries. 

What’s your opinion on the current state of 

Australian rallying? 

I have no issue with where Australian 

rallying is or where it has been.

Sometimes the eligible criteria suit us 

(our Subaru cars) and sometimes they 

don’t. 

I genuinely think everyone who has 

tried a different ‘tack’ on the sport over 

the years has its best interest at heart. 

I don’t think it’s gone astray, it’s just the 

way life is. 

There is not the same ‘car club’ 

culture that there was in the ‘60s, ‘70s 

and maybe into the ‘80s. The car clubs 

and their grass roots events were the 

feeding pool for rallying and all the 

officials. If you look at most of the 

officials, they have come from that era. 

I think the biggest problem facing 

rallying is the aging demographic of the 

average official and/or volunteer. I don’t 

know what the answer is but, “if you are 

not part of the solution, you are part of 

the problem”. 

Is there any young Aussie drivers you have 

noticed that can become the next stars of the 

sport? 

Depends what we term young. The 

‘young’ must come with connections 

(money and management), resilience, 

dedication, be presentation and 

promotion savvy, and so on. It is 

expensive and difficult to keep 

someone ‘at the coal face’, hoping they 

are still there when the smouldering 

embers flare into a raging fire when an 

opportunity presents itself. 

Some of the most successful rally 

drivers over the last generation or so, 

Chris Atkinson, Cody Crocker, Dean 

Herridge, Simon and Eli Evans, Scott 

and Mark Pedder, Nathan Quinn, Molly 

Taylor, and now Harry Bates (probably 

the most promising), are all second 

generation drivers who have come 

from a family and an upbringing of 

knowing what is required to compete 

(and win) at ARC events, and being 

able to support them at some level or 

another. 

An example of this is Tom Wilde, 

showing great promise, but struggling 

even with the support of good friends 

and family to fund a long term ARC 

campaign, made especially difficult 

coming from WA. 

To quote a mate of mine who said 

many years ago, “if there is a future 

Australian WRC champion out there, we 

don’t yet know their name”. 

What are your thoughts on classic rallying, 

and what would you build? 

I don’t know much about the current 

regs and what constitutes a ‘classic’. 

However, I’m all for it, and would love to 

build or run a car ... when is my Legacy 

eligible? 

Most people who know me, know 

that for many years I owned a Rover 

3500 (like the Tom Walkinshaw Bastos 

Rovers … well almost). I purchased it 

near new in about 1987, and was my 

family car for many years. 

It was passed down to Dean and then 

sold back to me (mmm, hang on!). It 

then sat in my shed languishing over 

the years while I made up my mind 

what to do with it. Pretty much like the 

Legacy now, really. 

Any time I thought about building a 

classic gravel car out of it, or maybe 

even a classic Targa car, my partners 

Dean and Steve would look at me funny 

and say “why don’t you just take one of 

the already built Subarus out the back 

of Maximum and save yourself some 

heartache (and a lot of money)”. 

I replied: “It’s not all about winning 

you know, it’s about a cavalcade of 

motoring and motorsport through the 

years.” They said, “Yeah, right!” and 

that’s where the project stopped. 

In one of those sliding door moments, 

as I was taking the Rover to our new 

premises, the traffic lights changed, and 

I sat there thinking (where Dean might 

let me put it, etc?). As the lights turned 

green, I drove straight ahead to the 

scrap merchants and got $82.95 for the 

Rob Herridge’s doomed 

Rover 3500. 

Esanda Rally of Canberra. 

scrap metal value. 

It dawned on me as 

the big loader poked 

its forks through the 

windows and picked my 

pride and joy up by the 

roof that it was probably 

too late to change my 

mind. 

A mate said: “You 

might have been able 

to sell it for $500”, and 

I replied: “I don’t want 

anyone who drives a 

Rover coming to my 

house!” Hang on a 

minute … 

The classics have a 

place in Australian rallying and there is 

no reason why they can’t be as big here 

as in Europe and the UK. 

At the Canberra ARC, the car that got 

my, and everyone else’s, attention was 

the beautiful looking Audi Quattro. 

At one point in Australia I think the 

classics ran at the front of the ARC 

field, but it was a bit complicated 

by the fact that some of these cars 

regularly compete in their local state 

championship. 

This has some merit, but I think the 

field needs to be limited as the quality 

of driver and machinery tapers off, and 

most likely will cause issues for the 

organisers and the schedule. 

For myself, or one day Dean, to 

compete it will have to be a Subaru, 

pretty much like our entry in to the 

Australasian Safari had to be a Subaru. 

When I work out what model Subaru is 

eligible, I will be on the lookout. 

I would love to build a classic 

‘anything’, utilising and showcasing 

all the expertise that Maximum 

Motorsport has amassed over our 25 

years in rallying. 


FEATURE: RALLYSAFE 

better to be 

SAFE than SORRY 

Go back 40 years and safety in 

rallying meant that the crew 

(probably) had a bolt-in half 

roll-cage made of aluminium, maybe 

wore a helmet of one type or another 

and wore long pants, but often only a 

t-shirt during competition. 

Perhaps a tongue-in-cheek comment, 

but competitors were often reminded 

not to roll into the scrub upside-down, 

as it may have been difficult to locate 

them in heavy forestry if they ever 

wanted to be recovered. “Keep the 

shiny side up!” was the call-out. 

Move forward to the mid to late 90s 

and there was recognition that covering 

the extremities with long sleeves would 

be a positive improvement – and cotton 

was recommended, as opposed to that 

pesky nylon which tended to burn!! 

During this era, ‘OK’ boards and ‘red 

crosses’ were included in rally road 

books, so that at least a crew could 

indicate to fellow competitors that they 

were stranded (but unhurt), or in the 

worst case, needed some assistance. 

Red crosses were eventually 

replaced by green crosses due to some 

trademark issues, but overall standards 

were lifted and safety in rallying was 

finally recognised as an important 

issue. 

Having an ambulance on site to 

follow the rally, or even a qualified 

first-aider was probably a luxury at any 

event. 

Obviously that situation has since 

changed dramatically, and in major 

events FIVs (First Intervention Vehicles) 

are strategically located along the rally 

route to be able to render assistance in 

the earliest reasonable timeframe. 

While some of this reflection of days 

gone by may seem incredulous, it was 

real. 

Recognition of the importance 

of safety and the risks associated 

with rallying as a dangerous form of 

motorsport promoted positive change 

at all levels. 


Story: 

TOM SMITH 

As a result, no rally car competing 

today should pass scrutiny without a 

full and comprehensive steel roll-cage, 

recognised safety-standard seats, 

five-point safety harnesses and, for the 

most part, HANS devices to protect the 

neck and head. 

Coupled with the integral safety 

equipment in the car, crews are 

wrapped in fireproof underwear and 

multi-layer driving suits, and with 

helmets that would have only been 

seen in a space shuttle mission 25 years 

ago! 

It would be challenging to add to 

the effectiveness of current safety 

standards, but RallySafe does just that. 

RallySafe is an innovative vehicle-tovehicle 

communication system that 

transmits hazard warnings via in-car 

units during competitive rally events. By 

using the RallySafe system, competitors 

have the ability to understand where 

they sit on a rally road, in real time, in 

perspective with following or forward 

competitors. 

Most importantly, RallySafe shows 

rally organisers where a car and crew 

is at any time during an event. Using 

GPS, GSM and satellite communication 

capabilities, the system allows warnings 

and vehicle data to be transmitted as 

efficiently as possible. 

Each car is fitted with a small 

electronic module, incorporating a full 

colour display, keypad, accelerometer 

and radio transceiver. 

The main safety function of the 

RallySafe system is to automatically 

generate hazard warnings in the event 

of an accident. 

The ‘Push to Pass’ function is a 

brilliant innovation that allows a 

competitor to warn forward vehicles 

of their intention to overtake on a 

potentially dusty or hazardous road. 

In years gone by, passing a slower 

car was difficult to impossible during 

adverse conditions, and while some 

drivers resorted to a nudge in the tail 

of a slower car, equally, many drivers 

overdrove the situation and ended 

up off the road by trying too hard in 

blinding conditions. 

RallySafe is an Australian idea that 

has been recognised worldwide as an 

essential safety innovation. 

Since its inception in 2009, RallySafe 

has taken the rallying world by storm.

RallySafe has become a 

common addition to rally cars 

in Australia, New Zelaland and 

around the world. 

Originally the system was only 

available in Australia, but has 

now spread to supporting 

events in countries as diverse as New 

Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and 

China, Europe, North America, and Canada. 

The system is in use in every event 

in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. 

In Australia, the system is the primary 

timing provider for the Australian 

Tarmac Championship, and is in use 

in the Australian Rally Championship, 

as well as multiple smaller tarmac and 

regional events and championships. In 

New Zealand, it is the primary timing 

provider for the New Zealand Rally 

Championship, as well as in use in 

multiple smaller events, including the 

iconic Silver Fern Rally. 

The parent company is Status 

Awareness Systems (SAS), which 

was formed in 2010 as a result of 

recognition that multiple on-track 

collisions could have been avoided. 

Directors of the company are Stephen 

Sims, who is well connected within 

the Australian motor racing industry, 

and Wayne Maxwell, a world standard 

instrument mechanic with a passion for 

motorsport. 

Together, the directors of SAS have 

delivered this technology to the rallying 

world to ensure the ongoing safety of 

competitors in the sport, at a time when 

safety standards are high, and rally 

speeds are higher than ever before. 


RALLY GERMANY - WRC 9 

GERMANY BEARS 

FRUIT FOR OGIER 

Story & Photos: 

MARTIN HOLMES 



RALLY GERMANY - WRC 9 

Dani Sordo took second place 

ahead of his Hyundai teammate, 

Thierry Neuville. 

Starting first car on the road, Sebastien 

Ogier cruised through to win 

the all-asphalt Rallye Deutschland, 

but his Volkswagen team did not repeat 

their 1-2-3 walkover of last year. 

Teammate Jari-Matti Latvala’s VW 

was out of contention on stage one 

when the car’s gearbox failed, though 

Andreas Mikkelsen led for seven stages 

before falling back with errors, and 

then losing his brakes in the final stage, 

finishing fourth. 

Hyundai drivers, Dani Sordo and 

Thierry Neuville, meanwhile, were 

furiously battling Mikkelsen for second 

place up to the final stage, the place 

finally going the way of Sordo by 0.1 

seconds. 

M-Sport had a miserable event with 

Mads Ostberg struggling to sixth place 

with technical problems, and Eric 

Camilli off the road, also on the opening 

stage, but happy to hear that their 

absent R5 team driver, Elfyn Evans, 

clinched the British Championship on 

the same weekend. 

Citroen released one of their cars 

for protégé driver Stephane Lefebvre 

to use, but he crashed heavily on Day 

2 when sixth, hospitalising both crew 

members. 

DMack M-Sport driver, Ott Tanak, was 

sidelined with alternator failure when 

holding fifth place at half way, his latest 

version asphalt tyres not so impressive 

here as the DMack gravel tyres had 

been on previous events. 

Support championship categories 

saw runaway wins for Esapekka Lappi 

(WRC2), Simone Tempestini (WRC3/ 

Junior) and Osian Pryce (Drive DMack 

Fiesta Trophy). 

When the teams arrived in Germany, 

the big news was that this was VW 

Sporting Director Jost Capito’s final rally 

before moving over to McLaren F1. VW 

were supporting the event, celebrating 

50 years in rally sport, not the least by 

presenting a selection of famous old 

rally cars, mostly Golfs of one sort or 

another. 

Latvala’s early gearbox problem 

proved again that Germany does not 

automatically do any favours for VW, 

and Ogier had an early struggle with his 

fellow VW driver Mikkelsen, who held 

the lead for over a full day before he fell 

back. 

From then on tyre choices played a 

major part as the traditionally mercurial 

weather patterns kicked in on Day 2, 

which meant mud thrown on the road 

by Ogier’s car hindered Mikkelsen’s 

progress. 

Behind them the Hyundais mounted 

a charge, led by Thierry Neuville and 

Dani Sordo, and started to harry 

Mikkelsen, until at the end of Day 2 

when just four seconds separated 

Mikkelsen, Sordo and Neuville. 

The greatest excitement was still to 

come. With two stages left, Ogier was 

20 seconds ahead, but 3.1 seconds 

separated the battling trio. Then the 

penultimate stage was cancelled on 

account of spectator control problems, 

so it was all down to the Power Stage. 

Mikkelsen had brake problems, 

arriving at the finish with 

flames coming from under 

the car. Neuville scored the best time, 

but Sordo did just enough to finish 

second overall by a margin of 0.1 of a 

second! 

Third Hyundai driver, Hayden 

Paddon, finished fifth, finding the going 

difficult. 

“On nearly every stage I had 

a moment,” the New Zealander 

confessed. “I have a lot to learn about 

tarmac rallying!” And not only about 

rallying, but tyre selections as well. 

Sadly, M-Sport was not at the party at 

all. Even after he rejoined the rally, Eric 

Camilli was not on the pace, so there 

were hopes that Tanak would present 

a challenge. His new version DMack 

tyres, however, were not as competitive 

as their new version gravel tyres had 

been in Poland and Finland, and then 

he stopped on Day 2 with alternator 

trouble. 

Once again, M-Sport’s hopes rested 

TAILOR-MADE PACKAGES TO 


on Ostberg. He had a horrendous time, 

suffering differential troubles which led 

to eternal wheel spinning on corners 

due to front axle trouble, and there 

were constant brake cooling issues. 

Through all this he battled on to 

finish sixth, the last of the World Rally 

Cars that completed the full route. 

Volkswagen’s 59 point championship 

lead over Hyundai in the Manufacturers’ 

series was shaved to 55, while 

M-Sport’s third place over Volkswagen’s 

secondary team was down to one point. 

In the Drivers’ series, Ogier extended 

his lead over Andreas Mikkelsen to 59, 

with Hyundai drivers Hayden Paddon 

and Thierry Neuville equal third. 

There was a spate of early 

retirements in the WRC2 category, 

mostly the results of going off the road. 

Day 2 leader Armin Kremer’s private 

Skoda headed off the works cars of 

Jan Kopecky and Esapekka Lappi, with 

the Peugeot 208 T16 of Jose Suarez 

challenging in the early stages before 

a spin and a puncture. 

Kremer lost a half minute and 

with it went his lead, which he was 

never able to retrieve. Kopecky also 

punctured and spent the rest of the 

rally trying to pull back time. 

At the end of Day 2 he 

passed Kremer and got up to second, 

so works Skodas were now first and 

second in WRC2. 

Hidden from view were the efforts 

of a third works driver, Pontus 

Tidemand, who was this time 

competing on a non-points-scoring 

basis and therefore seeded far 

behind the others. Secretly he 

was bidding for a top 10 position, 

eventually finishing the rally in eighth 

place overall, between his regular 

teammates Lappi and Kopecky. 

Lappi scored his second WRC2 win of 

the season. In the WRC2 championship 

standings, the absent Elfyn Evans and 

non points scoring Teemu Suninen 

(delayed on this event by suspension 

damage) continue to hold 1-2 in the 

WRC2 series. 

Simone Tempestini led the WRC3 and 

the Junior categories almost from the 

start, ahead of early leader Martin Koci, 

who finished second. 

In the DriveDMack Fiesta 

Trophy, Osian Pryce led all the way, 

finishing ahead of Max Vatanen, and 

they also lie 1-2 in the series’ standings 

as well. 

Thierry Neuville has no 

time to admire the vines. 

Eric Camilli makes his way 

through the Mosel wine region 

in his Fiesta RS WRC. 

A consistent drive into fifth 

place was a good result for 

Hayden Paddon. 

SUIT YOU 

To advertise in RallySport Magazine call Dominic on 

0499 981 188 or email dominic@rallysportmag.com.au 


HOLMES COLUMN 

HOLMES 

INSIDE 

LINE 

FASTER & FASTER! 

The old adage that ‘those who 

cannot remember the past are 

condemned to repeat it’ has 

seldom been as true in rallying as in 

recent years, when the big-wigs in the 

sport keep pursuing their ideological 

concepts and dreams, pressing ahead 

with their home grown ideas, unaware 

of the wisdom of what they do. 

Obsessed with the conviction that 

the World Rally Championship does 

not serve a purpose unless it can be a 

commercial billboard, the influentials 

in rallying forget that rallying, like other 

forms of motor racing, is essentially a 

sport. They express a regret that it isn’t 

a business. 

The official policy of forcing the WRC 

into new territories, areas where it 

doesn’t belong, is seriously threatening 

the stability of the good things about 

rallying. 

The cancellation of Rally China 

was a damning indictment of the FIA 

and the WRC Promoter, and their 

ingrained policy that the championship 

needed jazzing-up by expanding into 

commercially more exotic territories, 

when it doesn’t. 

The irrational quest for pushing 

the WRC into places where it 

does not belong is not new, but 

people do not ‘remember the past’. 

There was a lot of excitement when 

the WRC went to China in 1999, but it 

was on very insecure ground, basically 

because it was heavily supported by the 

tobacco industry, rather than because 

of the strength of the sport in that 

region. 

That event took place, after two years 

of preparatory work on candidate 

events, but when there was a financial 

crisis in that country a year later the 

pack of cards collapsed. At short notice 

the event was cancelled. 

The official FIA expansionist ardour 

did not diminish and simply turned 

elsewhere. To Japan. To a country 

which sounded exotic, but where the 

sport at WRC level was unknown, and it 

was in a region which commercially and 

media-wise had little connection with 

mainland Japan. 

The WRC in Japan ticked some boxes, 

but not the right ones. The foreign 

importers had no chance of making 

inroads into the car market in that 

country, and anyway, the Japanese 

car manufacturers were already losing 

interest in the sport. 


Story: 

MARTIN HOLMES 

What went wrong in China this 

year? Firstly, there is no sign 

that China has a burning 

desire to run a WRC event. China nowadays 

runs a very interesting national 

rally championship, run to their own 

national rules, attracting a wide range 

of national manufacturers who have 

no commercial interest in using the 

WRC to promote their own agendas. 

The Chinese federation itself has 

no clear vision of what sort of event 

it wants to project on to the sport. 

They offered the FIA various possible 

locations, even one on the edge of 

the Gobi desert. They were asking the 

FIA what they wanted, rather than 

what they knew would work. 

The recent quest for a suitable 

location in Brazil led 

the FIA to inspect 

the Erechim Rally, a 

delightful national and 

regional event, but 

held at a city which 

does not even have 

scheduled flights 

to the country’s 

biggest cities, let 

alone to international 

destinations. 

In Brazil, a 

WRC initiative does 

not come from the 

national federation, 

they have never been 

interested. When the 

WRC went in the 80s to 

Brazil, it was the result 

of friendships between 

the organisers and the 

FIA. 

Of course, 

the storms in China 

in July this year that 

finally caused the 

cancellation were 

unpleasant, but the 

problem with Rally 

China had been 

evident years ago. 

The lessons are clear. 

When a country wants 

to be part of the 

WRC, like Australia 

in the 80s, it will do 

everything until it 

happens, and the 

event will be a success. 

If it is the FIA or the teams who want 

that country in the WRC, it will be a 

disaster. The trouble is, people do not 

remember the past. 

Goodbye Jost! The long protracted 

move of Jost Capito to 

his new career in Formula 1 is 

finally at an end. The gap in the WRC 

calendar created by the exit of China 

provided the opportunity for Capito to 

make his move. 

Capito has been a remarkable rally 

chief. He has spent a total of five 

years in charge of two WRC teams, 

two years with Ford and three with 

Volkswagen, five times winning the 

FIA Manufacturers’ title. 

He goes down in rallying history 

as a special person. For the media, 

Jost was good fun. Every moment 

journalists with a voice recorder were 

Martin Holmes at the Great 

Wall of China during the 

WRC’s last visit in 1999.

near Jost, they obtained copy that was 

worth hearing, whether you agreed 

with him or not. 

In recent years he sided with the FIA 

Promoter and did his best to inflict the 

sport with his revolutionary concept of 

final stage Shoot Out points. It was very 

entertaining to hear what he said, but 

happily that little plan was killed off by 

the FIA. 

And another aspect, one 

thing on which you could not fault him, 

was the way he supported his drivers, 

and none so much as his prima donna, 

Sebastien Ogier. Every time Ogier 

complained about his unhappy life 

as the world champion, especially on 

the basis of running order rules, Jost 

backed him up. 

We don’t yet know who will be 

the new VW Sporting Director, but 

whoever it is will have a hard act to 

follow. 

I am waiting anxiously to see how 

F1 settles down to Jost. He has been 

good fun for us. 

Does the WRC need jazzing-up? 

The WRC Promoter, when not 

actively pursuing new, but 

inexperienced, countries for the WRC, is 

performing splendid work with providing 

attractions for fans. 

The problem with the promoter is 

that that there is also an unwelcome 

crossover of initiatives with the sporting 

authorities. This has been going on 

for years. 

When ISC was the promoter, there 

was a confrontation with the FIA on the 

subject of organisers being guaranteed 

positions in the calendar in exchange 

for payment. That idea drifted away. 

Some years later this matter 

re-emerged through the current 

promoters’ agreement system, in 

conjunction with the current filming 

opportunities. 

There have been various other 

overlapping debates, the final stage 

Shoot Out idea being a recent 

example, in which the FIA said this sort 

of plan is not one of the promoter’s 

responsibilities. 

Jost Capito makes a 

presentation to Martin 

Holmes in Portugal in 2015. 

And, of course, the recent plans 

for going to China have been 

enthusiastically pursued by the 

promoter. 

The sport does not need jazzingup. 

It needs proper management, 

transparency of policies, provision 

of facilities and formats which are 

media-friendly. And an appreciation 

that rallying is for everyone, not just 

for the elite, for whom the sport is a 

passion and not the business that the 

hierarchy seems to want. 

Sometimes it seems only the fans 

love the sport, but I don’t believe that. 

QUINNY’S BOOK A GREAT READ 

Whether you’re a motorsport fan or not, Tony Quinn’s new book, “Zero 

To 60” is a tremendous read that you’ll find hard to put down. Quinn, 

a multiple winner of Targa Tasmania, moved from Scotland to 

Australia in his early 20s, then, with his wife Christina and their four young 

children, landed on New Zealand shores in the early 1980s. 

He founded a fat rendering plant called Fatman, which sowed the seeds for 

a remarkable story of success in petfood. He moved back to Australia in the 

mid-1990s and in 2015 he sold his business, VIP Petfoods, for over A$400m. 

The Tony Quinn success story also includes building the $25 million 

Highlands Park racing circuit in Cromwell, in the South Island of New 

Zealand. 

“I turn 60 soon and while I’ve achieved a lot in business and motorsport, I’d 

like to think there’s a lot more to come,” Quinn says. 

“Since I finished the book so much has happened in my life, so think of 

this as part one of my story! I’ve already got some great feedback on the 

book from people whose opinion I respect. 

“They all tell me it’s an easy and entertaining read, and I hope people 

enjoy it.” 

The Tony Quinn story is one of rags to riches. A self-made man who 

has been through the hard times and has made his own luck, the affable 

Scotsman is an iconic figure in the business and motorsport world, and his 

story is one that had to be told. 

It’s a compelling read and one that we thoroughly recommend. 


RALLY OF THE BAY - NSWRC 3 

ROBERTS WINS 

Peter Roberts on his way to 

victory. Photos: Aaron Wishart 

Story: 

CRAIG O’BRIEN 

Consistent speed and reliability 

rewarded Peter Roberts and 

Andrew Crowley with victory in 

their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI at 

the AMH Automotive Group Rally of the 

Bay on Saturday, August 13. 

Under clear skies in Batemans Bay 

on the south coast of NSW, a total of 

43 crews gathered on the banks of 

the Clyde River for round three of the 

Gary’s Motorsport Tyres NSW Rally 

Championship. 

The event consisted of 145 

competitive kilometres across eight 

stages, using the stunning private and 

forestry roads of the Eurobodalla and 

Shoalhaven Shires. 

Crews were greeted with dry and 

dusty conditions when the opening 

31km Techworkz stage started 

proceedings shortly after midday. Tony 

Sullens/Kaylie Newell were blindingly 

quick in their front wheel drive Citroen 

DS3, topping the time sheets, two 

seconds clear of Roberts/Crowley, with 

the Mitsubishis of Mick Patton/Bernie 

Webb and Greg Croker/Tim Batten a 

further five seconds adrift. 

Further back, Stephen Duthie/Damien 

Hanns exited the rally in spectacular 

fashion when they crashed their 

Datsun 180B at the spectator point. 

Croker/Batten would suffer a similar 

fate, rolling on SS2 and neutralising 

the stage. Meanwhile, Sullens/Newell 

would return to service early after 

encountering gearbox trouble. 

When competition got back underway 

for the 10km Whiteline stage, Patton/ 

Webb jumped into the lead after 

winning SS3, but would join the list 


of retirements on SS4 after a minor 

incident damaged the oil cooler of the 

Repco Evolution X. 

Roberts/Crowley would subsequently 

inherit the rally lead. Sullens/Newell 

rejoined the field, going fastest of 

all on SS4 and SS6, before electing 

to withdraw with two night stages 

remaining. Despite a troubled event, 

the crew had put the field on notice and 

many were left wondering what could 

have been. 

While those around them had their 

challenges, Richard Shimmon and 

Cars line up beside the 

Clyde River for the 2016 

Rally of the Bay. 

Ben Barker was equal third in 

his impressive BMW 320is. 

Russell Hannah put in a string of 

consistent times throughout the day 

and night in their Mitsubishi Lancer 

Evolution VII to find themselves in a well 

deserved second outright, just over two 

minutes behind the event winners. 

Using the event in preparation for 

the next round of the Australian Rally 

Championship, Chris Higgs and Kirra 

Penny in their Subaru Impreza, found 

themselves in a tight battle with former 

Toyota works driver Ben Barker and 

Damien Long in their rear-wheel drive 

BMW 320is. 

Heading into the final 10km test a 

mere two seconds separated the pair, 

with Barker/Long holding the upper 

hand. Despite the Subaru crew pipping 

the BMW over the final 10km, nothing 

could separate them in the overall 

results, and they would share the final 

step on the podium. 

Tom Clarke/Ryan Preston 

(Mitsubishi), Tim Wilkins/Katie Fletcher 

(Nissan), Bethany and Matthew Cullen 

(Mitsubishi), Thomas Dermody/ 

Eoin Moynihan (Ford Escort), Brett 

Middleton/Andrew Benefield (Honda 

Civic) and Tom and Nick Ryan (Toyota) 

completed the top 10. 

The series takes a short break until 

the Bathurst Rally on September 24.

RALLY MATES 

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We repair and paint: 

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F1 PEDIGR 

FEATURE: RENAULT CLIO RS 

For 95 per cent of us rallying is, first and foremost, a sport. 

It’s something we do on weekends to fill in the hours between Frida 

afternoon and Monday morning – a time when many others are cha 

balls, kicking balls, hitting balls or even throwing balls. 



y 

sing 

EE 

PHOTOS: Peter Whitten, Ivan Glavis 

Ged Blum pushes his Excel hard 

during Rally Victoria in 2013. 


FEATURE: RENAULT CLIO RS 

The Clio has proven to be 

a fast and reliable tarmac 

rally car in Richard’s hands. 

So when Victorian, Richard Fung, 

decided it was time to get back 

behind the wheel of a rally car, he 

wanted something that was not only 

fun to drive, but was also reliable and 

didn’t require him to give up every night 

of the week to work on it. 

After rallying a Toyota Corolla on 

gravel in the 1990s, Richard decided 

that his second foray into the sport 

54 Photos: | RALLYSPORT Red MAGAZINE Bull Content - SEPTEMBER Pool 2016 

“A rear air diffuser 

channels airflow 

around the car to 

increase down force, 

thereby reducing lift. 

It looks great too!” 

would be on tarmac, and so he set 

about searching for a suitable vehicle. 

Initially the plan was to build a car 

from the ground up, but when a smart 

looking 2009 Renault Clio RS caught his 

eye, it wasn’t long before a deal was 

done and the car was making its way to 

his workshop. 

The Clio in question is a limited 

edition ‘Clio RenaultSport F1 Team 

R27’, a special model created to 

commemorate Renault’s Formula 

1 World Championship wins 

(Constructors’ and Drivers’) in 2005 and 

2006, using the R27 chassis. 

Only 40 examples were imported into 

Australia, making the car even more 

desirable. 

Part of the ‘limited edition’ package 

was a rear aero diffuser that channels 

airflow around the car to increase down 

force of the rear end, thereby reducing 

lift. As well as being an effective 

addition, it looks great too. 

Before the car landed in Richard’s 

workshop, it started life in Western 

Australia, where it was built into a 

tarmac-spec rally car by LF Performance 

in Bentley. 

Aside from the required safety 

equipment, the car is pretty much 

standard, something that really 

appealed to its new owner. 

“It’s such a well-built and reliable 

car that it really only requires basic 

maintenance and a clean before each 

event,” Richard says. 

“Provided you don’t hit anything, 

there’s not much that can go wrong, 

and it’s a cheap way to go rallying.” 

In the time that he’s owned the 

Renault, Richard and co-driver, Graham 

McGrath, have contested Targa Hellyer 

Gorge and several rounds of the 

Australian Tarmac Championship in 

Victoria, never failing to finish. 

“It really is fun to drive,” he adds. 

“With a two-litre, normally aspirated 

engine the car is never going to be a 

rocketship against the four-wheel drive, 

turbo cars in tarmac rallying, but if we 

can continually improve our times and 

have fun, that’s what it’s all about.” 

Power from the 2.0L motor is driven 

through a six-speed gearbox and a 

Quaife ATB helical-gear LSD, while fullyadjustable 

coil over suspension helps to 

keep the Clio sitting nicely through the 

corners. 

The standard 17” alloy wheels are 

fitted with Dunlop semi-slicks, while 

massive Brembo 330mm discs on the

front, and standard 240mm 

Renault brakes on the rear, 

slow the car down. 

It all culminates in a tidy 

package that is the envy 

of many other competitors 

– and it doesn’t hurt that 

the car looks fantastic as well. 

But while tarmac rallying 

and the Clio are Richard’s 

passion for now, his 1987 

Corolla sits forlornly on jack 

stands just a few metres away, 

begging to be let loose on the 

gravel once more. 

“I haven’t done an event in 

the Corolla since 1999, and it 

hasn’t even been driven for 

many years,” he admits. 

“It’s got a new close ratio 

gearbox in it which has never 

been used, so I guess I’ll need 

to find some time to get it 

going and take it for a run.” 

In the meantime, however, 

his focus is on the Clio and 

getting it ready for his next 

event, the Great Tarmac Rally, 

to be held around Marysville 

in Victoria in December. 

SPECIFICATIONS 

Engine 

Standard 2.0L naturally aspirated, tuned 

ECU 

Transmission 6-speed manual, standard clutch 

Differential 

Suspension 

Brakes 

Quaife ATB helical-gear LSD 

Fully adjustable KW Variant 3 coilovers 

(F) Brembo 4-pots with 330mm full 

floating 2-piece slotted disc (R) standard 

Renault 240mm - Pagid R29 pads 

Steering Standard electric 

Wheels / Tyres Std 17” alloy / 215/45R17 Dunlop semi-slicks 

Corolla or Clio? Gravel or 

tarmac? Richard Fung has a 

difficult choice. 


AUCHENFLOWER ROAD RALLYSPRINT 

AWESOME AUCHENFLOWER 

Story: 

ROSS TEESDALE 

A 

maxed out field of 60 drivers 

took on the Autosport Club’s 

2016 running of the very popular 

and blisteringly fast Auchenflower Road 

Gravel Sprint on August 14. 

Run in the foot hills of NZ’s Southern 

Alps, 8.7km would be driven in just over 

four minutes by the top 4WD crews. 

With lots of recent rain, but sunshine 

on the day, the road was hard packed 

with great grip, and provided a variety 

of twisting and high speed challenges, 

along with several blind brows that 

would be taken at maximum speed. 

The 4WD battle would be a fight 

between Matt Summerfield in his NZRC 

Impreza, Mike Tall, having his first 

outing in his Evo powered Mirage, and 

Matt Jansen in his Impreza. 

Tall and Summerfield had the pace 

on the field and went into the last run 

separated by just 1/10 th of a second. 

Tall found another half a second, but 

Summerfield found more, to win the 

event by just over two seconds with a 

time for the 8.7km of 4 mintues 03.8 

seconds. Jansen took third, 3.3 seconds 

behind Tall. 

Others to put in fast drives included 

Autosport Club regulars Matt Penrose 

(WRX), Gary Hawkes (Evo 9), and Job 

and Dave Quantock (sharing an Evo 

7) who finished fourth to seventh 

respectively. Also impressing was eighth 

placed Sheldon Bell, who brought his 

Evo 3 home in one of his first drives on 

gravel. 


The tightest battle and the biggest 

field was in the Unlimited 2WD class 

with 21 entrants. The fastest five drivers 

had all done battle in the snow and 

wet at Catlins Rally a week earlier, and 

would arrive at Auchenflower Rd race fit 

and primed to resume the battle. 

Matt Summerfield showed 

his class in his Subaru. 

Photos: Kevin Corin 

Regan Ross had his injected Mk2 

BDA Escort on the pace from the start, 

but would lose the fight to Robert 

McCallum’s Duratec Mk2 Escort as the 

day wore on. 

McCallum found some more time in 

the last of three runs at the road, to win 

the Unlimited 2WD class with 4m21:4s, 

Ross taking second place two seconds 

back. 

17-year-old Ari Pettigrew continued 

to build his reputation by running third 

in class for most of the day in his BMW 

Chris Herdman pushes his 

Toyota Starlet hard. 

318. Tony Gosling and Jeff Judd would 

ultimately jump over him in the last run 

to take third and fourth in class in their 

Mk2 BDAs, with Pettigrew a few tenths 

back in fifth. 

Spectators described Pettigrew’s drive 

as being among the most impressive on 

the day, and bravest under brakes by a 

margin. 

Others to feature in the 2WD top 10, 

finishing 6 th through 10th respectively, 

were Ross Teesdale in his turbo and 

supercharged AE86, Deane Buist in a 

high powered V8 Mk2 Escort, Andrew 

Sim in his 2 litre Fiesta, along with 

Australian resident, but regular NZRC 

runner, Justin Walker, in his Mk 2 BDA. 

Two time former NZRC Champion, 

Brian Stokes, took 10 th in 2WD in 

another Mk 2 BDA. Young competitor 

Chris McLean just missed the 10, 

finishing eleventh in his 2-litre Fiesta. 

Josh Marston took on and won the 

1600cc Class in an AE111 Toyota as he 

prepares to run his new AP4 Holden 

Barina, which is being built for a full 

assault on the NZRC in 2017. 

Dave Fahey took second in class, 

another impressive drive by Fahey 

in his lightly developed Mk1 Escort. 

Hayden Spatcher took third in class 

as he continues to come to grips with 

his R2 1600 Fiesta, while fourth was 

an excellent effort by mid-aged rookie 

Alastair McLean in his near standard 

1990s Honda Civic. 

Mike Nokes also went well to take 

fifth in class in his AE92 Corolla. 

Last, but not least, was the 1300c 

battle which was won by Chris 

Herdman in his Starlet, ahead of rally 

veteran Grant Goile in his classic 1971 

KE30 Corolla.

In the groove: Robert 

McCallum slides his Escort 

home ahead of Regan Ross. 

Another strong drive from 

Neil Hetherington netted an 

impressive third in class in his 

KE70 Corolla in his rookie season. 

Steve Thompson also impressed, 

getting his Datsun Sunny home in 

fourth of the 1300s. 

As he picked up his trophy, 

Robert McCallum described the 

Auchenflower Rd venue as “the 

best sprint road in the world”. 

That may be a bit keen, but 

Canterbury can certainly claim to 

have some of the best roads, and 

a large number of hard charging 

rally competitors always eager to 

take each other on. 

Right: Josh Marston gets in practice 

ahead of his NZRC return next year 

with the new Holden Barina AP4. 

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FEATURE: ARI PETTIGREW 

EXCEPTIONAL ARI 

Ari Pettigrew has shown 

speed and consistency way 

beyond his years. 

WHAT’S IN A NAME? 

Story: 

ROSS TEESDALE 

If rallying had talent scouts they 

would surely be making their way 

to sign up 17-year old Ari Pettigrew 

from Rangiora near Christchurch, in 

New Zealand’s South Island. 

Ari arrived at his first ever event late 

last year, a gravel sprint at Mt Thomas 

Forest, and he immediately upset the 

established order by placing second 

in 2WD, beating home many fast and 

vastly experienced drivers on the tricky 

forest course. 

Recently he proved his exceptional 

talent at the Catlins Rally. Seeded 64 th in 

the 85 car field, he finished an amazing 

fourth outright. And he continues to 

beat home many fancied cars and 

drivers every time he competes, despite 

being a fresh rookie in the sport. 

Ari Pettigrew has so far competed in 

just four gravel sprints and two rallies, 

but his talent has already been noticed 

by many long-time rally people. Ari’s 

potential to go to the top is obvious to 

those that know what it takes. 

35-year rally veteran and highly 

respected driver, Jeff Judd, said: “Ari is 

an awesome talent, he’s a young man 

going places”. 

Derek Ayson, a three-time winner 

of the Otago Classic Rally and another 

legend of the sport in New Zealand, 

added: “Ari has an outstanding natural 

talent, his drive at Catlins showed great 

maturity in treacherous conditions. I 

hope he doesn’t get an Escort”. 

To add to his burgeoning reputation, 

Ari is doing this in a less than 

spectacular car – a 1996 E36 BMW 318 


compact. The car is not bad, but not 

great. 

It gets good power from its engine 

head worked over by Peter Kennard 

of Kennelly Cams. Kennard has ported 

and flowed the head and added big 

valves and Kennelly Cams, and it runs 

high compression pistons. 

The car has some Bilstein shocks, 

better brakes and a 5 to 1 ratio slippery 

diff, but uses a standard gearbox, 

making for big gaps between gears, 

which is far from ideal. 

Ari has so far followed a similar path 

to Kiwi rally ace Hayden Paddon, having 

competed in grass karts from an early 

age. Also like Paddon, Ari then stepped 

up to driving cars in grass autocrosses 

while he waited to be 16 years old and 

was able to get a driver’s license. 

The plan from here is to move to 

front-wheel drive, which will give him 

the experience he needs to step up. 

Ari is not from a privileged 

background. His father, Dave, has 

worked hard to put together the BMW, 

that was purchased for just $3000 as 

a road car. The grass kart was lent to 

him by family friend and mentor, Tom 

Penrose, when Tom’s 

own boys had grown 

out of it. 

Tom and Dave have 

both been involved in 

rallying for decades 

and can provide the 

technical help Ari needs, 

and there are other 

local people in the sport 

who can help guide his 

career. In the coming 

two or three years Ari 

needs 

to gain as much experience 

as possible, which can be achieved 

quite cheaply in New Zealand. Then he 

needs to get overseas, which will be 

expensive. 

Those that know the sport can 

already see that Ari Pettigrew can be 

the next rally star from Australasia. 

Given three more years to get 30 or so 

rallies behind him, Ari could be making 

his mark in the Junior World Rally 

Championship in 2020 - and he would 

have just turned 21. 

If you’d like to be involved in Ari’s 

rallying career moving forward, contact 

Ross Teesdale at h

RETROSPECTIVE 

BOGGED! 

WELL I’LL BE 

Story: JEFF WHITTEN 

In today’s El Nino climate, rain can be a rare occurrence (with some 

exceptions), so getting bogged when rain does fall is even rarer 

still. Many of us have slid off the road and lost traction to such an 

extent that we couldn’t get back on the road again. 

But if that’s ‘bogged’, I have to tell you that you don’t know 

what ‘bogged’ is. If you want to know what bogged is, let me 

take you back to the ‘good old days’ when getting bogged was 

part of the fun of car rallies. If you weren’t bogged more than 

once in an event in those days, you weren’t enjoying yourself 

too much at all. 

It was out the back of Tittybong (in Victoria) when disaster 

struck. Here we were sailing along in the rally car down some 

dang-awful grassy lane when the rear wheels of the car 

started spinning hopelessly and we got that really hard lump 

in our throat. 

You know the feeling – forward progress has all but totally 

diminished, and the trees start going past a lot slower than 

they were a few minutes previously. So there’s only one thing 

for it (for the navigator at least) – out of the car and onto the 

jump bar on the back. 

Now, for you tender young readers out there, I should 

explain that all serious rally cars (let’s call them trials cars, for 

that’s what they were called then) had a jump bar or steps 

mounted at the rear of the car where the bumper bar used 

to be. 

Jump bars were pretty sturdy items with a couple of foot 

plates welded on, designed so the navigator could stand 

on the bar and jump up and down a lot until traction was 

restored. Of course that was all very well, but the forward 

motion of the car (if there was still some left) meant that it 

was all too easy to fall A over Z into the mud while performing 

this ceremonial jumping trick. 

So the cunning ones among us would thread a couple of 

long loops of rope under the forward, hinged edge of the 

boot lid, one on either side, to use as reins to hang on to. Sort 

of like the reins on Charlton Heston’s chariot in the Ben Hur 

movie. 

“If you were really serious, the 

car owner would screw a couple 

of cupboard door handles on 

to the boot lid .... much more 

professional.” 

Of course, if you were really serious, the car owner would 

screw a couple of cupboard door handles on to the boot lid 

in place of the rope reins. Much more professional, really (as 

long as you removed the cupboard doors beforehand!). 

That at least meant that you could stand upright at the 

back of the car, jump up and down like crazy so that the 

subsequent bouncing would help the car in getting some 

traction. Naturally, this exercise was totally useless if you 

were driving a Mini or anything else with front-wheel drive! 

Come to think of it, I have seen at least one navigator in a 

Mini open the boot lid and jump in before proceeding to 


RETROSPECTIVE 

bounce up and down – I think he was 

Irish! 

Well, all these bouncing shenanigans 

used to go on every time a boggy 

lane or a slippery creek crossing was 

encountered, and in those days that 

was fairly regularly. It wasn’t always the 

end of the world when you got bogged; 

in fact, it was often good fun being able 

to get out of the car for some exercise 

after having your head down over the 

maps for hours, even days, on end. 

Trouble was, once you’d done the 

bouncing bit and the car was 

actually moving forward again, 

you’d step off the jump bar into the 

boggy wheel ruts that the car had just 

dug or, even worse, you’d get sprayed 

with thick, black (or red, or grey, or 

yellow – delete whichever doesn’t apply) 

mud as the driver gunned the motor for 

more traction. 

It wasn’t unknown for drivers to really 

plant the foot and hightail it to dry, 

solid ground where traction wasn’t a 

problem, before stopping to wait for 

the navigator to rejoin him. 

Fair enough, you might say, but in 

the middle of winter the nearest high 

ground might be a mile away, and 

by the time you got to the waiting 

car after walking through thick mud, 

running water and slippery grass for 

what seemed like hours, you’d look like 

something out of Creature from the 

Black Lagoon. 

“Get in, get in,” he’d roar and so you’d 

climb aboard. Then, just as you were 

about to shut the door and belt up, 

you’d realise that under that thick layer 

of mud covering your feet, your left 

shoe was missing, obviously left behind 


“The problems arose 

when Murphy’s Law 

intervened and you 

became stuck in an 

area that resembeled 

the Treeless Desert on 

the Nullabor.” 

in that sticky black morass stretching 

out behind you. What to do? Waste 

more time going back to look for it (and 

risk losing the right shoe as well), or 

continue on with a limp like a man with 

an artificial leg? Ah, those were the fun 

days! 

Competitors in early trials like 

the infamous BP Rally and other 

navigational nightmares got so used 

to getting bogged that it got to the 

stage where crews used to take half a 

ton of de-bogging gear with them in 

each event. Not only was the jump bar 

compulsory equipment, there were 

other aids that were often carried as 

well. 

Forget wet weather compounds 

and special tyre cuts, the serious 

competitor always carried two spare 

wheels in the boot, already kitted out 

with a set of chains in case the going 

got really tough. At the first sight of 

mud or potentially impassable creek 

crossings, it was out with the jack, off 

with the Dunlop SP44s or the Goodyear 

Ultragrips, and on with the chains. 

Boy, did chains work in the mud! 

Great for getting you out of sticky 

Being bogged is bad 

enough, but when the tow 

car gets bogged too, you 

really have problems! 

situations and yep, you guessed it, 

the navigator was the one who had 

to remove them when dry ground 

appeared on the horizon! Sections 

timed to the second? Forget it! Just 

getting to the next control the same day 

was an achievement! 

However, if all that failed and you 

were stuck fast like a bug on the 

windscreen, the last resort was always 

the Tirfor. What’s that, you say? What’s 

a Tirfor? A Tirfor, dear friends, was a 

particular brand of winch that every 

serious trials competitor carried in 

the boot of the car. It never saw the 

light of day until all other methods of 

extraction had been exhausted, but it 

was invaluable if you were hopelessly 

bogged. 

Like most other forms of winch, you 

attached one end of the cable to the 

car and the other end to a tree, which 

was all well and good if you were stuck 

in a suitably-treed laneway or paddock. 

The problems arose when Murphy’s 

Law intervened and you became stuck 

in an area that resembled the famous 

Treeless Desert on the Nullarbor. No 

trees, no winching point. 

Of course if there was a convenient 

fence post handy, you could always 

winch off that. Problem was, if the fence 

post was old and rotten, you could end 

up with a corner post, a strainer post, a 

couple of hundred droppers and four 

kilometres of barbed wire on the end of 

your Tirfor. 

The other problem was that if you 

found a tree to winch from, everything 

would be going along smoothly for 

a while. Then, just as you got a nice 

backward-forward rhythm going on

the winch handle, another car would 

appear into view, wanting to use the 

same piece of road that you’d just 

got stuck in. So you’d unhook the 

Tirfor from the tree to let the other 

car through, while your car slowly 

slipped back into the hole you had just 

extricated it from. 

Naturally your driver couldn’t see 

the funny side of all this – he’d 

just sit there revving the motor, 

roaring like a madman for you to hurry 

up and hook the Tirfor up again, while 

all the while sitting in his nice, warm, 

dry, mud-free motorcar. And they used 

to refer to navigators as just a bag of 

spuds! 

No, getting bogged wasn’t much fun, 

and I was an expert at it. Let me give 

you a couple of examples of the art of 

bogging. 

Minis were the world’s worst cars for 

getting bogged in. They were so low to 

the ground and their wheels so small 

that they always suffered in muddy 

conditions compared to other, bigger 

cars. 

If you were the first car through a 

muddy section, there wasn’t too much 

of a problem, but if cars had been 

through before you and left deep 

muddy ruts in the road, then, sure 

as heck, the Mini would slide into the 

wheel ruts and belly itself on the sump 

guard. Towing was usually the only way 

out. 

The Cooper S was a popular rally car 

in the 1960s, but it had a reputation for 

being fastest on the road and the first 

to be bogged. 

There was one particular occasion 

when we were out doing some roading 

for a rally and we were following the 

mapped road along the bottom of a 

hill. Coming to a gate that obviously led 

into private property (even though it 

was the mapped road), we opened the 

cocky’s gate and drove up past his hay 

shed. 

All of a sudden the farmer appeared 

at the corner of the shed, wielding 

a shotgun and yelling for us to stop. 

Faced with what we quickly decided 

looked like certain death from this 

gun-toting Rambo, we roared further 

into his property and out the back gate 

at the other end, to the sound of shots 

being fired into the air. 

Now in full flight, our Mini was aimed 

at a big greasy area with a water soak 

running through it. Gunning the motor, 

the Mini flew into the slop and sank to 

the doorsills. We were stuck solid. 

With darkness falling rapidly, we 

decided to go for help, but there was no 

way we were going back to ask Rambo 

for help to get us out. Weighing up the 

only other option (walking – there were 

The Sydney Morning Herald 

reports on a famous last-stage 

bogging on the 1955 Redex Trial. 

no mobile phones in those days), we 

set off on our enforced eight-kilometre 

walk to the nearest farmhouse to seek 

assistance. 

To cut a long story short, the farmer 

jumped in his car and drove us back 

to the bogged Mini. Hooking on a 

towrope, the farmer’s car spun its 

wheels and sank to the axles. Yep, 

now there were two of us bogged. We 

repeated that eight-kilometre walk back 

to the farmhouse for the second time 

that night. By then our wives had just 

about added our names to the missing 

persons’ list! 

Of course there are all sorts of ways 

of getting bogged – bogged in mud, 

bogged in sand, bogged on a stump, 

bogged in snow, but I’ve even been 

bogged in a river. 

It was that Mini again (what else) that 

brought me undone in the middle of a 

fast flowing river one morning. 

On the wrong road (as usual), we 

drove into the water thinking it would 

be a nice shallow ford. However, the 

further we got in, the deeper it became, 

until the water was lapping almost up 

to the door handles. 

Well, you’d panic too. The only 

way out was to reverse out, but then 

disaster struck and the “wish I’d fixed 

that before” scenario reared its head. 

That was when I wished I’d stopped to 

replace the two bolts that held the back 

of the sump guard onto the car. 

It was also when I also realised that 

the back of the sump guard was acting 

like a grader blade the more I tried to 

reverse out. With front wheels spinning 

and sand banking up under the sump 

guard, all progress stopped in the 

middle of the stream. 

The only way out of our predicament 

was to open the door and climb out 

into knee-deep water. Of course, as we 

got out, water flowed in through the 

doors and we abandoned the Mini to 

the sight of maps, route instructions, 

small fish, yabbies, floor mats and other 

assorted items floating around in a car 

full of water. 

Trials and rallies really were an 

adventure in those days, and getting 

bogged, just like dealing with gates 

(of which there are hundreds of 

varieties) were all just part of the fun. 

One of these days we’ll do a story on 

gates, another of those long-forgotten 

obstacles that trials crews used to come 

up against. Mallee gates, cocky’s gates, 

locked gates, @#%& gates! 

Now it’s a different age, a different 

page, and the pace of life has shifted up 

a gear or three. Ah, give me the good 

old days! 


BRAKES DIRECT BORDER RANGES RALLY 

ROBERTS AT HOME ON THE RANGE 

Story: TOM SMITH 

For many years, the Gold Coast 

Tweed Motorsporting Club has 

managed to put together events 

using some incredible rally roads in and 

around the Queensland/NSW border – 

and it must be said that the best roads 

belong to the southern state. 

Events in the Kyogle/Woodenbong 

area, about two and a half hours south 

of Brisbane, are so good they formed 

much of the route for the WRC round 

in 2009. 

It certainly helps when the local 

community is supportive, and the 

local Kyogle Council and NSW Police 

welcomed an event back to the district. 

Ironically, the event was a round of 

the Queensland State Championship 

(sponsored by MRF Tyres), but this 

rally loves classics and amongst other 

things, offered the Zupp Property 

Manfred Stohl won 

Group Classic Rally Car Challenge and 

the China Rally in a 

Citroen the Border DS3 R5. Ranges Escort Challenge 

(naturally for Ford Escorts of all 

models). 

For some years efforts have been 

made to sell the virtues of this event 

to New Zealanders and for 2016, Kiwi 

hot-shot Derek Ayson was convinced to 

compete, having been handed the keys 

to Ed Mulligan’s Mk 2 Escort. 

With about 105 competitive 

kilometres on offer, the route originally 

offered eight gravel shire roads stages 

and a couple of Super Specials in the 

Kyogle Showgrounds, home of Rally HQ 

and a camping village for the weekend. 

Sadly enough, rain in the lead-up 


Kiwi star, Derek 

Ayson, was the first 

Classic car home in 

Ed Mulligan’s Escort. 

The always-impressive Audi 

Quattro of Mal Keough. 

Photos: Sam Tickell. 

to the weekend was to force the 

cancellation of the Showground stages 

in an effort to keep the local show 

society on-side. 44 cars and crews 

promised to chew up every green blade 

of grass, and discretion was the better 

part of valour. 

With most crews on site for 

reconnaissance on Friday and settling 

in for the weekend, the organisers 

also arranged for a rally forum to be 

held in the Kyogle Golf Club on Friday 

night, moderated by Australian rallying 

identity Ed Mulligan. 

One of the much-anticipated entries 

was the recently re-fettled Mulliganowned 

Opel Manta V8 in the hands 

of Jack Monkhouse, but a headgasket 

problem in the week before forestalled 

the entry. 

On rally day, 39 entries lined up in a 

colourful parade in Kyogle’s main street 

to face the starter. 

Mal Keough and Pip Bennett were 

at car 1 in the mighty Audi Quattro S1 

replica and promised to give the locals 

a show. Add seven Escorts, Matt Love’s 

Mazda RX7 Group B replica, Peter 

Leicht in his Nissan 240RS, and then a 

fantastic field of modern 4WDs and this 

was a rally to watch! 

Over SS1 ‘Happy Valley’, the classics 

at the front of the field enjoyed close 

racing and Keough’s Audi was simply 

superb. 

Predictably, the modern 4WDs set a 

quicker pace and New South Welshman 

Peter Roberts cracked the event open in 

his Lancer Evo 6, with Andrew Crowley 

calling the notes. 

Rob Bishop/Neil Woolley were next 

best on the outright leader’s board 

in their similar car, and the two Evo 

6s started a rally-long battle for 

domination. 

Kiwi Ayson settled into a nice rhythm 

in his borrowed Escort (and borrowed 

co-driver in the form of Cate Kelly), 

dicing with both Keogh and Clay 

Badenoch (Celica). 

While the roads may not have been 

damaging, breakdowns occurred and 

Bruce Clark retired his Stanza after SS2 

with a blown headgasket.

Peter Roberts added 

a Border Ranges 

victory to his win in 

Batemans Bay. 

The immaculate VW Polo S2000 of 

Marius Swart and Alan Stean only made 

it to SS5 before drive problems brought 

their weekend to a premature end. 

Roberts and Bishop did not have it 

all their own way, with the lead classics 

breathing down their necks on stage 

times. 

Peter Kahler (son of the late George) 

had recently made the conversion 

to 4WD with a Lancer Evo 6, and he 

and co-driver, Claire Buccini, were 

improving with every kilometre, 

clocking times inside the top five almost 

from the outset. 

This was the battle that the 

organisers hoped for with incredibly 

close overall times being swapped 

by the Japanese turbo 4WDs and the 

brilliant-sounding classics. 

There were simply seconds 

separating the quickest cars. 

SS8 ‘Toonumbar 2’ over 19 kilometres 

was cancelled due to safety reasons, 

with reports of local anti-rally 

protesters throwing burning clumps of 

rags onto the road, and some further 

reports of officials being threatened. 

This unnecessary behaviour caused 

much concern for all parties and 

reminded everyone of the antics of 

the anti-WRC brigade seven years ago 

in the district. On the occasion of the 

WRC, protesters blockaded and delayed 

cars and damaged property. 

Thankfully, the third run over 

the brilliant 8.30km Hillyards stage 

provided the exciting climax to the 

event that everyone wanted. 

28 finishers were recognised at rally 

end, with the win going to a flawless 

performance by Roberts/Crowley, from 

Bishop/Woolley. A consistent and quick 

run by Kahler/Buccini saw the new 

team take third spot on the podium. 

Derek Ayson and Cate Kelly held off 

the classic and 2WD competition to take 

a brilliant fourth outright, in front of 

Steve Tonna/Peter Graham (Evo 5), and 

holding off the Celica of Badenoch/Kelly 

in sixth and the insane Keogh Quattro 

in seventh. 

Such was the tightness of the 

competition, the top five cars were 

Rob Bishop secured 

the 2016 MRF Tyres 

Queensland Rally 

Championship with 

one round to go. 

only separated by 90 seconds on the 

timesheet, and position six to 10 were 

also spaced over a mere 75 seconds. 

With Derek Ayson heading back to 

New Zealand after Border Ranges to 

contest the Hanmer Rally the next 

weekend, his parting words were 

positive and encouraging. 

“Thanks for another well organised 

rally, and I would love to get a few more 

Kiwis back sometime as this is truly an 

amazing event,” Ayson said. 

While the Border Ranges Rally may 

not have the exposure of the Otago, it’s 

an event that has much to offer and a 

local rally community that is inspired to 

take it to the next level. 


FEATURE: SOUTH AFRICAN SPECIALS 

WHEN NECESSITY WAS THE 

MOTHER OF INVENTION 

Story: LEON JOUBERT 

Like Australia, South Africa had 

lots of tempting unsurfaced 

roads and countryside mountain 

passes that begged to be used for rallying 

in the years following the Second 

World War, and they were soon put to 

use by enthusiastic amateurs. 

South African outback roads were 

of indifferent quality. Potholes, cross 

drains and rocky surfaces were part of 

the mix and crews had to be skilled car 

preparers and mechanics. Tough cars 

‘made for Africa’ were preferable. 

By 1960 a national rally championship 

had been established and, in its first 

years, the two-stroke Auto Union 

proved to be a regular winner, thanks 

to its durability, good FWD handling 

and 15-inch wheels with long travel 

suspension. 

By 1964 another tough European 

car, the Volvo 122S ‘Amazon’, began to 

feature regularly on the leader boards, 

but that year also witnessed the first 

appearance of two other durable car 

makes, both from Japan – Datsun and 

Toyota. 

The Datsun effort was driven 

(literally) by a remarkable Pretoriabased 

engineer, Ewold van Bergen, 

who could meticulously dismember a 

Datsun Bluebird 1200, then re-design 

and reassemble it into a rally-winning 

car. He was so successful that he was 

soon employed by Datsun (and later 

Nissan) as the company’s only ‘foreign’ 

consultant outside Japan. 

The Toyota importer countered by 

importing two twin cam Toyota GT5 

coupes and the cars were successful. 

That prompted van Bergen to create 

Leon Joubert’s Auto Union 

competing in the late 60s. 

The ex-Hannu Mikkola Ford 

Escort imported by Ford South 

Africa for Jan Hettema in 1971. 

his so-called Datsun P510 SSS-TK, which 

confused his Japanese employers until 

he explained that TK stood for ‘Toyota 

Killer’. 

Throughout the late 1960s, the South 

African Championship saw healthy 

competition between Volvo, Datsun, 

Toyota and also Renault (with R8 and 

R12 Gordinis). Even Alfa Romeo Guilia 

and Berlina models (assembled in 

South Africa) were in the mix. 

The Total International Rally was 

the country’s biggest annual event in 

which the winners also got a free entry 

into the Monte Carlo Rally. These links 

led to some cross-pollination with top 

European rally drivers often competing 

in the Total Rally. Ove Andersson was 

one of the first, and would eventually 

establish powerful competition and 

engineering links for Renault and 

Toyota. 

During the 1960s, eligible cars for 

championships were basically those 

that were for sale in the South African 

market (there was a wide choice), but 

modifications were largely unlimited, 

though there were engine capacity 

classes that scored bonus points, along 

with points for overall results. 

This formula carried through into 

the 1970s and as Ewold van 

Bergen with Datsun, and Ove 

Andersson with Renault and Toyota, 

began to forge technical links with 

overseas sources, the development 

of Ford of England’s motor rallying 

programmes with the Escort also spilled 

over to South Africa. 

The first ‘full works’ Ford Escort to 

arrive in South Africa was an ex-Hannu 

Mikkola Lotus Escort used as a recce 

car, and it was given to multiple SA 

Rally Champion, Jan Hettema, to drive. 

It was soon followed by a local ‘Perana’ 

version of the Escort Mexico, powered 

by a two-litre SOHC Ford Pinto engine. 

The Escort ‘Perana’ was developed 

by the same Basil Green who created 

the Perana Ford Capri V8 that is quite 

well known in Australia. It may have 

triggered a flood of ‘skunk works’ cars 

for mid-1970s rallying in South Africa. 

In 1972-73, General Motors SA (under 


the Chevrolet name) funded two 

excellent engineers and race drivers, 

Basil van Rooyen and Geoff Mortimer, 

to build a car to challenge the Capri 

Perana V8 on the racetracks. The ‘Little 

Chevy’ Can-Am 302 was born. 

Based on a Vauxhall Firenza body 

shell, the Can-Am ran a 302 cubic 

inch, small block V8 from the Camaro 

Z28, coupled with a four-speed 

Muncie gearbox. Since the bigger local 

‘Chevrolet’ sedans of the time were 

Holdens, the Can-Am got DeVille front 

discs, a Kingswood rear axle (with Volvo 

164 side shafts and Borg Warner L/S), 

Fiat rear discs and Koni shocks. 

Of the 100 required units that were 

built for race homologation, two were 

then turned into 300bhp rally cars. 

What could have been a remarkable 

career for the Chevy Can-Am was 

sadly curtailed by a knee-jerk ban on 

motor sport during the prevailing fuel 

crisis at the time. But the concept of 

do-it-yourself local engineering had 

been established. The only regulatory 

pre-requisite was that the car and its 

oily bits would share the same genetic 

lineage. 

When motor sport recommenced 

in the mid-1970s, Geoff Mortimer 

applied his prodigious talents to the 

most unlikely of templates, the unloved 

Austin Marina. 

He replaced the ancient B-Series 

four cylinder with a Rover V8 (as would 

be done in a few other BL models), 

coupled with a four-speed transmission 

that included electric overdrive on third 

and fourth gears. This car, on occasion, 

beat the Ford Escort RS1800 in national 

championship events, and even had a 

run in the hands of Simo Lampinen. 

Mortimer followed the V8 Marina 

with a similar car fitted with a modified 

Triumph Dolomite engine and, in the 

hands of Tony Pond, it held its own 

1973 Chevy Can-Am 302 

rally version,designed by 

Geoff Mortimer. 

Geoff Mortimer in the very 

successful Rover V8 powered 

Austin Marina. Photo: Kees 

van de Coolwijk. 

The Fiat 131 Abarth fitted with a Ferrari/Lancia 2.5 V6 was not a successful development. 

against works Escorts being driven by 

Roger Clark and Timo Mäkinen in South 

African events. 

Another somewhat unusual ‘skunk 

works’ car that made its South African 

appearance in the mid-1970s was the 

‘Fiat-Ferrari 131 Abarth’. 

Fiat South Africa created a potentially 

powerful rally team around Jan 

Hettema with an imported full-works 

131 Abarth and a back-up team of 

locally developed Fiat 131 Rallye models 

(fitted with modified, but much more 

standard, mechanicals). 

But the two-litre 131 Abarth quickly 

showed it lacked the grunt to keep 

up with the 220+bhp of the works 

Escorts, hence a decision was taken to 

transplant a 2.5 litre Ferrari Dino/Lancia 

Stratos engine into the Abarth. 

This blend of South African and 


FEATURE: SOUTH AFRICAN SPECIALS 

Firenza CanAm rally 

car in action, with Jan 

Hettema driving. 

Mazda rotary engine on 

its way into a 323. 

Italian engineering talents proved 

less successful than Rory Byrne’s later 

tenure at Ferrari, and the development 

was scrapped after just a few events. 

Mazda was having a fantastic run of 

success in Group N racing with its RX-2 

and as the RWD 323 had become a best 

seller, the idea of a rotary-engined 323 

was there to be used. 

Engineer/drivers, Colin Burford 

and Andre Liebenberg, built the car 

for Mazda and Liebenberg rallied it 

with some success, though the flamespewing 

exhaust had a tendency to 

Tony Gosling 

has purchased 

Force 

Motorsport’s 

Mazda 2 AP4. 

cook the feet of the crew and risk 

setting fire to forest stages. 

Most of these developments petered 

out by the late 1970s when exact copies 

of Boreham Escort RS1800s were being 

built by Bernie Marriner for Ford in Port 

Elizabeth. Toyota was building cars in 

close co-operation with Japan and TTE, 

Nissan was doing much the same, and 

General Motors was using ‘Chevairs’ 

(Opel Asconas) with Blydenstein 

engines. 

From 1976-1983 these sophisticated 

Euro/Japanese powered cars would 

dominate the South African rallying 

scene and attract the likes of Tony 

Pond, Roger Clark, Hannu Mikkola, Ove 

Andersson, Per Eklund, Sandro Munari, 

Rauno Aaltonen, Jimmy McRae, Jochi 

Kleint, Pentti Airikkala, Leif Asterhag 

and many other European drivers to 

come and compete in the country. 

And then it all changed in 1985, when 

the Audi Quattro arrived and was put 

in the hands of ‘SuperVan’ Sarel Daniel 

van der Merwe. But that is another 

story for another day... 

- LEON JOUBERT 

KIWIS GO MAD FOR AP4 

Amongst rumours of another five AP4 based cars coming 

to fruition for the 2017 New Zealand Rally Championship, 

the RDL Performance team are hard at work 

preparing their two Holden Barinas for former Bathurst winner, 

Greg Murphy, and Josh Marston. 

“Both cars have about 2-3 days of fabrication work left in 

them and they’ll be ready for paint,” explains Marston. “The 

body kit is half done already as well, it’s progressing nicely.” 

Under the skin, both cars will comply with the recently 

announced AP4+ rules that allow an 1800cc engine with a 

higher 1300kg weight limit. 

The engine will be based on an ‘Ecotec’ engine, which will be 

stroked back from two-litre, while the cars will run the same 

Sadev drivetrain run in the Hawkeswood Mazda, Inkster Skoda 

and Paddon Hyundai that were campaigned in 2016. 

The team is currently working towards a first public outing at 

Rod Millen’s Leadfoot Festival on February 4-5. 

- BLAIR BARTELS 

Greg Murphy (right) is 

excited about the new 

AP4+ Barinas to run in 

the 2017 NZRC. 


ROYCE WATSON MEMORIAL RALLY 

Matt Summerfield steers 

clear of the snow-capped 

mountains to take victory. 

PHOTOS: Euan Cameron 

ACTION 

APLENTY AT 

POPULAR 

HANMER 

Story: BLAIR BARTELS 

The Royce Watson Memorial Rally, 

held in the forest around the 

tourist town of Hanmer Springs 

in North Canterbury, saw several NZRC 

regulars out for a play, including a few 

who swapped jobs for the day. 

The event was largely dominated by 

Matt Summerfield, who won by just 

under one and a half minutes. 

Summerfield had to do so without 

regular co-driver, sister Nicole, who 

borrowed Matt’s Legacy and jumped 

in the driver’s seat, with Rocky Hudson 

(now sitting alongside his fifth driver for 

the season) calling the shots. The pair 

came home 49th and steadily improved 

across the day. 

Summerfield wasn’t the only co-driver 

turned driver for the event either, 

with Blair Read, normally seen in Tony 

Gosling’s Escort, taking the wheel of a 

DX Corolla, coming home third in the 

1300-1600cc class. 

He did enlist some help in the form 

of brother, NZRC and APRC regular 

Malcolm Read in the co-driver’s seat. 

Another making the same swap was 

Nigel Ross, who enlisted Dave Neill to 

co-drive, the pair coming home 33rd. 

Another NZRC regular swapping 

jobs was Rally Live host Blair Bartels, 

who jumped in alongside Historic class 

regular Regan Ross in his BDA Escort. 

The pair finished third in the 1600cc & 

over 2WD class. 

Richard Bateman/Sharisse Guckert 

and Phil Collins/Tracy Spark both ran 

exactly the same team and car as 

they did at the final NZRC round in 

Coromandel, taking out sixth and 32nd 

respectively, while Jason Clark this time 

teamed up with wife Tracey, only to 

have engine failure. 

A few NZRC regulars swapped steads 

for the event as well, with Jeff Judd 

having a troublesome day with his 

rather rapid Corolla to finish 34th, while 

Barry Varcoe, who wrecked his Impreza 

at Whangarei, piloted his TA64 Celica 

rather more successfully to 24th. 

Author Blair Bartels sat beside 

Regan Ross and picked up 8th 

outright in their Escort. 

Nicole Summerfield was in 

the driver’s seat this time, and 

showed her talent. 


INTERVIEW: MADS OSTBERG 

MADS OSTBERG 

Story: MARTIN HOLMES 

M-Sport’s 26-year old lead driver, 

Mads Ostberg, is to start 

his 100th world championship 

rally in Corsica, the second youngest 

driver and the third Norwegian to 

reach this level of experience. 

Mads embarked on his WRC rally 

career at the Swedish Rally in 2006, 

so this seemed a good opportunity to 

find out from the inside how the world 

championship has changed in the last 

10 years. From the outside, the work 

of the promoters, the way that drivers 

and teams prepare for rallies, the 

intensity for competition on events and 

the personal way that the profession of 

rally driving have changed, and the way 

that rallies themselves are run? 

Mads: By the time I came into WRC 

various things like central servicing 

were already well established. We had 

just started with two passes on the 

recce. It is surprising what changes 

came as a result. 

Recceing has really developed over 

10 years. It made everyone look in 

different areas to improve and use the 

spare time between the rallies to get 

more familiar with the roads. Everyone 

started to video their recces. 

Now we use WRC+ a lot. Everything 


is now getting more intense. The work 

continues, not just in the actual hours 

in which you are actually recceing the 

stages. Previously, co-drivers always 

used to spend their evenings cleaning 

up the notes they had made, but now 

everyone is watching the videos of the 

stages. 

Back in the start of my career when 

Petter (Solberg) was still driving, we all 

went out to have dinner in the evenings 

with his brother Henning. I remember 

Petter also liked to go to a cinema after 

the recce. When he finished recce he 

would go for a jog and then go and see 

a movie! 

Mind you, Henning still likes to go to 

eat. He hasn’t changed, he has the old 

fashioned way of doing things! 

MH: Nowadays, the need for fitness is a big 

change. 

MO: Yes, and never as much as now. 

I think everyone knows you actually 

need to be a good athlete to be a good 

rally driver. Now all the top drivers 

spend a lot of time on physical training. 

It wasn’t really that much when 

I started. I think there was a new 

generation starting quite at the same 

time as I did (2006-2009), with Thierry 

Neuville, Ott Tanak, Evgeniy Novikov, 

Andreas Mikkelsen and myself. A lot 

of new drivers brought these things 

Mads Ostberg driving 

for Subaru on the 2006 

Wales Rally GB. 

Mads Ostberg in 2011. 

on to another level. This was a new 

generation of drivers coming in with 

different backgrounds. 

Sebastien Loeb started himself by 

being an athlete before he came into 

rallying. 

MH: The next factor is everything to do 

with social media. Has it taken all of us 

over? 

MO: When I started rallying there 

was no such thing. Everyone had 

a website and things were working 

differently. 

I think social media is really 

important. Together with the television, 

it is now one of the biggest things we 

have to promote our sport. I think all 

the drivers on the top level are using a 

lot of energy on social media and that’s 

the same for me as well. 

I think every driver has other people 

to do this work for them. You can’t do 

that while you’re driving! Obviously we 

can take pictures, which we do, we give 

comments to our media people, but 

they are the people taking care of this. 

MH: Then there have been advances in the 

safety work. 

MO: When I came into rallying special 

clothing was already a big part of the 

rally teams and also for us. For sure, 

especially with the HANS (Head and 

Neck Safety) device, and now I’m using

the hybrid system, both of them are 

really important and its difficult now to 

look back and see that actually at the 

start of my career, I didn’t use it. 

Also, the safety of the cars has been a 

lot better, even though the roll cage at 

that time was already really strong. We 

have seen the importance of the safety 

foam and where this is placed in the car 

and things like that, so there has been a 

good development on safety. 

MH: Do you think SuperRally attracts the 

wrong sort of approach to the sport? 

MO: I think it has been a benefit, but 

I’m not sure if it is anymore, because 

now we have a lot of cars and teams. 

At that time there were not so many 

cars and teams. It was a correct thing 

to do to keep cars in the race. 

MH: One of the most remarkable things 

about you is that apart from (Sebastien) 

Ogier, you are the most reliable finisher 

on world championship rallies. Is it a 

characteristic of you, or that you began in 

the sport when people thought more about 

reliability than speed? 

MO: I think it is a mixture of many 

things. First of all it’s probably one of 

my characteristics as a driver and a 

person. 

But also, in the start of my career we 

knew that the budget was limited, we 

knew that if we had a big accident it 

would probably affect the programme, 

so that was a big part all the way up to 

2011. 

Even after we stopped the private 

team and continued as a manufacturer 

driver, that’s been a part of me. 

MH: The sport is building up to develop 

rallying into new areas. Do you feel that 

the sport should concentrate on being with 

the traditional events, or do you think it is 

important to have new ones? 

MO: Of course it is important to have 

some of the classic rallies, events like 

Finland, Mexico, Argentina, Sweden, 

Monte Carlo. There are a lot of classic 

events that I think are really important 

for the championship. 

And of course you need to develop 

and follow the markets that make 

it interesting for the promoter and 

manufacturers. So, in one way you 

need to develop, but you need to keep 

some of the basics of rallying, and that 

means some of the classic events. 

MH: The traditional basics of rallying are 

the spectators. Are spectator levels what 

they used to be when you started? 

MO: No. I would say that spectator 

levels, at least in some rallies, is very 

Mads with his father, 

and manager, Morten. 

high, but I see less people on other 

rallies. It can depend on the way the 

organisers actually lay out the events. 

I don’t know all of the rallies so well 

but, if you look at Wales for example, 

you have seen a lot of spectators in the 

past, but the last few years they haven’t 

really been that great. 

I think in Corsica there were almost 

no spectators, but I think on some of 

the classic events, like Monte Carlo and 

Sweden and Finland, there are a lot of 

spectators, and in South America, it’s 

obviously crazy! 

MH: Coming to your 100th rally, has the life 

in the world championship been as exciting 

and meaningful as you expected? 

MO: Yes, in many ways I would say so. 

When I started rallying, I had a dream 

of getting into Manufacturers’ teams 

and things like that. 

Obviously you expect something and 

very often when you are there you find 

it’s a little different, but of course a lot 

of it is like you hoped. 

You get to drive a lot of rallies, a lot 

of cars and really enjoy it, but of course 

there are aspects of all sports which 

you don’t really understand before you 

are at the highest level. Some of it is 

more work than fun … 

MH: Is there any country that you found 

especially exciting, and maybe some which 

were not as exciting as you expected? 

MO: I have to think back to the time 

when I discovered the new rallies for 

the first time. I would say that South 

America probably had the rallies where 

I got really surprised about the interest 

and how they appreciate rally. How 

enthusiastic they are and how many 

people there are. 

Disappointments? Yes for sure. It is 

not very kind to mention which ones, 

but I probably must say that Australia is 

one of the biggest. 

I was really looking forward to going 

there. The place where the rally is now 

based is obviously a fantastic place in 

a beautiful area of Australia, but the 

interest of rallies is zero, however, I 

never went to Perth. 

I heard a lot about Rally Australia 

before we were there, but it was in a 

different area. 

MH: Finally, what do you think next year is 

going to be all about with the new cars? 

MO: For me nothing is clear for next 

year yet. Regarding the new cars, I 

think that is a really interesting part of 

it. 

Previously we were talking about 

developing different aspects of the 

championship, now it is the turn of the 

car. And obviously I was there when we 

used the 2-litre turbo with fully active 

differentials, and then we went to the 

1.6 turbo, mechanical differential cars. 

Now we are increasing the power 

with the 1.6 turbo and in 2017 there 

will be bigger turbo restrictors, more 

aero and more diffs again. It makes 

next year more interesting, next year’s 

championship will be extremely tough. 

There are a lot of good drivers in the 

championship these days and a lot of 

good teams, and I think with the new 

cars it will be probably very different to 

what we see today. 

I think the drivers will be more 

important, and I think it will be more 

difficult to drive the car to its limit, and 

the competition these days is tougher 

than it has ever been. These days 

everything is getting faster, quicker, 

competitive. 


GEORGE DERRICK PYRENEES RUSH 

WINDUS ORDERS RUSH WIN 

Story: CRAIG O’BRIEN 

Arron Windus, with co driver Joe 

Brick (Subaru), clinched their 

second win, by a mere two 

seconds at the Leech’s Mitsubishi Pyrenees 

Rush on August 28, ahead of Will 

Orders and Toni Feaver (Mitsubishi). 

Warren Lee and David Lethlean in 

another Mitsubishi completed the 

podium. 

Following the cancellation of the 

weather affected Bega Valley Rally in 

June, the Victorian Rally Championship 

resumed in the small township of 

Avoca in the heart of the Pyrenees. 

A field of 44 crews had entered the 

rally, although Justin Dowel and 

championship leader, Darren Windus, 

were late withdrawals. 

This presented young Arron, who was 

returning from competing for Vauxhall 

in the British Junior Rally Championship, 

with the opportunity to step into the 

car his father has campaigned so 

successfully over the last 18 months. 

Other notable entries included the 

Mackenzie brothers, Steven and Brent, 

in their G2 specification Ford Fiesta, and 

four-time Australian Rally Champion, 

Simon Evans, calling the notes for Luke 

Sytema in an Escort. 

Consistent rain throughout August 

ensured dust would be at a minimum, 

but the challenging roads caught out 

one crew early in SS1, neutralising the 

stage and forcing the field to regroup at 

the beginning of SS2. 

When action got back underway for 

SS2, Windus/Brick set the pace, but 

snapping at their heels were Andrew 

Murdoch/Jason Whitaker (Subaru) 

and Orders/Feaver, with six seconds 

covering the trio after the two opening 

stages. 

Further back in the field, Brad Till/ 

Mitch Garrad had a soft roll but 

continued on, despite looking a little 

worse for wear, while Wayne Stewart/ 

Ray Farrell had a turbo fail on their 

WRX. 

Windus was determined to go well 

on the 29km test of SS4, which bit him 

hard when the championship last used 

the stage at the 2015 Begonia Rally, 

and he succeeded, winning the stage 

PROMOTE YOUR 

BUSINESS 


Arron Windus again showed 

his natural ability and speed. 

(Photo: John Doutch) 

and claiming the heat one win by 15 

seconds from Orders. 

The star of the stage, though, was 

the local crew of Andrew Daniell/Emily 

Leech, who banked on local knowledge 

rather than pacenotes to record the 

fourth fastest stage time in their Datsun 

Stanza. 

Will Orders lost the 

event by just two 

seconds. (Photo: 

John Doutch) 

For more details call 

Dominic on 0499 981 188

Luke Sytema and Simon 

Evans put on a show for the 

spectators. (Photo: Ivan Glavis) 

Late running time resulted in SS5 

being cancelled, leaving Orders with a 

lot of work to do over the remaining 

three stages if he was to take victory. 

He opened heat two in fine style, 

winning SS6 by 7.4 seconds from 

Windus, while Murdoch’s woes 

continued with the oil leak catching fire, 

melting the CV boots and steering rack 

bushes and forcing him into retirement. 

This elevated Lee/Lethlean into the 

podium positions. 

The penultimate stage saw Windus 

claw back just over a second and head 

into the final 29km stage with a nine 

second advantage. 

Running ahead of Windus on the 

road, Orders/Feaver put it all on the 

line, and despite lacking rubber, set a 

staggering time, 25 seconds quicker 

than their earlier pass. They managed 

to even up the ledger, winning the heat, 

but Windus/Brick had 

done just enough to sneak 

home by two seconds 

overall and clinch Subaru’s 

10 th consecutive round win 

in the VRC. 

Behind them, the 

Mackenzies stormed 

home to finish fourth, 

Luke Sytema/Simon Evans 

an impressive fifth in 

their Escort RS1800, and 

Daniell/Leech sixth. 

In the Our Auto Rally 

Series, a faultless event 

from Stephen Eccles/ 

Simon Pilepich saw 

the pair win their class 

comfortably and extend 

their championship lead, 

heading into the Spring 

200 in mid-September. 

Steve Mackenzie makes a 

splash. (Photo: John Doutch) 

Paul Eccles, Subaru WRX. 

(Photo: Ivan Glavis) 


FEATURE: THE CARS YOU WON’T BE SEEING 

Li Fusheng S2 

Lotus L3 

THE RALLY CARS 

S6 SouEast Ling 

Shi Turbo V6 

S6 FAW 

Volkswagen 

S6 BAIC Senova 

Saab D50 


The cancellation of the 2016 WRC China Rally means 

that a major chance to see first hand some completely 

different rally cars has been lost to the international 

rally world. 

The national Chinese Rally Championship has for many 

years been an impressively supported series in terms of 

variety and exclusivity of cars, but now the only chance for 

foreign rally people to see these cars first hand has been 

when the FIA’s Asia-Pacific championship goes to China. 

This year this meant going faraway to the edge of the Gobi 

desert, close to Mongolia. This helps to explains why many of 

these cars remain little known outside China. 

Brian Young of Asia Pacific Sports Media, however, was 

present at the APRC round at Zhangye and secured this 

collection of images of seldom seen cars while he was there. 

Chinese national rallying runs to its own rules and classes. 

The premier class is S6, which is a surprisingly free formula 

based on production cars. Their main protagonists are the 

national FAW VW team that run special 2-litre turbocharged 

Golfs built by Prodrive in Britain. 

These cars are fitted with old Skoda Fabia WRC 

engines supplied by Lehmann, and use a lot of Mini WRC 

components. These cars finished first, fourth and fifth. 

Their main rival team is the Subaru Rally Team using 

a latest version Impreza prepared in America by Subaru 

Rally Team USA, using two cars, one a 2014 version of the 

American championship Impreza WRX STI 2014, and the 

other a new modified XV. 

The biggest team is Beiqi Saab Rally Team who run Beijing 

Automotive Saab D50 cars. These are BAIC Senovas that 

are based on old Saab 9-5 cars, but fitted with Mitsubishi R4 

drivetrain, Holinger six speed sequential transmission from 

Australia, and Evo X transmission parts. 

Another local, but older, model still used in CRC rallying is 

the SouEast V6 Ling Shi Turbo, which despite its name, was 

based on a locally made four cylinder Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 

X. 

A team that had been active till the end of 2015 ran a 

turbocharged version Skoda Fabia S2000, but they have now 

stopped competition, though two of the delightfully called 

Shanghai Volkswagen Skoda New Crystal Sharp (new Fabia 

shape) were entered by the Linky Racing team. 

The wide range of cars continues in the supporting classes. 

The top non-S6 cars in Zhangye were various Subaru and 

Mitsubishis in familiar Group N or Group R4 specification, 

while Manfred Stohl runs a team of Citroen DS3 R5 cars, 

which at Zhangye were run in the FIA APRC category, which 

Stohl won outright. 

The top S4 cars at the event were two-wheel drive 

Dongfeng Honda Civics which took the top three places in 

their category, while another familiar shape won S3, the 

Volkswagen Jetta, heading three locally built Volkswagen 

Golfs. 

YO

VW Polo Lifan 

and Suzuki 

Hybrid BYD Qin 

U WON’T BE SEEING 

It was further down in the supporting classes, and 

especially the popular S2 category, that really unfamiliar cars 

were found. 

Top car at Zhangye was the JAC Refine S2, which finished 

first, third and fourth, but the winner was only 15 seconds in 

front of a new Chang Yi Moving XT. 

Among the curiosities of the category were a couple of rare 

small passenger Proton-derived Youngman Lotus L3 cars, 

which are no longer being produced. 

The smallest class was S1, in which the winner was a Lifan 

520, a model already seen in competition last year in the FIA 

Codasur championsip events. Rivals were the familiar shapes 

of a Changan Suzuki Swift and Volkswagen Polo. 

Perhaps the most unusual category is the special class 

for hybrid cars, all of them being BYD Qin cars. These 

cars require special electrical recharging facilities in 

parc ferme situations. Zhangye saw nine of these cars entered, 

one of them running in the parallel APRC rally. 

Entry levels for CRC events are impressively high, a total of 

121 for the recent Zhangye event, in addition to the entries 

for the APRC event, with numerically a large proportion being 

cars that are seldom seen outside the country. 

The calendar for CRC championship rallies is as fluid as the 

regulations to which the cars are prepared. This restricts the 

opportunities for foreign drivers to compete on these events 

and score championship points for the teams for which they 

run, but they are not allowed to score drivers’ championship 

points. 

Normally only three or four foreign drivers will be active on 

each CRC event. British driver, David Higgins, said that there 

was a 50/50 chance that a published date for a future event 

would change at short notice! The locations for qualifying 

events are far flung and conditions were varied. The city of 

Zhangye is three days driving, each way, from Beijing, with no 

convenient airline connections. 

The event was held in very high temperatures, a location 

which the imaginative Chinese federation proposed to the FIA 

as being a suitable venue for the recently abandoned WRC 

event. 

Winter events have been held at Mohe in the far north of 

the country in temperatures of minus 40 degrees, largely run 

on frozen lakes. Another event has been run out of Jixi, north 

of Vladivostok and not far from the North Korean border, 

again as a winter event. 

Normally the only time foreign people will see these events 

is at the annual APRC event, for many years held at Longyou, 

north of Shanghai. 

It really seemed that finally the world of the WRC would 

have a chance to see these cars compete on a supporting 

event this year at Huairou, but that never happened. These 

cars are destined to remain secrets from behind the bamboo 

curtain for another year. 

STORY: MARTIN HOLMES, PHOTOS: BRIAN YOUNG 

Li Daiwei S3 

FAW VW Jetta 

FV7166 

Deng Xiaowen 

S2 Chang Yi 

Moving XT 

Chiang 

Chi-yang S2 JAC 

Refine 


PHOTO OF THE MONTH 


Arron Windus and Joe Brick 

slide their way to victory in the 

Pyrenees Rush on August 28. 


15 YEARS AGO .... 

SEPTEMBER 2001 

NEW IMPREZA FOR HERRIDGE 

Leading Australian Group N driver Dean Herridge returned from Japan where he 

tested the new Group N Subaru Impreza WRX that he will drive in both the Rally of 

New Zealand and Rally Australia. 

Along with Japanese driver Konishi, Herridge will drive for the Japanese Subaru outfit in 

a new shape Impreza, with regular co-driver Jim Carlton calling the pacenotes. 

THOMPSON LICKS HIS WOUNDS 

It wasn’t so much the physical damage that had been done to the car, but the remorse 

that 20 year old Mark Thompson felt after crashing Mitsubishi’s second-string Group 

N rally car at the pre-Saxon Safari test day. 

“Bob Riley was actually quite good about the whole affair, urging me to put it behind 

me and concentrate on getting my own car ready for the rally,” Thompson told ARN. 

Still, it’s not everyone who can walk away from a 5th gear, 5,000 rpm crash that almost 

totally destroys a rally car. “Iain Stewart told 

me it was the biggest crash he’d ever had,” a 

bemused Thompson added. 

BOURNE NEARS 6TH TITLE 

Possum Bourne has all but clinched his sixth 

successive Australian Rally Championship 

crown after a hard-fought win in the Saxon 

Safari Tasmania, the fourth round of the 

national titles. 

Together with co-driver Craig Vincent, Bourne 

outlasted a determined drive from the Toyota 

of Neal Bates and Coral Taylor to take victory in 

both heats. 

Team-mates Cody Crocker and Greg Foletta, 

meanwhile, made the most of clutch problems 

to the Ed Ordynski/Iain Stewart Mitsubishi 

Lancer to take a double Group N win. 

NEW LANCER WORLD RALLY CAR 

Mitsubishi Motors is embarking on a new 

and exciting chapter in its motorsports 

history by creating its first World Rally Car. 

Known as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 

WRC, it will make its first FIA World Rally 

Championship appearance on Italy’s Sanremo 

Rally. 

It is designed to be the most advanced, most 

sophisticated competition car that Mitsubishi 

has yet produced. 

ATKINSON EMERGES 

The Falken Tyres Rally Team announced just 

before the Saxon Safari that Chris Atkinson 

had joined Steven Shepheard in their two-car 

rally team for the final two rounds of the 2001 

Australian Rally Championship. 

Subaru’s Possum Bourne all but 

clinched his sixth ARC title. 

Neal Bates in Tasmania 

in his Corolla World Rally Car. 

NEXT 

ISSUE 

AVAILABLE OCT 13TH 

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

RallySport Magazine September 2016

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