RallySport Magazine September 2016

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: ROB HERRIDGE
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
40 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2016
“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.