RallySport Magazine March 2017

Issue #10 - March 2017

FREE EVERY MONTH

Queensland’s

SHOCK ARC EXIT MARKKO’S BACK

Molly Taylor column

BARINA AP4 UPDATE

rallysportmag.com.au

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 1

EDITORIAL

QLD pain is ACT gain

By PETER WHITTEN

I

t’s been a topsy-turvy few days for Australian rallying, with the cancellation of the Rally of Queensland, followed soon afterwards by the announcement that Canberra would host the APRC round at the end of May. The bitter disappointment in Queensland was somewhat matched by the excitement of those around the nation’s capital.

Credit must go to Adrian Dudok and the Brindabella Motor Sport Club for picking up the APRC round at such short notice, but on the flipside, the bombshell that was the cancellation of the Rally of Queensland could create ripples across rallying in the state for many years to come.

We may have seen the last round of the national championship in the Sunshine State for some time, which would be a crying shame and a real kick in the teeth to Queensland rallying.

For Canberra, though, it’s a real shot in the arm. The downside is that the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship continues to struggle for competitor numbers, despite receiving strong support from Skoda and MRF Tyres.

Both events face intriguing futures as to what happens, and where the sport heads next.

C

AMS cut this year’s ARC registration fee by 50%, but the first round of the championship in Victoria sees just 10 competitors registered for points.

In a field of 21 cars in the ARC field, this must continue to be a concern for the championship.

Nathan Quinn, Craig Brooks and Marcus Walkem – all seeded in the top five – are not registered for points, while Brendan Reeves will only contest the Victorian Championship component of the event in his Subaru.

The entry features neither Simon

Evans nor Mark Pedder – key players in last year’s championship.

A total of 55 cars have entered the ARC and VRC events

A

cross the ditch in New Zealand, the first round of the New Zealand Championship, the Otago Rally, has attracted a record field of over 100 cars.

The Dunedin-based event also includes the International Classic Rally and an Allcomers event, but much of the interest is in the NZRC field and the new AP4 cars.

Headlined by last year’s champion, David Holder, in the factory Hyundai i20, there will also be a pair of factorysupported Holden Barinas, Toyota Yaris’, Mazdas, Skodas and Suzukis.

It’s fair to say the New Zealand championship is healthier than it’s been for many a year, with excitement building by the day in the lead up to the first event in early April.

Sullens, Shimmon tie for New England Rally victory

T

he first round of the Gary’s Motorsport Tyres NSW State Rally Championship was held on Saturday, March 4, over 136 stage kilometres of fast shire roads at Glen Innes, on the Northern Tablelands.

Conducted by New England Sporting Car Club with the support of the Glen Innes Severn Shire Council and the Glen Innes Tourist Association, the event had 31 crews start.

With the rally using RallySafe this year for all crews, in possibly a first

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for a NSW gravel rally, each of the six stages had one or two virtual chicanes.

Crews were required to slow to 60 km/h in these areas, and after some initial problems, the intended aim of reduced average speeds was achieved.

Once again this year there were no crashes, only a couple of minor offs, with 27 crews finishing.

Unusually, there was a tie for first place, with Tony Sullens and Kaylie Newell (Subaru WRX) Richard Shimmon and Michelle Van De Wilk (Lancer Evo 7)

both completing the event on a time of 1h05m10s.

Third place was taken by Bryan Van Eck and Jim Gleeson in an Evo 6 on 1.05.43.

A special mention goes to the Escort crew of Bruce Garland and Stephen Green who came in 13th, in what was Bruce’s first special stage rally for about 30 years.

He finished with a huge grin, already planning his return next year.

- Richard Opie, Clerk of Course

l Report: Eureka Rally, ARC 1 l Report: Otago Rally, NZRC 1 l The history of the HANS device l Interview: Fleur Pedersen l Report: Rally Mexico, WRC 3 l Report: Tour de Corse, WRC 4 Interview: Hannu Mikkola l Retro: Toyota’s darkest hour

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AVAILABLE APRIL 20 2 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

CONTENTS - #10 MARCH 2017 FEATURES

EVENT REPORTS

22 THE INNOVATOR

WE CHAT TO RALLY AUSTRALIA FOUNDER GARRY CONNELLY

34 QUIRKY BUT QUICK

TOYOTA WINS AN ACTION-PACKED SNOW RALLY

41 LEADFOOT FESTIVAL

RENAULT’S ALPINE A110

FOLLOW US ON:

12 RALLY OF SWEDEN

38 HOLDEN BARINA AP4

A LOOK AT THE NEWEST AP4 CHALLENGER IN NZ

42 GLENN MACNEALL INTERVIEW A LOOK INTO THE CAREER OF CO-DRIVER GLENN MACNEAL

03 EDITORIAL 04 LATEST RALLY NEWS

NEWS FROM AROUND THE SPORT

ALISTER MCRAE TOOK THE HONOURS IN THE EX-POSSUM BOURNE IMPREZA WRC CAR

8 MOLLY TAYLOR COLUMN

62 PORT HILLS PEAKS

20 HAYDEN PADDON COLUMN

RALLYING IS ALREADY WELL UNDERWAY FOR 2017 IN NEW ZEALAND

THE 2017 AUSSIE CHAMPION WRITES EXCLUSIVELY FOR RSM

SWEDEN WAS MORE SUCCESSFUL FOR THE SUPER FAST KIWI

28 FAMOUS STAGES

LANGLEY PARK SET THE STANDARD FOR WRC SUPER STAGES

59 TRAVEL TIPS WITH ELFYN

THE DMACK DRIVER GIVES HIS BEST TRAVEL TIPS

50 FIVE MINUTES WITH ...

LONG-TIME QUEENSLAND ORGANISER ERROL BAILEY

60 CO-DRIVING GIRLS

QUEENSLAND HAS A LONG LIST OF LADY CO-DRIVERS OF NOTE

REGULARS

COVER PHOTOS: GEOFF RIDDER

✸

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The passion for rallying ....

MANAGING EDITOR

PETER WHITTEN

peter@rallysportmag.com.au

CONTRIBUTORS

Martin Holmes, Luke Whitten, Blair Bartels, Geoff Ridder, Jeff Whitten, Molly Taylor, Hayden Paddon, Bob Watson

SENIOR WRITER

TOM SMITH tom@rallysportmag.com.au

PUBLISHED BY:

ADVERTISING

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

Peter Whitten RallySport Magazine peter@rallysportmag.com.au www.rallysportmag.com.au

COPYRIGHT:

No material, artwork or photos may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publishers. RallySport Magazine takes care in compiling specifications, prices and details but cannot accept responsibility for any errors. The opinions expressed by columnists and contributors to this magazine are not necessarily those of RallySport Magazine.

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 3

RALLY QUEENSLAND CANCELLED

SHOCK EXIT

By PETER WHITTEN

A

ustralia’s round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) will now be held in Canberra after the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) cancelled May’s International Rally of Queensland.

The championship’s longest running event, Rally Queensland was scheduled to run on May 27 and 28 as a round of the ARC, APRC and the local Queensland Rally Championship.

The rally was organised by the Brisbane Sporting Car Club from 1968 until 2015, before being taken over

by CAMS in 2016, although with many of the rally’s long-term officials still involved.

“The event was simply not financially viable,” CAMS General Manager of Motor Sport Events, Michael Smith, told RallySport Magazine.

“Added to this there were some contractual obligations with stakeholders that simply could not be delivered upon.

“Thus the Board of Rallycorp took the difficult decision to cancel the event.”

Key personnel working on the Rally of Queensland were totally blind-sided by the cancellation, with meetings

“Key personnel working on the rally were totally blind-sided by the cancellation.”

Neal Bates in action in Queensland in 1996.

Photo: Stuart Bowes

between stakeholders being held right up until the day before the final decision was made.

“We appreciate the tremendous support from the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, Tourism Events Queensland and the army of volunteers that have worked so hard over the years,” Smith said.

The replacement APRC event will be held on the same weekend, May 22 and 28 (see story page 5).

Ed Ordynski contesting a super special stage in the 90s. Photo: Stuart Bowes 4 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

ARC LOSS A BIG BLOW FOR QLD RALLYING

By TOM SMITH

E Gaurav Gill during the 2014 Rally of Queensland.

Photo: Geoff Ridder

EXCITED TO BE BACK

N

ational Capital Rally director, Adrian Dudok, says that he is excited to be able to bring back an Asia-Pacific Rally Championship event to Canberra, but feels for the Rally of Queensland organisers who have had their event cancelled.

The recent decision to cancel the event in Queensland and award the APRC round to the Nat Cap Rally not only came as a shock, but was perceived by some as a ‘conspiracy’ long in the making.

However, Dudok told RallySport Magazine that this is definitely not the case.

“We (the Brindabella Motor Sport Club) knew nothing about the Queensland cancellation until last Thursday (March 2), when we were contacted by CAMS to see if we could host the event,” Dudok said.

“We held an extraordinary committee meeting that night, and the club decided to step up to the plate and help CAMS out.”

Dudok says the road book for October’s event is already done, and making the change to the date wasn’t as big a decision as it could have been.

“My road director and his assistant were going to be away for seven weeks before the event in October, so they made the decision to get the road book done early, which it was.

“This might sound like we were pre-informed and prepared, but we definitely weren’t.”

By PETER WHITTEN The Nat Cap Rally already had a government grant in place to run the 2017 rally, and sponsorship was already secured for the rally. The event hotel and Rally HQ is also able to accommodate the rally on the last weekend in May. “I’m excited about bringing the APRC event home to Canberra,” Dudok said.

“It’s a big step up for the rally, which is a little daunting, but we have plenty of expertise to draw on.

“I know how devastated the Queensland people must feel. It must be heartbreaking for them.”

The Nat Cap Rally’s biggest hurdle will be getting enough officials for the earlier date, although Dudok says they still have a really good lead in time until the rally is held – ironically on the same weekend the event was run in 2016.

While there was initially a thought to change the event name back to the ‘International Rally of Canberra’, the event will remain the National Capital Rally this year.

The Rally of Canberra name is owned by the ACT Government, although Dudok didn’t see a name change in the future as being out of the question.

The Brindabella Motor Sport Club now plan to run a round of the NSW Rally Championship on the October weekend formerly set aside for the ARC round.

rrol Bailey has been involved with the Rally of Queensland and the Queensland APRC event since its inception.

Errol has also been Clerk of Course for some of the most successful and popular ARC rounds in memory, all of which have been based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

“Obviously the whole team is disappointed by this late decision,” Errol told RallySport Magazine.

“We were of the understanding that the event was a goer, and on the morning of the announcement, Belinda Howard and I were actually meeting with the local Planning Committee at the Sunshine Coast, regarding details of the event.”

It is understood that CAMS officials have made a number of trips to Queensland and the Sunshine Coast since the new year to look at the region and discuss event logistics.

While it is understood the 2016 IROQ suffered a financial loss, cancelling the Queensland event has a ripple effect on local funding, event sponsorship and the economic benefits returned to the Sunshine Coast and the regional town of Imbil, which has now lost its biggest annual influx of visitors to the district.

2017 will be the first year that Queensland has not hosted an ARC since 1968 (except 1988 when police permit issues caused a late and controversial cancellation).

“To be honest,” added Bailey, “Queensland clubs and officials will need to regroup and decide whether the state can run another ARC ... last year’s event might be the last one we see for a while. Let’s hope it’s not the case.”

On Sunday, March 6, the organising team sent a message to all volunteers confirming news of the event’s cancellation, and thanking all for their long support.

The message made it clear that the decision was not a reflection on the professionalism of the organising team.

Further, the team is looking to organize a replacement QRC event around Imbil sometime in August.

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 5

NEWS@RALLYSPORTMAG.COM.AU

NZ news

H

HYUNDAI BACK

By BLAIR BARTELS

awkeswood family participation in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship is set to double with Andrew’s son, Jack, joining the newly reformed Category 2 for two-wheel drive cars up to two-litres in capacity.

Hawkeswood junior will compete in a Mazda 2 with a complete AP4 spec bodyshell, and Andrew explains that outside of the engine and drive train, the car will be identical to the new car he is preparing to debut at Rally Whangarei.

While Hawkeswood senior will campaign a new Skyactiv 1600cc turbo engine, Jack’s car will use a two-litre naturally aspirated engine from a Mazda CX5.

he open two-wheel drive field is really coming together for the NZRC, with the latest being confirming of an entry for Wellington’s Jeff Ward.

Ward will campaign a Hillman Hunter that was originally campaigned by none other than series sponsor, Brian Green, in the 1970s.

Since then, the car has been hugely modified by local rallying identity Steve Bond, and now feature a 4.4-litre Rover V8, as well as some rather wild looking fibreglass add-ons.

oining the NZRC for 2017, Rally Waitomo is set to be a huge challenge for the penultimate round, with organisers’ early indications suggesting the one-day route will cover 200km of special stages.

yundai New Zealand’s announcement sees David Holder assured to at least contest two rounds of the series, but the defending national champion is currently working hard to ensure he can contest further events and defend his title.

T

J

H

FOR MORE Hayden Paddon and Hyundai New Zealand have put together a full-on campaign for the 2017 New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC).

Competing under the Hyundai New Zealand Rally Team banner, the team will contest all six championship rounds with the Hyundai i20 AP4+ spec car launched so successfully in 6.

First into the driver’s seat is defending New Zealand rally champion David Holder, who’ll contest the NZRC’s two April events, the Otago Rally and the International Rally of Whangarei.

Taking the wheel for June’s Rally Canterbury and Rally Waikato in October is Job Quantock, the 22-yearold who won the inaugural Hyundai NZ Young Driver Scholarship in December last year.

Paddon takes over the i20 rally car for the other two NZRC events, Rally Coromandel in August and the two-day, Tauranga-based Rally New Zealand in November.

The team is run by Paddon Rallysport with Paddon himself as co-manager alongside his Wanakabased father Chris Paddon. They have already appointed very experienced engineer Mike Pittams, of Force Automotive, as the car chief of the Hyundai NZ Rally Team.

“I’m incredibly excited to see this project step up to the next level,” Paddon said.

“This rally programme is like a baby to me and gives me a lot of satisfaction that we are able to give opportunities to other drivers.

“We are running what is essentially a manufacturer dealer team in the New Zealand Rally Championship, which is fantastic.”

The goal is for the Hyundai New Zealand Rally Team to win the manufacturers’ championship title.

Paddon adds: “My main target is obviously the WRC programme, but to keep me sane it’s good to have projects outside the WRC; they give me a different perspective on things.

“This programme does just that, however having my father Chris managing things on the ground takes a lot of pressure off.”

The key expectation for both Holder and Quantock is for them to develop as drivers.

“We know we have a competitive package with the Hyundai AP4+ car.

“We have enlisted the help of some new, young engineers and technicians, which fits nicely with our goal of developing talent for rallysport in New Zealand.”

Find us at: www.chicane.co.nz 6 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Call us o

LIFE MEMBERSHIPS TO RALLYING STALWARTS

S

enior Rally Australia officials Colin Trinder and Alan Vaughan have been honoured for their long commitment to motorsport with Life Memberships of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.

Trinder (above right) has been a member of the Australian Rally Commission since 2001 and Chairman since 2007.

The citation accompanying his Life Member award said: “During Colin’s time as Chairman his measured approach to leadership has ensured exceptional outcomes and stability during tumultuous times.”

BRC win clearly in Arron’s sights

R

ising star, Arron Windus, will head back to the UK this year for a full seven-event assault on the British Junior Rally Championship.

After a shortened 2016 program driving for the Vauxhall Junior Rally Team, 20-year old Windus will start his season on the Border Counties Rally on March 17 and 18.

For 2017, Windus will be co-driven by young Irishman, Aaron Johnstone, who also contested last year’s British Junior Championship.

“Having seen first hand what it takes to win the championship last year, the plan is definitely to win the title this year,” Windus said.

He also has made major achievements as Sustainability and Environment Manager for Rally Australia, the Coffs Coast-based round of the FIA WRC. Alan Vaughan (below right) received his Life Membership from CAMS President Andrew Papadopoulos at the CAMS Gala.

Under his direction, Rally Australia in 2013 became the first motorsport event in the world to receive the FIA Institute Achievement of Excellence award for environmental sustainability and to achieve carbonneutral status.

6 ROUNDS FOR AMSAG SERIES

2016 Open Champions Ron and Jo Moore. (Photo: Dave King)

T

he 2017 Pipe King Southern Cross Rally Series has expanded to include six rounds.

The Pipe King Southern Cross Rally Series begins west of Sydney on March 18 at Oberon, before heading to the south east of the NSW Riverina at Rosewood in May, followed by a two-day event in the Bega Valley on the June long weekend.

Events on the Mid-North Coast at Bulahdelah and Johns River fill out the back end of the season, with a second event west of Sydney at Orange in August.

In line with the relaxed nature of the series, there is no registration fee, and all competitors are eligible to score points.

The regulations have, for the most part, remained unchanged for the past seven years, with the club resisting the introduction of most limitations, instead allowing the competitors freedom of choice when it comes to safety equipment and vehicle modifications.

AMSAG competitor information is available at www.amsag.com.au Competitors can enter online for the Oberon Rally via the event page, with the entry fee being set at $400.

HJC MOTORSPORTS

on: AU 1800 CHICANE or NZ 0800 CHICANE MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 7

COLUMN: MOLLY TAYLOR

F

irstly, thanks to RallySport Magazine for the invitation to write a piece for the magazine. The team here are passionate about our sport and do a lot to promote rallying, so I’m excited to be able to be a part of it.

It’s hard to believe that we are already two months into 2017 and time keeps flying by faster and faster as the momentum builds for the start of the 2017 Australian Rally Championship season.

I’ve just returned to Sydney after spending the past week down with the Les Walkden Rallying guys in Tasmania.

The boys have put in a huge amount of hours to get the new car up and running and it was very exciting for all of us to get it out on the gravel for the first time.

We’ve made quite a few changes to the car this year, so it was an important opportunity to test everything.

Now that we will be running under the ‘PRC’ regulations, one of the things we have done is fit a sequential gearbox, built by Pfitzner Performance Gearboxes. I felt a bit like a kid in a candy store!

We had a great package in our Group N WRX STI last year, so it’s exciting to be able to build on this with the new car and continue our development.

While in Tasmania, Subaru hosted a dinner to thank the whole team for their hard work last year and to celebrate winning the 2016 Australian Rally Championship.

I am extremely satisfied and proud of what we achieved as a team.

Rallying is hugely unpredictable and at the end of the day we focused on our job and put ourselves in the best position we were capable of. t’s exciting for our sport to have had such a close championship battle and as our sport continues to grow, I think we have many more to come.

It was pretty surreal to be able to race against Simon Evans – someone I grew up watching, but not ever imagining for a moment that I would be fighting him for a championship.

Competing against both Simon and Harry (Bates) taught me a lot. I learnt that championships are not won or lost in one moment.

They are built over a season and there are hundreds of moments throughout that season, which ultimately lead to the eventual result.

It’s something that we never lost sight of, and whilst it did hurt to hear some people’s negative opinions, I am so grateful for all the support I’ve had over the last 11 years to reach this point.

To the people who truly understand what has gone into my career and what it has taken as a team to achieve this – thank you!

Now we have a new season and a new challenge ahead of us, so it’s heads down and back to work .

- Molly

I

MOLLY TAYLOR I love how our sport creates another ‘family’, the family you work with and compete with, where the teamwork from every single person involved is what makes winning possible.

When you look back on 2016, it far exceeded any of our wildest expectations. I can honestly say that we put everything we had into it and did the best job we could have possibly done.

Championship or no championship,

Photos: Geoff Ridder, Peter Whitten

8 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

we don’t

imitations

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 9

WRC STATS WRAP

IMPRESSIVE RALLY TALLIES

Sebastien Loeb winning another stage - Rally New Zealand 2005.

T

here are 256 different drivers who have won a WRC stage, but only 102 drivers have won 10 or more WRC stages over their career.

The number of drivers to have won stages on consecutive rallies would be far fewer. Taking a look at the years 2002 to 2016 reveals just eight drivers who have stage wins on 12 or more consecutive rallies.

Richard Burns won stages on 12 consecutive events in 2002. Marcus Gronholm went better and won stages on 15 consecutive events in 2007, his final full season before retirement, including 17 stage wins at home in Finland.

Burns 12, Gronholm 15

A year later two other flying Finns began to build their own tally of rallies with stage wins. Could they challenge Gronholm’s rally tally?

For Mikko Hirvonen it began in New Zealand 2008, two events later JariMatti Latvala began his own streak with a stage win on Corsican tarmac.

Hirvonen would continue taking stage wins on 15 events up until Australia 2009.

By this time Latvala had achieved 13 and had both countrymen in his sights.

Just one rally later, Latvala’s streak came to an end in Catalunya.

Burns 12, Latvala 13, Hirvonen 14, Gronholm 15

You cannot have a WRC party without Petter Solberg being involved. In fact he had already been dancing across the stages a few years earlier.

The Norwegian claimed stage wins on the final three rounds of 2003 in Corsica, Catalunya and Wales as he wrapped up his only WRC drivers crown.

As defending champion, Solberg took 10 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Story: GARY BOYD @KiwiWRCfan on Twitter stage wins on the first 14 events of the 2004 season to achieve a total of 17.

Something that would stand as a record until the Sebs came along.

Burns 12, Latvala 13, Hirvonen 14, Gronholm 15, Solberg 17.

From Germany 2004 until Cyprus 2006, Sebastien Loeb amassed 35 consecutive events with stage wins, including Corsica 2005 where he won each and every stage. The streak only ended when a mountain biking accident meant Loeb did not start the final four events of 2006.

Burns 12, Latvala 13, Hirvonen 14, Gronholm 15, Solberg 17, Loeb 35

Having secured three drivers titles already, Loeb returned to action for the 2007 season opener in Monte Carlo.

He claimed six stage wins on his way to victory.

El Maestro would win stages on every event in 2007 and 2008. While he won stages on the first six events of 2009, a crash early in the Acropolis Rally of the Gods stopped Loeb’s incredible run.

Superhuman, yes. God, not quite.

Loeb had eclipsed his own mark and had posted 37 consecutive events with stage wins.

Burns 12, Latvala 13, Hirvonen 14, Gronholm 15, Solberg 17, Loeb 35, Loeb 37

There are many Ogier versus Loeb debates, so how does the younger Seb compare to his compatriot in this particular statistic?

From Rally Japan 2010 Seb Ogier claimed at least one stage win on every rally until the end of 2011 season, a tally of 17, equalling Solberg, but far

less than Loeb.

Burns 12, Latvala 13, Hirvonen 14, Gronholm 15, Solberg 17, Ogier 17, Loeb 35, Loeb 37

During 2012 Ogier then took his “sabbatical” year before joining VW. Driving a Skoda Fabia S2000, stage wins just were not in the reckoning.

From Portugal 2013 to Wales 2014 Latvala was back to post a tally of 23 events with stage wins, thereby setting a new best of the Flying Finns.

Burns 12, Hirvonen 14, Gronholm 15, Solberg 17, Ogier 17, Latvala 23, Loeb 35, Loeb 37

Sebastien Ogier took a historic SS1 stage win at Monte Carlo 2013. This would begin an incredible streak of 52 consecutive rallies where the lead VW Polo driver would take stage wins. That is every rally for four entire seasons.

This year began with three stage wins on Monte Carlo. Sweden 2017 was the first time since 2012 that Ogier’s name had not featured on the stage winners’ board. The streak was over at 53 events.

Burns 12, Latvala 13, Hirvonen 14, Gronholm 15, Solberg 17, Ogier 17, Loeb 35, Loeb 37, Ogier 53.

So that resolves it then, Ogier is greater than Loeb by this measure.

Well, it is not quite that simple. If we look at consecutive rallies started in a WRC car with stage wins, what do we find?

For Ogier it becomes 17 + 53 = 70.

For Loeb it becomes 35 + 37 = 72.

I will let you decide which is the more impressive tally.

The current longest streak as we head to Mexico 2017 is 13 rallies and is held by Thierry Neuville. How long can Hyundai’s Belgium star extend his tally?

Only time will tell.

ARC PREVIEW

EUREKA: ARC GOLDRUSH

By LUKE WHITTEN

M

arch 17-19 marks the first round of the 2017 CAMS Australian Rally Championship, and brand new for this year, the Eureka Rally marks the season opener.

Based in the Victorian goldfields city of Ballarat, the rally will be tough and well fought out.

Over 220km of brand new special stages means a level playing field for all, sure to throw up plenty of action and excitement.

An intriguing change for this season, too, is the introduction of a new tyre supplier, MRF. Teams will be madly testing these tyres to see how they perform, as they aim to get the best out of them during the opening round.

Headlining the ‘Eureka’ entry list is reigning champion, Molly Taylor. Armed with her brand-new PRC spec factory Subaru WRX STI, Taylor will be looking at maintaining her championship winning form from 2016.

A recent test session in Tasmania ironed out some early teething problems, and Taylor will be hoping for good pace from the outset.

Eli Evans is set to debut a brand AP4 machine - his weapon of choice being a Mini Cooper.

The three-time champion, a previous winner of Rally Victoria, can start the year off well with a victory in his home state, although a the Evans Motorsport team face a season of unknowns with a brand new, and unproven, car.

Harry Bates, initially looking at an AP4 car himself, will campaign the same S2000 Toyota Corolla that he took to third in the title last year.

The experience gained last season will put him in good stead for an even stronger championship fight this season, and the ‘neutral’ stages in Ballarat could play in to Bates’ hands.

West Australian Brad Markovic will come off a challenging 2016 season, better prepared for a title run.

Nathan Quinn has also entered his Lancer Evo IX, and while he’ll be a real threat for victory, he isn’t registered for ARC points.

Tony Sullens could be a real dark horse in his PRC Subaru Impreza, after several years steering a front-wheel drive Citroen.

Eli Evans new AP4 Mini Cooper will be on the start line in Ballarat.

LEADING ENTRIES DRIVER

CO-DRIVER

VEHICLE

Eli Evans

VIC

Glen Weston

QLD

Mini Cooper AP4

Molly Taylor

NSW

Bill Hayes

WA

Subaru WRX STI

Harry Bates

ACT

John McCarthy

QLD

Toyota Corolla S200

Brad Markovic

WA

Toni Feaver

WA

Subaru Impreza WRX

Tony Sullens

NSW

Kaylie Newell

NSW

Subaru WRX STI

Marcus Walkem TAS

Scott Walkem

VIC

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

Craig Brooks

TAS

Steve Glenney

TAS

Subaru WRX STI

Mal Keough

NSW

Pip Bennett

NSW

Audi Quattro S1 E2

Nathan Quinn

NSW

Dave Calder

NZ

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo

With a season under his belt, Harry Bates will be a real threat to claim the ARC title in 2017.

The former Targa Tasmania winner has plenty of experience under his belt, and could well be pushing hard for a top three finish.

Marcus Walkem is also a welcome addition in his Mitsubishi. Although not ARC registered, he is part of the 18 strong ARC field – only 10 of whom are registered for championship points in the first round.

The flame-throwing Group B Audi Quattro of Mal Keough will also be present – sure to wow the crowds once again.

Andrew Penny, Chris Higgs, John O’Dowd and Adam Kaplan all have registered for ARC points, and will be on the start line at in Ballarat.

As has the youngest of the Bates family, Lewis, who will make his ARC debut in the front-wheel drive Corolla that gave brother Harry his rallying start. The eyes of the rally world will be on Bates Jnr Jnr. Headlining the Victorian CLASS Championship section of the field AP4 is Brendan Reeves, who will be P5 co-driven by the experienced Ben Searcy, but won’t be eligible for S2000 points or the podium in the ARC P5 event.

P5P The rally will start with a ceremonial start at Bridge Mall P5P on Friday, March 17, in the heart P5 of Ballarat.

C3 CLICK HERE for more info on the 2017 Eureka Rally.

P5P MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 11

REPORT: RALLY SWEDEN - WRC 2

Toyota’s suprise win as Neuville crashes from the lead again!

By MARTIN HOLMES

O JA 12 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

OUT OF THE BLUE, ARI’S YARIS WINS MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 13

REPORT: RALLY SWEDEN - WRC 2

E

ighteen years after their last WRC victory, Toyota was again winning a World Championship Rally, and the winner was Jari-Matti Latvala, exactly nine years after his first WRC victory when he became the WRC’s youngest victor.

Now he is the championship’s most experienced driver, and during this time he has won this specialist event in three different makes of car.

The 2017 event started with a great battle between Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Latvala, but on the final stage of the Saturday, just like in Monte Carlo, Neuville went off the road when leading.

Ott Tanak overcame mechanical troubles and finished second, while his M-Sport teammate, Sebastien Ogier, suffered from road conditions and scored no fastest stage times for the first time in four years, and struggled to finish third.

Citroen drivers again had a disappointingly inconsistent performance, not helped by technical problems.

Pontus Tidemand dominated the WRC2 category through days two and three, winning 11 of the 17 stages.

After pre-event worries, the weather provided classic conditions and created

To the victors, the spoils.

a unique show.

As at Monte Carlo, Thierry Neuville was the pacemaker in the early stages, making full use of disadvantageous running conditions for rivals further in front. Suffering especially were Ogier, Latvala and Tanak, but Latvala and Tanak (despite more gearshifting problems) impressively defied form and gave chase.

The later running Citroen of Kris Meeke spent time in a snowbank and Disaster again for Thierry Neuville who was on track for victory.

he misjudged his tyre wear, but was still not far behind the leaders.

By virtue of a major attack on the penultimate stage of the first day, Friday evening saw Neuville nearly a half minute in front. A big surprise after three stages was the privately run 2017 Fiesta WRC of Mads Ostberg, lying fifth ahead of the three official M-Sport cars.

Later that afternoon, however, Ostberg suffered a frightening moment when the whole rear wing detached itself at a jump. Happily the car stayed on the road, but it is the first really worrying moment in the new aero rally car era. The car was withdrawn so safe repairs could be effected. n the Saturday the new rules changed the top driver running order, and it was less significant. On the penultimate Saturday stage, Latvala dropped back with badly wearing tyres, and was now 43 seconds behind.

But then on the short publicity stage Neuville broke his steering and suddenly Latvala was in the lead, 3.8 seconds ahead of Tanak, with Ogier close behind. It was suddenly ‘game on’, with three drivers within sight of victory, with three stages of the event left.

This was where nerves had to turn to steel. Latvala publicly said: “Even if I cannot win, second place would be

O

Find us at: www.chicane.co.nz 14 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Call us o

A second good points haul for Sebastien Ogier in Sweden.

WRC2 winner Pontus Tidemand.

Toyota’s Juho Hanninen.

Another fifth place for Citroen’s Craig Breen.

HJC MOTORSPORTS

on: AU 1800 CHICANE or NZ 0800 CHICANE MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 15

REPORT: RALLY SWEDEN - WRC 2 very good for me and the team”, a neat wind-up line, which revved up Tanak and Ogier beautifully!

Ogier spun on the first corner of the first stage on the Sunday and fell out of contention, and Tanak found the handling of his Fiesta a handful, saying “the car is always trying to spin”.

Meanwhile, Latvala walked away with the 17th victory of his career.

The first WRC win for Toyota since China 1999 was impressive. At Monte Carlo their second place came from consistency, and they scored no scratch times. In Sweden, Latvala was fastest even on the very first stage, scoring a total of six fastest times.

On Monte Carlo they did not lead the rally, but Latvala led at the start in Sweden, before his battle with Neuville began.

Like Toyota, Hyundai had reliability on their side, but needed more driver consistency as Hayden Paddon had power steering troubles and tried hard to understand how to get the best out of his central differential, and Sordo found consistency difficult.

Reliability continued to plague M-Sport. Tanak’s drive was remarkable considering the repeat of his gearshift and handling troubles, which cost him his final day fight for the lead.

Inexplicable and worrying was the detachment of Ostberg’s rear wing, and it was surprising that Ogier could not

fight his way through the running order handicap on this occasion.

This brings us to Citroen, a team in trouble. It was interesting to see that Craig Breen, on his first ever event in a 2017 car, was able to drive through a variety of technical troubles with the car, problems that also affected Meeke’s. For Meeke, the mantle of team leader was proving heavy to wear.

WRC 2

14 entries were registered for WRC2 points that included one car from Skoda Motorsport for Pontus Tidemand, while M-Sport had entries for both Eric Camilli and Teemu Suninen (pictured above), and Tommi Makinen Racing entered Fiesta R5s for Takamoto Katsuta and Hiroki Arai.

Days before the start of the rally, Henning Solberg cancelled his entry for a 2017 specification Fiesta WRC and gained permission to replace this

with a Fabia R5. The first full day of competition on the Friday soon turned into a battle between the Skodas of Tidemand and Veiby. Suninen was lying third at midday ahead of Eyvind Brynildsen and Camilli.

Solberg stopped with suspension damage after hitting a stone, Jaroslaw Koltun lost five minutes having to change a tyre, Alexey Lukyanuk lost four minutes stuck off the road, tantalisingly close to the end of the first stage of the day.

Camilli stalled and lost time trying to restart his engine, while Hiroki Arai and non championship driver Simone Tempestini punctured.

After the second run in the afternoon, Tidemand finished the day with a 45 second lead, ahead of Suninen, while Veiby had dropped to third after a spin.

Tidemand continued his domination and was in controlling mode. Nonchampionship scoring Henning Solberg was in action again, this time rolling, but lost only a couple of minutes, but had to continue with a cracked windscreen. Bynildsen lost five minutes with a puncture.

WRC3

There was only one entry in WRC3, but Louise Cook withdrew on the Saturday afternoon. Of the two entries in WRC Trophy, Lorenzo Bertelli had engine trouble, while Valeriy Gorban finished to gain maximum points.

65th Swedish Rally (2017 FIA WRC, round 2): 1. Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC 2h36m03.6s 3. Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja Ford Fiesta WRC 2h36m32.8s 2.Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 2h37m03.1s 4. Dani Sordo / Marc Marti Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 2h38m15.1s 5. Craig Breen / Scott Martin Citroen DS3 WRC 2h38m54.8s 6. Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC 2h41m30.2s 7. Hayden Paddon / John Kennard Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 2h41m34.8s 8. Stephane Lefebvre / Gabin Moreau Citroen DS3 WRC 2h43m18.3s 9. Pontus Tidemand / Johnas Andersson Skoda Fabia R5 2h45m14.7s 10. Teemu Suninen / Mikko Markkula Ford Fiesta R5 2h46m06.5s Leading retirements: Lorenzo Bertelli / Simone Scattolin Ford Fiesta RS Engine Rally leaders: Latvala stage 1, Neuville stages 2-3, Latvala 4, Neuville 5-14, Latvala 15-18.

Weather: Snow and ice, 0 to minus 15 degrees C. Winner’s average speed over stages: 115.39km/h (record).

Leading positions in World Championship for Rallies (WCR): M-Sport 73 points, Toyota Gazoo Racing 53, Hyundai Motorsport 40, Citroen Total Abu Dhabi 26.

Leading positions in World Championship for Drivers (WCD): Latvala 48 points, Ogier 44, Tanak 33, Sordo 25, Breen 20, Evans 18, Lefebvre 10, Neuville 8, Paddon 7, etc.

Leading positions in WRC2 (Best 6 of 7 scores count): Mikkelssen & Tidemand 25 points, Camilli 24, Kopecky & Suninen 18, etc.

16 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Team boss Tommi Makinen celebrates Toyota’s first win for 2017 with JariMatti Latvala and Miika Anttila.

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 17

REPORT: RALLY SWEDEN - WRC 2

Elfyn Evans blasts through a picture perfect Swedish landscape.

18 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

THE KEY MOMENT ...

This time something different. No need to talk about Neuville’s error on the final Saturday stage. Nothing new there. He had made a mistake on the final Saturday stage on Monte Carlo and also lost the lead on that occasion.

For me the key moment was the battle of wits on the Sunday morning.

This was classic stuff.

Any one of three drivers could expect to win, the strongest willed would succeed.

Ogier spun and threw away his chances. “A stupid mistake on the first corner; I cut it, caught some fresh snow and spun. I struggled a bit to restart the car. Afterwards I took it easy because I knew it was over. It’s a shame. I wanted to push this morning. It would have been difficult, but that’s life.”

Time to save his tyres for the final stage.

Tanak noted that Latvala had said publicly that second for him and Toyota would be acceptable, but as soon as he started off he found the handling was bad.

“The car wants to spin all the time.

We need to speak to the engineers,” he said.

Too late for the engineers now. Latvala had out psyched his rivals, admitting it was all down to the team boss, Tommi Makinen.

“He told me to forget all about set-ups and things like that, just concentrate and drive the car. This morning the car felt amazing. The feeling with me and Miikka (Anttila), we were both relaxed.”

All things together it was a most impressive win, exactly nine years after his first ever WRC victory – also in Sweden.

- MARTIN HOLMES

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 19

COLUMN: HAYDEN PADDON

W

ell that was one tough Rally Sweden – in more ways than one, but to come away with a finish and some points has a lot more significance than what some people may think.

Going into the rally I always knew it was going to be tough. However, our preparation and test went well and I was positive we could try and repeat our performance of last year (second) on a rally I enjoy.

But those hopes were dashed almost from shakedown, as straight away back in competition everything felt foreign and unnatural. We worked on a few things at shakedown to try and make it feel comfortable, but it became apparent that once the rally started on Friday morning we were a long way off.

At Friday midday service, my engineer and I sat down to discuss what was happening with the car. As I was lacking general confidence, I was not driving the car in the normal way.

With these cars, to extract the most of the technology and the set-ups, you have to drive the car to a certain level – otherwise it doesn’t work.

So, for Friday afternoon we reverted to a set-up that I would not normally drive – but was focused on making the car easier to drive. Straightaway two top three stage times brought back a lot of confidence and enjoyment, and it’s at that point that our rally really got

HAYDEN PADDON COLUMN

started.

Unfortunately, some other things did not quite go our way throughout the rest of the event, with a wrong tyre choice (taking five instead of six tyres) and power-steering failure for the whole Saturday morning loop.

From there on we used the rest of the event as a live test session, gathering

data and trying new things. Despite a good test before the event, there are a lot of new things to learn and develop with the new car – especially with the new centre differential.

I have always been a driver that gains a lot of confidence from a good diff balance, so this is now a key focus moving forward to get the car working better for my driving style.

By rally end – despite recent events things started feeling normal again and we were feeling relaxed. Of course, the nerves were high before the event, but I feel completing all the stages, setting a few top three times and generally being back in the competitive environment helped a lot moving forward.

It’s clear the new Hyundai is a fast car (as demonstrated by our team mate Thierry), and now we just need to get the car working more for my style. A lot of people are helping me behind the scenes, so I’m confident we will be back to the level that I expect of myself soon.

I will take this chance to sincerely thank everyone for the overwhelming support we received since Monte Carlo.

Throughout the rally everyone was understanding and helpful, and that helped to make the event easier for us.

I’ll have two weeks back home in NZ before Mexico, which we are really looking forward to. While it will be a busy time in NZ with many commitments, it will be a good reset

Seventh place for Hayden Paddon was a solid result after a tough start to the season.

20 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

after what can only be described as a bit of a disaster start to the season.

But onwards and upwards, and we are still upbeat.

Until Mexico, Hayden

“I’m confident that we’ll be back to the level that I expect of myself soon.”

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It was an unfortunate start to the 2017 season for Kiwis Hayden Paddon and John Kennard.

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 21

INTERVIEW: GARRY CONNELLY

THE INNOVATOR Queenslander Garry Connelly is the man who brought world championship rallying to Australia in the late 1980s, and started something very special.

As the chairman of the Rally Australia organising committee for the first 15 years of the event, Connelly oversaw (and instigated) many innovations that transformed the way WRC events are now run - from the Langley Park Super Special Stage to “Eye In The Sky” safety procedures.

By PETER WHITTEN

S

ince 2009, however, Connelly has been absent from the rally scene and now spends his ‘spare’ time sitting on a number of FIA committees and acting as one of four Stewards for the Formula 1 World Championship.

RallySport Magazine caught up with Connelly to get the low-down on what he’s been up to, and whether we’re ever likely to see him back involved in rallying, the sport that gave him his motorsport start.

We haven’t seen much of you in Australian rallying since Rally Australia in 2009 as you’ve spread your wings much further afield.

You now sit on many committees for the FIA how did these roles come about?

I have been involved in the FIA since 1989 after the first Rally Australia, when I was invited by the (then) President of the FIA Rally Commission to join that Commission. Later I also was appointed to the WRC Commission.

Then, in 2004, I became the Deputy Delegate for Australia to the FIA. With the sad passing of John Large in April 2006 I was elected by the FIA General Assembly to join the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which is essentially the sporting board for the FIA. Over the years since, I have been elected or appointed to other FIA bodies such as the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety and its replacement, the Global Institute for Motor Sport Safety.

I enjoy it immensely.

Are the people in F1 similar to work with, or are rallying and F1 a bit like chalk and cheese?

When you first go to an F1 event, it does seem like chalk and cheese compared to rallying. But at the top level, both sports are comprised of very professional, highly skilled drivers and engineers, led by very clever team principals and managers.

So really, now, I have to say that they are not that different – except obviously F1 budgets are much greater than WRC and the media and public focus is more intense.

But the people in F1, including the drivers, are just as friendly and courteous as they are in rallying.

Obviously at times there can be differences of opinion, and because the stakes are even higher sometimes in F1 than in rallying, things can get very tense, but at the end of the day, my view is that people in all disciplines of motor sport are good people who are passionate about their sport.

Underneath that sometimes “remote” public persona, they are genuine, well intentioned people.

“Being a voluntary role, it certainly is not a “nice little earner” and it costs one a considerable amount financially each year.”

Perhaps your biggest role at present is Chairman of Stewards for Formula 1. Does this involve going to every race in the F1 season?

No, there are four permanent chairmen and we rotate because to do 20 or 21 events, plus all the preparatory meetings, debriefs etc., and other roles at the FIA, as a volunteer, would really be a full time job.

22 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

How do you enjoy F1 after so many years involved in rallying and the WRC?

Many would say working for the FIA is a nice little earner where you get flown around the world for free.

Well - being a voluntary role, it certainly is not a “nice little earner” and it costs one a considerable amount financially each year to be involved, as there are some costs that you simply can’t claim back.

How do you fit it all in around your day-today job in financial services?

My voluntary work in motor sport occupies at least 50% of my life (including weekends).

?

WHERE

are they now

GARRY CONNELLY

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 23

INTERVIEW: GARRY CONNELLY Thanks to technology I still manage to do a lot of my “day job” remotely, and I have very good (and younger) business partners who have taken on a lot more of the responsibility for the day to day operation of our main company.

Your own rally career started as a codriver, most notably in Southern Cross Rallies in the factory Mitsubishi team.

What are your memories of those days, and those rallies?

Fantastic. I actually started as a driver in my own cars, then did a bit of co-driving which led to the invitation to join the Mitsubishi team.

It was an incredible experience, to co-drive for my heroes – people like Barry Ferguson, Joghinder Singh and Kenjiro Shinozuka.

It taught me a great deal about professionalism, and Barry Ferguson taught me so much about how to deal with people.

The ‘Cross was probably ahead of its time in the late 70s. Is that how you saw it?

Carlos Sainz in action at Langley Park in Perth in 2000.

24 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

In many ways yes, in that it had great appeal to both competitors (because of its length and great roads), and to spectators (because of the international involvement and the atmosphere).

But in other ways, it was not ahead of its time compared to other parts

“That was why, in my view, the ‘Cross was never able to make it into the WRC, whereas Rally New Zealand did.” of the world: it being a blind rally, the roads were frequently not really “closed” to the public (we had a number of occasions where we came across oncoming traffic on stages) and it wasn’t pace noted.

Don’t get me wrong, it was exciting, challenging and enjoyable to compete in, but it was run in the “traditional”

Australian rally style of the 60s and 70s (and I am not being critical of that) when at the same time, European rallying was going ahead in leaps and bounds with special stage rallying.

That was why, in my view, the ‘Cross was never able to make it into the WRC, whereas Rally New Zealand did.

Moving forward to 1988, you were the instigator in bringing the WRC to Australia and setting up Rally Australia.

How difficult was it to bring the WRC to a country that had never hosted a round before?

The answer to the previous question actually is also partly the answer to this one. We had to change the mindset of everyone in Australia who was going to be involved in the WRC bid.

We had to basically say “forget about the way we run rallies now – like it or not, if we are going to secure a WRC round for Australia, we are going to do it the FIA way, not the traditional Aussie way!”

Garry Connelly co-driving for Japan’s Kenjiro Shinozuka in a factory Mitsubishi Lancer in the 1976 Southern Cross Rally.

This caused a lot of dissent from officials and competitors, the best example being the change to A to A timing. I had so many people (some very senior in the sport, and in CAMS at the time as well) tell me: “You do it the traditional Aussie way and make the FIA understand that’s how it is”.

Well, you can imagine how that would have worked!

Did the FIA (or FISA, as it was back then) and the factory teams accept Australia from the outset?

“Being so far from Europe, we had to make it impossible for them to say ‘no’ to us being in the championship.”

Unquestionably yes! And the reason for that was we said “Look – tell us what you want out of a WRC round – what are all the things that you would want us to do, so that when we demonstrate them to you at our 1988 candidate event, you will be unable to say ‘no’ to us coming into the WRC the next year, and not having to do the customary two year candidature”.

Then we “reverse-engineered” everything the FISA (FIA) and the teams wanted and we delivered.

So, it was virtually impossible, even considering the politics (which were significant), for them not to put us in for 1989.

Rally Australia was always a trend-setter in the WRC, from clover-leaf routes, to super special stages and eye-in-the-sky safety methods. As a result you won many ‘Rally of the Year’ awards. Was it always a brief for the event to keep pushing the envelope and staying ahead of other rallies?

Yes! We were passionate about being at the top of the game, especially because, being so far from Europe, we had to make it impossible for them to say “no” to us being in the championship.

Perhaps the event’s most memorable feature was the Langley Park Super Special Stage. Whose idea was this, and how difficult was it to implement, from idea to reality?

In the beginning we said “We have to take rallying to the people, because it is not as popular here as in Europe”. So even for our candidate event we had stages close to Perth city.

Then our advertising agency (303 Advertising) came up with the idea of doing something right in the city – that resulted in the Northbridge stage around the restaurant district. But we realised that this was not sustainable.

I recall I was in Adelaide for the Grand Prix with Shane Crockett (our CEO) and one morning I drew up this diagram of the Langley Park Super Special on the kitchen table of Mal Hemmerling’s home (Mal was the AGP CEO at the time, and also on the

RA Board), showed it to Mal and Shane, who said “Okay, it’s crazy, but let’s do it!”.

Thanks to Shane’s amazing ability to talk governments and authorities into just about anything, and the logistical skills of Rob Van Leeuwen (our Ops Manager), it happened – sure with a lot of effort, but it worked and it worked within budget. ** See our Langley Park feature on page 28 of this issue.

As the key figure behind the event, was it a surprise when the WA Government withdrew their funding after 2006, which saw the end of Rally Australia in Perth?

Not at all. I could see it coming from around early 2000, when there was a change in the structure and management of Tourism WA and EventsCorp, and especially late 2001 when I took the decision to try to exit the event following its 2002 edition.

There was pressure from certain tourism operators, especially those who did not benefit from the rally, for the government to spend more money on direct advertising rather than events.

It was a shame really, because the support we had from the various Premiers, to the Ministers and the heads of Tourism and EventsCorp in the years prior was outstanding.

People like former Premiers Carmen Lawrence and Richard Court, and Ministers Graham Edwards and MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 25

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INTERVIEW: GARRY CONNELLY Norman Moore (from both sides of politics) were exceptional in their understanding of the benefits of the event to the state of WA, and their enthusiasm for it.

Australia then lost the WRC for three years, eventually seeing it relocate to northern NSW in 2009. Was it a hard slog to get the event back to Australia, given the pressures of other countries wanting rounds?

Very! It was touch and go and we really had to rely on our previous reputation, and a lot of favours called in, to achieve it.

The event is now well established in Coffs Harbour, but New Zealand are pushing hard to get a WRC round back. How do you see this playing out, and can we ever get back to where both countries are hosting a round?

we need a WRC event here to act as the “locomotive” for rallying in this country.

I must confess that I lost track of what was happening in the ARC for a few years there, but Molly Taylor’s success

Garry Connelly bio Current positions: Director of Australian Institute of Motor Sport Safety (AIMSS) Director of Australian Road Safety Foundation Member of the FIA World Motor Sport Council since 2006 Deputy President of the Global Institute for Motor Sport Safety FIA Environmental Delegate (Ambassador)

in 2016 really grabbed my attention.

I do think the ARC needs some “re-vitalisation”, and I am sure the Australian Rally Commission working with the competitors can achieve that.

Member of the FIA Land Speed Record Commission, Statutes Review Commission and International Sporting Code Review Commission Chairmen of Stewards for Formula One CAMS’ FIA Delegate Observer at all CAMS board meetings

Former positions: Chairman of Rally Australia Organising Committee, 1988 - 2002 Chairman of Rally Australia Organising Committee, 2008 - 2009

Sadly no. New Zealand’s event was always a good one and it was great when both countries could host a round.

Frankly, with the desire for rounds in India, China, Korea, Japan (again), Africa and the Middle East, I think that Rally Australia will need to pull out all stops, invest and innovate more, and ensure it keeps up its high level of organisation (which it demonstrated again in 2016) to remain in the championship.

There won’t be an appetite from the teams, the WRC Promoter or the FIA to increase the number of rounds, so simple maths will tell you that Australia needs to be careful if it wishes to retain its spot.

The chance of seeing an event in both Australia and New Zealand is zero – despite how much both countries may deserve it.

What’s next for Garry Connelly? Do you see yourself remaining in roles with the FIA, and could we see you back involved with the WRC, or even with Rally Australia?

Garry Connelly with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen (above) and Mitsubishi’s Andrew Cowan.

I would like to continue in my work at the FIA, but in relation to me being the FIA Delegate from Australia, it is up to CAMS to decide.

In relation to my role on the World Motor Sport Council, I will be up for re-election this December by the FIA General Assembly, so that will depend on whether all the federations around the world (the “ASNs”) want me, and the F1 role is at the discretion of the FIA President.

I don’t think a return to rallying in on the cards!

Finally, how do you think Australian rallying and the ARC are tracking at the moment?

Rally Australia is doing a great job and MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 27

FAMOUS STAGES: LANGLEY PARK

For 11 years, Rally Australia’s Langley Park Super Special Stage set the standard for which all future WRC stages would be judged on.

Many will argue that it’s never been bettered.

LANGLEY PARK

28 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Juha Kankkunen (Lancia Delta) and Carlo Sainz (Toyota Celica) face off at Langley Park at Rally Australia in 1992.

Story: JEFF WHITTEN Photos: MARTIN HOLMES MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 29

FAMOUS STAGES: LANGLEY PARK

F

rom 1992 to 2002 it was easily the most well-known Super Special Stage in the World Rally Championship.

Langley Park, at the foot of Perth’s central business district, provided unforgettable images of the Perth skyline to millions of rally fans right around the world, and set the bar so high for WRC spectator stages that many believe it is yet to be beaten.

Nowhere else in the WRC calendar had such an easily-recognisable venue, thanks to the foresight of the event’s organisers many years ago.

But five other venues were used as Rally Australia’s “showpiece” before Langley Park came about.

In the event’s first year, 1989, when it was sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank, Rally Australia commenced with stages at Richmond Raceway in East

Fremantle, just a few kilometres to the east of central Perth. The venue proved to be a great introduction to rallying for the huge crowd who attended, despite the wet weather.

Although it may not have been ideal, it did at least bring special stage rallying to Australians. The now-famous Langley Park stage was still just a pipe dream for the organisers.

Richmond Raceway, the city’s popular trotting track complex, was used again in 1990, but it was becoming obvious that there was insufficient room there for not only the huge crowds, but the increasingly-large contingent of service and support vehicles that followed the World Rally Championship.

A major step forward in bringing rallying to the people occurred in 1991 when the cosmopolitan suburb of Northbridge, to the city’s north, played Francois Delecour jumps his Ford Escort Cosworth with the Perth city skyline in the backgroun in 1993.

host to a Super Special Stage.

Northbridge, with its trendy cafes and bars, was an ideal location in which to showcase rallying’s excitement, appealing as it did to the young and impressionable people who frequented the area.

With the co-operation of the Perth City Council, the streets of the suburb were transformed into a life-sized slot car track where the world’s best cars, drivers and co-drivers were let loose on the stage. It proved a huge success, but there were immediately concerns about the possibility of cars careering into the barriers, and of spectators being injured.

As a consequence, popular though it was, the Northbridge Super Special was never repeated.

However, the idea of a Super Special at Langley Park still looked like the ultimate option. Here was an area within walking distance of the rally headquarters at the Sheraton Hotel, offering huge scope for a purpose-built super stage, room for scrutineering, servicing and a host of other support activities, such as rock concerts, car shows, sideshows and ancillary activities. ut best of all, it afforded some great images of the city skyline and business district, by day and by night, that could be beamed into millions of homes across the world. It was the perfect venue – loads of space for spectator parking, a controlled area that could be easily and quickly isolated from mainstream traffic, and all on the fringe of the CBD. For 11 months of the year, Langley Park was reserved as a passive recreation area, a haven where the public could escape from the hustle and bustle of the working week and enjoy peace and quiet on the lawns.

For that one other month though, Langley Park was transformed into a huge motorsport complex. Thousands of truckloads of sand was transported in and laid, rolled, compacted and watered into the shape of a two-at-atime, 2.2km. circuit.

A cross-over bridge was installed in the middle of the layout so that competing cars could change sides during the 2-lap sprint. Finally, the adjacent Riverside Drive was incorporated into the scheme of things to give drivers an end-of-stage blast down the bitumen to the finish line.

Add grandstands for spectators, corporate hospitality tents for patrons, a seriously-big lighting system and a booming public address system, and the whole complex took on a carnival atmosphere.

The drivers loved it, the spectators

B

30 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

“For one month a year, Langley Park was transformed into a huge motorsport complex.”

An artist’s impression of Langley Park (below), and how it looked from the roof of the Sheraton Hotel (above).

Prevot co-driving for Aussie Chris Atkinson in the 2008 Acropolis Rally.

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 31

FAMOUS STAGES: LANGLEY PARK

“Gloucester Park was fun and provided excitement, but it was no Langley Park.”

It’s 1993 and Ari Vatanen (Subaru Legacy) battles with Francois Delecour’s Escort at Langley Park.

32 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

went into overdrive and it was a resounding success.

Some remarkable battles were played out at Langley Park over the ensuing 10 years – wheel-to-wheel battles, roll-overs, crashes and exciting finishes, all adding to the excitement that pervaded the event.

And the post-event fireworks displays were legendary.

Minor track layout changes were made from time to time, the start/ finish location was altered and the use of Riverside Drive dropped in 2001, much to the disappointment of

spectators.

But, unknown at the time, 2002 was to be the last time that Langley Park would be used as the venue for Rally Australia’s famous Super Specials.

It was always known that the cost of building and removing the track and its infrastructure, plus the restoration of the area after the event concluded, was nowhere near cost-effective, despite its popularity.

Although the reasons given for a change of venue were because of the area’s unsuitability for post-winter events (the area is basically reclaimed

land that borders the Swan River), it is reasonable to suggest that the real reason behind the decision was one of cost.

Moving the stage to the Gloucester Park trotting track, where most of the infrastructure such as grandstands, toilets, parking facilities and the like are already in place, made greater commercial sense, with (presumably) huge savings in cost.

Gloucester Park was fun and provided the excitement of side-byside rallying in the heart of Perth, but it was never Langley Park.

With Francois Duval in the 2004 Rally of Germany.

Bruno Thiry and Stephane Prevot in the works Skoda on the 2001 Safari Rally.

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 33

FEATURE: RENAULT ALPINE A110

QUIRKY, BUT QUICK! Unbeknown to many, the tiny Renault Alpine A110 won the World Rally Championship in 1973, winning famous events like Monte Carlo, Sanremo and the Acropolis rallies.

A few months later, in 1974, an Alpine A110 came to Australia and contested the Don Capasco Rally (later to become the Castrol International), in the hands of 1970 Australian Rally Champion Bob Watson.

The quirky car was not only fast, it won the rally convincingly.

Bob Watson and Jeff Beaumont in action in the 1974 Don Capasco Rally around Canberra.

Bob Watson takes up the story ….

W

hen 1973 Australian Rally Champion, Peter Lang, announced the running of a true European-style special stage rally to be held in the forests around Canberra in 1974, every rally driver in Australia wanted to be there.

The event was sponsored by Don Capasco, a brake lining manufacturer, although it sounded more like a Spanish toreador.

I had a deal to drive for Nissan in 1974 with Jeff Beaumont navigating, and we had already run two events for them. I spoke to Nissan team manager, Bruce Wilkinson, about running a car in the Don Capasco, but the response was negative, even though Mitsubishi, Holden and others were fielding strong teams.

Then journalist and Renault publicist, Michael Browning, contacted me to say that Renault Australia was bringing a factory Alpine A110 rally car to Australia for a tour of displays in dealerships and motor shows. Alpine had won the World Rally Championship in 1973.

This was a fortuitous coincidence.

Michael convinced Renault that running the Alpine in the Don Capasco would be a great opportunity to capitalise on the car’s presence in Australia.

Although Renault had withdrawn from rally competition in 1973, the team’s main mechanics, Enzo Dozzi and Bruce Shepherd, were still available, so Renault agreed. There were no spares for the Alpine, not even wheels and tyres, so we had to scratch around finding bits and pieces, mainly from our 34 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Rallycross program.

The history of Alpine 3698 HK76 was unknown, although the presence of Moroccan coins under the seats gave a clue to its past. It was loaded on to a trailer two nights before the start of the event, along with a few spare wheels and tyres, and towed to Canberra.

Jean-Pierre Nicolas driving a works Alpine A110 on the Monte Carlo Rally. (Photo: Holmes)

Near Yass the tow car and trailer hit a big bump and several of the hardwon spare wheels and tyres launched themselves into the night countryside.

Some farmer probably still has them in his shed.

Fifty kilometres outside Canberra we unloaded the Alpine from the trailer so

that I could drive it a little way before the rally.

When the engine was started it ran on three cylinders, and it had the performance of a tired VW. I began to question the wisdom of the entire exercise. I drove the car in to Canberra, and we had a few hours sleep before the car was due to be scrutineered.

Fortunately the engine problem was a dislodged spark plug lead and after scrutiny and hastily fitting some driving lights, the cars were lined up for the start.

Jeff Beaumont and I found the car terribly cramped, and the pedals were very difficult to operate. They were impossible to see and the low seating position meant that my feet were actually higher than my bum, so it all felt very strange.

Being left hand drive, the gearshift was also a problem – instead of knowing instinctively which gear I was in, it took a lot of concentration to select gears.

The inlet for the twin double choke Weber carburettors was inside the cabin to prevent dust entry, so on hard acceleration it felt as though your ears were being sucked inside out, and the noise was incredible.

It was a very warm weekend, and with our full driving suits and MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 35

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FEATURE: RENAULT ALPINE A110 TECH SPEC Body: Unitary all glassfibre, central

steel tube with subframes front and rear.

helmets, the heat inside the tiny cockpit was almost unbearable.

Those were the bad things. The good things more than outweighed them.

The car was absurdly easy to drive, just like a go kart. The steering was very direct and responsive and on gravel the car felt so precise it was like no other rally car I have driven, before or since.

In spite of the pronounced rear weight bias, oversteer was only present when provoked, either by flicking the

Motor: 4-cylinder in line, pushrod-

Suspension: Wishbones in front, swing

Gearbox: 5-speed.

Brakes: Discs. Weight: 680kg

operated valves, rear-mounted 1596cc. 155bhp at 7,000rpm.

car or using lots of power.

The engine was superb - crisp and flexible and with lots of medium range torque. The rev limit was 7000rpm, but the car was so quick I realised early in the event it was not necessary to stretch it that far.

The traction, even on the skinny 165 x 15 Michelins fitted by the Alpine factory, was exceptional, better than our 1970 championship-winning R8 Gordini.

It was obvious that barring incidents,

axle with diagonal radius rods in rear, plus double dampers

the car was easily fast enough to win over the XU1 Torana of Colin Bond and the Datsun 260Z of Stewart McLeod.

The Don Capasco was a long, hard rally, with many of the competitive stages being run three times over the weekend. I think we did the Mineshaft four times.

There were some minor dramas, including a failed starter motor that forced Jeff and I to both get out and push when I nosed off the road and stalled the engine on a stage, and a flat rear tyre on the very last competitive section.

We arrived at the final control with the rear tyre flapping about, to the delight of the assembled TV crews. We won the rally by over nine minutes.

Jeff Beaumont had his own problems, which became my problems too. The event was the first in Australia run to kilometre distances instead of miles, and the usual “point two, turn left at T” became very exciting with the speed of the car and the braking distance reduced by a factor of 0.62.

We went very close to “straight on at T” a few times before we realised the problem!

Considering the late start, limited service and lack of spares, the win was unexpected and all the more satisfying for it. Great car, great event.

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 37

FEATURE: HOLDEN BARINA AP4+

PROJECT BARINA W

ith a massive resurgence of interest in New Zealand around the AP4 category and a seemingly unending willingness to invest in the new class, it is not surprising that a local manufacturer’s representative has joined the fray for 2017.

The combination of Holden New Zealand and Kiwi former V8 Supercar driver, Greg Murphy, was a logical one to take on the NZ Rally Championship under the new rules.

With the new two-car team looking capable of challenging in what is a very competitive class, Murph and local rally driver, Josh Marston, promise to put Holden up in lights during the 2017 NZRC. RallySport Magazine spoke to Josh Marston in Christchurch to get the low down on the new team and the brilliantly-prepared new cars.

Josh explained that there were a number of interested minds looking at the new AP4 class at the same time, and this project progressed from there.

“Murph has a great relationship with Holden and they are excited about the AP4 class and how the Barina fits into that,” Marston said.

While the small to medium car market in New Zealand is very competitive, the Barina was the only

38 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Story: TOM SMITH Photos: GEOFF RIDDER option considered.

“The AP4 platform requires a car of a certain size and the Astra is too large, and the Spark is too small. The engine is actually from the VXR Astra.”

Josh expanded on the technical specification: “The engine is 2.0L Ecotec de-stroked to 1.8 litres, with direct injection and a Garrett turbo.”

To date the team has only run the standard engine, which makes around 300bhp in factory trim. This was the setup used at the Leadfoot Festival in February, and Murphy recorded a very good sixth overall. The team was obviously impressed with the performance straight out of the box.

“The Barinas run the Sadev 6-speed gearbox and Sadev rear diff with Supashock dampers, and the R5 Brembo brake package, including calipers and discs.”

While this is a new car built to a nowproven formula, and with some Holden money behind them, unfortunately the team is not big enough to have invested in a test mule.

“I wish!” said Josh.

“Unfortunately with time and budget that wasn’t an option. As it is we will be right down to the wire to get the second car ready for Otago.

“We are lucky that we can get the set-up work done with the first car and then transfer those settings to the second car. Having the cars run in the same spec will save time and money.”

The Barinas will be running in the AP4+ category with the 1800cc engine, so competition weight will be 1300kg.

Josh confirms that set-up will be the biggest development area to get these cars right.

“Most of the cars are relatively similar in spec due to the rules and items like the geometry being controlled, so getting a happy driver is going to be key.”

With a development cost in excess of NZ$200,000, these are certainly not the cheapest cars in the field, but with rumours abounding about the money being spent on both sides of the

Greg Murphy debuted the Barina AP4+ at the Leadfood Festival.

Tasman, this is a genuine ground-up build, and the Barinas will need to be on the pace from the first round. long with Holden, RDL Performance, which is part of the Marston family business Rubber Developments Limited, has put a massive amount of work in to produce some truly amazing cars.

With more cars being built through the North and South Islands, at the start of the season there are likely to be around eight AP4 cars on the scene, and by the end of the year the numbers will be approaching 12.

With two Holden team Barinas,

A

two Toyotas, three Mazdas, a Suzuki, a Skoda, a Mitsubishi, a Ford Fiesta and a Volkswagen Polo already being completed, plus rumours of other manufacturers like Kia and Audi joining the fold, the AP4 class has reinvigorated the New Zealand Rally Championship.

Josh admits that it’s a very exciting time to be involved in rallying.

“I think it goes to show that Motor Sport NZ has got the formula right with this new class of car. We’ve received some really positive feedback from all over the world after we had our launch, which is very humbling,” he added.

Forty-four year-old Murphy will not

be on the starting line at the Rally of Otago, due to a conflict in his TV commitments for the Supercar series, however, for the remainder of the year, the racer will carry his trademark racing number #51, and will be co-driven by Mark Leonard.

2017 New Zealand Rally Championship April 8 April 29 June 4 August 26 October 14 November 25

Rally Otago Rally of Whangarei Rally Canterbury Rally of Coromandel Rally Waikato Rally New Zealand

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 39

BOOK REVIEW

NEW BOOK A CLASSIC READ

T

here are few books on sale at the moment that are as visually attractive as the recently released commemorative storybook entitled “2016 Classic Outback Trial”.

This new book, as its name implies, is a collection of breathtaking images from a unique event that was conducted in central Australia in 2016, and will be repeated incidentally, again in 2018.

The hard-covered book features 200 pages and 350 images that not only tell the story of the event in words and pictures, but describe the event with daily wrap-ups of the competitors’ performances, maps of the route and comprehensive day-by-day results.

By far the book’s biggest attraction, though, is the range of wonderful images of the Alice Springs area and Central Australia and all its grandeur, recorded by some of the best photographers in the business including Ian Smith, Craig O’Brien, Chris Brown and others.

Every vehicle in the event is shown in full colour at least once, plus there are several hundred more pictured in action against a background of the Outback’s extreme beauty and in all conditions.

Alan Baker’s daily narrative tells a

story of success, heartbreak and a fight against the odds and Australia’s inhospitable terrain.

This is the sort of book that would make a wonderful gift for any of the crews, their service teams, officials and others, not to mention any motorsport fan that is looking for a quality publication.

It is beautifully presented, printed in a coffee table style that just begs to be opened more than once. Readers

will be in awe of the carefully-chosen images.

Thoroughly recommended.

Copies are available at $77 each plus postage, and the Classic Outback Trial organisers can quote you on freight for additional copies, or you can pick up a copy or two from Classic Outback Trial Pty Ltd, 1/533Whitehorse Road, Surrey Hills, Vic 3127.

Download the order form HERE.

TAILOR-MADE PACKAGES TO 40 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

T

opping the most competitive 10-driver line-up for the King of Millen’s Mountain title in the Leadfoot Festival’s history, was the supremely talented Alister McRae in his Vantage Motorsport Subaru WRX STi. Rocketing up the 1.6km (mile-long) driveway in 49.43 secs, the Scottish rally star beat Rotorua’s Sloan Cox in his 2004 Hill Climb Special Evo 8, who clocked 50.83secs.

McRae was consistently fast all weekend at the Coromandel Peninsula event held on Rod and Shelly Millen’s ocean-front ranch and was the only driver to go under 50secs, in the meticulously-prepared Subaru. It was running a whopping 850hp (633kW) engine and full tarmac specification, with bigger brakes, rims and tyres.

It was the first time the winner’s trophy has gone to anybody other than a Millen family member and McRae says he “managed to get a great run at the end there.” When asked if it was the perfect run, however, he laughed and says “no because Rod’s gone quicker than that.”

MCRAE TAKES TITLE

Alister and Jimmy McRae

the Top Ten Shootout this year – due to his thunderous Toyota Celica being out of action – his 1975 Mazda RX3 won the 1960 to 1975 category.

The visiting star drivers had nothing but high praise for the Leadfoot Festival. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Junior, of the United States, was thoroughly enjoying his debut not only at the event but also his first visit to New Zealand.

Top Ten Shootout times

Sloan Cox His solution – “I’m coming back next year!”

Cox also vowed to return and expressed his desire to continue his pattern of going one place better each year, referencing his third placing at the 2016 Leadfoot Festival.

Dean McCarroll, of Mount Maunganui, was third in his sports prototype 2008 Juno SSE in his second time attending the Leadfoot Festival, with a time of 51.60secs. He described the driveway as “probably the most technical, demanding and fear-inspiring driveway I’ve ever driven up.”

In a testament to the event’s popularity, the spectator numbers doubled from last year’s 14,000 fans.

While Leadfoot Festival founder and ranch owner Rod Millen did not make

O SUIT YOU

1. Alister McRae – 1998 Vantage Motorsport Subaru WRX Impreza – 49.43secs 2. Sloan Cox – 2004 Hill Climb Special Evo 8 – 50.83secs 3. Dean McCarroll – 2008 Juno SSE – 51.60secs 4. Ian Ffitch – 2002 BRM 1000 Super Quad – 51.72secs 5. Andrew Hawkeswood – 2016 Mazda 2 AP4 – 52.22secs 6. Greg Murphy – 2016 AP4 Holden

Barina – 52.25secs

1960 – 1975 Category

1. Rod Millen - 1975 Mazda RX3 52.75secs

Pre 1960 Category

1. Robert McNair – 1931 Riley Nine Special – 63.33secs

Best in Show 1.

Al Unser Junior – 1915 Stutz PHOTOS: Geoff Ridder

Joe McAndrew

To advertise in RallySport Magazine call Dominic on 0499 981 188 or email dominic@rallysportmag.com.au MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 41

INTERVIEW: GLENN MACNEALL

FREQUENT FLY Perth’s Glenn Macneall is one of Australia’s most experienced and decorated co-drivers.

By PETER WHITTEN

A

fter stints in the WRC with Toshi Arai and Chris Atkinson in the Subaru factory squad, Macneall still travels the world calling pacenotes.

When he’s not reading notes for Gaurav Gill in the APRC, he’s in Europe calling the corners for promising Japanese driver Hiroki Arai, or sitting beside Brad Markovic in the ARC. RallySport Magazine caught up with Macneall after Rally Sweden to take a look back over his astonishing codriving career.

You have a career going back to the early 1990s with drivers such as Leigh Hynes and Greg Carr. Was co-driving always your first choice, and did you ever consider driving?

Co-driving was always my first choice.

I’m not sure exactly why but I suppose it was my way to get involved from an early age. Dad was also a co-driver, so perhaps that influenced my thoughts.

I never considered driving other than in something like karts, probably because I have had the opportunity to work with so many talented drivers.

You quickly gained a reputation as one of the best in your trade and were picked up by drivers such as Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima and Kiwi Greg Graham. Did you specifically chase international rides, or is that just the way things worked out?

I was fortunate in my early career to have the help and advice of some great

Glenn with Chris Atkinson in their Subaru WRC days.

people. Right from the start my dream was to become a professional co-driver, although I’m not sure my parents were so impressed with my career choice.

To keep them happy I did do a university degree, although that was more about having more time to go rallying.

As mates, Leigh Hynes and I ventured off to the UK in 1995 to do some events in the British Championship to see what was possible.

A few months after we arrived, the owner of the workshop where we were based in Wales received a phone call from a team based in Taiwan, looking for a driver to do the Asia Pacific

Glenn Macneall DOB: August 4, 1972 WRC starts: 95 Best result: 3rd, Rally Japan 2005 APRC starts: 67 APRC wins: 12 First APRC win: Queensland 2010 Asia-Pacific Rally Champion 2013, 2016 42 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Championship. One conversation led to another and we got the ride, so it was certainly a case of right place, right time.

Whilst driving a SanYong (Taiwanese built Honda) may not have been the professional career move we were dreaming of, it was a paid gig and one that really kick started my career.

I met a lot of good people whilst doing the APRC program that first year, people like Wayne and Erica Bell who were running the Hyundai program, and Yoshio Fujimoto, who was the boss of Tein Suspension and driving a factory supported Toyota.

The following year Wayne and Erica gave me the opportunity to co-drive for my childhood idol, Greg Carr, and Yoshio took me under his wing and would help me to get rides in future years.

After a year spent in the various ditches of the Asia Pacific, Leigh decided to temporarily hang up his helmet and became a mechanic with Possum’s team in NZ. When Subaru needed a new co-driver for Greg Graham, Leigh threw my name in the ring, and so started my relationship with Subaru.

YER

You’ve rallied in some interesting cars, including the early front-wheel drive Hyundais with Greg Carr, and even a Suzuki Baleno station wagon with Tajima.

What are your memories of some of the good and bad cars you’ve sat in?

Co-driving for Dean Herridge in the Australian Rally Championship.

“While it may not have been the career move we were dreaming of, it was a paid gig and really kick started my career.”

I’ve had the privilege to sit in some very good cars and, more importantly, work with some great people. People involved in the sport seem to have an incredible amount of passion and that is translated throughout the teams, and I don’t think I’ve ever sat in a ‘bad’ car.

The Subaru WRC car was great, however, in 2006 it seemed to have a mind of its own that neither the engineers nor the drivers could understand. One minute all was good, then suddenly it felt like a completely different car and it wanted to throw you off the road.

We even spent a week in Sardinia testing the car during the season to try and understand the issues, but we finished the week with about as many questions as we started.

The Skoda Super 2000 and R5 are two of the best cars I have sat in. The S2000 chassis is amazing and the R5 car is an impressive package, the engine is strong and the dynamics of the car just seem to work.

Your WRC career kicked off with Toshi Arai in a WRC Subaru in 2001, after which

followed factory stints with Dean Herridge and Subaru Australia, and then with Emma Gilmour in New Zealand. Did you have a direct link to Subaru, or were they just the rides that presented themselves at the time?

There wasn’t any direct link with Subaru. Certainly once you establish a relationship with a sponsor / manufacturer it is nice to be able to continue it.

My opportunity with Toshi came via his previous co-driver Roger Freeman.

We were team-mates in 1999 doing some Asia Pacific events with a pair of Group N Subarus sponsored by Subaru Japan.

In 2001 Toshi got the opportunity to compete as the fourth car in the World Rally Team and Roger was unable to commit to the program, so went into bat for me to get the opportunity with Toshi.

Even before this I did a year with Greg Graham in the 1999 Australian

Championship and a few events in NZ, supported by Subaru.

This was my introduction to Subaru and I think the first thing that struck me was how much passion both the brand and their fans had for the sport. No matter where you are in the world, the philosophy of the people involved in the brand and the enthusiasm their fans have for the cars and the sport is constant.

What are some of your memories with Subaru Australia, competing with Dean and being team-mate to Possum and Cody?

I feel quite privileged to have been involved in the team during that era.

Possum was undoubtedly the leader of the team and had surrounded himself with some equally passionate people, so it was hardly surprising that the team enjoyed so much success.

It was also a great time to be involved in the sport back at home. Subaru faced some very stiff competition from Mitsubishi, Toyota and a host of strong privateers that made for a very competitive championship.

To be part of such a successful and well organised team in a very competitive championship at home was something that I will always cherish as a career highlight.

Fighting to be in the top 10 was pretty memorable, and to be able to compete together with a good mate of mine in MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 43

INTERVIEW: GLENN MACNEALL opportunity that would see us in a WRC car for the WRC the following year.

You then spent two and a half years with Atko in the factory SWRT in the WRC. Was this a dream come true?

For sure competing in the WRC with a professional team again was pretty special. I had been there in 2001 so it was nice to come back to a place you know a little bit with some familiar faces around.

And to do it with one of the most talented drivers to ever come out of Australia made it even more special.

What was it like to sit beside a star driver in one of the fastest rally cars on the planet?

L-R: Craig Vincent, Possum Bourne, Greg Graham and Glenn Macneall.

Dean Herridge was unique. We had been friends from an early age when our parents were competing against each other.

Winning Group N at Rally NZ and then winning the Rally of Canberra with Dean were two great memories from this time.

The death of Possum was a massive shock.

How did that effect the team at the time?

Indeed it was an enormous shock.

He was the driving force behind the team and his passion for the team and the sport was massive.

At the time the whole team had to step up and collectively take on the responsibility of continuing the success that Possum had achieved.

Cody did a superb job in the Australian Championship to continue the winning streak, and Dean backed that with some great international results and playing a great role as a team-mate, which at times helped Cody to achieve championship success.

You first sat beside Chris Atkinson at Rally Australia in 2004, winning Group N and finishing fifth outright. Is this the event that kick-started your career even further, and how did the linking with Chris come about?

Not many people know, but I actually did an Asia Pacific event with Chris in China prior to Rally Australia. Although that didn’t end so well, with us rolling the car on the first stage.

Chris had spent the previous evening in a Chinese hospital, so perhaps wasn’t really in the best condition to be going rallying.

Chris had a great group of people around him helping to plan and map 44 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

out his career. They had a path in mind for him and they initially had a chat with me earlier that year, and as the year went on things got a little more serious.

At the time it was a tough decision to leave Dean (Herridge) with one round of the season to go.

Chris and his team had big things planned for the following season and they believed that a good result at Rally Australia was instrumental in helping to set that up, so in the end it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

What actually happened the following year was far in excess of what they had previously proposed. The result at Rally Australia that year really caught the eye of the Subaru World Rally Team, and we were offered an exceptional

Interesting! Chris is an immense talent, someone that is able to extract the most from a car and someone who is exceptionally committed.

The first few years certainly had its share of interesting moments - there was never a dull moment. Winning stages and standing on a WRC podium are some very good memories of our time competing together.

You took a podium finish in Japan with Chris in 2005. Was this the highlight of those years with SWRT?

It was a great result to be standing on the podium in Japan, but I think for me the highlight was Rally Australia in 2005 and 2006. We lead the rally both years early in the event. To lead your home WRC event was a great memory.

In 2005 we had a mechanical issue which cost us two and a half minutes and we finished fourth, less than two minutes behind, so whilst it wasn’t the ultimate result, we were quick and we fought back, missing the podium by just six seconds.

Glenn and Toshi Arai, Rally of Spain 2001.

“I had no doubt that Chris had the speed, just somehow he needed to tame the temperament.”

Atkinson and Macneall on the 2006 Monte Carlo Rally.

The first time we set fastest stage times in NZ 2005 was also special. In a strange way, finishing fourth at Monte Carlo was one of the most rewarding results, particularly as it came by winning the last stage to beat Mikko Hirvonen into fourth by 0.2 of a second

The partnership with Chris ended after five events in 2007. Why was this?

Those first few years in the WRC for Chris were filled with incredible speed and quite a few incidents.

After our Portugal accident I didn’t think I could help find a way forward at that time. I had no doubt that Chris had the speed, just somehow he needed to tame the temperament. It wasn’t an easy decision, I loved what I was doing, but when I didn’t believe I could contribute the way I wanted too, it was time to call time.

I actually felt quite privileged in 2012 (when Stephane couldn’t do some events with Chris) to be able to come back and compete with him again in a World Rally Car at the WRC. This was a great opportunity, and it felt like closing the chapter properly, rather than leaving the ending hanging mid-season in 2007.

Although it was only two events, I really enjoyed being back in the car together and I remember thinking that it just felt like old times.

Moving forward, you’ve won APRC titles with Gaurav Gill, who has been your main driver since 2010. How much has his driving developed over the past seven years - clearly he’s become one of the fastest drivers in the Asia-Pacific region in that time.

Gaurav is a class driver, one that is often underrated. His success against some quality team-mates speaks volumes of his speed.

I have seen him develop from 2007, when he was a young driver with very limited experience. Back then he knew how to drive fast, but at times that was achieved with very limited mechanical sympathy, something that gave the mechanics plenty of work.

Over time he has matured into a class act and he is continually looking to improve.

He has a great team around him with the Race Torque guys being amongst the best I have worked with.

You’ve also kept your ARC resume up to

date, sitting beside Brad Markovic and Mark Pedder. Do you still enjoy the ARC rounds, or do the overseas events offer more of a challenge for a co-driver?

Absolutely, I enjoy any rallies that I do! The day that I stop enjoying it will be the day that I hang up my helmet.

I love competing here and at home.

Brad is a great mate and we have a lot of fun when we compete together. He is a lot better driver than he gives himself credit for.

I think Mark is pretty similar to Brad, both great guys, both love their rallying and both very talented behind the steering wheel.

I think any rally, no matter what level, offers a challenge for the crew.

I did some club rallies with a young apprentice that worked for me in NZ when I was living there, and whilst at times he was ‘pretty loose’ shall we say, I get a real sense of satisfaction from helping to pass on some of the knowledge that I have been lucky enough to be able to gather over my years of competing.

This year you’re contesting a WRC program MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 45

INTERVIEW: GLENN MACNEALL

“His hand speed in the car is something that is really quite impressive.” with Japan’s Hiroki Arai. You’ve done seven events together now - do you see a big future for the son of Toshi?

Hiroki is a class driver who has an immense passion for the sport. He hasn’t got a lot of experience, but he is very talented and someone that learns very quickly.

His hand speed in the car is something that is really impressive.

The Toyota Challenge program that he is a part of offers the opportunity to gain the experience, so if he can put in the hard work, combined with doing the kilometres, I think he has a bright future.

With the right people and budget in place, he has a great opportunity to develop into a world class driver. So yes, I see a big future for him.

Japan doesn’t have a history of successful rally drivers. What’s the biggest challenge drivers from Japan face in the WRC?

To be honest I’m not really sure.

Hiroki’s father, Toshi, was quite successful as a Group N driver, but that success didn’t really carry over to the World Rally Car.

Having said that, he was very competitive in Cyprus, finishing fourth overall in a WRC car. The roads on that event are the most similar to those found in Japan.

Perhaps the style of rallies and roads in Japan limit the level of experience that drivers from Japan get at a young age.

You were seventh in the WRC2 class in Sweden after a puncture. Was it a good event for you both, other than that?

Sweden was all about gaining experience and we certainly did that!

Several top five stage times in WRC2 showed the potential and speed that Hiroki has.

Macneall has seen Gaurav Gill (above)develop as a driver in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

46 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Japan’s Hiroki Arai (below) is a rising star in the Tommi Makinen Racing team and is showing good speed, as seen in Sweden (above).

Fan favourite: Japan 2005.

A broken suspension arm on the second last stage of Saturday also provided a few interesting moments.

Given it was Hiroki’s fourth ever snow rally and first time using the wider WRC snow/ice tyre, the team were really impressed with his speed, which was similar to that of ex-Ford factory driver Eric Camilli.

As part of Tommi Makinen Racing, you would have been involved in the team’s celebrations after Jari-Matti’s victory.

What do you think this means for the team, and how much of a surprise do you think the

win was for Tommi Makinen Racing?

To be honest, whilst the team never expected to be winning events so early, I don’t think people in the team are surprised at the competitiveness of the car.

A significant amount of work has gone into developing the car. Many comments have been made about the team being based in Finland, but one of the major benefits of this is the availability of testing locations close to the team base.

Within the team there seems to be a good harmony. Some of the mechanics in the team I have known over the years

from other big teams, and they are really impressed with the way the car has been conceived and developed.

Finally, what’s left for Glenn Macneall to do in rallying?

To keep enjoying it. I get the biggest kick out of working with people to help them achieve whatever it is they are looking for in our sport.

I have had many great people help me over my career, so I would like to continue to pay that forward by helping the next generation as they come through.

- PETER WHITTEN MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 47

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Recently we travelled to Germany to attend the Eifel Rally Festival and spend some time at the Nurburgring. The Eifel Rally is a huge event based around Daun, in the Eifel Mountains of Germany.

Whilst modern rally cars do compete in the Eifel Rally, our focus is squarely on the classic Group B monsters that form the majority of the starting line up.

Present is an impressive number of genuine and replica Group B rally cars.

For Australians starved of such wonderful machinery, the ability to see and feel these legendary cars close at hand is a once in a lifetime dream. So here we are, and our tour group is enjoying the summer warmth in the old town centre of Daun.

In the central city plaza before our very eyes sits not one, but several genuine Audi Quattro Group B rally cars. We are in rally heaven. Next to these sit two Escort Mk 1 RS1600s. Further along the park we see a Renault 5 Turbo in Phillips livery.

But wait. Look over there!

A pair of Opel Kadett Coupes; Didier Auriol’s Martini Lancia Integrale; an East African Safari Lancia 037 originally driven by Mike Preston Jnr; the Eaton Yale Escort of Hannu Mikkola; a Rothmans Opel Ascona and Rothmans Porsche 911 as driven

by Roger Clark; a Fiat 131 Abarth; a Renault Alpine; several Metro 6R4s; a Cologne Capri 2600, and a works East Africa Safari Mercedes.

Our cameras click constantly.

It’s a rallying feast. Group B certainly was the high point in the rallying cycle, and this town, in fact this country, holds a reverence for the motor vehicle that makes Australia look very distant. Germans love their cars.

From here, the cars head out

48 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

to the first tarmac stages. Have you ever heard a 700bhp Group B short wheelbase works Audi Quattro Sport in anger before?

The sound they make as they rush through the nearby village at full noise, with flames firing from the exhaust and whistle from the turbo, play a melody that can’t be described.

Next we are off to nearby Adenau, the home of the Nordschleife – the Nurburgring.

The “Ring”, as it is called, is still used by car companies to test upcoming product.

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Our tour group has some special experiences ahead, with some hot laps to be taken in BMW M cars. Later we take the wheel of Porsche, BMW and Nissan GTRs and drive the 173 corners for ourselves. Smiles are the order of the day as our group has experiences that they had once only dreamt of.

The tour goes on to offer further highlights, like standing on the starting grid of a Blancpain Series GT3 race at the new Nurburgring, amongst millions of dollars worth of race machinery.

Later we view the GT3 race from our private hospitality suite located above pit lane.

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MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 49

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Y ERROL BAILE

Errol Bailey is a veteran of Australian rallying, and long-time Clerk of Course for the International Rally of Queensland.

Story: TOM SMITH

From memory, you’ve been an active Clerk of Course since the 4GY Queensland Rally Championship rallies that started in about 1987. How does it feel to still be doing this nearly 30 years down the track?

Actually my first event as Clerk of Course was the Armstrong Nissan QRC in 1984, so I’ve been involved for almost 33 years.

I’m still as passionate as ever – I love motorsport and the family that is involved in it.

From your perspective, what’s been the greatest change from the ‘organiser’s point of view?

Greater involvement with local stakeholders (police, forestry, local government) for permissions and compliance issues.

You have established a key group of supporters and officials over the years who kept coming back year after year. What’s the secret to such a successful team?

Mentoring them to become team players, and ensuring they enjoy being involved.

You have also established great working relationships with a lot of ARC competitors over the years at the highest level. Who’s your favourite and why?

It’s hard to go past the late and great Possum Bourne who, whilst being ultra competitive, never lost the common touch, and was always up for a chat with all and sundry.

The lovely Coral Taylor comes a very close second for the same reasons, but she is under pressure from Simon Evans.

What do you consider to have been a couple of your biggest successes with the Qld Photos: RedMAGAZINE Bull Content | RALLYSPORT 50 - MARCH Pool 2017

ARC over the years?

The super special stage around the streets of Caloundra in 2011 is an obvious standout, and the super special stage at the Nambour Showground with two cars on the track at the same time was awesome to watch.

Some nicknames stick…. you had one of the best when you were christened ‘The Barghwan’ thanks to the orange army during a couple of years of Coates Hire sponsorship in Qld. Do you recall that nickname with good humour? What nickname followed, if any?

Yes, The Barghwan: “leader of the orange people” was pretty special, and also marked Coates’ first ever sponsorship of a national rally.

Another nickname that has stuck is “B1”, which came from Jeremy Browne when I was his deputy for the early Classic Adelaide tarmac rallies. (FYI B2 is my brother Rod, and B3 is the current Rally of Queensland Clerk of Course, Brian Everitt).

With a pedigree over so many years at the highest level, and having seen the sport change in many ways (legal risks, social impacts, environmental requirements), what do you think we need to do to keep the sport alive for years to come?

Whilst there are cars and roads, there will always be rallies, however, the sport must promote itself as being socially and environmentally responsible, whilst also being attractive to sponsors.

Without increasing levels of sponsorship at all levels, the sport will find it difficult to grow as organisers and competitors face ever-increasing

costs of being involved.

Are you over it yet?

Hopefully the only thing that will stop me is the politics – we are all trying to make something happen for the benefit of all involved. Why do those with egos think they have a right to spoil it for the great majority who are enjoying “doing their thing” for the overall enjoyment of others?

Do you think you’ll keep going for some years to come?

My eldest grandson has just received his licence and is enjoying his freedom, albeit on red ‘Ps’. He recently competed in his first khanacross under the watchful eye of his father Matthew, his uncle Michael, and of course his grandfather.

Do you reckon I’ll keep going for some years to come? You betcha! (I’ve got nine more grandchildren to go!)

What would Errol Baily do in retirement?

Dave Wood and I have plans to terrorise rallies in hotted up mobility scooters – watch out for the old farts!

2017 OTAGO RALLY

MÄRTIN RETURNS FOR OTAGO RALLY Estonian, Markko Märtin, will return to contest the 2017 Stadium Cars International Otago Classic Rally in a Ford Escort RS1800.

Märtin, together with Belgian codriver Stéphane Prévot, won the 2016 event and head back to Dunedin to not only defend their title, but renew acquaintances with friends made last year.

Markko Martin and Stephane Prevot return to the Otago Rally for 2017.

Driving the black and gold Rossendale sponsored Escort, Märtin was the star of the 2016 event, eventually taking victory by over two and a half minutes.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Dunedin last year, and to have the opportunity to return to the rally again is fantastic,” Märtin said.

“I met a lot of great people last year, and having the chance to catch up with them again will be a lot of fun.

“Of course driving the Rossendale Escort again on the wonderful Otago roads will also be something to look forward to,” he said.

Markko won’t have it all his own way

this year, with four-time Australian Rally Champion, Simon Evans, also on the Classic Rally entry list.

Others, such as Marcus van Klink, Derek Ayson, Stewart Reid and Jeff David – all Otago Rally regulars – will also be in the hunt for victory.

The 2017 Otago Rally is also the

first round of the New Zealand Rally Championship.

Starting at Dunedin’s Octagon on Friday, April 7, the event features 14 special stages on Saturday and Sunday, with a competitive distance of nearly 285 kilometres.

A field of over 100 cars is expected.

Markko Märtin was the star of last year’s Otago Rally.

Photo: Peter Whitten

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 51

FROM CARRERA PANAMERICANA

FROM PANAMERICANA IT STA Story: MARTIN HOLMES

M

otor sport has a long tradition in Mexico. There were no fewer than 15 Grand Prix races held in the country, there were the legends of the racing brothers Rodriguez, the dusty endurance Baja 1000 off-road race, the 1970 London Mexico marathon and its 1995 re-run, the American single-seater championship races run at Monterrey and Mexico City - and even an FIA World Production Car rally champion in Benito Guerra.

Through all this history the Carrera Panamericana races were the most emotive. Run for five years from 1950-1954, these events were a crazy amalgam of glory and tragedy.

It was the occasion the great competition teams from Europe like Ferrari, Lancia, Mercedes, Gordini, Alfa Romeo and Porsche went racing head-to-head with the top teams from North America along the open roads in Mexico.

The event was conceived as a way for proving to the people of Mexico that, just like similar events had earlier done

Kristian Sohlberg pushing hard on the 2007 Rally Mexico in his Subaru Impreza. (Photos: Holmes) 52 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

in South America, arterial roads had now been built to allow people to travel from one end of the country to another.

Roads were a way to unite the people in the country - and were there to provide the chance to race!

Guy Lassauzet, a long time motor sport enthusiast, recalls how rallying first started in the country.

“My father Rene was a course official in the Panamericana in the ‘fifties. It was quite an international occasion.

Most of the competing cars were American, but the event also created considerable interest in Europe.

“My father became friends with Louis Chiron, the Monagasque Grand Prix driver who came each year to the race.

Chiron said it was first necessary to form a club before starting to organise a rally.

“The first rally in Mexico was called the Rally Morelos and held in October 1954. It was two days long and the drivers had to select a preferred regularity average speed suitable for the car they drove, even though they had no idea of the sort of roads they would have to take!

“Of course the only navigational

instrument in those days was the car’s standard distance recorder.”

The French had started to influence Mexican motorsport. Regularity sections were the foundation of national rallying until 1988.

One of a group of Frenchman who emigrated to Mexico was the rally driver Jean Trevoux, four times Monte Carlo winner in the days when regularity sections were the competition style of the event. He went to Mexico to watch the Panamericana, liked it and the life so much that he never went home!

The French were not alone. Swiss born Franco Soldati, who later became President of the Mexican federation FMAD after becoming the country’s top rally driver, explained: “Mexico was a poor country and import restrictions severely limited the opportunities to import cars. Some foreign drivers were able to import cars to Mexico just for the race, if they then drove them to their home countries, even as far away as Argentina, afterwards.

“In 1962 the commercial borders were completely closed to imported cars. Only cars made in Mexico

ARTED

Mark Higgins, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 2007 Rally Mexico.

were available to buy, which limited sportsmen to GMs, Fords, Chryslers, Nissans and Renaults.”

At that time, Ford were the greatest commercial supporters of rally sport, but only with large American based cars.

“These big front-engined, rear-drive American cars were spectacular to watch, but tyre wear was a well known automotive problem in Mexico. Back in the Panamericana days, many of the foreign competitors found the Mexican roads so abrasive that they ended up by using tyres made for trucks, and they could not withstand being driven fast!” few years after the first group of French racing enthusiasts in the ‘50s, the Suberville family arrived. They were about to play another major role in the evolution of Mexican rallying.

It was in the ‘seventies and the ‘eighties, when it became obvious that performance rallying was the only serious way to progress in the sport.

Soldati: “I had seen in Europe what performance rallying was like and knew we needed to go the same route. The Subervilles felt the same way and they undertook to run special stage rallies for the national championship.

“These became the standard style in Mexican rallies from 1993, and the brothers have worked all the time to upgrade the standard to such a point that Mexico was able to enter the world championship.”

Things finally seemed to be pulling together. Juan Suberville admits he first had the vision of a world championship

A

Franco Soldati

Patrick Suberville

rally in Mexico in 1999. By 2000 he had put on the first rally in the quest for a world qualifying event.

“Money was, of course, the first major hurdle. Our family put personal assets into the project, and things finally seem to be going in the right direction, but it hasn’t been easy.

“There are various specific factors we have to face. For example, to be a world championship rally it was better to be a gravel event. Here in Mexico drivers prefer asphalt events, because these are less damaging on the cars.

“It is also a pity that Mexican drivers are not competitive with those from other countries, but a lot is due to the availability here of cars currently suitable for rallying. This, however, seems to be changing for the better.”

“The next challenge has been achieving compatibility with international regulations,” continued Juan Suberville. “This has been a major hurdle in our work.

“Our first major international rally was the Rally America in 2000 when the total number of cars completely complying with FIA rules was one. We have come a long way in the right direction in the next three years.”

“In 2001 Ramon Ferreyros came from Peru and won in a Toyota Celica GT Four, the following year Peugeot (the factory team doubtless encouraged by the future world championship potential of the event) sent Harri Rovanpera with a World Rally Car. “For 2003 the organisers invited international Group N drivers, no fewer MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 53

FROM CARRERA PANAMERICANA than five of whom (Daniel Sola, Ramon Ferreyros, Janusz Kulig, Marcos Ligato and Patrick Richard) were active contenders in the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship.

“There was not only a good spread of talent, even more important, it was a very close run event. In the first six stages there were three different leaders. The rest of the story is well established.”

T

he spirit of Carrera Panamericana is never far away. Silao, a town close to Leon, was the scene of the most distressing moment in the Panamericana history, when the Lancia works driver, Felice Bonetto, crashed to his death.

Bonetto, even at 50 years old, was an accomplished Grand Prix driver and teammate to the great racing drivers of his day. He loved the Panamericana, even though it had been an unlucky event personally.

On the 1953 event he was driving a works Lancia D24 sports car and entered the town flat-out. The car launched itself into the air when it struck a “vado”, a traditional washaway, which crossed the road at right angles. The racing car cartwheeled through the air for 75 metres before crashing into a roadside building.

The driver was crushed in the impact between the car and the house and was fatally injured. Spectators then carried him nearby and laid his body on the steps of the town’s cathedral, where he passed away.

Snr Carlos Patlan (left) and Guy Lassauzet at the Memorial to Felice Bonetto in 2003.

S

ome days before the start of the 2003 event I drove to Silao to look for the place, without success. Two days later I went with Guy Lassauzet in the hope of being more successful.

Our plan was to drive into Silao and look for anyone over 70 years old. We soon spotted a gentleman talking to friends.

We later learned he was 82.

My colleague asked if he could help, and his face changed when he heard what we asked. Snr Carlos Patlan almost turned white.

No, he didn’t live in Silao in 1953, but had travelled from Guanajuato (35km away) to watch the one and only event of any excitement in the area. Yes, he remembered the crash.

He had in fact helped move the wrecked D24 out of sight so the later running drivers would not know what had happened. He took us to the place where plaques were mounted on the wall of the house.

He described exactly how the car had impacted the house and why the washaway was there, to conduct rainwater to nearby ponds in an effort to control foot and mouth cattle disease.

With tears in his eyes he recalled the scene as though it was yesterday, astonished that people 50 years later would ever want to know about it.

In following years the Rally Mexico organisers located a holding control in Silao just round the corner from that fateful location. It was like the spirit of the rally could not escape the memories of those formative days, even if it tried.

54 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

Where else but Mexico?

FEATURE: JOCHI KLEINT

By MARTIN HOLMES

THE ALMOST FORGOTTEN GERMAN

A

sk the fans who is the most famous German rally driver and immediately the name Walter Rohrl, who twice became World Champion, springs to mind.

After a pause, people will remember Armin Schwarz, and a little later, Achim Warmbold.

Look down the list of rally champions and you will find there have been a surprisingly high number of German rally champions. In the first 10 years of the European championship, there were eight Germans.

One name, however, keeps slipping away, only later to be suddenly and very fondly remembered. This is Jochi Kleint, who among his achievements was also a European champion.

Although his rally successes were largely at the wheel of cars from the rival German team, Opel, Klaus-Joachim Kleint is engrained in the Volkswagen archives as being the driver who scored the first success for the legendary little Golf GTi, and then for something really dramatic, the fearless driver of the twin engined Golf at Pikes Peak.

To honour his special position in the history of Volkwagen’s 50 years of motorsport in 2016, Jochi was one of the Guests of Honour at a company presentation last September in Berlin.

Jochi is a spritely 68 year old, still enjoying a most exciting working life behind the wheel, teaching customers the correct way to drive the R8 V10 Plus supercar at the Audi Driving Experience. upercar performance was a distant dream when Jochi and his older brother, Ernie, began work in their father’s garage in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld. An incredible story emerged.

“Our father raced motorcycles and

Jochi Kleint on his way to third place in the 1981 Monte Carlo Rally, and (above) with the twin-engined Pikes Peak Golf.

S

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 55

FEATURE: JOCHI KLEINT

Jochi Kleint on his way to a class win in a European Championship rally in 1977.

with Ernie we set up a rally team. In 1970 Ford invited us to run carburettor version 2.6 litre Capris, one for Ernie and one for me.

“They were hardly a competitive match for the cars like the new Escorts, but for the contemporary long distance rallies they were very reliable and good to drive, even though the bonnet was very long!

“A very special person then joined our team. This was Walter Rohrl. We signed him up for an annual fee of 250 Deutchmarks...!”

The Kleint team was Walter’s springboard to a professional career which started with Opel in 1973. Jochi’s life in Capris went on till the end of 1974. eanwhile, Jochi’s exploits with the Capri name also became internationally established when he finished 10th overall on the 1970 RAC Rally in Britain, but this time his talent was noted not only in Europe, but also in Japan.

This was bizarre. It seemed that Rauno Aaltonen, who had bravely been rallying the similarly long bonnet 240Zs, was talking with Datsun’s competition chief Takashi Wakabayshi about Jochi.

‘Waka’ then arranged for Oda Dencker-Andersson, the drivermanager of the Datsun team in South Africa, to approach Jochi about rallying Datsuns in her country.

Kleint’s evident expertise in secret route rallying helped start up the second chapter in his rally life, teaming up with the legendary Sarel van der Merwe as Datsun South Africa’s teammate for 1975 and 1976.

Then the Volkswagen chapter came along. This was the first time that the Volkswagen factory, whose 10 previous years in motorsport had centred on

M

56 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

another. We had a lot of good results.

In 1982 Walter joined Jochi in the team and they drove Rothmans Opel Ascona 400s. A German-driver dream team of old friends. Walter concentrated on WRC events and Jochi on German rallies. raditional style cars were under pressure from the new generation of four-wheel-drive, turbocharged rally cars. Jochi’s best WRC result was on the 1981 Monte Carlo Rally, on his second year with Opel Euro Handler team. He and Gunter Wanger finished in third place after a quiet event, on the occasion when the focus of the sporting world was now on the revolutionary times of Hannu Mikkola’s Audi Quattro.

The two-wheel drive mid-engine Renault 5 Turbo eventually won the event.

“Then in the 1982 Monte Carlo Rally I was locked in a battle with Walter. I was in front, then he would be in front,” Jochi recalls.

After the first leg the Asconas were lying 1-2, but then on the long second loop Jochi punctured and dropped down to fourth.

On the last night he went off the road and eventually finished seventh, while Walter won.

“For me the highlight memory was our good tyre decision at Burzet. I caught Walter and drove behind him for a long time, but he still continued driving fast. I knew I couldn’t overtake him!”

After two seasons commuting to events in South Africa it was back to VW for Jochi from 1985 to 1987, competing initially in selected WRC events with eight valve Golf GTIs, then later in 1987 and 1988 with 16 valve cars, upholding the interests of two-wheel-drive VWs

T

Jochi Kleint - the almost forgotten German rally driver.

Formula Vee racing round the world, officially went rallying.

The 1977 Sachswinter Maktredwitz Rally was a major debut for VW. Only months earlier the company launched the Golf GTI, the world’s original “Hot Hatch” production car, and rallying was chosen as a way to develop the image. Jochi’s car won its class and the legendary story had begun.

After two seasons with VW, Jochi moved on to the most successful part of his career at Opel, starting off in 1979 driving both Ascona B and Kadett GT/E, before embarking on a mixed programme of WRC, ERC and German championship events with the Ascona 400.

It began well, Jochi winning the 1979 European championship.

“It was quite a different life for me. There were so many rallies that we were living from one suitcase to

in selected ERC and German championship events.

And in 1985 there was something very special, perhaps the most exciting adventure of all, the special twin-engined Pikes Peak project Golfs.

Each engine provided the power for its own axle. Three times Jochi competed on the Colorado state hillclimb.

“The Pikes Peak car was something different, it was incredible, 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds. I finished third in 1985 and was awarded ‘Rookie of the Year’, in 1986 I was fourth, and on the final attempt in 1987 I was up against our old friend Rohrl, now in an Audi Quattro.

“Walter won the race and I stopped on about the last corner when a wheel fell off, so I had to complete the last few metres of my Race to the Clouds on foot!

“Our car was terrible to drive. If you suddenly had even 200 fewer revs going through the rear engine, you can imagine the driving style was not so funny anymore, especially at Pikes Peak with all those drops.

“At that time we had not so much

Jochi Kleint (standing, second from left) with other VW motorsport heroes in Berlin in 2016.

aerodynamics, we don’t have the big high spoiler and we had not done much testing before. Anyway, it was good fun and the Americans, well they were really, really absolutely happy, the crowd was there to see our funny little car with its two engines.

“And the car worked. We had been just a little bit faster than Walter at halfway.”

Nowadays, Jochi’s life is still full of horsepower, showing customers how to drive 500bhp supercars. Why give up old habits?

RACE AGAINST TIME

R

ichie Dalton’s Shamrock Motorsport team are in a race against time to have their new Ford Fiesta Proto ready for its first event in early April.

Dalton and co-driver John Allen are entered in the first round of the New Zealand Rally Championship, the Otago Rally, from April 7 to 9.

But wiring issues have seen delays in getting the car

finished.

“I hope we make it. We are under pressure with wiring, but fingers crossed. It will be tight,” Dalton told RallySport Magazine.

A further spanner was thrown in the works when a cleaner not associated with the team accidentally threw out the flyby-wire throttle body for the car.

Not only is the throttle body

valued at $840, there are none available in Australia for six weeks.

Luckily for Dalton, fellow Irishman, JJ Hatton, had one available, getting the Shamrock team out of trouble in the short term.

The new Fiesta Proto, built in Poland before being shipped to Australia, is looking magnificent, with spectators eager to see the car in action in the Otago Rally.

- PETER WHITTEN

NEW MAJOR SPONSOR FOR ALPINE RALLY

Toperformance Products have signed on as a sponsor for the Alpine Rally of East Gippsland, to be held on December 1-3 in Lakes Entrance, Victoria.

The Australian distributors for Koni shock absorbers, Toperformance-Koni have been a long-time supporter of the Historic Rally Association and the Alpine Rally.

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 57

HOW TO PROMOTE YOURSELF

Lift your profile Every sportsperson has a profile. Do you?

A good example is footballers.

Every one of them When you start off competing, you is promoted by don’t know where you are headed. themselves and The vast majority compete for fun, but their club. They what if you turn out to be really good at soon become rallying? household names.

Take Harry Bates for example. We Drivers and all know he is the son of multi ARC co-drivers champion Neal Bates, but it would have are notorious been foolish to presume he would be for keeping good at rallying just because his dad is. information about Harry has the “knowledge”, the secret themselves and sauce that means you can hustle a car their teams a down a stage faster than most. The rest secret. of us have varying degrees of talent, Our sport will rank better with news from pathetic to acceptable! outlets and the general media once Every sport needs these guys. We individuals that participate lift their own have them too. Harry, Brendan, Molly, profiles. and others. To succeed commercially Here are my top 5 tips to lift your rally you need to bring your profile and profile influence to the table for a team.

• Fill in entry media information It starts with social media. In the old and provide the event media days, press releases telling the world staff with professional images of about your team were essential. With yourself, navigator and car. social media, it’s a lot easier to get your • Have a Facebook page for your message out and read. team, driver and navigator. Post Rallying is no different. The question about yourself and your team is often asked: “Why is rallying not on every day. the news”? Every sport that is on the • Save some funds and present news has participants and they all have your team at events properly. a profile.

Team apparel builds your brand.

• Build interest in your team by tagging media outlets on your posts.

• Keep doing the four items above - always.

Rallying’s future success will rely more and more on your efforts as a team. Event media managers often scrabble for information, photos, background material and more. Event commentators need your background information so they can make informed comment about you and your team.

Hayden Paddon has over 310,000 followers on social media. Despite his obvious ability behind the wheel, Hayden has his own brand, and getting support with 300,000 Many of Rally Australia’s social media posts achieve reposts

By DALLAS DOGGER

around the world.

58 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

followers is a lot easier than with 10!

Not everyone, of course, is like Hayden. There was a time not so long ago when he was like every other new kid who went rallying. He built his brand early and followed it up with results.

Kennards Hire Rally Australia has not only 185,000 + followers, but reach around the world. When it posts, the rally world pays attention. Globally.

Every WRC team reposts items the event posts.

They post multiple times per day.

Imagine if they shared just one of your posts, how your brand would be seen around the world? Australian rally teams, drivers and co-drivers have a lot of catching up to do compared to others around the world.

Make no mistake, your personal brand is for you to develop. Don’t assume others will do it for you. Media Managers and events want your information.

It does not matter at what level you compete at. Every time you promote yourself, your team and your co-driver, you help the sport gain profile and build your brand.

I have said it before and I will say it again. It’s about you. Not your car.

We all know the names Greg Norman, Steve Waugh and Jarrad Hayne, but I have no idea of the brand of gear they use.

They all have a profile and a personal brand, and when they promote a brand it means something.

Develop your personal brand and profile. You might be surprised what doors it may open.

Note: You will need some results too!

INTERVIEW: ELFYN EVANS

A

s the World Rally Championship heads to Mexico for its first round outside Europe, who better to ask than a globe-trotting rally driver for tips on how to travel smart.

Elfyn Evans would probably like to spend less of his life in airport lounges. But as an international rally driver and Red Bull athlete competing in the FIA World Rally Championship, he’s sort of condemned himself to a life of departure gates, newsagents and baggage reclaims.

So if travel is a necessary evil, what are Elfyn’s tips for making it as easy as possible?

We sat down with the DMACK World Rally Team driver to talk suitcase essentials, his souvenir purchasing policy and, er, crocodile handling.

So Elfyn, what are the things you always take with you on a flight?

“I always have a ton of electronics in my hand luggage, because we take all the video footage from previous years’ rallies with us to every event. So my hand luggage is always a mess, because the cables are always tangled up at the bottom of my bag. I’ll usually have about five hard drives, six GoPros and all the rest of it.

“I always have a training kit, too. I carry a TRX system around with me so that I can do that anywhere, hang it on a hotel door or whatever.

“It’s easy to go for a run, but if you want to do anything else, if you’re away on a long-haul for a week and a half, you could end up doing no strength training at all. So I always take that with me.

“I’ll always have headphones, too, because travelling is quite boring really.

I’m not really a book guy, so I usually have some series on the go on the laptop just to have something to watch.

“Before the rally starts, you often start your day at seven in the morning, come back off recce at four or five o’clock, review video footage flat-out, go for food, do some more video.

“It’s nice to have something different to watch just before you go to bed. I don’t have anything on the go at the moment, but I’ve watched all of Sons of Anarchy, which was quite good.

Breaking Bad was good too.”

Have you ever rocked business class?

“We’re lucky in that we get to fly business class for all the long hauls, and that makes a big, big difference when you’re going to events. I’ve never done first class though, just business.”

Elfyn’s travel tips Do you try and see the sights in the places you visit, or can you only do that via PR events at the rallies?

“It depends where it is, really. The problem is that the PR events are always the night before a rally starts, so you’re never really in the frame of mind to really enjoy yourself.

“I think if it was on the Sunday or Monday before the rally, it would maybe be easier to enjoy it, but it’s always a bit of a rush. You’re looking at your watch thinking, ‘How much longer do we have to stay?’ because you’ve got loads of video left to check.

“We did one with crocodiles and snakes though. I held the crocodile, but I didn’t go anywhere near the snake!”

What about trying the local food?

“To be honest, we get pretty good food in the hospitality area. I enjoy Italian food a lot, so if I get that I’m usually pretty happy.”

What’s your best purchase from a trip?

“I never buy anything when I’m away.

I’m not tight with money, but I’ve got very little patience for shopping. I’m very much a boys’ toys kind of guy, so if I go and buy something, it’s more likely to be a motocross bike or something like that, rather than buying sh*t while I’m away!

“Normally, I’ll only end up buying something if I’ve forgotten something.”

What’s the favourite country that you’ve visited?

“I like Mexico, just because it’s very different. There’s something old school about it, but in a good way, like people travelling around in the back of pick-up trucks. If you did that in the UK, you’d be locked up!

“It’s just really laid back, very cool. A bit dangerous, but I think that adds to the atmosphere – although I don’t know if I’d just go cruising through Mexico City!

“We actually transferred through Mexico City for the rally once. We went to get a taxi at the airport desk and this guy had no idea where the hotel was, even though it was just around the corner from the airport.

“We ended up going down these little streets in Mexico City and it didn’t feel particularly safe. There were people standing in the middle of the road looking at us and then getting out of the way to let us past.”

What about languages – apart from English and Welsh, of course, do you speak any others?

“No I don’t. I was one of those typical kids at school who thought, ‘What’s the point of learning languages? I don’t need to do this’.

“My Dad [former British Rally Champion Gwyndaf Evans] would tell me, ‘You should really be doing languages’, and obviously he’d travelled, been there, done that. But I was the 14-year-old lad who knew everything and I’d decided that languages were hard and I didn’t enjoy learning them.

“But definitely after travelling so much over the last few years, I now regret that I didn’t take the time to learn another language.”

And finally, what’s your biggest travel tip?

“I have very little patience, to be honest, so maybe I could give a tip to the people that take half an hour at security checks. Get everything you need out of your bags before you get to the desk!”

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 59

GIRLS IN RALLYING

GIRLS STRUTTING THEIR STUFF ON THE STAGES

By TOM SMITH

A

ustralian co-drivers have performed consistently well on the world stage, alongside Australian drivers and local stars in foreign countries, and it’s no secret that Australian women are excelling in the sport at this time.

Hot on the heels of the groundbreaking achievement of Molly Taylor taking her first Australian Rally Championship title in 2016, comes the recent announcement that for 2017 Rhianon Gelsomino has signed a deal to sit beside Ryan Millen in the American Rally Association Series in a Toyota RAV4, backed by Toyota USA. After competing together in a oneoff test event that the new pair won, an offer was made for the US-based Gelsomino to join the team.

Gelsomino’s credentials are without question, having co-driven for her brother Brendan Reeves for a number of years (amongst other drivers), and accumulating an impressive resume along the way.

Rebecca van der Marel (top right), from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, will contest rounds of the 2017 European and World Rally Championships in the factory Opel Netherlands team, alongside husband Timo.

‘Bec’ recently moved back to Australia with Timo, and will commute to Europe throughout the season.

Making her name as a co-driver on the local scene, Rebecca sat beside her

60 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

brother, Ryan Smart, in rounds of the ARC and from 2008-2010 competed in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and a Toyota Corolla.

But these high profile women are not the only ones currently competing and succeeding at various levels in the Australian series and across the Tasman.

The list of female Queensland rally competitors is long and impressive, and while not exclusive, the following have excelled in recent years at all levels.

Erin Kelly (below right) has one Queensland Rally Championship title to her name, and has amassed an impressive resume in recent years sitting beside drivers of the calibre of Matt van Tuinen, Adrian Coppin, and Mike Young in a Cusco-Proton Satria at the Rally of Whangerei in 2014.

Erin expanded her horizons last year by sitting beside Clay Badenoch for two successful events in his classic Toyota Celica RA40.

Like Mother, like daughter – and Erin’s mother, Cate, is an exceptionally skilled and successful co-driver who is rarely without a ride in Australia during the competition season.

Cate’s list of drivers is impressive, from her husband Keith Fackrell’s Escort BDA, through to a number of events with Gerald Schofield in his Lancer Evo, a seat alongside Kiwi hotshot Derek Ayson, and a regular ride with Ed Mulligan, including numerous NZ events in Ed’s BMW. Brisbane driver Kim Acworth (below right) occupies the driver’s seat of her pretty Team Acshon Subaru Legacy RS, notable for its ‘Rothmans’ paint scheme. As a regular competitor on the Queensland rally scene, Kim is a consistent performer.

Melinda Bergman is another female driver who came to local notice under her maiden name of Melinda Both, and competed with her sister Jasmine, achieving success at Targa Tasmania, along with a supported Mazda entry in 2007.

Margot Knowles (left) is a formidable co-driver in Queensland, and has achieved success in the Queensland championship over many years and contested off-road events as well.

Adding to an impressive competition record, Margot has long been active as

an event organiser and member of the Queensland Rally Advisory Panel.

As one of the stalwarts of rallying in Queensland and in much of the country over many years, Del Garbett is one of Queensland’s most successful co-drivers and the holder of four Queensland Rally Championship titles.

Other winners of the Queensland Rally Championship co-drivers’ title

he number 4 seems to be cropping up a lot recently for Dani Sordo and Marc Marti. The Hyundai crew finished fourth in both Monte Carlo and Sweden 2017.

As we head to Rally Mexico they sit in P4 on the season’s points table. From his 184 WRC event starts, Dani has amassed 894 WRC points.

Is this a recent thing or has the 4 always been there? Let’s take a look back at Dani’s career to date using 4 as a focal point.

The first time Dani entered Rallye de Espana, his home WRC event, was 2003 driving a class N4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII. He finished 18th overall, one place ahead of Kris Meeke.

During 2004 Dani ventured outside of Spain to gain further experience on WRC stages. In total he did 4 events with Carlos del Barrio as his co-driver.

When Rally Mexico joined the WRC in 2004 it was Marc Marti sitting in car number 04 calling notes for Carlos Sainz. They finished third in Mexico and would end the season 4th overall.

2005 was the year Dani and Marc won the FIA’s Junior WRC. During the year they had 4 class victories from seven starts. Their Citroen C2 S1600 had number 41 on the door.

In 2006 Dani moved into a Citroen Xsara WRC car, again with Marc Marti.

Rally RACC Catalunya was round 4 of the year and on Spanish tarmac Sordo took his first WRC podium. By the end of the year he had 4 podium places.

Mexico was a P4 finish In 2007 Citroen introduced the C4 to WRC competition. Dani would take seven podiums, including 4 second places. He would finish the season in P4 on the points table. Mexico was a P4 finish.

By GARY BOYD Sordo, Italy 2005. (Photo: Holmes)

in recent years include Jo O’Dell and Stephanie Booth, while one of the most resilient co-drivers in memory must surely be Nikki Doyle, whose record beside partner, Dave Gaines, in the ‘Fat Lady’ – Australia’s quickest Datsun240K – is long and also successful.

To drive home the success of women in Queensland rallying over recent years, the Queensland Clubman Series lists Kylie Smart (nee Evans) as the winning driver in 2013, while winning co-drivers followed in 2014 (Cathy Byrne), 2015 (Annette Davidson) and 2015 (Annette Dragona).

In 2016, third generation rallyist Jennifer Garth took the co-driver’s title in the Novice Rally Series.

While those listed above are Queenslanders, every Australian state has its own impressive list of ladies who have bucked the trend and made rallying ‘their’ sport – and with some success.

DANI’S AWESOME 4-SOME T

Sordo and Marti would go on to achieve 4 Mexican finishes from 4 Mexican starts in a C4.

Dani Sordo has 40 WRC podiums in his career so far. It consists of 15 third places, 24 seconds and a single win. The victory came in Germany in 2013 driving a Citroen DS3 WRC. The winning car had the number plate BN404MW. When Dani left Trier that weekend he was fourth on the season’s points table.

In 2014 Dani returned to Trier driving a Hyundai i20 WRC bearing the number plate ALZ WR 44. He would take the first of his 4 podiums with Hyundai.

The Spanish crew were in car number 4 for the majority of the 2016 season, which included 4 consecutive P4 finishes in Mexico, Argentina Portugal and Sardegna. Dani has now finished fourth in Mexico 4 times.

Dani has driven WRC cars from 4 different manufacturers, Citroen, Mini, Hyundai and a one-off appearance for Ford at Argentina 2012, covering for an injured Jari-Matti Latvala.

And to save you counting, the number four appears 40 times in this article!

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 61

REPORT: PORT HILLS PEAKS

Port Hills Peaks provide perilous playground Story: ROSS TEESDALE Photos: KEVIN CORIN

David Kirk, Lancer Evo

Mike Tall, Lancer Evo

T

he Autosport Club’s first gravel sprint for 2017 was held in February at Piper Valley Road on Banks Peninsula.

Starting at sea level, the gravel road climbs gently along the valley for the first 1.5km, before becoming very steep for the second 1.5km and reaching around 400m altitude at the finish.

The road becomes narrow as it climbs and has wonderful views back down into the valley, the huge drops making it a perilous place to be reaching high speeds in a rally car.

The event was also the second qualifying round for the 2017 NZ Hillclimb Championship, attracting 34 entries. A few of Canterbury’s regular sprint and rally teams were missing though, with season rebuilds yet to be completed by some.

From the outset, Mike Tall set the pace in his turbo Mirage which uses the running gear from his Evo 4. The lightweight and big horsepower car is ideally suited for the steep road.

Matt Penrose was three seconds behind Tall after run one in his Impreza, with Job Quantock third initially. Keith Anderson was also on the pace in the 2016 NZRC winning Evo 8 he has acquired from David Holder.

In the 2WDs, Jeff Judd turned up in the Evo powered KE70 Corolla developed by the Buist brothers some years back. The Evo engine has its turbo removed, but works well and less the turbo sounds quite like a BDA. Judd set the pace in the first run, but was chased hard by Dave Quantock, who dragged a 1990s RX7 out of the garage.

Brent Rawstron and Garry Hawkes were also on the front pace in their Mk2 BDAs. Times would drop dramatically for some in run two. Matt Penrose took

62 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

11 seconds off his time and hoped to move ahead of Tall, but Tall had found nine seconds, which was enough to keep his nose in front.

Job Quantock and Anderson had some work to do in the last run, having not found the same gain, while in the 2WDs Dave Quantock had spun, which conceded second in 2WD to Garry Taylor Judd, Corolla

Hawkes.

Jeff Judd held a six second lead in Open 2WD, while his oldest son, Taylor, had the 1600cc class in hand. In the 1300s Grant Goile’s initial lead had evaporated with electrical problems slowing the car in run two.

All the drivers were eager to make the most of the third and final run up

the road. There were friendly battles of egos in progress throughout the field. t would be Mike Tall’s weekend.

He had won the Tar Seal Sprint contested across the valley the day before and would win the Piper Valley Road event by three seconds.

Matt Penrose was reasonably pleased with his second place on both days, while Keith Anderson was happy to take third, the first of the NZRC spec cars home. Job Quantcok was narrowly pushed back to fourth, while Jason McConnell took home one of his best results since moving from stock cars, with fifth.

With 15 4WDs in the field the rivalry ran deep. A personal battle raged hot all day between friends Garret Thomas and Hamish Dykes, along with Garrets father-in-law Dave Ollis. Garet and Hamish are both recent rookies, while Dave has been in pause mode with his rallying for a couple of decades.

Garet had their measure going into run three, with Dave second and Hamish a wee way back, even after Hamish found eight seconds in run two. To finish it off, Garet made sure of bragging rights by going seven seconds quicker in run three to take sixth outright behind McConnell.

Meanwhile, Dave was lost for words when Hamish found another 13 seconds to end up three seconds ahead of him in seventh. Motorsport NZ organiser, David Kirk, also finished in the top 10, ahead of Ollis.

Things went wrong for Jeff Judd in the last run up the hill in the Corolla, with an off song engine blunting his attack.

Dave Quantock put in a clean run in the RX7, but Judd kept his nose just in front with his run two time, to win the 2WD Open Class from Quantock.

Brent Rawstron jumped ahead of Hawkes to take home third in his BDA, Hawkes ended just half a second behind for fourth place. Richard Towse took a pleasing fifth of the 10 Open Class 2WD entrants, in the Datsun Sunny Coupe that he has competed

I

Brent Rawstron, Escort

Jeff Judd, Corolla

in largely unchanged since the early 1990s.

Taylor Judd won the 1600cc Class in his KE70 Corolla, 6.5 seconds ahead of second placed Kevin Knowles in a similar car. Only two 1600cc Class cars took part, but there was an upsurge in entries in the under 1300cc Class with seven starters.

Chris Herdman again won the class in his Starlet, helped by Goile’s KE30 Corolla running sick. Having decided against parking the car after run two, Goile’s car again coughed and stuttered its way up the hill, but it was just quick enough for him to hold onto second in class.

Third was a great result for young rookie Jayden Tainui, who had his first proper go in his KE70.

The newly acquired car’s engine had blown up in run one at his last attempt to start his driving career.

Peter Murch achieved fourth in class in his Starlet, ahead of Johnathon Taylor, who missed the

last run in his Hayabusa powered KE30.

Things are going in the right direction for Canterbury’s Autosport Club, with a new breed of younger drivers making their presence felt and challenging the old hands who continue to compete.

Fathers and sons are competing in the same events and a few daughters too. The 2017 season has begun with things in a good place.

Job Quantock

Kevin Knowles MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 63

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PHOTO OF THE MONTH

66 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017

ON THE LIMIT: Jari-Matti Latvala gets the most out of his Toyota Yaris on the way to a surprise victory in the Rally of Sweden.

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing

MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 67

RALLYCROSS

ill Orders stormed to victory in the opening round of the 2017 RXAus series at Marulan, while Michael Coyne and Troy Dowel also starred.

The Mitsubishi Lancer EVO driver edged out multiple Irish RallyCross champion Michael Coyne’s two-wheeldrive Mazda 2 to win the six-lap Super Final that capped off a thrilling opening round of the all-new series.

Orders also won the 4WD Open class, while Troy Dowel won the 4WD Production Class and Coyne the 2WD battle.

The three class final winners finished 1-2-3 in the 6-lap Super Final to cap off a strong day.

Orders’ remarkable performance came despite completing almost no laps in practice and various struggles across all three heats thanks to an array of technical issues on his newlydeveloped Mitsubishi.

With the Super Final grid determined by the fastest overall times from the preceding finals, Orders started on the pole for the six-lap race, Irishman Michael Coyne starting alongside in his rapid two-wheel-drive Mazda 2.

The race was a straightforward fight between the pair, Order clearly quicker

on the front straight and Coyne closing in through Marulan’s technical sections.

In a pressure-cooker six laps, Orders won by a narrow margin in a classic all-wheel-drive versus two-wheel drive fight.

Orders said the opening round of the series was a positive start for the category this year.

“It’s been a really positive weekend.

Everyone has been very enthusiastic and supportive of what we’re doing and there’s a lot of interest moving forward,” he said.

“Everyone has come here and the only real damage inflicted to the cars was self-inflicted! There was no panel rubbing and really close racing so I don’t think you can get much better than that.”

Troy Dowel finished third after an epic race-long battle with fellow VW Polo driver Sean Bolger, the pair evenly matched across the day both in their class and the final.

It was only late in the race that saw Dowel solidify himself into the final spot on the podium.

Dowel also won the young driver award for round one thanks to his consistent weekend-long performance, though 14-year-old Bolger continued to

impress with his speed and racecraft.

A giant-killing performance saw Mike Conway fourth in his classic Ford Escort Mk. II, Andrew Murdoch’s Subaru, Sean Bolger and Michael Harding completing the runners.

Conway’s stunning Escort won the Production 2WD class in a giant-killing weekend for the classic racer.

A notable non-finisher was Justin Dowel, who despite winning three heat races and placing second to Orders in the 4WD Open final, was unable to complete the Super final, parking his Hyundai I30 on the side of the circuit before half-race.

16-year-old Troy Dowel won a thrilling 4WD Production Class final, edging out Sean Bolger and Andrew Murdoch after a race-long three way dice.

Will Orders defeated arch-rival Justin Dowel in the 4WD open final, despite failing to finish all three preliminary heats with mechanical issues.

Irish RallyCross champion Michael Coyne won the 2WD Production / Open final, beating home Mike Conway’s screaming Ford Escort RS. The next round of the exciting 2017 RXAus series will also be held at the Marulan circuit in New South Wales on May 14.

PHOTOS: Richard Craill, Joel Strickland

ORDERS TAKES THE HONOURS W

Will Orders (Mitsubishi) leads Justin Dowel (Hyundai) in the 4WD Open final.

L-R: Troy Dowel, Will Orders and Michael Coyne.

68 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - MARCH 2017