2018 Adelaide Rally

The Adelaide Rally is perhaps our main event for the year, it’s based close to home (one stage is just 2km from our house) and a couple of the stages even use some of the roads we commute on every day. The event has a long history in SA going back around 20 years though various iterations starting with the Classic Adelaide Rally which was a four day Tarmac Rally for Classic (or pre 1986) cars only. In its heyday it was the biggest event in Australia attracting numerous high profile cars and drivers from Australia and overseas and was a very popular event including a street party on Friday night in the heart of the Adelaide restaurant district.

Recent years have seen the event change hands, miss a couple of years and in the last two years it’s finding its feet again under new management. For a number of reasons the event has has some restrictions imposed on stage length and average speed which has seen competitor numbers drop but a healthy and growing tour section and the growth of speed limited categories has seen numbers steadily growing each year.

For 2018 the event returned to a four day competition with a mix of short stages and some on track challenges at the new “The Bend” motorsport facility over the first couple of days extend out to some more traditional and longer stages on the last two days and wrapped up with a quick sprint around the Parklands circuit at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival.

For us it was just a week after our trip to Targa High Country and Challenge Bathurst so there was of course the usual prep work to be done and recce for the event to squeeze in over a few short days. Thankfully our earlier brake issues were behind us so the prep was straight forward and there wasn’t much to do before the new event stickers went on for scrutineering. This year the event ran from Wednesday to Saturday with day one being split in half for briefing and documentation in the morning with the stages starting in the afternoon.

The Adelaide Rally runs to slightly different rules and regulations to those used by the Targa events with the idea being to open up the competition to more varied vehicles and crews including cars that simply would not be legal at a Targa event. They also don’t run the traditional handicap classes of early and late classic nor do they split up the early modern and modern cars, in this world you are either Classic (pre 1986) or Modern. Simple and easy to understand but certainly not as many chances that your particular car is going to be competitive in your class. On top of that the organisers accept the technical rules from either Targa, CAMS Tarmac Rally or PRC gravel rules so there are some cars in there that we don’t usually see and some configurations that would never be allowed in Targa such as engine swaps, sequential gearboxes and the like. While this certainly opens up the entries to more people it puts the Targa prepped cars at a potential disadvantage. Maybe.

When the competition kicks off we have 20 cars in Classic with 10 in Modern and another 40 odd in the speed limited classes so about 70 comp cars all up plus another 200 tour cars.

Looking at our competition we have some quick crews including the 944 Porsche of Steckeisen, the BMW Hartge of Selly, 911 Porsches for Paterson, Pryzibilla and Lauke plus Faux in an RX7 and Booker in the HR31 Skyline. Early entry lists included Kaplan in another RX7 but he doesn’t show. The event uses A-A timing (no base times) so no-one can “clean” a stage and every stage counts.

We know from experience that Streckeisen, Selly and Paterson are probably too quick for us so it looks like our closest competitors will by Tim Prizibilla in the 911 and Barry Faux in the RX7. Bring it.

Day one has just four short stages, Willunga Hill and Wickhams Hill followed by Summit Road and Eagle on the Hill, all are about 3km long and only run once and we’re pleased to run inside the top 5 in every stage and close out the first day in 5th position. The results are close though with Streckeisen leading Selley by seven seconds and Pryzibilla another eight behind him then Paterson and us just a second each apart. Looks like it’s going to be a close event.

Day 2 is very different with just three road stages separated by five “on track” events out at the new motorsport event at “The Bend”. Here we get a lap dash on the track, a short slalom (later excluded) followed by a couple of runs on the drift track and another track lap.

The first road stage at Dawsley is a little longer that the Day one stages and gives us a more of a chance to really lean on the car, the results show too with 3rd on stage and doing enough to leapfrog Paterson into 4th.

The events at The Bend don’t really go in our favour, they are so short that there isn’t much to gain by pushing too hard and the potential downside of a spin just isn’t worth it. Or I’m no good at these stages… Either way, Paterson shines and moves up to 3rd while we drop back to 5th just 1.2 seconds behind Pryzibilla.

The last two road stages of the day don’t shake things up too much and we end the day again in 5th still just 1.2 seconds adrift of Tim Pryzibilla in the 911 and now 20 seconds behind Paterson in 3rd. It’s close at the top too with only 6 seconds separating Streckeisen in 1st and Selley in 2nd.

Onto Day 3. This is our home turf, back in our comfort zone with nine longer stages all within around 15kms of our house and all stages we have done several times in the past. It’s time to pull the finger out.

First stage at Anstey Hill doesn’t go to plan and a cautious start to the day yields 7th but the next stage is Chain of Ponds which is probably my favourite stage in Australia. The stage winds around the Millbrook reservoir in the Adelaide Hills and while this iteration of the stage is only a few kilometers long the road surface is good, there is plenty of undulation including an “air” call midway and the average speed is low enough that we don’t need artificial slow points. Plus I have driven this road every day for 18 years. Actually maybe that’s why I like it so much.

We attack this stage hard, leaning on the car more than any other road and taking more risk than I would on a lesser known stretch or tarmac and the results show. 1st in Classic for our first stage win in a very long time and 1.4 seconds clear of Streckeisen and 6 seconds quicker than Prizibilla moving us up to 4th outright. It’s also a time that would place us 4th in the Modern field of 4WD turbo monsters.

The confidence shows with a 2nd and 4th through the next two stages before showing the first pass was no fluke by backing up the second run through Chain of Ponds with another win even though we dropped a second from our first time.

But there is a shift in the results at the top of the order. In the first run through Castambul (itself an incredible run down the Gorge, up Corkscrew and then down again through Montacute) the rally leader Nick Streckeisen suffers a breakdown in his 944 Turbo and retires from the event. We actually started this stage as the next car behind Nick and started to see smoke on the road at about the 7km mark where the road turns up towards the Corkscrew. Sure enough we come across the stranded car just a short while later parked up off the road in a cloud of smoke. We learn later that a turbo seal failed putting them out of the event and they also had a small fire in the inlet due to the oil leak. We’re sorry to seem them out but greatful it’s nothing more serious.

The second loop through the first four stages again sees us in the top 3 most stages and on top of that we’re now comfortably in 3rd place just 20 seconds behind Paterson in 2nd and more importantly 27 seconds clear of 4th placed Prizibilla in a 911 RS sandwich.

But it didn’t all go to plan. In the second run through Castambul (after a long delay for another tour car crash) we started behind the HR31 Skyline. They had a small spin part way into the stage and we caught them towards the top of the Corkscrew. Unfortunately they didn’t see (or hear) us and it took a couple of corners before there was a safe enough spot to push past and just when I thought they had seen us and moved over they turned in on me as we dived down the inside. But that got their attention as the Z was all locked up and just inches away from the rear quarter but we avoided contact. They finally wave us past and pull over just as I find a box full of neutral but we sort it out and make the turn onto the downhill run into Montacute with a slightly elevated blood pressure and the calming voice of the nav in my ear.

At the next regroup the driver comes straight up to apologise, he was so caught up in his own race that he really didn’t see us and he’s clearly sorry about it so we’re cool too. We really didn’t lose any time, in fact we are 1.5 seconds quicker than our first pass so no biggy and now we’ve got a story to share over a beer tomorrow.

But the day isn’t done yet, there is still the final stage of the day, a run up the iconic Gorge Road in the reverse direction to the earlier runs in Castambul. Again this is a road we know very well and it shows in the results, 2nd to Matt Selley in the Hartge and 5 seconds clear of Paterson but the bigger news for us is that Tim has had a small spin early in the stage and while avoiding hitting anything he has dropped 25 seconds to us on this stage and ends the day 52 seconds down in 4th while we are just 14 seconds behind Paterson in 2nd. There’s just one day left to try and make up the deficit, 3rd place looks safe but perhaps we can steal 2nd?

Day 4 is perhaps the longest of the event with 10 stages culminating in a last stage lap at the motorsport festival. The first loop of stages around Stirling we push on a bit but we’ve already dropped another 10 seconds to Paterson so it’s clear that he’s just making sure we stay behind and it looks like we don’t really have the pace to catch him. We continue however to have a real dice with Pryzibilla in the other 911 with us trading stage times and finishing as close as one tenth of a second apart on Basket Range.

In the afternoon though we take it a little easier just content to protect our position and not do anything silly and we make it back to the motorsport festival for the last stage with our gap to 2nd now blown out to 39 seconds while still 45 seconds clear of Tim in 4th with only the final stage at the Adelaide Parklands Circuit left to run.

But it’s not all roses. In the penultimate stage up Norton Summit we (I) managed to hit a pothole or bump that was heavy enough to yank the steering wheel and it’s obvious on the transport back that the steering is bent as the wheel is no longer straight. Before forming up for the final stage we debate the idea of climbing under the car for a damage inspection vs the likelihood of being able to repair it in time and decide that ignorance is indeed bliss and decide not to look. It’ll only make us worry.

The final stage is a lap and a half of the Motorsport Festival circuit, concrete walls and all, and it almost comes to an end at the first corner, the “Senna Chicane”. Jai in his Rover SD1 suffers a major engine failure leading into the chicane and we don’t notice the random engine parts scattered on the track nor the giant oil slick running into the corner. We find the oil right at the braking point at 150kmh but luckily manage to do enough to get through OK and just cruise around for the rest of the lap. We even get to wave at Jai and Jen as they push their lifeless Rover over the finish line to at least record a time but unfortunately for them they have lost a solid 5th place and drop to 11th. Motorsport can be harsh.

So we finish the event in 3rd, wedged neatly between the two 911’s and over 2 minutes behind the Hartge of Selley / McKendrick which shows just how fast those guys are and the commitment required to run right at the front.

For us this wraps up a very busy month with podium results at all three events (Targa High Country and Bathurst) and now a long break before the season starts again next year. As always we are grateful to our friends and sponsors who help along the way and to the Rally and Motorsport community we compete with where there is always someone prepared to drop everything to help you out and like minded racers who care more about the experience than the results (mostly!).

But for now there is that lurking steering damage that I really should check……