Adam’s 1983 Datsun Bluebird in gravel trim.

Time to get dirty

I’m a longtime fan of gravel rally, I’ve got friends who compete at club and national level and have spectated at local and state events and even made a 3,000km trip to Perth to see the WRC round of Rally Australia many years ago. But I’ve never competed in one. Not even a club meeting. Not even a khanacross or autocross. I avoid driving on dirt roads even though I live only 10 minutes away from one of the greatest gravel rally stages in Australia. I have always perceived gravel rally as somehow more dangerous than tarmac for some reason as even though the speeds are generally slower the constant sideways action brings the trees even closer in my mind. Conversely some of my gravel friends think that gravel is safer because of the slower speeds. Regardless there was no way we were going to subject our beloved 240 to the harsh gravel roads and there simply isn’t room in the stable for yet another car so any secret fantasy about being Colin McRae was going to stay a fantasy.

But then my friend Adam called me with an idea. He was hoping to enter his Datsun Bluebird in a local “Introductory Rally” for beginners and thought I might like to drive. An intro rally it turns out is basically a come-and-try for newbies where you tack onto the back of a proper rally event and run over the same stages. You don’t need a fancy car with all the latest safety gear so your normal road registered Hillclimb or track day car is fine although you might not want to risk your daily.

This all seems pretty low key and a great way to do some skids and the event is based in the Adelaide Hills just 10 minutes from home so I jump at the chance, it’s too good to miss. The point I missed however is that this particular intro rally is part of the SA round of the Australian Rally Championship and all the big names will be there. The ARC perhaps aren’t thrilled to have some wannabes running around after them so there is added pressure not to screw up and ruin it for everyone. But no stress, I haven’t driven the car before or competed on dirt, Adam hasn’t navigated either and the event is blind with no recce or pace notes allowed so we should be fine really.

The weapon of choice.

The car - it’s Adams 1983 Datsun Bluebird built up for Khanacross events and he has already done a few so the car is sound. It sports an L series motor with twin webers (of course), decent suspension and some second hand rally tyres and good seats and harnesses although no cage. We add an intercom and the mandatory RallySafe GPS rally computer and with the event stickers attached we’re ready to run.

The Event

The event “Bott Adelaide Hills Rally” is based in Mt Barker and runs over three days although the part we are doing is based entirely in the Mt Crawford Forest on Sunday using two passes each on the Mt Crawford and Telephone Road stages for a total of about 60 competitive kms. The forest stages are quite technical with a surface ranging from gravel to dirt to sand with tight tracks and fast open stages plus jumps and dips and endless trees. The intro rally runs at the tail of the field, there are three other teams running and we are officially seeded last which means we only have to worry about the sweep car catching us!

First Stages - Mt Crawford and Telephone Road

We arrive and the stage has gone red due to an incident, a reminder that this can be serious but thankfully the crew are fine and we’re soon lining up for the first pass. The cars are run at 2 minute intervals which gives plenty of time for the dust to settle between cars but before long we’re off.

I found it quite challenging at first to just head into a stage knowing that the majority of the course would be a surprise to me with only intermittent route directions and caution calls. But Adam did a great job on the notes and we took a very cautious approach to the whole event and really didn’t get close to getting in trouble anywhere.

I found the first forest stage quite surprising in the range of tracks and roads encountered as well as the vastly differing road surface as we moved from hard packed dirt to loose gravel and metal while the tracks started very open and flowing and progressed to tight twisty lanes through the trees.

We had a base target time to achieve (but not go under) but we were never going to worry the timekeepers really.

The second stage brought a new surface - sand. Some sections were almost like driving on the beach with wheelspin at any speed and then some junctions where we almost bogged in the deep sand before opening out to quite rough and rocky tracks towards the end of the stage.

Testing out the suspension. And the sump.

Time for a service.

After the first pass it was back to Mt Barker for a 20min service. On the transport it was quite evident that we had developed quite an exhaust leak somewhere as the noise was obvious and the power had dropped a little. A quick visual identified some loose bolts on the first join and some worrying dents in the collector but otherwise an easy fix we thought. But as soon as we hit the road again it was clear there was still a leak with a blown manifold gasket the primary suspect, still, too late to fix now so it would have to do.

Second pass.

By now we had a bit of a rhythm going, there weren’t any scary surprises on the course and we pushed on a bit and started to explore the limits at least in the slower sections. My inner bogan emerged and the car started to spend more time sideways even managing to get the timing right on corner setup so we could scando on the entry and slide all the way out - at least that’s how I remember it anyway…

We improved about 50 seconds on Mt Crawford 2 and about 30 on the second pass of Telephone Road which was reflective of our confidence growing as we pushed on. We even managed a couple of jumps although the car really doesn’t have the travel to be brave over the crests.

Still we made it though all the stages, didn’t spin, didn’t crash, had huge smiles on our faces and even managed to better a couple of the other runners on some passes and finished third of the four cars in our class.

The Wash Up.

Gravel is hard on the car. As well prepared as the car was before the event we ended with some loose bolts and plenty of dings in the exhaust and underside of the car. I suspect that some bash plates are in order and for a longer event you would really need some service crew to do a spanner check at each service to make sure you got through without something important falling off. After the event the car just needed a wash and a wheel alignment and a spanner check and it’s ready for the next event.

And it’s fun. There’s nothing quite like sliding through the forest even at the back end of the field in a pretty standard car. It goes to show you don’t need a big dollar 4WD monster to have fun and save for some basic mods and safety gear you can hit the dirt for cheap and still feel like a rally hero.

At least I did.

So now it’s back to our regular programming and off to Targa High Country in the 240z. On the Tarmac.

Leaving the Tarmac behind...