Short and Sweet - Adelaide Rallysprint
Tarmac Rally events in Australia are traditionally multi day affairs ranging from the two day format preferred by Mountain Motorsport through to the three day Targa High Country, four day Adelaide Rally and the monster six days of Targa Tasmania. This means that in the best rally traditions the events have a real endurance element to them and you often have to conserve tyres and look after the car to ensure a finish. But that also makes the events more expensive to run and enter and for more complicated for the organisers with more roads to close and more officials and volunteers required to safely staff the event.
The organisers behind the Adelaide Rally saw an opportunity in the calendar to add a new event with a twist that was run and won in a single day. The inaugural Adelaide Rallysprint was run in October and comprised a healthy twelve challenging stages on the famous Gorge Rd and Anstey Hill sections in the Adelaide Hills. The event was based at the Cudlee Creek caravan park literally a few hundred meters away from the nearest stage with service park, HQ and the drivers briefings all very conveniently located, especially for us being just a few km from home!
The stages comprised four closed road sections all run three times (once in reverse) so recce was easy (we knocked ours off in a couple of hours) and the transports were short. Doco and scrutiny were all completed the weekend prior so on the day we just rocked up to drivers briefing and waited for the first stage to start.
Spring is always a risky time for weather and this event was no different as the day prior saw 30 degrees and bone dry but Sunday dawned to overcast skies and unfortunately the rain started early and just set in for the while day, never that heavy but nevertheless enough to make the roads properly wet as the day rolled on.
Entry numbers were OK for a first running with about fifty cars in total across competition, challenge and tour categories, plenty of experienced competitors and also a few newbies taking advantage of the cheaper and easier entry level.
For us the wet roads meant taking a zero risk approach (only a month until Targa High Country) and the conditions certainly caught out a few of our competitors and unfortunately a few early retirements. Even so, there were still a few heart stopping moments when the grip ran out and the Armco got a little close….
Our usual competitors for Classic did their thing with Nick in the 944 and Matt in the BMW Hartge running away in front just a few seconds apart before Matt had an off that put him out. Tim in the 911 who gave us a very close battle at the 2018 Adelaide Rally was at it again trading stage times to see him just 0.6 seconds ahead at the lunch break. The reverse run through the afternoon stages saw us just break ahead to end the day second to Nick (by a margin!) and merely four seconds ahead of Tim in third. Trophies and champagne!
While the short format (and the relatively short stages) don't quite hold the same gravitas as the bigger multi day events I think the one day sprint events are a great opportunity to extend the calendar and even work to attract new entrants into the sport. The costs were comparable to an open pitlane type day at a motorsport track event, the compact layout made recce fairly painless and the whole experience was quite low key and had a real club racing or gravel rally vibe which is inviting to new crews.
Who knows, perhaps there is room for a couple more rallysprint events in the local calendar, Wickhams Hill anyone?
