Rally of Canberra

Last updated May 04, 2019

The Rally of Canberra is an automobile rally event which was held in and around Canberra, Australian Capital Territory first held in 1988. The event is currently a round of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC); it has been part of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) in the past.

Rally is a form of motorsport that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. It is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive between set control points, leaving at regular intervals from one or more start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages.

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 410,301, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a Canberran. Although Canberra is the capital and seat of government, many federal government ministries have secondary seats in state capital cities, as do the Governor-General and the Prime Minister.

The Australian Capital Territory, formerly known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938 and commonly referred to as the ACT, is a federal territory of Australia containing the Australian capital city of Canberra and some surrounding townships. It is located in the south-east of the country and enclaved within the state of New South Wales. Founded after federation as the seat of government for the new nation, all important institutions of the Australian federal government are centred in the Territory.

History

The modern Rally of Canberra began in 1988, but the attraction of forest roads through steep terrain so close to a city has been attracting rallying to the Canberra for years. Previously the Castrol International Rally was held in much the same area utilising some of the same stage roads. Run throughout much of the 1970s the rally attracted international teams and drivers from the World Cup and World Championship teams. The last of the old style event was held in 1980 although the rally continued into 1981 on a smaller scale.^[1]

The new rally was created as an ARC round in 1988, quickly becoming a popular event amongst crews and spectators. The initial event was won by that year's national champion, Queenslander Murray Coote aboard a Mazda 323 GTX. The event rapidly grew in stature, becoming second only to the similarly aged Rally Australia in prestige amongst Australian events.

The Mazda Familia, also marketed prominently as the Mazda 323 and Mazda Protegé, is a small family car that was manufactured by Mazda between 1963 and 2003. The Familia line was replaced by the Mazda3/Axela for 2004.

Rally Australia is an automobile rally event which was held in and around Perth, Western Australia from 1988 until 2006, when that state's tourism commission severed its collaboration with the event. The rally was part of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 1988 and the World Rally Championship from 1989 to 2006. The event returned in 2009 to the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales in early September and alternated with Rally New Zealand for 2010 and 2012 before becoming an annual fixture in its own right from 2013. From 2011 the event was relocated to Coffs Harbour.

The event become part of the APRC in 1999,^[2] returning international rallying to the Canberra region, attracting entries from teams in New Zealand, and most of the Asian rallying nations. Changing regulations in the ARC, in particular its emphasis on local classes, first the PRC (Production Rally Class) and later Group N+, as typified by the Neal Bates Motorsport constructed turbo 4WD Toyota Corolla Sportivo saw the event dropped from the ARC calendar as several of its competitors were not eligible to compete under the APRC regulations which consisted of the World Rally Car and Group N classes.

The Toyota Corolla is a line of subcompact and compact cars manufactured by Toyota. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in the world since then. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, surpassing the Volkswagen Beetle. Toyota reached the milestone of 40 million Corollas sold over eleven generations in July 2013. The series has undergone several major redesigns.

In more recent times the APRC has become a Group N only championship like many other regional and national championships. ARC regulations since 2006 though have instead of a single two-day rally instead have two single day rallies over the course of weekend, giving the opportunity for cars that retire on the Saturday of an event to rejoin on the Sunday. This format has seen the ARC competitors return to Canberra racing with the APRC cars but essentially the rally is now two completely different events, run simultaneously over the same stages, the International Rally of Canberra for APRC competitors and the National Rally of Canberra for ARC competitors. Group N teams can compete in both events if they nominate for both.

The nature of this combination has given rise to a rivalry between APRC and ARC competitors as to who can complete the event in the shortest time. In 2008 for the first time an ARC competitor, Simon Evans completed the rally in a faster time than any of the APRC competitors, although strangely Evans did not win the ARC round after only placing third place at the end of Saturdays rally, thus collecting fewer points than his team mate Neal Bates who won Saturday and was second to Evans on Sunday.

Neal Bates is an Australian rally and racing car driver. Throughout his career Bates has been associated with Toyota in the Australian Rally Championship and for 19 years his Neal Bates Motorsport outfit ran Toyota's official rally program in Australia. Bates claimed four drivers' titles in this time and helped Toyota win four manufacturers' crowns.

Mineshaft

One of the biggest attractions of the Rally of Canberra, and the Castrol International before it, is the special stage called 'The Mineshaft'. The name originates from a section of the stage which plunges very sharply downwards towards a water crossing. It is a drop sharp enough that even the most cautious competitor will get airborne over the lip of the drop. Over the years the section has been regraded, softening the plunge but it is still a favourite for spectators, who grade the drivers going over the drop with scorecards, a tradition dating back to the Castrol International which has been attributed to an infamous troupe of Bathurst-based rally officials and competitors known as the Killer Mullet Rally Team.

Controversially, the Mineshaft stage was dropped from the 2008 event for safety reasons.^[3]

Winners

Winners of previous editions of the Rally of Canberra were:^[4]^[5]

Year	Driver	Co-Driver	Car
1988	Murray Coote	Iain Stewart	Mazda 323 GTX
1989	Ross Dunkerton		Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
1990	Ross Dunkerton		Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
1991	Ross Dunkerton		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
1992	Possum Bourne	Rodger Freeth	Subaru Liberty RS
1993	Ed Ordynski		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
1994	Ross Dunkerton		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
1995	Neal Bates	Coral Taylor	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1996	Possum Bourne	Craig Vincent	Subaru Impreza WRX
1997	Neal Bates	Coral Taylor	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1998
1999	Yoshihiro Kataoka	Satoshi Hayashi	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI
2000	Possum Bourne	Mark Stacey	Subaru Impreza WRX
2001	Possum Bourne	Craig Vincent	Subaru Impreza WRC
2002	Ed Ordynski	Iain Stewart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII
2003	Cody Crocker	Greg Foletta	Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2004	Dean Herridge	Bill Hayes	Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2005	Cody Crocker	Dale Moscatt	Subaru Impreza WRX STI
Year	International Driver	International Co-Driver	International Car	National Driver	National Co-Driver	National Car
2006	Cody Crocker	Dale Moscatt	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	Neal Bates	Coral Taylor	Toyota Corolla Sportivo
2007	Cody Crocker		Subaru Impreza WRX STI	Simon Evans	Sue Evans	Toyota Corolla Sportivo
2008	Cody Crocker	Ben Atkinson	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	Neal Bates	Coral Taylor	Toyota Corolla S2000

Notes

↑ "Subaru Rally of Canberra". Australian Capital Region Online. Archived from the original on September 23, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
↑ "Subaru Rally of Canberra". Australian Capital Region Online. Archived from the original on September 23, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
↑ MERRYN SHERWOOD (2008-05-09). "Iconic drop deleted". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 2008-05-17. ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
↑ "Past Seasons". rally.com.au. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
↑ "Rally of Canberra Roll of Honour". rallybase.nl. Retrieved 2008-05-17.

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References

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[1] "Subaru Rally of Canberra". Australian Capital Region Online. Archived from the original on September 23, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-17.

[2] "Subaru Rally of Canberra". Australian Capital Region Online. Archived from the original on September 23, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-17.

[3] MERRYN SHERWOOD (2008-05-09). "Iconic drop deleted". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 2008-05-17. ^{[ permanent dead link ]}

[4] "Past Seasons". rally.com.au. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-05-17.

[5] "Rally of Canberra Roll of Honour". rallybase.nl. Retrieved 2008-05-17.