Hi Warren,
Thanks for the congrats.
We had an awesome time, the event was very professionally organised using world class European timing monitors from chronomoto. In fact the organiser flew the timing equipment and 4 timing technicians over from Chronomoto to man the timing devices.
For those interested in joining us next year, here is a quick outline of what we did in the Australia Classic Rally this year.
The event started with a welcome reception on Friday night when we were given a roadbook, shirts, hats, vehicle number decals and a few other goodies.
Day 1 kicked off at 8am with a car display and the cars left the Pier Car park in one minute intervals at 9am. We drove to Gordonvale, up the Gillies Range into Yungaburra then lunch at Mungalli. From there we drove through Malanda, down the Palmerston Range to Babinda and back to Cairns. Along the way we had to carefully read the roadbook and stop for 5 precision timed short courses. At dinner on Saturday night we were pleased to accept hour glass trophies for winning 2 of the 5 precision timed courses. Also stoked to be leading after the first day which added a little pressure heading into Sunday.
Day 2 we left the Pier Car park at 9am, drove along the Cairns Esplanade then onto Palm Cove, Oak Beach and Port Douglas followed by a spirited run up the Rex Range to Julatten for lunch. Next stage took us to Mareeba, Jaques Coffee, Kuranda then back down the Kuranda range to Cairns. Again stopping for 5 precision timed courses along the way.
As you can tell we covered quite a few kilometers along spectacular scenery including the Coastal stretch to Port Douglas.
Organiser Zoltan Vandulek received a standing ovation by every competitor at the awards presentation on Sunday night. Navigator Luke Olholm my stepson and I were stoked to win outright along with 2 of the precision timed courses. The win grants us free entry into next years Rally.
Organisers are expecting over 100 competitor next year and given the response to the inaugural event, this number is probably going to be conservative.
This year pre 1982 replicas were able to compete for the event win. Next year there will be two classes, pre 1983 and Exotic Super cars. Only vehicles built pre 1983 will be able to win the Rally outright. The Super car class will cover the same stages and timing courses, but results will only count towards bragging rights. Unfortunately this means I will not be able to defend the Australia Classic title in my 1998 AC replica.
Never the less we will be back to enjoy the spectacular scenery, fantastically presented vehicles and catch up with new friends we made this year.
Below is a picture of myself and Tom Casey who finished fourth, narrowly missing third place by 17 points with equates to 17 / 100th of a second. Less than the time it takes to blink an eye. Interestingly we won the event by 18 points so I have to confess the win was more luck than skill.
Cheers
Andrew