The 1999 HRA South West Classic Rally
September 10 - 11, 1999

This year the Spring Tour or Grampians Spring Tour changed its name to the South West Classic. The event heralded the return to the Director's Chair by Rob Dyer, who was the inaugural "Mirboo Meander" director. His expressed aim was to create a fun event with some interesting driver challenges, combined with common sense navigation. The event commenced in Bacchus Marsh, travelled to Camperdown and then on to Warrnambool for the overnight break and returned the next day to Geelong via Colac. The rally attracted a field of 50 crews in vehicles as diverse as a Chrysler Hardtop, an L34 Torana, a Fiat X19 and a Jensen Healey. All the usual HRA marques were present including Minis, Escorts, Peugeots, Datsuns, BMW's and Alfa's. The line up of vehicles in Bacchus Marsh in the sunshine of the 11th of September was quite impressive.

After registration and a drivers' briefing the field was set loose for a 20 km touring run to the Cut-Hill "Hillclimb" just out of Rowsley south of Bacchus Marsh. For those familiar with the hill from the Ballarat Light Car Club "Winter Classic" this stage was run from a point closer to the actual hillclimb. After approximately a 400 metre dash competitors then commenced a steep uphill climb through the tight left and right combinations. Over the winter months the surface had deteriorated markedly and there were sections where the bitumen had either washed away or was completely covered in dirt. Times up the hill varied by almost a minute with Jim Stephen cruising up the hill in a leisurely 2 minutes, 11 seconds in his beautifully presented Peugeot 203 through to some crews in the 1 minute, high teens bracket including Tony McCormack in the big V8 Torana in 1 minute, 19 seconds, Russell Thorpe in has fast Volvo in 1 minute, 17 seconds and Colin and I in the Alpine managing fastest time of day by the barest of margins in 1 minute, 16 seconds. Having crested the top of the hill in second gear I went to select third and missed - selecting fifth. I tried again for third and again collected fifth and decided to remain in that gear until the end. This led Colin to tell other competitors at the lunch break that we had gone so quick we'd finished in fifth gear! Although strictly true these comments were somewhat misleading.

Following Cut-Hill there was a navigation exercise for approximately 180kms finishing in Camperdown. Some of the roads would have been familiar to competitors in earlier events and in Winter Classic events. It was therefore no surprise that amongst the four crews clean sheeting the navigation, a vehicle navigated by the inimitable George Davidson featured. George is the director of the Winter Classic. Other successful navigators getting all 16 vias were Randella Barnes in the Mini, Barry Giddings in the Jensen Healey and Kay Kilsby in Brian Jenkins E Type Jag. At Camperdown there were two driving tests to be conducted. The first of those was a 1.5 km dash through the three connected open sections of the Camperdown Saleyards. This driving test has proved to be my nemesis in both last year's event and this year's Winter Classic with brainfade leading to WD's in at least one of the sections. This time I was determined to get it right and was lucky enough to do so. Others however suffered WD's in significant numbers. The little Alpine got through in a smidgin over 1 minute, 26 seconds followed by Greg Gibson in the storming 2002 a short gap behind. Brian Jenkins did a fantastic job in the big E Type to take third in this test. No doubt Kay's excellent navigational skills aided him in avoiding a WD, as Colin Stark's skills had helped me.

The field then moved on to the Mt Leura Hillclimb just out of the township. This hillclimb was run over the usual course with most of the field successfully completing it in the low to mid 40 second bracket. First here was Theo Miritis in his very fast Jensen Healey with a time of 38.24 seconds. The Alpine managed second quickest in 39.15 seconds followed 1/100th of a second later by Tony Hawker in his beautiful Alfa GTV-6.

After the hillclimb some 40 minutes was allowed by the Director for lunch and the field commenced to eat Camperdown out of house and home. Being freshly fortified we then entered into a series of average speed sections on a navigation exercise which took us to Hopkins Falls, northwest of Warrnambool. Using the Colac 1:250,000 we proceeded through Glen Ormiston South, Kolora, The Sisters, Framlingham and Panmure. Again the general route was relatively straightforward to follow but Rob had found little nuances that combined with the required average speeds caused a large number of crews some real difficulties. Again the need to carefully read instructions was manifested when the third of the average speeds was expressed to be in miles per hour rather than kilometres per hour. Many missed this until other competitors began to pass them! He also found some tricky little re-alignments in Panmure which caught a number of crews out. Robin Smalley, George Davidson and Graham Vaux all starred during the course of the afternoon's activities getting their drivers through blemish free. After a short break at Hopkins Falls there was a further navigation through to the Saleyards at Warrnambool.

Here an interesting test was conducted involving both the driving skills of the steerer and the accuracy of the navigator. Cars left a start garage and accelerated up to a rubbish bin that contained a flag on a pole. At that point they were required to come to a stop whilst the navigator grabbed the flag. They then proceeded to do a tight slalom with a loop back to the same canister where another stop was required so that the flag pole could be replaced. It was then a sprint back to a finish garage via another chicane. In sizzling form on this test were Frank Devine and George Davidson in the crisp and grunty Datsun 1600. They blitzed the field with Russell Thorpe coming in 5 seconds later in second place and Colin and I almost 2 seconds further behind in third. I have to say that the left hand drive characteristics of my car caused some additional unforeseen problems in getting the flag. Nevertheless it was a fun event for the end of the day with a number of the late competitors doing it in the growing twilight.

The autotest completed the day's driving activities but the best was yet to come. Rob had organised dinner at Balenas Restaurant. The whole field together with the rally's officials had an excellent meal and a great night at this fine venue in Warrnambool. It was great that the whole rally was able to enjoy the conviviality of the venue and the camaraderie of each other's company. Ales and wines flowed freely but of course all obeyed the eight hour rule of bottle to throttle. Much of Warrnambool's accommodation was occupied by happy and satisfied competitors.

The next morning dawned as brightly as the day before. Competition recommenced at the Warrnambool Saleyards with three entertaining and quite challenging Motorkhanas. The first of these required competitors to accelerate from a start/finish garage approximately 80 metres into a turning area, execute a 180E turn to the finish garage. This test disclosed the hoons in the ranks of competitors and in particular those who had a misspent youth relating too closely to their hand brakes! Fastest here was Kim Harper who spun his Escort like a top and completed the test in a smidgin over 8 seconds. Dennis Edwards in his X19 was a few hundredths of a second quicker than Phillip Micklejohn in the Alfa about 3/10th of a second behind Kim. Most competitors were forced to execute three point turns and were accordingly 5 or more seconds slower than the hand brake spinners. Jim Steven in his lovely 203 Peugeot scored 9th quickest in this test by driving in carefully and utilising the excellent turning cycle of his vehicle to do a full u-turn and then drove sedately out to score a 12 second run and the applause of the present spectators.

The second Motorkhana was a quick slalom over approximately a 100 metre distance through 5 cones with a 180E turn and a re-turn through the cones to a finish garage. The A110 shines in these sorts of tests with its quick rack, rear engine traction and nimble size. I managed to pip Greg Goodwin in his quick MG Midget by about 3/10th of a second followed by Ron Verschuur a second back in his Mini. The highlight of this test however was the sights and sounds of Ken Harper wheeling his great Mustang through the cones. Both man and car are HRA Legends!

The third Motorkhana and last driving test of the event was a slalom followed by a series of 3 x 360E into a finish garage. The fastest cars managed to perform it in 40 seconds and the only vehicle to break that magical figure was Greg Goodwin in his Midget with a 39.97 second run. Second was Dennis in the X19 in 40.19 and third was Doug Fernie in his bright yellow Datsun 1600 in 40.33 seconds. It was a fun test and it was the first Motorkhana I have ever done that left me feeling dizzy. Phil Torode, of PCCV and the HRA, set up and ran the Motorkhanas and he is to be congratulated as all competitors enjoyed them. This discipline of motor sport is often derided but to be done properly requires skill and car control and can be great fun.

The field then embarked on a 130 km navigation exercise from Warrnambool to Colac. With 10 vias and 13 informations it took crews on a meander through the country south of the Princes Highway. Places such as Mepunga East, Nullawarra, Timboon, Scotts Creek, Jancourt and Purrumbete South featured on the route. Although the overall navigation was straightforward there were a couple of exquisite vias that trapped a number of crews with re-alignments and one that only three crews got. The term "F1" will always have an added meaning for many competitors. The only navigators to clean sheet this section were Graham Vaux and Geoff Floyd. A cunningly positioned passage control successfully tricked a number of other crews who missed the F1 via.

The rally descended on Colac for lunch and in superb, sunning weather enjoyed the best fare that Colac could provide. After lunch we were provided with one of the more extraordinary maps I have seen in rallying. It consisted of a blank page with a series of dots with associated place names and instructions to follow road signs to those place names in order of the road signs. Towards the end there was a drop-on route chart at a 108.49 kms to be followed to the end control of the section in Geelong. This section was run as an economy run with an average speed set in the high 60km bracket. It meant that competitors had a peaceful tootle through the northern Ottways visiting places such as Forrest, Murroon, Deans Marsh, Modewarre, where the hall was yet again visited, Moriac and Grovedale. After refuelling the field then proceeded to the finish control located at the Geelong Racing Club clubrooms. This proved to be a superb venue with the vehicles parked on the lawns under the trees and competitors welcomed to a convivial atmosphere and appropriately stocked bar.

Third outright and first in Category 1 Class C were Doug Fernie and Robin Smalley in their Datsun 510 1600.

Second in the BMW 2002 were Greg Gibson and Steven Mitchell.

The little Alpine Renault ran brilliantly over the weekend and with the superb assistance of Colin Stark of Alpine Affair as navigator I was lucky enough to win the event. Although not seriously comparing victories, its the first win in a rally in this country for an Alpine since Bob Watson's sensational victory in the 1974 Don Capasco Rally in Canberra.

Special thanks should go to Lynn and Rex Carr of Wentworth Furniture for their generous sponsorship of this event and on behalf of all competitors I sincerely thank Robert Dyer and his wonderful team of officials for putting on a really fun weekend. At the drivers briefing he told us to have fun and I know everyone did. In the end that's what motor sport should be about.