Notwithstanding last year’s incidents the 2000 Rally Tasmania and Lactos Heritage Rally nonetheless managed to get off to a fiery start. Reg Kenny in the ‘Salvadori’ Jaguar Mk II somewhat blinded by the late afternoon sun failed to take a corner on the transport to the first stage and managed to leave the road backwards. Having parked the car and sustained some damage, Reg’s event was over before it had begun! There’s always next year, Reg.

First-timer Simon Gishcus in the Nissan 200 SX-R found out quickly that it pays to have something in reserve. Coming over a crest in the first stage of the event he got airborne and parked the car in circumstances that forced him to withdraw from the event. Club members Simon and Reg were not alone however as three other cars managed to leave the road, on this first evening of the event, two of which were totally destroyed. One, a Porsche 944, which a having left the road was burnt to the ground when its hot exhaust ignited dry grass. The other a Mazda RX7 managed to go end-to-end near the same spot. Fortunately no one was injured, but it was not the start organiser Tony Wright was hoping for. Happily the event settled down quickly over the weekend and apart from one major off and a few indiscretions the event proceeded smoothly.

Prior to the start of this combined event most of the focus was on the Lactos Heritage Rally component with Andrew Cavalli’s first attempt at the event and how he would handle the challenge of the tighter and twistier Tasmanian terrain. Not that there wasn’t a lot of interest in the Rally Tasmania component - there was.

Before giving you a summary of each, it should be said that conditions for the event were just about perfect. North West Tasmania at this time of year seems to provide the absolute best of conditions. In keeping with its reputation there was however some rain, but it managed to fall on Saturday night, making Hellyer Gorge a bit slippery early on Sunday morning but otherwise dry for most of the cars. So what happened?

Starting favourite for this event was Graham Alexander and David Stewart in the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO5. This pairing won the event in a Mitsubishi Lancer GS in 1997 and were heavily tipped to make a comeback this year after having been up at the front in both 1998 and 1999. Providing the opposition were half a dozen ‘professional’ rally drivers and of course entries from a number of members of the Maserati Club of Australia..

Making their first attempt at the event were Jeff and Nerida Beable in the Nissan GTR Vspec which had done so well in Targa Tasmania last year. Naturally there was considerable interest in seeing how Jeff would fare against these rally specialists. Strangely after last year’s surfeit of Subaru WRX STI’s there was only one this year - that of Chris Stephen and Adrian Mortimer.

Once under way the Rally Tasmania field started to sort itself out into about three groups. The top half dozen including Graham Alexander, followed by about another eight cars about a minute behind this group and then the rest of the field a further couple of minutes back.

Graham Alexander and David Stewart must have decided very early on that this was going to be their year. They made no mistakes and in a very professional display the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5 managed to finish 1 minute and 26 seconds (1:26) ahead of Andrew Lawson and Brendan Spurr in their very quick Nissan 200 SX-R. Jeff and Nerida Beable in a great drive finished in 6^th position close behind. In fact Jeff was only 5 seconds behind 5^th place finisher David McDonough, who had performed so well in the V8 Capri in Classic Adelaide last year, who in this event was steering a Mitsubishi Evo 6.

Chris Stephen and Andrew Mortimer finished in 11^th position. Obviously finessing the set-up on the Subaru WRX STI had improved the handling and they were in a group of seven or eight cars behind the leading half-dozen which were very evenly matched.

Following not too far behind in 17^th were Mark Connolly and Andrew Baker in the Porsche 968CS, Mark ran in the club’s Six Hour team last August. Of the other club members who managed to finish the Rally Tasmania event, there were:

• Peter Washington and Tim McNeilly - Toyota MRX - Peter won his class

• Winston Kim and Laurie Pitt - Porsche GT3

• Andrew Gregory and Travis Williams - Maserati Ghibli Cup)

• John Spark and Peter Geroff - Porsche 968CS

• Guy Edmonds and Don Chandler - Nissan 200SX

• Michael Case & Christopher Case - Peugeot 205GTi

• Chris Wilson & Charles Youl - Ford Cortina GT

• Stephen Lack & Phillip Lack - Nissan Pulsar GtiR

As usual there were a few who failed to finish. Amongst these were Danny Jonas who managed to get to Savage River before mechanical gremlins overtook him. For the statistically minded of the 63 entries in Rally Tasmania 2000 this year, 14 were members of the Club.

Of the two events, the Lactos Heritage Rally was of greatest interest. Running behind the Rally Tasmania field, the Lactos Heritage Rally field comprised some 50 entries of which 12 were members of the club.

Making his first appearance in this event was Andrew Cavalli in his Ford Escort RS 1600. It was Cavalli who managed to ‘crash out’ of Classic Adelaide whilst holding a seemingly unbeatable lead during that event. Also making his first appearance was club member Jeff Beaumont who in his Porsche 911, which he drove with success in the club Six Hour team at Winton and then a month or so later managed to finish a strong 6^th in Classic Adelaide. And not forgetting the man who got pipped at the post in Classic Adelaide, club member Peter Kyriakidis who was back again in his Ford Escort RS 1600.

The Lactos Heritage Rally was therefore looking like a re-run of Classic Adelaide, but on the tighter twistier terrain of North West Tasmania. As others will no doubt attest, competition in the Lactos Heritage Rally got underway in earnest very early. Andrew Cavalli driving very quickly in his Escort RS 1600 started to pull away from Peter Kyriakidis in his RS 1600 throughout Saturday with Peter picking up some ground here and there. By Sunday at Moina, like Classic Adelaide there was a clear trend.. By the start of Moina Cavalli had once again amassed a seemingly impregnable lead of some 40 seconds over Peter with only a few stages to go. He had a clear choice as he did in Classic Adelaide. Judging by the length of the skid marks, Cavalli had obviously decided not to back off and protect his lead, but to increase it. The skid marks left a tell-tale sign as to the route of the car, which had failed to take a corner and literally disappeared off the road, end-to-end on the way down the gully, below. Those passing the point saw the crew hold out the OK sign but the car was nowhere to be seen.

And so it was that Peter Kyriakidis won the 2000 Lactos Heritage Rally. Following 2 minutes behind was Jeff Beaumont in the Porsche 911 who had driven consistently to finish a minute ahead of the 1999 Lactos winners, David Cooper and Simon Healey in their 1970 Holden Torana GTR.

Other club members finishing the event included:

• Peter Eames & Vic Spiteri - Jag XJ6

• Jack Klaver & Kim Vadja - Ferrari 308GTB

• Brian Canny & Stephen Canny - Alfa Romeo GTV

• Geoff Taylor & Lane O’Donohue - Lotus Cortina

• John Bryson & Anni Dillon - Jaguar E Type

John Hardy in the Alpine Renault, (see his personal account next) who was travelling as high as sixth at one point, unfortunately ran into fuel problems forcing him to miss a stage and therefore fall out of the event. John of course was not alone, several club members encountered difficulties during the event that forced them to miss a competitive stage. In nearly all cases club members affected in this way were able to rejoin the event and continue on. For those not at the pointy end of the field, the joy is in just being there - competing.

This year’s event of course was conducted against the background of the AVGAS contamination problems of Mobil. Many cars in the Lactos Heritage Rally run on AVGAS. Perhaps that was the problem encountered by the popular crew of the Escort Twin Cam - Andrew Ogg and Mike Mier. After a solid performance on Friday evening they arrived at the start line for the first stage on Saturday morning, to find to their surprise and great disappointment, they had a fuel contamination problem, forcing them to miss the start. Whatever it was, I am happy to report that they managed to get it out of their system and rejoin the field after lunch and Savage River return later in the day. Just goes to show you how important getting the right mix of fuel in your system can be - especially if you have to perform first thing the next morning!