The 2001 version of Rally Tasmania and the Lactos Heritage Rally promised much in the way of spirited competition in both events. It delivered. This year’s event got underway with perfect conditions which lasted across the three days of competition and with some significant revisions to the course used in 2000.

The key changes were two new stages on the Friday afternoon, the use of Hellyer Gorge (both ways) on both the Saturday and Sunday, splitting Savage River into two stages on the way up, but retaining the full length of the stage on the way back. Missing this year was Cradle Mountain, but Targa enthusiasts would have enjoyed the transport stage over the familiar territory of Gunns Plains.

The Rally Tasmania section of the event is designed for vehicles produced post 1977 and includes some modified vehicles from the pre-1977 period that do not comply with the requirements for the Lactos Heritage Rally. This year’s event had a couple of omissions prior to the start. Miles Sandy in the WRX STI didn’t make it to the event and the rumours surrounding Jim Richards appearance evaporated. Well known Richards co-driver Barry Oliver was present however as a commentator and no doubt kept the many spectators, who came along to watch the event, well informed.

Prior to the event it was felt that the event would be a closely fought contest between the reigning champion Graham Alexander in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V and previous winner Ray Lintott in his all new Porsche 996 4WD Turbo. Not too far behind, if at all, would be Club members Jeff and Neridah Beable in their much travelled Nissan Skyline GT-R N1.

It was evident fairly quickly that the competitive pace of the event had gone up a notch or two in 2001. A simple glance through the entry list showed the number of Porsches had escalated to new heights, with the GT3 making them almost commonplace. Alternatively there were fewer WRX, etc than previously, giving the event a slightly different look to previous years.

From a club standpoint, there were some 13 cars entered by members:

• Beable, Jeff - Nissan Skyline GT-R N1

• Bedggood, Brett - Porsche 911 2.7

• Case, Bernard - Mitsubishi Lancer GSR

• Cattlin, Len - Ford Mustang

• Edmonds, Guy - Nissan 200SX

• Gishcus, Simon - Nissan 200SX-R

• Hawker, Tony - Alfa Romeo GTV6

• Jonas, Danny - Mazda RX7 Series IV

• Kim, Winston - Porsche GT3

• Lack, Stephen - Nissan Pulsar Gti-R

• Stephen, Chris - Subaru Impreza WRX STI

• Washington, Peter - Toyota MR2

• Wilson, Chris - Ford Cortina Mk 1

Of the 73 entries in Rally Tasmania, 32 were from Victoria and slightly more than one in three from the Club. Given the size of this club, that’s pretty good representation.

The event got underway on Friday evening and by the completion of the two stages Graham Alexander was in front with Ray Lintott, Andrew Murfett (Nissan Pulsar GTi-R), Peter O’Keefe (Holden Torana SLR5000), Max Warwick (Porsche GT3) and Tony Quinn (Porsche GT3) closely behind.

With the dawn of the new day and the longer stages of Hellyer and Savage River ahead the event began in earnest and by day’s end Lintott lead a small group who were only seconds apart. The Sunday turned out to be ‘crunch’ day as the lead was swapped repeatedly between Tony Quinn and Ray Lintott. It was probably the second last stage of the day that did it though - Hellyer Reverse. At the leading edge of the field a time close to 8.00 minutes through Hellyer is regarded as very good and the leading bunch were close to this mark. Tony Quinn however managed a 7.50 run and obviously was flying. It probably proved the decisive stage in a highly competitive event.

This year, the club did not have a member in the top 10 - the top 5 in finishing order according to the Provisional Results were as follows:

• TonyQuinn / Keith Wenn: Porsche GT3

• Ray Lintott / Tony Jackson: Porsche 996 4WD Turbo

• Graham Alexander / David Stewart: Mitsubishi Lancer EVO V

• Peter O’Keefe / Andrew Kuc: Holden Torana SLR5000

• Andrew Murfett / Will Logan: Nissan Pulsar Gti-R

The event featured some great drives by Stephen Sims and Stephen Hoineville in their highly modified Escorts and by Max Wqrwick & Ruth Williams in the Porsche GT3.  

Whilst club members may not have made the top 10 several did really well in class:

• Peter Washington & Guy Edmonds finished 1^st and 2^nd respectively in Class G3 just ahead of Glen Ridge;

• Tony Hawker won Class G6

• Simon Gischus finished third in Class G7

Of those club members competing in the event a few ran into mechanical gremlins that either shortened their event or cost them significant time penalties. Brett Bedggood was an early casualty in his Porsche and Len Cattlin lost time in the Mustang, but wherever it went it became an instant crowd pleaser. Despite persistent carburettion and fuel problems Chris Wilson got through the event and in fact finished 8^th in a very competitive class.

The story of the event probably came from Jeff Beable who ran sixth in this event last year and was certainly in contention in the top 10 again this year. Half-way up the Cradle Mountain stage their is a quick diversion off the main road which involves a right turn and then 50 metres later a left turn and a straight section for 300 metres and then a left turn again back to intersect with the main road and continue on to Cradle Mountain. 

The purpose of the diversion (which is in a place called ‘Liuna’ and inhabited by two or three people at most) is to slow down vehicles and reduce the average speed to keep ARCOM and CAMS happy. 

Whilst the diversion was a sealed road it was barely a car width wide, surrounded by dense bush on both sides and hadn’t been travelled on for months. In the middle of the diversion, Jeff’s Nissan GT-R Vspec N1 decides to blow a Turbo Hose. Pushing the car off the road and behind the ribbon, Jeff has no replacement hose, and has broken down in one of the most isolated places in North West Tasmania. "Can I be of any help?" a timid voice whispered from the nearby undergrowth. "Look lady, thanks for your help but there are only three cars in Tasmania that have got a hose that will fit this. One’s on this car, another is on a car also in the event and the other is on a car owned by some woman!" said a somewhat exasperated Jeff Beable wondering, amongst other things, why such a complex car should break down in such an isolated place. "Well, I have a car just like that, maybe you can use a part from my car", she replied softly. The penny-dropped, this was the third GT-R. Thanks to the lady in question, Jeff got back in the event.

The goliaths of competition in ‘Classic’ type events such as Lactos and Classic Adelaide in the past two years have been club member Peter Kyriakidis and Adelaide’s Andrew Cavalli in their Ford Escort RS 1600's. Cavalli made a slight error of judgement in the 2000 event and Kyriakidis went on to win the event. Closely behind them in both events is Jeff Beaumont who finished 2^nd in the 2000 event and 3^rd to Cavalli’s 2^nd in Classic Adelaide in October last year. All three were present at this year’s event and the battle therefore looked set to continue.

Some 52 entries made it to the start line of Lactos this year and of those who did some 33 were from Victoria. The club’s representation was down a bit to 9 cars as Peter Eames in his Jaguar E-Type Lightweight coupe, Mick Case in his Porsche 911 2.7 and John Hardy in the Alpine Renault A110 were unable to make it. Peter decided that the last minute hitch with the Jag, was just to much to bear and came down to Burnie on the Sunday. Those club members who did line up included:

• Beaumont, Jeff: 1970 Porsche 911

• Canny, Brian: 1969 Alfa Romeo GTV

• Connolly, Mark: 1967 Fiat 124 AC Coupe

• Finlay, Barry: 1966 Ford Falcon XR GT

• Kyriakidis, Peter: 1973 Ford Escort RS 1600

• Ogg, Andrew: 1971 Ford Escort Twin Cam

• Reark, Jim: 1968 MGC GT

• Swan, Ian: 1967 Ford Mustang

• Taylor, Geoff: 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera

It was evident right from the start that the 2001 Lactos Heritage Rally was going to be a tight event. In fact the three protagonists Cavalli, Kyriakidis and Beaumont ran closely together throughout the entire event with Cavalli maintaining a slight lead in absolute terms and losing only one stage to Kyriakidis, albeit both amazingly had identical times on three stages. Equally Jeff Beaumont managed to equal Kyriakidis on one stage and get ahead of him on two others.

For Peter Kyriakidis however the event ended abruptly on the second last stage when a valve spring let go pushing him out of the competition. Cavalli therefore went on to win the event with Jeff Beaumont in second place. Not far behind were club members Ian Swan who finished in 6^th place only 1 second away from 5^th and Geoff Taylor with the refurbished Kodak Yellow Porsche in equal 7^th place. The top 10 in order were:

• Andrew Cavalli / Michael Dale: Ford Escort RS1600

• Jeff Beaumont / Peter Gale: Porsche 911

• David Cooper / Simon Healey: Torana GTR-XU1

• Paul Stewart / Jennifer Cole: Porsche 911 Carrera

• Nigel Montgomery / William Birney: BMW 3.0 CSL

• Ian & Val Swan: Ford Mustang

• Peter Van Summeren / John Hadden: Ford Escort Twin Cam

• Geoff Taylor / Lee Harper: Porsche 911 Carrera

• Damian & Colin Faulkner: Ford Escort Twin Cam

• Jeremy Browne / Darren Masters: Lancia Fulvia 1.6HF

Great drives were put in by Andrew Ogg, Barry Finlay and Mark Connolly who incidentally were members of the same team at the Winton 6 Hour last year. 

The surprise of the event was John Aust who thanks to Peter Watt not only got to navigate in his first tarmac closed-road special stage rally, but also walked away with a trophy for a class win.

Reflections on 2001

Sunday night with the Presentation Dinner brought to an end to another great event and congratulations are due once again to Tony and Ann Wright for their splendid organisational skills and their ability to mount what is judged by all as a first class event.

As to the event format, I for one like the Friday evening stages as they let you get dialled into the event. The fact that they were easier than last year helped. Doing Hellyer both ways on two days didn’t seem too bad - at least you got the chance to compare your own performances. If you have an opinion, let Tony know, I’m sure he will be interested.

The inclusion of Neil Bates in the Driver’s Briefing this year was another positive move to remind everyone that Rally Tasmania/Lactos is a dangerous event as recent history underlines. Despite the presence of Neil Bates at the Driver’s Briefing and his warning to all assembled of the perils of tarmac-rallies and advising a "Slow-in and Fast-out" approach to the event, there were still a few who seemed to disregard these words of advice once the event got underway. In these circumstances some carnage was to be expected and it happened. One delivery mileage Porsche 911 Turbo wrote itself off on a quick section of Hellyer Gorge and there were one or two other similar casualties. In each case the errors were those of the drivers and not the organisers.

On balance I felt it was a great event. The weather was good again and everyone got some time to unwind each evening. The competition in the event continues to get quicker, but the safety standards and arrangements seem to be keeping pace.

As to next year, the word is there will be a sharp increase in entry fees - something to the order of $400. No doubt this increase will not restrain the enthusiasm for this event and next year’s event will once again see a strong entry.

Dear Australian Rally News

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Tony Wright and his crew for yet again a sensational event in Rally Tasmania. We competed in this event for the first time last year and were eager to return to what has to be the one of the best value and most enjoyable events in the country.

The event this year for us unfortunately did not go to plan with the second leg being a "character building" disaster due to a recurring mechanical problem, however, we returned on the last leg to again appreciate why we had made the journey. It is a reflection on both the organisers, their welcome assistants and our fellow competitors that we could have had such a run well below our expectations yet come away from the event with such a great level of enjoyment.

A great contributor to our enjoyment is seeing the crews like O’ Keefe, Sims and Morrisby mixing it with the more exotic machinery. This event gives crews of this calibre the chance to bring their skills to the fore within the rallying community. It would be a shallow victory winning an event knowing that their fellow competitors did not have competitive vehicles and as we all have varying budgets, the rules within this event come the closest we can to a relatively even playing field.

So it is with sadness we read in the October ARCOM minutes the plans to push the event towards PRC regulations. One would have thought that instead of trying to make the event emulate an ARC, that they would look to the reasons why the event is so successful. When was the last time an ARC had half a dozen potential winners in different vehicles? As we are often told, CAMS is our organization, so who would benefit from these changes? The event already has a capacity field so obviously the competitors are more than happy. Perhaps the second part of the CAMS mission statement should be minuted at the next meeting.

Rally Tasmania surely meets these criteria. By all means monitor the organizational and safety standards, but please, leave an event that caters for the general rally community alone. As a wise trophy recipient stated at the presentation " It ain’t bust so don’t fix it ".

Regards