• Motor sport and tourism - a great combination
• A few asides
• Looking at at the bright side
• Too 'quick' for some?
• The bottom line
• What to do about average speeds?
• Will limiting brakes, limit performance?
• What about Safety Notes?
• A final reflection

This years event was run from October 18-21 and was deservedly won by Andrew Cavalli in an Escort RS1600. The Perana Capri of David McDonough was second with Peter Landans exciting Elan 26R replica just clutching onto third from John Beasleys XU-1 by the divine margin of one second!

Motor sport and tourism - a great combination

This year the Tour and Parade sections grew while the Competition section shrank somewhat. Perhaps this was due to the late release of the Regulations or the apparent lack of sustained marketing program for what undoubtedly has the potential to be one of the great motorsport (and tourism) experiences to be had in this country.

We drove past and through so many wonderful vineyards and towns that Will Logan, my navigator decided to return within the month for a weeks fun.

The visiting international competitors could not believe how good the roads, hospitality and pace of competition were. They have vowed, given the right opportunities, to return with rallyings equivalent of the "balmy army" to teach the colonials a thing or two.

They were individually and collectively a great bunch of people who loved every minute of the experience and yet they couldnt believe that there werent more participants and competitors. I make this distinction because the event offers three events in one and you can take virtually any pre-1975 vehicle and find, according to your experience and preparation level, somewhere in the field to join in. It doesnt take 2 weeks as little as five days including pre-event processing if you wish.

If this sounds like an advertisement it should, because its there to be done.

A few asides

There were a number of club members participating this year and Jim Reark and John Aust were among them. There will undoubtedly be an account of their experiences in the "pommy XU-1" elsewhere and perhaps Messrs. Beaumont, Eames, Canny etc will also contribute. I do know that John Aust pronounced a crisis when Jim ran out of cigars and they couldnt find a supplier of the right brand in Adelaide. Seems like a good business opportunity as youd only have to be open for a week or so to make enough to take the rest of the year off!

From a personal perspective we had a great, if not altogether successful, time. We were out of the event after 150m of the first special stage. At this moment one following SA competitor announced "..there is a God." I am undertaking research to determine whether this "gent" is related to Andrew Ogg who cleaned up having bet that we wouldnt make lunch time. Andrew, Jim will tell you that real money was to be made on the Book on how far we actually travelled before stopping.

Looking at the bright side!

Anyway, in order to continue to provide amusement to the locals, we restarted the next day. On the first stage we lost the water pump belt going up the hill and broke an axle on the start of the second stage. We couldnt be unhappy though as we had improved over last year when we broke the axle on the other side at the start of the third stage on the same day! The camera crew were bemused to see a smile still on my face and said they would use last years footage instead.

As you may have gathered, you may, with the indulgence of the Clerk of Course and the scrutineers, rejoin the event the following day. So we did and treated the remaining two days as a test session making adjustments to the car as we went. No two stages were attempted without a change having been made from the previous one, most being adjustments to shock absorber settings.

Given the huge variety of roads encountered in an event such as the Classic, it really brought home to me how little value there is in setting a car up for this type of event on a race track. Not that we had the time to do that anyway. In the end we ran out of stages and with the exception of a broken exhaust manifold were ready to start the event again.

Too quick for some?

During this process we concentrated on what the car was doing and our times versus last years results rather than the other competitors. As it turns out we were doing rather well.

The Clerk of Course therefore decided that the car would be impounded and the head would be removed. The winner was also marked down for this while the place getters and some class/category winners were directed to "parc ferme" but did not appear to be subjected to component removal. The Clerk of Course was initially insisting that this be done in the street and while the engine was still hot a definite no-no.

When questioned by the CAMS Observer as to why my vehicle was impounded the Clerk of Course responded that he had had "complaints from a number of Competitors" that as we were performing well since we rejoined the event we had probably fitted a 2litre engine (rather than 1.8). He then stated "Im not going to have an illegal car enjoy the glory of fastest stage times". This was apparently a policy change from last years event based on the fastest times attributed on many stages in the road books for this year.

They both then agreed that my car was the "..one chosen at random" for scrutiny. How silly of me to miss that!

I totally support post event scrutineering, and have always advocated it, as the only way to ensure the integrity of competing vehicles. Both Andrew Cavallis and my car had the heads removed on the morning following the event and surprise!..surprise!..surprise! they both complied with the measurements on their Vehicle Identity Forms.

The bottom line

How do I feel about this event? I feel that Classic Adelaide is a wonderful event that everyone should have a go at. The beauty is that there are many classes and categories in which you can compete and there is the underlying theme that you can find a spot in the event to enjoy it at your own chosen pace.

The Event offers an enormous variety of challenging roads, which if treated with respect, are both safe and rewarding to drive. They range from those akin to the Richmond Boulevard wrapped over a roller coaster to the Kew Boulevard, halved in width. There are climbs and a variety of descents and some such as "Montecute" and "Basket Range" where everything thing is wrapped up together and there is no rest for either crew member. I do however feel that the event lacked for long stages and really needed more stages on the Thursday and Friday. Well, Im sure I would have felt this if we got to do them.

What to do about average speeds?

We need to develop this arm of the sport into a sustainable package that remains socially acceptable (in a deviant kind of way). As one step towards this, CAMS this year imposed a requirement that no competitor should exceed an average speed of 132kph on any individual stage. This appears to have resulted in a number of changes to, and removal of, stages this year, quite frankly to the detriment of the event.

While I wholeheartedly support the containment of absolute speed, I do believe that this issue needs to be revisited with an eye on the sustainability issue. I am told that we broke this barrier on five stages and that these stages are regarded as great drivers stages and are greatly loved by the overseas visitors.

I suspect that in reality very few competitors in a given field are capable of exceeding this average speed on a given stage. Therefore, I do not support the view that these stages or indeed other stages in events such as Rally Tasmania or Targa Tasmania should be dropped simply because a few competitors in a 100+ field exceed this number.

Perhaps one option would be to allow a tolerance of say up to 10% of competitors to exceed this limit before resorting to further modification or rejection of roads that certainly have the potential to develop international "must do" reputations.

Once home I had time to do a quick analysis and it was revealing. On one of these stages we were the only car over the "limit" by just 0.06 kph, on two others only two cars were over with a substantial gap to the next cars average and on one stage four cars were over or on the limit with two others close.

However, on "Paris Creek 1" my theory gets blown out of the water with 25 cars or about 37% of the Competition section that undertook the stage were over the limit. This years stage, was conducted on one part of a stage that had been around 26km in length in previous years. It is a remarkably challenging piece of road and was perhaps the most talked about stage right across the participants from the Tour to the Competition section. It is greatly loved by the international visitors for its open, flowing nature and quality of surface. Some even enjoy the views.

Therefore, when viewed in isolation, even against my proposal, we have a problem. If we then looked at the incident/safety record on this stage I cannot recall any incidents on the original full length stage or this years stage over the last four events in which I have participated. This is just my "top of mind" view and may in fact be wrong.

My point is that while there is much in common between tarmac and dirt rallying, there are also many differences and this needs to be fully recognised by those who "manage" the sport. One limit, rule, policy may not be the only solution or issue to consider in both disciplines.

I also feel that, as the "eligible date" inevitably rolls forward, advances in specification of cars and tyre technology will render such an absolute rule, and therefore Tarmac Events, largely untenable, at least under CAMS. Perhaps sustaining the current wheel width and tyre profile restrictions would be one way of dealing with this.

Will limiting brakes, limit performance?

To me brakes are another substantial contributor to speed. One argument is that allowing freedom of brakes is a necessary allowance to improve safety. While probably true, I also believe that they allow or encourage much higher corner approach speeds, whether real or perceived by the driver. I for one would be happy to run on the period, homologated brakes or dimensional equivalent although the ability of drivers to out drive their brakes irrespective of standard, is legendary. My reasoning for this change is that it would hopefully lead to the striking of a better balance in the competing cars and would (should?), by default, render the continued pursuit for power meaningless if you cant stop the car.

What about Safety Notes?

This year the Event Organisers allowed the use of "Safety" or "Pace" Notes for the first time. The Clerk of Course prepared a set for sale to competitors at what was a very reasonable price compared with preparing your own. I personally found this to be a positive step for the event and my observation was that there seemed to be fewer accidents and fewer injuries. I would encourage anyone attempting this event to use these notes to assist you to learn and develop an understanding of the roads and the system.

From a personal point of view we purchased a set of the Official notes and, while we found them to be well presented and developed, they were appropriately conservative and we decided to develop our own. I also found it interesting to see that a number of Teams that previously had run right at the front of the field had obviously not gained much from the freedom to use pace notes.

A final reflection

Notwithstanding these developments, at the end of the day the prime safety determinant is the drivers attitude. That is drive within your limits and dont try to find out what they are during an event on unfamiliar roads where the nearest object is an immovable tree.

As mentioned above, the event caters for a huge variety of vehicles right through the field, including yours! Therefore, there is no reason, apart from the fact that the wonderful Rally Tasmania precedes it each February, why this should not be your first Tarmac Rally experience so start planning now and be there in 2002.

And now to deal with an earlier assertion. Yes there is at least one God and he says that you must have a BDA to win (apologies to John Spencer) and further he decrees that if you use his name in vain you shall come fourth by one second!

Hope to see you all at Rally Tasmania in February and in Adelaide next October God willing of course. Anyone wanting to buy an Escort RS1600 should give me a call.