When the news arrived that John Blanden had decided to call it quits and that the naming rights sponsor Duttons had also withdrawn from the Grand Prix Rally in the latter half of last year, many thought that the Grand Prix Rally would not be run in 2001.

In the space of three months following the Grand Prix Corporation’s appointment of Octagon Worldwide as Event Managers, Tom Snooks and his crew did a remarkable job to get the 2001 version of the Grand Prix Rally off the ground.

With a new naming rights sponsor (it is now the Trading Post Grand Prix Rally), new management, many new officials and revisions to the structure and course of the event, the Grand Prix Rally 2001 was voted by many long term participants as ‘the best yet’ at the black tie Presentation Dinner held at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt last. Sound like good PR? Well the comments made were unsolicited and in some cases embarrassing given John Blanden’s attendance at the dinner.

Participation down, but Enthusiasm up

There seem to be no negatives coming out of the event, at the time of writing, which of course is a remarkable sign, especially considering the confusion surrounding the future of the event only a few months ago. Notwithstanding the marketing and promotional efforts designed to raise awareness of the event since Xmas, the event failed to capture a third of last year’s entrants, who according to research by Octagon either ‘didn’t think the event would be on’, ‘ (the event) will suffer in the absence of John Blanden’ or who admitted they would ‘rather wait and see what happens’ in this year’s event first.

Nonetheless some 144 entries made it to the starting line. In Targa style there were two broad competitions: Modern and Classic. As usual there were a number of club members in the event. Two of these in particular (Jeff Beaumont and Jeff Beable) had been extremely busy the previous weekend in the environs of Burnie competing in Rally Tasmania/Lactos.

The Classic Competition

Of the 144 entries, 35 had entered the Classic Competition which is reserved for vehicles manufactured in 1981 or prior. This is perhaps the area with the greatest potential growth for the revised event which in the past has been dominated by vehicles from this era. Many of the pre 1970 cars seen in previous events were missing for this event. No doubt we will see a large increase in entries in this section now that the future of the event is assured and a special competition has been created for vehicles in this category.

Whilst no club members finished in the top 10 in this section there were three represented:

• Ben Braida: 1964 Ferrari 330GT

• Steve Smith: 1971 Ferrari 246GT

• Bob Watson: 1970 Porsche 911S

The overall winners of the Classic Competition were David Lawson & John Borrell in their 1979 Porsche 911SC. The Porsche 911 Carrera’s of Tony Robertson & Roger Vella and Roly & John Newman were in 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively.

There were 109 cars competing in the Modern Competition which is reserved for cars manufactured post 1981. As has been the case in previous years, competition was fierce at this end of the field and whilst one or two familiar faces may have been missing those who have consistently done well in the event were mostly represented. Club members participating, all of whom finished in the top 20 were:

• Jeff Beable: 1997 Nissan GT-R

• Jeff Beaumont: 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI

• Ian Knight: 1996 Porsche 911 RSCS

• Gary Tierney: 1999 Porsche GT3

Jim Richards started the event as favourite in his 2001 Porsche 911 4WD Turbo and Peter Brock with son Robert in the 2000 Holden VX SS Commodore were fancied to do well. Well Jim Richards didn’t win and Peter Brock finished 39^th overall.

The winners of the Modern event were Greg Keene & Richard Geue in their 1999 Porsche 911 GT3 who outperformed Jim Richards & Elizabeth Burgess in the Driving Skills tests sufficiently to offset deficits in the ‘High Speed’ and ‘Navigation’ sections to win. Hot on Jim Richards’ heels was Jeff Beaumont in the EVO6 who finished in third place outright thanks in part to outstanding navigation by Jim Caudle - quite a performance after a diet of pace notes the previous weekend and a 3^rd place finish in the Lactos Heritage Rally.

Not to be left out at the sharp-end were Jeff and Neridah Beable who finished 5^th outright just behind Peter Gazzard. Jeff and Neridah won class and finished 3^rd in the Modern Competition Speed award behind Jim Richards (1^st) and Greg Keene (2^nd) to prove that they hadn’t lost any pace from Rally Tasmania.