Dutton Grand Prix Rally, 1998
February 28 - March 5, 1998

A report by our intrepid Secretary and accomplished Rallyist ... John Hardy

Sarah and I started this year's Grand Prix Rally from a sunny Albert Park, in the mid-afternoon of the 28^th of February. On the same day cars had also left both Sydney and Adelaide with the goal of the whole field meeting in Albury the next afternoon. The little Alpine Renault was dwarfed by many of the other cars in the field. The first port of call for Melbourne entrants was the Calder Racetrack where a slalom motorkhana was conducted in the pits area of the Thunderdome. To my absolute amazement and delight, the little 110 proved to be the quickest car of the day, pipping Jim Richards in a brand new Porsche by 2:100th of a second and John Smallman in a Nissan GtiR by about half a second. After Calder it was a transport to Bendigo for overnight frivolities.

Next day being the Saturday involved all of the Adelaide and Melbourne cars navigating from Bendigo via Euroa to Albury. Sarah did a sensational job all day and we successfully clean-sheeted the navigation to Albury. That meant that when we started the night navigation that night we were equal leaders in the rally with God knows how many others. The night navigation of the Grand Prix Rally is notoriously when crews come unstuck. We unfortunately missed the turn off to the very last control and were about 4 minutes late into that control. Those were the only 45 points that Sarah was to lose for the balance of the rally. I on the other hand, lost 100's. After a late night beer at Albury Country Comfort Motel we retreated to our beds to get some sleep before the next day's competition.

The Sunday of the Grand Prix Rally has become quite a hectic day but it involves no scoring navigation. After a transport section from Albury to the Wangaratta Airport, a series of sprints - for hoons read drags - were conducted on the airport runway. My little car was lined up against a new Lotus Elise and I was happy at the end of the quarter mile to be only a couple of car lengths adrift of the brand new little hi-tech speedster.

From Wangaratta the field then transported to Winton where a circuit sprint was conducted. This involved groups of 8 cars being let loose on the long track where 2 laps were conducted, the fast of which was the timed lap of the day. I was started 8^th in my group of 8 and after 2 laps had passed all but the first 2 of the cars. One of those was a blisteringly fast Porsche driven by South Australian, Greg Keene, and the other was a Mitsubishi 3000 GT. I can't claim great credit for some of the vehicles overtaken in that they included a Citroen 2CV! From Winton the field then transported to Shepparton where we travelled out to DECA (Driver Education Centre of Australia) where 3 driving tests were conducted. They were exercises on the off-camber triple circles, a large motorkhana on the skid pan and a drive around the circuit at the rear of the complex with various blind chicanes. The driving tests at DECA have become traditional Grand Prix Rally activities and invariably prove to be challenging tests for most drivers. That night everybody was at leisure in the fair city of Shepparton.

Monday=s activities commenced with a delightful BBQ breakfast on the shores of Lake Victoria in Shepparton. Thereafter the field was released on a navigational exercise that finished later that afternoon in Bendigo. En route driving tests were conducted at the Mangalore Airfield. Monday is a quiet day with only 3 events including the navigation to be determined. The Mangalore driving tests comprise both a long circuit and a short circuit test on the air strip. The long circuit comprises approximately a 700 to 800 metre dash up and back down the air strip, driving through various speed limiting chicanes. Whilst setting those up one of the rally officials discovered that one of the chicanes was a little too tight in a Lotus Elise at 170 kph. He spun off the airfield taking a couple of runway lights with him. The short circuit was a very tight slalom motorkhana and again to my delight and amazement the little Alpine proved to be nimblest car of the day. I have competed in every Grand Prix Rally and I have to say that the biggest buzzes I've had were the fastest times of day in both the Mangalore short test and the Calder driving test!

After Mangalore there was a long navigation section that led us finally to Maldon where we were required to do a constant speed drive up the Mt Tarangower hill climb circuit. For the last kilometre of that track we were expected to average exactly 60.0 kilometres per hour. It is not that easy to do - try it sometime! Monday night saw the huge majority of participants meeting at a venue organised by the Rally for dinner and general frivolity. The cameradarie of participants in the Grand Prix Rally is probably its single greatest attribute.

The Tuesday of the Grand Prix Rally was a doozy! The day commenced with a navigation exercise from Bendigo to Calder via Heathcote Raceway for a sprint type driving test up the drag strip. Unfortunately this test took longer to conduct than the organisers had planned with the result that the last car left Heathcote approximately an hour and a half behind schedule. Vehicles then undertook approximately 2 hours of navigation from Heathcote to Calder via such places as Sutton-Grange, Trentham, Bacchus Marsh, Melton and finally to Toolern-Vale. From there it was a short transport to Calder Raceway where 3 different tests were conducted. They comprise 2 runs on the quarter-mile drags followed by a driving test through various cone chicanes on the Thunderdome followed finally by 2 timed sprint laps of the national racetrack.

Unfortunately the Diablos were at Calder that afternoon practising for their racing at the Australian Grand Prix and as a result the field was still at least an hour and a half late in leaving Calder. After Calder there was a transport section via Bacchus Marsh to the Ford proving grounds in the You Yangs. The Grand Prix Rally, so far as I am aware, is the only motor sport event allowed access to the Ford Proving Grounds. Two driving tests are conducted on the constant speed bowl. The first was an acceleration and brake test over approximately 350 metres and the second a flying 1/8th of a mile on the back straight of the constant speed bowl. The second test effectively allows most vehicles to achieve their absolute maximum speed. The little Alpine went through the opening beam showing 7200 rpm and exited the flying 1/8th mile showing 7300 rpm and that's about as quick as the little jigger will go! Sarah and I had started the day in the last group of cars and had in fact been the last car to leave the Heathcote Raceway. I had been in the second last group of 8 cars to do the Calder driving test and by the time we left the Ford Proving Grounds it was after 7.30 pm and the sun was on the verge of setting. However, the day was not over!

We were then required to undertake another transport section from the Ford Proving Grounds via Lara to the Avalon Airport where another driving test had been set up on various of the taxi-ways of the airport. En route to Avalon and as we passed the Barwon Gaol I watched the sunset quietly in the west. That was about a quarter to eight. We arrived at Avalon with some 10 to 15 cars behind us sometime after 8.00 pm. Our vehicle was not the first to do that driving test in the dark and we certainly weren=t the last and I have to say that attempting a long sprint through various chicanes and turns set up by cones on the taxi-way in the dark with only headlights to assist was not easy or, in my opinion, fair on those competitors forced to da it. This compared with the bulk of the field having completed the driving test in daylight. As some readers may know the Avalon Airport driving test in this year's Grand Prix Rally was deleted at the direction of the Stewards of the meeting after a protest that I made which was upheld at the completion of the Rally. The Stewards found that although the Clerk of Course had had the power to continue to run the competition after sunset the result of that taking place was that many competitors (estimated at about 15 or 20) were running under extremely difficult circumstances in that the course was inadequately lit by only car headlights.

Not only did I give evidence as to the difficulties at performing the test in the dark but both the drivers of the vehicles that competed immediately before and after me, being respectively Ian Bills and Mark Forgie, also gave supporting evidence as to how difficult the test had been in the dark. Another competitor, David Baker who had competed the driving test just on sundown also gave evidence in support of my protest. I was grateful to all of those people for the stance I took. The exclusion of the event made no material difference to my placing in the Rally, in particular in relation to either Class or Handicap results and although I approached the protest with a great deal of reservation, in retrospect I believe I was right to pursue the matter in the context that firstly the protest was upheld, and secondly, I am of the view that if the results had remained that a number of competitors would have been unfairly effected. Despite a request by me to the organisers of the Rally that all competitors be apprised as to the reason for my protest and the findings of the Stewards, the organisers have hitherto declined to advise participants in the Rally as to why the Avalon driving test was deleted.

The final day of the Rally, being Wednesday, involved a 2 hour navigational exercise through the gorgeous hinterland both south and west of Geelong in a long loop back to Lara. After that vehicles transported firstly to Laverton Airport Base where a short, tight motorkhana was conducted and then transported to Point Cook for a longer but tight and tricky driving test on the runways and taxi-ways of the ex-airforce base. That very test proved to be the undoing of a leading competitor who slipped to second place as a result of a mistake allowing Jim Richards and Lis Burgess to again take top points in the outright position of the Rally. Thereafter cars transported to the Exhibition Centre (Jeff's Shed) for the finish of the Rally. Competitors were then invited to view the Melbourne International Motor Show at a discounted entry fee and also had the pleasure of viewing not only the Rally field, but also the various vehicles to be auctioned in the forthcoming Shannons Auction associated with the Grand Prix.

The next night saw a lavish presentation dinner conducted at the Melbourne Convention Centre. A number of members of the Maserati Club were amongst the awards. Ojars Balodis and his navigator, Brian Kelly, placed second in the Open over 3 litre section of the Rally, being one of the most hotly contested classes with 23 competitors. Jeff and Nerida Beable also placed second in the Open 2 to 3 litre section behind John Smallman in his Nissan GtiR. The Beable Nissan 200SXR may not be the "two tonne pussy" but its still a quick jigger. In the under 2 litre open division, second place was taken by Steve Chiodo and Mary Blecher in their first attempt at the Grand Prix Rally. In the Porsche over 3 litre category Tom Warwick driven by Cameron McConville put in a creditable performance in the Porsche 993 RSCS, especially when one takes into account they were unable to compete on the final day of the Rally due to Cameron's commitments in the Super Tourers.

As for us, the little Alpine Renault performed brilliantly, as did Sarah. All I had to do was sit quietly and steer the car into first in class, 26^th outright and second overall on handicap. Ojars placed 6^th outright and Jeff Beable placed 9^th. Ojars also won the speed events of the Rally outright beating both Jim Richards and Peter Fitzgerald with his 968 RS Turbo. As Colin Bond used to say - "One IF and you can win anything". IF Ojars hadn't been pinged for speeding he would have won the Grand Prix Rally. Bad luck mate!

Although the Grand Prix Rally does not involve open road speed events like Targa or the Classic Adelaide, it is a challenging and interesting motor sport event to compete in. I am one of the few people to have competed in all 11 events and it is five days of the year that I either enjoy or look forward to enjoying. To do well across 21 different driving and navigational tests over five days means consistency and care has to be exercised. To do well you cannot afford to make a mistake. Over the years of the Rally I have made many friends and it was my competing in the Rally that has led me to being more engaged in motor sport across the board. I recommend that it be on the calendar as an event to be undertaken by all people interested in motor sport. Sir Jack has a go - why don't you next year?