Rallysprints

Having grown up on a staple diet of Rally Beetles my first recollection was of snippets of black and white Movie tone footage of Beetles rallying through the Australia outback during the Redex, Ampol and Mobil Gas Round Australia Trials from 1954 to 1958 and the BP Rally from 1958 to 1963. These events will be remembered as the roughest and toughest events of this nature and it was the Beetles total domination of these events that gave it a world wide reputation for ruggedness and reliability.

The live telecast of Channel 7 from Catalina Park Rallycross with its jumps, water splashes and mud that drew me to this type of motor sport involvement. I still remember Beetles being driven by the likes of Barry Ferguson, Chris Heyer, Peter Mill, Peter Radke and Doug Chivas Snr. filling the top places in Australian Rallycross Championship. Barry Ferguson being accredited with more Division One victories than any other car and having victories against the supercharged Torana of Peter Brock and Larry Perkins whose father had been a Round Australia winner in a Beetle. Catalina Park was still operational when I eventually got my first rally Beetle up and running and I can honestly say that a far as a Car Club level lap dashes go Catalina would have been one of the most existing circuits to compete in. To go flat out off the tar of the main straight then into the first long right hander on dirt, the jumps sideways of the dirt into a long left hander on bitumen through a tight corridor of safety fence made up of railway sleepers on mud & snow rally tyres screaming for relief from their torture is how I will always remember Catalina Park and The Tunnel of Love. And then the ultimate finish, back onto bitumen through the Tunnel of Love onto the main straight and over the start finish line.

The 70’s through to the 80’s was a real triumph for Beetle Rally enthusiast in the Sydney area. I can well remember listening intently to a mate of mine Larry Howath who was rallying a Beetle at the time and Phil Lander (Drives the immaculate blue T3 syncro) of endurance type of events that would start in the late afternoon and go well into the early hours of the next day covering hundreds of miles of competitive driving in one event. I remember thinking to " myself this must be madness, this is for me!"

By the 80’s the rally format in NSW had become more refined and one would expect to compete in events which would consist of competitive stages totalling 200 Klms. These events at time were the hey day for group "G" rally cars. Group G’s were highly modified, big horsepower lightweight cars such as big bore Datsuns, Escorts and rotary Mazdas and even Dazdas (Datsuns with rotary engines). I always regarded this period in Rallying as the most competitive as any one of the ten top seeded teams could be expected to win. Once again it was a Beetle driven by Andrew Dodd who would leave an everlasting impression on this era. Doddy managed to gain graded driver status and was always considered as an out right contender .I had a conversation one afternoon with Rod Jones a State Rally Champion of that time who to this day still relishes the duels he had in the forests from Coffs Harbour to Bega with Doddy. I fondly remember this era because of the number of Beetles competing in Rallying on the East Coast of NSW. In events ranging from State, to Clubman to group 7 it would not be unusual for anything up to six Beetles to be entered in one event. Quite often we would all congregate at the start or at a meal and service break. Apart from Doddy, there was John Watt, John Condy, Paul Wright, Peter Perazza, Steve Muller and myself.

	Doddy, Boris Orazem & George Geshos would be entered from time to time in the London to Sydney rally or one of the Round Australia Marathons. Boris still entertaining the masses in his Porsche eating Beetle at Targa Tasmania or of late the East Coast Classic, both tarmac events. Even your dear webmaster (Steve Carter) had one of the most remarkable achievements in rallying that I can account for, after numerous events as my navigator, competed in a night time forest event, for the result of 1st event driving 2nd place outright, in what else, a Beetle!
Above: Steve Carters 63 bug

With the banning of Group G cars by CAMS for more production based models and the involvement of 4 wheel drive cars the only avenue left to pursue with a modified Beetle which resembled rallying that was sanctioned by CAMS was a format called Rallysprint. 8 klm stages traversed once at a controlled speed to compile pace notes then travelled at competitive speeds three times in one direction then three times in the reverse direction, and what have you got? The most adrenaline pumping fun you can have with your clothes on! Any of you who have played Colin McRae on the PlayStation and managed to work up an adrenaline sweat imagine what it is like to do the same but for real. Beside you a co-driver (without accent) leading you in advance into each twist, turn, jump or caution, ahead of you 8 klm of the best quality forestry roads on offer and an open invitation to go as fast as you like or as fast as you and your co-driver dare. Average speed in these events are much higher than anything else I had ever experienced in rallying before due to the pace noting, becoming familiar with a particular section of road after successive runs and being predominately daylight events. Mundarlo Road as Rallysprint organized by Wagga District Car Club has been won by teams that must better an average speed of 120 klm on a billiard table quality Shire dirt road. At a recent round on the NSW State Rallysprint Championship that I competed in at Bulahdelah, top teams in one stage travelled in excess of 180 klm in one forest stage and I almost forgot to mention it was bucketing down with rain. Where does this level of competition leave the Beetle, Norm Nightingale is a former NSW Sate Rallysprint Champion and Steve Muller can still currently mange to keep a WRX or EVO Mitsubishi honest. A real testament that the Beetle has still got what it takes in almost 50 years after its first step into this arena of motor sport.

I know that many of you see this as a senseless and possible wilful destruction of a classic car. Well not true in thousands of kilometers of competition I have only sentenced one Beetle to that great celestial autobahn in the sky. If the truth were known I have sentenced more Beetles to the same fate just driving on our public roads and I must say I feel safer doing the speeds I do in our State forests than on our roads. Still the element of risk is still worth it when measured against the level of enjoyment gained not only by my co-driver and myself but also by the level of interest the Beetle still manages to arouse by the spectators who come to these events.

I can always senses the tension when pulling into a service area for an event I have not competed at before when the car and I are unknown to the other competitors. The same scenario time after time," how’s this one go? ", " Ran against one the these before, shit did it go hard ". Once the fellow competitors are at ease its great to witness the crowd reaction. At my last event at Buckingbong Forest near Narrandera we were voted crowd favourite, being bored by the usual collection of Japanese road lice that came past a spectator stage the Beetles throaty sound at 7500 rpm coming down a long strait into a 180 degree bend sideways on a handbrake turn had the crowd in raptures. I made a comment after the event on how responsive the crowd had been at that spectator point and the comment I got back was " yeah but they were only like that for you guys "

Enough of my time warp rambling but for those of you who may have taken some interest in my recollections and Rallysprints and who would like to that step from virtual to reality then hear are some tips.

As motor sport goes Rallysprints are inexpensive. Drivers and Co-drivers require as CAMS level 2 licence as a minimum. Cars have to comply too the CAMS manual for rally cars. They have to be road registered and carry the following basic equipment, a full roll cage with cross brace, full harness seat belts, ADR approved helmets, appropriate fire extinguisher, safety triangle and first aid kit, Entry fees of $120 on average and the short format leads to less running costs and wear and tear. Because cars can be double entered two drivers can get the same enjoyment out of the one investment. Time between heats is minimal so the experience is constant thrills. Events are run as close to Sydney as Toronto, as far north as Coffs Harbour and as far south a Bright in Victoria. If you are ultra competitive then the competition is there as you battle against cars in your own class or go for outright against the 4 wheel drives. If you want to run your own race then the only person you have to beat is yourself and your previous best time. It’s a great team sport and gives husbands and wives, fathers and children or any family combination you like the opportunity to compete as a team at a State level. If any of your readers would like more information then they are welcome to contact me on uperazza@nalco.com

UCH PERAZZA

RALLY DRIVERS DO IT SIDEWAYS!

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