MOTORSPORT: James Bond flavour for rallying

The owner of the $400,000 British racing green V8, Tasmanian businessman David Thompson, wanted to show his support for the ARC’s move back to a two-wheel-drive format and said “entering such an exciting car [to be driven by his son Ivan] is the perfect way to get behind it”.

It has been described as looking like “something from Q’s workshop for James Bond’s next mission”.

However, multiple national champion Simon Evans and his co-driver wife Sue won’t be competing. Their return to the sport in a Mazda2 has been postponed because of a delay with the MZR engine from Britain.

And, instead of trooping to Western Australia at the end of this month for the second round of the ARC, they will now give the Mazda its debut at the International Rally of Queensland in late May. That leaves the way open for Honda to take the G2 championship that will become rallying’s premier Australian title this year.

Honda is fielding two Mugen-tuned Jazz cars to be campaigned by Evans Motorsport for Eli Evans, younger brother of Simon, and co-driver Glen Weston and Mark Pedder with Claire Ryan. The Jazz is 110kg lighter than the Civic Type R Eli Evans and Weston campaigned last year.

The Jazzes were built in Italy by JAS Motorsport and tested there by the Australian drivers, along with former British champion and 2009 ARC competitor Guy Wilks, before being transported to Australia.

“Straight out of the box they were really fast,” Evans said.

Australia’s world-first new SUV class disappointingly has attracted only one entry, a turbo-diesel Subaru Forrester driven by former Formula 2 rally champion Brett Middleton.

However, what is being billed as Melbourne’s Festival of Speed has plenty of action. Apart from the start of the ARC, it is also host to rounds of the Australian Tarmac Rally Championship, the Australian Classic Rally Challenge, and the new Side by Side Rally Challenge and ARC Club Forum Battle.

Rally Calder begins with a ceremonial start tonight (Thursday) at Caroline Springs Shopping Centre on the same western side of Melbourne as Bob Jane’s long-established Calder Park race circuit, drag strip and Thunderdome and where gravel stages have been created for this weekend. Some stages will be a combination of gravel and tarmac.

A host of Mitsubishi Evos – one driven by actor and TV personality Shane “Kenny” Jacobson - and Subaru WRXs are entered for the start of the last season of a national championship for four-wheel-drive turbos.

A year before Nissan returns to V8 Supercar racing, the ARC field contains a Nissan 200SX and Sylvia S15, as well as a 6-litre Holden Commodore VZ. Lisa Dunkerton, wife of Australian rally legend Ross, is Guy Tyler’s co-driver in a Renault Clio 172.

Ten multiple ARC champions have been honored with stages named after them. There is even a Dunkerton long and a Dunkerton short stage on the weekend a book about the five-time Australian champion - written by another of the sport’s great identities, Bob Watson - is to be launched.

David Thompson reckons the Aston Martin will be competitive from the outset, despite a lack of gravel testing.

“The spectators should love it,” Thompson said.

While son Ivan drives the Vantage, Thompson senior will compete in the classics in a Triumph TR8 – with four-time national champions Neal Bates and Coral Taylor in an early 1980s Toyota Celica RA40 among his opposition.

The Celica’s engine is a fully worked Toyota 3SGE Series 1 twin-cam 2-litre in-line four mated to an Australian-made Hollinger five-speed H pattern “dog” gearbox.

“We bought the car on eBay for a few hundred dollars, stripped it back to a bare shell and then built it from scratch,” Bates said.

A BDA Ford Escort RS1800 and a Porsche 911 are other classic entries that will run before the ARC field.

Heading the tarmac championship field is the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera of Tasmanian Jason White and his uncle John. The Lamborghini was on fire as it won its last Victorian start, November’s Targa High Country at Mt Buller.

The Whites are particularly looking forward to testing the Lambo on the banked Thunderdome but also have had to tune the car for tighter sections that they have experienced in Targa events.

“This is an event with great character and it’s great to see both types of rally – tarmac and gravel – come together,” White said.

Competing against the Lambo will be Porsches, Nissan GTRs, Mazda RX7s, Evo Lancers, a Renault Megane RS250 Cup and an ex-world rally championship Ford RS 200 Group B car.

The new Side by Side Rally Challenge has drawn 10 entries, with triple ARC and four-time Asia-Pacific champion Cody Crocker in a Polaris RZR 900 XP and one-time WRC competitor Michael Guest one of two entrants in CanAm Commander 1000 Xs.

In the Club Forum Battle more than 80 modified and performance cars are set to do battle across six events including a time attack, gymkhana, quarter-mile sprint and a tarmac rally stage as well as a show ’n’ shine and club support competition.

Australian Rally Championship calendar
March 1-4             Rally Calder        Melbourne
March 30-April 1 Forest Rally         WA
May 24-27            International Rally of Q’ld  Sunshine Coast
July 29-31             Rally of South Australia      Adelaide Hills
October 13-14       Coffs Coast Rally       NSW
November 9-10     Rally Victoria            Gippsland