ARC Champions and BDA Escorts return to Bega

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The upcoming BEGA VALLEY MOTORS RALLY is to be headed this year by a group of 15 Classic Rally Cars, two of which will be driven by ex Australian Rally Champions Ross Dunkerton and Geoff Portman

There is excitement in the air with the Bega Rally less than a month away. This year there will be even more sideways action with the appearance of the Classic Rally Cars at the head of the field. On the 11th June 2006, Ross DUNKERTON, and Geoff PORTMAN are set to re ignite the forests and shire roads of the NSW South Coast, around the town ships of BEGA and EDEN. It has been many years since either of these legendary drivers were in town, in fact it was back when the event was a round of the Australian Rally Championships.

Ross is seven times Australian champion, and is generally considered to be our most successful rally driver of all time. Known as something of a larrikin and TV personality, he has an infectious laugh, and is always out to please the ‘punters’. He was placed 2nd recently in Melbourne, and was 4th in NZ when retiring just kilometres from the finish.

Geoff, on the other hand, was always the quiet, serious type. He let his driving tell the story, and with 2 Australian championships, and 6 Alpine Rally wins, he has always been rated as one of our fastest ever rally drivers. He recently won the Alpine rally again, against stiff opposition, coming out of retirement to do so.

It has been many years since Bega has seen the dynamic cars of the late 70’s and early 80’s. But the Queens birthday long weekend in June looks set to bring back those sights and sounds. Bega Rally will be the second round, of the 2006 Classic Rally Challenge, a series that is designed to showcase the cars of the ‘golden era’, being driven in a manor that was intended. The rally is also a NSW, VIC and ACT round of their respective state championships The cars entered in this section will be of a more modern era and include the very rapid Turbo 4WD Mitsubishi Evo’s and Subaru WRX’s.

Whilst Ross will be competing in the classics in a Datsun Stanza, similar to his 1980 Southern Cross Rally winning car, Geoff will be using a V8 engined Commodore, similar to the car in which he recently won the Alpine.

But they won’t have it all their own way. The quick guys, from the young gun brigade, will be Darryn Snooks in another Stanza, and Shawn Urquhart in the Fiat 131 Abarth. These two, are fast and dynamic, and will be very hard to beat. There car speed, will be only slightly slower than the fastest of the modern 4wd cars. The Stanza, built by Justin at Snook’s Motorsport, is the sister car to Dunkerton’s. It is painted in the factory colours that were used back in 1979/80. These cars featured heavily at Bega years ago, and are very spectacular to watch.

The Fiat 131 Abarth, is a replica of the vehicle Greg Carr and Fred Geocentas used in the early 80’s in Australia. They are one of the most successful rally cars of all time. The car is resplendent in it original ‘Alitalia’ colour scheme, as run by the works team in the World series back in the late 70’s. With 3 World titles under their belts, they were enormously successful. Today, very few of these valuable cars remain. This one is a replica, designed to be driven hard, making Australia one of the few places to see a car like this driven to the limit today.

Right behind these 4, will be Gerald Schofield who usually drives an EVO 6 Lancer in the Australian Rally Championship. Gerald’s classic rally vehicle is a replica of another famous and sought after car, the Ford Escort RS Mk2. Painted in its original works scheme, with its very powerful, high revving, great sounding Cosworth - Holbay 16 valve engine, it will evoke memories of the likes of Greg Carr and Colin Bond in similar cars many years ago. Just the sound of this car alone has been known to bring tears to the eyes of grown men who remember them from the late 70’s early 80’s.

Another notable entry will be from Matt Ruggles who will supply one of the most spectacular cars of all time, the mighty Triumph TR7 V8. These enormously powerful, yet small cars were known to be hard to drive, yet Matt seems to have its measure, with a strong 3rd placed in Melbourne.

Possibly the car most want to see, will be Gerry Dyveston’s Lancia Stratos, also in its Alitalia livery. This car runs with a Ferrari Dino V6 engine, one the most significant rally cars of all time. These purpose built, fibreglass bodied, Ferrari engined super cars, won almost every rally in the World championship, at one time or another. This car is an original Stratos, and Gerry is one of the very few people in the World who ever gets to drive one these days. If nothing else, the sight and sound of this super car, will stay with you forever. This car is currently valued at over $200,000

A true Classic car with a lot of history is the XY Falcon of Warren Ridge, this car has done the London to Mexico, London to Sydney and Panama to Alaska to name but a few, “The car is very heavy as it is a marathon car but should still put on a good show” said Warren when he was asked how he would go.

Comprising of up to 15 cars, the classics are sure to drag a lot of people back to the forests, to see and hear the legends, both mechanical and human, back in action.

There will be a static display of the cars on Saturday afternoon, at BEGA VALLEY MOTORS between 2:00pm and 4:00pm on Saturday 10th June. Come and see the cars, and the stars. Drivers will also be available for autographs.

On Sunday 11th June the action commences on the shire roads North West of Bega and then, following a service in the Town Centre, onto the forests further south. The classic cars will run at the front of the field through the stages, with the first ‘shire’ stages starting at 9am. After these 15 classics there will then be a short interval followed by the main rally.

Spectator information can be obtained from Rally Headquarters – Bega RSL from 9:00am on the Saturday or log onto www.classicrallycars.com - in the week prior for more information

Gerald Schofield
0419 695 948