The Alpine Rally - the motor-sport tradition continues in East Gippsland.

A long rallying tradition is set to continue on 1^st to 3^rd December 2017 when Australia’s largest and most spectacular gravel rally for two wheel drive cars is based in picturesque Lakes Entrance,  East Gippsland. The rally is sure to be even more exciting and challenging with a number of new innovations that have made it an outstanding success.

I have to admit being a bit of a “petrol head”  to put it mildly, and having been somewhat involved in this rally in past years, it is one of my favourite regional events, a great spectacle and now a great photo/video opportunity and the simple enjoyment of mingling with the crews and admiring the cars.  At the spectator points there is nothing better than the sights sounds and smells of the Alpine Rally.  This is for petrol heads, car lovers, (yes there is a difference) even for families who want to enjoy a good day out with spectacular entertainment. Put it in your calendar now.

This is Australia’s longest running motor sport event, the Alpine Rally started way back in 1921 and is one of the world’s oldest motor sport events behind the Monte Carlo Rally, the French Grand     Prix and Indianapolis.

 

The first Alpine Rally in Australia was conducted by the RACV in 1921, and was partly as a showcase for the Victorian High Country, promoting motorised vehicle travel in the region.  It is second only to the famous Monte Carlo Rally as the longest continuously running rally in the world. The event evolved in to an Australian Championship Rally in the 1960’s and maintained its reputation as the biggest and the toughest event by far on the rally calendar.

Since the early 1990’s it has been conducted for classic and historic rally cars, bringing back to the forest the sights and sounds from the so called ‘golden era’ of Australian car rallies in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Run by the Historic Rally Association (HRA) which was formed in Melbourne in 1992 by a small group of rally enthusiasts to foster the growth in the classic cars and events of the ‘Golden era’ of Australian car rallying in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

 



The HRA now boasts a membership of over 900 from most states of Australia and is growing rapidly. The club is affiliated with the Confederation of Australian Motor sport (CAMS). Its membership includes many national and state rally champions and competitors from the past, right through to new converts to historic rallying, attracted to the more friendly style of event, great comradeship and economical car availability. There are many family memberships as rallying is a great sport for couples and parent/child crews.

This year’s event in less than a day after entries opened, the Alpine Rally’s  field limit of 120 cars and 20 reserves was reached. Entries have been received from every state in Australia, the Northern Territory, the A.C.T. and for the first time there are 4 entries from New Zealand.

Rally director Owen Polanski said: “With more than 300 registrations of interest since April, a full field was looking very likely but to have 120 plus fully paid up entries received in less than a day is a stunning result. We’re over the moon at the interest in the Alpine Rally.”

He continued “It’s a high quality field that’s for sure, undoubtedly the best ever for an historic rally in Australia”  after the 120th paid entry was received just 5 hours after entries opened. “We are even more excited to have the New Zealanders coming which now identifies our event as one of true international significance” said Polanski.

 

The rally cars are all classic or historic rally cars from the 1960’s to late 80’s. They include Ford Escorts, Porsche 911’s, Datsun’s of all sorts, Mercedes, BMW’s, Fiat Abarth’s and even a Plymouth Fire Arrow, a U.S. built Mitsubishi based coupe. Crews include many past Australian Rally Champions including four time champion Simon Evans, Barry Lowe and David ‘Dinta’ Officer as well as many State Champions.

 The Rally, running from December 1^st to 3^rd  and based in Lakes Entrance, travels the length of the Shire of East Gippsland from Bairnsdale, through Granite Rock Speedway, Bruthen and as far east as Cann River. Crews will fight it out on over 370 km of competition stages. As well as the 240 crew members in the rally cars there will be over 450 rally officials and around another 200 service crew members who will call the Shire home during the event.

Local rally fans will have the chance to visit 8 supervised spectator points throughout the rally including the Granite Rock Speedway just north of Bairnsdale on Sunday December 3 at 10 am. There are also a number of road sections where you can view the procession of cars, even take a few photos of your favourites, the crews are happy to wave as they go by in a more relaxed mode. Full spectator information is available closer to the event with maps and guidelines to ensure spectator safety is maintained at the highest level.

Sources & Images: Alpine rally.org.au, HRA.org.au, Pinterest.com ,John Munns.