ECB Rally Calder :: Shakedown
ARC Rally Calder, the first event on the 2012 rally calendar. With so many new cars, teams and classes it was hard to know what to focus on! The first thing that caught my eye was the polaris All-Terrain vehicles.
Yes you may have noticed they are a little dirty! after heavy rain on thursday the tunnel had to be pumped out because of flooding and the rest of dirt track was looking like a swamp.
By Friday the sun was back out and it was time to get the cars on the track , it was a pity that the grandstands had not received the maintenance that had been planned.
The Legendary ford escort, a classic rally car back in action!
Check out the array of switches, not sure which one launches the missile?
Jeffrey David was one of the exciting guys to watch in his wild Porsche 911, this car was allways thumpin!
Honda pulled out all the stops with their brand new Honda Jazz rally team, Eli Evens and Mark Pedder are the lucky men who get to drive these angry little machines.
A rally Aston Martin V8 Vantage? the sound of this car was amazing! unfortunately this very expensive rally car had a meeting with a barrier late in the rally. See Video
This replica model of the RA40 celica took Neil Bates and his team 18 months to build. Inspired by Ove Andersson and Henry Liddon RA40 driven in the World Rally Championship during the early 1980s.
Overall 2nd in the classic rally division.
A consistent force during all the stages of the rally the powerful Evo of the Knowles team.
Strange choice of rally car but i do like the aerodynamic tunnel on the back.
Presentation line up! check out all those cars!
More dirty polaris!
I still cant believe these things are V8, what a crazy old school machine!
Mascots rock! they are a rare creature that today have almost become extinct in Australia.
Nathan Chivers, Les Chivers coming in 2nd driving the Polaris RZR 900 XP
Cody Crocker, Greg Foletta winners of the Side x Side Rally Challenge.
A well known name in rally! Neil bates win’s with a new car, being out of rally game for a few years this is an extremely good effort!
Another debut and another win, Eli Evens, Glen Weston take out the 2WD Championship
Steve Jakobson, rally driver, movie start, co-host of aus top gear was helping promote rally school this weekend.
Check out the width of the track! originally designed for racing NASCAR, the track is now used for all different types of racing.
Technical problems plagued this team and they were only able to compete in the first round heat.
One of only two Evo 10’s at the event, Tom Wilde managed to win the ARC 4WD Championship
One of the hardest working RX7 on the track this yellow fire breathing dragon managed third in the 2WD Championship.
With an extremely wet track and unpredictable weather all competitors pulled through the 4 day event without to much carnage.
Despite the conditions spectators still showed their support for ARC, for the results Click here or you can download the full list of results as a pdf here. If you have never attended a rally event its one of those things you really should do! more support means more competitors which results in a better overall competition and atmosphere.
-Grant