Australian Rally Championship Struggling...

Not for land or roads but for competitors.

This past weekend's Quit Forest Rally was won by Brendan Reeves who many of us know from coming over and competing here stateside, and his codriver Rhianon Gelsomino, wife of Ken Block's codriver Alex Gelsomino.

That said there were only six entries in the top ARC class which is all 2WD.  Things weren't much better in the 2nd tier 4WD class with only five entries, nor in the Classics class with only one entry (though the more grassroots regional and club classes saw healthy 20+ entry fields each).  You can read a commentary on the situation of top flight Australian Rally here:  Uphill Battle for ARC...

Much of this sounds familiar to US competitors who have heard and dealt with similar problems in recent years.  Australian Rally saw these problems coming and drove the switch to 2WD vehicles as a partial solution to ever increasing vehicle development costs and lack of manufacturer support.  Doesn't look like this has worked out so well to date.

One additional item the ARC has added to its events are the inclusion of side-by-sides and motorcycles in their events.  The SXS class drew five entries and motorcycles drew another ten.  Not so good when these classes outdraw your national competitors. 

Australian Rally Championship: Scouts Rally SA 2013

Another Australian Rally event and another event showing the fragile nature of using 20+ year old Nissans as your racing vehicle of choice.

Unfortunately Will Orders and Jack Monkhouse, both in Nissan Silvias, DNFd (though Orders finished a solid 4th on the first day of competition.  Not that having a newer Nissan saved the day as the 370Z of Nicholas Box also DNF'd on the first day.

Maybe the key here is to use a REALLY old Nissan/Datsun as in the Classic class there were four old Datsuns that finished both days.

Beyond the Nissan and Datsuns of interest my eyes focused on the Porsche Cayenne (rare to see an SUV rallying, let alone such a high end one) and the very old Mercedes 280.  Both finished both days of the race.

2nd Round of Australian Rally Championship--and its Nissans!

The 2013 Quit Forest Rally was this past weekend and once again a number of new and classic Nissans/Datsuns attended.  In fact the only three classic class vehicles to show were all Datsuns.  Jack Monkhouse performed well in his Silvia finishing 6th but unfortunately Will Orders and his Silvia didn't finish either day one or two and received no points.  There was also a cool 370Z of Nicholas Box competing which ended up in a ton of photos (some of which are below).  The photos I've seen so far are just of the top class so none of 180B, 1200 Coupe or 180SX that appeared in some of the other classes...Hopefully I can track some down and get them up...

Australian Rally Championship...

Australia--National Capital Rally

The Australian rally series always features some great and classic Nissans and Datsuns.  The National Capital Rally, the first event of the Australian Rally Championship 2013 season was no exception.

Will Orders and his Nissan Silvia S13 as well as Jack Monkhouse and his similar Silvia S15 fought for the top of the podium most of the weekend.  Orders would DNF in day two but Monkhouse would finish on the podium in third with the Honda Jazz and Renault Clio of Eli Evans and Scot Pedder (respectively) finishing one and two.

Beyond the Silvia's of Orders and Monkhouse however there were a number of other Nissan/Datsuns in the event including the Datsun 510 of Claude Murray which took the Classic class win for the weekend. Other models seen in this event include a Datsun 180B, Nissan Bluebird, a Datsun 1200, and a Datsun 1600.


Australian Rally Series...

Australian Rally Championship Begins...

One of the other big events this weekend is the beginning of the Australian Rally Championship. For 2013 the ARC is returning its top level of competitors to 2WD vehicles.  No longer is the field dominated by only Subarus and Mitsubishis.  The mix of marquees is fantastic as is the varied age of the vehicles.

Today's Power Stage began the event with brief sprint and a little Mazda took the win and the first points of the season.  The series also is getting its videos up quick, has live tracking (yet to figure that out yet, may be my browser--IE at the moment), and live scoring. The video below is clear, well put together and I LOVE the terrain.  Oh, and since its on the other side of the world?  Its already day two of the event and they've started the main stages while I'm getting ready for bed...

240SX at Perce Neige...

Once again it is Martin Walter blazing a trail for Nissans.  The long running 240SX of Mr. Walter and his codriver Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff were at it once again.

This time they were up in their Canadian homeland running on the snow and ice of the Perce Neige rally.  Walter finished the event in 18th out of 20 National entries in the event.  Which might not sound so good until you realize that he was the only RWD entry in the event.  Walter usually makes at least one or two visits South of the border each year so I'm hoping to see him at a warmer event later this year.

Perce Neige website...