Classic Rally 2012 in a 350Z Roadster

[<<V!>>]

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd share my story here as I'd hate to see an event like this die out.

So I entered the Classic Rally this year.

This was a 20th Aniversary event and to be honest the main reason I signed up was because it was half the price of Targa West, and they allowed Roadsters where as Targa dont. Plus not really feeling ready for a targa west, which even in "challange" class seems pretty full on.

The Classic Rally has been dormant for a few years and I think this years event was an attempt to revive these type of fun entry level, low red tape events.

More details on AEM and the Classic Rally as well as Photos from this year can be found here:
http://www.classicrally.com.au/

and here:
http://www.classicrally.com.au/2012%20Classic%20Rally.htm

The event was AWESOME.

22 stages over 2 days including motorkhana, superkhana, and closed road sprints, as well as open road navigation stages.

It was more full on than I had anticipated but also more fun that I could have hoped.

It was like a track day, that was non stop for 2 days.

Dispite some entries clearly having "experience" we felt right at home and there was no snobbery on any level.

The cars where more diverse than I could imagine. An old Fairlane. A 66 Mustang. Evo's, WRX's, an old Celica, Alpha, R34 GTR, Skyline, a Swift, and of course my 350Z plus many others.

At the end of the weekend we came 15th out of 24 cars which for noobs in a near stock street car, we were happy with.

I'll be creating a video of my teams entry, but for now I have created a montage of the event over all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn22hNmTX6I&hd=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn22hNmTX6I&hd=1


Enjoy...and if you get the chance, sign up to the next one, because events like this are rare and will die out without us.

I nearly didn't enter as I assumed "Classic Car" didn't include modern cars, but this event welcomes a nice wide range, from old classics to modern and modified. Noobs and vets alike.

[ED40]

Hey mate, I totally agree. Heap of antilag guys entered our cars in 2008 and we had a really good time. I have vowed to enter again but never got a chance because I was away. I do plan on doing some in 2013 for sure! http://antilag.com/forums/showthread.php?22837-rally-02-November-2008-Fabcar-1-Day-Classic&highlight=fabcar

I headed down with S133LTR for a watch last sunday at the PLex and we saw your car there. It looked like a great day but seemed like the entrant list was quite low. It would be a shame if they stopped running these things!

[<<V!>>]

yep entry was low. 28 cars signed up. ~24 actually competed.

The organiser had lots of people saying they were going to enter but they never actually signed up.

I'm guessing that many people think that $2K is too much for 2 track days, but it's so much more than 2 back to back track days. The closed road stages and navigation stages + social aspects make it so much more than a couple of track days imho.

oh and thanks for coming down to watch. It felt like no one was there which was kind of sad.

At the round up Dinner the organisers talked about years gone by and how "thousands" watched the night stages in Freemantle.

I think people have too much TV/Facebook to get on with to actually "turn up" to something these days :(

[ED40]

No need to thank me! Watching the guys going hard out there was awesome and made me squirm in my boots to go out for a thrash! I think part of the reason why no one enters/spectates is obviously the lack of advertising! I can only imagine if ALM approached AEM and organised a whole one day classic just for ALM members and got the green light. I reckon they would fill all spots and with the advertising this forum generates, there should be plenty of spectators! *hint hint Brockas*

Yeah I personally couldn't afford 2k for 2 day Classic which is why I did the "1 dayer" which was like $700 from memory but as you said, epic value! There are a lot of people out there who claim the performance car card but I've never seen them on the track and it would be good to see these people step up and enter these dying events.

[<<V!>>]

yeah I only stumbled across it from someone at work mentioning it and I went hunting. I'd already been looking into Targa West Challance class, but also only knew about that through...someone at work.

And that's why me and my co-dirver used our footage to put together the video of this years event, and we'll be putting up some other videos between now and the next one to help generate interest.

I dont think the organisers seem that clued up/involved in social media/forums and it's simply not enough to have a passive website in this day and age. hence why I'm doing my bit on all the forums I'm a member.

[cplagz]

Keen to join in the fun next year. Not interested in being competitive whatsoever but just have somewhere to drive and not cop a yellow :)

[DJ84WA]

Do you have a website i can search through to enter such event?
Would be interesting to see how my car goes in a grip enviroment.

Edit. Should open my eyes...link is in first post. :P

[DISTRBD]

Keen to join in the fun next year.

Entry fee started out at $2500 from memory and dropped to 1800 .

[<<V!>>]

Entry fee was about $2200 (including club licences if no CAMS or other) from day 1 I think.

It may have dropped towards the end but I'm not aware of that.

[Kilma]

Hey mate, I totally agree. Heap of antilag guys entered our cars in 2008 and we had a really good time.
Jesus!! Was it really that long ago?? I miss having a fun car....

[<<V!>>]

I'd enter in anything lol

The car that took the prize in the 2WD class was a turbo Swift. Beating a porshce (but even I beat that as it had issues) and a MX5 with LS3 under the bonnet, fully stripped down.

If I ditch the 350Z Roadster for a hard top something....helll I'd even consider entering in an Excel for giggles.

[200MPH]

Lined up behind your 350 a few times. Love the sound! Good to hear you enjoyed yourselves.

I was drafted in at the last minute to co-drive (navigate) in the 911 on Sunday. Early start to get down to Bunbury for the first couple of stages. Unfortunately the car wasn't running right, but by the time we go through the navigation stage and arrived at Kwinana the plugs had cleared out and it was running fine, but well down on power and with a low (5k) rev limit due to miss. It has a 12 plug (2 per cyl) ex europe rallysprint motor, big ports and compression etc, but only 6 plugs were hooked up due not having unobtanium 12 plug dizzy cap. If anyone knows of one at not drug money prices... With power it would be a magic little car.
Car had good grip, brakes and the driver was sharp, just no go.

Regarding the event - it was massive in it's heyday in the early - mid 90's. I think that's because there was very litte else in the way of options. Now, you have so many events to choose from you can't keep up with them all. Rallysprint, SES, RAC MC motorsports, no limits, other Classic Rally events etc etc... But I remember back then you were just happy to have an event to do! So I guess things have moved on nowadays. I certainly could not afford the entry fee for the event, nor for Targa West for that matter - plus my car don't comply. I've spent too much on the car and not left any for expensive event fees!

Even Targa West has had to wind back entry fees and try to keep the field decent this year. I remember when that started there were several teams from over East. But now there are much less (JR/BO and that was it?) and perhaps there so many targa events around Australia there is less need to travel all the way here to get your fix.

Seems like we're drowning in motorsport choices...good or bad?

[<<V!>>]

Ah so that was you :D

Glad you liked the sound of the 350. Many people commented on it sounding "Angry" which puts a smile on my face as that's exaclty what I was after haha

Like yourself I'm on a budget in all things motorsport and I think you're right, so many options these days. And if you look at something like the Classic Rally, it can seem like an expensive double track day. But for me, the closed road sprints were an awesome suprise and THAT is the kind of stage that is still rare to get access to without having to enter a larger, expensive event, and turning your street car into a track cage machine.

Targa West has an enforced 130kph limit for Challange class. Classic Rally didn't even hint at such a restriction which suprised me. Allthough my guess is we only topped 140kph anyway but some guys hit 160.

The Porsche looked awesome and would have been great to see it in good health. We all knew it wasn't running right so no shame there. Glad you guys stuck with it to blow out the cob webs.

In fact the Porsche is the car that has me thinking about my next step. I dont want to move on from my nice comfy Roadster. The idea of moving into a hard top, stripping out the carpet, throwing in a roll cage, and making an almost un-streetable monstor doesn't really appeal. And then I think of that porsche and actually, it does appeal. To see a classic, that looks beat up but with good reason. Where every scar tells a story. Actually, that is better looking in many ways than a shiney well waxed show peice that never gets driven in anger.

I'll admit, we laughed on the 3rd Nav stage when we saw you hurtle across a cross roads where you should have turned right ;)

Good times :D

[Denver]

Classic rally hasn't run since 2003, the classic challenge has run each year..

Sadly the rally this year wasn't what it used to be, CAMS changed the rules on navigation stages, which pretty much killed a lot of the events like the classic rally and the nav rally series, inc the midnight to dawn events that used to run in the late 90's and early 00's..

It was a seriously fun event back then however, and fiercly compeditive, also very drunken on the social side, I was hoping to do this year, but the money didn;'t work out for me, and it was a bit hard to justify the entry fee for the stages on offer, but will see what next year has to offer..

[Sciflyer]

Also have to remember the Classic Rally was originally run as a warm-up event to Rally Australia so it had a higher profile by that association.

It used to have proper closed-road stages around freo, Northam/York and northbridge from memory, plus stages at Barbagallo and the Langley Park superspecial. It was a much bigger event.

The One-Day Rally we did last year was good fun but unlike previous ones it was run entirely in the Motorplex and some of the stages were a bit lame. I'd probably do it again though

I know the guys who ran that red Celica and that was their first time as well, they went pretty good and enjoyed it

[<<V!>>]

Classic rally hasn't run since 2003, the classic challenge has run each year..

Sadly the rally this year wasn't what it used to be, CAMS changed the rules on navigation stages, which pretty much killed a lot of the events like the classic rally and the nav rally series, inc the midnight to dawn events that used to run in the late 90's and early 00's..

It was a seriously fun event back then however, and fiercly compeditive, also very drunken on the social side, I was hoping to do this year, but the money didn;'t work out for me, and it was a bit hard to justify the entry fee for the stages on offer, but will see what next year has to offer..

As I understand it, this years classic rally was an attempt to resurrect the kind of events as close as they can to the events run 2003 and before. That's the speil. Not just the normal classic challange. Allthough due to all the red tape I'm sure it came out looking similar.

Midnight to dawn...I like the sound of that ;)

[<<V!>>]

Also have to remember the Classic Rally was originally run as a warm-up event to Rally Australia so it had a higher profile by that association.

It used to have proper closed-road stages around freo, Northam/York and northbridge from memory, plus stages at Barbagallo. It was a much bigger event.

The One-Day Rally we did last year was good fun but unlike previous ones it was run entirely in the Motorplex and some of the stages were a bit lame. I'd probably do it again though

I know the guys who ran that red Celica and that was their first time as well, they went pretty good and enjoyed it

This year they had 3 closed road stages. Halifax sprint, the cut, and wattelup.

And the navigation stages covered between pinjara, bunbary, and kwinana.

[monk_13]

I really need to pull my finger out and get out to events like this...

[Denver]

Also have to remember the Classic Rally was originally run as a warm-up event to Rally Australia so it had a higher profile by that association.

It wasn't a precursor to rally Australia at all. As part of the classic rally you got to do a demo lap at Langley park for the classic rally.

They where totally different events and not linked in any aspect other than the demo.

[Sciflyer]

Correct, I didn't mean it had any official link but ran in the lead up to the Rally and so had a higher profile from it


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXemPFhcbyg

We crewed for the crazy Rolls Royce you see in that clip, still have some pics of it fanging around Langley :)