Celebrating classic cars and classic rallying…
Another unforgettable rally weekend is just around the corner.
The HRA’s unique combination of rally style touring combined with closed road ‘have a go’ stages all feed in to the best social gatherings at the end of each day and on the road.
Everyone who has done one of these HRA style rally weekend’s rave about them – and you will too. It’s a competition wrapped up in a huge amount of motoring fun.
All it needs it you. Continue reading The Grampians Tour… the ultimate historic rally weekend!
Welcome to the Grampians Tour.
This event will be run as a Road Event in the Grampians and Wimmera region of Victoria. It will consist of competition in the form of 10 Closed Road Sections in various State Forests. In between the competition venues there will be Touring Sections which will be straightforward map reading, no manned controls but simple questions and a few Information boards to be recorded along the way.
The route follows the more minor roads as much as possible, not highways, and is very interesting and scenic.
The event kicks off at Stawell at 0800 on Saturday morning, so it may be a good plan to stay overnight in the area, we plan to meet for an informal dinner on Friday evening. Overnight on Saturday will be in Stawell
We have booked 20 rooms at the Magdala Inn Motel, they are happy to let us have the whole 28 if we can guarantee to take them all. You can contact them on 03 5358 3877 please book soon. Dinner is at the same place, they can handle 70 people max, so if you wont to dine with the majority please book this too. We have organised Saturday lunch at Wartook Wander Inn, a great spot.
Sunday lunch at St Arnaud, your own choice and finishing at the Avoca Hotel with drinks and snacks late afternoon.
You don’t need a rally car for this event, just basic safety gear. Let’s hope this isn’t the last event where this applies.
Graham Wallis
Clerk of Course
Our little Challenge is going well and continues to expand.
As always I would like to acknowledge our Sponsor Resto Country Spares – for all your early Ford and Holden needs. www.kingswoodcountry.com.au. Continue reading Resto Country Spares 2019 Standard Car Challenge Bulletin No 2
Dear competitor
Thank you for participating in the 2019 Victoria Cross Rally. We hope you enjoyed the location, the stages and the other features of the event. No protests were received and these results are now final.
I’d like to thank the following people: all the officials who came out to help run the event on the day, Paul McKinnon of Kennards Hire for the portable lighting at No 1 Camp and the spectator point, the staff at Forest Fire Management Victoria, the staff at Mitchell and Murrindindi shires, the Strath Creek CFA, WAP Motorsport for the MIV, the management of the Broadford Masonic Hall, Broadford Police, Gary Hodgskiss for scoring and of course the organising team who put the event together in only 9 weeks.
Congratulations to all outright and class winners. Awards will be presented at the next HRA Club night scheduled for Wednesday 12 June at the East Malvern RSL, Stanley Grose Dve, East Malvern commencing 8pm. Dinner is available prior. The guest speaker for that night will be Professor Harriet Edquist, from RMIT University who will talk about the history of design in the Australian car industry. It promises to be a fascinating story.
Awards will be presented before her talk and you are welcome to stay for the rest of the night. Award winners are:
Adrian Stratford & Dan Parry (1st Outright and 1stClass PRC Modern)
Keith Lewis & Kylie Turner (2nd Outright and 1st Class P81)
Tim Sullivan & Deb Saltmarsh (3rd Outright)
Ashley Smyth & Dean Hubbert (1st Novice)
Graham Wallis & Nick Luxton (1st Standard Car Challenge).
Note: There was an error in the class awards listed in the first version of this covering letter. With our apologies, the correct award winners are listed above.
We are already planning for 2020. Our philosophy is that a club special stage rally should provide the same high organisational and safety standards for competitors as would a national championship rally. We understand that the competitor is the customer and intended to provide you with an enjoyable experience. In 2020, looking after the competitor will again be our priority.
If you enjoyed the Victoria Cross, please tell your friends as we’d like to have double the number of entries next time!
The best to you in rallying,
Nick Wright
Clerk of Course
The evening of 13th April will see the next running of the Victoria Cross Rally by the Historic Rally Association. A Special Stage Rally to be conducted over public and private roads within Mount Disappointment, the traditional home of the Victoria Cross Rally.
In the early 1980’s when today’s classic rally cars were nearly new, this event was a favourite. The April 13 event is the second ‘modern’ running of this much loved rally, in an area that rarely sees a rally car these days.
The Event will run in 2 Divisions with a service break between. Each Division will consist of 45km Competitive and 35km Transport. The start and finish is in Broadford and all competitive stages will be in the Mt Disappointment State Forest.
For the competition minded, it is FULLY ROUTE CHARTED over 10 STAGES, a total of 90km COMPETITIVE
The Event additionally offers the Standard Car Challenge Rally, for vehicles that meeting the Resto Country Spares Standard Car Challenge rules and it will be the same length as the special stage Victoria Cross Rally.
The rally is open to historic rally cars, production rally cars, classic rally cars, club rally cars, standard rally cars (as registered with the HRA Resto Country Spares Standard Car Challenge), R25 rally cars and any other rally car deemed by the Clerk of Course to be in the spirit of historic rallying. Entry is restricted to cars over 25 years old and excludes 4WD turbo cars.
As a closed to club event, Frontal head restraints are recommended but not compulsory.
You will be ‘disappointed’ if you miss this event in an area not often used now for special stage rallies!
Officials are requested to e-mail their availability to the Officials Co-ordinator Joel Wald, at vice_pres@hra.org.au
Further enquiries may be directed to
HRA President: David McKenzie, e: president@hra.org.au, m: 0407 405 109
HRA Vice President: Joel Wald, e: vice_pres@hra.org.au, m: 0412 352 252
Banner image:
Winners of the Victoria Cross in 2013, Neil Schey and James Elliott. This was the last time the Victoria Cross Rally was held. Pic by John Doutch.
MEDIA RELEASE 10 MARCH 2019
For immediate release
VICTORIA CROSS RALLY April 13 2019.
CLASSIC RALLY CARS HIT THE ROAD TO REVIVE A RALLY 40 YEARS ON
The evening of 13th April will see the next running of the Victoria Cross Rally by the Historic Rally Association. A Special Stage Rally to be conducted over public and private roads within Mount Disappointment, the traditional home of the Victoria Cross Rally. Continue reading Classic rally cars hit the road to revive a rally 40 years on
Welcome and thank you for your interest in the 2019 Rich River Revival.
The 2019 Rich River Revival is set to run again and builds on the success of last year. Based on the feedback and the experiences of last year, we have made some changes to improve the quality of the event with a view to increase the participation. This event is a multi-club event being a round of the HRA Rally Championship and the Standard Car Challenge. It will also be a round of the North Eastern Car Club Rally Championship.
Whilst the area is the same, the limitations and need to make it a unique event have resulted in a route that is challenging and not what it seems at first glance. For those that have competed in this area before, you have been warned. And for those that haven’t, you have also been warned.
The event will retain the same format with a navigational section and then after a break, some competitive stages through the Koondrook Forest. What has changed though will be the timing of the sections. The touring section will now run in the daylight hours on the Saturday afternoon. Crews will then re-group before heading off on the competitive night stages in the forest.
The touring section has been completely redesigned to present a greater navigational challenge but very achievable for those competitors still developing their navigational skills. The navigational section is a bit longer than last year at 176 km. After the success of last year’s event, we have been offered some roads that as far as I am aware have not been used before. The HRA Mailbox will again return.
The competitive night section will use the same Koondrook Forest area but with a variety of different roads. With a competitive distance of just over 100 competitive kilometres for this section. Again building off the success of last year, we have been offered a greater area of the forest in which to compete.
The event is centred around the township of Cohuna, at the Cohuna Memorial Hall. This will be the location of Start/Finish and Rally HQ. This is very conveniently located in the centre of Cohuna and a short 10 minute walk to the Cohuna Waterfront Holiday Park. Besides this, there is also a wealth of other local accommodation available either in Cohuna or just down the road in Echuca, Barham or Kerang. The goal is to have all competitors finished by between approximately 9 to 9:30 pm on Saturday night.
There will be facilities for spectators and an opportunity to see the cars twice, all a short drive from Cohuna.
There is a central Service Location that is located approximately 500 metres down the road from Rally HQ. Please note that there is fuel available but they close at 7pm so refuelling will be from own supplies after this time. There is a Shell service station on the road coming to Cohuna (from Echuca, South from Rally HQ), a Caltex on the road leaving Cohuna (towards Koonbrook, North of Rally HQ) and a Liberty in the actual township (heading out of Cohuna towards Koondrook, north of Rally HQ). The service area will not have a designated Refuel area.
I sincerely hope you enjoy this event and I look forward to seeing you out there.
If there are any questions regards the event, please call Mike Foreshew on 0438 588 152 or email at richriverrally@gmail.com
Mike Foreshew
Clerk of Course
2019 Rich River Revival
The pics were taken on the route check in February:
Page banner: John Rawson and Ashley McBain, equal 1st OR in the 2018 Rich River Revival. By the grin, John was having a good time! Pic by John Doutch, b team rally media.
Hi all.
Our 2019 Resto Country Spares Standard Car Challenge is upon us.
First event is the George Woods. For those who have not seen them, the Supp Regs and Entry Form are on the George Woods Rally page. Continue reading Resto Country Spares 2019 Standard Car Challenge Bulletin No 1
The 2019 George Woods Introductory Rally will be conducted on the afternoon and evening of 23 February 2019.
The event is a Multi-Club Special Stage Introductory Rally. It will incorporate the Rookies Ramble, a shorter, daylight only, event for Novice and Rookie competitors only.
Graded competitors are encouraged to enter the George Woods Introductory Rally with a novice driver or navigator as this is the best way for a new competitor to learn.
A training session for new competitors (and other interested parties) will be held, on Friday 8th February, at CAMS State Meeting Room, 821 Dandenong Road, Malvern East.
For over 30 years the George Woods Introductory Rally has introduced new competitors to the sport of rallying. This is still the primary role of the 2019 event.
However, the 2019 George Woods Rally will also be Round 1 of the Historic Rally Association’s 2019 Resto Country Spares Standard Car Challenge
The Entry Fee is $230; an Early Bird Discount of $50 applies for complete entries received before the ballot. The Early Bird Discount will be refunded to such entries.
The Event will be run in two divisions.
Division 1 will run in daylight over approximately 45 kilometres competitive and 15 kilometres transport. It will be fully route charted with tulip diagrams.
Division 2 will run after sunset over approximately 55 kilometres competitive and 25 kilometres transport. It will incorporate both route charts and simple map reading stages. The Rookies Ramble will run only over Division 1.
Start, Service and finish will be at Powelltown Recreation Reserve, where food and drinks will be on sale.
Further information contact Glad Fish, Clerk of Course, by email at gladfish@netspace.net.au or phone on 0410 148 058.
Page banner: Keith Cuttle, with first-time navigator Declan Kirkham, in the 2018 George Woods Rally. Pic by John Doutch.
This is the 6th year of the Resto Country Spares Standard Car Challenge. Special thanks to Resto Country Spares for their sponsorship and continued support of our Challenge.
We have 7 rallies lined up for this year starting with the George Woods on 23 February. Plus, there are 4 Autocross events scheduled at the ever popular Avalon track. Continue reading Resto Country Spares Standard Car Challenge 2019 calendar is set