Over Neal Bates’ long and illustrious rally career he’s driven a wide variety of rally cars, including Toyota’s World Rally Car Corolla. But he says the past three years in his Celica RA40, built to the Classic car regulations, has been the most fun he’s ever had.
“Winning three Classic Championships in this car is great, but you know what, this car is just the best car to drive. It’s the best fun! You can be out there just having a ball, every single corner in this sort of car is just the best,” Neal explained.
Having dominated the past three seasons competing in the Australian Classic Rally Challenge, Bates would be forgiven for thinking he’d achieved everything there was to achieve, but for the Canberra rally driver the thrill of driving at pace through Australia’s forests is all the motivation he needs.
“I’m very pleased to win the Championship again, but above all I love competing, it wouldn’t matter what car or class I was in!” Neal said.
“People ask me ‘You’re still fast enough, why aren’t you in an outright car?’. And the simple fact is this comes out of my own pocket, I’m here for my own enjoyment, and I can afford to do this where as running an outright car would be double the money and then some.”
“But above all I really, really enjoy driving a classic car. So why would I change what I’m having fun doing?”
So will Bates be back to try to tackle another fourth Classic title next year? “I can’t see me doing anything different next year, unless something dramatically changes. I love driving the car, every stage we finished with a smile on our face, I love it!” he commented.
While other categories within the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship maintain fairly regular entry numbers from Round to Round, the Classic has witnessed some spikes and dips over the 2014 season.
“I’d love more people out there, people talk about it and never show up. But it’s no different to the ARC or the 4WD’s, lots of people talk about it. All I can say is it’s incredibly enjoyable so come out and give it a go!’ said Neal.
“I think the economic climate is tough very everyone, no matter what class you’re competing in. So I’m sure there are people that have every intention of competing more regularly but the money is hard to come by.”
“But the other drivers, guys like Geoff David are so competitive, so to have Geoff to race against at most Rounds is great. And then you have guys like Grant Walker who come out for their home events and have a terrific crack as well. It’d be great to see more of all those types of guys competing.”
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