Comment: 10,000 Miles from Coffs

Australian rally driver, Guy Tyler, was in the UK when Rally Australia took place, but gives his thoughts on the future of the Australian Rally Championship.

Australian rally driver, Guy Tyler."Well, I don’t exactly know how far Buckinghamshire is from sunny, beautiful, Coffs Harbour, but it certainly seems like a very long way at the moment.

I think I may have built it up a bit in my head, but Coffs Harbour is a very, very special place for me. I guess it represents a kind of pilgrimage, where once a year you get the chance to travel across a great land and compare your driving skills with the best the world has to offer.

Not to mention the absolute beauty of the Coffs Coast region, with stunning beaches, awesome mountains and some of the best rallying roads in the world, I can’t see why anyone would want Rally Australia anywhere else.

I made my first trip over in 2011, which was the first year the event was part of the World Rally Championship. It was also my first national rally outside of South Australia, and the first in which myself and now good mate and fellow South Aussie, Michael Busby, combined resources to get to.

We both had a horrible event, which resulted in my poor Evo 3 sustaining quite a lot of body damage, but to this day we are quite proud that we stuck it out and got to the finish line in last and second to last place! Despite the poor result my love affair with this great rally had begun, and I have since made the trip back three times.

Although I was really disappointed not to be there this year, I will shift heaven and earth to be there in 2017, which promises to be an incredible event with the new generation WRC cars’ first trip down under.

This now brings me to the Australian Rally Championship, and where we saw the most exciting finale to the Championship in years. It has got me thinking about the future of the ARC, and what direction I think would see it prosper the most.

No doubt the return to four-wheel drive cars has helped in a big way this year. The competition has been a lot tougher and I certainly found it a lot more entertaining to follow, even from the other side of the world. But I think there is still a long way to go to get the championship to where it should be.

The first thing I think we need to do as competitors who want the championship to grow is to step outside of our bubble and start seeing things how the rest of the world sees us. We get so caught up in the tenths of seconds difference in stage times, or how much the tyres wear, or who really is the best driver.

Guy Tyler at the start of Rally Australia in his Mitsubishi Lancer. (Browne Bear Photography)Don’t get me wrong, I love all of that, but to the general public, no one gives a hoot! They want to see crazy personalities, drivers pushing their cars to the limit, and people who can become really good role models.

A good example is Molly Taylor. Now many people have said that Subaru could have chosen a faster driver, or one they thought deserved the factory supported drive more. However, I think Molly is the most deserving of the drive by a long way.

Not only can she push a rally car to its limits in the forest, she is also the absolute perfect brand ambassador. Gone are the days of manufacturers wanting to win rallies at all costs, in order for them to get value for money in motorsport they need to have someone who is presentable, who can rock up to dealerships, product launches, and press conferences and really show that their product is better than the rest - winning rallies alone just doesn't cut it.

I believe if we can shift our focus to what sponsors and manufacturers actually want, and stop trying to sell them the same old product, we may just have a chance of getting back to the good old days.

The other big mistake I see Australian rallying making is constantly looking to overseas to help shape what we are trying to achieve back home. The biggest difference between rallying in Europe and Australia is simply population base. The percentage of people rallying in Europe compared to Australia, from what I have seen, is about the same, but there are far more people, and hence far more competitors in Europe with big amounts of money to throw at rally cars.

In the Junior British Rally Championship this year, there were 16 starters at the first round, all in $60,000 R2 specification cars. There simply isn’t enough money in Australia to run a championship like this, so trying to model things like this in the ARC like we have seen over the past few years just wont work.

New Zealand definitely has been kicking goals lately, and I believe it is because they are thinking about what is best for New Zealand, and not trying to imitate what works elsewhere.

On a positive note, I’m sure most of us have heard about a planned one-make series coming up for the 2018 ARC season. I think this is a fantastic idea, and one that could really work if planned the right way.

I believe for it to be successful it would have to have a good balance of entertainment, manufacturer involvement, and competitor support.

With this in mind I cannot think of a better possible option than a Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ Championship. For starters, there is no point in gaining manufacturer support but lacking in competitors, so that for me puts a modern WRX series out of contention due to cost. But it also needs it to be entertaining to watch, which rules out any near-standard front-wheel drive.

An 86/BRZ championship would be the best combination of the lot, and one that I would definitely be very keen on being a part of.
    
So, as I look forward to the future, I also have to reflect on the past. Before I decided to move myself across the globe to compete in the British Rally Championship this year, I had been told that I would have to expect to be up against much stiffer competition, and also much bigger bank accounts. Whilst this didn't stop me from going, I fully understand how the sport works over here now, and how much more of a business rallying is in Europe and the UK.

In Australia, I was able to punch above my weight with not a lot of cash, but over here I was up against better drivers with twice the budget, and who had done more events than I ever have. Many would call me silly for trying my luck against this sort of competition, and yes it was a long shot, but I don’t regret it for a second.

How many Australian rally drivers can claim they have completed in Europe, and how many have risked it all for an opportunity to further their career overseas? I am extremely proud of what my small group of supporters have helped my co-driver Steve and I achieve, and I know the friends we’ve made and experiences we have had will last a lifetime.

I would encourage other young drivers from Australia to get over here and give it a go, and I guess that is the point I am trying to make here.  That is that we should all embrace, the Aussie spirit of ‘having a crack’, but also staying true to who we are."

- Guy Tyler

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