Great Lakes Rally takes its toll on cars

The Great Lakes Rally was tough on man and machine, with a number of high speed accidents all but destroying cars.

Steve Glenney, Eli Evans, Paul Batten and Molly Taylor were among the ARC front-runners to do considerable damage to their machinery over the two days of the rally.

But perhaps the luckiest crew were the Subaru-mounted pair of Leigh Gotch and David Green.

Their Impreza WRX came over a crest too fast, and wasn’t going to make it around the corner. Driver Gotch takes up the story:

“I knew I wasn’t going to make the corner, so I decided to steer the car off the road and into a small bunch of saplings on the side of the road,” he said.

“But I didn’t see the big stump in the grass, and it hit right in the driver’s door,” Gotch said.

Fortunately neither crew member was injured, but the WRX will need a re-shell before it is seen on the stages again.

CAMS scrutineer, Barry Habgood, inspected the car in an unofficial capacity at the service park in Forster, and was impressed by the job the roll cage had done.

Photos: Hubble Photographix

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