As round five of the Australian Rally Championship, the event will also incorporate the Great Lakes Classic Rally, and event director, Mike Bell, is promising some fantastic roads and some innovative ideas.
In a real bonanza for spectators, the Great Lakes Rally will feature two Super Special Stages, to be run at two different locations. Bulahdelah Showground will feature on Saturday and crews will tackle a competitive test around the Taree Showground on Sunday.
“The roads we’re using are super-smooth and are in sensational condition,” Clerk of Course, Mike Bell, said today. “And competitors will be the real winners, particularly with confirmation that the use of Manning Hill Road has been approved.”
Manning Hill Road is widely regarded as one of the best rally roads around. “Competitors should enter the Great Lakes Rally just for that road alone,” Bell added.
A feature of the event will be the Classic Rally, which is shaping up to be a bonanza for classic rally cars, with many former rally stars indicating interest in competing.
The classic cars will have to get through a massive 350km of competitive stages over the course of the event, including a “make or break” 60km stage that will start the competition for classic cars on the Saturday morning.
And as an added bonus for classic crews, they will also get to tackle another famous piece of mid-north coast road – the 6km Bulahdelah Pass-Old Pacific Highway road, which is totally bitumen and will provide a real competitive challenge.
The Old Pacific Highway is a real challenge in a road car, let alone a rally car, as it winds its way over the Bulahdelah mountain.
As well as being a round of the Australian Rally Championship, with guaranteed entries from the factory Toyota and Ford teams, the Great Lakes Rally is also a round of the NSW Rally Championship.
As the Great Lakes Rally looks certain to have a bumper field, competitors and spectators are urged to book their accommodation early. Full accommodation and touring details are available at: www.greatlakes.org.au
The local councils and tourism organizations have been instrumental in getting the event up and running, and have got right behind the event, which organisers are expecting to become a regular feature on the Australian rallying calendar.
More details can be found on the Great Lakes Classic Rally website.
Photo: Dallas Dogger
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