Interview: 2015 Alpine Rally winner Jack Monkhouse

Jack Monkhouse was a popular winner of this year's Alpine Rally. RallySportMag.com.au caught up with the South Australian to get his thoughts on his win and to find out what his rally plans are for the future.

RSM: Firstly, congratulations on your win at the Alpine Rally.  That must be a huge honour.

JM: Thanks, I'm seriously lost for words. It still hasn't sunk in! I keep asking myself, did we really win the Alpine!!???

What is it that makes winning the Alpine so special?

It’s the pinnacle of classic car rallying in Australia! Massive fields of incredibly talented drivers, beautifully prepared and serious big dollar machinery, roads we have never driven on or even seen before and a huge amount of competitive kilometres with minimal service time! Its almost five heats of the ARC jammed into two days!! And to think we were almost tied for the lead coming into the last stage of the event, with third place only a minute or so behind, it’s just unbelievable!

It’s six months since your last rally. Did you have much time behind the wheel in preparation for the Alpine?

I haven't competed in a CAMS rally since the big accident in the Silvia at Rally SA in August 2014. I competed in an AMSAG event in May this year but that's the only event the Datto has done since Rally Q in 2014.

I get a huge amount of wheel time, but not normally in competition cars. My day job as Lead driver for Team D-MAX sees me constantly behind the wheel, whether sliding around a show arena, reversing around one at 60 km/h or driving around it up on the drivers two wheels! It also means I see heaps of highway driving in the utes or semi trailer all over Australia from pretty much Cairns in far north Queensland to Perth in WA!

When I have a weekend off from that job, I'm also known to be flying through the air in a 1500 horsepower Monster Truck or instructing drivers at RallySchool!

You’ve always shown plenty of speed and talent in a rally car and the rally fraternity was hugely excited to see you competing in your home event, Scouts Rally SA, last year.  Unfortunately that event ended with a massive crash and your Nissan Silvia burning to the ground.  How difficult was it to get back in a rally car after the accident?

That was, mentally, incredibly hard to comprehend what had actually happened. To be having such an enjoyable event, not pushing hard and rarely putting a wheel wrong, for it to go so pear shaped so quickly and to lose absolutely everything was just gut wrenching and really hard to accept. It was a simple as having the front wheel 20 centimetres in the wrong location and boom, we were instant passengers.

I am just so incredibly grateful and forever in debt to Bond Roll Bars, VELO seats and Simpson Head restraint systems for saving our lives that day. Even to this day it still runs through your mind that it can go so wrong so quickly, but you just need to switch that off while you’re competing and focus on the road and the job at hand.

Budget constraints have hindered your rally career in the past and the huge costs of competing in the national championship have meant a full-on assault has been out of the question.  Does your success in the Alpine mean you’ll look at contesting similar events in the future?

I love rallying and the Australian rally community and would do anything to give a full championship another assault. As you mentioned, budget constraints have hindered my career in the past and totally losing the Silvia financially was a huge hit that will take me a long time to recover from.

So unless I can gain some backing, I will only be doing select few events each year. Classic rallying is where it’s at budget wise for me. I can run the old Datsun on the sniff of an oily rag at times!

Your work commitments as a stunt driver for Team D-MAX have meant that you’ve missed Australia’s round of the World Rally Championship, Rally Australia, the past few years.  Now that the event has moved to November, is there a possibility we will see you competing in Coffs Harbour in 2016?

Ah yes, the old calendar clash scenario! The biggest downfall with a job like mine is  the clashes with weekend activities like rallies. It’s not a job where you can just go and get a fill in driver to take up your role for a few days. There is so much more to it than that.

And sadly, the WRC has always been on the same weekend as Adelaide Show  in September. I was very excited to hear the WRC had moved its date, only to be instantly disappointed when I heard that my favourite ARC round, the Scouts Rally SA, has now taken that weekend in September meaning I'll now miss that event. But yes, depending on work clashes and budget restraints, Id love to take the Datto up to Coffs for the WRC.

With the Alpine Rally held bi-annually, we’ll have to wait two years to see you defend your title.  Can we expect to see you behind the wheel of a rally car before then?

Yes, for sure. The old girl needs a big freshen up and some loving, but I'd like to do at least two to three events per year in it. It would be a dream come true to send it over to New Zealand for the Otago Rally either next year or even 2017 before then having a crack at the huge task of back to back Alpine titles!

I'm super excited to see the number 1 on my door plate - it’s an absolute dream come true!

Now that's music to every rally fan's ears.

Photo credit: Dave King

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