Batemans Bay welcomes top flight rallying back to the region this weekend when the Sun X AutoGard Rally of the Bay roars through the brilliant South Coast Forests.
The third round of the Gary’s Motorsport Tyres NSW Rally Championships, the Rally of the Bay will see some of the most exciting and spectacular rally cars and drivers in what is a mecca of Australian rallying.
Batemans Bay and surrounding areas are set to reap a windfall of close to a million dollars in economic impact when the Rally of the Bay comes to town with a number of crews travelling from as far as Melbourne with a number of leading Victorian crews heading north for the legendary rally roads of the Bay.
The rally’s return to the South Coast centre will deliver more than 1500 bed nights over the Weekend in the middle of winter at a time when tourism numbers are at their lowest, providing a major boost to a range of Bay businesses.
The rally has attracted a strong field for what will not only be the third round of the Gary’s Motor Sport Tyres NSW Rally Championship but also the a round of the Shannons ACT Rally Series. Â
More than 1000 people will be involved in the rally including almost 160 competitors, a similar number of service crew, around 150 officials and organisers close to 500 spectators as well as media, sponsors and families of competitors.
Run on arguably the best roads in all of New South Wales, the event has been structured to unite rallying with the local community by bringing the rally and the promotional activities into the town with a massive promotional start planned in Batemans Bay’s McKay Park Precinct from 10am on Saturday morning with an array of exciting activities.
According to rally manager Ian Bigg, there will be plenty of things to do and fun at the start to interest visitors of all ages.
 “We will have an array of the most exciting rally cars around with the chance to catch up with the drivers, get their autographs and find out about the sport and enjoy the atmosphere.
“As well as the array of rally cars Batemans Bay’s best cafes and food outlets surround the start enabling fans to have a leisurely coffee while the cars are flagged away for what will be one of the most exciting rallies in the state, “ he added.
 "The Batemans Bay area has long been held in high regard for its rally roads and as a fantastic base for the sport of rallying and it is great to be able to bring top level rallying to the Bay," said Colin Fletcher.
"The Bay area is renown for its medium to fast hardwood forest roads that offer an unending challenge of re-entry corners and end of ridge bends that just flow from one corner to the next.
"We are thrilled to have the support of many great organisations including SunX AutoGard, 2EC radio network, MRT Performance, Simpson Race Products, Toora Competizione, Premier Pools, Bond Roll Bars, V-Sport Canberra, the Bay Waters Resort and numerous motels and hotels in the Bay area and of course the Bay Post," Colin said.
Multiple NSW state rally champion Chris Giddins will be out to repeat his 2013 Rally of the Bay win in his Mitsubishi Evo in what should be a great battle with last year’s winner, Ulladulla’s Gavin Croker.
Some of the cream of Australian rallying will be in Batemans Bay for this year’s Rally of the Bay including regular ARC competitor Adrian Coppin in his high tech Citroen DS3, rising star Canberra’s Harry Bates and multiple Australian co-driving champion Coral Taylor who will sit alongside young Bates.
In a major change this year the Rally of the Bay is introducing a pace noted category for the rally, which has attracted some of Australias fastest and most exciting drivers including Canberra Subaru driver Michael Harding, Victorian Darren Windus in a similar car, the South Coast’s Charlie Drake along with Harry Bates and Adrian Coppin. The pace noting move signals a potential move to this style of competition in the NSW Rally Championship in the next couple of years. Again the Rally of the Bay is leading the way with innovation and improvements in the sport.
While the Pace noted crews will not compete for the outright win the focus will be on the battle for the NSW Rally Championship points and the outright win with the likes of Giddins and Croker fighting it out with  the North Coasts Peter Roberts, Sydney’s Brett Middleton, Victorian visitors the brothers Neil and Peter Schey, Coffs Harbour’s Nathan Quinn, young Sydney firebrand Tim Wilkins and a whole lot more.
Cooma’s Andrew Penney is hoping that this year’s Rally of the Bay won’t be as warm as last year when his Subaru suffered an oil leak and burnt to the ground in a spectacular blaze which cost the man from the Snowy Mountains a pretty packet. Penny and his co-driver escaped unharmed unlike the Cooma driver’s wallet.
 It will certainly be interesting watching Giddens and Croker trying to hold off the Subaru hordes. Others to watch will include young up and coming driver Tim Wilkins in his spectacular and fast rear drive Nissan Silvia S15 and a host of other fast and highly competitive outright cars.
 The SunX AutoGard Rally of the Bay last year marked the rally debut of second-generation racer Harry Bates, son of four times Australian Champ, Neal Bates. Harry will again drive the near standard Corolla he shared last year with Molly Taylor, the world’s fastest female rally driver. Since then Harry has finished on the podium at the Australian Championship National Capital rally in Canberra and comes to Batemans far from a novice as he was in 2014. This year he will be partnered by Molly’s Mum and his Dad’s regular co-driver Coral Taylor. It will be fascinating to watch a new generation of drivers with the familiar Bates and Taylor pairing in a different form.
The rally will kick off with a ceremonial start at 10.30 am on Saturday morning in the MacKay Park precinct opposite Macdonalds, giving fans the opportunity to see the competitors and their array of spectacular rally cars up close.
After driving over the start ramp competitors will face 144 kilometres of competitive running over eight challenging stages over some of the most flowing and truly enjoyable roads in Australia.
The Rally winners will celebrate back at Rally Headquarters at the Bay Waters Resort from around 7.30pm on Saturday night with a wrap up rally party and dinner where rally tall tales and true will be told into the night.
 Spectators will have plenty of chances to view all the action; with three different viewing points during the rally some with live commentary delivering up to date results and rally info to the spectators.
The service park is located at McKay Park reserve and the relaxed format will allow people to get to spectator points and see the cars in action.Â
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