Retrospective – 15 years ago – February 2000

There’s a continuing theme in rallying at a national championship level, and Australia isn’t the only country with questions that often go unanswered.

As an example, there is no British Rally Championship being held in 2015 as the series tries to re-invent itself and work out the best direction forward.

The change in regulations in Australia, and the introduction of cars such as Justin Dowel’s Dytko Hyundai i20 this year, has again created lots of discussion.

But don’t for one minute think this is something new. Fifteen years ago, in February 2000, Australian Rallysport News (as it was then) devoted our editorial and feature story on the plight of the national championship, and questioned whether we were going down the right path.

The articles below make of interesting reading, and it’s ironic that 15 years on, nothing much has changed.

EDITORIAL - FEBRUARY 2000

Neal Bates pushes his Corolla World Rally Car hard on the 2000 Rally of Canberra.While we may be still over two months from the start of the 2000 Australian Rally Championship, it’s time to start looking at this year’s title race and to what it holds for spectators, enthusiasts, and the sport itself.
And while we need to continually talk up the championship, it’s not hard to see that in some areas this year’s series won’t be as well supported as in 1999.
At the front of the field Neal Bates and Possum Bourne will, for the fifth year in a row, fight out what is basically a two-horse race for outright honours. While Ed Ordynski drove a works-spec Group A Lancer for some events in 1997, he has been the only other driver to regularly challenge for victory.
In a sport that boasts entry lists that can have as many as 100 cars, the fact that only two competitors have a realistic chance of victory is absurd. Trying selling that sort of scenario to any other top line sport!
Two years ago it appeared Formula 2 was the way to go, with new cars rumoured and plenty of interest in cars that virtually every manufacturer sold. But now, at the start of the 2000 season, the previous five F2 Champions are either absent from the entry lists, or are competing in a different class of vehicle.
So is Group N the way to go? Some say yes, others vehemently disagree, highlighting that that would still mean a two horse race as far as manufacturers go - Subaru vs Mitsubishi, as opposed to Subaru vs Toyota.
Comparing Group N cars against World Rally Cars, Group N is certainly more affordable and obtainable initially, and would definitely be cheaper to run, but do we want our national championship to be the domain of two manufacturers, as it is in touring cars?
Triple Australian Champion Neal Bates has spent many hours thinking about the problems surrounding the growth or stagnation of Australian rallying, and truly believes that the ‘Aussie Car’ category is the only way to go.
“Toyota, Ford, Holden, Mitsubishi, and even the Korean manufacturers make six cylinder, two-wheel drive cars,” Bates said, “and I think it’s the only category that looks like it could go ahead and sustain manufacturer interest.
“It would also be a category that would enable the young drivers to show their talents,” he added.
But no matter what your opinions regarding the right category for the championship, it seems crystal clear that one way or another, some major decisions need to be taken.
The Australian Rally Commission’s idea of having an Australian as World Champion is a great one, but under the current regulations it won’t happen. Of the current ARC regulars, only Simon Evans and Cody Crocker look capable of making the next step, but on past experience with Aussie’s getting works drives overseas, Collingwood have more chance of winning this year’s AFL premiership!
There’s no doubting that World Rally Cars and Formula 2 kit cars are exciting to watch, but are they right for our national championship?
I believe a survey needs to be circulated to EVERY rally licence holder, and the results distributed through the rallying press. Once that happens, we’ll get an idea of what most of the competitors want from their sport at the top level, and as to which way we should head.
It’s pointless just circulating such a survey to those registered for the ARC, because the current rules could be the reasoning behind dozens of club and state competitors not making that next step. If they had the chance to give their views, the sport as a whole could be the better for it.
The Australian Rally Commission has always made it known that their priority is to look after the top end of the sport, expecting that once that is in place, the bottom end will look after itself. But with only two drivers having won our national championship in the past seven years, you don’t have to be Einstein to realise that theory is a little off the mark.
Get to it ARCom, survey ALL rally competitors, and give everyone their chance to have a say in the future of our great sport.
- Peter Whitten

THE ROAD TO NOWHERE. AND DO THE SIGNS READ “WRONG WAY GO BACK”?

Our article under the Special Stage heading (above) poses a question that the whole of the Australian rallying community will need to address in the very near future if the success of our domestic rallying is to be maintained.
Possum Bourne's Impreza World Rally Car was spectacular to watch.In some respects, we’ve come to the crossroads in rallying where we must make the choice whether we go down the road of keeping up with world standards or accept that there may be little future in that option.
Consider the situation as it stands at the start of the new century - we have two leading competitors - only two - who currently run state-of-the-art World Rally Cars, albeit on a budget which is without doubt only a shoestring compared to equivalent overseas teams.
These two - Neal Bates and ex-patriate New Zealander Possum Bourne - have been staging a battle amongst themselves for the past 4 years, setting the pace in ARC events that others try hard to achieve in much lesser machinery.
With the possible exception of Ed Ordynski, a highly experienced and capable driver who enjoys a little support from Ralliart and has the occasional Mitsubishi Group A drive, there is no other driver capable of tackling the Bates/Bourne steamroller. It surely is a two horse race.
As far as Group N is concerned, there is loads of talent in this popular category but, with the exception of the lightly-funded Cody Crocker-Subaru Australia program, the battle to make headway in this class is left to the hordes of privateers who are attempting to make a name for themselves in an assortment of Mitsubishi Lancers of various Evolutions, and Subaru Imprezas.
It was only a few years ago that everyone, ARN included, was trumpeting the arrival of the new Formula 2 cars, the possible saviour of rallying at an affordable level not only in the antipodes but in the rest of the world as well. F2’s future seemed assured - almost all the major manufacturers had a suitable front wheel drive, 2 litre car which could be turned into a competitive front runner.
Many of our local competitors took up the challenge and embraced F2, confident that there was a future for these pocket rockets. With the likes of Brett Middleton’s Honda Civic, the Lee Peterson Nissan Sunny, Dean Herridge’s Hyundai Coupe, several Daihatsu Charades (the most successful of which, lately, was Rick Bates’) and the VW Golfs of rising star Simon Evans and teammate Jason Slot, there appeared to be heaps of potential for a successful 2 litre series. As we enter 2000, this potential has almost evaporated.
Immediately, three of the world’s top rally categories which are being run in Australia are proving less than successful, in one way or another. So, what’s left? Not much, in the current scheme of things, only our own unique PRC category, a sort of Group N-and-a-half class, and the poorly supported but nevertheless exciting Aussie Car category.

It could be said that Australia is caught up in a difficult situation where there may be no real, positive answer. Consider the facts. We live in a country that is as far away from the mainstream rallying countries of the world as it is possible to be.
In addition, our population base is miniscule compared to the land mass on which we live and, as a result, our vehicle manufacturing industry is quite small compared to countries such as Japan, Malaysia, Korea and most European countries. Therefore, manufacturer involvement in rallying is very minimal with few positions available for up-and-coming rally stars.
As a direct result of this, the lack of ‘works’ teams means that while we might like to get one of our drivers into a World Championship program, the simple fact of the matter is that there is no-one here who is likely to get the necessary match practice to make team managers in Europe sit up and take notice of a talented Aussie.
Much as we might like to think that an Australian can make it into the hallowed ranks of World Championship rallying, let alone be in a top ten position, this is purely the stuff that dreams are made of. That there is no tarmac round in the ARC Super Series is one hurdle, the other is the lack of ‘ice’ events, even though the Tasmanian round occasionally comes close to offering those conditions.
The simple facts are that Possum Bourne and Neal Bates would be the first to admit that the transition from Australian Championship to Asia-Pacific Championship is relatively easy compared to the huge step necessary to make it onto the world scene. And it’s not all about talent - money can guarantee you a factory drive, as evidenced by the recent signing of Luis Climent by Skoda.
The Spaniard was rumoured to have taken £350,000 worth of sponsorship with him to secure a drive in the last available Skoda WRC, ahead of the talented likes of Bruno Thiry and Thomas Radstrom.
Michael Guest aside, who enjoys the support of the Winfield tobacco company and some of the considerable financial resources of the multi-national, what other Australian could afford to buy him or herself a WRC ride, regardless of their talent?
The whole point of this is to pose the question of the future of World Rally Cars in our local championship. There is no doubting their excitement, the following that Bates and Bourne have generated, and the television spectacle that has resulted from their presence in the ARC.
But, at the end of the day, when there’s no interest from other manufacturers in tackling the Subaru and Toyota teams head-on, then there seems little future for WRCars in our championship.
A two-horse race is neither good for the drivers or the manufacturers, let alone the sport, no matter how many WRX’s Subaru may have sold as a result. So if we honestly don’t have the wherewithall to properly fund a local driver at top WRC level, why are we persevering with World Rally Cars in Australia?

Then there’s the Group N debate and the constant question of where Group N is heading. Group N, despite being one of the most affordable of the outright-contention categories, is perceived by many as slow, boring and uninteresting, but nevertheless presents the most rational category for Australia.
Yet if our experience and that of overseas countries is any guide, no other manufacturer is interested in building a Group N car, making the category a Mitsubishi-Subaru benefit once again. And do we really want to forego a two-horse WRCar contest for a two-horse Group N manufacturer contest on our shores?
Formula 2 could have been the sport’s big saviour but it, too, has started on the path to self-destruction. The major manufacturers who once showed a great deal of interest in rallying 2 litre cars that the public could buy are now steadily heading down the World Rally Car path.
And while the British Rally Championship embraced the F2 category for several years at the expense of Group N, it, too, is now having second thoughts after the likes of Nissan and, more recently, the all-conquering Renault Maxi team and the SEAT giant pulled out of arguably the world’s most relevant and admired championship.
The resulting lack of F2 cars also means that there will be no F2 award in this year’s world championship.
Our own F2 championship, which looked like going places over the past 2 seasons, has now been seriously downgraded with the defection of championship-winning Brett Middleton to the Group N/PRC ranks.
Dean Herridge at the wheel of his Group N Subaru Impreza WRX.Along with Rick Bates, Simon Evans, Jason Slot and Dean Herridge (as well as Bob Nicoli and Ross Mackenzie earlier on), Middleton has been one of F2’s staunchest supporters but, fearing an unequal contest from Evans’ ex-works Golf, decided that there was more to be gained by joining the WRX ranks.
Ironically, Evans has decided not to contest this year’s ARC Super Series, concentrating on the Asia-Pacific Series instead. The F2 ranks have been further depleted with the rumoured retirement of Jason Slot in the other Mk.3 Golf, while Rick Bates no longer enjoys Daihatsu support, Peterson’s Sunny is for sale and Herrridge’s 2000 program looks unlikely to revolve around an F2 Hyundai.
What was once the brightest star on the horizon down-under, F2 looks like being lumped into the “too hard” basket along with World Rally Cars.

Which leaves rallying with a dilemma - what category to promote for the new century. True rally fans and, we suspect, ARCom, are unlikely to embrace the Aussie Car class with too much enthusiasm.
But the real fact of the matter is, that if we want to promote Australian rallying to the public at large, then the Aussie Car class shapes up as a viable alternative.
With so many front wheel drive (and rear wheel drive, for that matter) family cars available on the Australian market, it would seem there is ample opportunity to promote a uniquely Australian series, and to hell with the rest of the world. Unconvinced?
Most people will be, but there is a much better chance of getting manufacturer support for volume-selling makes than one-off  homologation specials with a million dollar price tag, no matter how spectacular the latter may look. There is a case for much-increased interest in the Aussie Car category, no matter how un-appealing it may at first appear to be.
One only has to look at the long list of Camrys, Magnas, Daewoos, Hyundais, Mondeos, Commodores, Falcons etc. etc. etc. that would fit into this category perfectly to realise that there is enormous potential there.
Initially unexciting they may be, but simply following the rest of the world down the World Rally Car path is a recipe for disaster. The likelyhood of used examples of WRCars filtering down to rich privateers sometime in the future will do little to boost the top end of the sport.
Make no mistake, these cars are expensive to buy and just as expensive to run, and there are just not enough well-heeled talented drivers around to make it much more than a 2 way fight for outright honours. £375,000 (say, $900,000 Australian) will buy you a good factory-prepared Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla or Impreza WRC but a similar sum will be required to run the car for the World Championship season and there’d be no guarantee that you would be anywhere near the spec of the propery factory cars, anyway.

So where does that leave us? It looks like a difficult year in Australian rallying circles although we predict that that there will be nearly as many crews out there having a real go as in previous years.
However now is the time to analyse which way we should be going in the light of our unique set of circumstances that govern our sport. The problem facing ARCom and its members will not be resolved quickly, nor without a bit of blood, sweat and tears, for change never suits everyone.
But decisions have to be made to keep the sport healthy, exciting and prosperous. We might just need to take a bold stand and go it alone for the future health of Australian rallying. The Aussie Car class might just be that option.
- Jeff Whitten

Photos from the RallySport Magazine collection.

Author