"It was the last run of the day, and it was the only corner in the stage that you would look at and say 'gee, I really don’t want to go off there!'" Neal Bates told us at the time."It was a Right 6, I managed to get a little wide, and went off and started hitting trees," he explained. The car sustained damage to the right hand front, and the biggest drama was the right hand strut tower. The rest of the damage was to panels, which on a WRCar could be a drama, as they are not common to any of the donor model road cars of the time! Fortunately, Toyota had a display car – Neal’s old rally car. Team personnel worked solid for the next 30 hours after the accident to make sure that the three-time Aussie champion would be able to take his battle up to Bourne's by-now rebuilt Subaru. As NEIL BLACKBOURN's photos from 2000 show below, it was a mercurial effort from the Toyota Australia team to get the car repaired – all done in a local Hobart workshop.
All photos: Neil Blackbourn
Read our 2000 Saxon Safari Rally report:
https://rallysportmag.com/rally-recall-the-final-showdown-2000-saxon-safari-rally/VIP Exclusive Content
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