A strong field of 18 rally cars from various parts of the state competed in the 2015 Sackett Services Southern Safari in Tasmania last weekend.
The third round of the Tasmanian Rally Series was held in the Plenty Valley, and was more a snow safari than the typical gravel event crews would normally face.
A cold blast that hit Tasmania the week leading up to the event left most stages lined with snow. Warmer weather towards the end of the week meant there was not only snow, but a lot of ice and mud, making treacherous road conditions that kept crews on edge throughout the day.
Despite the very slippery conditions all crews finished the event with no major offs, which was a big credit to the field and event organisers.
It isn’t uncommon to see a little snow on some stages in the Tasmanian Rally Series, however, this was by far the most amount of snow competitors have had to deal with.
All stages had significant coverings of the white stuff, with a couple stages having to be cancelled during the day as it was impassable by even 4WDs.
Just to match the unpredictable road conditions, heat 1 was being lead by a vehicle not usually in contention for first place. Les Walkden, in his Mitsubishi Pajero, had some great pace with possibly the vehicle of choice for the snowy conditions. Les managed to take heat 1 by over 1min 30sec.
As the day warmed and road conditions improved, the Subarus in the field took back their place on the board.
Keith Abblitt and co-driver Adrian Hodgetts finished first outright for the day in their Subaru WRX after mastering the snowy conditions. Craig Brooks finished second, despite having a high speed spin on stage three in his Subaru WRX, while Andrew Wylie finished third outright (WRX).
The next round of the Tasmanian Gravel rally series will be on October 17, the MSCT Mountain Stages Rally.
Watch a short video on the Southern Safari Rally.
Thanks to Stuart Edwards for the great photos.
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