Lake Mountain and Marysville will come alive with the sound of engines next week, as around 50 cars converge on the area for the second round of the 2015 Australian Tarmac Rally Championship.
Made up of four events that are contested in Victoria’s Alpine region and East Gippsland, the ATRC’s second round is the Lake Mountain Sprint (March 20-22) after the series kicked off with the Mt Baw Baw Sprint over the weekend of February 21-22.
This event will see the cars tackle several runs from Marysville, 98km north-east of Melbourne, to the summit of Lake Mountain on the Saturday (March 21). The road will be closed to public use during the competition runs. On Sunday, competitors will be timed against the clock in runs between Marysville, Lake Mountain and Cumberland Junction, with a total competitive distance for the weekend of 230km.
Melbourne-based events company Mountain Motor Sports runs the series, which offers two levels of driving: one for fully licensed rally drivers, competing against the clock in specially prepared rally cars. The other group is the ‘touring’ category, which allows would-be rally drivers a ‘taste’ of tarmac rallying by driving their road car at higher-than-usual road speeds behind an experienced rally driver who demonstrates the right techniques.
“The touring category is very popular with people who want to compete in a tarmac rally but don’t want to go to all the expense of getting their competition licence and investing in a fully prepared rally car,” says event director, Peter Washington.
“Having said that, we’ve had a number of entrants who’ve done a couple of events as a ‘tourer’ and then decided to take the next step and buy themselves a competition car. Several former touring category entrants are making their competition debut in this year’s series, which is really fantastic.”
With support from Murrindindi Shire and Lake Mountain Resort Management Board, this is the eighth year the event has been run in the Yarra Ranges/Yarra Valley region (aside from 2009 and last year).
“Council and the Resort have been a fantastic support to us right from the first event, as have the residents,” Mr Washington says.
“We’re delighted to be back in the area this year and we hope some of the residents will come along as spectators. They will be able to see the cars at the top of Lake Mountain at lunchtime on both days, and also at the Black Spur Inn late on Friday when the crews are doing their paperwork and having their cars checked.”
While the series is based in Victoria, the entry list attracts competitors from every state in Australia. They are prepared to commute from WA, SA, Queensland and NSW to drive some great mountain roads under closed road conditions, with the protection of a rigorous safety monitoring system to ‘keep watch’ on them.
All the ATRC events are open to modern (modified), classic (pre-1982) and showroom-spec vehicles which meet tarmac rally specifications (full rollcage etc).
Aside from the outright title, there are individual honours up for grabs in all three categories. Competing crews must wear full racesuits and helmets and be licensed by the Australian Auto Sport Alliance (AASA). Touring competitors must be clothed in non-flammable clothing from neck to wrist and ankle but not necessarily a racesuit. Driver and co-driver must wear helmets.
After the Lake Mountain event is run and won, competitors then have to wait until the weekend of October 3-4 for their next fix (Great Tarmac Rally) before the 2015 ‘grand final’ (Snowy River Sprint) on December 5-6. It’s likely the battle for the title will go down to the wire at that event.
“This year, the championship will be decided on the points tally from three rounds, but there will be a special award for anyone doing all four,” Mr Washington says.
“We decided it allows for a more level playing field for those who can’t commit to all four rounds, and means those who do sign up for four and have problems on one event can drop their worst round without any penalty.
“And just to make things really interesting, we’ve decided that the final round – the Snowy River Sprint – will carry double points, which will ensure the title chase goes down to the wire. Should be fun!”
Queensland’s Clinton Arentz took outright victory at Mt Baw Baw in the first round of the 2015 series with South Australia’s Tristan Catford second and last year’s championship winner, Victoria’s Danny Traverso, in third. All three crews were driving Mitsubishi Lancer Evos.
Winner in the Classic division for the weekend was Canberra’s Bernie Wilson (1972 Ford Capri Perana), while Victoria’s Craig Dean (Ford Mustang Shelby GT500) took the honours in Showroom 2WD. Arentz had bragging rights for Showroom 4WD.
Further information on this year’s events is available from event director Peter Washington (0418 337 955) or the website: http://www.australiantarmacrally.com/
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