Vale: Ted Faulds
- 4th February 2025, 10:08am
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by Supplied
An exciting new stage for the 2025 Rally of Canberra has been named “Mr Grumbles” in honour of one of the founding members of the event, Ted Faulds, who sadly lost his battle with cancer on January 25.
Ted was involved in the Canberra rally scene for over 40 years as a competitor in his trusty Reliance Automotive Mazda RX2, and then as an event organiser and official.
He was known as Mr Grumbles or Grumble Bum, for his sometimes-gruff no-nonsense approach to rallying and organising events, that masked his fun-loving, hard-working and loyal true character.
As a driver, he was always competitive in his own way, but knew his limits, aiming to beat only those crews around him and never aiming for an outright win. His theory was that “he who has the most fun wins”, and he “won” many events with that philosophy.
Ted was told where to go by many of the great navigators in the Canberra region, with the likes of Mick Gentleman, Lyndall Drake, Andrew York and, for the last number of years, Adrian Dudok.
Ted’s contributions to the Rally of Canberra can be traced back to driving the sweep car in all the Mike Bell-era ROCs.
This was a job that Ted took to new heights, and resulted in many classic yarns about some of the international drivers who had DNF’d.
Ted started organising events like the Wanniassa Valley Rally, and then joined up with Adrian Dudok to resurrect the National Capital Rally as a NSW state round. His and Adrian’s event grew in popularity and professionalism, and in 2013 the event stepped up to Australian Championship status, and for two years as a round of the Asia Pacific Championship. Ted was the road director for all those years, and was always out the front in the course car.
When Ted had his shoulders replaced, he handed his car to Rod Kilby, but Ted was always there to service and offer advice. Ted typically took on ‘controlli’e duties if not competing himself, even though he didn’t totally understand how the paperwork worked.
Ted finally hung up his helmet six years ago, sold his trusty RX2 and handed the NatCap road director role over to Phil Thornburn.
Ted was diagnosed with cancer about three years ago, and after a long battle, he ran out of late time on Friday, January 25. He will be deeply missed by many in the rally community.
ROC organisers hope that while checking into the control at “Mr Grumbles” on March 23, competitors take a moment to think about the decades of work and dedication from the hundreds of officials, like Ted, that have provided the foundations for all events we now enjoy.
– Adrian Dudok
