Motor racing is a sport where there are an enormous number of technical complexities that must be identified over and above the raw talent of the competitor. In tennis - for example - there's a racquet and ball, and the environment is a lined court with a net strung across it. Simple. But in motor racing, the competitor's tool is a highly sophisticated car (the subject of major on-going development) and the environment is a road that's constantly changing - and usually at a pretty terrific rate! So you can see there are the ingredients for some serious vehicle R&D. But as technology has driven motor racing forward, it's arguable that some of this whiz-bang gizmology has lessened the talent required from the driver - take the era of F1 "driver's aids" for example. Big power slides, locked brakes and smoke-belching wheelspin are all things of the past when you've got the stability control, ABS and traction control all cradling the baby.
So it's nice to occasionally take a step back in time and watch some of yesterdays racers mix it up in competition. Real racing some would call it.
South Australia's Classic Adelaide Rally is one such event, and it's proven to be a mammoth hit. Now in its third year, this four day annual event is open to all pre-1970 cars and is held over 200km of closed public roads in the Adelaide hills. This year hosted some 130 exotic cars divided into three categories - Touring, Parade and Competition. The tourers weren't driven on the special (ie competition) stages, parade cars were driven on them (but not competitively) and competition cars were going for it 100% and vying for a top position. Even a couple of motoring greats - Sir Jack Brabham and Win Percy - guest paraded in the non-competitive stages. Another couple of notable entries were Kevin Bartlett at the helm of a thundering Ford GT40 LeMans classic and an ex-Stirling Moss Ferrari GT250 that's valued at a fat $A5 million.
But before even Day 1 of racing teed off, the organizers held a Media demo day to promote the event. And, of course, AutoSpeed attended with bells on. The main focus of the morning was to let TV camera crews get footage of some of the cars punting around a small inner-city track - but (more importantly) take for a spin those journalists who were game enough. And since we're not total pussies (like some other journos!), I got a passenger's side seat in three very different competition vehicles
Da Big Mustang
"It doesn't do everything right" confessed a hard-charging John Virgo behind the wheel of his big '66 Mustang. From the passenger's seat, I could feel the front end of the Ford pushing into major understeer, followed by a generous prod of the throttle to swap it into mild oversteer. "But it's got 420 horsepower from its 289 V8" he added with a smile as we looked down the short straight. And sure enough, that classic roar of a dirty big carb-equipped V8 rung inside the cabin and the scenery was forced past a terrific rate. This was a big grunter of a machine that loved to power along - but its handling? Hmm
Li'l Escort
In contrast, Peter Kyriakidis' BDA-engined '73 RS 1600 Escort was a machine that thrived on the twisty road sections. "It's very predictable" assured Peter as he put the Escort through a beautiful sideways drift, "and it's so controllable." With a much higher cornering speed than the Mustang, you could see from his frantic steering corrections how much more involved Peter was with the car's handling - it was action-packed! Its two hundred horsepower was also more than enough to push it out of corners - not even all that far behind the Mustang. This was an ultra-competitive car.
Ozzy Six
Our very last ride was in a Golden Aussie classic - a 1970 Holden Torana XU-1. Powered by a 186ci six and hauling a weight somewhere between that of the Mustang and the Escort, driver John Beasley was keen to put a smile on the face of us media folk. All the way around the track the induction roar of the triple carbs dominated and John felt more at home sideways than anything else. A couple of corner markers came so close to my side door I thought they were goners! This car was a very good all-round package that had no major cornering, braking or power deficiencies.
Start your engines.
After competition began on Thursday morning, it immediately became became obvious who was the man to beat - none other than SA's own Andrew Cavelli in his BDA Escort (as featured at "Bad BDA").
Sporting recently revised suspension, Andrew was pushing through the stages a full second and a half per kilometre quicker than last year, and was stretching w-a-y out in front of his nearest threat - who was Rick Bates (brother of Neil) driving a 1967 Porsche 911.
And nearly three full days of competition passed with Andrew holding a comfortable lead over Rick. But towards the end of the Saturday, disaster struck. Andrew explains it simply - "I pushed the go pedal instead of the brake pedal" But this slip-up (while traveling near maximum revs in 5th gear!) saw the Escort plough through a field and wire fence, damaging the steering and some of the front suspension. After an overnight repair job, the car was back in form - but a massive penalty was imposed, putting the Escort out of contention. So the honours were handed on a platter to a steady driving Rick Bates in the Porsche - who after the Escort's demise, held the number one position convincingly.
Oh - and that hot twin cam Escort of Peter Kyriakidis that we went for a hoon in? It took out an inspired second position! Well done to Peter, and a sincere "better luck next year" to poor Andrew Cavelli.
