Kalpowar report

[Feral]

Well First Rally of the year was this weekend. It was held in the Kalpowar forest just east of Monto. It was a very special Rally for me, I got to meet and see one of the Legends of Rallying, Murray Coote.

One of the blokes in the club had talked Murray into handing over the legendary 120Y Group G car he won many many races in in the 70's and early 80's. After getting the car fixed up and back on the road, he then invited Murray along as a guest t run the old girl in the rally.

It was something pretty awesome to see. Here was this legend of rally, looking like anyones granddad racing a 120Y against 4wd turbo charged cars that had previously won ARC events.

Murray blew a head gasket in the old girl at about the 80k competitive mark. At that point he was running in second place about 40 seconds behind the lead Evo Lancer. Not bad for a car that is over 30 years old, and seen an awful lot of rallys! I've never seen anything like it, and probably never will again. I reckon it is something my son Calum will remember for a long time, to see Murray on two wheels taking a hairpin turn with the arse still hanging out at about 45 degrees on full opposite lock made his eyes light up. Compared to the boring spectacle of the turbo 4wd's, the 120Y on full song was beautiful to watch.

Anyway the rally went pretty well, one accident where an Escort rolled 3 times after the finish, the bloke airvaced to Bundaberg with suspected spinal injuries, hopefully just precautionary. There were about 6 retirements out of the field of 25 odd, mostly with breakages in the cars.

Muggins here did a stop control, with Calum along for the experience, he had a ball, got to sit in a couple of cars, got a few tips. He avidly studied the road book for the event, and understood it all pretty easily (unlike his poor dad, I still think they are double dutch). But what capped it all of, was when he got a bit of spin around in the dirt, he went the big chuck, but kept wanting more! The boys reckon he is real navigator material.

Mate ran his car, first run after an engine rebuild to give it a few more nedies. Managed to absolutely destroy the RH drive shaft and CV joint. Ever paid to have your CV joints changed? How much labour did they charge you? If it was any more than $10 you got ripped. These blokes changed the whole drive shaft in the bush, using a shifter, a wrecking bar, 3 spanners and a set of side cutters in under 5 minutes.

Got a few photo's not much of the action, when you have to officiate there is no time for photo's during the event, so just a few photo's around the camp ground.

First photo is Murray Coote and the 120Y

Mate Greg showing his "snuck on" personal sponsorship (travel calm, his nickname is chucky)

A nice balmy -3 degrees in camp

Calum trying out the seat

Rally headquarters

5 minute Drive shaft change

Anyone want to buy a slight used drive shaft?

Calum in his new club shirt, Cap Coast Rallysport.

[chubbstar]

I enjoy this thread Feral, a good read.

I bet the young fella is still on cloud nine.:woohoo:

I used to watch the Targa back in Tassie ever year, That was good fun to watch. My favorite was the old V8's going full noise around some of the mountains. Realy got the blood pumping.

Jayson

[Feral]

He certainly is, did not actually whinge about anything the whole weekend! Well except for the cold!

[STU]

Nice one feral but the big question did you go to cania

[Feral]

No mate to buggered!. Also ended up traveling up in mates car who is not a fisherman. Next year for sure! Will be labour day weekend so will do both.

[uglyfish]

lol i bet it was cold...shes a cold place that monto...

[ellicat]

Good one Feral. You must be on top of the Brownie points with the kids of late.

[namyau]

do you need a cams licence for doing that sort of stuff?? look fun hahahah. im actually looking at getting a lancer evo 3 (road spec) and might do some tarmac events or club days when i can

[Feral]

Namyau, Rally's are the serious end of the business, so yeah you need a CAMs rally licence which takes a bit to get (you have to work up through lower level licences, getting tested on the way), full roll cage, safety gear etc etc.

Entry level stuff is motorkhana's. Holden car club do regular Tarmac ones out at Ipswich, buy your licence on the day, no safety gear required. I'd start there if I were you. MG car club do regular hill climbs at Mt Cotton, another good entry level, but not sure of safety equipment requirements (you dont have to have a car to match the car club name).

[namyau]

Feral wrote:

Namyau, Rally's are the serious end of the business, so yeah you need a CAMs rally licence which takes a bit to get (you have to work up through lower level licences, getting tested on the way), full roll cage, safety gear etc etc.

Entry level stuff is motorkhana's. Holden car club do regular Tarmac ones out at Ipswich, buy your licence on the day, no safety gear required. I'd start there if I were you. MG car club do regular hill climbs at Mt Cotton, another good entry level, but not sure of safety equipment requirements (you dont have to have a car to match the car club name).

cool thanks for the info, ive always been interested in doing something like that was gonna learn to drift but my skyline was too small interior wise and loud to take fishing, so yeah now im after either a evo of some sort or rexi which both have more space and the performance im after