ACT Forests Come Alive With the Appliance Installation Stages Rally

[Matt]

There is just over a week to go until the opening round of the 2010 AutoTech ACT Rally Series The Appliance Installations Stages. Next Friday marks the start to a year long battle which takes crews to 8 different rallies through the ACT and the surrounding region, including Lithgow, Bathurst, and the fast flowing forestry rounds of the South Coast.

The 2010 season is shaping up to be the best yet, with drivers coming from wide and far to get amongst some of the best rally roads the country has to offer. Expected to lead the crews away next Friday night is multiple ACT Rally Champion John Stilling with wife Kim Martin in the hot seat in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, and hot on their heels will be the 2009 Championship winning team of Thomas and Michael Barrett in their Total Traction Services Evo 6.
A hot interstate battle will be on with entries confirmed from New South Welshmen Jamie Neale and Claude Murray, both expected to take the fight to the ACT regulars.

Away from the pointy end of the field there will be some hotly contested battles in the Clubman and Silver Cup categories with a variety of cars including V8 utes and Datsun 1600s, to Honda Civics and Hyundai Excels.
With over 50 crews registered for this year’s Championship it’s sure to be an action packed year.

The Appliance Installations Stages gets underway next Friday night with a special 3.7km Spectator stage being run on the edge on the Tuggeranong Parkway. This a new innovation for rallying in the ACT and gives the public a chance to catch the action nice and close to the city. With demonstration runs being done by 4 times Australian Rally Champion Neal Bates, be sure you don’t miss the action, which gets underway from 6pm on the corner of Cotter and Uriarra Rds.

Saturday morning will mark the real start to the rally with crews tackling a hard 24km stage in the Stromolo Forest including a dash down Coppins Crossing Road. A Spectator point will be set up at a hairpin turn off the bitumen back into the forest, where the crews will then head west and use the forest roads around Tidbinbilla.

“We have set a course that is a good test of driver, co-driver and vehicle. The rally will suit the smart driver – the person who can read the road conditions and push when they can and back off and look after their car at other times. The person who drives flat out the entire time – won’t finish” said Clerk of Course Marty Holberton.

Spectator Instructions can be found here (when available), or pop into the Canberra Centre next week to check out the cars up close including Neal Bates' Toyota Corolla S2000 and pick up your set of instructions from the Information Desk.