Taking on the Alphera Dutton Rally Victoria

29 September, 2004

Have you ever spent 3 days racing around motorkhana layouts, racetracks, down dragstrips and sliding sideways for spectators? Think it sounds like fun? Too bloody right it is.

By Nathan Huppatz, pics by Drift King Photos

Recently I got the opportunity, thanks to Sam Beck of SB Corp – organisers of the Alphera Dutton Victoria Rally – to take part in the 2004 Victorian event. Having read about the NSW event earlier in the year, and also the Porsche Mt Buller Sprint that is organised by SB Corp also I must admit I was pretty keen to come along and check it out.

First thing was to find a car to compete in. I called Craig Dean of Melbourne’s Sports and Luxury Cars to see if he would be interested. Not wanting to rally this year (opting to prepare for a new assault on Targa Tasmania next year) he had to think about my offer, but called back the next day to let me know he had purchased his red twin turbo Supra that had taken him to 3^rd outright in the Tasmanian event some years before. Craig is a very accomplished driver, so I had my work cut out to get used to a Supra with 240kw at the rear wheels and keep up with him!

The Dutton rally can be entered with virtually a standard car. As it is a performance event (sponsored by Alphera Financial Services and Duttons– a premium marque dealer owned by Jeff Dutton) most cars are performance oriented and you want to battle for the outright title you will need something with a lot of poke and good handling to beat GT3s and 911 Turbos!

The rally is held over 3 days and incorporates over 20 driving tests. There is no navigation, so the driver and co-driver share duties equally. Simply, the ‘driver’ has first go at an event, then the co-driver hops in to repeat the test. Points are allocated to driver and co-driver so you can compete in the outright competition, handicapped, and in your own class.

The Toyota Supra was placed in class A after scrutineering. We were competing against 8 other high powered vehicles including a Noble GTO-3R (3.5L twin turbo V6), Warren Gainsmiths 700hp+ GTR and more. This was going to be fun!

The night before the event – which starts in Shepparton in the north of Victoria – Craig and I found ourselves adhering as many stickers as possible to the car. Shepparton can be cool at the best of times, but by 1am on a winter morning we decided we were frostbitten enough and went to bed.

Friday was the first day of competition and we made our way after a breakfast briefing to the Driver Educations Centre of Australia (or DECA for regulars). Three events stood before us. A motorkhanas, test track circuit and another small a twisty circuit on some training roads. It was here that we got to look at our half of the field (as the other half competed in some events elsewhere). About 25 Porsches of varying age were competing. Also a 600hp+ Ford mustang, Holden Commodores, Subaru Impreza WRX STis, Mitsubishi EVO8s, a RX7, a good selection of Mini Coopers and some BMWs and Mercedes. We set out to have fun, and hopefully set some competitive times against some of these high powered European marques.

Everything is reasonably safe if you take it easy to start off (you get two goes at most events) and there was only one minor incident involving a Holden Vectra and a traffic light pole on the driver training track... we wondered if he should have stopped at the red light?

We set some ok times, and were having fun. I took it a little easy on the test track, with no power oversteer in site. Still, I managed 30^th out of 85 on my first run. Craig was 27^th.

We finished these events by lunch and made our way into Shepparton for lunch supplied by the Noodle Box – one of the event sponsors. We then headed off to Shepparton airport for some slaloms and a 800m drag. ‘Woohoo’ I thought. The Supra should do well in the drag and there are no corners to go around so I thought I could maybe be as fast as Craig in this event! Turns out I totally overestimate the available grip on the first slalom and pirouetted through some witches hats, earning a 5 second penalty, but then did the 800m in 19.65 secs, 27^th position. Craig managed a 20.75 for a strong performance. We completed the last slalom pretty well and made our way back to the hotel to have a quick powernap before dinner!

One great aspect of the Dutton Rallies are meals and socializing. Meals are eaten as a group (breakfast lunch and dinner which are provided as part of your entry fee) and everyone stays together. It is a great chance to catch up with friends, make new ones and meet people you would otherwise not normally meet.

Saturday morning and we awoke slowly. A little too slowly in fact. It was 8:13am and briefing after breakfast had already started at rally headquarters down the road at 8. We were late! Lightning quick showers, gear thrown into the Supra and we were off to shovel down a quick bowl of breakfast and get to Winton Raceway.

This was a day I was looking forward to, but also quite nervous about. It had been about 5 years since I had driven at Winton racetrack, and back then it was in a few front wheel drive cars, not a 400hp rear wheel drive Supra...

My first outing was eye opening with great mid corner grip displayed by the car and some power oversteer while the rear tyres were still cold. I took the first 2 flying timed laps reasonably easy, remembering the track again and managed a 1 min 47. Not that great, but for my second run after lunch I knew I could pick up a few seconds.

At lunch I caught up with celebrity Glenn Ridge who was driving a Smart Roadster in the event. A cute car, it didn’t have nearly as much power as the Porsches and other near Supercars in the paddock but it handled very well. Glenn did well to set a fast time around the ‘wet circle’ event later in the day finishing 12^th.

Michael Stillwell of Bib Stillwell motors is a tarmac rally regular. Sitting at lunch we talked about the different rallies that he competes in regularly and how he was enjoying Dutton. “The great thing about this rally is the social aspect” explains Michael. There is no navigation, so everyone can enjoy testing their driving skill and having a go. Getting anxious for my second run around the track I happily agreed with him! A 1min 44 was my next best effort, 4 seconds slower than my more experienced driving partner. Fastest times at Winton were of course set by some of the more exotic machinery that could stretch their legs. The best time was claimed by Greg Lovett in a Porsche 993 turbo with a 1min 31.57 seconds..

I was becoming more familiar with the car though and looking forward to the evening’s motorkhanas in the SPC factory carpark located back in Shepparton. A large crowd had gathered and watched all 80-odd vehicles rev, scream and slide around the tight course.

We had a ball and set some reasonable times. Notable efforts came from Steve Richards in his Ford Escort and some of the better proponents of handbrake turns like Peter Gazzard in his Chrysler Crossfire.

Dinner for the second night was again held at Cellar 47 with an auction was held for Sunnyfield, a charity sponsor with some good prizes up on offer. Michael Stillwell generously purchased an entry into next years event at quite a premium and about $10,000 was raised in total. Everyone took opportunity to tell stories of action during the day and enjoy each other’s company. I was able to meet some familiar faces and names like Warren Gainsmith of Gainsville Furniture fame to talk a little about his monster GTR, Mark Tierney of Elf fuels in Australia competing in his fathers Supercar engine’d Mustang and some others in the competition.

At the end of day 1 Andrew and Ernie fuller in a Mitsubishi EVO3 were battling it out with some of the more powerful porsches, and beginning to emerge as a chance to take out the outright award.

Sunday morning saw us head off to Heathcote dragway to take on the ¼ mile. Unfortunately it was wet and drizzly and the event was called off due to the safety concern. We continued on towards Melbourne stopping at the Victoria Police Driver Training Centre and Essendon Airport car park for some more motorkhanas style events. Essendon airport provided some great action with a relatively slippery surface only catching a couple drivers out. The second Chrysler Crossfire had a minor incident causing some damage to a front wheel and there was some exciting sideways cornering and enthusiastic braking into the parking cones at the end of the stage.

The second set of events and last for us on the final day of competition were held at the Victoria Police Driver Training Centre. The first event was a simple lap of a small skidpan but the second was a tight and twisty little track with a dip and loop to keep things interesting. By this time I was feeling more confident in the Supra and it’s abilities and was really having some fun.

Finishing up, the convoy of cars made it’s way back into the centre of Melbourne to park in a static display at Federation square. Members of the public can freely walk around and look at all of the cars that have competed, and have a chat to some of the drivers. We opted for a quiet coffee and catch-up with a few friends that we had made before making our way to the bar for the trophy presentation. Craig came third in the co-driver class and collected his trophy. Unfortunately I didn’t get an award but the important thing is that you have fun and if you want, be as competitive as possible. The competitive nature in me tends to make me think I might be back next year to try and improve on the performance!