Some of the photos from the 2022 Rally Barossa car rally run on 18/09/2022.  The rally had a relatively tight footprint with stages around Angaston, Eden Valley, Williamstown and north of Mount Crawford.  The event would attract some interesting cars and former stars of the Australian rally scene in Wayne Bell (albeit as O car in his Mazda 323 4WD Turbo) and Ross Dunkerton in his 1989 Mitsubishi VR4 Galant.  Nathan Quinn and Ray Winwood-Smith in his invitational 1970 Mazda RX2 would lead the field.  Adam Kaplan couldn’t get his 2010 Nissan 370Z back in time for this event but would have a surprise reserve car, a genuine Group B Metro SR4, but sadly with road tyres so he could only compete in 4 stages.   Dave McDonough and Naomi Tillett entered a schmick looking Opel Manta 400 (reminiscent of the British Rally Championship Mantas of mid 1980s).  Sam Brand, returning after 6 years off was due to return in his 1998 Subaru WRX, but was a late scratching.

Unfortunately parts of the Buddys stage and the Trial Hill Long stage were cancelled after heavy rain in the week, especially the Friday, before the event which also meant that the Trial Hill Short stage up the hill with it’s iconic hairpin corners would also be cancelled.  The morning started off wet and windy with fog in places.

The rally took its toll on some of the more fancied front runners.  Zayne Admiraal and Matthew Heywood hit a kangaroo at well over 150kph in their 2002 Subaru WRX on the first run through Corryton Park and were out of the event.  The spectacular Jack Monkhouse and Neill Woolley did a centre bearing in their 1973 Datsun 180B SSS.  Rob Hunt and Jeremy Browne were forced to retire their Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI after something broke.  Lower down the order, Bob Watson and Greg Park hit a tree in their 1977 Peugeot 504.  Overall 9 cars were DNFs at the end.

Nathan Quinn and Ray Winwood-Smith (1970 Mazda RX2) would record the fastest overall time at the end of the day.  Guy Tyler and Steve Fisher would be the eventual SARC winners (winning 5 of the 8 stages), with the 1998 Mitsubishi Magna able to stave off all comers when it counted and finish 2nd overall.  Declan Dwyer and daughter Zoe in their 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO were behind them (winning 1 stage), followed by Mount Gambier pair Jamie Pohlner and Adam Branford in their 2009 Mitsubishi EVO9 (winning 2 stages).