2022 Shannons Adelaide Rally

A few of the photos available (random selection) from  the 2022 Shannons Adelaide Rally, a tarmac rally run on closed roads in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia on 25-27/11/2022.  The event combined touring cars (within speed limits) with competition cars (maximum 130kph) on closed road sections.  The touring groups are generally grouped in manufacturers or a combined main tour group.  This year’s event culminated with the final stage being held on the Valo Adelaide 500 circuit in the parklands of Adelaide with spectators watching from the western grandstands.  Unfortunately due to fatalities in this year’s famous Targa Tasmania event the outright Competition class was unable to run.  In the timed Trophy category expected to be at the pointy end would be Selley/McKendrick (Mitsubishi EVO 8RS) who normally competed in the outright Competition class, Lovell/Radziszewski (Subaru STI Spec C), Auld/Barker (Porsche 997.2 GT3 CS), Campbell/Brown (BMW E36), Lomman/Bainbridge (Datsun 240Z) and Perkins/Brabbins switching from a Subaru to a Toyota Yaris GR.  There were some fast cars such as Bennett/Richardson (Mitsubishi EVO 6.5) that but they appeared to be on handicap in the results.  The stages would be categorised as Platinum, Silver and Bronze stages (SS1, SS20, SS30) with target times to be met.

Day 1 (Friday).  Each day the entire field (excluding the Prima Tour which only drove on a small number of stages on the Friday) would complete a set of stages, some repeated.  The longest stage on Day 1 (Friday) would be Cherryville 1 and 2 at 19.56kms followed by Teringie at 5.72kms, down to the miniscule Beaumont and Cleland stages at 1.15kms and 1.72kms respectively.  At the end of the day Lovell led Selley by a mammoth 41secs due Lovell beating Selley by 24secs each on both runs through Cherryville stage.  The tiny FSM Niki of Lowe/Chevis lost the clutch on the big curve of the Torrens Gorge and the car rolled backwards into the armco where it had to remain at 90 degrees to the road for the entire 2nd run through Cherryville stage.  Lomman (Datsun 240Z) retired after hitting the Armco barrier and Standen/Hiser retired their 1962 Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint.  Selley however would be faster on many of the shorter stages suiting his Mitsubishi.  Perkins (Yaris GR), Campbell (BMW E36) and Auld (Porsche 997.2) rounded out the top 5 places.

Day 2 (Saturday) had much shorter stages, with Hermitage at 4.99kms the longest, with most stages between 2-4kms except for the tiny Wairoa stage at Aldgate at 0.86kms.  The stage times produced some mixed results with Selley and Lovell matching times, but Lovell opened up the gap after wins on SS16 and SS17, but on SS19 Selley managed to be 16secs faster than Lovell reducing the margin significantly.  This was repeated on SS21 where the margin between these two was 6secs.  Yung/Lau (Mitsubishi EVO 6) won SS13 Chain of Ponds, and Auld (Porsche 997.2) won SS20 Wairoa.  At the end of the day Lovell held a 28secs gap from Selley.  Yung had moved up to 3rd outright but was 1min 15secs behind Selley, Auld a further 29secs back and Campbell in 5th.  Bennett (Mitsubishi) had to retire with mechanical issues, and Perkins (Yaris GR) went off the road.  Lowe had to retire the Niki with mechanical issues.

Day 3’s stages included the 9.28km Bull Creek stage (SS26) and Mt Lofty stage at 7.57km (SS23) down to the final stage of the event, 2.33kms Victoria Park.  The chase would be on for Selley to try and break Lovell’s nerve.  He set the tone on the first stage, Mt Lofty by 6secs.  Then Lovell was matching Selley when he saw what he was up to.  Auld (Porsche) meanwhile had crept up to 3rd outright by SS25.  In previous years Lovell and Auld had battled hard.  There were more retirements, with Yung (Mitsubishi EVO 6) hitting the armco, Lowe’s Niki succumbed to mechanical issues, Mathwin/Mullins (MGB GT V8) had axle problems, Engel/Escott (Nissan Skyline) with mechanical issues.  By the time the cars hit Victoria Park, Lovell had managed to see off Selley’s challenge and maintain the 22secs buffer throughout the day with matched stage times.  Selley would scrape home for the final stage win.  Wallis/Cunningham (2002 Mini Cooper S) died on the circuit and avoided the chicanes down pit straight altogether.  Lovell/Radziszewski (Subaru STI Spec C) won the 3 day event by 21secs.  Selley/McKendrick (Mitsubishi EVO 8RS) in 2nd place was a substantial 2mins 10secs clear of 3rd place Auld/Barker (Porsche 997.2 GT3 CS).  Campbell/Brown (BMW E36) had several good stages to be only 10secs back.  Rounding out the top 5 was Coppleman/Van Rooye in new shape Subaru WRX STi, 23 secs back.  Taking out the Heritage Trophy was Cox/Martin (bright green Ford Escort Mk1) from the Alitalia sponsored Fiat 131 of Buratto/Browne.

Day 1 – Cherryville 1

Day 1 – Cherryville 2

Day 2 – Corkscrew