The Shannons Rally of the Heartland returned to the roads in an area between Eudunda in the south and close to Terowie in the north on the Anzac Day Long Weekend over 23-26 April 2026. This event is a round of both the South Australian Rally Championship and the East Coast Classic Rally Series with many teams entered in both. 
Rally headquarters was again in Burra, with remote servicing at Eudunda and Hallett during the event.
The ever-popular Toby Price and navigator Holly Kilbride were back again, as was the (now bright yellow) Mitsubishi Magna taxi of Guy Tyler and Steve Fisher, and the beautiful Martini liveried Ford Escort Cosworth RS of Glenn Brinkman and Scott Beckwith. For the Subaru fans, at the pointy end, were the orange Subaru WRX of Bradley Clements and Naomi Tillett, and blue Subaru WRX of Sam Thomas and Tristan Crowe. Signature Classic cars included the always spectacular Ford Escort RS 2500 of Thomas Dermody and Eoin Moynihan, and Stuart Bowes and Mark Nelson’s Mercedes 450 SLC 5.0L.
One of the more unusual entries were the BMW E30 of Neil Schey and Scott Middleton, and Ford Sierra XR 4X4 of John Carney and Richard Hood.
Please note these are only a small selection of the photos available. Contact me via the website or Facebook. Apart from Fawlty Towers1, Pipplini (night), Waterholes stages, all other stages have the whole field of cars photographed.
Day 1 – Friday
Day 1 took in stages in the south, reminiscent of the former Eudunda Rally, with stages on the plateau above Robertstown (13.2km long Spring Garden stage), before a climb up to the tableland country of the Kooninderie stage and then Wombat Flat stage on the plains and a dash though some mallee scrub on the relatively short Fawlty Towers stage at Australia Plains. These stages would be repeated, before the teams would undertake 2 night stages (voluntary participation), including the famous Pippilini (pipeline) stage. 
Guy Tyler would dominate the Day stages, winning 6 of the 8 stages with Toby Price winning the two Wombat Flat stages. Sam Thomas’s Subaru was the best of the Subaru’s early until Bradley Clements and Naomi Tillett found their rhythm on the repeat of the stages with a 5th fastest overall on the Fawlty Towers2 stage and 6th fastest overall on the Kooninderie2 stage and Wombat Flat2 stages being their best results.
End of Day 1
All Competitors – Day Stages Only Guy Tyler/Steve Fisher (Mitsubishi Magna) 43secs ahead of Toby Price/Holly Kilbride (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) and 1min ahead of Thomas Dermody/Eoin Moynihan (Ford Escort RS 2500), with Glenn Brinkman/Scott Beckwith (Ford Escort Cosworth RS), and Andrew Myers/Christopher Storer (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 RS) a few seconds further back.
Classic Thomas Dermody/Eoin Moynihan (Ford Escort RS 2500), 12 secs ahead of Glenn Brinkman/Scott Beckwith (Ford Escort Cosworth RS), and 3mins 21secs ahead of Kevin Millard/Patrick Hughes (Datsun 1600), with Ross Yendle/Regan Yendle (Ford Escort), Jamie Lawson/Darryl (O’Brien) and Neil Schey/Scott Middleton (BMW E30) a little further back.
SARC Guy Tyler/Steve Fisher (Mitsubishi Magna), Toby Price/Holly Kilbride (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9), Glenn Brinkman/Scott Beckwith (Ford Escort Cosworth RS), Andrew Myers/Christopher Storer (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 RS) and Kevin Millard/Patrick Hughes (Datsun 1600) held the top 5 spots.
SARC Plus (night stages) Glenn Brinkman/Scott Beckwith (Ford Escort Cosworth RS) first, and 3mins 9secs ahead of Kevin Millard/Patrick Hughes (Datsun 1600), with Greg Park/Brian Ward (Peugeot 504) in 4rd place over 9mins further back
Seniors Thomas Dermody/Eoin Moynihan (Ford Escort RS 2500) over Stuart Bowes and Mark Nelson (Mercedes 450 SLC) and Mark Povey and Brendan Dearman (Datsun Stanza).
When selecting a photo to view, click on the thumbnail, then click on the small photo that first appears, to then view the larger image.
Day 2 – Saturday
Day 2 was on Anzac Day and out of respect for the Anzac diggers the rally would only commence after lunch, with stages east of Booborowie (16km long Waterholes) and west (Hacklins) and north to the Brown Hill Wind Farm around the 19km long Motherowie stage, before mammoth 75km long night stage of Thunderstorm Hill northeast of Hallett, and the Diesel and Dust stage past the famous Midnight Oil house. 
Overall, Dermody would beat the entire field by 4secs on stage 11. Tyler wouldn’t quite have it all his own way, only winning one of the 3 SARC stages, but sufficiently to hold the lead by the end of the day stages. Price would win the other 2 stages, with Brinkman having a 2nd fastest time on the 1st stage of the day. By the end of the day, Mark Povey/Brendan Dearman and Stuart Bowes/Mark Nelson withdrew from the event (SARC) with mechanical issues, and a further 2 cars in other categories. The best of the Subarus was Thomas/Crowe in 9th and then Clements and Tillett in 12th overall at day’s end.
End of Day 2
All Competitors – Day Stages Only The top 5 remained in the same order as Day 1 with Guy Tyler/Steve Fisher (Mitsubishi Magna) still dominating.
Classic Ross Yendle/Regan Yendle (Ford Escort) and Kevin Millard/Patrick Hughes (Datsun 1600) had swapped positions for 3rd and 4th respectively.
SARC The same first 5 cars from Day 1 remained in the same order.
SARC Plus – night stages With a mammoth night stages such as Thunderstorm Hill come large differences. Brinkman would beat 2nd placed Millard by 5mins, and nearly 24mins over 3rd placed Greg Park/Brian Ward (Peugeot 504). The order and differences were similar after the iconic Diesel and Dust stage.
Seniors Schey/Middleton held a 34sec gap over 2nd placed Lawson/O’Brien by day’s end.
Day 3 – Sunday
Day 3 would see the cars take on the famous roads east of Mount Dare again with the 42km One Tree Hill stage being the longest, followed by the 36km Ketchowla Short stage. The day would however start with a blast past the Midnight Oil house in the opposite direction from the night stage. Tyler would start to falter on some stages, making the event anyone’s in the top 3. Price would pull out a blinder on Dust and Diesel (SS16) by 10secs, with Tyler striking back by 20secs on One Tree Hill1 (SS17). Price would again grab the bull by the horns on Ketchowla Short (SS18) by 11secs over Brinkman with Tyler 16secs further back. Brinkman would take out Ulooloo Short (SS19) by 3secs, but Tyler would have some major issues recording a stage time 1min 26secs slower than Brinkman. Brinkman would again win the last stage of the event, One Tree Hill2, over Price, with Tyler now limping to the rally’s end.
The name of the game is consistency, and a lot of luck! Toby Price and Holly Kilbride would take the top spot on the podium, with the consistent Brinkman and Beckwith taking out 2nd overall followed by Guy Tyler and Steve Fisher, only 14secs in arrears. In the battle of the Subarus, Bradley Clements and Naomi Tillett would finish in a fine 6th overall. Out of the 4 Holden Commodore utes entered the team of McNay and Nuckie (orange ute) would be 5th overall with the black Ford Escort of Yendle and Yendle in 4th. Ten cars would not complete the event.
SARC As above, with Clements/Tillett in 5th.
Classic Brinkman/Beckwith over Yendle/Yendle (Ford Escort) and Lawson/O’Brien (grey Holden Commodore ute) in the top 3 spots, followed by Millard/Hughes (Datsun 1600) and Schey/Middleton (BMW E30).
Regularity Regularity Plus over all days was dominated by the Subaru of Anthony Dally and Kel Mocilnik winning on all 3 days and only accumulating a total of 82 penalty points, over next closest, David Mercer/Matthew Mercer (Holden Commodore ute) with 158 penalty points. In Regularity, the experienced combination of Stephen Barker and Mandy Rudham would dominate, finishing with only 86 penalty points, over Stephany Broad and Tim Broad with a mammoth 693 penalty points.
