Long time Victorian rally driver, Ian Swan will be hanging up his long distance driving helmet after this year’s Classic Outback Trial.
Swan, a 73 year old from Frankston South in Victoria, will line up in his trusty 1975 Volvo 242 with his “new” co-driver – long-time mate Colin Gow of Wonga Park – in an attempt to beat a previous third place in the 7 day, 2,300 kilometre Special Stage Rally.
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Rally car preparation specialist John Rawson is the latest entry in the 2020 Classic Outback Trial.
Proprietor of Tayell Service Centre, a small but well known rally preparation business in the Melbourne suburb of East Bentleigh, 64 year old Rawson will compete in his 1978 Datsun Stanza in an attempt to win the 2,300 kilometer special stage rally.
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Brisbane’s Luke Dimech and his hulking Holden Monaro are the latest entry in the 2020 Classic Outback Trial.
Luke and his older South Australian brother, Neil, who will take on the co-driver duties, are keen to pit their skills in the recently rebuilt Monaro GTS 350 against 49 other contenders, most of whom will be driving smaller and more nimble machines.
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The effect of COVID-19 and the nation-wide community lockdown has extended to the 2020 Classic Outback Trial.
Despite attempts to conduct the event during the original period of mid-August, the 7 day, all daylight special stage rally, plus the regularity event conducted in conjunction with the Trial, will now be held from November 1 – 7, 2020.
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The legendary car trials that have captured the public’s imagination since the ‘round Australia’ Trials of the 1950s, could have reached the end of the dusty Outback road.
The Event Director of Australia’s only remaining marathon gravel special stage rally, Philip Bernadou, has announced that the next Classic Outback Trial to be run from March 7 to 13 2021, will be his last.
Continue readingBathurst son and father combination, Andrew and David Travis were the cream of the crop at the end of the 2016 Classic Outback Trial (COT), as they took back to back wins and their third in four attempts, this time in a Nissan Gazelle.
The Travis team near the end of the first stage of day 6. Pic by Craig O’Brien.
The 4th day of the 6 day Classic Outback Trial in the Northern Territory was thrown in to turmoil on Wednesday morning when 15 cars became bogged in a sandy section of road south east of Rainbow Valley, about 100 km from Alice Springs.
Bogged rally crews on the Classic Outback Trial. Pic by Glenn Evans
As the sun rose against the MacDonnell Ranges on a chilly Tuesday morning, all but the Sawyer brothers who retired on day two, disembarked from Lasseters for a challenging days’ rallying.
Before formalities got under-way, event co-ordinator Steuart Snooks, presented Argentine pair Jorge Perez Companc and Jose Volta with the COT gnomes, which are awarded to the most deserving crew each day. Day three of competition would see competitors cover six stages, totalling 159 competitive kilometres, north east of Alice Springs with two service breaks at the sensational Hale River Homestead. Continue reading
The 2016 Classic Outback Trial finally got under way, after Friday’s storms which lashed the region with devastating effect, saw yesterday’s seven stages of competition cancelled.
An eager field of 52 crews from around Australia and overseas gathered at Lasseters early in the morning against the sun-lit backdrop of the magnificent MacDonnell Ranges to begin the quest to conquer the Australian Outback. Awaiting the crews would be five challenging stages covering a distance of 187 competitive kilometres to the north of Alice Springs. Continue reading
After a day’s delay while Alice Springs cleaned up from a massive storm last Friday, we were finally underway to run day two’s stages. The route took us north beyond the Tropic of Capricorn to Mount Yambah and Gemtree for 185 km of competitive kilometres stages and 430 km in total. Like the storm on Friday, the first 2 stages cut a trail of destruction through the field. And like that storm, most of the damage can be repaired, just putting plans back a bit.
The worst news of the day came early. Making its way into the first competitive, Michael and Andrew Sawyer’s Datsun 1600 suffered a terminal engine failure, leaving Andrew by the side of the Stuart Highway waiting for Geoff and Jenny and a trailer. Crushing news for the popular lads who are part of the COT family. Continue reading
Classic Outback Trial 