QUIT Forest Rally Well Worth The Trek Say ARC Competitors
The QUIT Forest Rally will open the 2008 Australian Rally Championship season when the rally returns to the coastal town of Busselton on the 5-6th of April.
An ARC calendar change to the coates Rally Queensland date earlier this month sees the West Australian round of the national Championship play host to the first round for the first time since 2004.
The 2007 event boasted an entry list of 56 teams, with half the ARC field travelling across the Nullarbor from Eastern states to compete on the famous ball-bearing surfaces unique to Western Australia.
Some of the leading gravel rally drivers in the country are throwing their full support behind the QUIT Forest Rally urging all drivers to make the trip to this fantastic event.
Clerk of Course, Ross Tapper recently contacted the regular competitors and found they are all keen for the season to start.
“There is a chance we will have an increased number of interstate competitors this year, including some returning to the ARC and new competitors’ Ross said
Access Hardware’s Spencer Lowndes returned to the ARC mid-way through the 2007 season after three years on the sidelines and says he is really looking forward to making the trek to Western Australia again in 2008.
“The QUIT Forest Rally is a fantastic event, the super special stage is the best in the series and there are always lots of spectators,” said Lowndes. “Out in the forest it really is a drivers rally; it rewards people who push hard, has some great tricky stages, including one of the fastest straights in Australian rallying and best of all it is fun.”
After spectating at Rally Australia in Perth in 2005, ARC young-gun Brendan Reeves of LWR got to experience the roads first hand in 2007, and says it was one of the best driving experiences of his life.
“It was great for my driving as I had never experienced road surfaces like it before, I definitely feel like I am a better driver for it” said Reeves. “The roads are difficult and you have to be really committed to every corner but they are fast and you get so much out of them as a driver,”.
One of Australia’s most experienced co-drivers, Toyota Racing Development’s Coral Taylor often sees a different side of the event but still agrees that the QUIT Forest Rally is one of the best events on the calendar.
“It is a long way to travel for many of the teams, but the event itself more than makes up for it”, said Taylor. “The organisers do their upmost to ensure it is as easy as possible for interstate teams to make the trip and once you are there you don’t want to leave; it really is a great social rally, combined with some of the best roads in Australia.”
The rally will kick of on Friday night with the Busselton Toyota Super Special Stage held on the Busselton Foreshore and the forests of Nannup will continue to provide the home of the competitive stages, starting from Saturday morning and continuing throughout Sunday.
The Busselton Foreshore will also play host to a second super special stage on Saturday night and in a new initiative for 2008 be the home of the new Shannon’s Busselton Tarmac Sprint which will be run as a tarmac event throughout the day on Saturday.
Competitors after more information on competing in the Quit Forest Rally should contact Ross Tapper on 0418 950022 of rosstapper@bigpond.com.
Attached image: LWR’s Brendan Reeves in action at the 2007 QUIT Forest Rally.
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