The Alpine Rally is Australia’s oldest rally with the first edition having been conducted in 1921. It is arguably the third oldest rally in the world that is still being conducted, after the Austrian Alpine Rally (Österreichische Alpenfahrt) first conducted in 1910 and the Monte Carlo Rally first conducted in 1911. The Rally of Poland was also first conducted in 1921. 

The first four editions of the Alpine Trial were organised by the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria. The Victorian Light Car Club, which was established in 1924, took over the organisation of the Alpine Trial from 1926. The club was renamed the Light Car Club of Australia in 1931 and the LCCA organised all Alpine Trials and Rallies (except 1959, which was organised by the Victorian Sporting Car Club) through until the club ceased operations in 1992.

In the pre-WWII era the Alpine Trial was very much a long distance reliability trial with some timed sub-events. The event was resurrected in 1950 and became a timed trial but still with a strong emphasis on reliability and navigation. From the mid 1960s the Alpine was renamed a “Rally” and became a more driver oriented event. It was the final round of the first two Australian Rally Championships in 1968 and 69 and has been a heat of the ARC on 18 occasions. By the late 1970s the Alpine Rally had become a full special stage event with second timing.

The 1993 and 1994 Alpine Rallies were organised by the Albury Wodonga District Car Club and they also organised two navigationally oriented Alpine Trials in 1997 and 2000.

Since 2001 the Alpine Rally has been organised by the Historic Rally Association as a special stage event predominantly for classic rally cars.

A full history of the Alpine can be found in Bob Watson’s excellent book, The Great Alpine Contest.