4WD dominates but clouds on the horizon

The decade was dominated by 4WD forest racers, mostly Subaru WRXs, Mitsubishi Lancers and later, Toyota Corollas. Every year of the ARC and almost all state championship were won by these cars. A standout exception was the 2001 QRC won by Tristan Carrigan in a Ford Laser!

The influence of Rally Australia on the sport continued and the event ran successfully out of Perth until the WA government pulled support after the 2006 edition. After much work behind the scenes, Rally Australia returned at the end of the decade on the east coast, but not without considerable challenges.

Factory support for the ARC waned as the decade progressed, with Subaru withdrawing in 2006, Mitsubishi downgrading its support and Toyota withdrawing in 2009. Despite a brief dalliance by Ford with S2000 Fiestas, the decade ended with no factory teams. The introduction of Group N and later S2000 had worked for a while but by decade’s end the ARC was toying with the possibility of 2WD to attract back the factory teams.

But the decade saw the emergence of some remarkable drivers. Sadly, we lost Possum Bourne in 2003 after he had taken seven straight titles. Victorian Cody Crocker emerged and took three national titles and then two Asia Pacific titles. Chris Atkinson almost took the ARC in 2004 then went on to become Australia’s first full time WRC factory driver with Subaru. The second half of the decade saw the emergence of another fast Victorian, Simon Evans, and some impressive drives by his brother Eli.

Rally organisation had become more demanding and expensive, resulting in shorter events, repeated stages and a few cancellations. Costs escalated, inevitably passed on to competitors through entry fees.

Partly as a result of costs and partly a hankering for an earlier era saw classic rallying thrive in various forms. Among these were the now bi-annual Alpine Rally which relocated to East Gippsland in 2003 and would then adopt Lakes Entrance as its almost permanent home. The desire for longer events was still there with good support for the Red Centre to Gold Coast Trial in 2008 and the first Classic Outback Trial in 2009.