Muscle car flexes
STUART INNES
CLASSIC RALLY |Trailblazer's surprise sprint warning STEVE Glenney put the cat among the pigeons - or more correctly an old two-wheel-drive muscle car among the high-tech, turbocharged all-wheel-drive modern machines - in the Classic Adelaide yesterday.
The tarmac rally's prologue was a 3.82km sprint up the Eagle-on-the-Hill road to sort starting order for today's first of four days of competition.
Glenney and co-driver Clarrie Lang took their 1981 Holden Commodore up in 2mim 1.5sec to be clearly the fastest in the classic competition.
Second was Ian Wilson-Scott Dornan in a 1978 Triumph TR7 V8 (2:05.2) and third the 1989 Nissan Skyline GTR of Matthew and Dennis Sims (2:06).
Last year's Classic Adelaide winner Kevin Weeks-Bec Crunkhorn in their 1974 Porsche 911 RS with 2:08.3 were fourth in the classics.
It not only meant Glenney was almost 7sec quicker than last year's event winner but was equal in time to the fastest handful in the new category, modern competition.
In the moderns, Tony Longhurst (co-driver Geoff Burgess) clocked 1:59.8 in a special Subaru PM25 ahead of international GT racer Allan Simonsen (Matt Lee) on 2:01 in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9.
Targa Tasmania and Targa New Zealand winner Tony Quinn-Naomi Tillett in a brand new Nissan GT-R managed 2:01.3 and Targa West winner Steve Jones-Ben Searcy in a similar GT-R were on 2:02.
Glenney, who comes from the Adelaide Hills, admitted he might have had a bit of local knowledge of the road.
"I drove up and down that road for 10 years when I went to school," he laughed.
When it was pointed out his effort in a 28-year-old Commodore was quicker than the Targa West winner in a modern Nissan GT-R, Glenney said: "It's a good start, isn't it? But we always try to be fastest, no matter what we are in."
He said the Commodore had been developed for classic rallying and boasted about 550 horsepower (410kW).
Longhurst, a two-time Bathurst 1000 race winner, said yesterday's prologue road was "beaut and smooth - I felt like I was on a race track again."
The 180 cars leave the Adelaide Hilton from 9am today with timed special stages near Inglewood, Kersbrook, Angaston. Birdwood and Cudlee Creek.
Jim Richards has withdrawn, unable to source a part for a damaged turbo on his Porsche.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26369153-12428,00.html
