COMING SOON (When I get around to it): REJEX RALLY 2003!!! Sorry it's taking so long, but I'm pretty busy with uni and work commitments (not that anyone looks at this site anyway... By the way, if you do actually check out this site, can you PLEASE email me so I know whether it's worth updating it or not.

This area has the details of the rallies that I have entered in so far in my brief driving history (I only got my licence in August 2000 after all). I think that I have had reasonable success in each rally, and I definitely intend to enter in more in the future. For those of you who are thinking that these rallies are WRC-style, dirt road and jumps-type affairs, I have to tell you that this is not the case, though I wouldn't mind having a go at this style of rally someday.

The first rally I competed in was a road rally for charity where you have to go to various locations based on clues you receive in a question booklet, which also contained cryptic questions that had to be answered and handed in. Teams received points based upon the number of correct answers, not the time that it took them to get everything finished.The event was good fun, but didn't really test my driving ability or the ability of my Accord.

To rectify this situation, I entered the 2001 Rejex Rally. I was introduced to this rally by a friend of mine (who actually hates cars and everything involving cars), whose parents have long been involved in organising the event. The rally required that there be a driver and a navigator in each car, minimum. So I stuck my friend in the back seat of the Honda, his younger brother in the passenger seat as my navigator, and at 9.00AM on Saturday 5 August 2001, we headed out from Stoke's Hill Wharf in Darwin, down the Stuart Highway toward Katherine.

The Rejex Rally is not intended to be a high-speed rally, instead, there is a 100km/h speed limit between motorkhana-type courses. Each course is simply an arrangement of witches' hats at a secluded location, mostly the World War II airstrips that can be found alongside the Stuart Highway at various points. I am told that courses have been done at Katherine Speedway before, but this hasn't happened in either of the two Rejex rallies that I've competed in.

On each course, drivers demonstrate their driving ability more than the performance of their vehicle, though lighter, more powerful cars do obviously have a better chance. Most of the cars that are entered are classics such as 1920's Dodges, Model A & T Fords, and old Holdens. There are also some very nice examples of 60's & 70's muscle cars such as Mustangs, Camaros, and Monaros, but the drivers of these vehicles have for the most part been easy on their car to avoid any chance of damaging their well-kept vehicles. Modern vehicles are also welcome, with around 5 cars less than 20 years old competing in the 2001 event.

My result in 2001 was 4th overall, 3rd in class (1976-2000), and 5th overall with handicap. The handicapping system is well worked out, levelling the field so that older cars and vehicles with a smaller capacity have a chance against more modern and powerful vehicles. The Accord was in the 1976-2000 category, meaning that I was competing against a Holden Gemini, a Toyota Lexcen, and a Toyota Supra. The Lexcen won this class, the Gemini was second, and the Accord third, as mentioned before. I suspect that the Supra could have done far better, but the driver didn't wish to risk damaging his vehicle.

In 2002, I was a bit more confident entering the event, now having more road experience, and also a bit more powerful car. The event did not go to Katherine as it had in 2001. We still stopped for the Saturday night at Hayes Creek (as happened in 2001), but instead of continuing on to Katherine on the Sunday, we based ourselves in Hayes Creek and visited some of the nearby airstrips. My navigator remained the same as in 2002, which had advantages and disadvantages, but to preserve his self-respect, I shall not explain what these advantages and disadvantages were.

Unfortunately I had some problems with the car from the very beginning of the rally. The first, and immediately obvious one was that I didn't have a proper fuel tank filler cap in, instead only an emergency one. I had discovered the Friday before the rally that I had lost this the last time I had put petrol in the car. I purchased an emergency cap, thinking that it would suffice. When on the rally, once I had finished the first course, one of the official mentioned that everytime I turned the car sharply, especially in handbrake turns, petrol was spurting out the fuel door. To solve the problem, I stuffed an old rag in over the emergency cap, and shut the fuel door on it to hold it in place. Then when travelling to the next few stages, I revved the engine a lot harder, using fuel faster. This solved the problem, and once the tank was approximately only two-thirds full, the petrol stopped splashing out the side.

The second problem I had with the car was that the handbrake cable wasn't tight enough. This became obvious when the car wouldn't flick it's back end around as it should have when attempting handbrake turns. I have since tightened the cable, and it feels a lot better.

Even with the problems, I managed to get 4th overall again. I was also 4th in class (again, 1976-2001) but when the handicap was added to my overall score, I ended up 19th. I am not disappointed with this result, as the gent that came first overall was an advanced driving instructor, who had won the event in 2001 in a Mini, and arrived for 2002 in a HSV Clubsport (Gen III 350 Chev. with 250kW). Second overall went to a Mazda RX7, and third to a Holden Commodore ute. I am confident that next time I compete I will improved, and possibly attain third. The only flaw with this is that my navigator now has his licence and intends to use his parents Torana GTR-XU1 in 2003. If he does do this, I would probably consider taking a turn at navigating. Unless I can find a replacement navigator of course...

Anyway, below you can probably see some links to some pages I have included with images from the 2001 & 2002 Rejex Rallies, as well as the overall results from 2002. Please excuse how few pictures there are from 2001, as I didn't take a camera with me. For the 2002 event I was better prepared, taking both a digital and a regular camera. Unfortunately the digital had some problems, so I don't have any of the pictures that I took with it. Fortunately, I used two rolls of film with the other camera, and the best shots taken with it have been included in this section. Please explore and enjoy.