Nathan Quinn is well known to Kiwi rally fans, having contested four rounds of the NZRC during 2018.
The Coffs Harbour driver’s reputation went up another level last weekend when he took out the prestigious Alpine Rally.
There were many remarkable things about Quinn’s victory – not the least of which was that he was driving a 1970 Mazda RX2.
The twitchy little rotary is not normally known as a winning rally car, but in Quinn’s hands it was the perfect weapon in one of the most extraordinary rallies Australia has ever witnessed.
As you will know, Australia has been ravaged by bushfires over recent weeks, resulting in the cancellation of Rally Australia in mid-November.
Two weeks later, the Alpine Rally – held every two years – would suffer a similar fate.
Lightning strikes in the week prior had started many bushfires in the east Gippsland area of Victoria, and the damage caused by these, along with the ever-present strong winds, saw the rally route continually changing.
The event lost two of the four Friday afternoon stages, and more disappointingly, all of Sunday’s stages.
Once the rally got underway the tinder dry conditions saw many crews battling thick dust on the slippery gravel roads.
Incredibly though, this wasn’t to last long.
On Friday night the skies opened and rain fell consistently, meaning that Saturday’s stages were held under atrocious conditions.
The rain hardly let up, and many of the leading contenders slid off the road and out of the rally.
Through it all, Quinn maintained his composure and saw off a strong challenge from the BMW of Ben Barker, who would eventually tear a front wheel of his much more fancied car.
Then, to top it all off, the final two stages of the rally were cancelled because they were simply impassable for rally cars.
If crews were after a rally that produced simply everything, then the Alpine Rally was it.
Nathan Quinn once again proved that his 2017 Australian Rally Championship win was no fluke, and that he’s sorely missed from the top level of the sport in both Australia and New Zealand.
To cap it all off, on my drive home from the Alpine, the weather got even worse, and I had to battle heavy snow as I drove over Mt Hotham.
Only in Australia ….
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