RickInOz

Thought it was time to throw in another music reference to intro an interesting couple of days away from the city and my normal work.

Amongst other hidden secrets, South Australia is petrolhead nirvana (see, the music ref was appropriate after all). The extremely dry climate and absence of gritting in winter provides a very low corrosion risk to car bodywork and running gear. As a result, the state is home to some of the finest examples of classic and rare vehicles.

As you will remember, some time ago I visited the Birdwood Motor Museum to ogle at many of the most desirable, and expensive, vehicles ever made. Well, over the past couple of days I got to see those cars in action rather than as static displays.

To maintain the spirit of past racing greats and ensure that the cars don’t just gather dust as relics, every year the Classic Adelaide is run. This is run by an amateur organisation in an anything-but-amateur way. In brief, it is a road rally held over 4 days with a mix of road rule driving and special stages. The latter are held on public roads that have been specifically closed for the event. As such, only registered vehicles may run and, since the stages only run one-way, drivers can use the full width of the road. Normal highway rules are suspended too so competitors can drive as fast as they like. These special stages are timed and rankings operate as they would in professional motor leagues.

I volunteered to work as medical support in one of the Fast Response Vehicles. Forming a team with a paramedic and two firemen, our role would be to provide immediate road-side trauma management. Fortunately we didn’t have to attend any crashes, but another team weren’t so lucky. Neither were they unfortunate participants who died instantly in a distinctly unpleasant accident. I know motorsport is inherently dangerous, but that still cast a shadow over the event.

On the plus side, it was an opportunity to see some very special cars. Some aficionados were drawn to the veteran classics, others to the tuned muscle cars. But for me it was the “rice burners”, highly modified Japanese sedans producing exceptional bang-for-buck. The Subaru Impreza RWX-STi is a fine example and co-incidentally what will soon be gracing our carport in about 6 weeks time. In the meantime the following photos have certainly whetted my appetite: