The Rally of South Australia is a round of the Australian Rally Championship. Rally SA is promoted and staged by the South Australian Motor Sport Board. After a six-year break, the SAMSB re-introduced a round of the ARC in 2001.
History
South Australia and South Australian drivers had a strong influence on the rally scene since the inception of the Championship in 1968. In past years Adelaide and South Australia were the home base of some of the country's most memorable rally events, including the 1979 Repco Reliability Trial, The State Bank Discovery Trial and the start of the Australian Safari Desert Marathon in 1995-96. In 1985-1986, the event was called The Tile Supplies Rally. In 1989, it was the Festival State Rally. In 2001, it was Coopers Pale Ale Rally SA, and by 2005, it was Toyota Rally SA. The last ARC round held in South Australia was in the 20th century was the fourth round of the 1994 season, the Clipsal Rally Adelaide. In 2005, the Rally of SA set an attendance record thrilling 30,500 spectators. Some 6,500 people attended the promotional start in Tanunda on the Friday evening before the competition. Victory in the Rally went to Scott Pedder/Glen Weston in their Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII, followed by Neal Bates/Coral Taylor in the Toyota Corolla Sportivo, with Cody Crocker/Dale Moscatt in the Subaru Impreza WRX Sti taking third. South Australian rally competitor Ed Ordynski with co-driver Iain Stewart made a 'guest' appearance at the 2005 event in a Toyota Corolla and finished a creditable 10th. In 2006, the Rally was based in the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and Mount Crawford area with the Service Park located at Mount Pleasant. The Forties spectator area in Mount Crawford Forest provided fans with the best rally viewing in Australia - the course is designed to allow for five passes of the full field on both days. The 2006 event was conducted over 19 special stages with a total distance of 191.55 kilometres. The longest stage, Tweden was over a distance of 32.5 kilometres. In 2010, the sponsor name changed from Sprints Auto Parts Rally SA to Scouts Rally SA. In 2014, The Rally of South Australia is round 3 of the South Australian Rally Championship. 2014 marks five years of the event being sponsored by Scouts SA. The 2019 rally is to be called "AGL Rally SA - Rally of the Heartland" and be held 1-2 June 2019.
Winners
Six times South Australian Rally Champion Stewart McLeod won many national rounds, as did Dean Rainsford in the 1970s. Tom Barr-Smith, John Taylor and Garry Chapman were successful South Australian competitors. Only two South Australians have won the Australian Rally Championship outright. Barry Lowe won back-to-back titles in 1985-86 and former Mitsubishi works driver, Ed Ordynski, won in 1990 driving a VR4 Galant.
