2018 AMH Rally of the Bay

The 2018 AMH Automotive Group Rally of the Bay will be run on the best roads we can find in the Batemans Bay area on Saturday 11 August 2018.

This year we are proud to be a round of the MTA NSW Rally Championship, the Focus on Furniture & Bedding Victorian Rally Championship, the East Coast Classic Rally Series and the ACT Regional Rally Series.

In addition we will be running an Introductory Rally on 4 of the event stages – an opportunity for people to “test out” the idea of rallying without requiring a significant investment in equipment.

We have a new Rally Headquarters, After Party Venue and Accommodation Partner for this year – the Coachhouse Marina Resort in Beach Rd … they have plenty of accommodation options and a lot of parking areas suitable for trailers and so on – the Saturday night presentation will be held in a large Marquee here so those staying on-site won’t have far to walk home!

The Service Park will be at Corrigans Beach Reserve (the same place as 2017) and there is plenty of space for everyone to service – some food will be for sale and there are shops nearby, as well as water views and a beach for your service crew to pass the time while you are out having fun on those roads.

A Ceremonial Start will be held in the main street of Batemans Bay on Saturday morning as in previous years.

The “Bay Stages” part of the event is the NSW & Victorian Championship competition with 9 stages and the first car starting at 10am from the Ceremonial Start – no heading back to the service park this year for these crews.

The rest of the field starts from Stage 2 so their actual start will be from the service park a bit later. Everyone is required to attend the Ceremonial Start and then competitors in the “Bay Classic” (ECCRS), “Bay Ramble” (ACT Series & Allcomers)  and the “Bay Meander” (Introductory Rally) competitions will head back to the service park to await their due start time – which of course will depend on how many starters there are in the “Bay Stages”.  Of course we’re hoping there will be plenty of entries and a long wait while the VIC & NSW Championship field runs through Stage 1 …

The stages this year are a mixture of tried and true favourites – naturally there are some variations – and the final stage is one that it hasn’t been possible to run for a few years but is now in great condition and is sure to provide a memorable finish to the event – even though it is run at night (yes you will need to provide the light, lots of light!)

There are quite a few options for entering the event, which are outlined below, and will be more fully explained in the Supplementary Regulations.  Rest assured there is an option for everyone to be involved and plenty of chances to get an award or two for your efforts (the awards & trophy list has around 45 awards listed (90 if you count the Drivers & Co-Drivers separately)

The Bay Stages is run as a State Championship level event so Frontal Head Restraints and all the appropriate apparel will be required .. and is HIGHLY recommended for everyone (you will all need this level in 2019 so why not beat the rush and start wearing it as soon as possible).

Rallysafe is compulsory for EVERYONE (including the Introductory Rally) so if you don’t already have the installation kit it’s time to head to the Rallysafe website store and get what is required (if you are doing the Introductory Rally please contact us at nsscc.rallyofthebay@gmail.com BEFORE you buy anything as there are some different options for you).

The VRC may ONLY be contested on the event roadbook.

Crews contesting the MTA NSW Rally Championship have the option to run either using pacenotes or the roadbook. Championship points will be evenly divided between the two groups.

Reconnaissance for those entering to run any part of the event on pacenotes will be allowed from the weekend of the Narooma Rally (July 21^st 2018) onwards – you need to have entered the event and follow the instructions in the Supplementary Regulations in order to get maps, roadbook and so on!  Smoothline notes will be available for purchase for this event.

The roads in the area are in excellent condition and promise to make it a challenging and rewarding event. We look forward to seeing you there as part of a full field – or as an official (we need lots of those so if you can spare us a day please send us an email or give Ian a call on 0425 378 048.)