Alpine Classic rally rolls through Boorowa

Alpine Classic Entrants on their way through Boorowa. Dean Franklin Boorowa played lunch stop on Saturday 24 October for a convoy of classic and sports cars taking part in the Alpine Classic, a navigational rally now in its 26th year. Thirty-eight cars left Goulburn in the morning bound for Cowra, a 450km run that wound through back roads rather than a direct route, with crews stopping for lunch at the Boorowa Ex-Services Club, before the field turns around and heads back to Goulburn on Sunday via Taralga and Black Springs, also about 450km. Event director Lauren Walker said the rally was essentially orienteering by car. “Basically, they’re given a set of maps and they have to work out how to go from point A to point B,” she said. Entrants compete in three categories. Masters navigate from an A3 map with no turn-by-turn instructions, plotting grid references, bridges and other points themselves. Apprentices work from the same map with extra hints along the way, while Tour entrants are given written, turn-by-turn directions, a more social option Walker said suited newer or less experienced crews. Asked what it took to enter, Walker didn’t hesitate. “A spirit of adventure,” she said. Cars leave each checkpoint at one-minute intervals, with an average speed of about 60km/h set for the course, well under the 80km/h limit on many of the roads used, so crews aren’t rushed. “The advantage of this year’s event is that it’s entirely on sealed roads,” Walker said, a change from past years that has drawn out a wider range of cars than usual. The Alpine Classic first ran in 1999 and was based in Lithgow for most of its history, with overnight stops in towns including Orange, Hill End, Parkes, Tumut, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo and Bathurst over the years. This year marks a return to the Goulburn-to-Cowra format last used in 2018. The field at the Boorowa Ex-Services Club on Saturday ranged from Alfa Romeos, Holdens, Mercedes, Fiats and Minis to two Sunbeams, a Lotus Elise, an Austin Healey and several Porsches. Walker and her husband, also an event director, have run the Alpine Classic for six years under the Classic Rally Club banner. He spent the day setting the course and checking on competitors from a support car. More information on the rally is available at thealpineclassic.com.au.