Okay, I'm revisiting my idea of making a rally route with the pedometer since I went a little overboard with the last one (it's far too long). The only rule I have for this is that the stages can only be made up of roads I have driven myself.
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Day I - Port Macquarie and surrounds
SS1 -
Hospital (5.02km)
This is something of a unique super-special stage. The main road into town has long been overdue for an upgrade, and when one was finally put in place, the council successfully drove themselves to bankruptcy. A year after the road was due to be finished and tens of millions of dollars in debt later, and all that has been finished is the outline of a dual carraigeway - in perfect rallying condition. While the Independent Commission Against Corruption investigate the government, the road is just sitting there, begging to be used. It's now a two-lane super-special with cars racing one another over five kilometres from the highway junction to the base hospital.
SS2/SS7 -
Ghost Road (11.10km)
The first proper stage is the Ghost Road, an old arterial route that fell into disrepair when the highway bypass was constructed. It has been rebuilt in places to allow for the Iron Man triathlon to be run over it, leading to very different surfaces with plenty of undulations. It is run in reverse as the final stage of the day.
SS3/SS5 -
Broken Bago (14.91km)
The first half of this stage, up Coyles Road and around to Internal Break, was originally a stage of the Southern Cross Rally when it came to Port Macquarie. The second half, the Bago Road, is sealed, but cuts across some very difficult and twisty terrain. Most of these roads are little more than tracks built by the local council to surveil the site for Cowarra, the local water supply.
SS4/SS6 -
Rollands Plains (28.97km)
The longest stages of the day uses back roads that were obscure even before the old highway was bypassed. They were sealed as a convenience to locals, but have not been re-sealed since.
Day II - Port Macquarie to Tamworth via Walcha
SS8 -
Jasper's Peak (First Ascent) (13.58km)
The first of three stages across Walcha Mountain, a sixty-five kilometre stretch rated as some of the worst road in the whole country. This is the first section of road, zig-zagging back and forth across the face of the mountain. It's tight and twisting, and the road is often narrowed to one lane because of rockfalls blocking the road or the shoulder simply collapsing.
SS9 -
Doyles River (Second Ascent) (16.82km)
The second stage across Walcha Mountain is mostly blind corners that change direction very quickly. The trees form a canopy overhead, which means that the road surface is often damp, if not slick, even on the hottest summer's day.
SS10 -
The Yarrowitch (Third Ascent) (26.56km)
Finally, The Yarrowitch. The roads here are in much better condition than Doyles River and Jasper's Peak, and the final few kilometres are mostly flat out across The Yarrowitch, a wide valley where you can quite literally see the road climbing the opposite side of it some ten kilometres away. The entire crossing of The Yarrowitch can be taken flat out.
SS11 -
Oxley (34.38km)
This is a highway. It also happens to have unsealed stretches. It's quite meandering, and the early sections of the stage really do take a while to get to the point; in some places, you will travel five or six kilometres for every one kilometre as the crow flies.
SS12 -
Moonbi Hill (10.81km)
The New England Highway travels up the northern edge of New South Wales, tucked in behind the Great Dividing Range. It also has this little gem: the Moonbis. The gradient here in incredibly steep; most people need to ride the brake pedal all the way down.
SS13 -
Tintinhull (37.03km)
Where would rallying be if it weren't for back roads? After arriving in Tamworth, the competitors will use the back roads surrounding the city on a special night stage that starts out flat and fast as it follows a river, then twists up over one of the small mountains backing onto the city before finishing on the fast and flat again.
Day III - Tamworth to Port Macquarie via Dorrigo
SS14 -
Moonbi Hill Reverse (11.49km)
A re-run of Moonbi Hill, slightly longer than the first time through owing to the different route. The stage is run in the pre-dawn because of the lengthy liasion stage to the next competitive stretch.
SS15 -
Ebor Junction (44.89km)
The longest stage of the rally on the high side of forty-four kilomtres, just inside the FIA's maximum allowable length of forty-five. This road cuts back and forth across the foothills of the Great Dividing Range at their narrowest point. It really does feel like forever.
SS16 -
Waterfall Way (14.93km)
A notoriously difficult stretch of road. The surrounding forest is considered to be rainforest, and receives a lot of rain annually. And in particularly heavy months, waterfalls often cut the road off. It's steep, it's downhill, and most of it is one lane only.
SS17 -
Wirrimbi (25.54km)
Another notorious stretch of road, this time for less-than-admirable reasons: the roads around the Nambucca State Forest were once used as a dumping ground in a string of local murders. Urban legend claims there was a serial killer running around; the truth is that three bodies from three separate crimes were found within a hectare of one another.
SS18 -
Hospital (5.02km)
A re-run of the Hospital super special stage.
Day IV - Port Macquarie to Sydney
SS19 -
Buladelah Mountain (20.84km)
Although the stop-over is in Port Macquarie, most of the competitors will want to head as far south as possible after the second running of Hospital because of the sheer distance they must travel. The first stage of the final day is Buladelah Mountain, the old Pacific Highway before a bypass was put in place. The roads have enjoyed a revival as a hillclimb in recent years.
SS20 -
The Lakes Way (43.83km)
Another forty-kilometre monster, again using old arterial routes. The stage alternates between fast and open sections and slower, technical stages.
SS21 -
Calga Interchange (24.84km)
The final run of stages all use the old Pacific Highway. This is Calga Interchange, run in the shadow of the Newcastle-Sydney Freeway.
SS22 -
Berowra Waters (20.74km)
On the northern outskirts of Sydney is Berowra Waters, one of the major tributaries of the Hawkesbury River. The final section of this stage would not be out off place on the Rallye Monte Carlo, and the finish is very unique: it ends on a ferry that carries the cars over to the other side.
SS23 (Power Stage) -
Galston Gorge (6.54km)
Finally, Galston Gorge. It's steep, it's filled with hairpins and some very nasty corners. It could only be better if it was dirt.
Total competitive distance: 472.82km (which is about 150 more than the FIA would allow, but this rally business can be tricky to plot out)
It starts off like the east circuit but instead turns onto Victoria Embankment and after that goes straight onto Strand. It's about 2.2 miles. And I don't think I can get a full circuit including both east and west circuit - it always chops off a little bit of the normal route on the east circuit.
