RECORD ENTRY FOR 'FOUR-IN-ONE' CLASSIC ADELAIDE

October 31 2003

A record entry of nearly 220 sports, classic and special cars spanning 83 years of motoring will take part in this year's 7th annual Classic Adelaide from 19-23 November.

This compares with the 191 enthusiasts who took part in last year's Rally and 136 in 2001.

Headed by motor racing legends Sir Jack Brabham, Sir Stirling Moss and Vern Schuppan in factory-entered Mercedes-Benz sports cars and seven-time Bathurst winner Jim Richards in a brand new Porsche 911 GT2, this year's entry included some of the rarest and most valuable sporting cars ever to participate in an Australian tarmac rally.

A brace of genuine racing D-type Jaguars and two rare Ferraris from the 1950s, a genuine ex-Le Mans factory GT 40 Ford from the 1960s, classic RS Porsches from the 1970s, a 2003 model Ferrari 360 Stradale are amongst the feast of fabulous cars.

Motor manufacturers are back in force to support the 2003 Classic Adelaide, with the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche Museums, DaimlerChrysler Australia, Smart and Mitsubishi all entering vehicles for driving legends or the media.

This year's course features a record 34 special stages - up from 31 in 2002 and 27 in 2001 - beginning with a stirring 3.3km Prologue stage on the Grand Prix-Clipsal course in the heart of Adelaide to sort the field in the Competition from fastest to slowest.

The Rally proper begins on Thursday 20 November, with each day starting and finishing in Adelaide, with the cars garaged in prac ferme just metres from the Rally's headquarters at the Hilton Adelaide and around the corner from Adelaide's multi-cultural restaurant precinct in Gouger Street.

However 'Classic Fever' will strike Adelaide four days earlier, with the Lord Mayor, the Rt. Hon. Michael Harbison and Sir Stirling Moss officially launching Classic Adelaide Week in Victoria Square on Sunday 16 November.

Sir Stirling will then be a celebrity judge in the B.E.A. Motors Classic Car show, which will feature all the overseas vehicles in the Rally amongst more than 100 special sporting cars on free public display.

While from the many spectator vantage points along its 1100km route, Classic Adelaide will be one huge parade of fabulous sporting vehicles spanning nearly a century of motoring, the 2003 Rally is actually four events in one, each category travelling successively faster.

The Sterling Classic Tour and Shannons Thoroughbred Touring are non-competitive categories, which allow enthusiasts and their cars to enjoy the full Classic Adelaide closed road special stages at controlled speeds; the Shannons Sport is a faster untimed category for cars with additional safety equipment and the timed Comunet Competition is a full-blooded competitive rally timed to the second for vehicles built up to 1982.

There is also a resurgence of historic sporting cars in this year's event, with cars as elderly as 1920 competing for the Shannons Historic Trophy.

All vehicles start their Rally each day from the heart of Adelaide, passing over the special starting ramp outside the Hilton Adelaide and finishing each evening at the U-Park Central Market car park, where they can be seen up-close and personal for a gold coin donation to the Adelaide Women's & Children's Hospital.