The GREAT ALPINE TRIAL
I’M LULLED INTO A FALSE SENSE OF BELIEF THAT THIS WON’T BE THAT HARD A CHALLENGE
TRYING TO PARSE exactly how much happens in a century is a difficult task. We can all objectively picture the timeline. 100 years. 1200 months. 5214 and a bit weeks. 36,500 days. 876,000 hours. But it’s what happens during those unstoppable 52,560,000 minutes that we struggle to comprehend. Interspersed between the individual moments of our collective memory the relentless nature of progress has changed the world in to a state almost unrecognisable if we put the here and now beside 1921.
A hundred years ago Australian automotive and racing history was made with the original 1921 Australian Alpine Rally. It is our country’s oldest continuously running motorsport event, beating the Australian Grand Prix by seven years. The original event wasn’t a rally in the sense we know it, instead being a 1000 mile reliability trial with a complex points system that criss-crossed large parts of Victoria. Since 1921, the Alpine Rally has morphed and changed into a bi-annual historic gravel stage rally.
COVID-19, like so many things, nuked official plans for centenary celebrations from orbit. MOTOR wasn’t going to allow this anniversary to pass in such a meek fashion. So, to honour those intrepid competitors that took part in the original Alpine Rally, we decided to follow the same route that they did in 1921. Instead of taking eight days, we planned to complete the 1600km largely highwayless journey in half the time. The ‘we’ being yours truly, pint-sized photographer Ellen Dewar, Trent Giunco, and MOTOR’s long term Focus ST.
Starting festivities for 1921 took place at The Haymarket building which has since been demolished, so we move our start line to Albert Park. We leave Melbourne early Sunday afternoon. I’m lulled into a false sense of belief that this won’t be that hard a challenge. I’ve driven similar distances in a single day, how hard can it be to do it across four? We make good time early on, escaping the urban sprawl
