There has not been another era in Australian motorsport like it – ten straight driver’s championships and eight from ten Manufacturers’ titles – the last six in succession.  

Subaru Rally Team Australia’s dominance of the Australian Rally Championship has been total – yet now it is over. The team gathered for the last time at Gershwin’s Restaurant in Perth on the last night of the 2005 Rally Australia.

Ironically, Gershwin’s was where Subaru Australia’s rallying involvement all started. It was the Sunday night at the end of the 1991 Rally Australia, when Possum Bourne had dinner with Trevor Amery, Nick Senior and Peter Sturrock.

 


The charismatic Possum convinced the threesome that rallying had legs for Subaru. In 1992 Team Subaru started and Rob Herridge won the Australian Championship. 1993 was the final year of that first foray into the forest, with the tragic death of Rodger Freeth marring that campaign.

But in 1996, Subaru Rally Team Australia was born. Possum was again the main man and his incredible run of seven straight driver’s titles commenced.

 


 

In 1998, two young guns, Cody Crocker and Greg Foletta joined the team, winning the first of their four straight Group N titles.

In 2002, the team grew to three, with Dean Herridge picked as the next young gun in the sport, and given a blue car to drive.

Tragically, with the death of its mighty leader, Possum Bourne, the team was back to two cars for the 2003 season.  But somehow it managed to maintain the Bourne legacy and take it to even greater heights.

As well as adding three straight driver’s and manufacturers’ titles, the team took on and beat the best production car outfits in the world, with Dean winning the 2004 Rally New Zealand and Cody taking the World Championship class in 2005.

In Asia Pacific competition, Cody won the 2003 and 2005 Subaru Rally of Canberra while Dean took that honour in 2004.

The team has involved just three drivers and six co-drivers across the decade. Craig Vincent partnered Possum for five championships, and Mark Stacey stepped in for two.

Cody and Greg formed a mighty partnership before Greg was lured from the car to the desk, as Subaru Motorsport Manager in 2005, and Dale Moscatt joined in to help the winning ways.

Dean was joined by another West Australian, Glenn Macneall, until Chris Atkinson took Glenn off to the WRC in 2004, giving Bill Hayes his chance in the blue team.

 


 

The cars, not just the drivers, have been champions. The Impreza WRX STI has been a brilliant weapon to bludgeon the opposition.

The Mitsubishi Lancer could not match it, nor could the recent hybrid Toyota Corolla, despite all the concessions given to it.

The team at Possum Bourne Motorsport demonstrated time and time again that they produced the best production class rally cars in the world.

Pirelli have so often provided the difference across the decade as well.

But the success of the team is also attributable to the people involved. The service crews have constantly set new benchmarks. A gearbox change now happens routinely within a twenty minute service, and then with time to spare. In Tasmania an engine was taken out, rebuilt and reinstalled within a two hour service.

The team has taken the sport to new levels in many areas on and off the rally roads.

The final dinner at Gershwin’s finished up as a bitter/sweet occasion. Yes, there was sadness that it had all come to an end, but there was great joy and pride that we’d been part of a magnificent journey, and together, had achieved something special and unlikely to be matched.