The Adelaide Rally is one of Australia's premier motorsport events, bringing together everything from historic racing icons to modern supercars for three days of closed-road driving through Adelaide and the surrounding hills. Unlike traditional motorsport events, the Adelaide Rally offers a variety of competitive and non-competitive categories, allowing everyday motoring enthusiasts to experience the excitement of driving on closed public roads. For 2025, thanks to the support of Peter Page Hyundai, Quinn Racing was invited to join the official Hyundai Brand Tour in our Circuit Excel race car. Surrounded by high-performance machinery worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, our little Hyundai Excel was certainly one of the more unusual entries. But with a passenger seat installed for navigator Lily Harkness and the suspension softened as much as possible, we were ready for three days of adventure.
Our first challenge was simply getting to the stages. With a three-day road permit allowing our normally unregistered race car to travel between stages, we found ourselves doing something we never expected: sitting in Adelaide traffic in a fully prepared race car. Unfortunately, our first stage was interrupted after another competitor had an accident less than a kilometre into the course. Thankfully, everyone was okay, and by the second stage we were finally getting our first proper taste of the Adelaide Hills roads. As part of the Hyundai Brand Tour, we were limited to 100 km/h, but on narrow, winding roads with corners normally signposted at just 20 km/h, there was still plenty of excitement. Keeping to the speed limit was particularly entertaining, given the Excel no longer had a conventional speedometer. Our GPS speed display had a significant delay, leaving Lily to keep a close eye on our speed. By the end of the day, we'd experienced some spectacular stages, enjoyed the atmosphere of the event and settled into our new roles as rally driver and navigator.
If day one was our introduction to rallying, day two was a lesson in just how quickly conditions can change. Torrential rain transformed the Adelaide Hills stages into a slippery challenge, made particularly difficult by our series-spec semi-slick racing tyres. Designed for circuit racing, these tyres were stone cold and offered very little confidence on waterlogged roads. We carefully managed the conditions, avoiding slippery road markings and standing water, but our biggest problem soon became visibility. The Excel's windows began fogging so badly that we could barely see where we were going. Inevitably, we missed a navigation marker, took a wrong turn and found ourselves completely lost. After eventually finding our way back onto the route, we were a long way behind our tour group and had some catching up to do. The challenging conditions continued through stages such as Eagle on the Hill, where aquaplaning became a serious concern. Eventually, we rejoined the group in time for the final stage at Windy Point. As Lily summarised, we'd been wet, cold, hungry and lost, but we'd survived another day.
After surviving the rain, day three brought an entirely different challenge: heat. With temperatures climbing, the inside of the Excel quickly became an oven. Despite a few early navigational mistakes, we made it through the morning stages and headed towards one of the biggest highlights of the weekend, Strathalbyn. The town had been transformed for the rally, with streets closed to traffic, crowds lining the roads and hundreds of incredible cars making their way through the town centre. It was here that the scale of the Adelaide Rally really became apparent. We also had the opportunity to take Alex, one of the event's camera crew, for a ride in the Excel, giving him a taste of what grassroots circuit racing machinery feels like on public roads. With its stiff suspension, lack of power and an exhaust producing an unreasonable amount of noise, the Excel certainly offered a unique experience. The Strathalbyn town stage quickly became our favourite of the entire event. Driving through the streets with spectators watching from every direction, surrounded by buildings amplifying the sound of the car, was something special.
With Strathalbyn behind us, we had just one final stage to complete before returning to Adelaide for the finish. By this point, the combination of warm weather and three days of driving had well and truly caught up with us. The cockpit was incredibly hot, with even the roof becoming uncomfortable to touch, but the excitement of completing the rally kept us going. Our final stage featured plenty of spectators along the roadside, providing a fitting end to an unforgettable weekend. We then made our way back into the city to take part in the finishing parade, where we were presented with our official Adelaide Rally finisher medals. It was a small souvenir, but a fantastic reminder of everything we'd experienced over the three days. From driving through torrential rain to getting lost in the Adelaide Hills and roaring through the streets of Strathalbyn, our little Hyundai Excel had completed the 2025 Adelaide Rally.
The 2025 Adelaide Rally was an incredible experience and something completely different from our usual Circuit Excel racing. While we weren't competing for outright results, we had the opportunity to experience some of South Australia's best driving roads, meet a fantastic group of people and showcase grassroots motorsport alongside some truly remarkable machinery. It also proved that you don't need an expensive supercar to have an unforgettable motorsport experience. Our humble Hyundai Excel might have been one of the slowest cars in the field, but it certainly wasn't short on character.
A massive thank you to Peter Page Hyundai for making this experience possible, and to everyone involved in organising such a spectacular event. We hope to be back for another adventure!
