I've had a good break from photos, rallying and the forum after a month without a computer. I had a great experience last weekend, and thought some people might like to see some photos of Ed's newest rally car.

The last two years have been a blast shooting rally, and it was a real eye opener to experience rallying from the inside of the car verse being showered in gravel. While it was a short experience, it really opened my eyes to the high level of skill involved in driving on mixed surfaces.

I have been lucky enough to experience some fast circuit cars, but they are nothing after this experience. Thanks to Ed for allowing me to take these images, and for the okay to share the experience with all.


Motorsport Photography recently dropped in on an Australian rally legend, Ed Hooligan (Ed Mulligan) at his farm in the hills of Northern NSW. Home | Eds Page | 4WD WORLD

Ed invited MSP to take a look at some classic rally photography from the 70's & 80's, and to check out his Ford Escort rally car that is nearing completion.

Flicking through old photo albums took me back to the days of watching classic rally VHS, crowds lining the stages dressed in flared trousers and people standing by the roadside without any of the safety precautions of modern competition. I quickly gained a greater appreciation for the skill photographers using film had, and for the high level of engineering that went into preparing the rally cars themselves.

The first shot to catch my eye was labelled Alpine 1979, the year I was born. There is something very special about looking at the original photographs from that era, verse flicking through small digital files on the internet. Worlds apart from the way we appreciate modern photography, looking at digital files on our iphone.

As we discussed the different events, and the stories that went with each image I kept glancing over my shoulder at the very clean red escort parked nearby. Hoping that we had the time to check it out, and maybe even hear it running.


Ed asked if I was interested in having a look at the car before I left, to which I answered, "What that old escort?." Nearing completion, the car appeared to have all the good bits installed. The chassis was a work of art, everything that it housed was hand fabricated to the highest standard. I was more interested in checking out the components rather than photographing them, which would have taken many hours to fully capture the attention to detail in building an escort of this calibre.

The smell of the car reminded me of my old two door Mark II Escort, but the similarities stopped there. To my excitement, a few minutes later the escort roared to life! The sound of the engine made me start calculating the years it would take to buy an escort just to experience the induction sound of twin webers in my own garage.


Rally driver Robert Wilson was the first to climb into the passengers seat, as Ed rolled out of the driveway and headed down the gravel road to warm the motor. As the car disappeared beyond the macadamia trees, I raced to my car to grab my camera in preparation for what might unfold. The roar of the car in the distance was a good indicator of what I was about to witness.

Several seconds later, the car came into shot with a fast growing cloud of dust left behind in the shadows of the trees. The fresh paintwork on the wide arches wasn't going to stop Ed from giving it a real hiding! I quickly shot a burst of photos as the car passed me still on full noise, with less than 30 metres to the house.. At that moment I realised this was a whole new level, and my thoughts jumped to sitting in the passengers seat.


Moments later I was sitting in the navigators position, tightening down the harness as Ed smiled and said, "don't worry we're not going to crash"! That was good reassurance, but my excitement quickly turned to astonishment as we rocketed down the road going through what seemed like every gear before the first corner. It wasn't the speed, nor the level of commitment that had me excited, but rather the accuracy of the driving and braking performance on gravel. My mind raced back to a piece of motor sport journalism that had stuck with me since reading it in 2004.

At the time I regularly enjoyed reading a column written by Ed Ordynski, one of Australia'a most successful rally drivers and great personality for the sport. The article discussed the experience of sitting next to a rally driver for the first time, and people's reaction to the level of skill they display. While a lot of people have experienced acceleration in a powerful car, few people had experienced any level of speed on gravel. In his experience, it was the breaking that had people screaming in fear as they simply don't believe it is possible to stop on loose surfaces.


Back to the drive, just before we had to turn in for the first corner on our downhill sprint, my mind wondered how we could possibly carry that much speed and stay on the road? Next thing I was bracing the floorpan with both legs, as the car responded to the braking force in a way I had never experienced on gravel before. The level of grip was beyond belief, and the strength of the car was something that is hard to describe, everything just felt so solid. The next few seconds were a blur, as we jumped over the cattle grid and took a fast left down into a dry causeway and then backed off before the next corner. Coming to a stop, I was pretty impressed with the short introduction into how the car should be driven, "like you stole it" Ed added.



Stepping it up another notch, we headed back in the opposite direction, this time starting on tarmac before landing on the gravel road after clearing the cattle grid in full flight. We headed towards the house, this time braking much later than I expected as Ed used a Scandinavian flick to send us sideways around the house, between the farm equipment and the fence posts. As we continued to navigate around the property, I could sense that Ed was doing his best to place the nose of the car as close to the scenery as possible while keeping the right foot buried. It was a very impressive display of car control, which is difficult to fully convey to the reader, as rallying is really in a league of it's own.

As Ed Ordynski had commented in his article, rarely do people experience such speed on gravel. And almost everyone that does comments on the drivers ability to wash off speed on a loose surface. I was very lucky to experience rallying on mixed surfaces, in my all time favourite car while sitting next to a legendary driver.


Ed went on to roll out another car, one that he had owned since he was fifteen years old, and one with a much gentler personality..