Bates and Taylor Return to ARC

The historic pairing of Neal Bates and Coral Taylor will return to rallying for the first time since 2009, driving a restored RA40 Celica in this weekend's opening round of the Australian Rally Championship. The Calder round will mark the debut of the freshly rebuilt car, and will be racing in the Australian Classic Rally Challenge category, which is only open to vehicles manufactured pre-1986. Bates built the car in his ACT workshop specifically for this category and the finished product replicates the RA40 driven by the late Ove Andersson and Henry Liddon in the WRC in the early 80's. Unlike the Andersson car, the Bates RA40 uses a naturally aspitated 3SGE fuel injected 2L engine, which did not debut in factory trim until the later ST162 Celica model. This engine substitution has been permitted under the CAMS regulations for the series, and will no doubt appeal to the Bates crew, whose Corolla, Celica and IS200 race cars have all used variants of this engine for over 20 years. The Australian Classic Rally Challenge is a clear attmept by ARC organisers to mimic the spectator nostalgia appeal that the TCM series has brought to V8 Supercar rounds, and already comprises entries such as Ford Escort RS1800s, Porsche 911s and Datsun Stanzas. Adding the names of Bates and Taylor to the category will add great credibility and further spectator appeal. More information on the Calder Park opening round can be found here.