We Lost Our Clutch and Still Finished 18th — Our ARC Debut at Narooma

Some events you remember for the result. Others you remember for what it took to finish. The Narooma Forest Rally — our first-ever round of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC) — was firmly the second kind.

Stepping up to the ARC

Narooma was a big one for us. The ARC is the top tier of rallying in Australia, and lining up against that level of competition on fast South Coast forest gravel was exactly the kind of challenge we came to gravel for. The event ran over two heats, and we went in wanting to simply finish and learn as much as we could.

Then the clutch let go

Partway through, the clutch started to go. On a rally car, that's the kind of problem that ends a lot of days. But we managed the car, changed how we drove, and kept moving — nursing it through the stages on what was left of it rather than pulling out.

It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't fast, but we crossed the line. 18th outright at our first ARC round, on a dying clutch, is a result we're genuinely proud of.

The privateer reality

This is grassroots motorsport. We pay our own way, we build and fix the car ourselves, and days like Narooma are exactly why. You don't always get the clean run — but finishing when the odds are against you is its own kind of win, and every one of these events makes us quicker and tougher for the next.

Follow the rest of our gravel campaign on the 2026 season page, or subscribe on YouTube to come along for the ride.