Based in
Sydney, Australia
Built on Passion,
Driven by Ambition
Shakewell Racing follows the motorsport journey of Michael and Rachael — a rookie driver paired with an experienced navigator, pushing the limits of privateer racing in Australia.
Their paths crossed through a Facebook post when Michael was searching for a co-driver. Rachael brings years of rally navigation experience from Perth, while Michael — based in Sydney — takes on the driving challenge. 4,000km apart, they come together at events, building and racing out of Michael's Sydney workshop.
"We're not professionals — we pay our own way and do it purely for the love of racing. This is grassroots motorsport."
3 Subarus. 2 Disciplines.
Workshop-built machines ready for tarmac and gravel combat.
Maintained by
Ichiban & Shakewell
Tarmac Weapon #1
* Targa-proven, stage-ready
Full profile & build story →Targa New Zealand
Five days. Hundreds of kilometers. One goal: Conquer New Zealand's most demanding tarmac rally.
Production 4WD Class
Dominated our class against fierce competition
Overall Finish
Top 10 against purpose-built race cars
Days of Racing
Grueling stages across New Zealand
The Journey
"Winning Production 4WD at Targa NZ proved our preparation was right. Now it's time to take everything we learned and apply it to gravel."
2026: The Gravel Era
We swapped tarmac trophies for dust and loose stones. Half a season into our first year on gravel — learning to slide, one rally at a time.
Tarmac Rally
- Maximum grip on sealed roads
- Precision driving lines
- Predictable surface conditions
Gravel Rally
- Controlled sliding and drifting
- Reading changing surfaces
- Managing unpredictable grip
The Learning Curve
New Surface
Trading smooth tarmac for loose, unpredictable gravel — a whole new game.
Car Modifications
Suspension, protection and setup reworked to survive the rough stuff.
Mental Reset
Learning to trust the car sliding — the hardest habit to build.
New Pace Notes
Fresh gravel-specific pacenotes, refined rally by rally.
Season Progress
We're mid-season and posting every week. Subscribe to catch every stage, every recovery, and every result.
Don't Miss a MomentThe Calendar
19 events. 4 tarmac. 14 gravel. 1 international adventure.
11 of 19 rounds done — mid-season and rolling
Mt Buller Sprint
Victoria
Season opener in the alpine. ATR Round 1 — after Betsy dropped an engine days before.
Rally of Bathurst
NSW
The big one. Our first ever gravel rally.
Mitta Mountain Rally
Victoria
Week two on gravel. Building on Bathurst learnings.
Great Alpine Rally
Victoria
Back to tarmac after two weeks of gravel. Falls Creek.
Shannons Rally Heartland
South Australia
Three-day marathon. 1,000km from home.
Germany Trip
Nürburgring
Three weeks at the Nürburgring in the lead-up to the legendary 24 Hour race — German Police ride-along and a Ringfreaks collaboration.
Bega Valley Rally
NSW
AMSAG Southern Cross round on the far South Coast. One of Australia’s oldest rallies.
Narooma Forest Rally
NSW
Our Australian Rally Championship round. Fast South Coast forest gravel.
Rally of the Bay
NSW
Round 3 of the NSW Rally Championship in the Eurobodalla forests out of Batemans Bay — also an East Coast Classic round.
Classic Queensland Rally
Queensland
Queensland Rally Championship. Faster, more flowing gravel.
Ada River Rally
Victoria
Noojee forests. East Coast Classic Rally Series round (rescheduled from May).
MSS Safety Rally Barossa
South Australia
Barossa Valley gravel. Back to South Australia.
Rally of Oberon
NSW
Rally Car Club returns to the Jenolan forests — the finale of the NSW Rally Championship, East Coast Classic and NSW Clubman series.
Gippsland Rally
Victoria
ARC finale at Heyfield. The last gravel round on home soil.
New Zealand Silver Fern Rally
Rotorua
Eight days of classic gravel endurance across the North Island, starting and finishing in Rotorua. The season finale, and a return to New Zealand after the 2025 Targa title.
Car Builds
Following along as we build something special in the workshop.
E36 M3 S58 Swap
6-Month Build Series
The car found its way back to us. Now it's getting the heart transplant it deserves — a current-gen M3/M4 engine in a 90s icon.
The Car
BMW E36 M3
Black, Coupe, Manual
The Engine
BMW S58
3.0L Twin-Turbo Straight-Six • 473hp Stock
The Goal
Weekend Warrior — Street/Track Dual-Use
Timeline
6 Months to First Drive
Technical Partner
Kazz Engineering
Build Phases
Setup
Month 1- Ep 1: "I'm putting an S58 in my E36 M3"
- Ep 2: "Everything Wrong With My E36"
- Ep 3: "Road Trip to Brisbane"
- Ep 4: "Teardown"
Subscribe to follow the build from start to finish.
Latest Videos
Raw, unfiltered stage footage from our rally adventures. Subscribe to follow along.
Latest Reports
Rally-by-rally recaps and results from our 2026 gravel season.
Ada River Rally 2026 Preview: Car 21, Blind Again, in the Noojee Forests
This Saturday we're in the Latrobe State Forest for the Ada River Rally — 8 blind stages, 180 competitive kilometres, a 36-car seeded field, and us starting 21st at 10:10. Here's the shape of the day, one week after Queensland.
Classic Queensland Rally 2026: 2nd in Classic 4WD, Blind and Into the Night
Nine blind stages at Manumbar — no recce, no pace notes, the last three run in reverse in the dark. How our first Queensland rally became 2nd in Classic 4WD, 14th outright, and a pair of horseshoe trophies.
What It Actually Takes to Rally a 30-Year-Old Subaru
Our 1995 GF8 Impreza wagon started its gravel career with no diffs, a clutch with 10 mm of bite, and no ABS. Here's exactly what broke, what we fixed and when, across a full season of Australian club and championship rallying — no invented spec sheet, just what actually happened.
Join the Journey
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