Event guide · 2026

Tarmac West 2026

17-20 September 2026 · Western Australia

About the Tarmac West

Tarmac West (Lance East Exotics Tarmac West) is Western Australia's premier tarmac rally, contested on sealed, closed public roads across Perth, the Perth hills and surrounding shires. Promoted by Tarmac Events WA and sanctioned through the Australian Auto-Sport Alliance (AASA), the 2026 event runs Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 September, covering roughly 230-250 competitive kilometres over about 33 stages taking in Whiteman Park, Ellenbrook, Parkerville, Kalamunda, Toodyay, Lower Chittering, Bullsbrook and Malaga, before a Sunday finale through the Perth CBD to the Perth City Sprint on Riverside Drive. The successor to Targa West (which debuted in 2005), it returned under the Tarmac West name in 2024; organisers billed 2025 as the 19th running, putting 2026 at the 20th edition. The 2025 event drew a record 53,000+ spectators across its four days.

Western Australia's flagship tarmac rally — not a round of the Australian Rally Championship

Competitive distance: 215.48 km
Stages: 34 special stages
Duration: 4 days
To watch: Free
Base: Perth, Western Australia
Organiser: Tarmac Events WA Pty Ltd (trading as Tarmac Events WA)
Official site: tarmacevents.com.au/our-events/tarmac-west

Where to watch

Free everywhere — Tarmac West has no ticketed spectator areas, and the Sunday Celebration of Motorsport at Langley Park and the Perth City Sprint on Riverside Drive are explicitly free to watch. It's Australia's best-attended tarmac rally: more than 53,000 spectators in 2025, including 45,111 at Langley Park, over 25,000 around Riverside Drive and about 8,000 at the Thursday-evening Ellenbrook stage. Watch only from designated marshalled areas — never stand on the road, below road level, or in front of fences and rally signs — and expect each stage road to be closed for roughly four hours, with no vehicle access until the green-flashing sweep car has passed.

Whiteman Park — Thursday afternoon: 18 km north-east of the CBD, about 30 minutes' drive or 25 minutes by train to Whiteman Park Station on the Ellenbrook line, with no park entry fee. Four short stages of 3.27-3.76 km on Thursday afternoon from 13:23, with the service park and refuel zone at Whiteman Park Village in between. Dogs are allowed on a lead but recreational drones are banned inside the park.
Ellenbrook — Thursday evening: Civic Terrace, Ellenbrook, beside Ellenbrook Toyota. A 0.71 km sprint run three times from 18:10, combined with a free community festival and a service park — it drew about 8,000 people in 2025. The route was revised and shortened for 2026 to keep it out of residential streets.
Perth Hills — Parkerville, Kalamunda and the Zig Zag, Friday: Parkerville is roughly 35 km east of the CBD off Great Eastern Highway, a 5.81 km stage run twice from 10:03. Kalamunda East, accessed from Fred Jacoby Park on Mundaring Weir Road, is the longest hills stage at 15.71 km, run twice from 11:24 — cut to two runs for 2026 specifically to shorten the road closure. The Zig Zag at Gooseberry Hill, the switchback descent off the escarpment and a tourist drive in its own right, is a 2.76 km super special run twice from 14:00.
Kalamunda town centre — Friday service and street festival: Cars are in service between the hills stages from about 12:53 to 13:38 and again briefly mid-afternoon, alongside a Kalamunda street festival, with free walk-around access to the cars and crews.
Toodyay — Saturday, the marathon day: About an hour from Perth via Toodyay Road through Gidgegannup. Racecourse Road, 7.09 km, runs from 09:08 and again at 10:01, then the 8.80 km Toodyay stage off Folewood Road at 11:38 and 12:42, with Coondle West in between. The service park and refuel are in Toodyay itself, so the town centre is busy all morning.
Lower Chittering and Bullsbrook — Saturday afternoon: Maryville Downs off Maine-Anjou Drive in the Chittering Valley is the longest stage of the rally at 18.74 km, run twice from 14:24 and changed for 2026. Bullsbrook then alternates a 9.24 km and an 11.31 km stage twice each between 15:58 and 17:07, before a two-hour service. Yarrimbah Road at Bullsbrook is new for 2026 — a short 3.51 km stage the organisers call a driver's paradise, run three times late Friday.
Malaga — Sunday morning: About 13 km north-east of the CBD, a 5.85 km stage run three times from 08:38 plus a parade run before the field heads into the city. Thousands lined the streets in 2025.
Riverside Drive — the Sunday finale: The biggest crowd of the event, over 25,000 in 2025. The Perth City Sprint runs first, competition 09:30 to about noon with awards at 13:00, then Tarmac West sights the stage at 12:45 and runs it three times from 13:14, first car finishing about 15:00 with the podium from 15:30.
Langley Park — Celebration of Motorsport, free all day Sunday: Terrace Road, alongside Rally HQ and the overnight parc fermé. Free, 10:00-15:00, combining the Celebration of Motorsport, street machines and hot rods, Shannons Classics on the Swan on the river's edge, markets and a family zone — over 600 display cars in 2025, plus food vans, stunt riding and kids' rides. There is no public parking on Langley Park and rangers fine illegal parking, so catch the train to Elizabeth Quay.

Running order

Wednesday 16 September — pre-event: Rally HQ opens at the Langley Park Pavilion 12:00-19:00 for documentation, with a supervised competitor reconnaissance pass of the Zig Zag stage 16:30-17:30.
Thursday 17 September — Leg 1, 7 stages, 16.19 km: Documentation and scrutiny through the morning, crew briefing 09:45-10:15, convoy from Langley Park to Forrest Place at 10:30 with cars on display 10:45-11:15, official start 12:30. Whiteman Park stages from 13:23, Ellenbrook from 18:10, parc fermé at Langley Park from 19:44.
Friday 18 September — Leg 2, 9 stages, 56.33 km: First car leaves Langley Park 09:00 for Parkerville, Kalamunda East, the Zig Zag and the new Yarrimbah stage, with Kalamunda service 12:53-13:38 and Bullsbrook service 17:04-17:34. Cars regroup at Forrest Place from 18:00 for the Show'n'Shine, released at 20:00.
Saturday 19 September — Leg 3, 12 stages, 119.17 km: The marathon day. First car away 07:45 for Toodyay, Coondle West, Maryville Downs and Bullsbrook, with three Toodyay services through the morning and a two-hour Bullsbrook service 17:28-19:28. End of leg back at Langley Park 20:30.
Sunday 20 September — Leg 4, 6 stages, 23.79 km: First car away 08:00 for the Malaga stages, then the city. Perth City Sprint 09:30-12:00, the free Langley Park festival 10:00-15:00, a hot rod city cruise at midday, then the City of Perth stages from 13:14. End of rally on Riverside Drive 14:30-15:00, podium 15:30, gala presentation dinner 19:00.

The event in detail

Format: Thu 17 – Sun 20 Sept 2026. The 2026 draft itinerary lists 34 special stages (the first not scored) for 215.48 km of competition within a 927.90 km route. Competition entries close 31 August; note the separate 11 September deadline is for Celebration of Motorsport and Classics on the Swan display registrations, not Perth City Sprint competition entries.
Route: Thu: Whiteman Park, Ellenbrook. Fri: Parkerville, Kalamunda, the Zig Zag stages. Sat: Toodyay, Lower Chittering, Bullsbrook. Sun: Malaga, then the Perth CBD Perth City Sprint finale.
History: Debuted as Targa West in 2005; returned as Tarmac West in 2024 after a two-year pause. 2026 is the 20th running of the event lineage.
2025 result: Rookie Bryce Moore/Adrian Burney (2022 Toyota Supra) won outright, 2m01s ahead of Jurgen/Helen Lunsmann's Tesla Model 3P+ — the rally's only EV entrant and fastest through the Perth city stages. 45 starters, 28 finishers.
Notable: Sunday's free "Celebration of Motorsport" at Langley Park (10am-3pm) runs alongside the Perth City Sprint — racing, rally, drift and off-road vehicles on display, plus food, stunt shows and kids' entertainment. No public parking at Langley Park; the organisers recommend the train to Elizabeth Quay.

Getting there and staying

Getting there

This is a metropolitan rally — Rally HQ, parc fermé and the Sunday festival are all on Langley Park on Terrace Road in the Perth CBD, and every stage and liaison is sealed tarmac. Whiteman Park is 18 km north-east of the CBD or 25 minutes by train; Malaga is about 13 km out; Parkerville, Kalamunda and the Zig Zag are 30-40 km east in the Perth Hills; Bullsbrook and Lower Chittering are north up Great Northern Highway; and Toodyay, the Saturday base, is about an hour out via Toodyay Road. For Sunday, drive nowhere near Langley Park — there's no public parking on the park and the organisers recommend the train to Elizabeth Quay Station.

Staying

Central Perth hotels are the practical base, since the field returns to the Langley Park parc fermé every night. The organisers say a discounted competitor rate will be provided but hadn't published it as of 30 July 2026, and their own documents disagree on the gala venue — the event schedule says the Novotel Perth Langley across Terrace Road, while the newer supplementary regulations name The Ritz-Carlton at Elizabeth Quay. For Saturday's Toodyay leg the town has two hotels, two caravan parks and several farmstays — a small town that fills quickly on rally weekend, so book ahead or commute from Perth.

While you're there

Whiteman Park, which hosts Thursday's opening stages, is free to enter and holds heritage tram and railway rides, motoring and heritage museums and wildlife attractions — an easy family day either side of the rally. Toodyay is a genuine Avon Valley heritage town with Connor's Mill Museum, the Newcastle Gaol precinct, an 1861 church, a distillery and a miniature railway. In the hills, the Zig Zag Scenic Drive at Gooseberry Hill that hosts the super special stage is a well-known escarpment drive with city views, and Fred Jacoby Park on Mundaring Weir Road is a picnic spot in its own right.

Entering

Entries are lodged through the Tarmac West Online system, opened 2 April 2026 and closing 31 August 2026, with a $750 deposit that becomes non-refundable after close. Fees including GST are $5,800 for the T200, T185, T165 and T130 categories, $2,900 for TSD, the Rookie Rallye and the Tarmac 2Day Rallye, and $1,450 for a TSD driver under 24 — covering AASA insurance, road book, RallySafe hire, one service vehicle plus eight service crew registrations, two finishers' medallions and two gala dinner tickets. T200, T185 and T165 crews need an AASA National Tarmac Rally Licence, with a Navigator Only licence available for co-drivers who won't drive; T130 rookies and TSD crews need only an AASA General Speed Licence plus car club membership. First-time tarmac competitors must start in T130. Reconnaissance is allowed from when the road book is issued but is self-regulated to two passes in an unsignwritten road-registered car with no cage, on open public roads at legal speeds monitored by WA Police. The separate Perth City Sprint is capped at 50 drivers with no co-drivers or passengers. No field cap is published for the rally itself; 45 cars started in 2025 and 28 finished. One caveat: the website gives the entry close as 31 August while the draft supplementary regulations say "Friday 26 August", which isn't a valid 2026 weekday and looks like stale copy — confirm with the organisers.

Entry details, prices and deadlines were checked on 2026-08-30. Confirm them against the organiser before relying on them.

Sources

All event guides Rallies we ran