Rally of Bathurst

About the Rally of Bathurst

The Rally of Bathurst — officially the 2026 Shamrock Haulage Rally of Bathurst — was a single-day gravel special stage rally held on Saturday 14 March 2026, based in Bathurst in the Central West of New South Wales. Organised by Rally Car Club Incorporated and affiliated with Motorsport Australia, it opened the 2026 NSW Rally Championship (pacenoted) and NSW Clubman Rally Series (roadbook) as Round 1, running 11 special stages totalling 164.65 km of competition (469.48 km overall including liaisons) through dirt roads around Mt Panorama and the forests toward Sunny Corner. Outright honours went to Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2), who recovered from a stage-5 time loss to beat Irish visitor Richie Dalton and Mac Kierans (Toyota GR Yaris AP4) by 58 seconds; since Pedder's entry sat outside the NSWRC, Dalton/Kierans took the championship round win. Dennis and Luke Stanford (Subaru Impreza WRX STI RA) won the Clubman Rally Series outright.

Championship

Motorsport Australia NSW Rally Championship (NSWRC) and NSW Clubman Rally Series

Organiser

Rally Car Club Incorporated

Base

Bathurst

Surface

Gravel

The route & format

• Format: Single day, 11 special stages, 164.65 km competitive (469.48 km total incl. liaison). Named stages include Mt Panorama, Cashens Lane, Sibleys, Egan Road, Cupitts Lane and Dark and Horrible.
• Terrain: Gravel. A blend of open shire gravel and technical forestry roads across the Bathurst, Blayney and Cabonne Local Government Areas.

Rally of Bathurst 2026 results

• 2026 outright result: Scott Pedder/Glenn Macneall (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) won outright in 1:36:19.7, 58s ahead of Richie Dalton/Mac Kierans (Toyota GR Yaris AP4); Jackson Long/Damien Long (Škoda Fabia R5) 3rd. Pedder used Bathurst as an ARC warm-up before winning the ARC Forest Rally WA in May 2026.
• 2026 NSWRC round winner: Richie Dalton/Mac Kierans took the championship round win (Pedder's entry sat outside NSWRC points); Dennis and Luke Stanford (Subaru Impreza WRX STI RA) won the Clubman Rally Series outright.

Where spectators watched

Rally Car Club published an official Spectator Instructions booklet for 2026 with three signposted spectator points, plus free public access to the service park at Bathurst Showground from 05:30 to watch cars assemble and be serviced. No admission charge or ticketing is mentioned anywhere in that booklet — but the organisers never state a price either way, so treat free entry as likely rather than confirmed. Standard rally rules apply: stay behind the bunting, use only the designated crossing point, obey the spectator marshals, and don't go looking for your own vantage point — unsurveyed forest roads have wash-aways and collapsed bridges. Dogs and young children are discouraged at viewing points, fires and smoking are banned in the forests, and you carry your own litter out.

Spectator points

• Mt Panorama

  In via Panorama Avenue, heading for the Max Cameron Campground area at the bottom of the mountain. Cars run a 1.8 km gravel circuit here as SS1 and SS3, with roughly 90% of the course visible from the one spot — the best-value point of the day. First car due 08:40 and 11:00.

• Macquarie Woods, Vittoria State Forest

  About 30 minutes west of Bathurst on the Mitchell Highway toward Orange, in the Macquarie Woods Recreation Area. This is the fast 19.88 km Cashens Lane stage, run as SS2 and SS4, with first car due 09:30 and 11:50.

• Sunny Corner

  About 37 km and 28 minutes east of Bathurst off the Great Western Highway, with Sunny Corner roughly 6 km north of the highway. Sits on the 23.11 km Egan Road stage, run as SS6 and SS10, first car due 14:10 and 17:40. The Sunny Corner refuel point at the "Old Camp" is only about 800 m away, so you can watch a pass and then walk over and see crews service.

How 2026 ran

1. Friday 13 March 2026

   Event HQ and the service park at Bathurst Showground open 13:00-22:30 for documentation and set-up. Cars must pass regional scrutineering with a local Motorsport Australia scrutineer beforehand rather than on the day.

2. Saturday 14 March 2026 — morning

   05:30 service park and showground open to the public, 07:30 all cars at the start venue, 08:30 first car away. SS1 Mt Panorama 08:43, SS2 Cashens Lane 09:21, first service 10:15, SS3 Mt Panorama 11:04, SS4 Cashens Lane 11:42, second service 12:35.

3. Saturday 14 March 2026 — afternoon

   SS5 Sibleys 13:35, SS6 Egan Road 14:03, a 10-minute service at Sunny Corner, SS7 Cupitts Lane 14:51, then SS8 Dark and Horrible 15:14 — the longest stage at 29.45 km. Showground service 16:10, SS9 Sibleys 17:07, SS10 Egan Road 17:35, SS11 Cupitts Lane 18:23, first car at the finish from 19:00. Presentation, BBQ and bar at the showground from 18:30 — EFTPOS only, no cash.

Access, timings and prices checked 30 August 2026. Organisers move spectator points and road closures at short notice — confirm on the official event page before you travel.

Getting there & staying

• Getting there: Bathurst is about 200 km west of Sydney, roughly 2.5 hours via the M4 and Great Western Highway — allow 30-60 minutes more leaving through Sydney peak hour. Rex flies Sydney-Bathurst in under an hour, with the airport about 10 minutes from town. Roads to all three spectator points are sealed until the final forest access; Macquarie Woods and the Sunny Corner trails are fine for a 2WD in the dry, but Sunny Corner State Forest also carries rough 4WD-grade tracks, so check conditions after rain. Fuel and supplies are easy in Bathurst and non-existent at Sunny Corner, and reception in both forests is patchy — don't rely on a phone signal at the points.
• Where to stay: Bathurst is a well-serviced regional city, so unlike a Bathurst 1000 or 12 Hour weekend the rally doesn't strain accommodation — motels, pubs and hotels around the CBD and Mount Panorama are the straightforward option. NRMA Bathurst Panorama Holiday Park is about 10 minutes east of the centre with cabins, powered sites, pet-friendly retreats and a heated pool. Farmstays suit groups, and there is free camping along the Turon River at Sofala and on the Bridle Track toward Hill End if you're self-sufficient.
• While you’re there: Mount Panorama is a public road outside race weekends — you can drive, ride or walk the full circuit for free at the 60 km/h limit — and the National Motor Racing Museum at the foot of the mountain holds more than 100 classic cars and bikes. In town, the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum houses the internationally significant Somerville Collection. The Bridle Track north to the historic gold village of Hill End, via Sofala, makes a good slow-drive day. Note that Jenolan Caves — often suggested as a Bathurst side trip — is closed for major road repairs, with reopening planned for early 2027.

Entering

Entries run through the WOLF platform, with the NSW Rally Championship field on pacenotes and the NSW Clubman Rally Series on a full roadbook. For 2026 the supplementary regulations, bulletins, entry lists and entry fee were published only through the Sportity app noticeboard, so the 2026 fee was never posted openly. For scale, the last openly published Rally of Bathurst regulations — 2024 — listed $990 for the long event and $770 for the short, capped at 60 entries plus five reserves; those are 2024 figures, not 2026 ones. NSW series conditions require entries to open at least 28 days out and close no later than 8 days out, and the fee includes RallySafe hire and a $30 per vehicle Rally Panel levy. Drivers need at least a Motorsport Australia Rally Licence plus a civil licence; co-drivers need a Rally or Rally-Navigator licence and may lodge a No Drive Declaration instead of a civil licence.

Worth knowing

• Notable: Held in Bathurst, a town synonymous with Australian motorsport (Mount Panorama) — the route includes genuine Mt Panorama gravel stages.