Classic Queensland Rally

About the Classic Queensland Rally

The Classic Queensland Rally is the inaugural running of a new single-day gravel rally on Saturday 15 August 2026, organised by the Brisbane Sporting Car Club and based out of the Manumbar Campdraft Grounds, roughly 90 km north of Kilcoy, Queensland. It runs as a round of the Queensland Rally Championship (plus the 2WD, Junior, Clubman and Novice series and the QLD Regularity Rally Series) and of the East Coast Classic Rally Series for both 4WD and 2WD classic cars. The event contests three ~70 km heats across the Manumbar, Gallangowan and Elginvale state forests — each run twice during the day and once in reverse at night, for 132 km competitive. Cars start with 4WD Classics first, then 2WD Classics in reverse order, then the modern QRC field as one group, so classic and current machinery run through the same roads back-to-back. No reconnaissance or pace notes are permitted.

Championship

Queensland Rally Championship

Organiser

Brisbane Sporting Car Club (BSCC)

Base

Manumbar, Queensland

Surface

Gravel

The route & format

• Format: 3 heats (~70 km/44 competitive km each) across Manumbar, Gallangowan and Elginvale State Forests, run twice by day and once in reverse at night — 210 km total, 132 km competitive.
• Terrain: Forest gravel across three state forests north of Kilcoy.

Classic Queensland Rally 2026 results

Where spectators watched

Spectators are welcome, and BSCC has published a Spectator Instructions pack with two official "Burnett Today" spectator points, at Gallangowan and Elgin Vale. No admission charge appears anywhere in the published documents. The rules are the standard forest-rally set: stay behind the bunting inside the marked zone, obey the spectator marshals (who can hold a stage until the point is under control), no fires and no smoking at the view points, dogs and young children discouraged, park facing the way out and take your litter home.

Spectator points

• Entry list

  The seeded entry list is out, published in the spectator pack: 47 crews across three fields sharing the same road — Classic (cars 1–15), the Queensland Rally Championship (16–40) and Rally Regularity (41–47). Being seeded, the numbers are the running order. Shakewell Racing runs as car 7, Chora/Ferrante, in the Classic field. The full 47-crew list is below.

• Gallangowan

  From the Manumbar Campdraft Grounds gate turn left onto Manumbar Road, left at the crossroads 500 m on, then 5 km south on the gravel Kilcoy-Murgon Road towards Jimna; left at the signposted Gallagher Road, 2 km at 40 km/h, then straight on at the crossroads and across the causeway to the Gallangowan Forest Office. Park as directed and walk 300 m in. A tight, tree-lined forest section visible in both directions from the one zone. First car due 11:30, 14:15 and 18:30 — the last pass is the reverse-direction heat, run in the dark.

• Elgin Vale

  Left out of the grounds onto Manumbar Road, straight ahead at the crossroads, then 9.5 km west on bitumen towards Nanango; left into Porter Road at the spectator signage and 3 km in, crossing two steep-entry creek crossings, to parking on both sides and a 300 m walk. Open, cleared paddock country with a long sightline along the stage — the better of the two for photography. First car due 12:30, 14:50 and 17:30. Low cars should think twice about the creek crossings.

How 2026 ran

1. Friday 14 August 2026

   Service park opens to crews at the Manumbar Campdraft Grounds, with camping and catering from the afternoon. Documentation — road books, door numbers, decals and RallySafe units — runs 17:00-20:00.

2. Saturday 15 August 2026

   08:00-08:30 scrutineering re-presents, 10:30 crew briefing and starting order posted, 11:30 rally start. Three heats over the same three stages, the last run in reverse after dark, with the presentation scheduled for 22:30. Live times through the day on rallytrack.live and the Sportity app.

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: The base is the Manumbar Campdraft Grounds at 7934 Kilcoy Murgon Road, 175 km north-north-west of Brisbane. The usual run is the D'Aguilar Highway to Kilcoy then about 90 km north on the Kilcoy-Murgon Road, sealed as far as Jimna and then roughly 45 km of maintained gravel shire road; coming in from Nanango, 47 km to the south-west, keeps more of the approach on bitumen. Fill up before you turn off — the supplementary regulations name Kilcoy or Nanango as the nearest service stations.
• Where to stay: On-site camping at the campdraft grounds is the practical answer: it opens Friday afternoon, the Manumbar Campdraft Association runs fully catered meals from Friday evening to Sunday breakfast, a gold coin is asked for showers, and fires are banned in the camping areas and throughout the surrounding plantations. Manumbar has 38 residents and no beds, so the alternative is a motel in Nanango (47 km), Murgon (52 km) or Kilcoy (90 km), and a championship weekend thins those out. The supplementary regulations word the on-site camping as being for competitors, crews and officials while the club's event listing is looser — spectators should ring BSCC first.
• While you’re there: The drive up from Kilcoy runs through Jimna, home to the heritage-listed Jimna Fire Tower — at 47 m the tallest in Queensland — plus the Peach Trees camping area and Yabba Falls. The heritage-listed Elgin Vale Sawmill sits close to the Elgin Vale spectator point, and Bjelke-Petersen Dam near Murgon is the local water-sports and fishing spot. Somerset Dam is a short detour off the Kilcoy approach if you drive up on the Friday.

Entering

Entries are lodged through WOLF Sports and close 23:59 Monday 3 August 2026, with the seeded entry list published 17:00 Thursday 6 August on the BSCC site and the Sportity app. The field is capped at 45 competitive cars plus 10 Rally Regularity, and the club can cancel below 25 entries. Entry is $1,086 for Classic/ECCRS, QRC, 2WD, Junior and full-distance Novice/Clubman, $686 for Novice Heat 1 only and $486 for Rally Regularity, each rising $200 after the close date, less $50 if both crew are financial BSCC members; the fee covers the permit, QRAP levy, a road book set, RallySafe hire and one service-vehicle registration. Both crew need a current Motorsport Australia rally licence and membership of an MA-affiliated club, and crews living within 50 km of the Brisbane GPO must attend pre-event scrutiny on Sunday 9 August. The event is strictly blind: reconnaissance is banned within 30 days of the start and pace notes are prohibited outright, enforced with random searches of crew and car and a recommended penalty of disqualification.

History & form

• History: First-ever running under the "Classic Queensland" name and format — the venue previously hosted the sponsor-titled "Manumbar Rally" (e.g. 2017, 2021, 2023, 2024).

Worth knowing

• Notable: A strictly blind format — recce and pace notes are banned (including a 30-day pre-event ban), enforced with spot checks. Entries capped at 45 plus 10 Regularity vehicles; two spectator points (Gallangowan and Elginvale) each visited three times.

Stage by stage

All 9 special stages — 132.5 km — with our stage times. Watch the full onboard of every stage on @shakewellracingpov.