Great Tarmac Rally

About the Great Tarmac Rally

The Great Tarmac Rally is a three-day tarmac rally held 23–25 October 2026, launching from Marysville in Victoria's High Country. Run by Australian Tarmac Rally Pty Limited (ATR) as the final round of the four-round 2026 Australian Tarmac Rally Championship, the event unites three of Victoria's most storied rally roads — Lake Mountain Road on Friday, six stages on the Eildon-Jamieson Road on Saturday, and the legendary 37 km Reefton Spur (roughly 95% corner ratio) as Sunday's finale — for 350-plus kilometres of closed-road competition. First held in 2012 with roughly 240 competitive kilometres, it has run every year since from its Marysville base, expanding from a weekend event to a three-day marathon for 2026. ATR markets it as the "crown jewel" of Australian tarmac rallying.

Championship

Australian Tarmac Rally Championship

Organiser

Australian Tarmac Rally Pty Limited (ATR)

Base

Marysville

Surface

Tarmac

The route & format

• Format: Fri: Lake Mountain Road. Sat: Eildon-Jamieson Road, 6 stages, 110+ competitive km. Sun: Reefton Spur, 37 km, ~95% corner ratio. 350+ km total across the weekend.
• Terrain: Tarmac — closed public roads through alpine forest and mountain terrain.

Watching it

Free — the rally runs on closed public roads and ATR sells no spectator tickets for any of its events. As of 30 July 2026 no official spectator points, access maps or arrive-before times had been published for 2026; those normally appear in the supplementary regulations, which is still listed on the ATR regulations page without a download link. The thing to plan around: every stage road — Lake Mountain Road, the Eildon-Jamieson Road, the Reefton Spur — is fully closed to all traffic while it's live, so if you drive in you stay in until the road reopens. Moving between stages mid-day isn't realistic.

Running order

1. Friday 23 October 2026

   The rally launches from Marysville and heads up and down Lake Mountain Road — an alpine ascent where wide sweepers tighten into technical corners, with fog, sleet and sunshine all possible in one stage. The council tourism listing gives a daily activity window of 08:00-19:00; ATR hasn't published stage or road-closure times.

2. Saturday 24 October 2026

   Six stages and more than 110 competitive kilometres on the Eildon-Jamieson Road, roughly an hour's drive north-east of Marysville — a separate drive from town, not a walk. Exact start times not published as of 30 July 2026.

3. Sunday 25 October 2026

   The 37 km Reefton Spur finale, around 95% corner ratio through alpine forest above the Upper Yarra catchment. Presentation timing not published.

4. Not yet published

   Documentation, scrutineering, crew briefing, road-closed and road-open times and the presentation. Don't assume ATR's Snowy River Sprint timings apply here — that's a different event with its own regulations.

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: Marysville is about 90 minutes north-east of Melbourne, out through Healesville and over the Black Spur on the Maroondah Highway — all sealed, but tight and slow. Lake Mountain is a further 25 minutes up Lake Mountain Road, and the Eildon-Jamieson Road stages are around an hour on again via Alexandra and Eildon. Coverage is patchy: the regional tourism authority warns that phone signal can be unreliable, with Telstra the best network but coverage limited and not guaranteed — download maps before you leave the highway.
• Where to stay: Marysville is small and the rally takes over the town, so book early. Peppers Marysville on Murchison Street is the obvious base and markets itself to spectators and car clubs, though it publishes no rally package or rate. For camping and cabins, Marysville Holiday Park on the Buxton-Marysville Road has powered sites, riverside cabins and glamping tents. Other options are garden cottages and apartments in town, the Black Spur Inn and Saladin Lodge at Narbethong, and BIG4 Taggerty Holiday Park 15 minutes north.
• While you’re there: Steavenson Falls is five minutes from town — an 84 m drop reached by an easy gravelled path. Keppel Falls, Keppel Lookout and the Tree Fern Gully trails all start close by, and the Cambarville Circuit Walk sits right at the top of the Woods Point Road near the Reefton Spur. Further out, Cathedral Range State Park at Taggerty has the Jawbone Peak and Wells Cave scrambles, Lake Mountain Alpine Resort runs summit walks and mountain-bike shuttles out of snow season, and the Black Spur drive itself is a Victorian icon on the way in or out.

Entering

Entries go through the WOLF portal and nothing is auto-accepted — every application is vetted by ATR and the Australian Auto-Sport Alliance on vehicle suitability, competition history and experience, and newcomers who can't show tarmac experience are made to run the speed-limited Rally Challenge category first. Standard fees are $5,890 for Full Competition and Rally Sport and $4,990 for Rally Challenge (early bird was $5,590 and $4,590 until 5 June 2026), plus $2,250 for the three-day Tour or $1,750 for the two-day version. Entries opened 1 May and close Friday 2 October 2026. You need an AASA National Race Licence for the competitive categories or an AASA General Speed Licence for Tour, plus an AASA vehicle passport — Motorsport Australia licences and passports are explicitly not accepted. RallySafe hire is included in the entry fee. Reconnaissance is permitted but only in plain road-registered cars with no rally signage, on open public roads at posted speed limits; a traffic offence during recce means exclusion.

On this page: the route and format, the running order, travel and accommodation, entry fees and deadlines. We're entered — our stage times and full onboard video of every stage follow after the event. Entries and official documents are handled by the organisers on the official event page.

History & form

• History: Debuted 2012 (~240 competitive km); has run annually from Marysville since. Recent winners: 2022/2025 Jason & Fiona Wright (Nissan R35 GT-R, 2025 season champions); 2023/2024 Matt Close & Cameron Reeves (Audi TT RS); 2025 event itself won by Dean Lillie & Chris Exner (Mazda RX7).

Worth knowing

• Notable: Marysville was devastated by the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 and has since rebuilt as a High Country tourism town — also the gateway to Lake Mountain alpine resort and the Great Forest National Park. Base hotel: Peppers Marysville.