Scott Hart shows how it should be done
(Part 1 of 3).
(Back to AU Visitors Cars go to The Rally Man - Page 2.)
All photos on this page by Douglas Bevan except where
otherwise noted. This shot - Scott practicing his victory jump!
When it comes to the rough and tumble, they don't come much tougher than this XR8 Falcon ute... We've shown all sorts of utes on our site before - even a neat looking jacked up XLS (ala The Ute Man from our AU show cars section) - but never one that cops a hiding such as this! Being built from day one to compete in Class 5 (limited modifications) for 2WD vehicles of the 'Off Road' Rally categories, this ute even carries a special build number with more X's in it than a brothel! Of course having Ford as one of your major sponsors always helps...
Scott's previous EB XR6 in which he manage to win the 1998
Australian Championship for his class - not a bad achievement indeed! Try
this in your Commodore GM fans... Photo provided by Scott Hart.
No stranger to the category, Scott has already completed five years in the category beginning his career racing a much vaunted EB XR6 Falcon and finally managing to take out the National Championship for his class in 1998. Such was Scott's respect within Ford that he was commissioned to do the raised suspension on the "Terra" XH ute and with time running desperately low the EB's front suspension found it's way underneath with a new set-up being fabricated for the EB at a later date. The rear suspension was then fabricated according to Scott's specs and then fitted to the Terra just in time for it's Motor Show debut.
Scott's new AU series 2 XR8 Falcon Ute just itching to be let
out in the wide open spaces...
The old EB took Scott on a whole range of adventures on the way to the eventual Championship win, with Scott winning his first National Round at Mount Gambier in 1997 in 5 Hrs and 16Mins followed by bringing home the Geelong Club Championship trophy for 1997. Scott's previous years spent learning had paid off and he won only his second National Round at Kempsey in 1998 (500 Km distance) after 8Hrs and 45 Mins behind the wheel - a grueling race in any one's dictionary.
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Of the twenty six starts Scott made in the EB, he managed to rack up a credible
eight first in class finishes with a further six second in class wins along the
way. With another five third in class gongs before retiring the EB you can
begin to see where Scott is coming from - having learnt to drive in an old
Falcon ute on a farm at age 10 with no brakes and on slippery wet
grass!
From there he moved onto motorbikes and dune buggies at the local gravel pits and in 1987 started out navigating for Bill Everet in his dune buggy at Geelong, racing in 1988 at Sea Lake. Things went a bit quiet there for a while until 1993 when along came this EB XR6 shell that was about to be scrapped and everything just fell into place all at once... The car made it's first appearance late in 1994 at a Geelong club day, being Scott's first serious appearance as a race driver. "I was very happy |
Unfortunately, as the EB XR6 had originally came from Ford's rubbish pile in the first place eventually it had to be decommissioned rather than sold - a decision that Scott regrets but I guess that comes with the territory of running an old prototype rather than starting with an ex-roady. Still, where one story ends another begins...
 Checking out the interior from the Navigator's view... where they not only have to keep Scott informed of upcoming obstacles but keep one eye peeled for any warning signs on those guages... |
 Another view of the navigator's seat - complete with CB radio and side impact protection as well... |
Click here to go forward to Part 2 of the Scott
Hart story...
(Back to AU Visitors Cars - or go to The Rally Man - Page 2.)
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Info By Doug Bevan & Scott Hart, site by Anthony
Robinson.
Copyright © 2000 by Doug & Any . All rights reserved.
All Photos this page (except that of the EB XR6) taken by and Copyright © 2002 Douglas Bevan.
Revised: 19 Nov 2002
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