ADELAIDE RALLY 2025: What It’s Like in a Straight-Piped Prancing Horse
There are moments in life that almost feel as though they are too cinematic to be real: early-morning light spilling over the Adelaide Hills, the sharp scent of eucalyptus drifting across the road and a line of Ferraris idling in unison like a patriotic Italian ensemble. Being part of the Ferrari Club Tour Category at the 2025 Adelaide Rally was one of those moments, with three days split into equal parts consisting of adrenaline, camaraderie, and pure mechanical theatre.
There are few events in Australian motoring that blend culture, scenery, spectacle and pure mechanical emotion quite like the Adelaide Rally. For three days, the Adelaide Hills transform into a living, breathing celebration of motoring, with closed roads, cheering crowds, and drivers experiencing some of the best tarmac in the country exactly the way it was always intended.
So, as you could expect, when I got the call up from one of my closest friends that we were to enter this year’s iteration of the world’s largest tarmac rally event, an astounding sense of anticipation bounced off the Hillside office walls. To top it off, we were to do so in the glorious Ferrari F12 - which we straight-piped on Rally-eve. Well, if we were to finally participate after years of on-event media duties, it was only right for us to do it in style….and maybe a tad of noise.
Day one begun bright and early, with the weather gods blessing the field with a picturesque sunny day. Entrants rendezvoused at the dedicated Adelaide Showgrounds Parc Ferme location, where the oval rapidly filled with the hues of close to 500 cars. With categories accommodating the latest and greatest million-dollar supercars, purebred pro-rally beasts and everything in between, Parc Ferme invited entrants to meet and mingle with their enthusiastic counterparts and prepare for the three days of adrenaline-pumping action that awaited them.
When we arrived, the setting was already alive, with crews unloading trailers, drivers sipping coffee and officials weaving between cars with clipboards and radios. The Ferrari Club group formed its own gravitational centre: a collection of scarlet, yellow, nero and silver shapes glowing under the early light. V8s, V12s, mid-engines, front-engines, and cars from all eras that were united by a badge and a shared sense of belonging.
As the clock struck 8, the field began to move. The all-new Rally Pro category was first to hit the tarmac, with a star studded line-up featuring WRC race winner Hayden Paddon and Alex Rullo that was sure to stun the thousands of onlookers that lined the stages of day one.
Before long, it was our turn to roll out. As I opened the door of the F12 and lowered myself into the leather, I noticed a stillness: a small, private moment before the day fully ignited. Then, the 6.3-litre naturally aspirated V12 erupted into life with an immediacy that almost startled.
The convoy rolled out toward the first stage, and already spectators were lining the streets. Kids waved flags, locals stood on verges with phones ready, and the short transit drive felt like a parade.
Not long after, we left the city grid behind and climbed into the Hills, where the roads narrowed, coiled and tightened between gums and rocky escarpments. The Main Tour sits in that perfect zone where it’s fast enough to be thrilling but not competitive to the point of stress. You have the space to lean on the car and the time to appreciate the scenery as it rushes past your windows.
The F12 was built for these conditions, eating up roads with elevation changes, sweepers and rhythm. You feel the chassis settle as you lean into the long corners, and while the steering is heavy at times, the front end is alert and communicative. Even at touring pace, the car talks to you constantly: the faint squirm from the rear on cambered bends, the bark when you downshift and the sharp inhale from the intakes as the revs climb. Both the driver and I, on navigation duties, start to get a feel for how the car behaves, but we were still easing into the day’s treacherous stages.
The highlights for day one comprised of the long, demanding Cherryville Plus stage which threw everything at us, but made us want to come back for more and more, alongside the Vista stage that presented never-ending cambered corners. No matter the stage though, the straight-piped V12 became an instrument. The exhaust note bounced back in thick, rolling echoes, and while every Ferrari in the convoy contributed to the symphony, the F12’s voice distinctly stood out. It truly screams like nothing else.
There is something almost tribal about driving with the Ferrari Club. The camaraderie is effortless. You catch glimpses of other drivers in your mirrors, smiling, waving, laughing when the road opens up and the throttle gets a little more attention. Communities like this are built on shared passion, and nothing makes that more obvious than a group of Ferraristi carving through the Adelaide Hills together, road after road, stage after stage.
Image: Jamie Smith
At regroup points, the cars pulled in one by one, engines ticking as they cool. Owners gathered around the bonnets, sharing stories about the morning stages, while banter flowed and presented many “Did you see that corner?” moments.
As time went on, spectators began to wander over and kids shyly asked for photos or if they could sit in the driver’s seat. This resonated deeply with me, for as even as recent as last year, I was in this exact same situation. Hence, we enthusiastically oblige. The Rally isn’t just about the drivers; it’s about sharing the experience with everyone who turns up to enjoy and involve themselves.
We wake up on day two to the sound of rain. Way to throw a spanner in the works! Regardless, we made our way back to Parc Ferme and got set for a very different day of rallying. The F12 felt twitchy and demanding in the dry, but in the wet, it was a proper, white-knuckled challenge. Saturday of the Adelaide Rally presented some of the event’s greatest stages, but tackling them at maximum-attack proved to be impossible in such abysmal conditions. Even the Pro’s were struggling, with multiple minor incidents causing short delays in the flow of activity. Nonetheless, this provided more opportunities to chat with our Ferrari comrades, as we regrouped in scenic locations deep in the Hills.
The day continued and the fatigue began to set in. As a navigator, you are always kept on your toes. Head down at notes, throat tightening from yelling and ears ringing just slightly from a full day of V12 acoustics. In the rain, this worsened, however the change in conditions provided thrilling action for entrants and spectators alike.
As the third and final day came around, the sun appeared once more, shining on the field of entrants as they anticipated the event’s spectacular finale. We set off from Parc Ferme, initiating the day with a familiar sprint up Greenhill Road and Mt Lofty Summit. The thrilling, adrenaline pumping characteristics of the stage became a precursor for the day. As we wound our way through the Hills and into the regional centre of Strathalbyn, our group made a celebrity entrance as we prepared for the famed town stage. Crowds lined the 500 metre stretch in their thousands as the entire rally field took it in turns to sprint through the historic town centre. Two tight left-handers initiated the stage, before the street opened up between buildings and stretched out across the bridge, tightening in front of a wall of spectators across the line. While it was over as quick as it had began, the Strathalbyn stage is a major highlight of the weekend’s itinerary, bringing the local community, wider enthusiasts, and hundreds of unique cars together in what can only be described as a celebration of motoring at its absolute finest.
Before we knew it, we began our descent en route to the North Adelaide Finale - the closing ceremony of the weekend. Situated at the recently-opened 88 O’Connell, the event’s culmination saw crowds once again flock in their masses, with the diverse field lined up in formation in a street-party-like setting. The perfect way to round off a weekend of horsepower, action and camaraderie? An ice-cold beer.
Entering the Adelaide Rally is more than just a weekend of adrenaline. It’s a chapter in your motoring life. A story you’ll retell, a feeling you’ll chase again. When I reflect on it, I realise how rare events like this are, and how truly lucky we are to have been involved. For us, it gave us a soundtrack made of twelve cylinders at 9,000rpm and a backdrop of the beautiful Adelaide Hills, surrounded by likeminded, passionate enthusiasts. Long after the crowds go home, after the last regroup coffee, after the dust settles on the bodywork and the tyres cool in the garage, the feeling remains. You close your eyes and you can still hear the howl in the cutting, still feel the weight transfer through a downhill left-hander, still see the line of Ferrari’s glowing under the Spring-time sun. And somewhere inside, a small part of you stays on these closed roads, still chasing apexes, revelling in the symphony and living inside that perfect slice of motorsport bliss.
That’s why the Adelaide Rally lingers and why memories like this don’t fade. Once you’ve lived it, you don’t just look forward to the next Adelaide Rally.
You count down to it.
