CAR ADVICE

Taking an SUV up a rally stage is usually a recipe for car sickness, but the Terramar V might just be a family hauler that you can race to a mountain summit without losing your lunch. The road up to Mt Buller’s summit wasn’t built for racing, but then again, neither was Pikes Peak. Yet both are hallowed ground for rally drivers and enthusiasts alike. One is the best international event of its kind; the other is arguably the best hill climb Australia has to offer. Stretching 16 kilometres from the gatehouse at Mirimbah to the Mt Buller alpine village in north-east Victoria, this winding ribbon of bitumen has become the ultimate proving ground for tarmac rallying in the past two decades. Much like the road itself, the history of the Mt Buller Sprint is a bit of a rollercoaster. It kicked off in the 2000s as a pure hill climb sponsored by Porsche and was patronised by over a hundred punters, who would spend the weekend scrambling to the summit, navigating 132 corners through t...