Quinn, who raced a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX to the national crown, will contest in a two-wheel drive Mazda RX-2 that harks back to his father’s days on the rally circuit. 

“It’s basically the same car as what my old man [Martin Quinn] used to drive back in 1988,” Quinn said. 

“He raced them against David Eadie back in the late 80s and they’ve got a fair bit of rapport the old boys.”

David interjects that it is, in fact, the same car he had raced against with Martin at the wheel 30 years ago. 

“It is his dad’s car and it will be surreal to see it back here,” David said.

In a weird twist of fate, Quinn has extended an invite to David’s son Alexander to serve as co-driver for the Valley Rally.

Quinn said it was fantastic that both their dads used to race each other in the iconic Bega Rally and now the two sons would join forces to give local favourite Ben Barker a shake. 

“I’ve raced Ben before and I don’t know if I could match him at home; if he’s got around 300 horsepower I reckon I would need about 500 to beat him,” he said with a laugh. 

Quinn, who is currently racing a WRC spec Ford Fiesta in New Zealand, said the Mazda “was much more classic”, but could still run with the best on a good day. 

“But we’re in it for a bit of fun and it’s a great opportunity for Alexander to come along with me, hopefully I can pass on some of that experience and set him up for any potential future in rallying.

“That said, Alexander and I will be having plenty of fun, but if we have a good weekend run we would like to be at the top end.”

This will be a first-time visit for the reigning national champion and he said he was eager to visit some of the stages he’d heard so much about from his father and other drivers. 

“I’ve signed up for the Bega Rally before, but it was washed out, I’m really keen to come along and experience some of these Shire Roads I keep hearing about,” he said. 

“This is a truly iconic event and I can’t wait to take it on.

“The main thing is getting to do some of the iconic roads, the organisers have put in a fantastic effort and there is a lot of kms to cover, but for a rally driver like myself we’re keen on that adventure and visiting new places.”

Almost exactly 30 years ago Bega driver David Eadie and Nathan Quinn’s father, Martin, competed for the Valley Rally crown in 1988. 

“It was a long event back then,” David recalls, “It was about 500km over three days.

But the racing was close, David at the wheel of a Mazda 323 against Quinn in his Mazda RX-2. and after almost 400km of flat-out racing, just 14 seconds separated the pair. 

At just 24 years old and Martin only a little older, both drivers were known as the “quick kids” of Bega and Coffs Harbour respectively. 

“Martin was pretty quick in that car, we went into the close on the Saturday about 14 seconds down on him and it was pouring rain,” he said. 

“We thought ‘we’re in a 4WD, we know the roads, we’ll catch him easy’, but there was the threat of the event being cancelled from that point so we went to bed with the coin in the air. 

“If cancelled, it was Martin’s, if it wasn’t about a 99 per cent chance it was ours.”

David said the event continued with two or three final stages around Bega, but because of his local knowledge and the quality of his 323 he went out cocky. 

“It was a very good car, we had parts pouring in from America for us, so we went out super confident and drove it very hard.”

Soon they cut a corner far too tight on Cooper’s Gully Road and found themselves on three wheels and biting the fourth into the bank about chest-high, dislodging a sizeable rock and puncturing the front wheel. 

“We cut this big gouge in the bank and we lost another five seconds to him on a flat front tyre.” 

The memories aren’t quite as crystal clear for the Bega racer as they were then, but David recalls talking himself straight ahead of the final stage. 

“It was Upper Cobargo Road on the final stage [Stage 1 of 2017], all of a sudden it became ‘forget the showing off and race this’,” he said. 

“Uphill and raining it was much to our advantage with more horsepower and traction, but we were nervous because he had the lead.

“We got through with an amazing time and snuck past him by just seconds.”

David said the result really should have gone to Martin in hindsight, but it was not the first, or the last time the two competed against each other. 

However, David said the race was the beginning of a lifelong friendship, that’s now being passed to the two sons in Nathan and Alexander. 

Both the Eadie duo of David and Alexander and Bega contender Ben Barker have both played a hand in pushing Quinn to join this year’s event. 

Alexander had met the Australian champion a number of times before, but the pair bonded during last year’s Alpine rally, while serving as support crew to Barker. 

Funnily, the pair bonded over their shared experience of learning about rallying from their fathers and soon the concept of Alexander in the co-driver seat was a serious talking point. 

“He sounded keen to do it, but we had to confirm he could make it; I’m pumped for the opportunity,” Alexander said. 

“It was a really cool environment with Dad last year, but we were just out for fun and this time I want to step it up, I’ve been trying to study and learn what I can.”

Despite running for fun, the pair were certainly no slouch, picking up 11^th overall. 

However, Quinn will be in for fun, but didn’t deny his eyes would be on the podium over the weekend. 

“With last year’s experience I hope I can be on my game from the start and we can do well,” Alexander said. 

Its not often a 16-year-old gets to be in the passenger seat with the national champion after all. 

“We’ll talk after the stages and I’ll just be taking it all in, I’m pretty keen to soak up any knowledge that I can from him.”

Already a boy-racer on the Motocross circuit, Alexander said it’s not out of reach for him to pursue a career behind the wheel, but until he was old enough he would happy to ply his wares as a co-driver and see where that could take him.

“I can’t wait for the weekend, I’m enjoying co-driving so I’ll see where I can take it,” he said.