Rallying for a Reason: Damar Rallysport & Perth Animal Rescue

When we sat down at the start of this season and talked about who Damar Rallysport should get behind, we ended up flipping the usual question on its head. Motorsport teams normally spend their time asking who might sponsor them. We wanted to ask the opposite: who could we get behind? The answer came quickly — Perth Animal Rescue. We didn't want a logo on the car in exchange for a cheque. We wanted to lend whatever platform a rally team has to a cause we genuinely care about.

What's surprised us most is how much that simple reversal caught people's attention. A rally team putting its energy into an animal rescue, rather than a rescue chasing a sponsor, seems to have struck a chord. People at events, online and around the paddock kept coming up to ask about it — and almost every conversation ended up being about the dogs and cats at PAR rather than the car. That was exactly the point. If our results and our race weekends could get more eyes onto the incredible work PAR does, then we'd done our job.

And the results that matter most this season aren't ours — they're PAR's. Since we started shouting about the program, PAR has seen a real lift in adoption success, with more animals finding the right forever homes, and just as encouragingly, more people putting their hands up to become foster carers. Fostering is the quiet backbone of any rescue: it's what gives an animal a safe place to land while it waits for its family, and it's what lets PAR help more animals than their kennels ever could on their own. Seeing that side of things grow has meant far more to us than any trophy.

Of course, it helps to back it all up on the stages. It's been one of our strongest seasons in the car, and our standout result came at the LandSurveys Experts Cup, where we brought the Subaru Legacy home 7th in the Production Cup and 14th outright against a seriously competitive field. Every stage we finished, and every result we posted, was another chance to carry the Perth Animal Rescue message a bit further — proof that a mid-field privateer team can still make a difference well beyond the timing sheets.

We're proud of what we've achieved on the road this year, but we're prouder of what this partnership has done off it. Huge thanks to everyone at Perth Animal Rescue for the tireless work they do, and to everyone who's followed along, shared the message, adopted, or signed up to foster. This is only the beginning — and if a rally team getting behind a rescue can help even a few more animals find their people, then it's the best result we could ask for.

Interested in adopting or becoming a foster carer? Get in touch with Perth Animal Rescue — and come and say g'day to Damar Rallysport at the next round.