Rally Australia

[Michael Ryan]

I Received this e-mail, and so I am passing it on.
Positve coments accepted here!



MEDIA RELEASE – 7 March 2009

RALLY AUSTRALIA SCHEDULES BRIEFING DATES
AND ENTRY FEE FOR AUSSIE CONTENDERS

REPCO Rally Australia is encouraging Australian teams to enter its World Championship event in northern New South Wales next September, inviting them to a series of briefing meetings and announcing an attractive entry fee.

The first competitor briefings will be held in Sydney on 22 and Melbourne on 28 March, followed by Brisbane in early April and other cities later.

The entry fee for Australian teams, which will compete in the international Group N, Group R, Group A or Super 2000 categories for production-based cars, will be $3058 including GST. This includes an accommodation voucher valued at $550 with GST, bringing the nett cost of a start in Repco Rally Australia to $2508.

The entry fee also includes the cost of the rally purchasing carbon offsets for a team’s rally car, reconnaissance vehicle and service vehicles. The rally organisers also are asking teams to voluntarily purchase offsets for their flights to and from the event.

The rally, round 10 of 12 in the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, will be staged on 3-6 September on gravel roads in the Tweed and Kyogle Shires. A Super Special spectator stage will be run on three nights through the streets of Murwillumbah, while the rally headquarters and main service park will be on the coast at Kingscliff.

The sporting director of the event, Clerk of Course Michelle Gatton, said she hoped many Australian teams would take the opportunity to test themselves against the best on the World Rally Championship circuit.

"Australian drivers have proved many times when Rally Australia was run in Western Australia that they have the skill and speed to match the world's best and I am confident they will again rise to the challenge” Ms Gatton said.

“We have set an entry fee and secured the bonus of an attractive accommodation voucher that we believe will make it viable and attractive for Australian teams to enter Repco Rally Australia.

”This is a great opportunity for any ambitious Australian crew that wants to show the world how good they are.”

Teams staying in their own homes or with friends during Rally Australia will be able to use the accommodation voucher for other expenditure in the Tweed and Kyogle Shires.

The briefing meetings will cover the proposed rally route, WRC regulations, vehicle eligibility and other matters.

They will be open to any interested people, but priority on places will be given to potential competitors.

Anyone wishing to attend must pre-register with Repco Rally Australia by contacting Janah McLean at janah.mclean@rallyaustralia.com.au or ph. (02) 6676 7025.

The schedule for Repco Rally Australia competitor briefing meetings is -

22 March Sydney – 5.30 pm – 7.30 pm, Ken Brown Rooms, Sports House, 6A Figtree Drive, Homebush Bay
28 March Melbourne – 9 am – 10.30 am, Subaru Interactive @ Docklands, 99 Lorimer Street, Docklands
Early April, Brisbane – date and venue to be advised
Other locations – dates and venues to be advised

ENDS

Repco Rally Australia, Round 10 of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, is scheduled to run on 3-6 September. Closed-road competition stages will be run in the Tweed and Kyogle Shires, with a rally car service park at Kingscliff and operations headquarters at SALT Resort. Drivers and teams from many countries, including Australia, will participate.

For further information, contact:

Chris Nixon
Media Manager – Repco Rally Australia
Phone: (0418) 759 417
Email: media@rallyaustralia.com.au

[raybak]

Looks like it's a good thing. I'll be going to the meeting at Homebush, anyone wanting a lift from Canberra let me know.

Ray

[Mitch]

Very cheap considering the Tassie Tarmac Challenge was $2750 entry fee last year. And South Aus was $2100 from memory....

Targa Tas Modern is $7290...

Rally Aus = Bargain

[gslrallysport]

Originally Posted by Mitch

Rally Aus = Bargain

+1

Isn't there a requirement to run a control tyre though, or am I getting that confused with something else???

[Matt Dyne]

I would have thought that vehicle eligibility will be the biggest headache for local crews. PRC is not Group A...Group N would be a challenge for some too. Not impossible, just more onerous.

Interesting that they are inviting S2000...I don't believe Neal's car (even if he had the money) is FIA approved yet. I think the Fiesta's were closer (given their Super 1600 original format).

Assuming world events don't conspire to kill the event, I'll be there to spectate for sure.

Matt

[TKM Jnr]

Originally Posted by gslrallysport

+1

Isn't there a requirement to run a control tyre though, or am I getting that confused with something else???

Control Tyre is only for 4WD's like PWRC etc, 2WD are free, I think.

[imortl]

Originally Posted by Matt Dyne

Interesting that they are inviting S2000...I don't believe Neal's car (even if he had the money) is FIA approved yet.

Matt

I was talking to someone who I thought would know about this (I forgot who it was but I think it was at the 12 hour) and they were telling me that Neal's S2000 received homologation late last year. It all went through very quietly.

I am happy to be corrected if its not the case....

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by Matt Dyne

I would have thought that vehicle eligibility will be the biggest headache for local crews. PRC is not Group A...Group N would be a challenge for some too. Not impossible, just more onerous.

Matt

I dunno - most cars that are PRC will have little to do to comply with Group A, depending on which cars Group A is allowed for. What really is the difference for most of us with eiligible cars? Not a lot. Hell, a lot of our PRC cars arent that far removed from Group N.

The price is also highly appealing. I was expectign a lot more than that.

[Matt Dyne]

You are right for cars that have current homologation...check the FIA list, it's not that many.

Also, most PRC cars have gone for mixing of bits...to convert to Group A you can only used homologated (read TTE, Ralliart, Prodrive) parts.

I think you'll find even Group N is harder...has to be exactly as homologated...might mean carbon door trims for some cars.

Matt

[flat04]

Matt, I don't think it's as difficult as you make it sound.
If you are right then how do you explain the RS Challenge cars running in Perth? They were never homologated but slotted into Group N sans turbo, 2L and all the other Prodrive bits.

[Matt Dyne]

If they weren't homologated, they cant' have run...I'll have to check. Perhaps they were homologated?

I'll get back to you.

M

[Matt Dyne]

Homologation A5671 is the Impreza RS...that's how they ran.


http://argent.fia.com/web/fia-public.nsf/2799BE2B45C118CCC125755B003FAA6F/$FILE/ToutesVoitures_2009-bis.pdf

This is the list of homologations and their expiry...looks like lots of old cars are still on it, but I'm reasonably confident that they have to run as homologated...so if you're thinking of an early WRX, then you have to use Alcon's and a bunch of other bits.

M

[flat04]

Matt, thanks for clearing that up.

I'll never forget running Mark Beard's RS through scrutineering in Perth for the WRC. There was a guy there from STi in Japan. He didn't know any English at all but he got his point across. He loved what we were doing with such standard cars and was clearly expressing his happiness that there were Subaru's to be running around changing gear at 7,500prm.

Or he just thought we were plain mad

[BEN]

Gee such a big turn out last night,
not surprising really with the small pool of GPN cars running in aus,
But was informative Gary running through the itenary of the rally,
showing all the stages that are to be run and the schedule on all 4 (yep 4 days) as well as the fuel and Tyre arrangments,
Tyres will unfortunatly be a big part of our rally bill as they cost 240 euro each, but that was to be expected, but i dont think we will use that many as our low power lancer and lots of shire roads should be less ware then Loeb.
TV coverage arangement sounds good (only because its already paid for).

Now the hard part getting the car ready in a 6 months time window, and find some more money.

Ben.

[crowleyaj]

Ben,

Is the Thursday a full day, or just super special stage at night like Perth in 2006? Just keen to sort out annual leave and flights for spectating duties.

How many people went to the info session?

Andrew.