2009 Repco Rally Australia Report released to NSW Parliment

[MSP]

WRC could move to Coffs Harbour, according to news article. I like the roads in Coffs, but not sure about distance from major accommodation. Anyone hear the radio interview?

Kyogle mayor fights for rally | Northern Rivers News | Local News in Northern Rivers | Northern Star

[J Payne]

Thats a great idea!!
Coffs would be a perfect place to have it, I thought the format for this years rally was very WRCish!? 2 1/2 days, super specials and all that..

As for major accommodation, Coffs has plenty of empty resorts that need a boost!
No feral protesters to worry about..

Its all good!

Yep,bring it down this way.....

[Livewireshock]

Originally Posted by J Payne

Thats a great idea!!
Coffs would be a perfect place to have it, I thought the format for this years rally was very WRCish!? 2 1/2 days, super specials and all that..

As for major accommodation, Coffs has plenty of empty resorts that need a boost!
No feral protesters to worry about..

Its all good!

Yep,bring it down this way.....

The downside to Coffs, regardless of the quality of rally stages etc, will be the long distance to major urban centres, such as Brisbane or Sydney. This is not so much a spectator issue, but for corporate and manufacturer support. That is where the real money issues are involved.

That was why the WRC in NZ shifted from Hamilton back into Auckland. It was better for the manufacturers (despite having a great service park with Super Special and reduced liasion to the stages in Hamilton). That is from a city only an hour from Auckland. Coffs Harbour is over 4 hours from any capital.

[MSP]

More news on the possible move of the next Australian round of the WRC

Rally chiefs ready to pull plug | Tweed News | Local News in Tweed | Tweed Daily News

[Factor]

Thats all moot - Deputy Prime Minister Bob Brown is going to ban it.

[MSP]

No Rally Group

Doesn't look like the no rally group are about to make any negotiations either.

[PeterO]

Originally Posted by Livewireshock

The downside to Coffs, regardless of the quality of rally stages etc, will be the long distance to major urban centres, such as Brisbane or Sydney. ........ Coffs Harbour is over 4 hours from any capital.

Don't forget Jyvaskyla is 3 1/2 - 4 hours from Helsinki !!

Peter

[triplecaution]

Originally Posted by PeterO

Don't forget Jyvaskyla is 3 1/2 - 4 hours from Helsinki !!

Peter

Point taken but the Finns are a fair bit more rally loving and rally educated than our fine nation....

[MSP]

Don't forget Jyvaskyla is 3 1/2 - 4 hours from Helsinki !!

Point taken, but not a fair comparison. Have a look at the roads on google maps, and you start to realise why the 270km drive takes only 3 hours, verse the 400km drive that somehow take 5 1/2 hours here.

Roads between Brisbane and Coffs are improving, but five hours is far too long a distance sitting on 110km/h maximum.

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by MSP

Point taken, but not a fair comparison. Have a look at the roads on google maps, and you start to realise why the 270km drive takes only 3 hours, verse the 400km drive that somehow take 5 1/2 hours here.

When I drove from Helsinki to Jyvaskyla it sure didn't take 3 hours, it was closer to 4.5. It was a plain in the ass, especially on the secondary roads. There is also many more speed cameras, more traffic on the secondries and ugh it was painful at times.

[JohnnoEH]

There is plenty of good accommodation around here in Coffs, and even better roads - bring it on I say!

The community here would love it too, there is no opposition down here either. It's all there (aside from the distance to metro centres of course), but really - it's worth a try!

Of course I'm biased but I really do think it's an awesome option.

[MSP]

Coffs, Cairns, or anywhere in oz doesn't really matter. But you would hope that they would give it another go in the area after all the money and time put into organising it here.

I though that it was the best thing going until I experienced rally nz. Now I realise the roads are not the best, the population here is made up of idealists and it's probably more trouble than it's worth.

The community would be behind it this time, more so than last year. All the made up impacts have been proven wrong, and the none of the imagined effects occurred. Seems like a real waste to let it go, and loss for local business's. I believe the greatest loss would be to the community, as it gives lots of people something to look forward to.

[MSP]

Opponents put Repco Rally at risk | Northern Rivers News | Local News in Northern Rivers | Northern Star

[Rallyray]

Nigel,

I really appreciate the constant updates but the papers up there aren't going to report favourably for the rally. If I wanted to hear about people speaking negative about rallying then I'd read Kraters website.

Its just fugtards creating "News" even though theres no truth to any of it.

[MSP]

I understand that a lot of people don't want to give these people air time, or be constantly reminded that they exist. But at the same time, I figure that keeping people in the loop in regard to what the public are being pedaled by the media is of some importance.

It gives them the opportunity to vote in arguably pointless polls. And to point out the lies that are being told to the general public. As the general public have almost zero knowledge on the sport, leaving the biased media's coverage and repetitive lies that are published in readers responses to inform them.

I get the idea that people are well over it, and from the amount of submissions (or lack of) from the rally community (for the report prepared by Mike Cahill) I figure people are either:

• Not interested in seeing the rally continue in it's current location
• Don't believe their voice makes any difference
• Would rather keep it out of public view and leave it up to others to sort out
• Have better things to do with their time

I read a lot about people being passionate about the sport, and that everything that happens at the top level filters down to the bottom here. So I figure hosting a round of the WRC has to be a positive for the sport at all levels. I know that a lot of interest has been generated in this area from the one event.

Our area has next to nothing in the way of world class events, actually it has very little to offer in regards to entertainment at all. I can see a lot of support from the younger generations for the event, and 99% of young people will respond positively when asked about the rally. So I think it is worth arguing for, pointless or not. It probably makes little difference, but I would rather look back and say I did something rather than sit on my hands and see us lose something I see as worthwhile to our area.