Subaru announced the decision to pull out of the WRC this morning, following yesterday’s news of the suspension of Suzuki’s year-old world championship programme.

Hembery, the man who committed Pirelli to a £10 million investment as the control tyre supplier to the WRC, is still confident the series will be strengthened for future seasons.

“What’s happening now is a re-shaping of the WRC,” he said. “We’ve got the new technical regulations coming for 2010 and I’m enormously excited about that season. Yes, 2009 will be a tough year - it’s going to be a tough year worldwide. It’s going to be a transitional season for the WRC. But I’m very excited about the future.”

“We’ve got manufacturers ready to commit cars to the new formula. Manufacturers like FIAT, Volkswagen and Peugeot will, I’m sure, have cars, and Citroen and Ford are going to build cars.”

“It’s not like we’re taking a step into the dark here, we’re stepping into an exciting period where the cars are ready to go in a much more cost-effective championship.”

Hembery believes the WRC still offers the best return on investment in motorsport and says that return will improve as the FIA’s latest raft of cost-cutting is implemented.

“A WRC programme is going to cost a tenth of what it would cost a manufacturer to go to Formula One,” said Hembery. “There’s no doubting the value of a WRC programme in these cost-conscious times. And, with the new global promoter deal coming, this is just the right time to get into WRC.”

“I’m not just trying to talk this thing up, there’s no doubt the loss of Subaru is sad for the sport, but we have to look ahead. There are enough doom and gloom merchants around who will be ready to stick the knife into WRC, but they don’t see the sport from the inside like we do.”

“We have to be pragmatic about next season and use it to build the platform to launch the sport into 2010. Believe me, the WRC is going in the right direction with the right manufacturers involved and the right people behind it.”

Although disappointed with the announcements, General Manager of Repco Rally Australia Gary Upson sees an amazing opportunity for young up and coming talented drivers to demonstrate their skills on the world stage.

“To lose Subaru and Suzuki from the World Rally Championship as a result of the current global financial crisis is disappointing for both our event and the motor sport community as a whole however, we do hope that these are temporary measures and that we will see both teams back in
the WRC as soon as possible,” said Upson.

“However through this situation there now presents an even more attractive opportunity for our local and international up and coming drivers to place well in a round of the World Rally Championship and truly compete for the top spots against the best rally drivers in the world, an
opportunity that we hope they will embrace.”

Repco Rally Australia is currently working on ways to attract local and overseas privateer teams to enter the event.

“We really hope to see a lot of young talent out there next year and will be sure to do all that we can as organisers to make our event as cost effective as possible for these competitors to compete,” concluded Upson.

Repco Rally Australia will run from 3-6 September 2009 and will be Round 10 of the FIA World Rally Championship as well as a round of the FIA Production World Rally Championship.

At resident meetings recently held in Murwillumbah and Kyogle, Chairman of the Organising Committee, Garry Connelly, outlined the concept and operation behind the planned event.

Connelly confirmed the initial purpose of these first meetings was to update residents who live along the proposed route.

“As these residents are more likely to be effected due to the fact they reside on the proposed route, we felt it appropriate and courteous to consult with them first before we go to the community at large”, said Connelly.

Organisers received some criticism for not previously revealing the full rally route, but Connelly advised, “as the route is still provisional we did not wish to release it and have the community think that this was the confirmed route. Much consultation is still to be undertaken before the route is finalised. It might well be that we will need to have discussions with residents on other roads if additions to the route are necessary”.

Connelly committed to further consultation with the community, with all residents on the proposed route being visited by a member of the rally team to have a one-on-one discussion about the event, their concerns and how they may be personally affected by the event. Further public meetings are planned for February next year.

Public opinion from residents who attended these meetings indicated overwhelming support for the event. Concerns raised by some residents are currently being investigated and addressed by the Organisers.

The role would commence as a part time one, building to full time for the period prior to and during the event. Previous experience in motor sport would be advantageous.

The Media Manager will be required to liaise with the media, design a media strategy for the event, manage the event public relations and generate publicity for the rally and its stakeholders.

A separate appointment of Media Centre Manager will be made for the period immediately prior to and during the rally.  This latter role will entail management of the Media Centre infrastructure and media accreditation.

Expressions of interest should be forwarded to: info@rallyaustralia.com.au

The draft environment policy statement can be downloaded as a PDF.

Residents local to the area of the rally in northern New South Wales have embraced the event with 120 people completing the expressions of interest; almost 65% of the NSW tally.

Interest from Queensland residents is only slightly behind that of NSW and 44 Western Australia officials are keen to travel across the country for the 20th running of Rally Australia.

Expressions of interest have been received from residents in every state in Australia and also from New Zealand.

Many of the Queensland registrations are from accredited CAMS officials who currently officiate at Rally Queensland, the local round of the Australian Rally Championship and in 2009, a round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. A significant number of these officials have “teams” of other officials working with them, and members of those teams are urged to also register as soon as possible.

The organisers of 2009 Repco Rally Australia would like to thank everyone who has registered an expression of interest to date. We are currently sorting through the information you supplied and will be in contact with you shortly.

Our new management team has been appointed and our permanent office opened last week in Murwillumbah. One of the first jobs of the team will be to design a regular newsletter to officials in order to keep you informed, particularly in relation to the commencement of training sessions.

One of the great enduring traditions of Rally Australia’s rich history in Western Australia was the membership of an exclusive club, a club of drivers who had competed in each edition of the World Rally Championship Round since its debut in 1988. With the move to the East coast of Australia two drivers remain the exclusive domain, Ryan Lahiff caught up the stalwarts to gauge their chances of continuing the tradition.

When Rally Australia’s future in Western Australia drew to a close in 2006, the debut event run in 1988, it marked the end of a rich eighteen year history in the WRC. And with it closed a chapter on Australian motorsport which had put rallying in this country on the map and with it had produced one of the finest events the World Rally Championship had ever witnessed, full of innovation, drama and a plethora of memorable moments.

For local drivers the event may have been the domain of names like McRae, Makinen, Sainz, Gronholm and more recently Loeb but it had been their chance to mix it on a level playing field with the sports greats. And in the process the event had provided a canvas of memories, both good and bad, which would stay with competitors for ever more.

Down the field, amongst the hardest working local privateers, a tradition of competing at each and every edition of the event was worn as a badge of honour. Early on the ‘club’ quickly dropped to a list of five. Possum Bourne, Jackie Dines, Ed Ordynski, Bob Whyatt and Tolley Challis.

The tragic death of Possum struck the group hard; each had battled each other over the years, not only in Perth but at local and international events throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Then Dines and Ordynski dropped out in the mid-2000’s. This left just 2.

“Technically I retired from driving at the last Rally Australia (2006),” begins South Australian Bob Whyatt.

“I’m in a slightly different position to Bon in that I haven’t retired, although some have said I probably should have a long time ago!” laughed Tolley Challis.

Each Whyatt and Challis has an amazing track record, not just in entering Rally Australia, but in over coming the trials and tribulations of competing at the sports highest level on one of the most demanding events to have featured on the World Rally Championship calendar.

But at the start, way back in 1988, neither driver would have been quite aware of the path they were each about to head down and the amazing memories they would have of those early days almost twenty years later.

“Back in 1987 I was the deputy clerk of course for a local event, the Wirrina Rally Sprint, in South Australia,” explained Whyatt. “At that time I was trying to attract a few of the West Australian drivers to come across and compete and we were fortunate that a guy by the name of Rob Herridge showed interest. I was speaking to Rob during the event and he mentioned to me that the car I was driving as a zero course car, a Subaru RX Turbo, would be eligible under the international regs for this new event that was getting up and running in Perth with the view to be a Round of the World Rally Championship.”

Meanwhile Challis, who as a Perth local has long had a history competing in the State Championship as well as on an international stage, admits that he raced straight down to the local Suzuki dealership when he originally learnt of Rally Australia’s debut running in ‘88.

“I remember I bought a Swift GTi, straight off the floor, and we built nothing much more than a pretty standard roll cage, put some harnesses on the factory seats and put on some mudflaps. It was back in the day when you could take a very standard car and drive straight over the ramp at a WRC event!” Challis chuckled at the memory.

Never in outright contention neither driver ever entered the event to challenge the established names at the top of the entry list, but that was never the inspiration for taking to the demanding gravel roads outside of Perth.

“I’m a competitor, always have been, in rallying and in other sports,” explained Whyatt. “Rally Australia was always a challenge I really enjoyed. It was always an incredibly tough event just to finish, so it was certainly never a disgrace for any driver to finish last because they always would have outlast an awful lot of much better drivers.”

Challis agreed, particularly with the challenge of just making it to the finish although for the local the lure of the event was as important as winning the State title. “My aim was always to win the State title, and while Rally Australia was a separate event to that, we always put just as much effort into securing a strong result in those early years,” he said.

“It was such a big event that I know everyone, ourselves included, always put a huge amount of effort into the preparation to ensure that we were in the best position to get a good result,” added Tolley.

For Whyatt, a self-admitted perennial back marker, the objective each year was to halve his start number. “It was always a personal objective to get to the finish line in a position half the number that we started with. As a competitor though I always looked at five or six guys to challenge and I always looked forward to those battles across the three days of the event.”

Asked for a personal highlight, somewhat tongue in cheek Whyatt replied with: “In ‘89 I was the first person to cross the start ramp! Ok it was reverse field order over the ramp, but I still maintain I was the first over the start ramp at Australia’s Round of the World Rally Championship.”

Challis too looked back fondly at the good times. “We had a farm that a lot of locals used for pre-event testing throughout the year, but it was always very busy prior to Rally Australia. I always used to brag to people that Subaru and Mitsubishi had spent time at my farm!”

“I think one of the great things about the event though was the camaraderie between the locals and the international teams and drivers. Because of the testing that went on out at the farm I remember the rally office would ask us to help out a quite a few of the internationals who hadn’t been to Australia before,” continued Tolley.

“One year, back in the very early ‘90’s I received a call from the office to see if we’d assist some Finn with the funny name of Tommi Makinen. Sure I said, without even thinking, who would have known at that stage he’d go on to become one of the most successful rally drivers of all time!” he added.

The event though was marred with tragedy, a moment both drivers brought up without prompting, when midway through the 1993 edition of the event Possum Bourne crashed heavily resulting in the untimely death of his co-driver and long time friend Roger Freeth.

“I remember it like it was yesterday, it was a diabolical time for everyone at the event,” expressed Challis.

“I think everyone was affected by that incident,” added Whyatt. “It was a terrible moment for the event and something that we will all remember for many years to come.”

In the end though both Challis and Whyatt reflected on the huge task of competing at Rally Australia year after year and the huge personal reward of completing the final stage.

Tolley, who during the early 90’s was also competing in Malaysia, explained the huge effort his team often went to get his Mitsubishi Galant VR4 ready in time. “For a couple of those years we’d be competing in Malaysia the weekend before Rally Australia. So during the very early hours of Monday morning, straight after we’d finished the event, the guys would be pulling the car apart from squeeze it into the cargo hold to get it back to Perth to be ready.”

“That effort that went into just one week always made competing at Rally Australia immensely fulfilling, to push the limit so far and get through it,” added Challis.

“I think for me the great thing about competing at Rally Australia for almost twenty years was to play against the top boys. In other sports you don’t get that opportunity, you certainly can’t front up to a tennis or golf tournament as a relative amateur and expect to compete against the stars. But in rallying you can do that, to compare yourself and see where the differences lie,” explained Whyatt.

So the big question though is will either continue their membership in this exclusive club next October? Or will the move to the East coast usher in an opportunity for a new breed of drivers to take their place?

“You wouldn’t believe how many people have asked me that question since the event was confirmed for NSW,” laughed Whyatt. “Even though I’ve announced my retirement I think I can maybe make the exception to do one more. I’ll have to look at a few options next year but the chances are fairly reasonable.”

“I think the continuation of Rally Australia will definitely be a boost for rallying as a whole, only problem is it’s now a long way from my home town,” added Challis. “I’d definitely like to keep the tradition going!”

The 20^th staging of Repco Rally Australia, the first instance on the East coast of Australia, will take place next year between 3^rd - 6^th September.

Upson, 41, is well known in World Championship circles having managed the New Zealand event from 1998 until 2005, during which time the event won the prestigious Rally of the Year Award.  He is currently Brand Manager for Land Rover New Zealand.

“I am really excited at the prospect of helping to bring the spectacle and thrill of the WRC to the East Coast of Australia for the first time. Northern NSW and particularly the Tweed/Kyogle region is a fantastic area to truly showcase the beauty of Australia to the world via this event.  I am looking forward to working with our sponsors Repco, Events NSW and the team of almost 2000 CAMS officials and staff who will make this a great motor sport event,” said Upson.

Gary, his wife Nicola and two children will take up residence on the Tweed Coast within the next few weeks. A new Repco Rally Australia office will be established in Murwillumbah early in November.

We realise there are many who want to assist in the organisation of this FIA World Rally Championship event but who are unable to attend for various reasons.

Accordingly we will conduct the following
1. An additional briefing in Brisbane for those officials working at the Bathurst 1000
2. A specific briefing in both Murwillumbah and Kyogle for local officials in those areas
3. If possible, a briefing in Sydney

We will also consider the production of an information DVD for those who live in remote areas.

Please keep monitoring the situation by going to our website www.rallyaustralia.com

Thanks for your interest

Kind regards
Garry Connelly
Chairman, Organising Committee

Q: Last week’s announcement regarding Repco Rally Australia is obviously a huge boost for Australian rallying, how big an impact do you think the event will have on the sport at all levels?

Garry: Huge! If you look back to the public awareness of rallying in Australia in the mid-80s it was negligible. Then we noticed after the first ever Rally Australia event in 1989 a steady increase in public awareness (and this was measured by independent research). Certainly now a very high percentage of the Australian public know what a rally is - that was definitely not the case in the late 1980’s before we had a WRC event in this country. Every sport needs a locomotive to pull the train along and that is what the WRC does in every country it visits. With a move to the east coast, if car clubs work with us to capitalise on Repco Rally Australia’s potential profile, then a lot of new people can be introduced to the sport of rallying. As always, although the initiative comes from the top, the work of cultivation must come from the grass roots level.

Q: Will the event look to attract competitors from the ARC, as well as State and club levels to compete against the World’s best drivers?

Garry: I don’t think the event will be a part of the ARC simply because there are enough Rounds at the moment and I would not want to disadvantage any of the existing events. However our major focus will be to attract Australian competitors at ALL levels. The WRC is one of the few (it might actually be the only) sporting World Championships where a novice can compete and measure his or her performance against the best in the world - and that’s a fantastic thing for our sport.

Q: Will there be issues with vehicles running under CAMS’ Production Rally Car (PRC) regulations?

Garry: Currently the FIA rules allow only World Rally Cars, Group N and Super 2000 cars, and the new Group R cars. However, without wanting to sound too optimistic, I have put forward to the FIA World Rally Commission, and it will be discussed in the next few days at an important meeting in Paris, a proposal to allow cars that are roughly equivalent to Group N and S2000 and which are eligible for the host country’s national Championship, to be allowed to compete, but not score points, in the host country’s round of the WRC. I don’t know if that will get through but I know Morrie Chandler, President of the WRC Commission, supports the concept. The only proviso is that the cars would need to run with the Pirelli WRC control tyre but that is not proving to be a problem in other events. Indeed the privateers in other countries who have used the new Pirellis are raving about their performance and durability, saying they are after a cheaper option than their existing tyres. If my proposal comes off, then many PRCs would be able to compete at Repco Rally Australia 2009. But we must wait and see.

Q: Rally Australia’s history began in Western Australia and has a rich heritage in that state. How do you see the move to NSW continuing that?

Garry: That would be my number one priority. In WA I was fortunate to work with 2000 totally focused and skilled sporting officials and a very dedicated group of staff members to develop a culture of “customer service” where we treated competitors, media and the spectators as our “customers” and hence our sole reason to exist as an event. This, combined with delivering an event using the best possible practices and a commitment to innovation and creativity, delivered that “rich heritage” you refer to.

Q: And while on NSW, how did the event find its way to the most populated state in the country? And are there any similarities to the adoption by Events NSW to that of Eventscorp in WA 20 years ago?

Garry: It has been a long (three and a half year) journey from the day the WA Tourism Minister announced that WA would no longer fund the event until now. When we knew that (sadly for all those who worked so hard on it in WA) it had to find a new home, we were determined firstly not to let it slip through our hands and go to one of the many other countries vying for a round. We went to many other State Governments - some of whom had previously been desperate to secure the event and had even offered to take it over if WA ever wanted to give it up.

But instead of the people in WA Tourism at the time accepting this, they chose to continue to conduct the event then suddenly, without notice, pull the pin on the funding. Now that left CAMS in a terrible position because it is one thing for one state to take over the running of a successful event from another state without a lot of negative publicity. It happens all the time - for example with Life Saving Championships etc. But when someone comes out and says “we don’t want this anymore” it makes it very difficult to have others motivated to take on the event, despite all the evidence you can table to demonstrate its value.

Anyway, for three and a half years we pushed on and as is on the public record, came to an agreement to work with a property development in South East Queensland. But more on that later, but when we felt we could not deliver on the event in time for 2009 we looked to NSW.

Events New South Wales is a very new organisation which was attractive to us because it is designed on the same basis as the original Eventscorp Western Australia of 1988 - and that was a fabulous organisation led by a fantastic and visionary group of people. Events NSW is a company with its own independent board and staff but the shareholding of the company is held in the name of the Premier on behalf of the NSW people. This is exactly the same model as Eventscorp WA when it started except that the share was held by the state Treasurer. The only difference is that this time, Events NSW is not underwriting the event - it is essentially a sponsor - a very important sponsor! And I must say the people we have been dealing with (at very senior level) within Events New South Wales are fabulous to deal with and very determined to work with us to make this event a great success.

Q: Also the history of Rally Australia in WA was built on breaking the mould, injecting fresh creativity into rallying and of course the adoption of emerging technology. Will we see the same with the new event and can you offer any sneak insights?

Garry: If you don’t go forward, you go backwards. There is no such thing in life (or events) as “standing still”. We (and by “we” I mean our board, our organising team, our officials, Events NSW, CAMS and the local shires with whom we are getting fantastic cooperation) are completely committed to being innovative, creative and to making this event FUN.

In some ways the WRC has become a bit stereotyped. Whilst we will of course respect the rules and also place absolute priority on safety, we want to go outside the square. Respecting the traditions of the sport of rallying is very important to us and sometimes I think the modern WRC event model has moved away from that. But the most important thing, as I keep stressing is that we will be customer-focused and one of our main customer groups is the competitors - from the smallest private team to the largest manufacturer team. They are very important customers and so are our spectators and the television viewing public. So we want to do whatever is in our power to satisfy their needs.

The other area where we will be using technology and creativity is in delivering this event as ENTERTAINMENT. This just happens to be a rally but more importantly it is a form of entertainment and we want everyone to go away from the event saying “that was fun - we’ll be back”.

Q: Rally Australia was known for having a high quality organising team when it was based in Perth. Who will be working on this event?

Garry: There will be many of the WA team coming across especially at senior official level and probably staff level as well. The teams and media will recognise many familiar faces. In addition we will be complimenting those with some highly experienced rally officials from the East Coast (which after all is the most highly populated part of Australia and which hosts no less than 4 major rallies including our Asia Pacific round). When we make our announcement about the Organising Committee in the next week or so, you will see just what a great group of experienced and talented people we have.

Q: The nature of the roads seems to be the big talking point at this point in time, but also the fact that the areas the event will run in aren’t traditionally utilised roads for rallies. Is that a hindrance or a benefit?

Garry: A bit of both really. There are a number of unknowns. But the people of the Kyogle and Tweed shires are so enthusiastic about Repco Rally Australia coming to their area, and the roads are through some of the most beautiful countryside you could imagine, they are very smooth flowing stages, I think on balance it will be a benefit.

Q: The speed of the roads also seems to be a common statement by the WRC teams who have visited the area with some claiming the event may surpass Finland and Sweden as the quickest on the calendar. What sort of challenge does that present and will it help to build the events reputation around the world?

Garry: Daniel Grataloup from Citroen, who is a very experience and well known former co-driver, has driven the stages and told us he thought the drivers would love them. Yes they are very fast in places, but very smooth, wide and run through rolling hills with not too many trees! The FIA Safety Delegate Jack Bartos has driven the stages and is happy with them. We will be putting some protection on a couple of big trees at the end of fast straights (and there ARE some long fast wide straights) and installing the odd chicane to reduce entry speeds into some corners.

Q: The move to the East Coast presents a huge opportunity to tap into a far larger, more diverse audience than ever before. Do you see a challenge in this and what initiatives are planned to break rallying into the capitals dominated by traditional “ball” sports?

Garry: This is one of our big challenges. The WRC has been absent from Australia since 2006, motor sport in general does not get a fair share of the printed media in this country, but thankfully we have Network Ten which is strongly behind the Australian Rally Championship. We are developing a marketing plan in conjunction with our media partners, Repco, Events New South Wales, Tourism New South Wales, our host resort Salt (a stunning location) and other sponsors to market the event to the public mainly on the East Coast. If we succeed with our marketing then we will hopefully be able to attract a lot of people to the event. It may take a few years to really capitalise on the potential, but we will be targeting this larger audience.

Q: It was hinted at the event launch that the leading drivers would be back beside Sydney Harbour a year from now. Are there plans to conduct direct promotion in Sydney in the run up to the event?

Garry: We will be talking with all the teams very shortly about some plans we have to “turbocharge” our pre-event media promotions in Sydney as Australia’s largest city. If our plans come to fruition then I reckon you can count on a few things happening on the world’s most beautiful harbour in just under a year from now.