Coopers have been a truly fantastic sponsor, and I thank them most sincerely for their involvement and input over the last four years, and wish them all the best with their future arrangements
Here are some other items for your information:
The senior officials group is now just about set, and I think everyone has the job they wanted. Thanks to all for the swift responses. We will publish the final list shortly on the web. John Ramerman joins the organising group as Assistant Clerk of Course - TECHNOLOGY, and Adrian Smethurst has been appointed as the representative of the SA rallying fraternity via the SA Rally Panel. welcome guys, we all look forward to working with you. There are a some new faces amongst the Stage Management Teams as well. The entire group will be detailed on our website soon - and published in the next update;
The 2005 Rally of SA will again be based in the Barossa Valley, and run in the Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley and My Crawford area;
Rally HQ will again be at the Barossa Novotel Resort, same set-up as last year;
The service park is again at Mt Pleasant, with the Barossa council providing a lot more water mitigation works;
The special stages are generally as 2004. We have one brand new Council Road stage (14km), and have made some small (and a couple of large!) modifications to other stages in terms of direction and start and finish locations;
The SA Motor Sport Board has yet again asked for increased activity at the Forties Spectator Area. This is the rally’s primary source of income. Complaints from last year were well down from previous years, and comments like too long between cars and large gaps between first and second run have now been largely addressed. We think that the new schedule for 2005 goes a long way towards addressing that issue completely, as it will provide just about continuous running around the corporate facility and the Mistral SuperScreen;
Forestry SA have completed extra road upgrades in the area and, with 7 spectator points, a major re-design of traffic flow, new sections of road, and the super screen present, we believe it will be a very solid improvement on 2004.
The Corporate area will be increased in size about 50%, partly to cater for the additional IMG/GlobalStar Corporates, and partly to take up anticipated increases generally;
SARC will run both days as a piggyback event. We had 17 SA entrants last year, and are keen to improve on that
Classics will run both days at the rear of the field. Only 6 entrants last year, but I have heard a few more are in the wings. It would be good for the spectators to see the older cars in action;
The Subaru Challenge is on again, with $100,000 in prizemoney - look for a bumper field there;
Refuel will be under cover at Mt Pleasant Service Park in a purpose built facility;
The entire course has now been approved by Adelaide Hills and Barossa Councils, and FSA;
There will be a ceremonial start/street party in Tanunda on Friday night. If you can, please support it by coming along. The more the merrier! The actual start will be from the Mt Pleasant Showground on Saturday morning;
The itinerary is based on one minute between cars, with the top twenty at two minutes, as last year;
The “Super Special” (the last stage) will run at one minute intervals for all cars, with the first ten running last in reverse order;
The Web site is up and running again at www.rallyofsa.com.au, and there is a redirect from the old site. Keep an eye on it, as it is updated just about daily as we get going.
Officials (and competitors) registrations are now open, and I invite you to log on and fill in and submit your forms as soon as you can. This year, we will be very strict about maximum numbers, and given that a lot of stages reached reserve listing pretty smartly last year, it will pay to be quick. Talk to Chris (Christine POTTS - Officials co-ordinator) on 8212 2800 on Mondays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, or email her on chris@rallyofsa.com.au anytime.
My ideal situation would be to have people working on the same stages as before, for consistency and efficiency, so stick with your last stage commander if at all possible. The service park, with lots of activity, is one key area where experience is most helpful, and Frank Catling would like his group back, probably plus a few! Pretty soon, only registered officials will get updates.
We are working on key dates for training, but one push this year will involve a lot more in the field hands on type training, which I think will be very helpful. Again, the list will be first published on our website. There won't be too much sitting in lectures I can promise you, especially for those with the relevant experience.
There is a lot of other background work going on, and I will try to update our activities for your information every couple of weeks. One thing that would be helpful right now is the donation of wire coat hangers. If you have any spare, we can use them. Just drop them to the front counter at 272 Gilbert Street anytime during working hours.
Please remember that we welcome your input - any ideas about running RoSA, or improving what we are doing, or stuff you think we should know about, let's hear it - and I promise it will be considered.
That's probably enough for now
Cheers Ivar
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