Officials Newsletter # 2 March 2006

Here are some items for your information

• The 6^th Toyota RallySA is just about ready to go.
• Just this last week, the ARC has announced a naming rights sponsorship from NEC Computers (NECCARC)
• BP Ultimate has also come forward to support the NECCARC by way of the BP Ultimate Challenge Cup. With backing from a national company of this size, the future looks pretty good
• Although Subaru have withdrawn their factory team, there is still plenty of excitement – Toyota is back with their two car team, plus a couple of privateers, including the very quick Martin Lintott, and Scott Peddar will be back with Mitsubishi, and Subaru has some outstanding privateers in Dean Herridge and Darren Windus
• Ford Australia has returned to rallying in a rear wheel drive Ford Focus, under the PIRTEK banner. Great to see them back
• Testing as such is not permitted this year. Instead, crews who are not invited to the media day will be able to attend a shakedown session on the Friday afternoon, which many of you may well be involved in

 Other matters for your information follow:-

• The senior officials group is now set and I think everyone has the job they wanted.
• The final list should be on the website as you receive this. In this context, John Eagle has resigned to take up other things, and so will not be with us. I would like to thank John most sincerely for all his work and input, I will miss him a LOT!!
• There are some new faces amongst the Stage Management Teams. The entire group will be detailed on our website as you receive this
• As you know the SARC round 2 will run both days as a piggyback event, and we will also have a Clubman section for the first time, also running both days
• There will be the now traditional 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
• Officials (and competitors) registrations are open, and I invite you to log on and fill in and submit your forms as soon as you can. Remember our old saying – “officials get the best view”
• This year, as last, 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 or email her on chris@toyotarallysa.com.au anytime. After this newsletter, only registered officials will get updates 
• Enclosed is an invitation from the organisers of the Police and Fire games. Please help them if you can 
• All Official of the year nominees are up on the website now, just look under Officials. While they all have their framed posters already, they will be re-presented, for last years event, at the senior officials meeting on Thursday 25^th May by Andrew Daniels, Chief Executive of the SAMSB
• For 2006, we will again be providing Official of the year nominees with framed signed posters now extended to every category of stage and department. A full list will appear on the website shortly
• Three year Stage Commanders and/or Department Heads will continue to get a special Jacket, presented at the Senior Officials Meeting on May 25^th.
• 5 year officials will be receiving a very special award as recognition for their efforts. These will be presented at a special night to be arranged. If you feel you qualify for a 5 years of continuous service award, drop Chris a note at chris@toyotarallysa.com.au –and she will check our database. PLEASE don’t ring her, but please put it in writing. I truly, really do not want to miss anyone. I consider this award to be amongst our most important, and want to make sure those who qualify are rewarded
• There will also be a Clerk of Course award for outstanding effort again, along with various Jackets and other things.
• Your stage commander will be mostly responsible for nominating you, for all awards other than the 5 year one, so do make sure you make her or him aware that you are on board.  Last years nominations and winner were-

 Chris Hebart - HIGH EDEN; Roy Feather - MT GAWLER; Garry Hales - THUNDER GULLY & GOLDFIELDS; Peter Winton - TEST DAYS; Brian Carter  - CHARLESTON; Lorraine Parsons – MAWSONS; Gordon Work – FORTIES; John Short - KENTON VALLEY; David Henderson - SPECTATOR CONTROL; Ric Darley – CROMER; Brian Hewett - SERVICE PARK; Mark Zilm – RIDGETOPS

OFFICIAL OF THE YEAR WAS GARRY HALES

• Christine Potts is now working 5 days a week at the Rally Office, and she now has an assistant. We welcome Elly Coppins to our team. She will work as an administration Assistant for us, and has already made her presence felt. Please feel free to drop in and say hello to Chris or Elly at 272 Gilbert Street in the City.  If you need any information you can ring them on 08 8212 2800. 
• The main training session will be the 'Forest in the City ' day on Sunday 6^th August 2006. A number of mini stages will be laid out. Each stage team (all members) and Spectator Marshalls, will set up, run and then dismantle a stage. The idea is that every official will practice the job that they will do during the event.
• The ‘Forest in the City' day will also feature our 'thank you' barbecue for officials.
• If you are an experienced official, the 'Forest in the City' day is the only training you will need to attend.
• If you are an experienced official but you are taking on a new role then you will also need to come to the training session relevant to your new role.
• If you are a new to rallying and have no experience, you will need to come to a training session as well as the 'Forest in the City' day.
• There will be a few officials, particularly those from interstate or country SA who will not be able to attend any of the training sessions. As in previous years, a special training session will be held for these people immediately prior to the event at Rally Headquarters in the Barossa Valley. Please let Christine Potts at the Rally Office know of your intention to attend that session.

 THIS IS IMPORTANT

TRAINING IS A MUST DO

YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE YOUR FULL CREDENTIALS IF YOU HAVE NOT ATTENDED THE APPROPRIATE TRAINING OR BRIEFING SESSION, AND SO MAY NOT BE ABLE TO BE ALLOCATED.

Training Dates

   Sunday 23^rd April                    9am - noon                          Stage Commanders briefing/Brunch

                                                                                          Held at Rally Office, 272 Gilbert St

   Thursday 25^th May                   6.30pm – 8.30pm                 Senior Officials Meeting

   Tuesday 25^th July                    6.30pm - 8.30 pm                 New Officials training

   Wednesday 26^th July               6.30pm - 8.30 pm                 New Officials training

   Tuesday 1^st August                 7pm – 8.30pm                     WICEN Brief

   Wednesday 2^nd August            6.30pm - 8.30pm                  Service Park / Regroup/Spectator

                                                                                          officials briefing

   Thursday 3^rd August                7.00pm – 8.30pm                 Skynet Training

  Sunday 6^th August                   9am – 4.00pm                     Forest in the City Day

                                                                                          Parklands, Greenhill Rd

   Tuesday 8^th August                 6.30pm – 8.30pm                 Communications Training

   Wednesday 9^th August            6.30pm – 8.30pm                 Course Car Briefing

   Thursday 10^th August               6.30pm – 8.30pm                 Emergency services briefing

   Wednesday 16^th August           6.30pm – 8.30pm                 Scrutineers Brief

The 'Forest in the City' day will be held in the south parklands in the area bounded by Greenhill Road, Goodwood Road and Anzac Highway. All other training will be conducted at the Sporting Car Club at 51 King William Road, Unley. All sessions will be downstairs in the Reg Sparks Room.

Copied from www.cams.com.au

All officials who wish to work on the Rally of South Australia must hold a CAMS licence

As part of its risk management strategy and in order to address its duty of care to participants, spectators and officials, the Board of CAMS has approved the Compulsory Accreditation of all officials working at CAMS authorised events by the year 2006.
Specific compulsory accreditation dates to each specific category are listed below.

If you do not have a licence or if your licence will be expired at the time of the rally, you need to act.

Application forms are available from the CAMS office or the Rally Office. This licence is free, and application forms will be available at the training sessions but it is a good idea to act as soon as possible and avoid the rush. Forms can be picked up at the CAMS office or the Rally office. They can also be downloaded from www.cams.com.au/go/officials

BEANIE COMPETITION

Remember in 2004, when we offered a prize of a very nice rally jacket for the winner of our beanie competition? It was won by Communications manager Terre Court, with a very clever entry.

Last year, an authentic Subaru Rally Jacket went to Hedley Bachmann, with an entry standing in front of road signs in the middle of Australia

It will be on again this year, with a genuine Toyota Rally Team Jacket (as worn by Neal, Coral, Simon and Sue, and as sold for $350) to be won.

All you need do is send in a photograph of a Rally cap or beanie from any of the years held so far, and 2005 of course, being worn in an unusual way or in an unusual place. This time around, it again has to be a “real” photo, and it has to feature the actual official concerned – no computer generated shots or ‘doctored’ photos will be eligible.

Entries will be accepted from now on, and the winner will be adjudged by our key organising group on the Monday before the event. Send entries via the website or to Chris at the office

ALLOCATION OF OFFICIALS

Allocations will be made by Chris as officials register, and will reflect your wishes where possible. Please note that it is my fervent wish that stage teams remain as close as practical to those of last year. This has all sorts of benefits, including building team spirit and pride in what you are doing.  The various Stage Commanders will be calling registered officials in the May/June timeframe to confirm roles and training times but please remember that ALL of you are expected to attend the Forest in the City day to practice your roles hands on. We are also working on organising an opportunity to meet “on stage” to physically check out the situation. More of that later.

BENEFITS PACKAGE

This year officials will receive:-

• The Officials thank you BBQ function, to be conducted at the Forest in the City day. This is free to registered officials. There will be some very interesting awards or prizes available that day – rally jackets, signed posters etc, and a draw for a Clarion Car Radio at the end of the day

• An ‘In Appreciation’ certificate for each official who volunteers their time and signs on

• The 2006 cap or beanie, free.

• An officials goodies pack – contents to be notified next newsletter

• Opportunity to be part of the best Stage award – trophy, and best stage award handsomely noted on the thank you certificate – won in 2004 by the team led by Ros Fisher, and in 2005 by the teams led by David Milne and Malcolm Dodd

• A free two day pass to the spectator area at Mt Crawford worth $56.00

• Event poster

• Opportunity to win the ‘Best Officials’ awards

WEBSITE:  www.toyotarallysa.com.au

Last year, the website was an outstanding success – again making it into the top 200 websites nationally for that period, which is just amazing.  There is a feedback area there too. Any and all suggestions are welcome, and I can promise that they will be considered

TRAINEES

We are always mindful of trying to get new people involved in stage management roles. If you are interested in being a trainee stage commander, deputy stage commander, or stage safety officer, your first step is to talk to Chris and register that interest. We will then see how you can be accommodated, and take it from there

SHELTERS

Being in the middle of winter means we can probably expect rainy weather (though 2005 was a dry one!!) So we all need to think about shelters.

We have some pop-up gazebos (for start points etc) but they are so cost effective that I encourage everyone to invest in a bit of comfort come rally time, as our 30 (some now a bit damaged) won’t cover everybody

TYRE CHECKING

This year we will again be involved in tyre marking and checking. If anyone has experience with doing this at rallies, I would love to hear from you

CERTIFICATES AND RALLY PATCHES 2005

Please note that I have heaps of Rally Patches left over from last year. If you would like some, just let Chris or Elly elly@toyotarallysa.com.au  know. Also, I have some certificates left. If you didn’t get one, or if yours is damaged or whatever, I would be very happy to replace it. Again, just let Chris know

IN CONCLUSION

Just to stress that future communications will go only to registered officials, so please don’t delay

I look forward to catching up with you somewhere around TRoSA, and thank you for getting on board with us once more to help us run another great round of the NEC Computers Australian Rally Championship

Cheers Ivar

126 days to go!