MOTORSPORT: Big day looms for Oz rallying

Monday motorsport reportJanuary 7, 2008

Wednesday D-day on rallying's rebel ARC
The Dakar Rally is off, because of the terrorist threats to which we alluded in our previous report, but rallying is likely to be in the forefront of motor sport news this week, along with the launch of new Formula 1 cars.

We'll wait until some of those F1 cars are out and about before we comment on them, but of particular interest at the moment is that this could be quite a critical week for Australian rallying, which we have mentioned a couple of times in recent weeks is in a terrible mess.

We reported between Christmas and New Year that a big split in the sport in this country had crystallised with the announcement by the Australian Auto Sport Alliance (AASA) of a new east coast-based rally championship for this year.

We now learn that there is to be a meeting about this AASA "Australian Rally Championship" in Sydney on Wednesday (January 9), with organisers and promoters of events wanting to be part of the series attending.

Five rounds in this series are envisaged in the first year -- one in Queensland, three in New South Wales (one on the coast and two inland) and one in Victoria.

We must say that our view is that Australia has had trouble supporting one national rally championship recently, let alone the prospect of two.

Let's leave that aside for the moment, though.

In our reading about this whole business over the past few days, one paragraph in a major newspaper -- Melbourne's Herald Sun -- sticks in our mind as the essence of the matter.

Unfortunately we can't now find the clipping from the Herald Sun CarsGuide to quote directly, but the gist of the paragraph to which we refer was that those associated with the AASA proposal want to take rallying back to its grassroots rather than have a championship, for what was said in that article to be for the benefit of the top five entries (manufacturer cars) in heats that were too short and sanitised.

To us that captured the nub of the issue very well.

For years we have observed the ARC revolving around a few manufacturer entries -- and fewer in recent times, since the withdrawal of Subaru and Mitsubishi Ralliart -- and wondered what on earth was in it for any other competitor, other than simple enjoyment (which AASA says it will offer at a fraction of the cost).

Anyone watching the ARC telecasts on TV will have seen pretty much only the manufacturer entries but may not have realised that the reason for that is that the telecasts are paid for by competing manufacturers.

Yes, believe it or not, manufacturers with works entries have contributed substantial amounts of money each for ARC rounds to be filmed and put to air.

Those manufacturers may not have liked having to pay in that way, and have quibbled constantly about the amounts, but that has been the reality of the ARC getting on television -- and why there is almost total concentration on manufacturer entries.

It seems to us that the AASA plan strikes quite a chord with rally participants, but whether it is a "goer" we're not so sure.

If it does get off the ground it has the potential to greatly damage the existing ARC and, as we have already said, Australia seems to have enough trouble sustaining one national rally championship, let alone two.

We understand Wednesday's AASA meeting in Sydney is to be in the boardroom of a "sympathetic sponsor". Another statement is expected soon after the meeting -- and we'll be interested to see what that has to say.

Our impression at Christmas time was that the AASA announcement of a "rebel" series had caught the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) on the hop.

CAMS promised "an appropriate response in due course" but said then that "to suggest the ARC's long and distinguished tradition, which dates back 40 years, can just be appropriated for any group of events does a disservice to the memory of our past champions and devalues their achievements".

It also said: "The broad categories announced by the AASA are already provided for within CAMS' own vehicle eligibility framework."

According to a report by the RallySport e-mag, key agenda items for Wednesday's AASA meeting will be vehicle eligibility requirements and point-scoring arrangements and it says a full calendar of events will be released.

"It is anticipated that the first event will take place in the second quarter of 2008 and that vehicle eligibility, for 2008, will be the same as for cars which normally run in the various state rally championships (including restrictors for turbocharged, 4WD vehicles), plus those which currently run under AMSAG (the NSW-based Australian Motor Sport Action Group) classic regulations," RallySport says.

"The (AASA) event organisers wish to ensure that, at least in the first year of the championship, a competitor can make an easy transition from any other series and still have a competitive vehicle without having to modify it for the AASA ARC.

"The AASA ARC has also ensured that no events are being taken away from any other series or championships currently in place, so anyone committed to another 2008 series need not be affected."

RallySport quotes series spokesman Bruce Robertson saying: "We have had events from the highest levels of Australian rallying keen to be a part of the new AASA ARC, but the group was unanimous that this new ARC is about uniting the sport and not affecting anyone's plans for 2008 -- unless they choose to take part."

We have had a chat to Robertson ourselves about this proposal and don't doubt that the AASA concept is a "rallying point" for many of those disaffected in the sport.

We still have queries, though, about just what it will amount to. The intentions seem to be pure -- to reclaim rallying for the grassroots, to return it to the bush, to inject more fun back into it -- but is it sustainable?

Certainly RallySport e-mag's elder statesman, Jeff Whitten (father of editor Peter), has made his feelings known in a strongly-opinionated editorial.

Calling 2007 a year of turmoil, Whitten writes: "2008 could see the greatest changes in Australian rallying for more than 50 years, with the promise of a better deal for competitors, spectators and sponsors alike.

"Unfortunately the changes will come as a result of the neglect of rallying by CAMS in most of its forms, but particularly of grassroots rallying.

"There is no doubt that CAMS' constant policy of slavish and unquestioned devotion to FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) regulations, making motorsport events more difficult to organise and more reliant on satisfactorily completing a growing pile of paperwork, has alienated a large proportion of their once-loyal subjects.

"All of this played right into the hands of AASA, who had quietly set themselves up as an alternative to the CAMS system.

"Although they were set up with little fanfare several years ago and immediately began offering licences and permits without fuss, CAMS failed to accept that AASA were a force to be reckoned with, adopting the attitude that few people would be fooled by the AASA claim of being a serious alternative to CAMS.

"If CAMS needed convincing that people were deserting the CAMS system, AASA's claim that they issued 800 event permits in 2007 (and more are expected in 2008) must surely have made CAMS sit up and take notice.

"On the day when CAMS staff left for their Christmas break, AASA announced a ground-breaking new ARC concept as a direct alternative to the existing ARC which has existed since the 1960s.

"With support from a number of different and well-respected areas of rallying, it again strips away many of the regulations which have prevented people competing in the past and, more importantly, reduces costs considerably.

"The handling of rallying at grassroots and state level by CAMS has had a disastrous effect on the sport and has brought matters to a head at a time when rallying in the rest of the world is booming.

"It is now time that CAMS eats a bit of humble pie and realises that it no longer has the authority to reject an alternative licencing and permit system, as offered by AASA, that provides a real alternative to the FIA-sanctioned system embraced by CAMS.

"There is a revolt at hand, and CAMS would be well advised to sit up and take notice of where the revolt is heading.

"Rallying has been given the rough end of the stick for far too long -- and it's time that those in charge of the sport realised that the control of rallying is no longer a CAMS given.

"The sport no longer simply accepts CAMS anointing itself as the sole custodian of rallying, and the growing web of commercial arms of CAMS has shown to all that the days of CAMS being simply a voice representing the car clubs is well and truly over.

"With more ground-breaking announcements to be made in the coming months, CAMS should already be setting up their battle stations.

"This is 2008 and the times they are a'changing."

Just what direction(s) Australian rallying heads in is going to take a few months to unfold, but it's going to be a fascinating ride looking on from the passenger seat.

Apart from upsetting SBS Television scheduling in Australia, internationally the cancellation has raised questions about the event's future.

Critics of the decision say the organisers surrendered to an al-Qaeda-linked organisation's threats without terrorists having fired a shot, but we would have to think the gravity of the threats -- on the back of recent atrocities in Mauritania, which was to have hosted about half the marathon event -- was too serious to discount.

The government of Mauritania said the decision "has no connection with the reality in terms of security".

Patrice Clerc, who heads the company that organises the Dakar, said: "Yes, we perhaps bowed to terrorism, but we don't have the right to play games with safety."

Portuguese organisers were furious, estimating the cancellation would cost them 15 million euros in lost revenue.

"Would similar threats have led to the cancellation of the Olympic Games or the (soccer) World Cup?" one asked.

While the Dakar organisers say it does not mean the death of the rally, there is already a lot of speculation about a greatly revised route, not even finishing in Dakar -- the capital of Senegal.

Jean-Louis Schlesser, winner of the Dakar in 1999 and 2000, believes a new route might save the event.

"In the future, I believe that the race cannot go to countries which are too 'hot'," Schlesser said.

The 32-year-old Martin, winner of five WRC events, and Park competed with Subaru in 2000 and 2001.

Martin quit after the fatal crash in Britain in September 2005 and his Peugeot team's decision to withdraw from the championship.

It was Earl Bamber's first major single-seater win and he is the youngest driver to have won the 59-year-old trophy, previously won by the likes of world champions Jim Clark and Sir Jack Brabham.

Bamber is now eyeing the NZ Grand Prix next weekend at Manfeild near Palmerston North on the North Island.

Bamber got the edge yesterday on Ben Harford late in the 25-lap Lady Wigram race, now one of the key events in NZ's Toyota Racing Series.

Bamber had qualified on pole position but Harford got the jump on him at the start of the race -- the third Toyota series race of the day.

Bamber was content to stay behind Harford but remained within striking distance until the 22nd lap, when Harford made a small mistake on the last corner in the circuit -- and Bamber charged by.

He finished 0.02 seconds ahead, with US-based Matt Halliday third and Michael Burdett fourth.

Harford beat Bamber in the first race of the day, while Andy Knight won the second, from Harford and Halliday, with Bamber forced out with bent front suspension.

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