The event organisers of Australia’s round of the World Rally Championship, Coates Hire Rally Australia, have been working hard over the past eleven months to heighten the appeal of the event for spectators, officials and competitors.
The ARC media team caught up with Clerk of Course Adrian Stafford for a run down on the notable additions for 2015.
Q: Adrian we knew you and your organizing team sit down after each staging of Rally Australia and look to find even better ways to run the event for the following year, so what have you got in store for 2015?
A: That’s right, we’re always trying to make it easier for spectators and enticing for competitors to visit Coffs Harbour each year for Rally Australia. This year we’ve add three fantastic new Special Stages using shire roads similar to the now famous Nambucca stage. They all feature flowing corners through mostly open green pastureland offering drivers the ultimate challenge and spectators the ultimate viewing.
Q: And you’ve even tweaked the Nambucca stage, which was already a challenging road.
A: We’ve increased the Nambucca stage slightly in length, so it retains the same endurance challenge that led many drivers to rate is as one of the best stages in the world. We’re excited to see what drivers think of it after this year’s running.
Q: What other changes are there to the route this year?
A: We’ve retained the very popular Newry forest stage, now with an extra six kilometres, making it a 30km test of traditional forest rallying. Overall the itinerary remains very efficient – WRC/ARC have 311km competitive kilometres over 17 Stages; 4WD National 273 kilometres over 15 stages and both the Classics and SxS cover 223km kilometres over 14 stages.
All entrants will receive a copy of the Jemba Video system weeks before the event to allow preparation for recce and general awareness of the new sections
Q: The big news is the addition of a forest night stage.
A: We really see this as the return of a traditional rally “night stage”. The Valla Special Stage will be run in darkness on Saturday evening for the WRC and ARC competitors, offering fans a chance to see rally cars under driving lights and for drivers to experience WRC conditions in the dark for the first time in Australia.
Q: The beauty of a WRC event is that any driver can enter and compete on the same roads as the World Championship regulars, what have you managed to offer this year for Australian competitors?
A: Under new FIA regulations many more Australian competitors will be eligible to compete in the WRC section of the event, and able to compare themselves to the World Champions.
Q: What about spectators, what have you been able to offer them this year that they haven’t experienced previously?
A: Spectating is one of the best aspects of our sport so we’ve enhanced the spectator points in Special Stages to replace the Super Special stage in town and we’ve vastly increased the marketing to encourage spectators to see traditional rally action. No Super Special Stage at the end of each Leg also means more free time for crews and teams in the evenings to interact with spectators in the service park.
I mentioned the marketing of the event and this year we’ve increased the overall event marketing significantly including TV commercials already running, to encourage not just more fans but also improve the value to competitor’s own sponsors.
And for spectators in general a much simplified ticketing system and the opportunity for fans to meet the drivers each evening at the Service Park and also in the pre-event Rally Breakfast on the Monday before the rally.
Q: Speaking of the service park I believe you’ve made some alterations this year for ARC competitors?
A: That’s right, for the ARC competitors we have a completely new Service Park location on a hard surface and within the flow of spectators visiting the WRC area.
We’re excited to welcome everyone to Coffs, it’s a terrific place to visit and we can’t wait to show the world our great event.
Entries for the WRC close on 14th August with ARC entries closing on 20th August.
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