Brisbane’s Courier Mail newspaper today reported that the 2007 Coates Rally Queensland will be based in a new home at the Surfair Resort on the Sunshine Coast.
Following the now temporary relocation of the 2006 event to the nearby Twin Waters Resort, it appears that a new five-year deal has been signed with Surfair Resort near the Sunshine Coast airport at Coolum.
With the new date on the ARC calendar of March 31 – April 1, this means a whole new outlook for one of the traditional favourites of the ARC circus.
The new location is even closer to the forests of Imbil, with the event start to move to Coolum Beach, with the formal finish of the event at Imbil Rally HQ.
The Nambour Showgrounds has seen the development of a new Super Special Stage, and Brisbane driver Simon Knowles tested the circuit just before Christmas.
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A request is out for volunteers at the moment, with the likelihood that much of the workforce could find a home amongst the army of officials required for the new WRC round in 2008, to be based on the Gold Coast.
For those who have been around the sport in south east Queensland for long enough, memories will come flooding back of one of the ARC events of the mid-eighties when the rally was also based at the old Surfair Resort.
In those days, the Surfair Resort was a stand-alone building on the Marcoola Coast stretch, with barely another house in sight – let alone a string of 4 star accommodation options nearby.
The Queensland round of the NEC Australian Rally Championships is gathering much interest as the likely debut event for the new Toyota and Ford S2000 cars in the hands of either Neal Bates or Simon Evans (Toyota), and Michael Guest and Darren Windus in the promising Ford Fiesta.
