The event, which has just been signed off by the Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS), will be run in Victoria's high country over the Australia Day long weekend [January 26-28, 2007]. Â
The Lake Mountain Sprint Tango is made up of timed runs up and down the 10km access road from the ticket office at the base of the mountain to the ski village of Lake Mountain itself. Event headquarters is in the nearby town of Marysville, around 10km from the start, and 90 minutes north-east of Melbourne. Â
The new event will be run by the team behind the Lake Mountain Sprint (run uphill only) which kicked off in May this year, and the extremely popular Mt Buller Sprint which was previously held on the Australia Day weekend and is now being contested over November 4-6 this year. Â
Behind all three events, which will next year be a series, is event director Peter Washington and experienced clerk of course, Wayne Kenny. Â
"Competitor demand is how this came about," says Washington. "Lake Mountain Sprint was created because our competitors wanted another event like Mt Buller. Once they had run Lake Mountain uphill, I was besieged by demands to run it downhill. Â
"We put the idea to CAMS and it has just been signed off by Greg Carr, the national tarmac rally safety assessor. I don't think there is any doubt it will be extremely challenging, but no more so than any downhill tarmac rally stage. Â
"There are no logistical problems to changing the direction, aside from adding two chicanes for the downhill run, so I think our competitors are going to have a ball!" Â
Tasmanian-based driver Jason White, who won the inaugural Lake Mountain Sprint with co-driving uncle, John, in their Lamborghini Gallardo, has welcomed the announcement of the new event with enthusiasm. Â
"This is excellent news! It will be great event. Every time we drove down the Mountain on the liaison stages in May we kept saying how much fun it would be to race in both directions - I'm just wishing we had thought to organise some pace notes for the downhill run when we were there! Â
"We'll definitely be back to defend our title and I hope we'll see a lot more of Australia's top drivers coming along to have a shot because I know they will enjoy it." Â
Competitors entering the event need to have a CAMS National Rally licence, and cars that comply with CAMS requirements. Â
For more information, see the website, www.lakemountainsprint.com or call event director, Peter Washington, on 0418 337 955.Â
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