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Back to September 2011 Motorsports News Archive
| 01-09-2011 at 08:00: 2012 ARC Kicks Off with Stadium Rally | |
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The 2012 Bosch ARC is being hailed as the world’s most market relevant motor sport discipline thanks to a new two wheel drive and SUV format that targets up to 75 percent of the Australian passenger car market. Rally Calder will be the first time an Australian Rally Championship round has been staged in a single venue arena where spectators will be able to see all the action without having to venture more than a kilometre from the car park and at a venue that is just 24 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. Australian Rally Championship competitors will face more than 100 kilometres of stages over the three day rally with a mix of gravel, tarmac and several mixed surface stages over a variety of conditions. Rally Calder will also usher in the new era of Australian rallying with the Group G2 unrestricted two wheel drive cars and the innovative SUV category making their debuts at the event creating the most market relevant form of motor sport in the world. According to the CEO of the Bosch ARC, Scott Pedder Rally Calder forms the cornerstone for the future of rallying in Australia and will be a showcase for the sport. “The 2012 Rally Calder is the most important event in the 44 year history of the Australian Rally Championship, an event designed to bring rallying to the people and usher in the most successful period of the ARC,” said Scott Pedder. “Rally Calder will enable people to get up close and personal with the sport of rallying with outstanding facilities, amazing entertainment and plenty of motor sport and non-motor sport action,” he said. “Rallying traditionally has been a sport that thrived on variety throwing ever changing conditions, using different surfaces, with events ranging from short sprints to long distance marathons,” he added. “In recent years the variety has gone out of the sport and it has become very homogenised and tightly formatted. “However we believe there needs to be a range of rallies in the Bosch ARC from arena rallying such as Calder Park to three-day endurance events with perhaps a tarmac rally, a rally in the snow, or a desert based event along with the traditional forestry based rallies,” said Pedder. “As rally gymkhana video star Ken Block has shown there is huge interest in what I would call ‘urban’ rallying using a totally new rally environment combining a range of elements from concrete walls to junkyards, tarmac aprons, through tunnels and around car parks and that is what Rally Calder will provide,” he said. “The fact that Ken Block is staging his Gymkhana video at Calder next week in early September is a huge boost for Rally Calder and will help highlight the excitement and action fans will be able to see next March when Rally Calder is staged,” he added. Rally Calder will comprise seven separate stages used multiple times including five mixed surface stages, one exclusively tarmac stage and a full gravel stage. As round one of the 2012 Bosch ARC Rally Calder will see separate categories for the new 2WD outright group, the new SUV Championship, the established four wheel drive turbo cars and of course the crowd pleasing Classic Rally Cars. The format of this new and exciting event includes a rally first, a semi-final and final Sunday shootout to determine the winner within each category. As well as being the opening round of the Australian Rally Championship the 2012 Rally Calder will feature various additional competition events and demonstrations including round 1 of the Australian Modern and Classic Tarmac Rally Championship, off-road rally demonstration, a Rallyschool.com.au Legends shootout and Celebrity shootout. In an exciting innovation Rally Calder will also see round one of the proposed Australian Side by Side Rally Challenge to be contested by all terrain vehicle manufacturers Polaris and Can-Am. Rallyschool.com.au will also support a Hot laps program for spectators while there will also be, a Show ‘n Shine, a Kids Zone with various rides and activities and live internet and telemetry superscreens. Another major proposed part of the event will see Australia’s best road cars in action over the weekend via a number of different motor sport disciplines. The Rally Calder Internet Car Club Forum challenge will pit make against make and mate against mate to determine Australia’s number one car club. Spectators will be kept informed via a narrowcast rally radio station with expert commentators transmitting the latest information across the Calder Park precinct and also across the internet. “There will be something for everyone and I am sure this is going to mark the turning point for Australian Rallying. My vision for Rally Calder is for it to be a annual pilgrimage and destination for the Australian motoring enthusiast,” said Scott Pedder. Tickets for Rally Calder are expected to start from as little as $15 with multi day passes, grandstand tickets, extensive corporate hospitality and experiences and the Intercom Club offering a range of benefits including corporate hospitality, grandstand seats, a hot lap, behind the scenes tours and merchandise. Tickets will be available through FoxTix and are scheduled to go on sale to the public in early December.
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The Bosch Australian Rally Championship will burst into the 2012 season with an all new and extremely innovative rally event to be staged entirely within the Calder Park motor sport precinct in the north western suburbs of Melbourne.^ Back to top ^
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