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Oct 31

2023/24 WTRS: The Redhead Brothers Triumph in the Mitsubishi Evo V

By News, Tarmac Rallysprint, Wheelspin

Photo: Dave Oliver Photography

The Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint Series, one of the most anticipated motorsport events of the year, opened its 2023 season in spectacular fashion on the evening of October 12th. With a strong 60 car field, the scene was set for a display of skill and speed at the Sydney International Dragway at Eastern Creek, NSW.

The 2023 season’s first round was a night to remember, filled with unexpected twists and heart-pounding action. As the night unfolded, it was the Redhead brothers, Josh and Matt, who emerged as the stars of the event, piloting their Mitsubishi Evo V to a stunning victory.

In a gripping display of precision driving and determination, the Redhead brothers overcame fierce competition to claim the top spot on the podium. Their performance solidifying their status as dominant forces in the Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint.

Securing second place was the dynamic duo of Tim Weston and Jake Hancock, who showcased their driving prowess in a Mitsubishi Evo X and they emerged as formidable contenders for the season ahead.

Rounding out the podium was the team of David Calabria and John Calabria, who steered their Mitsubishi Evo 7 to a well-deserved third-place finish. Their skill and determination under the challenging conditions added to the excitement of the evening.

The Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint also provided a surprise element to the competition. Halfway through the night, a sudden and unexpected freak storm descended upon the raceway, unleashing a deluge of rain and wild winds. This unpredictable weather added an extra layer of challenge and excitement, testing the mettle of the drivers and their machines.

Event Clerk of the Course, Brett Middleton, expressed his admiration for the participating competitors and their ability to adapt to the ever-changing conditions. Brett also praised the North Shore Sporting Car Club volunteer team who braved the wild weather to keep the event running. “I am proud to be a part of the North Shore Sporting Car Club organising team and I thank the volunteers who always go above and beyond to make these events happen,” Brett said, “This is my last Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint event as the Clerk of the Course and I am excited to pass on my skill and knowledge onto the younger generation, particularly Rhiana Froome who will be the new Clerk of the Course from Round 2 and beyond.”

As the first round of the Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint concluded, the stage is now set for a season filled with high-speed thrills and intense competition. Racing enthusiasts eagerly await the next round, set to take place on the 16th November, 2023 where more daring drivers and incredible performances are expected.

Entries are open for all the remaining events of the 2023/24 season:

  • Round 2Thursday 16th November 2023
  • Round 3Thursday 14th December 2023
  • Round 4Thursday 8th February 2024
  • Round 5Thursday 7th March 2024

To Enter the events and for all event information, please visit
https://nsscc.com.au/twilight-rallysprint/

Follow us on the NSSCC Social Media pages:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthShoreSportingCarClub

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsscc_au/

 

-END-

 

For more information, please contact:

Brett Middleton on 0408 261 043 or email president@nsscc.com.au

John McCredie on 0413 042 763 or email john.mccredie@ohmgroup.com.au

 

Sep 28

The Dilemma of a Driver Trainer

By Wheelspin

If you are a mechanic, everyone asks that questions, “my car does this thing when it’s cold, what do you think it is?” Or if you are an Accountant, you get the question, “hey, how can I reduce my tax bill?”

As a driver trainer, I often get the question, can my learner driver do your defensive driving program? I am grateful they think of us for starters, but I also know that a defensive program for a learner driver is just too advanced for where they are at. This question comes from a good place, just like anyone talking to a professional, people want the right advice.

As you can appreciate, I find it difficult to switch off, as is my nature I am always thinking of how to improve, how to extend and how to make a bigger difference.

I can be sitting at the traffic lights watching drivers turning in front of me and all I can do is see driving faults. Everyone different and everyone completely avoidable, these observations repeat over and over again to the point where we can see some common patterns.

This leads me to wonder why are there so many drivers making so many mistakes?

It might be their hand position on the wheel, or their visions (we look for this during training), distractions, poor practice, laziness, or simply rushing for no valid purpose.

This past month we have been delivering intensive heavy vehicle driver training to 350 heavy vehicle drivers for a company that is willing to invest in their employees. Chain of Responsibility COR is particularly onerous on anyone who influences the operation of heavy vehicles. Hence their need for an intensive training program.

As part of this program, we have been systematically coaching every driver, from theory to practical on-road training. Early starts, combined with different types of heavy vehicle has allowed us to observe many different driving habits. While most drivers demonstrate a good level of competency that is acceptable, we are still able to impart new ideas, techniques, and strategies to improve driver safety.

One of the main issues we see are outdated steering techniques that simply have gone by the wayside due to modern vehicle technology (airbags and power steering) and a better understanding of driver ergonomics.

But this isn’t the limit of common driving mistakes, back to our traffic watching and we see everything from children in the front passenger’s seat (airbags), to tailgating and everything in between. It seems that roadwork speed limits are just thrown out the window and stopping on the amber light is almost out of fashion.

The problem is how do we improve our drivers? How do we maintain our standards when there are so many problems to fix?

As a driver trainer I know the solutions, but how do we reach everyone? The fact of the matter is our roads are getting busier, drivers are frustrated and largely untrained. This leads to some of the problems we have outlined here.

The 350 drivers we are currently working with are all showing huge signs of improvement with nearly all of them embracing the changes. It’s almost like they are hungry for the information. Perhaps we are filling the void that has been present for so long and like cold air into a warm room that information is all consuming. At least the feedback from these drivers is reflective of an appreciation for the information they have learned.

Training works best when drivers are motivated to learn, and our fear is that the majority of the driving public feel they don’t need to change. We call it being unconsciously incompetent (sounds harsh, doesn’t it?), but the facts remain, we don’t know what we don’t know. How can you possibly know something like your hand being in the wrong position on the steering wheel can cause you terrible facial trauma from the airbag unless you are informed of such things?

Just like a mechanic that laughs at a driver who is unable to change a flat tyre, we tend to shake our heads at drivers that hit potholes, they are completely avoidable and if we are doing everything right should never pose a problem. Driving is risky, it is complicated and there lies the issue.

Authorities have tried to reduce the risks through road improvements and vehicle safety features, but human nature is to always find the path of least resistance, meaning we take shortcuts.

So, while most of you can enjoy your dive to the Hunter Valley or to your favourite holiday destination, spare a thought for us trainers that can never not see the obvious faults in the driving public. In one sense if everyone was perfect, we would be out of a job, but our observations only inspire us to do better and be better at what we do.

Stay safe and take care.

Stewart Nicholls
Managing Director – Steer Safely
www.steersafely.com.au

Jul 01

The Current State of Driving is a Concern

By News, Wheelspin

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that as a professional driver and driver training subject matter expert, that my observations of current driving standards are very concerning. It really is hard to switch off when I must drive on public roads, and I know there is a standard or practice everyone should keep.

Now I am not forthright in this regard, and I do know that mistakes are made, after all we are only human. But it’s the type of mistakes we are seeing that is really starting to concern me. My fear is we are relying too much on technology in vehicles and then luck to keep us safe when we are navigating our way to the shops, or to the sporting events or to visit loved ones.

I recently installed a Dashcam on my Triton Ute, that was a mission, as it has a canopy on the back, and I wanted to have both front and rear vision captured. Luckily, I found a great solution and made a YouTube video about the project as I thought it would be useful to others in the same situation.

When I installed the camera, my primary reason was to capture any incidents that may occur so I could defend myself if anything were to take place. Now I am not expecting to have a crash and you probably aren’t either, but simply if you haven’t got a Dashcam recording your journey, then you are leaving yourself vulnerable to all sorts of potential insurance scams and false accusations. Yes, this does occur!

However, I started to witness some truly awful driving behaviours that my camera was capturing also, and it was very simple to cut these clips (takes less than 5 mins) and upload them as a story on our Instagram page ‘Steer Safely’. The first one was a driver tailgating a truck and trying desperately to overtake, ducking and weaving all over the place, total impatience, it received 600,000 views and comments both for and against this driver. The next was a van that while in bumper-to-bumper traffic, overtook a vehicle and then pushed back in front gaining exactly 1 place in the line. This received 1.1m views with some people making all kinds of excuses for his actions. The fact that people supported these drivers is what is concerning, because it’s a standard they are willing to overlook.

But wait it gets worse, I captured another driver crossing double lines, driving on the wrong side of the road for over 100m to turn right at an intersection, then another person instead of turning at a left turn only lane, went straight ahead and caused a learner driver to take evasive action to miss them. It seems two vehicles into one lane simply won’t fit without someone making an adjustment, especially when you don’t expect that, it just so happened that someone was a learner.

This is just a small sample of what was worthy of an upload, all with the intent of teaching what bad behaviours are being portrayed in this footage. I haven’t bothered with the countless redlight runners, the lack of people using an indicator, the tailgaters or the drivers weaving all over the road while being distracted.

Road tragedy isn’t going away, we saw the horrific bus crash in the Hunter region recently and steady reports of fatalities coming in showcasing the reality that driving is actually still dangerous. We are sharing the roads with these people and the standards we overlook are the standards we accept, and why shouldn’t we expect a higher standard?

I have been involved in motoring for over 38 years now, starting when my brothers raced Speedway when I was just 12, and me doing my first Super Sprint at 15. My parents who are both Motorsport Australia Stewards were attending Bathurst in the 1960’s, while they never raced, motoring was a big part of our family. In all this time, I have never seen the driving standards slip so low as to what we are seeing right now.

I’m sure you are seeing it too, we have all had our own experiences with this and the one message I want to get across is, never trust another driver, always expect they will do the exact opposite of what you are thinking and therefore take that into consideration when practicing your safe driving.

Feel free to email me your thoughts on this, it shapes our training programs and I do love hearing from you on this subject, it’s time we all raised the driving standards and never accept that this is the way it is now.

Steer Safely out there.
Stewart Nicholls
Managing Director
STC Education
0414923471
Stew@stceducation.com.au

Jul 14

Entries Open for Lazer Rally of the Bay

By News, Rally of the Bay 2022, Spectators, Wheelspin
North Shore Sporting Car Club (NSSCC) has today opened entries for this year’s Lazer Rally of the Bay. The event is on 13th of August Crews will be able to commence unlimited reconnaissance immediately once their entry has been received.
NSSCC closely reviewed the event costs and this has resulted in an increase in the entry fee. For competitors who kept their entry with NSSCC from last years cancelled event, the increased fee will not apply, and the club will absorb the difference.
“We didn’t want to raise the entry fee”, said Brett Middleton, NSSCC President. “However, the cost of running the event has increased yet again, with many of our suppliers also increasing their fees. Rallysafe, Radio Network, Council road use Fees, Service Park Hire, Forestry Fees, the Medical Intervention Vehicles, and a bunch of other costs, are just some that affected us. Over 70% of our costs are fixed and non-negotiable.”
“We believe the event is still great value, but for the future sustainability of the sport, we as a club and the sport as a whole need to be realistic about event costs and make sure that it generates enough income to cover expenses and to guarantee the long-term viability of the rally”, he added.
 “Some clubs use sponsorship to reduce entry fees, but our club has a policy of only spending sponsors money on promoting their brand through promotion of the event and its rally teams .”
“Our organising committee is based predominantly in Sydney, therefore the costs of setting up and running the rally needs to be taken into consideration with things such as fuel and accommodation costs. Our team already donate hundreds of hours of time, the club can at least cover their costs. Our sports organisers are predominately an ageing crew, we need to encourage younger volunteers, we need to plan for the future sustainability of the sport,” Middleton concluded.
Event Manager, Nigel Bland, has put together a handy visual cost breakdown to help teams understand how their entry fee is distributed.
  • Fees includes all Bank, Credit Card Merchant, PayPal, NSW Rally Panel, Motorsport Australia Permit, Service Park Hire, Council Road Usage Fees, Forestry Permit and Forestry Per Car fees.
  • Operations includes Rubbish Bin Hire, Portable Toilets, Door Stickers, Rally HQ Hire, Printing Costs, RallySafe, RallySafe Support, Stationary and Postage.
  • Infrastructure includes Radio Communications, Rally HQ Equipment and Setup, Medical Intervention Vehicles and Staff, Barriers, Bunting, Signage and signage equipment.
  • Mandatory Advertising includes forest signage, newspaper advertisements and associated communications to local residents.
  • Setup and Accommodation includes the costs associated with the rally setup and pack up including accommodation, fuel, meals and other essential travel costs for senior officials who invest 50 hrs or more in volunteer time.
Nov 26

Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint Partners Announced

By Tarmac Rallysprint, Wheelspin

The immensely popular Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint Series held over summer at the Sydney Dragway announces a new line up of Event Partners as the Rallysprint gets set to kick off on December 16.

On announcing the partner line up, Event Director and NSSCC President, Brett Middleton, said he was ecstatic that such a diverse range of business are getting behind the event.

“It’s really great to have these partners committing to our series”, Middleton said. “A lot of hard work goes into making the event happen and it is largely run by volunteers who commit their own time to making the event a success. We have a great line up of partners for this season of the Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint, with our five Major Partners all re-committing for 2021/22”.

Whiteline continues as the Naming Rights Partner, with GFB, Shannons Insurance, Premier Pools and Disc Brakes Australia all again signing up as Major Partners.

Other Series Partners include Prospeed Racing, Haltech, Hyundai N Performance, Lazer Lights, TME Motorsport, SRT Design and Construction, DashSport, Evolution Racing Spares, BG of Australia, AGI Roll Cages and Motorsport Race Gear.

You can meet the Partners at any one of the four rounds. The dates for the series are:

Round 1 – 16th of December, 2021
Round 2 – 6th of January, 2022
Round 3 – 10th February, 2022
Round 4 – 10th March 2022

Nov 02

Lazer lights the way for Rally of the Bay

By Rally of the Bay 2021, Rally of the Bay 2022, Wheelspin

Andrew Penny and Rhys Llewellyn at the 2020 event. Photo: Roy Meuronen

The 2022 Rally of the Bay received a huge boost this week with the announcement that Lazer High Performance Lighting will be the events naming rights partner.

Announcing the new multi-year deal, Club President, Brett Middleton is thrilled with the new partnership and is expecting a big field for the event, now scheduled for a slightly later date of August 13. The event will be known as the ‘Lazer Rally of the Bay’.

“It’s great news”, said Middleton. “We’ve been busy planning for the 2022 event in the background and the new deal with Lazer Lamps is the perfect partnership. Lazer Lamps produce the best lighting solutions in the world for rally cars and also for production cars, so to have them as our naming rights partner is just fantastic.”

Kirk Marks is Lazer High Performance Lighting’s Regional Manager, and he was also extremely delighted with the new partnership.

“We are excited to be able to partner with the Rally of the Bay and to contribute to the ongoing success of the event run by the North Shore Sporting Car Club in Batemans Bay for over 20 years. Lazer Lamps have a competition pedigree starting over a decade ago, providing high performance lighting solutions for World Rally Championship Teams and now providing the same support for rally competitors in Australia”, Marks Said.

“We know the event is a competitor favourite and I can’t wait to be part of the action in August next year”, Marks Concluded.

Event Manager, Nigel Bland is preparing for a big field on the 13th of August 2022 and expects the event to attract teams from all over Australia.

“We are really looking forward to the 13th of August next year”, said Bland. “We have already started the planning process and are busy looking into ways to make the event even better than previous years.”

“Once again, we’ll be a Round of the NSW Rally Championship, but we expect that several teams in the Australian Rally Championship will want to include the Lazer Rally of the Bay in their schedules. We know this event is extremely popular and we expect there’ll be crews from interstate heading to Batemans Bay to experience the rally and everything the Eurobodalla Shire has to offer”, Bland continued.

The Lazer Rally of the Bay will be based out of Batemans Bay in the Eurobodalla Shire and will run on the 13th of August 2022. The event will be a round of the NSW Rally Championship, NSW Clubman Series, East Coast Classic Rally Series (2WD and 4WD) as well as a round of the Hyundai Rally Series.

Oct 25

Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint Season Changes

By Rallysprint, Tarmac Rallysprint, Wheelspin

The immensely popular Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint Series held over summer at Sydney Dragway has been forced to change the dates for the 2021/22 season. Construction delays at the Dragway and Speedway complex has led the organising committee to remove the November round and add a round on January 6th.

The Event Director and NSSCC President, Brett Middleton, said he didn’t want to shorten the series because he knows competitors are itching to get behind the wheel and compete.

“What a year it’s been”, Middleton said. “With everything that’s occurred with lockdowns, and very little motorsport happening, we knew the Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint was going to be popular. We have over 100 entries already for round one, and more are still coming in.”

“We didn’t want to change the dates, but we also didn’t want to shorten the course like we had to last season. So by removing November and adding the 6th of January, it means we still have four rounds and we can use the new longer course we planned.”

“The major construction works at the Dragway Complex are running behind schedule and the bitumen surfacing in the new car park area may not be ready, so it made sense to re-arrange the dates and give competitors the opportunity to compete on a longer course.”, Middleton concluded.

The new dates for the series are:

  • Round 1 – 16th of December, 2021
  • Round 2 – 6th of January, 2022
  • Round 3 – 10th February, 2022
  • Round 4 – 10th March 2022
Sep 01

NSSCC e-Series – Results after Round 4

By Rally, Results, Wheelspin

The NSSCC Dirt Rally 2 e-Series is now up to Round 5.  The current Pointscore plus stage results for Rally Finland is below.

The leaderboard sees D_OPIE on top, Phil Morley in second and Oscar Middleton in third outright

Round 5 is Rally Australia – R5 Class Cars  from the 10th of September to 24th of September

To enter, purchase the leading rally game Dirt 2.0 on your PC, Mac, Xbox or PlayStation platform.  Once you have purchased and installed Dirt Rally 2.0 on your preferred platform, click here and create a Codemasters account. After you have logged in, you will be able to request access to the NSSCC e-Sports competitions.

Send your racenet username, real name, and NSSCC club ID number to eseries@nsscc.com.au

We will then grant you access to the Club page after which you will be able to join in the competition via the game portal. We will grant access every Monday

POINTSCORE
Aug 31

Motorsport Australia State Council and Panel Nominations Called

By News, Wheelspin

Have you ever wanted to be on one of Motorsport Australia’s decision making councils or panels? Are you a Motorsport Australia Member? Then here is your opportunity to contribute to the direction of Motorsport in NSW.

Motorsport Australia is seeking nominations for 2022-2024 NSW & ACT State Council Executive Office Bearers as well as 2022-2024 NSW & ACT Panel Nominations. The Panel Nominations can be for any of the panels including:

  • Autocross Panel
  • Hill Climb Panel
  • Motor Race Panel
  • Off Road Panel
  • Officials Panel
  • Rally Panel (We currently have several NSSCC members on this panel)
  • Scrutiny Panel
  • Stewards Panel
  • Supersprint Panel

If you want to nominate, you’ll need to download the nomination form and fill in the details. You’ll also need another member to be a seconder and sign the form. Should there be difficulty in obtaining a signature from a seconder, an email endorsement from the seconder containing their name, and member number will be sufficient.

  • Nominations for State Council Executive Office Bearers must be returned by Tuesday 14 September 2021
  • Panel nominations must be returned by Monday 1 November 2021

Please attach the email with your nomination form when submitting. All nominations forms must be returned via email to nsw@motorsport.org.au and you can download the forms using the buttons below.

Aug 17

AMH Rally of the Bay Cancelled

By Events, Rally, Rally of the Bay 2021, Wheelspin
Photo: Tim and Peter Joass at the 2020 running of the AMH Rally of the Bay – Photo by Bruce Moxon

Organisers of the 2021 AMH Automotive Group Rally of the Bay have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 event due to COVID restrictions and lack of a suitable date to reschedule the popular Eurobodalla based event.

The event was due to run on July the 17th and was rescheduled to the 28th of August when NSW Government ‘Stay at Home’ orders were announced. With the likelihood of further restrictions and an extension of the orders, the event was again postponed with the hope that November 13th could be a new lucky date to run the Rally.

Event Manager Nigel Bland said that several innovative ideas were considered before making the difficult decision to cancel the event.

“We really wanted the event to happen”, Bland said. “We originally wanted to re-schedule the event into November, but with such a tight calendar in place already, and with other events also looking to reschedule, it became quite difficult to really plan on a November rally.” he added

“We also asked our customers and commercial partners for their feedback, and it was a mixed bag of responses. Some teams said they’d support a November date, whilst others thought it was too difficult to contemplate maybe three or four events in a six-week period”, Bland continued.

“So, we started to think outside the box and came up with a plan. We asked the NSW Rally panel if they would consider extending the NSW Rally Championship into 2022, with the AMH Rally of the Bay running around the end of February or beginning of March. We knew it was something a bit different, and the NSW Rally Panel were supportive of the idea. Unfortunately, the NSW Regulatory Body who needed to approve the plan didn’t agree it was the right approach, so we were left back at square one”, Bland continued.

“So that has really left us with no choice, and like many other events this year, we have no other option than to cancel the 2021 event,” Bland concluded.

Brett Middleton is the North Shore Sporting Car Club President and also the rally’s Commercial and Partners Manager. He was dissapointed that the event has not been able to proceed, but was very positive about the events future and also praised the organising team.

“The team have worked extremely hard”, Middleton said. “We’ve been planning and re-planning this event since January and to have to cancel the event is tough on everyone, very few people know the volunteer effort required to run an event like this. But we’ll start planning for the 2022 event straight away and we even have a few new ideas to make the event even better.”

“I really feel for the Community of Batemans Bay and the Eurobodalla region”, Middleton continued. “They’re doing it tough down there and they were looking forward to our event giving the local economy a real boost. We have some great partners, including the Eurobodalla Shire, Batemans Bay Marina Resort and the Village Centre and Bridge Plaza Shopping centre, but despite the event not proceeding, they know we’ve done our best at promoting the event, the shire and our partners”, Middleton continued.

“The team have applied to the NSW Rally Panel for a July 30th date for 2022 and we hope that this gets the go ahead. The team has a great event leader in Nigel Bland and a media team lead by John Mccredie and despite the cancellation, next year looks to be an even better event”, Middleton concluded.

The 2021 AMH Automotive Group Rally of the Bay was a round of the NSW Rally Championship, East Coast Classic Rally Series, Hyundai Rally Series, Clubman Rally Series, ACT Regional Rally Series and a promotional round of the Australian Rally Championship.

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