Summary of HRA Committee Meeting held on April 18th 2024. There is a lot happening on the HRA committee at the moment. Here’s a summary of the meeting from April.
Continue reading HRA Committee News – 18 April 2024Advocating for Ongoing Forest Access
The HRA has developed the attached document, Forest Access Discussion Points, as a guide to advocating for the rally community in Victoria against the implementation of the Great Forest National Park.
The so-called “Great Forest National Park” proposal would see around 300,000ha of forest in the Victorian Central Highlands locked up in a National Park. The proposal received a boost just before Christmas with the release of an interim report from the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC).
Continue reading Advocating for Ongoing Forest AccessHRA Committee News – 22 March 2024
A summary of the HRA Committee meeting from March 22nd 2024
Motorsport First Aid
After some lengthy discussion this proposal has grown to be a full day safety training session starting with ‘First on Scene First Aid’ followed by various sessions on using RallySafe correctly for both competitors and officials. We will seek funding from the 2024 Club Development Fund and make this open to members of all car clubs in Victoria.
Continue reading HRA Committee News – 22 March 2024HRA Committee News – 15 February 2024
This is a new initiative from the HRA Committee to ensure that members are kept up to date on issues that affect the club and how the Committee is dealing with them. We will publish a summary of the proceedings of each meeting as soon as possible so members can see what their Committee is working on and where our club is heading.
If members want further information or wish to table items for the Committee to consider in the future please send an email to president@hra.org.au
Continue reading HRA Committee News – 15 February 2024New Vehicle Class for ProRally Standard Car Class
In conjunction with our series Sponsor ProRally Motorsport Fabrications we are pleased to announce a vehicle class will be added to the Standard Car Class for the 2024 Championship.
The new class, Class E, will be for all makes, non-turbo, all wheel drive vehicles, up to and including 2010.
We believe this Class will be a welcome addition to our current Championship.
Continue reading New Vehicle Class for ProRally Standard Car ClassThe new HRA Autocross and Rallysprint Championship begins on Saturday January 20!
The HRA’s latest championship kicks off at the 2024 Boisdale Rallysprint on Saturday January 20th.
This new championship for 2024 will involve a combination of autocross or khanacross events with some rallysprints.
We hope this will encourage members who might not want to run their cars in a full rally, with the risks and expense of those events, to get their cars out and for some fun in a more relaxed environment.
Autocross and rallysprint events typically are a more relaxed and social affair as you wait for your next run and chat with other members. They also tend to be less taxing on the cars and your wallets.
So, if you have any sort of car that should be seen out competing, now is the time to get it ready and get out there again.
Autocross and Rallysprint Championship Rules are now available on the website under HRA Members > Rules and Regulations.
You need to register for the new championship series – you can do that using the 2024 HRA Series Registration form.
The first round of the new championship is the Bosidale Rallsprint on Saturday 20 January. Entries for Boisdale are open – regs and entry form on the 2024 Boisdale Rallysprint page.
See you at Boisdale!
Peter Canals
HRA Competition Secretary
competition@hra.org.au
Related links
Changes for the 2024 HRA Club Championships
There are a couple of changes to the rules for the various 2024 HRA club championship series, specifically the:
- HRA Club Championship
- HRA Touring Championship
- HRA Autocross and Rallysprint Championhip
You need to register…
From the start of the 2024 season, registration will be required.
A 2024 HRA Series Registration form is now available to let you register for the 2024 Club Championship, the 2024 Touring Championship and the newly introduced 2024 Autocross and Rallysprint Championship.
You can register for one or more series on the one form. Please provide the details to make the job of our scorer easier, including the car or cars you’ll use. And, if you’re a master or a novice, please provide these details as well.
Only registered members will score points in a Club Championship series.
Masters are maturing…
As with increasing retirement ages and advancing years, it’s now time to increase the age for qualification for our “Masters” Championship.
The committee have raised the age for masters from 55 to 60 years as at 1 January. You will be requested to confirm if you qualify for masters on the registration form.
You’ll find links to the 2024 HRA Series Registration form on the website.
There is an updated version of the Club Championship Rules on the website. And, there are rules for the new Autocross and Rallysprint Championship. Both are in HRA Members > Rules and Regulations
Don’t delay!
The start of the season is only a few weeks away… the 2024 Boisdale Rallysprint is on Saturday 20 January. This is the first round of both the Pro Rally Standard Car Class and the new Autocross and Rallysprint Championship.
Peter Canals
HRA Competition Secretary
competition@hra.org.au
Related links
December HRA meeting –Thursday 7 December at 7:30 pm
Annual awards * Christmas dinner * Exciting Alpine Rally news * Huge Hamper giveaway
The HRA year finishes with a bang! We’ve arranged a 2 course Christmas meal for $40, we will give away the usual 30 or so hampers and gifts as lucky door prizes, we’ll hand out some of our annual awards as well as the Dandenong Tour trophies and wait for it… Some exciting news on the 2025 Alpine Rally of East Gippsland.
Dinner is available from 6.00 pm at $40 for a 2 course meal. If you have special dietary requirements, please call Rob on 0414 560 688 before Thursday. As usual, drinks are available over the bar.
Christmas give-away: As has been the practice for about 15 years now, each person attending will receive 1 ticket into the draw for our massive hamper and gifts prize giving, at no charge. Just turn up and you are in the draw!
The usual raffle will still be going on, for a chance to win a Series 2 HRA Full size Gnome or it’s pocket sized (yet still made of concrete and paint) companion mini Gnome. Please feel welcome to bring along a suitable prize for the raffle of you can; not everyone wants a Gnome (who said that?). Tickets are 3 for $5.
Our Annual awards for: Most Improved Driver, Most Improved Navigator, The Hilary Garth Official of the Year and the HRA Clubman award will be handed out. It could be you (unless you stayed indoors all year)!
The trophies for the fabulous October Dandenongs tour will be handed over.
Alpine Rally: The results of the Alpine Rally Survey will be released and there is exciting news about the 2025 event to be announced.
Don’t forget we are still at the “new” venue in Oakleigh: The Oakleigh-Carnegie RSL, 95-97 Drummond Street Oakleigh (Melway map 69, ref F7), meeting commencing at 7:30 pm. Christmas meal available from 6:00 pm.
Notes from the Championship Scorer
The 2023 Championship season is drawing to a close. The final round of the Touring Championship has been run and won, and the Rally Championship winds up with this weekend’s Southern Classic VCRS.
Being Club Championship Scorer is a challenge at times. Most published event results do not include the relevant HRA Car Category, they don’t show the crews’ ages or DoB, and there are always new names to me who may or may not be novices or former graded competitors returning to the sport. I do what research I can, I have HRA and Vic grading lists to refer to, but there is still a fair bit of guesswork that then relies on members to pick up and correct me when necessary.
As far as car categories are concerned, Wikipedia is great to tell me when a particular model was introduced—if the results give model info; if not, b-team rally media photos from the event can be compared to Wiki images to identify the model and then intro year. If a vehicle is shown as PRC on the entry list and that model was first made in 1980 or earlier, it is probably a P81 car; however, the event regs may not have a class for historics, so H81 cars get shown in the P81 category. If a pre-1981 car is modified beyond the PRC specs, it can be scored in an R25 category and is usually identified in results as Club or CRC, but not always.
Competitors’ ages are needed to work out who is a Master (over 55); most of the time it needs a bit of guesswork. I use whatever means I can to get a date of birth— Fb used to provide me with these dates, but people are more cautious about publishing their DoB these days. A lot of people I know, who seem young to me, have told me they are Masters, so I need all competitors to let me know when they are over 55.
One thing I have no trouble with is knowing who is an HRA member or not. Our membership secretary, Kate, checks every set of results against the database and lets me know. You won’t score points if your membership is a single day overdue— even if the event organisers failed to notice when you booked in.
So, there you have it. I’ve done my best, but it is up to you, the HRA members, to let me know of any discrepancies or queries.
Nick Wright
HRA Championship Scorer
clubscorer@hra.org.au
13 November 2023
See the 2023 HRA Championship Scores page for the progress scores after Bagshot.
Officials needed for the Southern Classic Rally
Your Committee made a decision to co-promote the forthcoming Southern Classic Rally with the Ford Four Car Club.
This is to be held on November 18 as an all-daylight rally held around Marysville.
As the larger club with more members, it is hoped that we can do the heavy lifting for the supply of officials. We need control officials and road closure officials.
The event consists of 10 competitive stages which equates to 20 sets of officials to run those controls. What is a set? Four would be ideal. That is 80 people and then there are 100 road closure officials required too. This is a big event that with your support will grow!
WE NEED YOU! YOUR SPORT NEEDS YOU!! OUR CLUB NEEDS YOU!!!
Contact Stephen Young, HRA President and the event Official’s Coordinator to book a spot to help the Historic Rally Association and Ford Four Car Club grow classic rallying in Vic Rally.
Ph: 0420 23 23 73 or register your interest at officials@southernclassic.au
More info on Southern Classic Rally website.