2024

Some news from the HRA Committee meeting held in October 2024

President’s Report

• The safety and first aid training program has been postponed due to lack of numbers. The sessions will be moved to February 22nd and 23rd.
• The Licence & Equipment proposal has been forwarded to State Council and MA staff for comment and feedback prior to being formally submitted to ARCOM.
• The Rally in the Valley which was to run in April next year has been postponed to 2026 due to a number of issues in securing the roads that we want. Hopefully these issues will be sorted in the next few months.

New Club Website

Work continues on developing the new website. We’ve created a draft version of the new site and this is undergoing review and testing, especially the Member Self-Service functions. Looking very good for this site to go live before Christmas. Watch your email inboxes.

Club Permit Scheme

All club members who have a vehicle on the club Permit Scheme are being asked to participate in an audit to ensure that we have all the correct details of those people and the cars that they have on the scheme.

This will help us in a number of ways, not least of which, will be to kick off the club membership system with information that is as accurate as possible. If you have a club permit car and have not received this survey, please contact Tim Shepherd as soon as possible.

HRA Youth Program

The HRA is working on ways to attract more younger people to the club and our sport. Tim Shepherd, Alan Chambers and Jess Pigot are working on a couple of exciting initiatives around youth and developing a specific youth program.

Update from Competition Secretary – Peter Canals

The Victorian Rally Season Launch and Presentation is confirmed for February 8th at the Manningham Hotel in Bulleen. Bigger room than last time. Tickets will be $60/head including food and a drink on arrival. Possibility of a couple of the winning cars being on display. More news as it comes to hand.

Owen Polanski
President, HRA

President’s Report

• Alex Kovacevic and Joel Wald managed to get 20 minute meeting with the Victorian Minister for the Environment, Steve Dimopoulos regarding the Great Forest National Park proposal. They got a good hearing and a positive response from the Minister.

• The safety and first aid training program is progressing. We have received some funding from MA towards the cost of the workshop. We have a venue booked for November 16 and 17 and need to start promoting it.

• The Licence & Equipment proposal has been drafted and committee comments have been incorporated. We have written support from 11 clubs across Australia so far. This proposal seeks to have Motorsport Australia re-introduce a Club Level Rally Licence and, in conjunction with that licence level, to re-introduce/maintain the 5 year extension on expiry dates for harnesses and helmets. I expect this proposal to be formally submitted to MA staff and ARCOM early in October.

New Membership Management System and website

Work continues on implementing a new Membership Management System and website. We have created a draft version of the new site and we’re currently review and updating content, as well as testing the membership and member-self-service transactions. This coming along nicely and we anticipate rollout of the first elements of this new system later this year.

Update from Competition Secretary – Peter Canals

• Calendar for 2025 should be finalised at next VRAP meeting
• 6 round VRC confirmed Mitta, Akademos, (4 joint with VCRS)
• 6 round VRCS confirmed – Mitta, Rally in the Valley, Ada, Nissan, Valley Stages and Bog a Duck.
• Dates are not yet final as people have asked for similar.
• Looks like a busy year finishing with Alpine.
• HRA is leading the VCRS

Promotion

There was two great promotional events organised by Rob Cranston over the last couple of months.

The first and by far the biggest was Maling Road Autoclassico. HRA had 10 quality cars and was only just pipped for best display by a whisker. Organisers estimated an attendance number of 20,000 people which is how it felt on the day.

The other event was Coffee with the Cars at Assetini Café. A smaller affair but still one that created some interest from the public.

Review of the HRA Rules/Constitution

Kerril has made some significant progress with the review and update project of the HRA Rules of Association.

We expect a draft of the new document to be available in the near future for all members to inspect. Keep an eye out for a notice of Special Resolution outlining changes soon. This will require a Special General Meeting of members to vote on the changes.

Owen Polanski
President HRA

Presidents Report

Owen reported that he managed to get a meeting with his local member of parliament who expressed strong support for the position of car clubs not losing access to current state forest areas. It was also suggested that any legislation regarding National parks would not be forthcoming in this term of government.

An update to this since the committee meeting is that we have now secured a meeting with the Minister for the Environment to put our case for retaining rallying in all the current state forest areas. Stay tuned for a report from that meeting over the coming weeks.

Other Items of Business Discussed.

• The committee approved the release of a new Information Privacy Policy and Procedures document. This document will be published on the club website in the very near future.

• Vice President Tim Shepherd reported on the final motorsport meeting at the Ballarat Light Car Club autocross venue which is about to be re-developed into an industrial estate. There was a large turnout of both competitors and spectators with a healthy contingent of HRA members on hand to farewell what has been a long-term and fondly remembered facility.

• Progress on the new membership management system is now ‘full steam ahead’. Steve Hollowood is well advanced on the new website component and will start work on trialling the membership module within the next few weeks in conjunction with membership secretary Kate Officer.

• 2025 event calendar. The VRAP opened applications for events for inclusion in the 2025 calendar. Unfortunately, the online form they used malfunctioned so there is a bit of work to ensure they captured all the applications that were actually submitted.
  
  If anyone is planning on running an event next year and has not yet let Matt DeVaus know about it, please do that ASAP.

• The committee is currently working on a proposal to MA regarding the current rally licence structure and dates for equipment and apparel. This is a response to recent concerns raised by a number of HRA members about the spiralling costs and difficulty in compliance which is forcing some members to review their ability and willingness to continue as competitors.
  
  The committee completed a draft proposal which it will continue to develop with the support of HRA members Dave McAdam and Gerry Bashford. This will then be distributed to other rally clubs in an effort to raise further support for the proposal before submitting it to MA later this year.

Owen Polanski
President

Updates from the HRA Committee’s July meeting.