RallySport Magazine August 2016

INTERVIEW: COL TRINDER
Aussie Chris Atkinson made it all
the way to the WRC, but it’s not an
easy path to follow.
visibility for our sport in the community.
We achieve this by creating the
environment where it is possible
to host major events such as Rally
Australia, IROQ (Rally of Queensland)
and the ARC.
ARCom also puts in place rules and
regulations that it thinks might make it
easier to encourage newcomers to the
sport through the efforts of others at
state and local club levels.
Simplified rules around entry level
events like rallysprints, entry level
vehicle eligibility, safety approaches
commensurate with the degree of risk
are all things that ARCom continues to
work at.
Not everyone thinks the mix or
balance is always correct, but we are
always happy to receive well-argued
cases to make change. Our over-riding
responsibility though is to ensure
that change does not just suit one
person or group, or move the risk
from the competitor to an organiser or
volunteer.
What is ARCom doing to retain
competitors?
We do what we can to try to keep
costs down, for instance, by allowing
additional freedoms in some areas
of vehicle eligibility. For example, we
introduced some very basic rules to
recognise eligibility for our Club Rally
Car category.
We have also introduced a rolling
eligibility date for Classic Rally Cars
that means those with older cars can
transition directly from PRC into the
classic fraternity without changing their
46 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - AUGUST 2016
“I think we will see
a number of new
cars such as AP4,
latest spec FIA
R-categories, PRC
and G4.”
vehicle, if they wish to do so.
I do accept that there have been
other cost pressures on competitors,
particularly on the safety side, that have
contributed to increased costs, such
as the adoption of strict requirements
around helmets, frontal head restraints
and apparel standards, but these are
also examples of the kind of mitigation
we have to accommodate to address
the risk shifting I mentioned earlier.
What do you think will be different about
rallying in Australia in 10 years?
I doubt that, in society where
everything is changing at an
accelerating rate, anyone can foresee
with much clarity what might happen in
10 years time.
What I can say is that my vision
would be that we continue to run the
best WRC round in the world, that our
efforts to reshape the APRC bear fruit
in the form of increased international
participation, that our ARC competition
remains a strong and commercially
viable showcase for the sport, and
that the mainstay of competition in
the country – those state and club
level events - have willing and capable
organisers and a thriving competitor
base. I think in the next five years
or so we will see a number of new
generation rally cars such as the AP4
(a specification we share with NZ),
mixing it with some of the latest spec
FIA R-categories, as well a some PRC
and G4 cars for outright honours in our
rallies.
I think the interest in classic rally cars
is going to continue to grow and, who
knows, we may even see the first allelectric
rally cars emerging.
Do you see a clear pathway for an up-andcoming
Australian driver to head overseas
and make it into the WRC?
It is always a difficult task but we have
seen pioneers like Chris Atkinson, and
NZ has Haydon Paddon, who have had
the capacity and ability to crack the
WRC.
I doubt there is a single pathway
that automatically leads to success.
I’d think that once the apprenticeship
has been served and the necessary
skills acquired in club and state level
events, a young competitor should
aim to be seen in our national and
international series events, and have a
crack at some events overseas in an FIA
category car such as R2 – where they
can demonstrate their talent against
others doing the same thing in similar
machinery.
Molly Taylor and Brendan Reeves
have both been down this path, but
despite talent by the bucket-load, are
yet to crack it in the WRC league.
Why have we gone back to 4WD for the