Plans for the World Rally Championship on the border have moved into fifth gear, with organisers finalising details for the September event.
All the information will be made public from tomorrow night, and residents against the rally are warming their vocal chords.
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Repco Rally Australia does not have the support of the majority of residents who choose to live in the country for peace and quiet. Many of us have spent considerable time, energy and money planting trees on our land to attract wildlife. We cannot understand how an organisation can think it is OK to come to our road and deliberatly scare the wildlife away. Where are the nesting brids going to go? And in the case of the koala, Repco Rally Australia will just be scaring them. To put this event through the middle of core koala habitat for a decade or more is shameful. Put the race in its place. Repco Rally Australia and the WRC circus will not be welcomed on Sargents Road.
This rally is such a last minute thing and the press isn’t asking Why? There is something rotten in the world of Elite Motor Sports, beyond the smell of gangrene of its many dying limbs. Let’s bite the bullet and put them out of their misery. It is after all, just entertainment, but at what cost? The Lancet has announced today that the biggest health threat for Earth’s citizens is Climate Change and yet the NSW State Government supports and is actually funding an unpopular high octane car race through Australia’s iconic Green Cauldron. Get with it Old Guard and just say no for the sake of all our futures. And Shire Councillors? Go on, be heroes, be remembered by the next generation for being the change we all want to see in the World.
why is it that on various shows, like a current affair the NBN logo in the bottom right of picture often obscures important information. tonight during two different stories on ACA information was not readable. I assume you cannot make it a water mark due to the presence of the channel 9 water mark so you choose to make it a solid obstruction……..lift your game !!!
The only people I have seen around here, who express their support for the Rally are the kind of people you would cross the road to avoid, when they are in a group, and they will be here in huge numbers for the rally. I certainly won’t be going out if it does go ahead. Like most people I live here for the peace and quite and the friendly inclusive community. We should be encouraging visitors here who appreciate this, and the unique features of the area, not those who want to crash and burn through it, killing animals and destroying our peace. We have more Bio diversity here than Kakadu. Why not hold the next leg in Kakadu?
Having a rally here is so completely ridiculous, I feel like Im in the middle of a nightmare, where no one cares about what is really important and valuable in life. Not only is no-one caring, they are seeking to wreck it.
Please pinch me.
Tweed and Kyogle Councils, elected by the people, are not listening to the people !!
They seem to be only listening to a private business and being told what to do by other people.
Tweed Shire Council’s General Manager is even on the RRA Board of Directors, and can’t see that is a conflict of interest !!
He seems to be controlling our councillors and trying to control us the residents. Telling us what is good for us.
They are not listening to commonsense, that this high speed rally, is totally inappropriate for these narrow community roads, and National Parks where wildlife and resident’s, should be protected from ‘Dinosaur Events’ such as car rallies !!
Concerned residents are urged to read the flier, soon to appear in your letterbox, learn the true facts, and bring your village friends,or a car full of elders from retirement villages, who may not be as mobile, along to Knox Park at 2pm on Thursday 28th in Murwillumbah.
Come and show our council, how many oppose this foolishness, mascarading as a boon to tourism.
Surely, in this Biodiverse hotspot, The Green Cauldron, recognized as a iconic environment, a quiet and slower speed of travel, and observation is a much more appropriate form of Tourism, our Council and State Government , should be promoting.
Not foisting an unwanted, un-called for, unreasonable event, on so many local communities, so opposed to it !!
According to an ex-international rally driver, we have not been made aware of exactly what these international rallies entail. The driver said:
I used to race cars professionally for about 10 years in France during the 1980’s and for several of those years I drove exclusively in rallies, including some World Championship events (Corsica Rally, San Remo Rally, Monte Carlo Rally). There are two points that I’d like to make. The first is, I think it is fair and necessary that the people living on the rally stages be aware of what they’re in for.
The impact of the rally will not just be on the day the stage is driven, but they will have competitors driving those stages for up to a month before the event. Rally drivers need to learn the stage and in the reconnaissance (road learning ) phase, the serious ones will pass in each stage several times (seven to ten times would not be uncommon). The first few passages will be slow as accurate notes are taken but gradually the passages will get faster and faster and most drivers with the means will pass through each of those stages at night, several times, at fairly high speeds (and very bright lights) to test the accuracy of their notes. This will be regardless of whether it is a day or night stage on the day of the race. Unless the rally culture has drastically changed since my day, which is highly unlikely, this is an inevitable fact as really it is the only means drivers have to get a feel for the road so they can drive as fast as possible on the day of the race and avoid unexpected surprises. Do not think for a moment the police can control this. There are way too many kilometers that would require a fairly constant presence. When you consider that most rallies will have well over 100 drivers participating, you get an idea of what the folks living on those stages will be exposed to, day and night. I think the people living on the stages, especially with homes close to the road should know what they’re in for.
The second point and one that I feel both concerned and alarmed about is that this rally is scheduled to take place in Spring, when wildlife will abound with their young. One must be aware that fast rally cars, on the many, many days preceeding the event and during the event itself, with all the additional traffic generated (including team maintenance vans that will also be driving well above the speed limit. Trust me, they will) will wreck absolute havoc on wildlife. I think it is most unfortunate that this event is being considered during Spring, in particular. Rallies and wildlife conservation do not work well together and the road kill is going to be high. Have the organizers taken this into consideration? It is my opinion, having lived many rallies from the competitors point of view, that this beautiful environment is not the most suitable for a rally of this magnitude and certainly not in Spring.
If we don’t rise up and oppose this, it will be too late once it is here. Our lives will be hell and those of our unique native animals, 2/3rds of which are already at risk of extinction. Without biodiversity, the ecosystem collapses. Australia is party to the Convention on Biodiversity and has committed to significantly reduce biodiversity loss by 2010. Yet Tweed has over twice the global average of biodiversity loss! Obviously we are breaking international law with this event.
To add to all that has been said above, which i strongly agree with, there is also the great concern of road safety. The NSW government and the National government pour billions of our dollars into promotion of road safety, “it’s a road not a race track” each year. Now they decide it’s a good time to turn our road into a racetrack, because of big business.
So what’s stopping our young people from making the same decision when they are on the roads?
This rally is actively promoting all which the Australian government says it’s against.