The 2008 Italian Challenge has just become a whole lot more exciting with the announcement of a Regularity Event to coincide with the Italian Challenge race and Italian Car Display.
As previously advised, the 2008 Italian Challenge will take place at Queensland Raceway, Willowbank, on the weekend of Saturday, July 5 and Sunday, July 6. The race category already has a near capacity field of 31 entrants and the Sunday car display is shaping up as a sensational addition to the Italian auto atmosphere.
Now the opportunity has arisen for a Regularity Category as well as the race, which will open up the excitement of the day to even more Italian car owners. This Regularity Event is strictly for Italian cars and will be scheduled with a 15 minute qualifying run and one regularity round of six timed laps on Saturday, followed by two rounds of six timed laps on Sunday.
The idea of the Regularity Event is to nominate your lap time based on your qualifying session, then attempt to drive as consistently close to that nominated lap time as possible in each timed round. You are driving for consistency rather than track position but this certainly doesn’t mean you can’t drive flat out if you so desire.
The cost is a mere $125 for the early bird entry, which needs to be in prior to Friday, June 20, or $150 if you pay between June 21 and Friday, July 4. You will require a AASA Clubman licence, which will set you back $55 for twelve months. That is amazing value for a weekend of racetrack thrills and the camaraderie of trading tales with fellow lovers of Italian machinery.
On the safety front, you will need a helmet that meets or exceeds AS1698 – these can be hired from QR on the day – long cotton pants, a long sleeved cotton shirt, cotton socks and closed-in shoes (leather sneakers make reasonable driving boots). Your car must have a fire extinguisher installed, the battery terminals taped and the headlights taped with clear tape (clear packing tape over the entire light is the new standard, rather than the old cross hatch of electrical tape).
If your car is road registered it will need to be in good road-going condition, with no obvious oil leaks, working brake lights, caps on the tire valves and with the hub caps or alloy wheel centre caps removed.
A new entry form is being drafted by QR for this category and will be up on their website by Wednesday, June 11. If you are keen for a run, simply download the entry, fill it out, return it with your payment details and you are in business.
For further information on either the Regularity Event or the Italian Car Display (which will take place in the QR car park on Sunday, July 6 from 10am to 3pm) please contact either Bob Whitehouse at
solidspc@bigpond.net.au or Brent Hampstead at
bhampstead@live.com.au This will, without doubt, be one of the most exciting weekends of Italian auto action in Queensland’s history - with a race category, a regularity category and a car display. So take a punt, be part of it and tell your friends to come along and soak up the atmosphere.
