Rally Australia, Smart Automotive and Protecting the Environment

David Turney - Thursday, September 03, 2009

Rally Australia (round 10 of the WRC) kicks off later this afternoon (EST) after several years absence, this time around the Northern Rivers region of NSW. WRC followers will know how strategically vital Rally Australia is for outright championship contenders, while at the same time throwing the wild-card of a completely new event at those drivers.

Rallying is a spectacular & engaging motorsport. Drivers in the FIA World Rally Championship must rate as the best in the world. They not only possess lightning fast reaction times and nerves of steel but also race on vastly different surfaces, most of them not designed to driven at 180kph + and sideways. The WRC is watched, reportedly, by audience numbers second to only Formula 1. In their home countries, drivers are revered as gods and are used to sell everything from the brand they drive to breath mints. Despite that, at any given rally the fan access is amazing. Drivers and teams - while being under timed pressure for the entire rally - happily mingle with their fan base, chatting and signing autographs. There's little elitism, just the love of their motorsport leveled across the spectrum.

Like most motorsport though, rallying has opponents, and they usually come from an environmental perspective. Rallying attracts particular criticism from detractors by its format; timed runs on public roads, following the curves, rises, falls and unique scenery of the landscape. In Australia at least, rallying is highly controlled and environmental impacts (if any) are analysed forensically. The 2009 Rally Australia boasts to be the most environmentally rally ever staged anywhere and backs that up with a suite of reports (all but one downloadable from their website) covering every aspect from flora and fauna, to noise and dust management. That's right, dust management. How many rallies have a dust management plan? Australia's does; 50-pages worth.

A small news piece I saw on ABC yesterday reported on and presented both sides of the argument. One interviewee against the rally (happening to be a local councillor) openly questioned why an "extreme" car race is OK where four-wheel drives aren't allowed to access. It's hardly fair to draw comparisons between the potential for an uncontrolled, disrespecting rogue element, crushing swathes through national park forests and a controlled, analysed and heavily regulated week-long event running on existing, closed (for the event), council-maintained public roads that already exist.

Whatever your opinion (and I'm pretty sure you know ours), every possible safeguard has been put in place to ensure that Rally Australia runs to satisfy environmental impact concerns, while putting Australia back on the international rallying stage. It will run on its environmental credentials and the point is, whatever you do, you need to stand on your own beliefs about what's right to balance needs with impact and as much as possible, tip the balance.

At Smart Automotive, we do just that. Like Rallying, we are fulfilling a need while making sure that the environmental impact is minimised. Our patented, reusable, recyclable Smartcover is a case in point (as are our other products made from NWPP). By using custom-branded Smartcovers to cover and protect your customers seats, you're not only projecting a strong, professional image, you're also helping to reduce the impact of automotive waste on the environment.

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