Australia’s Off Road racing season restarts this weekend with South Australia’s Loveday Adventure Park to host the Ronco Motors Loveday 280.
More than 30 crews from across the state will attend the off road event where they will complete seven laps of a 40km course made up of a variety of terrains.
It will be the first time the public gets a look at the location’s new extended course, which was modified earlier this year after the venue was confirmed to host a round of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC).
With a number of AORC events being cancelled this year, the Loveday Adventure Park’s national round will still go ahead, albeit at a later date to be confirmed, with event organiser Tony Whateley to use this weekend as a feeler for the new circuit.
“It’s good to be the first Motorsport Australia off road event in the country since restrictions were eased,” Whateley said.
“We have a good range of South Australian cars entered too and most of them have raced here before, but it will be their first run on the new 40km track.
“It’s the same track we will be using at the national event later this year, so it will be a good test for us to see how it works and how people go on it. I am also going to have a crack at the track for the first time this weekend too, which is exciting.
“When we saw there were going to be no events in the state for a while, I thought there is no reason why we couldn’t do the groundwork and run one ourselves, so we worked hard and made it happen because someone has to.
“We have had a lot of good feedback from a number of crews as a lot of the drivers didn’t think there would be any racing this year, so it should be a fantastic event.”
Crowds will be allowed into the event but will have to maintain strict social distancing to stay within the state restrictions and guidelines, as well as meet Motorsport Australia’ Return To Race strategy.
The venue’s management will also be making sure that all crews and officials are abiding by the guidelines, however with South Australians already being respectful of the state-wide restrictions previously, Whateley is confident there should be no problems.
“We always work on common sense here and the park has been open since early May, so a lot of people know what they’re doing,” Whateley said.
“We have been strict with making sure people are doing the right thing but it seems there have been no real problems and people have been really good in respecting the rules.
“With that said, we will still be doing all that we can to keep in line with the Motorsport Australia Return to Race requirements, and making sure there is the one person per four square metres when it comes to the crowds.”
Fans can keep up to date with the event’s live timing here.
The Ronco Motors Loveday 280 takes place at Loveday 4×4 Adventure Park on 27-28 June.
