Tas Action Sports Expo 2010
On the 20th and 21st of November the Tas Action Sports Expo was held at the Derwent Entertainment centre. The expo showcased the fast growing world of extreme, action and adventure sports with live demonstrations of FMX, wakeboarding, skating, BMX and snowboarding. Just days before the event David Waldon sparked at the idea of bring some rally cars together to display our club and the sport to the public. This was a great opportunity to promote rallying in the state and of course do some big skids free of charge.
On the Saturday being the 1st day of the expo we had a tent and rally car setup with a big screen TV displaying the 2010 TRS rally highlights. There were around 5 other rally cars on show and all ready to tear up the dirt. The track used from the past ARC events in previous years was the rally course and was going to be revived once again.
By midday the clock was ticking and when it came to the 1st run of the rally demonstration the drivers turned slightly off colour as the nerves began to kick in. A crowd started to gather around the cars with upwards of 100 spectators eagerly waiting to see some cars flying around the track.
At this point in time there was only one problem, where exactly were we driving? Waldo then pulled out an A4 piece of paper and pencilled in the course just minutes before the 1st car was to start. It was a little nerve racking knowing we had to put on a show for the crowd and at the same time figure out where to go on the course. Personally, I wanted a navigator, but after the first few runs we had figured it out and it was a lot of fun. The event organisers and some spectators also scored a few rides with some of the drivers giving them a firsthand experience of being in a rally car.
In the end it was a great weekend with many people very interested to see what the rally seen was about. Hopefully the Tas Expo will run again next year and the club can come back doing an even bigger and better display. Great work to David and everyone that helped organise the event.
Sam Button
