Promoted by Auto Corsa Group, the 2015 event will see an exciting extended course offered over a longer 10.2 kilometre stretch of Poatina Road and an increased field size of up to 100 cars.

Auto Corsa Group co-director, Stuart Benson, said the 2014 event was the first of its kind in Australia to comprise a long course hillclimb and a sprint format tarmac rally in one day, over the same section of road.

“We were absolutely overwhelmed by the support received from the motorsport community for the first running of this unique event in 2014,” Mr Benson said. “As such, we’ve operationally altered the event to accommodate increased entrant demand.”

Competitors of the 2015 event can now choose from one of three competitions: a driver-only hillclimb; and for drivers and navigators a traditional tarmac rally sprint and, new in 2015, a speed-restricted ‘challenge’ category.

“We’re very excited to be able to offer an even stronger product in 2015, thanks to a longer and more challenging course,” said Benson. “And we hope the new category will make the event even more accessible for those new to the sport, or who wish to participate without the pressure of full competition.”

Each entrant will compete six times over the technical long course hillclimb, covering 61 kilometres in a single day.

The 2015 course will again take in a stunning piece of the former Hydro Electric Commission constructed tarmac which has an evaluation gain of 580 metres, snaking up Mount Blackwood from Norfolk Plains to the Central Plateau in Northern Tasmania.

Poatina Village will once again play host to the event’s start and finish celebrations and vehicle display. Locals are encouraged to get amongst the action and rub shoulders with the entrants.

Already signed up for the 2015 event is Launceston young gun, Adam Garwood. The 16-year old is currently leading the three-round National Hi-Tec Oils Sports GT Series and is still celebrating his win at Round 2 held at the V8 Supercar meeting at Queensland Raceway two weeks ago.

“Being able to travel around Australia to follow my passion for racing at such a young age is just fantastic and a dream come true, and I can’t thank my family and our crew enough for making it happen.

“I am really looking forward to opportunity to race right in my backyard, and on such a magic piece of road,” said Garwood, who will contest the event’s rally category in a 2008 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with navigator Cameron Reeves of Brisbane.

Family rivalry will be rife at this year’s event with Adam’s dad Greg, a regular Targa Tasmania driver and circuit racer, also entered in his 2001 Nissan Skyline GT-R.

Adam Gardwood's 911 GT3 Cup that he will contest this year's Poatina Mountain Race in

The Poatina Mountain Race is facilitated through support from the Northern Midlands Council and the Government of Tasmania through the Department of State Growth.

Significant support for this event format from within the motorsport community is such that Auto Corsa Group is now working towards a Southern Tasmanian equivalent to be offered during the summer months of 2016.

Auto Corsa Group is a promoter of closed-road motorsport events, owned and operated by Tasmanians Stuart Benson, who is Targa Tasmania’s former event director, and Darren Fogarty. Just prior to this year’s Poatina Mountain Race, Auto Corsa Group will stage the world’s longest hillclimb and a new 11-stage tarmac rally in and around Mount Hotham in north-east Victoria from 14-15 November.

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The Melbourne-based promoter of closed road motorsport events released the regulations two weeks ago in draft form requesting industry feedback to inform further development.

Auto Corsa Group co-director, Stuart Benson, said feedback had been received from a number of competitors as well as some of Australia’s leading race experts including Holinger Engineering, MoTeC and Supashock.

“It was important to us that our regulations preserve the highest levels of competitor safety while also being logical and easy to understand.”

In order to achieve a rich mix of classic and modern cars in Auto Corsa Group events, the company looked to overseas trends for ways to make competing with heritage racing vehicles more affordable.

“For example, we’ve allowed pre-approved modern engines swaps for a number of heritage vehicles of the same make,” Mr Benson said.

One pre-approved swap is a Ford Duratec engine into an Mk1 or Mk2 Ford Escort. While the swap does not necessarily improve performance, it makes ongoing maintenance cheaper and easier.

“There are many heritage vehicles out there that were either previously ineligible or restricted from entering due to high costs associated with competition,” Mr Benson said.

“It has been our goal to get these classic vehicles out of their garages and onto the road where they can be driven in a controlled environment the way the manufacturer intended.”

The first major event to which the regulations will apply with be the inaugural Hotham Auto Corsa Alpine Tarmac Rally and Mount Hotham International Hillcllimb that will be held this year from November 14-15 in the stunning alpine region of Victoria’s North East.

Auto Corsa Group has signed a three-year deal with the Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board to deliver the two events.

View the technical regulations here

ABOUT THE EVENTS

Hotham Auto Corsa Alpine Tarmac Rally

The inaugural Hotham Auto Corsa comprises 11 closed road stages over 250 competitive kilometres. The event will be based at Mount Hotham and take in roads around Falls Creek, the Alpine National Park and nearby towns including Harrietville, Omeo and Mount Beauty.

The rally is expected to attract a competition field of up to 200 cars across its Tour, Challenge and Competition categories.

Mount Hotham Alpine Cup International Hillclimb

At 29km, the inaugural Mount Hotham Alpine Cup International Hillclimb is the world’s longest hillclimb event. It is expected to attract production car-based circuit, sports, Time Attack and rally cars from around the world.

The driver-only event will be held on the same weekend of the Hotham Auto Corsa over a stretch of the world famous Great Alpine Road. Each competitor will tackle the 241-corner tarmac trek from Harrietville to Mount Hotham six times over the weekend.

For more information contact:

Stuart Benson
+61 (0) 412 868 979
stuart@autocorsa.com.au

Auto Corsa Group Co-director, Stuart Benson, said that feedback on the regulations would be welcomed up until Friday 12 June 2015, with the final iteration of the rules to be issued on Monday 15 June 2015 just prior to the close of Early Bird entries.

“Since the release of the our safety and technical guides in March, we’ve engaged with and listened to the motorsport community to develop a set of technical regulations for these events that are easy to understand and relevant to the current environment,” Mr Benson said.

“We hope that these final drafts will provoke further constructive discussion and feedback from our clients, friends and partners from within the motorsport fraternity.”

Sanctioned by the Australian Auto-Sport Alliance, Hotham Auto Corsa and the Alpine Cup International Hillclimb will be held from 14-15 November 2015.

Auto Corsa Group has signed a three-year deal with the Mount Hotham Resort Management Board to deliver the events.

Download Vehicle Safety and Technical Regulations - Hotham Auto Corsa Alpine Tarmac Rally
Download Vehicle Safety and Technical Regulations - Mount Hotham Alpine Cup International Hillclimb

For more information contact:
Stuart Benson
+61 (0) 412 868 797
stuart@autocorsa.com.au