November 2019
Everyone now knows that there will soon be a Supercar team based at Sydney MotorSport Park! ARDC has been working closely with several parties for some time to make this ambition a reality. We are delighted that Australia’s largest city will again have a resident team in Australia’s most popular motor racing category. I know that the team is very pleased to be based not just at SMSP but in the heart of Western Sydney, amongst the fastest growing and most exciting locations in the country. There is a lot of work to be done finalising details and planning permanent facilities, but this is a major step toward developing SMSP as a key location for engineering innovation and education, as well as expanding the motor sport industry in NSW.
Last month I gave some information about the locations on the Sydney MotorSport Park circuit where serious injuries occur most frequently. I described a ‘serious injury’ as one requiring ambulance transport; this could have been more precisely defined as a ‘requiring ambulance transport to hospital’ i.e. away from SMSP. Any injury to a rider or driver is undesirable, but I hope it’s not surprising that the data we follow most closely is for the more serious injuries. ARDC will continue to develop that data and I will keep members informed. The more data points we collect, the better the information we have, but unfortunately every one of those data points mean someone has gone to hospital! It’s a bit of a conflict – we want to give you the best information, but it comes at a price. Warren Buffett says ‘price is what you pay, value is what you get’; we hope that proper use of this information will ultimately mean the value is greater than the price.
Two members wrote expressing their views about other parts of the circuit and we will be looking into the questions they have raised.
ARDC Director Denis Cribbin recently announced his decision to retire from the Board after lengthy service. I know that Denis will continue to keenly support our Club, but he believes it is important that we should continue to renew the talent on our Board and that it is time for him to step down. I have always enjoyed Denis’s contribution to our discussions and thank him for his service and thoughtful participation in the governance of ARDC.
Denis’s retirement created a casual vacancy for an Elected Director position and I am very pleased to announce that at its October meeting the ARDC Board appointed Rachelle Stirling to fill the casual vacancy. Members may not recognise this name, but Rachelle Wilson has been a Board Appointed Director since September 2017 and has made a considerable contribution to Board discussions and overall governance. Rachelle Wilson recently married Jeremy Stirling and has chosen to change her name, so Rachelle Wilson and Rachelle Stirling are the same person. Rachelle is particularly passionate about attracting and supporting women into motorsport. She has been a key initiator and Program Director of the Women’s Motorsport Development Program (http://www.wmdp.com.au/), which is supported by ARDC and NSWRRC, among others. Rachelle will serve the remainder of Denis’s term as an Elected Director and will stand for re-election in May 2021. She has been an ARDC Member since 2016.
This means there are now two Board Appointed Director vacancies, as Natalie Turmine and Rachelle have both been asked to fill casual Elected Director vacancies that have arisen this year. The Board has recently conducted a skills audit, to identify those areas where we would benefit from additional knowledge and expertise. The selection of new Board Appointed directors is a perfect opportunity for us to seek out people who can bring those desired skills to the Board.
So, if you have skills and experience in digital/social media, property development and construction, IT/cyber/privacy/data security or venue/facility management and you are interested in contributing to the governance of ARDC, please contact me at president@ardc.com.au . A passion for motorsport is obviously a mandatory requirement! Please do keep in mind that the Board’s role is not to manage the club but to take responsibility for oversight and governance of ARDC.
See you at SMSP,
Cheers,
Andrew