The Gippsland Rally 2022 http://www.gippslandrally.com.au known this year as the “Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally” made its return to Heyfield in late August. WICEN Victoria was there yet again to support the VRC and ARC rally cars in what turned out to be a hugely successful event, not only for WICEN Vic but also for the rally organisers. Day two stage 13—the speed stage—was also televised live on channel 7.
John VK3ZRX was the WICEN Event Commander and was supported by many WICEN Vic members as well as many non-members, who put their hand up to the call for operators. Many of the events WICEN Vic support such as the car rallies require more operators than usual and the support we receive from amateur radio clubs and individuals is paramount to getting the job done.
This year we used a 2m repeater as well a 2m simplex for communications. Operators were located at stop and start locations of each stage as well as the various SOS points. At rally control we had AWI which is the call identifier for WICEN HQ. A local repeater 3RLV was also used occasionally for communications while in transit to the event.
Run over two days and based in Heyfield, competitors and spectators went through the townships of Cowwarr, Glenmaggie, Newry, Tinamba, Maffra and Briagolong. This year was the first time the event ran as part of the Australian Rally Championships and the first time for the ARC in this area. The Saturday kept many operators busy with several rally cars ending up on their rooftops. The rally safe technology, which is compulsory in each car, gives rally HQ live telemetry data on cars’ location, speed, g-forces of an accident and allows drivers to respond with predetermined replies, such as we’re OK, as an example.
All this technology doesn’t negate the need for human intervention, with officials needing to stop stages to check on the driver and navigator, and send in medical intervention teams and recovery vehicles each time an accident occurs. This has to be done until officials on scene advise otherwise. For WICEN operators this means a higher than usual amount of traffic being passed. Many of our non-members did outstanding work, having experienced first-hand some of the wrongs when rally drivers don’t get it right, especially at high speed.
WICEN Vic hold pre and post event briefings that are conducted virtually to assist operators before going into the field. This is especially important to new operators who will read the event manual written specifically for each event, allowing them to put forward any questions or concerns before deployment. 
A huge thankyou to all operators who volunteered their time in support WICEN Vic and the rally racing community. Also thanks to John VK3ZRX and Chris VK3CJK for all the work that went into the pre planning and radio modelling stages.
