Page 3286 - Week 10 - Thursday, 25 August 2005
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
provisions of the Public Advocate Bill. It would also be consistent with amendments made in the Human Rights Commission Legislation Amendment Bill as a consequence of the establishment of the Human Rights Commission. Because of that, the government will support the amendment.
MR STEFANIAK (Ginninderra) (5.31): The opposition will be supporting Dr Foskey’s amendment.
Amendment agreed to.
Bill, as a whole, as amended, agreed to.
Bill, as amended, agreed to.
Adjournment
Motor sports
Motion (by Mr Corbell) proposed:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
MR GENTLEMEN (Brindabella) (5.32): This evening I would like to inform the Assembly about some exciting news for Canberra, especially for those avid motor sport fans like myself. A small team of engineers in Canberra with a restricted budget has successfully completed an engineering feat which the biggest car companies in the world have difficulty in achieving—the reverse engineering and combining of two totally different vehicles. Not only that, the new hybrid vehicle is winning in competitions at world-class level.
This small team of engineers calls Canberra home. Neal Bates Motorsport, also known as Toyota Team Racing, has been involved in the building and racing of Toyota rally cars in the Australian Rally Championship for more than 15 years, having won the national title three times. What makes this current project unique is that, whereas previous cars were similar to those used by the Toyota World Rally Championship team, the current car has been designed and developed exclusively by TTR right here in Canberra and is the only one of its kind in the world. It is the first car to meet the new group N (P) regulations created by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport. Toyota Team Racing has taken the humble Corolla hatchback and transformed it into a four-wheel drive, turbopowered rally machine by combining present and past technologies.
The self-funded project commenced in 2002, before receiving formal Toyota Australia assistance, and the ongoing development program of the three-car team has continued ever since. The Toyota team racing Corolla was first seen in action in late 2002. It was no match for the works Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi Lancers in 2002 and 2003. Engineering improvements saw podium finishes in 2004 and, at the start of the 2005 season, Toyota Team Racing scored a 1-2 finish. Just two weeks ago, Toyota Team Racing beat all other manufacturers in heat one in South Australia, which now puts the team into a positive position to take the manufacturers championship of the Australian Rally Championship at the end of the year.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .