The first ever Australian EV-only motorsport event was a success

On Sunday 27th of October a hill climb amateur motorsport event was held at the Rob Roy track in Christmas Hills, Melbourne. This marked the first time that an event was exclusively run for electric vehicles only, and battery-electric at that.

The entrant list was a mixed bag of cars, with a few restomods such as a Mini and Beetle mixing it with new EVs such as Teslas, MGs, BYDs and Hyundais. The event was run under Regularity rules, so it wasn’t the fastest car that won, but the most consistent driver.

VW Bug in action, not the fastest, but the idea is to have fun!

The organisers were the MG Car Club of Victoria, one of Victoria’s oldest and most established car clubs with a history innovation, for example they have a Young Driver program where they rent a private circuit to give under-sixteens a chance to drive. So it was perhaps no surprise that they took on the regulatory challenge of running an event just for EV. Why a challenge? Risk is the answer. Motorsport is inherently dangerous, and regulations are written in blood.

EVs present a new type of vehicle which needs to be considered and assessed, and a key difference was considered to be fire. The chances of a fire are very low, but the consequences are high. Therefore, the risk was thoroughly explored, including consulting with specialists EV Firesafe. Motorsport Australia has a training module covering differences to EVs for event organisers which is mostly fire management, but also consideration of charging facilities. That wasn’t a problem for the hill climb event which consisted of four runs up a hill on a track a little over 600m long, a standing start with a flying finish at over 120km/h for some cars. The track also didn’t test the brakes of the cars which is always a weak spot for any roadcar when racing, EV or not.

Any type of EV could, and did enter…didn’t need to be a sportscar.

The one risk the organisers did think was worth mitigating was new drivers, so to that end they engaged some driver coaches to provide a driving techniques briefing and in-car coaching. Around a third of the field were new to amateur motorsports, and that was also a reason for choosing the Regularity rules, less pressure on outright speed and more on consistency.

I was one of the coaches and will be writing up what I learned from the event for other coaches once I’ve had a chance to consult with the team, as every type of vehicle has its own specific techniques for coaching and driving, and EVs are no different.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the day, and now EVs are officially welcome at any future Rob Roy event, regardless of whether it is EV-only or not.