Well, it's amazing what can happen in a very short time.
The bar at the canteen will now be open for over the counter, pre-packaged sales.
A deal has been struck with the Prancing Pony Brewery.
See the selction of beers and cider below, I'm sure this will come as good news to many. Also if anybody wants to assist working the bar and has a valid RSA, to please contact Corinna direct by phone.

Lower alcohol beers and ciders - $ 7.00 per can

• Serenity of Speed, Pale ale – 4.8%
• Sunshine ale, Summer beer – 4.8%
• Hopwork Orange – American Pale ale – 4.8%
• Indie Kid Pilsener – 4.8%
• Stage Roadie mid-strength – 3.4%
• XPA – Session Pale ale – 4.1%
• Amber Ale – 5%
• Cloudy Apple Cider – 5.2%

Higher alcohol beers - $ 8.00 per can

• Black Ale – 6% - limited
• The Piper - West Coast IPA 7.2% - limited
• India Red Ale – 7.9% - limited

I have a couple of announcements to make on behalf of Mt. Ive Station.
1. Due to some unforeseen circumstances there will be no bar at the canteen for Speed Week 2021. This means no alcohol sales across the counter, you will need to bring your own.
2. Those participants who are camping at the Mt. Ive (SaltBush) camp behind the canteen will need to pay their camping fees at the takeaway counter of the canteen. Joy asks if you could leave it till after 11 any day, when it's not so busy. Camping is still $7 per night with a 3 day minimum.
Sorry for the late notice.

Just to confirm that after the lake inspection today, Speed Week 2021 is definitely on.
The track is in very good condition, but the edge of the lake has had probably 20 or 30 metres of salt washed away exposing some mud, but they are confident that with the placement of the mats it should be okay. The mail road is in good condition, the Mt. Ive road is good, the road to the camp is good and the road to the lake is good.

Here's the program for Speed Week. If the pages look out of order, they are set up for printing. A4 landscape, both sides.
2021 Speed Week Program [PDF]

This year there will not be a Charity night on the Wednesday night of Speed Week due to the limitations on gatherings. So we have come up with the idea of running some "silent" auctions for items that have been donated to the club. Already we have had some very unique and highly desirable items donated, but you will need to be at Speed Week to make your bid and collect your item. If you are the successful bidder and you are not there on the Wednesday, we can post the item to you at your expense by prior arrangement.
The way that this will work is there will be sheets with a photo of each item at the merchandise truck and you simply make your bid and include your contact details, then on the Wednesday after racing finishes, we will see who the highest bidder is and they can claim their item.
We will be adding photos of the items available as comments to this post.
If you have something you wish to donate, just bring it to the Merch Truck at Speed Week.
Good luck and thanks for supporting the DLRA.

The COVID-19 Management Plan for Speed Week was approved today. The main emphasis is on contact tracing and distancing at all times. When you are in the Lake Entry queue for the first time you will be given a Contact Tracing form, please fill it out completely for all those people in your vehicle. Please try to remain 1.5 metres apart at all times, when you are in the pits, at the start line, in the queue for the canteen or even where you are camped. We are required to provide COVID-19 Marshals to remind participants to do the right thing, if you do get spoken to just remember these marshals are working for your benefit, without them we would not have an event, so please be respectful and follow their advice.
COVID-19 Management Plan

Once again our amazing caterers will be providing a range of wholesome meals and takeaway food at the lakeside canteen and popup shop in the pits. And most the prices are still the same as 2019, how good is that! Thanks to Dogga and Robyn. There will be some changes at the canteen this year due to COVID-19 rules, so we ask for your compliance with this. Check out what's on offer this year. https://www.dlra.org.au/catering.htm

There was a very useful and successful meeting of committee and officials of Speed Week tonight with an outcome that we continue to forge ahead with the organisation of the event.
The next hurdle will be the Lake Inspection on Thursday 25th February 2021. This will also probably be the day that Victoria (and hopefully South Australia) makes further announcements about border closures.
After several recent days of 40C temps, the latest report has the track in good condition, but the edge of the lake is still very wet.
We have been using geotechnical mats to try and save the surface of the salt for several years now to great effect. But we still need people to understand the slower you go over the mats the better they work.

There will be a teleconference of the DLRA committee on Thursday night (18th Feb) to discuss Speed Week. There may be a decision that night or it may be deferred to a later date. A lot depends upon what Victoria does with it's lockdown and what South Australia does with its border closure. Look for an announcement here after that meeting.

You can still enter , but a late entry fee will apply. Print your forms and bring them to the Registration Van in the pits on the salt

225 entries
75 cars or trucks
150 motorcycles
64 Rookies
Comparing this to 2020 we had 266 entries, 81 of those have not entered for 2021, and there's 40 new entries for 2021

There have been reports this afternoon that South Australia are closing it's borders to people from metropolitan Melbourne due to the rise in COVID-19 infections from the Holiday Inn outbreak. From the reports that I have read so far there will be no change of restrictions for people in regional Victoria. NOTE: They are currently under no restrictions to SA at all. Of the 158 actual people we have entered for Speed Week, 29 of these are from Victoria and 22 are from metropolitan Melbourne and would be affected if this restriction were to stay in place for the next 26 days. Fortunately most of the critical DLRA officials required to run Speed Week, reside in regional Victoria. For myself, if this restriction is still in place, at the appropriate time, I will be moving to regional Victoria 14 days before we head to SA (as is permitted). I already have my SA border permit to this effect. Additional to this, from my estimate there are about 12 New South Wales entrants who are in hotspots described by South Australia who would be required to undergo 1, 5 and 12 day COVID-19 testing once they cross into South Australia. This DOES NOT mean the end of Speed Week for 2021, far from it. As I have said to anyone that has enquired, things will change, more than likely quickly and often and we won't really know what restrictions will be imposed upon us until they happen.

All travellers coming to South Australia must complete the Cross Border Travel Registration at least 7 days prior to travel, irrespective of whether they are from a low community transmission zone or a prescribed location. As of the 4th Feb, for residents in Regional Victoria or NSW or people who have been in regional Victoria or NSW for the 14 days before entering South Australia there are no restrictions. For residents of the greater Melbourne and Sydney areas, you now have to get tested on the 1st, 5th and 12th day after you enter South Australia. NOTE: the DLRA medical team can do day 5 COVID-19 tests at the lake for entrants and crew only.
For more information read the Travel Restrictions.

Travellers must complete a separate Cross Border Travel Registration for each person in your travelling party including all children. You will experience delays on arrival if you have not completed an application for each person.
Use this link to complete the form - Cross Border Travel Registration

The General Meeting in Victoria which was to be held on the 14th of February at the Northern Suburbs Hot Rod Club club room has now been cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions on the number of people permitted to gather indoors. Probably the most important piece of business of that meeting would have been receiving pre-entries for Speed Week 2021. Regardless, the cut-off date still applies.
You can send your entry via;
fax (03 5472 3194),
email (secretary@dlra.org.au) or
mail (DLRA, PO Box 349, Castlemaine VIC 3450) (postmarked Friday)

Please feel free to pass this on.

DLRA Newsletter Issue 72 February 2021 is now published

We are getting asked all sorts of questions about the border situation, especially from people in NSW. What I can say is that there is still 40 days until Speed Week starts and that the restrictions will probably change again before then. So I wouldn't get too worried about what is in place today.

At the moment all travelers coming to South Australia are required to complete a Cross Border Travel Registration. I'd recommend you follow the SA Health COVID-19 web pages - https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/restrictions-and-responsibilities/travel-restrictions#sa

And at least 7 days before you are traveling comes you will have to register to cross the border - https://www.police.sa.gov.au/online-services/cross-border-travel-application

COVID-19 Testing at Lake Gairdner (this notification is now superceded, see update above)
Under the current restrictions, permitted NSW residents will have to have a COVID-19 test on days 1, 5 and 10 when the enter SA. It's up to you to organise where and when you get tested.
The DLRA do not and will not have testing facilities at Lake Gairdner. If someone is suspected of having COVID-19 symptoms, they must leave the event and immediately get a test at Port Augusta.

Refer to this page for information and locations for COVID-19 testing.
www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/constituting

We now have 118 entries in the system, and I know of many more who have not yet submitted their entries yet, so we have reached that goal of a financially viable event.
But that means there are still around 115 who either haven't entered yet or are not intending to race in 2021.
Pre-Entries close on the 14th February, any entries, roll-over or new received after that time will be subject to the $200 late entry fee.
I can't emphasis enough how critical it is to us to have the best idea of how many participants we are likely to see. We need this lead time to organise. We and our partners (Catering, Ice, Fuel, Water and other consumables etc.) use this information for all our logistics and estimating quantities for the event. It is very important to us.
Also if you have a Roll-Over and are not coming this year, please let us know too.
I think many people are confused with COVID-19 and Speed Week. It's as simple as, you are either coming to Speed Week or you're not. If you are coming, you need to be well into getting ready now.
The whole COVID-19 thing is totally out of our control and regulations and restrictions change so often and so quickly that it is extremely difficult to even begin to predict where we will be in 44 days time. But if you're not ready and Speed Week is on you will be kicking yourself.
Having said that the travel restrictions relating to interstate borders seems to be easing, so here's hoping it stays that way.
I'd also like to acknowledge all those non-competitor volunteers who have nominated to help run the event. Very heartening to see these guys getting involved and a great way to get just that little bit closer to the action. For those thinking about nominating, you don't have to have any Speed Week experience, you already have a wealth of knowledge and experience and it's just a matter of matching that with the jobs we have to do.
Lastly, the final lake inspection will take place on Thursday 25th February look for an update then.
https://www.dlra.org.au/2021.htm

Further to the update from a week ago, all our permits are now in place and I am finalizing our COVID-19 Management Plan with the South Australian Department of Health. With no defined hot spots anywhere in Australia announced today, the likelihood of borders opening up is looking very good.

We now have 85 entries, which is a big improvement on where we were a week ago, but still well below the absolute minimum of 120 we are aiming for to decide if we are still to have an event.

This is not just random number, without enough entries we cannot afford to run the event due to the standing costs like leasing of the lake, paying the traditional monitors and paying our medical and fire crews plus all the other consumables like toilet paper, water, and fuel to run the generators and club vehicles, etc.

The other big issue is the number of volunteers required to run the event at the moment of the 766 jobs we have identified we still have 317 of those jobs vacant. We need people in the most critical of areas; Start Line, Timing and Pre-Stage. For example, we can run Tracks 1 and 2 Monday morning, but there are not enough volunteers to run in the afternoon and nearly every other day is similar to this.

I know entrants have until the 14th February to decide if you are going to enter or roll-over your 2020 entry, but the longer entrants delay doing so makes it all the harder for me to keep saying to people that we are going to have an event in 2021 (and there are lots of people asking).

The DLRA Qld pre Speedweek meeting will be held at Tom Rabolds Bullet Superchargers workshop at Ant Rd Yatala Qld on 17/1/2021. Starts 11:00am sharp with a BBQ sausage lunch and finish about 2:30pm.
Car pre race inspections welcome, please shoot Chris Hanlon a message on Facebook before hand if you need an inspection.

As I write this we are just over 2 months out from Speed Week 2021. Up until the end of 2020 things were starting to look pretty good, and then we got the outbreaks in NSW and VIC. We have been getting calls asking if Speed Week will still go ahead. And the standard answer is we are still planning to run an event until someone tells us we can't. It remains a day to day proposition and is totally out of our hands.

With that in mind, here's a review of where we are today.

I'm using the figures from the 2020 entry list as so far many entrants are sitting on their hands rolling over and confirming their entry for 2021.

For 2020 we had 237 entries, 14 of those were from overseas, so unfortunately we won't see them again this year, except for Eva who already has her streamliner back in Australia.

South Australia has blocked NSW from entering, so that is 56 entrants who at the present time cannot come. However there is still time for the block to be removed should numbers improve in NSW.

Queensland is still open to South Australia, however for them to travel the normal route through NSW under the current restrictions means they cannot stop in NSW, which is virtually impossible.* There are two alternative routes one of which takes them on the Birdsville Track and adds an additional 1000 km to an already long 2000 km journey. Or to head even further north, which adds an additional 3000 km. This is something that I don't think many of the 38 Queensland entrants would contemplate.

Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia are all currently open to South Australia, so we potentially have 129 entrants who can come to Speed Week.

To make Speed Week financially viable, we would need all of those entrants to compete. And we need these entrants to confirm their entries as soon as they can. If you are delaying sending in your entry because of the new medical examination requirement please consider just submitting your entry now, you can lodge your medical at a later date, so long as we have it before Speed Week starts.

The other complexity in all of this is the enforcement of quarantine on returning residents. This is an issue not only for entrants, but officials as well and will have a direct and dire consequence on Speed Week if re-introduced in any of the States.

We can't even begin to predict where the situation will be in a month's time or two months' time, all we can do is keep working with what we have now.

Looking forward, we realise that things may change and certainly may get worse before they get better, so we will delay any decision for as long as we can if it means ensuring that the event goes ahead.

Thank you for your time, support and consideration.

Be safe and healthy.

* update from when I wrote this, Victorians can be permitted to travel through NSW to get home with a minimum of stops and contact.

Please read this and feel free to pass it on to others.
Our strategy is to run Speed Week with as many COVID-19 safe guards in place as practicable using the regulations as prescribed now, because if we did get some one infected at Speed Week we would have to be able to respond in a responsible manner.

As part of our COVID-19 Management Plan we will be required to provide contract tracing information for all Speed Week participants.
This information will be captured via the entry forms, on line payments, the volunteer register and manually at lake entry. You may end up getting asked to provide your details more than once, please bear with us, better to get it twice than not at all. We ask for your patience when queuing at lake entry, especially in the first few days as the collection of contact tracing information will be a manual process as we have no access to mobile coverage or internet to run a QR type system. (The use of 2 lanes, one for entrants and officials and the other for spectators will be strictly enforced at Speed Week 2021)

Here are a couple of ways you can help.
1. Book your tickets on line - https://www.dlra.org.au/online-booking.htm
2. Use our on line COVID-19 Contact Tracing Record - https://www.dlra.org.au/covid19-contact-tracing.htm
3. Download a contact tracing form, fill it out and bring it with you to Lake Entry - https://www.dlra.org.au/docs/contact-tracing-record-form.pdf

At this time in South Australia it is not mandatory for face masks in the general community, but it is recommended to wear a mask when out in public if you are unable to physically distance. So bring some masks and any other personal protective equipment you wish. We will be providing hand wash and sanitizer in high traffic areas, but please bring your own as well.
Children under 12 years of age do not need to wear a mask.
Masks or face coverings should NOT be worn by children under the age of 2 or anyone who has trouble breathing.
Please be respectful to others as reasons for not wearing a mask are not always obvious.

The best ways to protect yourself and others against COVID-19 continue to be:
• Getting tested if you have any symptoms, no matter how mild.
• Practicing physical distancing (keep 1.5 metres between yourself and others wherever and whenever possible).
• Washing (or sanitizing) your hands regularly.
• Wiping down frequently touched surfaces.
• Covering coughs and sneezes in a tissue or elbow.
• Staying home and avoiding others when sick.

Now that entries are open and we have a few coming in, we'd like to make the following observations.

• You must submit a completed 2021 Entry Form (do not just write "the same as last year")

• You must complete the Hazardous Chemical Register. (unless it's an uncommon fuel type, you don't have to supply the Safety Data Sheets) (do not just write "the same as last year")

• You must answer all questions the Medical Declaration or supply the Medical Examination form signed by a Medical Practitioner.

• You must sign or agree to all disclaimers.

• Make sure you fill out the COVID-19 Contact Tracing record. If you don't you are just going to be held up even longer at Lake Entry or Registration

• Membership annual subscriptions are now due and payable for the 2021 year. Entries are not accepted unless you are financial. There is no roll-over for subscriptions.

• In-completed forms will NOT accepted or processed and will be returned to you.

Your assistance in this is appreciated.

DLRA Newsletter Issue 71 October 2020 published

COVID-19

All participants entering the the lake must sign in on the CONTACT TRACING RECORD and provide the date and time that they attended Speed Week as well as their name, phone number, and email address. This information will be used for the purposes of contract tracing only and will not be shared or sold to a third party.
If you cannot or choose not to provide your details and sign the agreement, access to the event will respectfully be refused.

Online Booking System now open

Volunteer Register now open

Speed Week 2021 Entry Forms Released

DLRA Newsletter Issue 70 July 2020 published

August General Meeting Canceled
Due to Stage 4 Pandemic Restrictions

DLRA Newsletter Issue 69 July 2020 published

May General Meeting Canceled
The DLRA General Meeting which was planned for the 17th May 2020 has been canceled.
With a State of Emergency still in force in Victoria and no announcement to be made by the State Government until the 11/05/2020. It was decided at the committee meeting last week to cancel the meeting as it was considered very unlikely that the regulations would be relaxed to enable a meeting of around 40 people indoors.
If there are any members who were looking to raise an item at the General Meeting or have something discussed, feel free to contact me and we will do our best to get it heard or addressed. drylakesracersau@hotmail.com

The next General Meeting is planned for the 16th of August, hopefully by then we will be in a much more favourable position.

DLRA Newsletter Issue 68 April 2020 published

At the April DLRA Committee meeting it was decided that under the current circumstances and with the losses incurred by having to cancel 2 events in 2020, that the DLRA could not afford to proceed with the a World Speed Trials Australia event for 2021 unless a very significant sponsor was to come on board.
The dates for Speed Week 2021 were confirmed.