Premier Speedway officials will contact politicians this week in an attempt to get key telecommunications infrastructure in place to aid safety and help grow the internationally renowned Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Speedway general manager David Mills made pointed comments about a lack of support for the event at the weekend in regards to ongoing communications issues.
He explained those comments on Monday, saying that safety and the continued growth of the Classic were being hampered by the club having difficulties getting National Broadband Network (NBN) services in place.
Mr Mills said an initial quote of $20,000 was previously accepted by the club, but that quote was then withdrawn and then another quote received for more than double.
He said currently it would cost about $50,000 to have NBN "hard wired" into Premier Speedway.
The NBN media centre was contacted on Monday but not able to provide a comment.
"The long and short of it is that the issue we have is around internet services and telecommunications," Mr Mills said
"We need to get some government bodies behind us to help push our cause. We plan on talking to local politicians this week to try and get some help."
Mr Mill said on the first night of the Classic there was an accident which could have led to serious injuries.
He said communications were down which put the club and competitors in a dangerous situation.
"How can we operate under those circumstances?" Mr Mills asked.
"We have a duty of care. We need to get some movers and shakers on board to resolve these issues.
"Safety is our primary concern, absolutely it's our first priority."
Mr Mills said the club paid for insurance and a lot of boxes had to be ticked to do everything possible to provide the best care for competitors and patrons.
"We need to be a competitive business when we have such a key date. The Classic is a major event but people expect it to be live streamed and when that doesn't happen it reflects poorly on us," he said.
"The current circumstances are difficult and frustrating."
The general manager said the club was prepared to work through whatever red tape was required but the more than doubling of the NBN quote made the upgrading of the communications services now unfeasible.
"The profit margin for the Classic is not what people expect. It has to off-set other meetings where we do not make a profit," Mr Mills said.
"The 4G just doesn't cope when we have a full house, like we had on the weekend. We just couldn't have rung out when we needed to."
Mr Mills said the gates were shut at 3pm Sunday due to the sell out.
"We've just had a very successful meeting, mainly due to the guys and girls who volunteer their time and effort," he said.
"We do what we can but people expect a certain level of service and we have to be mindful to continue to grow the Classic as an international event.
"We have to provide bang for buck, we can't just rip into the punters or short-change competitors and we need to be able to provide the services that are expected."
