Yandina rally ace Ryan Smart tore up the Caloundra Industrial Estate for the cameras yesterday to promote the upcoming International Rally of Queensland.
Film crews from Channel 7’s Creek to Coast captured the action for a special preview episode to run in early May, before the May 13 to 15 event.
Happy Valley was closed to traffic while Mr Smart and fellow drivers Simon and Margot Knowles were shot showing the pristine surrounds along Pumicestone Passage.
But once they reached the industrial park, it was all business.
Rally Queensland event director Errol Bailey said the national exposure was a coup for the Sunshine Coast. More than 5000 people flocked to last year’s event and Mr Bailey hopes the media exposure will draw a much bigger crowd. In fact, organisers are so confident they have planned an additional special stage at the industrial park on the Saturday night. They also hope to maximise the use of the Big Pineapple as a stop-over point if the Bowden family have opened their proposed car museum in time. Mr Bailey said the rally was one of only three international events held around the country. Teams will come from China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Caledonia and New Zealand as well as from across Australia. “The rally will be the biggest event in Caloundra in 2011,” he said.
– Credit: www.rally.com.au