Pedal Powered fun

Now in its fifth year the Australian Pedal Car Grand Prix continues to grow in popularity.

The race has all the excitement of Albert Park, without the exhaust fumes, roar of V8 engines and protesting neighbours.

In contrast, the Pedal Car Grand Prix is an event that the whole community gets behind. That is the whole community of Coleraine.

Coleraine is a small town in South West Victoria with the population of 1200. You may have seen it recently on the ABC News, under water!

With the sun shining and the whole town out on the streets enjoying this popular community event, it was hard to imagine just a few weeks ago that the same streets were waist deep in water.

For the race, Coleraine transforms its main street into a race-track, complete with pit stops. The course of the race track did need to be altered due to the floods. The original track took in one of the back streets closer to the river which had been badly damaged in the floods and is a risk. What this meant for the course was the inclusion of a couple of technical hair-pin turns to keep the track in a more condensed area. The degree of difficulty was magnified for the competitors along with degree of excitement for the spectators as cars come to grief on the tight bends.

You could say it’s the ‘environmentally friendly’ alternative to the engine powered Grand Prix. The cars here are pedal powered, and most cars are made from recycled materials salvaged from the local tip. The competitors also get a good work out as they race around the 1.2km track for the 2hr endurance race. So, for the competitors at least, the race is healthier too.

Competitors are encouraged to be imaginative when building their pedal cars. There aren’t too many rules as far as the design goes but the cars do need to be single seaters and driven solely by leg power.

The Australian Pedal Car Grand Prix raises funds for several local community groups in the district. The Coleraine Hospital and the Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation have been major beneficiaries of money raised.

Organisers of the event were very pleased with the turn out. Commentator of the race, John Lawson commented, “Every child that went past me while I was commentating had a big smile on their face, no matter how exhausted they were, and that’s what its all about- community participation. Its healthy; kids enjoying themselves, and that’s what it is all about to get a lot of fun and enjoyment for the town.”