In a move that will lead to a significant upgrading of safety for the Australian Rally Championship, Subaru Australia will sponsor an active tracking system across the six rounds of the Super Series as well as the Subaru Rally of Canberra.

The West Australian based company, Skynet, have been engaged by ARCom, through the direct financial support of Subaru, to provide a system that allows car locations on stages to be transmitted back to Rally Headquarters in near real time with the use of transenders in cars and transponders at the SOS points.

ARCom chairman, Gary Connelly, says the new system means that delivery of SOS times will be faster, more consistent, more reliable and more accurate than ever before.

"By being able to more accurately track cars in stages, event organisers will have earlier detection of missing cars, enabling response crews to be despatched as expediently as possible," Mr Connelly said.

"This new service will bring reliable active tracking to every event in the ARC, greatly enhancing the safety of the whole series."

The service will also provide faster and more consistent delivery of results from the field to headquarters, the media and fans.

The deal also means the Subaru website, www.subaru.com.au <http://www.subaru.com.au>, will have exclusive access to the tracking information.

Rally fans will be able to follow the progress of all cars as they make their way through each stage, with split times provided approximately every five kilometres for all ARC cars.
The Subaru website will also have the most up-to-date results service possible, detailing all stage times and overall results.

Subaru General Manager, Nick Senior, is delighted that the company will be able to bring a world class results system to the sport.

"Rally fans have watched internet services developing at the WRC level over the past couple of years, and have seen how this adds tremendously to their access to the cars, the drivers, and to their enjoyment of the sport overall," Mr Senior said.

"Our new rally website will help bring each stage into lounge rooms across the country and make the ARC far more accessible to the fans and the media.

"Importantly, we have also assisted the sport to improve competitor safety and Subaru is delighted to make this contribution."