New Finke Desert Race safety rules to impact popular camping spots

New spectator safety rules for the Finke Desert Race means some popular camping spots will be off limits at this year’s event. Read what other changes have been put in place.

New safety measures introduced in order for the 2023 Finke Desert Race to go ahead will come at the cost of some popular campsites along the track.

The race is scheduled to take place during the King’s Birthday long weekend from June 9 to 12.

The race committee revealed last week due to evidence presented at a recent coronial inquest, Motorsport Australia was yet to issue a permit for the car section of the 2023 event.

The inquest into the death of Nigel Harris at the 2021 race, which concluded earlier this month, heard there had been multiple calls for more stringent spectator safety regulations at the race since 2018.

Spectators at Finke Desert Race in 2013. Under new rules, spectators will now need to be a minimum of 30m from the track, with some sections of the track becoming spectator exclusion zones.

Mr Harris died when a trophy truck hit a bump coming off a jump near the 35km mark of the 2021 race, fracturing the lower rear axle and leading to the driver having no control of his vehicle as it crashed into spectators.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Finke Desert Race committee said MSA had confirmed they would be issuing a permit, with a host of new safety measures to be introduced.

This includes a minimum spectator setback from the track of 30m, which the committee recognised would render some areas of the track that had previously been popular camping areas now off limits.

It said landing zones over crests and rises along the tracks would now have “significant” spectator setbacks.

Other measures include supervised public viewing points and spectator exclusion or off-limit zones at high risk corners.

“Spectator safety marshals will be stationed along the length of the track to monitor spectators’ compliance with the new safety measures,” it said.

“Spectators have a significant role to play to ensure a smooth and safe running of the 2023 Tatts Finke Desert Race, and there will be a zero tolerance approach to spectators who fail to follow the new safety measures or instructions of marshals, officials, event staff and NT Police.”

Finke Desert Race Committee president Antony Yoffa told ABC radio there would be multiple sections of the track that would now be spectator exclusion zones or would require distances of up to 200m between cars and spectators.

Mr Yoffa said a “significant” number of people would be displaced from where they’d watched the race in previous years. Picture: SUPPLIED

“There will be a significant number of people that will be displaced from where they were in previous years, that’s how it is, that’s how it will stay, that’s how it’s had to be,” he said.

He said the committee had come “very close” to making a call on not having a car event at the race this year, but had been able to negotiate a way forward with the support of the Territory government.

“They asked us ‘how can we give you extra resources?’ so for example there will be extra vehicles provided which will allow spectator marshalls to be mobile, rather than having to use their own vehicle or be on foot, they’re providing traffic managers, there’s a whole host of additional support they’re giving us,” he said.

“They’ve been the circuit-breaker which helped get us over the line as well as an enhanced spectator management plan.”

He said a surge of people had volunteered to be spectator marshalls, with about 60 marshalls expected to be in place on race day.

He could not say exactly where all the spectator exclusion zones would be.

“We’re still working through that now,” he said.

Originally published as New Finke Desert Race safety rules to impact popular camping spots