CAMS celebrates motor sport royalty

An initiative by CAMS (the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport) will see motor sport royalty inducted into a new Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame.

The celebratory evening will take place on Friday April 1, 2016, when a select group of Australian motor sport greats from two and four wheel disciplines will be inducted into the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame.

The newly established Hall of Fame is strongly supported by Motorcycling Australia (MA), Karting Australia, the Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA), Speedway Australia, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and V8 Supercars.

The Hall of Fame will pay tribute to all disciplines of the sport; speedway, drag racing, circuit racing, rallying, motorcycle racing, karting and off-road racing, across the entire duration of Australia's proud motor sport history.

Motor Sport Hall of Fame Committee Chairman Garry Connelly AM said the initiative was an historic and important step.

"Australian motor sport has an extremely rich and successful history of which we are rightfully very proud," Connelly said.

"The first group of inductees will comprise approximately 30 individuals who have made incredible contributions to our sport on both two and four wheels. It is incumbent on us to pay tribute to these outstanding people and as such the entire motor sport community is driving this initiative.

"It promises to be a truly memorable event, the scale of which will not be repeated given the number of inaugural inductees."

V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton said, "V8 Supercars is proud to support this fantastic initiative and we congratulate the Committee and CAMS for their efforts to bring the Hall of Fame vision to reality.

"Australia has many drivers past and present who deserve recognition as heroes and history makers, living legends and champions and we look forward to celebrating as part of the Australian motor sport family.

"We know our fans will be delighted to see their heroes celebrated in this way and we look forward to April 1 2016 as much as they do."

Motor Sport Hall of Fame inductees are selected by a voting panel comprising representatives from each discipline of the sport and three highly respected and experienced motor sport journalists.

The inaugural induction will take place at an exclusive induction dinner to be held at Melbourne's Crown Palladium on Friday April 1, 2016 (the Friday evening of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix).

The event will be attended by an array of motor sport luminaries and will be open to members of the public, with tickets set to go on sale from October 1, 2015.