Inaugural Motor Sport Hall of Fame event

Motor sport’s night of nights 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 an initiative of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), 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."

CAMS President Andrew Papadopoulos said: "It is fantastic that motor sport now has a Hall of Fame. CAMS is extremely proud to have brought all of our sport together to recognise the achievements of outstanding contributors to Australian motor sport."

MA President Tania Lawrence said: "Australian motorcycle racing has produced exciting and significant champions in our long history of the sport and we are delighted to be able to acknowledge some of those champions at this important event."

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, 1st April 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.