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DECA stands for Driver Education Centre of Australia.
For the Skylines Australia VIC club this weekend stands to be a jam packed motorsport event at some of best facilities VIC has to offer.
These days have become the clubs "signature" motorsport / battle style event for all drivers & members of the club.
If you want to battle it out with another driver, take on a specific car or just see who you can beat 'tournament' style then the Skylines Australia VIC DECA days are for you. The days include a variety of events aimed to cater for all drivers and all types of cars. The events include skidpan maneuvering, skidpan style battles, skidpan sprints, short track sprints and long track sprints.
All of the events are run under controlled conditions and include the standard safety systems to ensure driver and driver safety.
The club has exclusive access of the facilities for the day and this includes, provided BBQ lunch, restrooms, pit area and spectator areas for the drivers, entrants and spectators.
Entry fee for the most recent Skylines Australia VIC DECA day is approx $120 which covers your entry fee in the car of your choice.
The requirements or "regulations" on cars cover the basic items and are fairly straight forward;
- Roadworthy car
- Roadworthy/suitable/safe tyres (can be slicks, semi competition rubber or normal street tyres)
- No loose items in the car
- No loose items in the boot (tyre, jacks, tools, subs etc)
- No loose items in the engine bay
You are also required to have the following;
- Skylines Australia VIC Membership (or other CAMS affiliated club members, if using a CAMS license)
- Helmet (For safety requirements, please ensure you read the event Supplementary Regulations)
- CAMS or AASA Membership for Insurance Coverage
The event is open to all sorts of cars, some of the cars we have had in the past;
- Skyline GTRs (32/33/34)
- Skyline GTSTs (32/33/34)
- Evolution Lancers
- Subaru WRX's, Libertys
- Monaro’s / Big V8s
- Silvia, 180sx's, 200sx's
- Mustangs and old classics
- Targa rally cars
- High Spec track cars
- Anything with power
The Skylines Australia VIC DECA motorkhana weekends usually consist of the following itinerary;
Friday NightHead down in convoy style to Shepparton VIC from Melbourne
We usually depart Donnybrook Shell around 7:30pm on the Friday night.
This gives everyone who finishes work late a good chance to get the meet point and form a group before we depart.
Once we arrive the rest of the night is left for everyone to do as they please, some do last minute car changes, tyre changes, testing, socialising and anything else fun. We usually stay at the local caravan/cabin park in Shepparton as there's plenty of room and the club gets big group discounts for its members & drivers.
Saturday
The morning brings an early start for everyone involved in the event as the cars need to be at the facility (5 minutes from the main caravan/cabin park) just after 8am. This is so all entrant cars can be checked for safety and scrutineering is performed on all cars competing. The scrutineering is much like a normal car roadworthy and checks obvious things like loose items, tyres, engine bay, cabin is free from loose items etc. Things like the spare tyre, jack etc must come out of the car.
The morning session involves the entrants splitting up into two groups. Group #1 (usually 25 cars) do the skidpan events and Group #2 do the short and long track events. Once both groups are completed they flip over and do the opposite events to cover all of the morning’s events.
Typical Event Schedule (sample)
You can see here the run of events and times, and how the groups are split into two.
Morning Skidpan Events (sample)
These are your typical skidpan events, you must do this as quick as you can in your car. There is only one car on the skidpan at any one time of course.
Morning Short Wang/Long Wang (track) Events (sample)
These are your short and long track events. You must do this as quickly as you can in your car (helmet required).
Lunch break is usually around 12:30pm and the club puts on a BBQ for the drivers, entrants and spectators to enjoy a cheap lunch at the BBQ facilities.
The usual range of sausages, hamburgers, rolls, bread, onion, bacon, cheese etc is available also available are the usual ranges of soft drink and bottled water.
The Afternoon sessions involve both groups going head to head on the skidpan in a split battle style tournament series of events.
These usually include complex layouts and obstacles on the skidpan to test even the best drivers the club has to offers.
You can elect who to "battle" against or you can just go against random cars if you wish.
Once the final events have been run it is time to close the event, thank everyone for coming, clean up and then head back to the caravan/cabin park.
For those who choose to stay Saturday night the club usually has a group social catch up at the cabins/caravan park.
This is just to get everyone together and to reflect on the day’s motorsport fun. This usually includes a few social drinks as a wind down from a busy day.
The night plan includes our standard trip to Taco Bills in Shepparton for some cheap dinner/snacks and very large drinks.
The drinks they have to offer under the standard run of mill build are 1.4L Margarita’s of your choice which range from tequila, vodka, rum etc in some fancy flavours to sort out your taste buds. Jam packed with flavour the drinks really quench your thirst after a busy day of motorsport. No cars are needed as its walking distance from everything so you don't have to worry about driving home/around etc.
After dinner we usually go to the local clubs for some tunes, drinks and more socialising. This is a big key part of the event.
The club is driven by fantastic days of motorsport fun, challenges and thrills and then big social wind downs at a local pub/club.
Sunday entails for most a big hangover along with a slow and quiet trip back to Melbourne in the early afternoon/lunch time.
Skylines Australia VIC DECA Video
Skylines Australia VIC DECA Promotional Video
Skylines Australia VIC DECA Photos
The main skidpan area, the 'GAZOOM' wrx takes on the challenge with no worries at all
Nigel’s GTR32 dishes out plenty of power and powers through the skidpan
The 350z smokes 'em and unleashes some fury
Craig gets ready to launch his R333 Skyline at the start of the long wang
Mario kicks up some dust on the short wang manevouring area
Pete in his R34 GTT drifts out of the long wang manevouring area
Ash prepares the BBQ food and gets ready for the onslaught of hungry dudes at lunch
Spectator city in front of the main skidpan area, with shade provided by the porta-a-tent
Official t-shirts we made up for the 2006 DECA series
Tony's WRX STI - This thing does the BEST 4wd doughnuts, helicopter style!!!
Oh noes!!! Car troubles as everyone rushes to put our what is thought to be a fire
Passenger laps are allowed. For safety requirements, please ensure you read the event Supplementary Regulations.
Broken car needs manual intervention to be moved out of the way
Group shot outside Taco Bills in Shepparton after dinner; they are big nights out in Shepparton!!!
Really big 1.4L Margarita’s for the masses, these drinks are ace!!
Michael playing a night shot @ pool in one of the clubs in Shepparton
Ash performs some late night surgery on a 200sx Friday night
Saturday Morning scrutineering and event run down before the day starts
Nigel’s Toyota Supra track car comes to DECA to unleash fury
Two track cars do battle - Andrews R34 GTR and Nigel’s Toyota Supra
Dave smoke's up his Ford XR6 Turbo for constant tyre burning
Pete trying to show off cuts across the barrier line and eats up some witches hats
Andrews R34 with battle style stickers and decals
Nigel’s Supra comes off the trailer Saturday morning
Some cars drive up, some come on trailers
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