TBA
2026 Panel Chair
Coming soon.
John Sparkes
2026 Assistant Panel Chair
John contested his first event in 1976 in a Datsun 1600, with brother Sid navigating. Soon after, John began a long association with North Shore Sporting Car Club’s Batemans Bay rally, known as various guises over the years, but best known simply as “the Bay”. John directed the event on four occasions in the 1980s and remained involved till around 2000.
John and his late wife Carol became a team in 1980 and contested many Clubman and State rounds together. When Carol and her father built her own Datto, John started navving for her as well. John was also president of NSSCC for 4 years and he and Carol became life members in 1990. He is also a member of the Rally Car Club.
John was a member of the NSW Rally Panel in the 80s – a vastly different animal to today’s panel. Family life soon took over and John retired from competition in about 1990.
Roll on 17 years and the addiction re-surfaced with John building one of the first rally S13 Silvias in the country, contesting his first event in 2007 with son Andrew, and taking out the NSW 2WD Championship in 2008 and 2010. Later, daughter Fiona became co-driver and despite a roll-over also became hooked. John is having more fun in the sport than ever – loves the camaraderie and the competition – and has no intention of giving up any time soon. John and Carol soon became active again in all aspects of the sport, with John directing the Caves Classic rallies from 2016 to 2018 and Carol becoming secretary of various events until her unfortunate passing in 2022.
John has been serving on the Rally Panel since 2016, as a panel member, Chair and Deputy Chair. He’s enjoying working with committed and passionate colleagues and connecting with the broader rally community.
Paul Fletcher
2026 Secretary
Paul has been involved in NSW rallying (either as a competitor or servicing for someone else!) since the early 1980’s. Simply for Paul, rallying just became an addiction which he couldn’t shake off. It is all of the elements which appeal to him, such as the opportunity to get away from Sydney for a weekend, hanging out with a bunch of like minded people who enjoy the challenge of building the car, competing in it and then fixing it later to do it all again. Even if the car is not ready to compete then he’ll enjoy running a time control, a road closure – it doesn’t matter as it’s the atmosphere which is addictive. He has sat on both sides of the car and navigated for many, many years and more recently, has been driving his own car, a classic Toyota GT Four Celica. “Now that I’m retiring from full time work in 2023, it is a good time to put something more back into the sport and hopefully I can add some value by helping out on the NSW Rally Panel. I look forward to meeting more of the rally community we are all part of in 2023.”
Steve Caruana
2026 Member
Steve has been in motorsport for about 30 years and involved in rallying for about 25 years, both as a competitor and as an official.
Jeff Williamson
2026 Member
Coming soon.