They fought the law and the law won: Beat the Blue 2024

The 2024 Beat The Blue challenge – a charity event that pits police versus car enthusiasts in a test of skill on a wet skid-pan – has raised $50,000 for Police Legacy, which supports the families of fallen police officers.

The latest instalment of Beat the Blue – held at Sydney Motorsport Park, formerly known as Eastern Creek – attracted a record crowd of 35,000 spectators on Saturday night (29 June 2024). 

Above and top: NSW Police Highway Patrol in front of a record crowd at the 2024 Beat The Blue challenge. Photos: Kilo Hotel Photography.

Although this was the eighth running of the event, it was only the fourth time car enthusiasts – driving everything from Minis to McLarens, and from Kias to Porsche Carreras – have been able to test their skills against NSW Police Highway Patrol in a contest of precision.

The event (which is a community engagement exercise to bring police and car enthusiasts together) also held a Show And Shine car show – with everything from Fords to Ferraris.

One of the NSW Police Polair helicopters dropped in so kids – and parents – could get a closer look at the technology inside.

Although not quite a petting zoo, the Mounted Police brought along a couple of horses for display.

And behind pit lane, a team of NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol motorcyclists – who conduct escorts and ‘green-light corridors’ for dignitary visits, when they’re not patrolling the roads of NSW – performed demonstrations of skill on a tight course around safety cones, in an area not much bigger than a backyard swimming pool.

But the crowd was mainly there to see 99 car enthusiasts – who apply online to be a participant – take on the NSW Police Highway Patrol who were driving their usual fleet of BMW 5 Series sedans and Chrysler SRTs.

The final marked highway patrol Holden Commodore SS sedan in NSW – which has been kept as a museum piece after the closure of local car manufacturing in 2017 – was one of the stars in sideshow alley, alongside a Ford Falcon GT and an electric BMW SUV in police markings.

As happens every time enthusiasts try to take on the law, most participants overdrove their cars and either spun out or could not get anywhere near the accuracy of the police.

Countless cars – including V8 Commodores, turbo Falcons, and even a McLaren – mostly overdid it with the accelerator pedal or spun out.

Above: Can’t park there mate.

Some drivers also appeared to have disabled their car’s stability control for the exercise – an amateur move as they effectively disabled the one piece of technology that might have stopped them from spinning out.

Show-goers – and drivers – may not have realised it at the time, but what the test of skill demonstrated is that driving like a muppet actually isn’t fast or clever.

Slow and steady won the race, as police proved time after time.

The final score after 99 tests of skill and precision on a wet skid pan was as follows: Police: 83. Public: 16.

The top three were drivers who race and/or regularly compete in Motorkhana events: Jackson Walls in an Audi RS3, Duvashen Padayachee in a Porsche Taycan electric car, and Gareth Wiggan in an Audi S1.

The final knockout winner was Gareth Wiggan (pictured below), who has won the event before.

Of special note – and one of the stars of the show – was 12-year-old Marcus (pictured below) who finished fourth out of 99 participants driving his dad’s BMW M2.

Marcus is still so short he needed a pillow on the seat so he could see over the steering wheel and reach the pedals.

Marcus is no amateur, however, he races karts and has been building up his skills in recent months with tuition from Driving Solutions to hone his craft.

Above: The kid driving this car is 12 years old. And he drives better than most of you.

Beat the Blue is not for-profit-charity event that raises money to help the families of police officers who have died in the line of duty.

The organisers – a mix of police and industry experts – volunteer their time, expertise and resources to make the event happen.

The Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) which operates Sydney Motorsport Park donated the venue time and lighting.

Driving Solutions – a driver training firm that covers everything from learners to race drivers – organises the event on the ground, and is the same company that volunteers its time for the learner driver evenings where novice motorists get to experience RBT stops and ask road safety questions in a closed-course environment.

Following this year’s massive turnout, organisers are already working on next year.

If this year’s crowd was any indication, the best advice for show-goers next year is to arrive early to avoid the traffic outside.