Events are an important cornerstone of motoring culture, regardless of their size or regularity. From a weekend ‘cars and coffee’ or club cruises and rides, right through to the large headline fixtures like Summernats or World Time Attack.
These gatherings provide opportunities for enthusiasts to get among likeminded folk and live the lifestyle. Those up early enough on a weekend may spot special cars and bikes heading to one or more of these dotted around the country.
Many have favourites that they attend regularly, but lots of people also follow the “variety is the spice of life” method, and go to different events. While we agree, knowing where to go can be a little convoluted.
Until recently, the only way to do that was rely on mates or clubs, or trawl Facebook or other social platforms. That’s all changed, with the launch of an app that lets event organisers tell the world what’s on and where.
Events catered to the entire scene can be found in the palm of your hand, including sports cars or vintage, 4X4 or prestige, even motorcycles. You can even narrow down what’s on offer to where you live, or where you’re headed.
The brainchild of two friends (Justin Ruggier and Blake Smith) and born while heading to an event, TorqueBase is a free app, available on any IOS or Android device. It’s a user driven space where organisers can upload their events (for free), to share with fellow enthusiasts.
“As car people we both loved getting to events, but finding new ones was a real challenge. It was a gap in the market that we thought we could fill while giving back too, and fostering community,” Justin said.
Far from simply dealing with the semantics of finding events, the community aspect was an important consideration for the team as they developed the idea.
“We’ve always valued the sense of community and belonging. We simply wanted to connect and support as many enthusiasts as possible,” Blake added.
“Life is short, and mental health is real. Motoring has a unique way of connecting people from all walks of life – whether they’re thriving or struggling. Some of the most meaningful connections come from shared passion, and we want TorqueBase to be an enabler for that.”
This writer has been using it for a couple of months, and it’s become a regular fixture. The process is as simple as browsing through the list or using the handy map functions to home in on a geographical area.
A couple of clicks will show you the event and details, with an RSVP function allowing you to save it to your list of events. As an organiser, publicising your event is just as easy. Simply filling out a form to send your event live.
The team explained the design ethos behind the app. “It had to be easy. We’d lost count of the number of times people had asked us at a servo where we were headed, or messaged on socials wanting to know how we find events.” The need became obvious to the team.
TorqueBase also has a chat function where members can communicate with each other. This could be handy to centralise discussions on attendance, or even sharing an event with a friend or friends.
If you prefer to keep your group chats to the existing spaces you enjoy, hitting the share button will copy the event and allow you to paste and share with ease. And there’s no guessing which event you attended either, because it will save each one you’ve RSVP’d too.
It really is an easy way to get your fix wherever you are in Australia (and the world based on our observations), and regardless of the toy you want to show off. You can download it from your app store, or go to torquebase.com.au to find out more.
Thank you for the Feature and support , much appreciated from the Torquebase Team , Blake Smith & Justin Ruggier