Chaz Mostert supporting kids’ safety and wellbeing

There’s no doubt Chaz Mostert loves motorsport, but he also is great supporter of kids’ and youth online safety and wellbeing.

Let’s catch up with what Chaz has been up to off the track with this special report by Ella Dingwall.

After the Gold Coast 500 Chaz Mostert visited Pimpama Secondary State School on behalf of Optus to talk all things online safety to year 7 and 8 students.

The Optus Digital Thumbprint program has visited many schools across Australia, and some schools have been lucky enough to have Chaz, the iconic V8 Supercars driver and Optus ambassador, attend to talk about online safety, cyberbullying and its effects on young people.

The students of Pimpama were very excited to see the Mobil 1 Optus Racing team’s Mustang sitting on their oval, with the sound of the car pulling in attracting many students. What shocked them even more was when Gold Coast’s very own Chaz Mostert appeared sporting his iconic Pit Vipers.

With the very familiar face presenting the talk, all students were eager to hear what he had to say, assuming correctly that if Chaz cared so much about it, it must be serious. Chaz then answered some of the students’ burning questions such as “How fast does your race car actually go?” to which the answer is always “fast.”

The main message throughout the day was to remember that there are people behind all screens, and if you wouldn’t say something to someone in person, that doesn’t then give you the right to say it to them over any social media platform. Chaz also touched on what to do if you ever found yourself the target of online trolling or bullying. Children today are growing up in a world where being online and interacting with people online is most likely an everyday thing, so it is so incredibly important for all children to have a trusted adult that if anything was to happen where they felt unsafe or targeted, an adult be there to help them through the situation.

The day ended with Chaz handing the reigns over to the students, saying that they are the future, and that in order to help make social media a positive place, the change must start now.

During the Gold Coast 500 Supercars weekend a handful of students from Toogoolawa School were given the amazing opportunity to get exclusive access to the Supercars paddock, Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) garage and meet the team from WAU and get a pit tour hosted by WAU CEO, Bruce Stewart.

Toogoolawa school is an all-boys school in Ormeau, Queensland whose focus is on developing good character for their students, many from difficult backgrounds. In the 17 years of operation, over 1500 students have benefited from the education program that they provide.

There was much excitement about getting up close and personal with the Gen 3 Supercars, and getting to meet and hear from the men and women who make it all happen. Hearing all about the ins and outs of the Mobil 1 Optus Racing team’s Mustang was the highlight, with the students getting to look inside and see just how tough of a job Chaz Mostert has, wrestling ‘The Rocket’ around the streets of the Gold Coast.

The teaching staff were very appreciative of the opportunity provided to the students, all thanks to Optus, and the students loved getting to witness the excitement of the Supercars up close and personal, and getting to see behind the scenes of a top tier Supercars team like WAU.

The boys spent the rest of the day cruising around the race precinct, taking in all the sights and sounds of the track. We hope to have lit the motorsport fire within these students and hope to see them back to races again soon.

See Ella’s trackside report on the Gold Coast 500 and Bathurst 1000.

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Ella Dingwall is a high school student with dreams of becoming a motorsport journalist.