MINUTES OF THE GENERAL MEETING OF
THE ASSOCIATION OF NORTH-WESTERN CAR CLUBS HELD AT THE HOLIDAY INN, RUNCORN, ON
TUESDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2006
WELCOME
The
Chairman, Bob Milloy, welcomed delegates to the
meeting together with Bruce Goddard, MSA’s Business
Development Director. A brief silence was held in memory of Sue Toni.
ATTENDANCE
15
member clubs were represented by 13 delegates as follows:
Accrington MSC (Eve Fisher, Steve Johnson), British Rally
Marshals Club (Mike Farnworth), Caernarvon
& Anglesey MC (Jim Jones), Clwyd Vale MC (Peter
White), CSMA (Eve Fisher, Steve Johnson), Cumbrian
Rover OC (Katy Maashiter), Glossop
& DMC (John Buckley), HRCR (Stan Appleton), Ilkley
& DMC (Stan Appleton), Kirkby Lonsdale MC (Katy Mashiter, Bob Milloy), Knutsford & DMC (Steve Skepper),
North Wales CC (Dave Thomas), Potteries & Newcastle MC (Eric Cowcill), Stockport
MC (Bob Milloy), Wallasey
MC (Bill Turner),
Officials
present were: Bob Milloy (President), Eric Cowcill (Treasurer), Katy Mashiter
(Press Officer), Dave Thomas (Championship Coordinator), Stan Appleton (General
Secretary).
APOLOGIES
Apologies
for absence were recorded from Jim Spencer (BRCA), Nigel Bayley
(Ecurie Royal Oak), Richard Murtha (Bury AC), Mark
Wilkinson (Stockport MC/Motorsport NW), Sue Sanders-Peppitt (Potteries & Newcastle MC).
MINUTES
The
minutes of the August 2006 meeting were agreed as a true record following a
correction. The reference in ‘Other Venues Liaison’ to Leighton Hall should read Lytham
Hall.
MATTERS ARISING
Toyo Tyres – Dave Thomas confirmed
that Toyo Tyres would be giving awards in both the
sprint and the hillclimb championships for the best
user of their Tyres.
Inter-Association Stage Rally – ANWCC had won the I-A event at the Tour of Mull.
Acceptance of entries – Regional Committee had
not been persuaded to endorse Jim Spencer’s proposal on acceptance of entries.
Bob Milloy would speak to Jim with a view to it going
to Judicial Committee.
Event fees – Dave Thomas confirmed
that all 2005 championship fees had now been paid.
Anniversaries – Caernarvon
& Anglesey MC were also celebrating a major anniversary in 2007.
MSA REPORTS
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Bruce
Goddard explained that although now Business Development Director of MSA he had
been a race marshal and race competitor as well as managing banking and
sponsorship arrangements for several teams. He is responsible for the
non-regulatory side of MSA affairs such as commercial contracts, corporate
governance and negotiations with government.
He
found that government and statutory bodies didn’t properly understand motorsport risks and found it easier to reject our approaches, however he is having an impact with DEFRA, HMRC
and DTI by spotting opportunities for seeking funds. For example money from
‘social inclusion’ funds could be used to bring cruising into the motorsport fold. Volunteers in Motorsport has significant government funding.
MSA
has provided some pump-priming money for the Rally Elite and
Credit
card licences will come for 2007, enabling an
electronic judicial system and ultimately to streamlined signing-on. Those
seeking licence upgrades will need to record signatures
on a tear-off slip in the new Blue Book, which is itself being rewritten.
Feedback is needed from clubs about licensing and the new Blue Book.
Child
Protection Act guidelines have been
issued. Clubs should take it seriously and sensibly but not fear it.
Alexander
Forbes will become Lockton Insurance for 2007.
Club
promotion was vital and MSA often heard of newcomers feeling unwelcome in some
clubs. Links with one-make clubs were recommended as was use of free
newspapers.
Autosolo was proving an effective and relatively simple way
to bring newcomers into motorsport.
A
proposal is going to February’s Council meeting for a one-day karting licence to enable
newcomers to take part in a specific race in a licensed meeting. Plans are also
in hand to involve endurance karting.
An
open question time included:
Q.
How to access local funds for reaching ‘cruising’ ? No
simple answer.
A.
Club Development Grants – ensure you apply to the right fund. Speak to Allan
Dean-Lewis first for advice.
As
well as the Development and Safety funds there is now a fund for bringing-in
new people.
Q.
Could MSA give better support to Rally Elite/Academy people, at least one of
whom dropped out due to lack of funds ?
A.
Other countries such as Finland have much more (government) money but we have
only licence fees; many licence
holders would object to their fees being used for ‘stars’ when the ability to
get commercial funding is a necessary skill for progress in the sport.
Q.
Despite MSA’s perception,
the BRC is not seen as successful and
clubs have needed to run national or historic support events to cover their
costs. Events used to offer better value for money and people have much more
choice of how to spend their time and money.
A.
There is slow growth, with more sponsorship in the championship. Trying to keep
costs down, eg with control tyres
and fuel-sampling.
Q.
Could MSA pay bills centrally to MOD in the same way as to Forestry Commission,
saving clubs from paying VAT ?
A.
To find out and report back.
Q.
Could MSA have regional staff to enable groups of clubs to tackle bigger
lobbying issues with local authorities, safety partnerships, etc.
A.
A link is being considered with the Regional Development Agencies but there are
difficulties. To link with bodies like RDA’s or Sport England would require motorsport to organize along standard government regional
boundaries, which are quite different to MSA regional association boundaries.
COUNCIL
Eric
Cowcill reported a disappointing meeting of Council,
which rejected or failed to discuss many of the proposed Blue Book changes. The
proposed change to race meeting red-flag procedures was rejected.
He
was mystified about a change to kart rules which meant that if you started a
race you were deemed to have also finished it, apparently to avoid
push-starting karts mid-race.
Credit
card licences will be designed to work with bar-code
readers in due course. Stewards will have access to an on-line database of licences.
Technical
Group had reported that fuel regs had been changed to enable them to meet
legislation. The MSA fuel formula was not compatible with that of the FIA but
the FIA was likely to change. Meanwhile fuel-testing was toothless until the
regs were stable.
In
rallying, Council gave clear direction that hybrids would go after 2010 as part
of the move to production-based cars.
Kart
enduro was recognized as a sport, with links to
‘normal’ karting. The 8m sound test was to be adopted
for karts.
The
recent Baja event was now in the FIA series and will have priority allocation
with Forestry Commission as it has international status, even though it had
only 32 entries and most current
TRAINING STEERING GROUP
Eric
Cowcill reported that within Volunteers in Motorsport, the structure for upgrading will be clarified
starting with race marshals.
The
2007 Blue Book will have guidelines for Cadet Marshals.
Marshals
will be directly represented on the Training Steering Group which is currently
chaired by Dave Pierre, a race clerk of course.
Clubs
will need to keep track of the use of new marshals etc so that government funds
could continue to be justified.
TIMING
Eric
Cowcill reported that Rallies Committee would
formalize the position of rally timekeepers making it clear what activities
were appropriate to Licensed Timekeepers.
REGIONAL COMMITTEE
Bob
Milloy reported that ACU are now employing their own Access Officer although LARA would still continue.
National
Motorsports Week had been successful despite the late
announcement. The next one is 11-19 August 2007.
The
material issued to support National Motorsports Week
is free of copyright and can be used for other promotions.
Russell
Brookes has pulled out of the Rally Stars initiative; MSA are considering how
to pursue the offer of lower forest costs before the Forestry Commission withdraw the concession. The events would need to stand
alone for that formula only, with risky finance for most clubs.
A
lengthy discussion followed on risk management for Endurance Road Rallies.
Manx
Motorsport Marshals Club has come second in the
Alexander Forbes Club of the Year.
There
is likely to be an ANWCC team in the Inter-Association Road Rally, the Powerush in
Bob
reported that Gerry Blythe (Chair ANEMMC) was active on Safety Committee in
considering the proposal that all sprints and hillclimbs
should have a Rescue Unit. MSA were told that there aren’t enough to
go round, given their other commitments and would like to know of events that
had struggled to get them. MSA need to be aware of availability problems
particularly since they also get involved in gymkhanas, horse cross-country
etc.
SECRETARY’S REPORT &
CORRESPONDENCE
An
application for membership had been received from Rally Support North West, a
marshalling group. This was accepted following a proposal from Caernarvon & Anglesey MC, seconded by Wallasey
MC.
An
email had been received from Phil Spilstead, who
works professionally on child protection matters and is available for advice.
Clubs were reminded that Allan Dean-Lewis at MSA is still keen to know of
issues that concern clubs on this subject.
John
Davies has now been appointed as RLO for
TREASURER’S REPORT
A
payment of £2900 is outstanding from MSA for training.
Subscriptions
are overdue from : Aberystwyth,
BARC NW, Barcud, Bury,
CHAMPIONSHIP COORDINATOR’S REPORT
396
competitors have finally registered with just two rounds remaining.
Guidance
was sought on the backdating of marshals points beyond the deadline in the
regulations.
Four
crews had entered the Inter-Association Road Rally in
The
inter-Association Autotest would be at Foxley Estate near
Landscaping
at Ty Croes was likely to
limit events to just the Glyn Stages.
The
provisional calendar for 2007 was complete. The forest championship would have
three new opening rounds. There were a number of clashes although both events
were geographically apart and the meeting was asked if it was acceptable to
include both events if one was in
A
proposal for a new championship for Endurance Road Rallies was agreed.
Website
hits have now exceeded 200,000 !
Winners
of the marshals’ draw were:
August Alan Evans
September Paul Cross
October Gary Jakeman
AINTREE LIAISON OFFICER
No
report
OTHER VENUE LIAISON
No
report
PRESS OFFICER’S REPORT
No
report
TRAINING OFFICER’S REPORT
Dates
for 2007 have been fixed, are on websites and will be linked to the ANWCC web.
A
new college at
CTRLO’s REPORT
No
report
OTHER BUSINESS
Ideas
were still being sought for celebrating the 50th anniversary,
possibly to tie in with National Motorsports Week and
perhaps with an Aintree anniversary.
NEXT MEETING
To
be held atthe Holiday Inn, Runcorn
Stan
Appleton
Daleview
HG3
5DN
01423-712436