MSA Winter 2011

READER AWARDS

THE

MAGAZINE FOR BRITISH MOTOR SPORT

WINTER 2011

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this issue

READER AWARDS

Contents 05 Forum

32

This issue’s postbag

06 Action replay Cliffside rallying on Mull

09 Briefing

All the latest motor sport news

16 Autosport Show

Previewing this year’s NEC event

ON THE

COVER Chris and Ryan Cooke in the British Cross Country Championship.

Photo by Glen Burrows; feature on p26

19 Opinion

Motor sport has an excellent safety record, despite media suggestions

21 Talking heads

EVs: soon to be lighting up circuits, or just shockingly dull?

50

56 My mistake

22 After dark

Richard Meaden stays up late for the unique buzz of night racing

Martin Brundle says you should listen to your elders – especially if one of them is Sir Stirling Moss

26 Cover story

59 Gear

Colin Goodwin experiences the low-cost Freelander Challenge

Including winners of the reader awards, and roll cage fitting advice

26

32 Clubman competitors

68 Techno file

36 Start line

70 National court

Ben Anderson tries out the new breed of simulators

Gemma Briggs salutes drivers who go to great lengths for their sport

Four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti talks to Andy Hallbery The Puma Trionfo: more elastic than a knicker drawer. An ergonomic lightweight suit that is pleasing to the eye, but probably not worth the extra expense unless you’ve got money to burn Ben Anderson reviews fireproof suits, on p64

74 Simon says

A great day out is about opening your mind, not your cheque book, argues Simon Arron

43 Go do

Road car fun for the off-season

44 Disabled motor sport

Matt Youson on the groups bringing a real accessibility to the sport

CONTRIBUTORS

49 A day in the life

Dr John Harrington, chief medical officer for the Rally of Scotland

50 Place notes

Matt Burt explores Blue Hills Mine

52 Performance

Fine-tuning your motor club

54 Ask the experts Your questions answered

Andy Hallbery has been editor of Autosport in the UK and Racer in the US, and has also edited for Mercerdes-Benz and the Formula 1 Championship.

Richard Meaden A journalist with a love of all of motor sport, Meaden has competed everywhere from the Bonneville Salt Flats to the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Glen Burrows is a London-based sports and fashion photographer. He grew up with motor sport, as his father races in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association.

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 03

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letters

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EDITOR’S LETTER How do you feel as the sun sets on another

season of motor sport? Are you basking in the glow of victory or frantically scribbling down the sums to work out how you’ll pay for next season? Possibly you’re doing both.

To the casual observer, our sport is awash with cash, but we all know that only those few reaching the top echelons live the Maseratis-andMonaco lifestyle. That’s why we decided our final issue of 2011 would champion clubman competitors, the ordinary drivers who scrimp, save and sacrifice for the sport they love.

We’ve heard stories from those with a range of small budgets – from the extreme to the more comfortable – and you can read about them on page 32. We also look at how to go 24-hour racing without a Le Manssized budget, and we’ve come up with some ideas for low-cost motor sport that anyone can afford to take part in.

So if you’re planning next year’s fun already, take a peek at page 43.

Whichever series you have taken part in, we hope you’ve enjoyed your motor sport year as much as we have relished putting together your magazine. In the past four issues we’ve aimed to cover all the topics we thought you’d want to read about.

But what would you like more – or less – of? Do write in and tell us what you want from MSA magazine in 2012. Until then…

We want to know your opinion on which motor sport issues MSA magazine should cover.

Email us at msa@ thinkpublishing. co.uk

Gemma Briggs GARY SIMPSON, SONGASPORT PHOTOGRAPHY

YOUR THOUGHTS!

STEADY NOW COMPETITION WINNERS CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF OUR AUTUMN COMPETITIONS. WELL DONE TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED THE TABLETOP COMPETITION (ANSWERS AT BOTTOM OF THE PAGE). THE PAIR OF WEEKEND WALES RALLY GB PASSES GOES TO DAVID KIRKHAM FROM RUISLIP, AND DEBRA TURVER FROM NOTTINGHAM, MATTHEW VENABLES FROM TELFORD AND PHILIP MARKHAM EACH GET A PAIR OF SATURDAY TICKETS. KEVIN SWANN FROM MARCH, CAROLINE WAINWRIGHT FROM SHROPSHIRE AND PETER KENYON FROM BARROWFORD EACH GET A DUKE DVD BUNDLE AND NICKI ULPH FROM KENT GETS A RIDE IN THE ARIEL ATOM

“Car sickness is not really an option,” says David Evans on page 41 of the Autumn issue of MSA. I’m not sure what he means by that. If it is a passing soundbite to all the good co-drivers and navigators who have succumbed to the dreaded night fever, then we need to explore the issue further. I’ve always needed to take pills, but over the past 45 years the medical world has advanced.

After discussions with the chemist, I purchased a packet of Avomine. Pop a single pill and it works. The information sheet warns of side effects but the only one I get is constipation. It is a small price to pay for the adrenaline rush of getting the pace notes right and having a fabulous time as a rally co-driver. They can’t do it without us – and I can’t do it without the little pills!

Bernard G Baker, Ipswich

TABLETOP WINNER Last issue’s tabletop rally: a brilliant competition. My wife says it kept me

quiet for hours. Can she have some more please?

Philip Markham

SHOESTRING RALLYING I am a competitor with a shoestring budget. Last year I won my championship class in the British Cross Country Championships (BCCC). This year (due to work) I could not enter the full championships so I have been entering individual rounds when time and budget have permitted. I compete in a standard production spec Range Rover Classic, built and run using second-hand parts. It costs me £900 per event to take part in the BCCC; a large proportion of my budget is taken up in travelling expenses as we’re based near Falmouth. The closest event is a four-hour drive. My team is entirely self-supported in budgetary terms.

Thanks to Event Cornwall, Rooftents Limited, Prolinx Suspension, mpad and Opie Oils for their support.

Adrian Eason-Bassett

SECTION ONE 1) 7794; 2) 6; 3) 10, 1,037 SECTION TWO 1) 3; 2) 8490; 3) 803933 SECTION THREE 1) Rutland; 2) 3; 3) 7900; 4) 63, 0.8 SECTION FOUR 1) 12, 2; 2) 7405; 3) 7707; 4) 203; 5) 746030 SECTION FIVE 1) 7302, 7001, 7101, 7201, 7200, 7300; 2) 7; 3) 7195; 4) 5 SECTION SIX 1) 909; 2) 3; 3) 6894

EDITOR

Gemma Briggs PUBLISHED ON BEHALF OF MSA BY: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE MOTOR SPORTS ASSOCIATION (MSA)

Cross-country on a budget: Adrian Eason-Bassett’s Range Rover Classic

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Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 05

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With the sea on one side and a cliff on the other there’s no room for error

06 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

action replay

DATA BURST

WHEN: 14-16 October 2011 WHERE: Isle of Mull WHO: Peter Taylor (driver) and

Andrew Roughead (co-driver) CAR: Renault Clio R EVENT: Mull Rally WEBSITE: www.mullrally.com

This year’s Mull Rally featured 155 stage miles, covering most of the island’s roads. It is one of the rare closed-road events in the UK, and also one of the few rallies to feature night stages.

“I did the Mull Rally to experience rallying in the dark and to practise making pace notes,” says 20-year-old Taylor. “The stages are really deceptive and full of crests, so you really have to listen to your notes carefully to be fast.”

Taylor supports the MSA’s campaign to bring closed-road motor sport to mainland Britain. “I’d definitely love to see more closed-road events,” he says. “It’s what the country needs.”

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 07

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news

IN THIS

ISSUE:

Scottish festival; PM hails motor sport; MSA Academy abroad

Briefing SCOTLAND UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

PLANNING VICTORY FOR BRITISH MOTOR SPORT POLITICS The motor sport community has helped to stave off the threat of a government consultation that might otherwise have damaged the sport.

In July, the Department for Communities and Local Government released an issues paper on the way change of land use is handled in the planning system, including a review of the 14/28-day rule under which 60 per cent of MSA motor sport takes place.

The MSA urged its members to respond and ensure the sport’s voice was heard. “It appears that almost half of the responses submitted were from people involved in motor sport,” said MSA Chief Executive Colin Hilton.

“It is encouraging to see the overwhelming response when there is a matter of significant national importance.”

It was later confirmed that officials would not advise ministers to amend legislation in any way that affects motor sport.

SCOTLAND Motor sport north of the border took centre stage in October, when a week of high-profile and grass-roots events combined to create the inaugural Scottish Motorsport Festival.

Backed by EventScotland, the festival began with the Colin McRae Forest Stages and featured events such as a scrutineering tour for engineering students, an autotest pitting IRC drivers against the media, and school trips to Cambuslang Karting.

According to organiser Alison Clark the initiative surpassed expectations and brought plenty of new blood to the sport. “To see the delight on the faces of 80 schoolchildren as they tried karting for the first time, to have hosted 30 awestruck engineering students in a scrutineering hall, and to have top IRC drivers and British Rally Champion David Bogie take part in an Autotest in a car park made for a fantastic ten days,” she said.

Shona Robison MSP, Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport (pictured top right with MSA Director Tom Purves) was on hand for the festival’s conclusion at the RACMSA Rally of Scotland. Skoda UK’s Andreas Mikkelsen took victory en route to claiming the IRC title a few weeks later. “The stages are so fast and so flowing,” said Mikkelsen. “Crossing the finish line of the last stage in Scotland was the best feeling I’ve ever had in a rally car.”

£7,000

The amount raised for the charity Colin McRae Vision by a forum with Stig Blomqvist, Jimmy McRae, Phil Mills and David Bogie during the Scottish Motorsport Festival Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 09

MY MOTOR SPORT SCRUTINEERING

A Q&A with MSA scrutineer and CIK-FIA Technical Delegate Dan Carter Why did you become an MSA scrutineer?

I’ve always been a fan of the sport and would often go to watch events at my local track, Brands Hatch, as a kid. Being fairly technically minded I went to study mechanical engineering at Kingston University a few years ago, and then found my way into scrutineering to gain experience and make contacts to further my career.

How did you get involved?

John Ryan, the MSA’s Technical Executive, put me in touch with a scrutineer called Ernie Salmon, who became like a mentor.

He invited me to an MSA scrutineering seminar at Buckmore Park to learn the ropes, and my first event was at Lydd Kart Circuit.

The following year I became a scrutineer for Formula Kart Stars, and since then I’ve done events such as the British Grand Prix and Wales Rally GB, and rounds of championships like the WTCC and A1GP. I’m also now a CIK-FIA technical delegate, which is somebody who works with the local organiser to ensure eligibility and safety checks are carried out in accordance with the regulations. I’ve fulfilled this role at all of this year’s CIK events and would love to move into a full-time role with the FIA in the future.

Do you need a technical background to become a scrutineer?

It certainly helps buts it’s not a prerequisite.

The MSA’s training seminars are comprehensive and existing scrutineers are always happy to offer guidance, so anybody who is interested in getting more closely involved in the sport shouldn’t be afraid to give it a go for fear of being insufficiently experienced. It’s a voluntary role but it’s always rewarding, and by being proactive and getting to know the right people you can soon find yourself working behind the scenes at some really exciting, high-profile events, as I’ve found out for myself over the past few years.

10

www.msauk.org Winter 2011

The Conservative conference fringe meeting on legislation and participation, with (left to right) Andy Reed, Gus Lewis, Ben Wallace Ben Taylor and chair Tony Jardine

PM HAILS OUR SPORT AS MSA ATTENDS PARTY CONFERENCES POLITICS

Governing body flies the motor sport flag

“Do you watch Formula 1?” asked David Cameron during his keynote speech to the Conservative party conference in Manchester. “Well, whether it’s the German Michael Schumacher, the Australian Mark Webber or the Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, they all have one thing in common – they drive cars built right here in Britain.”

The Prime Minister’s comments followed a conference fringe meeting – hosted by the MSA and chaired by pundit Tony Jardine – focusing on how reducing government legislation can increase participation in sport, leading to social and economic benefits. The panel comprised MSA Director of Development and Communications Ben Taylor, Conservative MP for Wyre and Preston North Ben Wallace, Sport and Recreation Alliance chair Andy Reed, and Head of Legal and Government Affairs of the Royal Yachting Association Gus Lewis.

The MSA also attended the preceding Labour and Liberal Democrat conferences in Liverpool and Birmingham, with the aim of raising motor sport’s profile by engaging with MPs, councillors and party members. “We were delighted with the turnout for our meetings,” said Taylor. “Not only did we have a number of Lords and MPs in attendance, but we also had representatives from organisations such as Sky, the Football Foundation, the Lawn Tennis Association, the Rugby Football Union and the Formula One Teams Association.

“Perhaps the most significant demonstration of the progress that the MSA is making with getting its message to the top is that the Prime Minister cited motor sport as a shining example of the new economy he wants to build in Britain.

“The more that we can get motor sport recognised for its contribution both to the industrial and sporting wellbeing of the country, the better our chances of highlighting other important campaigns, such as continued forest access and closed road motor sport.”

Find out more about how the MSA engages with politicians in ‘Stalking the corridors of power’, MSA Autumn 2011, page 50

news

TOP TEAMS WELCOME NATIONAL SQUAD MSA ACADEMY The country’s most promising young motor sport talent gained an invaluable

insight into what leading teams look for in drivers when they visited the headquarters of Williams F1 and Prodrive, which runs Aston Martin Racing and the Mini WRC Team.

Team UK’s day at Williams’ Oxfordshire facility began with a question and answer session with chairman Adam Parr, followed by a factory tour with Jonathan Williams and a chance to watch Pastor Maldonado at work in the team’s state-of-the-art simulator.

The national squad then headed to Banbury to meet Prodrive chairman David Richards, technical director David Lapworth, ex-Aston Martin Racing principal George Howard-Chappell, and Kris Meeke’s engineer Teena Gade.

“I think I speak for everyone on Team UK when I say that both visits were massively insightful, and the chance to meet world-leading team bosses and engineers was priceless,” said 21-year-old Lewis Williamson, who finished eighth in GP3 this year. “It was interesting to hear which qualities they look for in drivers rising through the ranks; they need somebody who can grow with the team and give strong feedback to the engineers in order to get the most out of the car.”

NEWS IN BRIEF NEW APPOINTMENTS AT GOVERNING BODY

MSA Former Formula 1 press officer and communications consultant Ben Taylor has joined the MSA as Director of Development and Communications to oversee the MSA Academy, Go Motorsport and MSA publications.

Meanwhile Allan Dean-Lewis MBE is promoted from Head of External Affairs to Director of Training and Education, with responsibility for the MSA’s national and international training programmes.

BALL ROLLING ON NMW 2012

RECRUITMENT Next year’s National Motorsport Week will be bookended by the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the British Grand Prix. Running from 30 June to 8 July, the celebration of British motor sport will build on this year’s initiative, which featured events ranging from open days at top teams to novice taster days organised by motor clubs nationwide.

TOP MSA AWARD FOR STEWARD WOOD

UK CIRCUITS GET MARSHALS’ REPS MARSHALS Volunteer officials at race events will have one point of call for all marshalling matters from next year, with a marshals’ representative having been appointed to every major UK circuit. The list of representatives, selected by the Association of British Motor Racing Clubs, is:

CIRCUIT Anglesey Brands Hatch Cadwell Park Castle Combe Croft Donington Park Knockhill Lydden Hill Mallory Park Oulton Park Pembrey Rockingham Silverstone Snetterton Thruxton

REPRESENTATIVE Mike Cadwallader Peter Scillitoe David Owen Nicki Fawdington Dave Lea Mary Pearson Nick Clarke Chris Bird Fred Bromley Ray Sumner Ernie Preece Phil Owen Penny Norris Tony Weatherley Trevor Jackson

EMAIL n.chair@marshals.co.uk p.scillitoe@sky.com dsowen57@btinternet.com afawdington@hotmail.com d8lea@btinternet.com mep069@aol.com nick@smrc-uk.com uwizard@talk21.com barcfb@gmail.com raygillsumner@talktalk.net erniepreece@hotmail.com philowen82@yahoo.com penny.norris@silverstone.co.uk tony@weatherley.co.uk jackson1@sky.com

AWARDS John Wood has been made an MSA Officiel d’Honneur, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to UK motor sport.

Wood has been an MSA steward for ten years, and recently retired as an MSA Forestry Liaison Officer after 12 years of service.

Motor Sports Council chairman Tony Scott Andrews presented Wood with a certificate and a commemorative clock at Loton Park in September.

ANNUAL REPORT ONLINE

MSA The latest MSA company report can be found on the MSA website, with a limited number of hard copies available on request from media@msauk. org. The report rounds up the governing body’s work over the past year and contains comprehensive financial, licence and event statistics.

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 11

news SCOTTISH SECRETARY GIVES BTCC THUMBS UP POLITICS Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore MP got a behind-thescenes look at the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship when he visited its Knockhill round in September.

At the Fife circuit Moore met home hero Gordon Shedden and other Scottish talent, including Porsche Carrera Cup racer Rory Butcher, Ginetta GT Supercup guest driver Marino Franchitti and Ginetta Junior debutante Christie Doran.

“It’s just a great occasion,” said Moore. “The BTCC is a fascinating and highly professional series – it’s got the stars, the technology, the variety, the pure excitement and great public appeal.”

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES TAKE MSA ABROAD TRAINING The MSA Academy was called overseas for the first time in September, when MSA Coaches Greg Symes and James Wozencroft delivered Performance Master Classes (PMCs) to 19 young drivers in the Maltese capital, Valletta.

According to Malta Motorsport Federation (MMF) president Tonio Cini, the MSA is an important part of the MMF’s growth strategy.

“The MMF was established just four years ago,” he said. “After acquiring full membership status with the FIA, we started to build a plan in close collaboration with the MSA. “The idea of the PMCs was to improve the knowledge and approach of our young drivers.

The PMCs were professionally presented, covering

12

www.msauk.org Winter 2011

important factors such as psychological and physical preparation, nutrition and anti-doping.”

Meanwhile, the MSA’s overseas development work took Allan Dean-Lewis MBE to Cape Town, where he chaired the African Motor Sport Development Workshop. The event was run by the FIA Institute to encourage take-up of its grant aid programmes among nations in the Confederation of African Countries in Motorsport.

The MSA’s international training programmes are funded by the host National Sporting Authorities and the FIA Institute, with the revenue generated being channeled into the British Motor Sports Training Trust for the benefit of volunteer officials in the UK.

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news

NEWS IN BRIEF WAMC ANNOUNCES JUNIOR CHALLENGE FOR 2012

WALES Next year the Welsh Association of Motor Clubs will hold its inaugural Junior Challenge.

Open to those aged 16-21, the eight-round series will feature autotests, sprints, hill climbs and road rallies across Wales between March and October.

CLUB

GRANITE CITY LAYS ITS PLANS

FOCUS

SCOTLAND Aberdeen and District Motor Club hopes to keep its membership high and bring back 1950s airfield venue

Formed in 1909 as a motorcycle club, Aberdeen and District Motor Club switched to four wheels after World War Two in a manner that club president Ian Shiells likens to “the flick of a switch”. Shiells joined the club in the late nineties, and stepped up to the top job earlier this year after serving as a committee member and treasurer.

“Our membership is just under 100, which is strong, but a few years ago it was closer to 140,” says Shiells. “A lot of people stopped competing when the recession kicked in, although I suspect they’ll come back in a few years. We’re always publicising the club.”

As the organiser of the Granite City Rally, Aberdeen DMC is one of eight clubs that run rounds of the MSA Scottish Rally Championship. “Our club’s centenary year in 2009 was also the 40th anniversary of the

Specialists in the design and manufacture of gearboxes and differentials

Granite City,” says Shiells. “The stages are regarded as some of the best in Scotland.

“We also help other clubs with their own Scottish Rally Championship rounds. I don’t think the championship would take place without that support between clubs.”

The club also organises sprints and is trying to bring motor sport back to Crimond, a disused airfield that hosted events in the 1950s. “Jim Clark made his debut under a pseudonym in an Aberdeen DMC event at Crimond,” says Shiells.

“It would be great for a single-venue rally.”

CALLING ALL CLUBS! Send your news to media@msauk.org and it could appear in MSA magazine.

P O W E R

NORFOLK RAISES £2,000

CLUBS Winners of the range of activities in the Sporting Car Club of Norfolk Clubmans Series Championship picked up their silverware at the club’s 60th annual prizegiving. The events raised more than £2,000 for the Air Ambulance and East Anglian Children’s Hospices.

YOUNG NAVIGATORS

RALLY Highland Car Club has introduced a group of schoolchildren to the dark art of rally navigation by teaching the skill as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award.

Club committee member Peter MacInnes gave classes to the year-four students from Fortrose Academy in the Highlands. “The boys showed impressive natural ability and we soon stormed on to more taxing clues, such as tulips and the dreaded herringbone,” he said. “We offered the incentive of competing in a specially organised navigational event, now known as the Fortrose Academy Road Rally.”

I N T O

M O T I O N

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SHOW FEATURES

Highlights from 2011: a Lexus IS F in the Live Action Arena (main), the F1 Racing Grid (below left), and Martin Brundle on the central stage (below right)

HONOURING BRITISH RALLY HEROES

MEMBERSHIP The event will pay tribute to British rallying with a display of vehicles from great UK drivers. Already confirmed to appear are two Subarus formerly driven by the late Colin McRae and Richard Burns, and an ex-Paddy Hopkirk Mini.

McNISH LEADS SPORTS CAR CHARGE

SPORTS CARS Allan McNish, a multiple winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans, will be on hand at the NEC. “As an Autosport International veteran, every year I’m continually impressed by the show,” he said. “There’s no other place like it for motor sport fans.”

TOP CARS FROM ROAD AND TRACK

CARS Show visitors will be able to get up close and personal with grand prix racing’s finest machinery at the F1 Racing Grid – a display of contemporary Formula 1 cars. Meanwhile, supercar fans will get a chance to see some of the world’s most desirable road cars at the Performance Car Show, powered by PistonHeads.

MEET THE GOVERNING BODY AT AUTOSPORT INTERNATIONAL RALLYING Whether you want to get technical, test your reactions against the MSA Academy or simply renew your licence, the MSA will be on hand at Autosport International at Birmingham’s NEC on 12-15 January.

Once again the MSA stand will feature the Reaction Race, allowing showgoers to test themselves against some of the country’s top

young drivers on a BATAK wall. The MSA’s licensing team will also be available all weekend, as will sporting and technical staff.

Meanwhile the Go Motorsport stand will host a selection of low-cost competition vehicles to illustrate the accessibility of motor sport, and motor club representatives will provide guidance to those looking to get involved.

LICENCE HOLDER DISCOUNT The MSA has teamed up with Autosport International to offer licence holders a £5 discount on entry to any of the show’s four days. To gain the MSA discount, visit www.autosportinternational.com or call 0845 218 6012 and quote the code MSA12.

16

www.msauk.org Winter 2011

FORMULA 1 STARS AT THE 2012 EVENT FORMULA 1 Grand prix ace Paul Di Resta, DTM racer David Coulthard and Formula 1 anchor Jake Humphrey are among those confirmed for the 2012 show.

The trio will be meeting fans, signing autographs and taking part in exclusive interviews on the Autosport Stage, as well as visiting the Live Action Arena, the UK’s largest indoor race track.

“Autosport International this year blew me away,” said Humphrey. “I couldn’t believe how much there was for fans to see and do. The show kick-starts the motor sport season and I can’t wait to be part of next year’s event.”

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opinion

MANAGING THE RISKS OF OUR SPORT Recent high-profile accidents have brought public attention to the risks, but motor sport has an excellent safety record, says Alan Gow, MSA Chairman The entire world of motor sport was rocked by the

terrible accident that claimed Dan Wheldon’s life at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October. Dan’s death touched everyone who had known him here in his formative years, before he emigrated to find fame, fortune and success on the other side of the Atlantic.

The mainstream media, however, latched onto the story. Boosted by dramatic TV pictures and the story of an “unknown” British hero, the papers and broadcasters wanted to dissect the accident and understand why they’d never heard of Dan – ironic, really, given the media’s reluctance to acknowledge any part of our sport below the level of Formula 1. Almost overnight, it seemed everyone had become an expert on the perils of oval racing and the perceived design flaws of IndyCars.

The following weekend’s MotoGP crash that cruelly took Marco Simoncelli’s life was another excuse to trot out unsubstantiated and ill-researched “information” about the dangers of motor sport, while radio phoneins asked the public if motor sport was now too dangerous to be allowed to continue.

Leaving aside the obvious differences between IndyCar and MotoGP and the FIA/MSA-sanctioned activity over which we preside in the UK, the fact is that motor sport has a strong safety record and a commitment to risk management that stands up to the closest scrutiny.

There is, of course, an inherent level of risk in motor sport, and despite the organisers and participants taking every precaution, accidents can and do happen.

This is made clear at every opportunity and those who choose to get involved do so at their own risk and in full knowledge of the possibilities.

Back in 1991, after his brother Paul was killed in a British Formula 3000 race at Oulton Park, Derek Warwick visited every circuit in the country to see what could be done to improve safety standards. As you will read in the next edition of this magazine when Derek revisits some of those venues, motor sport safety has come a long way since then, but we must never allow ourselves to become complacent.

Five key factors are generally accepted to contribute to improved safety standards in motor sport: the vehicle, the venue, the personal safety equipment, the skills of the competitor and the training of the event officials and marshals.

The MSA Technical Department is esteemed around the world and, through its endeavours and the commitment of venue owners, we can be confident that UK facilities offer a consistent level of safety that is unlikely to be bettered in many other countries.

We work closely with the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety and Sustainability and benefit from the extensive research that the world governing body undertakes into

have been delivered to in excess of 5,000 people. You should therefore be reasonably confident that all MSA-permitted events are properly run and effectively administered, and, should you have the misfortune to require urgent assistance from the loyal army of volunteers or specialist services, they will be fully trained and ready for the task in hand.

The MSA has also recognised, as has the FIA, that better training leads to safer drivers. The MSA Academy is ensuring that young drivers are taught early in their careers that best practice is safe practice.

This will be augmented from 2012 as the MSA rolls out a regulated coaching structure for the sport that will guarantee the best

The fact is that motor sport has a strong safety record and a commitment to risk management that stands up to the closest scrutiny both vehicle construction and personal safety equipment.

There will always be a balance to be struck between mandating new safety devices as they come to market and allowing competitors a degree of freedom to assess their own needs and requirements for their level of motor sport. We recognise that financial considerations also play a part and, where possible, the MSA aims to allow sufficient flexibility to ensure that advances in safety provision do not exclude competitors simply on the grounds of affordability.

The final two categories concern the skills of the participants, whether they are organisers or competitors.

The MSA’s training standards have long been regarded as some of the best in the world and the FIA Institute’s recognition of the UK as a Regional Training Provider now enables our good work to be shared by other governing bodies around the world. In recent months we have taken delegations to Malta, Pakistan, South Africa and Tanzania.

Back home, the MSA continues to conduct extensive training programmes for all volunteers, officials and club officers. In the past year, more than 160 training days

possible training and development for all drivers in the future.

Sadly, motor sport will never be completely safe and there are always lessons to be learned from the difficult circumstances that occur from time to time.

As the governing body, we have a duty of care to keep all participants in our sport as safe as is practicably possible, but the ultimate responsibility for safety will always rest with the individual.

So as you begin to plan your motor sport for 2012, please make sure you have done everything in your power to minimise the risks to yourself and to others.

In the meantime, on behalf of everyone at the MSA, may I wish you a peaceful Christmas and a prosperous and safe New Year.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Email your comments on vital safety mechanisms to msa@thinkpublishing.co.uk And, speaking of safety, turn to page 66 for a guide to installing your roll-over protection system

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 19

talking heads

ARE ELECTRIC VEHICLES THE FUTURE OF MOTOR SPORT?

YES Grahame Butterworth, Race Director of EV CUP

I think it’s inevitable that if there are a lot of electric vehicles on the road in the future there will be a lot of them on the track as well, because manufacturers need to promote their cars.

I have driven cars with electric motors that are perfectly respectable in their performance on the race track, and some that are quick enough to overtake Lotuses and Porsches and whatever else, so I don’t think people need to worry that we’re going to be racing milk floats.

And at the end of the day, when you sit in a car with a crash helmet on it

doesn’t matter whether the motor is petrol or electric: you’re still out there racing and it’s still fun, and you soon get used to the fact that it’s quiet and you don’t need to change gear.

I think noise does add Phil Price, something to motor sport but Connaught it’s not the be all and end Competition Engines all. And electric cars aren’t completely silent – as well as the tyre roar there’s a sound I’ve been involved in like a jet whoosh, and when motor sport for the you get 15 or 20 cars together best part of 30 years and you start to get a bit of noise.

I’ve always felt that engine But near-silence isn’t noise is part of the spectacle. necessarily a bad thing I’ve seen a few electric anyway: noise cars and they’re a bit WHAT DO pollution has bizarre; you don’t YOU THINK? always been a get any excitement Is changing gear drearily problem for motor from them, and twentieth century? Would sport, leading while artificial the track be soulless without to curfews. noise is probably the roar of proper engines?

Let us know what you think However, with something you about the sport’s future at electric cars you would want if msa@thinkpublishing. would be able to you were driving, it co.uk race later into the would be ridiculous evening, so you could from the outside. run some traditional racing Noise complaints have in the daytime and then bring always been a problem, with out the electric vehicles to people moving next to circuits keep the action going. then complaining about it,

The views expressed by the individual contributors are not necessarily those of the MSA.

NO

despite the track being there first. As a result we’ve had to apply noise restrictions, and we’ve seen that the quieter you make cars the fewer people will come to see them.

Historic racing is a growth area at the moment and attracts a lot of spectators.

Why? Because they love the sights, sounds and smells, all of which you would lose with electric cars. The only advantage would be that you would be able to hear the circuit commentator.

If electric vehicles became the norm in motor sport then companies like mine would gradually die out, and ours would become a cottage industry, with internal combustion cars being engineered and run by small garages in much the same way as steam engines are today.

Of course, the world’s oil supply isn’t going to last forever, so things will have to change at some point, but electric motor sport wouldn’t inspire me, or even my 18-year-old son.

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 21

THINGS THAT GO IN THE NIGHT You don’t need to have the budget or experience to compete at Le Mans to get your night racing fix, says 24-hour fan Richard Meaden When it comes to ultimate driving experiences there’s nothing to touch racing at night. The sights, sounds and smells that daylight disguises all come vividly to life in the darkness. Dazzling headlights and glowing tail lights, sparks from undertrays, red-hot brake discs, licks of flame from exhaust pipes and the lingering tang of tyre smoke combine to make night stints something to savour.

Of course, when asked to picture night racing the chances are you’ll recall scenes from Le Mans, or perhaps the spectacular Singapore Grand Prix. While these are races only the fastest (or wealthiest) drivers in the world will ever have the chance to experience from the cockpit, the good news is there’s never been a wider choice of night racing opportunities for mere mortals like us.

If you’re a novice racer or on a tight budget don’t despair. The Citroën 2CV 24-hour race at Snetterton is a cult endurance classic noted for its blend of fierce competition and brilliant camaraderie. Likewise, the 25-hour Beetle Fun

22 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

Cup race at Spa-Francorchamps provides a 160car grid and incredibly close racing on one of the world’s finest circuits. Naturally, the more money you’re able to spend the greater the opportunities available to you, but whether you’re considering the daunting challenge and 200-car chaos of the Nürburgring 24 Hours or some winter sun in the 24 Hours of Daytona or 24H Dubai there’s a whole world of excitement waiting to be experienced.

You don’t even have to enter a 24-hour race to get a taste of racing under the cover of darkness, thanks to the efforts and imagination of James Tucker. A stalwart of the European endurance racing scene, Tucker is best known for being the organisational energy behind the burgeoning Silverstone 24-hour race, but he’s also the brains of the MSA British Endurance Championship (BEC). Formerly run as Britcar, the BEC was granted MSA championship status for the 2011 season and is going from strength to strength.

According to Tucker this is thanks to endurance racing being inherently good value, and because

Red-hot brake discs, licks of flame from exhaust pipes and the lingering tang of tyre smoke combine to make night stints something to savour

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 23

ILLUSTRATION: SEAN RODWELL

after dark

after dark

Above: twilight endurance racing at Donington Park in 2010. Below: the 25-hour Beetle Fun Cup offers a classic circuit and the world’s longest race

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to compete in ten 24-hour races since 2006: six at the Nürburgring, and two each at Silverstone and Dubai. As you’d expect, each race has its own character and presents its own particular challenges.

For example, Silverstone is – perhaps unexpectedly – one of the trickier circuits to race on at night. Most of the grand prix circuit’s corners are very quick, and when coupled with massive Formula 1-spec run-off areas, minimal reflective surfaces and the topography of a pancake it’s hard to find reliable reference points around the track.

There’s no greater contrast than the Nürburgring Nordschleife. By day the lack of run-off and the proximity of the barriers make it a hairy place to race, but at night the reflective Armco barriers are a welcome

Driving down a bright pit lane and powering out onto an inky black circuit never fails to feel special, nor to add a fizz of nerves in the pit of your stomach

guide to where the circuit goes. Then all you need to do is feel you way between the kerbs, a process not dissimilar to fumbling round your house during a power cut. You should also try not to get distracted by the campfires, disco lights and barbecues that make the “N24” an all-night party for the hardy spectators.

Purpose-built 21st-century circuits like Dubai are less daunting and will even have some level of artificial light at many of the corners. There’s no doubt the lighting increases the level of safety without diminishing the challenge too much (although some purists might disagree), and it’s certainly reassuring to be able to spot incidents up ahead or pick out any tell-tale lines of oil or coolant that might otherwise spit you into the barriers.

In terms of personal preparation, go for an eye test to be certain your vision is as sharp as it can be. I’ve also learned the hard way that not having a selection of visors (clear, tinted and even orange) can be a nightmare, even if you generally race a tintop with your visor open. Driving through dusk into a setting sun can be blinding, as can the endurance racer’s dream stint from darkness into the dawn. A visor that takes the sting out of the sun or enhances your vision in the murky twilight phase will make a big difference to your confidence, reduce your lap times and minimise fatigue.

Until you’ve tried it night racing can feel like a literal and metaphorical leap in the dark, but there’s really nothing to fear.

You’ll see a whole new side of racing from the best seat in the house, not to mention experience an adrenaline rush that’s second to none. It’s one of the biggest and most rewarding challenges you can face as a driver and one you’ll certainly never forget. So go on, make 2012 the season you catch night fever!

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 25

DENNIS GOODWIN

the championship offers teams the chance to go night racing, as he explains.

“Endurance racing appeals to teams and drivers on a number of levels.

Fundamentally it offers more seat time, which drivers love, but it also provides the opportunity to race in darkness. If you have sponsors to entertain, the atmosphere and excitement of night racing also adds a unique aspect to your hospitality.

“The popularity of endurance racing generally, and the MSA British Endurance Championship in particular, is increasing all the time, but we do find the BEC meetings that have an element of night racing – such as our mid-November event at Brands Hatch where the race runs from dusk till dark – are always fully subscribed. That’s a clear indication of what night racing means to competitors.”

So you’ve decided you want to go night racing and you’ve chosen your event, but what will it be like? Well, if my experiences are anything to go by, you’re exposing yourself to unforgettable, highly addictive motor sport. Speak to any seasoned endurance racer and they’ll agree it’s a real privilege to take to the track at night.

And no matter how many night stints you’ve done, driving down a brightly lit pit lane and powering out onto an inky black circuit never fails to feel special, nor to add a fizz of nerves in the pit of your stomach.

Don’t worry; it’s perfectly normal to feel disorientated, even at a circuit that you know well in daylight. The problem is that many of your normal reference points will have disappeared, so it’s a case of learning the circuit afresh. As ever, give yourself time to adjust and confidence will come.

COUNTRYLIFE

CREDIT

There might be serious money invested in its bespoke winning cars, but the MSA British Cross Country Championship is just as open to those on a tiny budget, as Colin Goodwin discovered

26 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

freelander challenge

PHOTOGRAPHY: GLEN BURROWS

Somewhere in front could be Hannu Mikkola in his works Escort. It is

difficult to see ahead through the dust cloud kicked up by the previous car through the stage.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see wildlife grazing, but it’s best not to get too distracted because you’re never more than a few metres from an obstacle that could put the car out of the event.

Or worse. Like this upcoming concrete wall, the unforgiving end of which we will pass by inches at a good 40mph. We have a roll cage and some crumple structure; the wall has foundations and hundreds of tons of mass behind it. The ground is dry, hard and unpredictable. Huge ruts threaten to tear steering arms as if they were dry twigs.

Driver Chris Ratter has an almost religious aura about him, provided by the golden evening sun shining through the dust swirling about the insides of the car.

We could be blasting along a stage of the Safari Rally in Kenya, but we’re actually driving along a large army training ground halfway between Shrewsbury and Oswestry. The grazing wildlife are sheep, but the dust, the harsh terrain and the golden sunshine are all true and you really could be in Africa. Mikkola is of course not ahead in a works Escort. And neither are we driving a conventional rally car. Nor, for that matter, are we driving in a typical rally. We are on board a Land Rover Freelander in a round of the MSA British Cross Country Championship and it is proving to be a real eye-opener.

It’s a joy to come across a new grass-roots motor sport that has slipped your eye. Often it does so because there is an image fixed in your mind that turns out to be complete fiction. I had visions of a cross-country event being a load of blokes dressed in camo wearing Australian bush hats and wellies driving beat-up 4x4s up unfeasibly steep hillsides.

The reality is completely different. The paddock is like a cross between Group B rallying and the Dakar Rally. Much of the machinery is bespoke

Clockwise, from main: Chris Ratter’s Freelander; no-star accommodation for an early start; Ratter on-track; Rick Nixon, mechanic for Ratter; a team of injured military personnel

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 27

and unfamiliar. You can see the odd detail that gives a clue that once, many years ago, a Land Rover Defender was involved. Other machines are more familiar, like a brace of MG Metro 6R4 Group B rally cars. One thing is obvious: cross-country competition is an engineering-led sport. Just wandering around the paddock is fascinating. There’s a vehicle with a 500bhp Jaguar supercharged V8 in its tail, another with a BMW V8 and, not surprisingly, plenty of highly tuned Rover V8s. Word is that up to £80,000 has gone into building some of the cars here. I’m not surprised because there’s a lot of fancy suspension on show and plenty of anodised parts – and those, in my experience, mean lots of cash.

But we’re not here for the Formula 1 end of cross-country, we’re here to take part in an emerging budget end of the sport which, as we’ll discover, might lack horsepower and performance but certainly isn’t short of thrills. It’s the Britpart Freelander Challenge and its purpose is to bring people – young people in particular – to cross-country competition. The emphasis is on low cost and the avoidance of chequebook racing. The starting point is a Land Rover 28 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

Just wandering around the paddock is fascinating.

There’s a vehicle with a 500bhp Jaguar supercharged V8 in its tail, another with a BMW V8 and, not surprisingly, plenty of highly tuned Rover V8s Freelander, which, as a quick scout on eBay or Auto Trader will prove, can be found in ready supply at affordable prices. A standard-looking three-door being driven

by Harry Sherrard was plucked from the classifieds for only £600.

“Ideally,” says Chris Ratter, “you start with a five-door Freelander because the shell is stiffer and the two rear doors make fitting the obligatory roll cage a lot easier.” Apart from the cage you have to install the usual motor sport safety kit: seat, harness, fire bottle and electrical cutoff. Figure on £800 for the cage, a couple of hundred quid for each seat and the same again for the harnesses. Naturally, eBay is useful.

No engine modifications are allowed but you are free to choose the powerplant itself, including the 2.5-litre K-Series V6.

The snag with that engine is that you have

to carry ballast to even out the power advantage. Still, you get a better noise from it and more torque. The area where you are allowed to make changes is, not surprisingly, the suspension. It’s here that a healthy bank account does help. “A set of fully adjustable Öhlins are about £1,500 a corner,” says Ratter. Unfortunately, a set of sexy Scandinavian spring and damper units are beyond the pocket of 20-yearold Alastair Moore-Myers. “I’m having to use the standard Land Rover dampers,” the youngster explains, “which is a disadvantage because they quickly overheat and pretty much stop working. My plan, because I can’t afford to buy top-notch suspension, is to piggy-back the dampers with another standard set so that the loads are spread between a pair of them.”

This weekend’s event is one of six rounds, four of which can count for

freelander challenge

The new Team UK psychologist joined the action to see how the drivers would react to pressure

championship standings. So if you had an altercation with an immovable object, such as an oak, in a previous stage, you can afford to miss a round while you knock the remains back into something that resembles a Freelander. There’s a real variety to the different rounds: some traditional gravel stages in forest, others more hilly and slippery. This event, as described earlier, is an adrenalineheavy mixture of fast open sections, tracks and a couple of man-made hills used during the week by the army.

Watching some of the faster machines running flat-out along tracks and then being thrown sideways past trees has made me distinctly nervous.

Some of the rounds are multi-stage, but this one is a simple 4.7-mile course that each competitor will attack around ten times on the first day and then five on the second. A quick tap on the calculator reveals that that adds up to around 70 miles of furious action. Which is a lot of driving for the £250 entry fee. You can, if you want, enter for just one day for £100 less, but nobody seems to have taken that

Clockwise from top left: on-the-spot engineering; Gordon Monaghan’s self-built ride; Ratter’s caffeine pit-stop; preparing Harry Sherrard’s vehicle; a motto that sums it all up; essential supplies

option – the Freelander paddock is surrounded by tents. This is motor sport at its simplest and friendliest.

It’s a family sport with plenty of husband/wife and father/son driver/ navigator pairings. There’s also a team competing that’s made up of injured military crew members operating under the Help for Heroes banner.

I slip into the seat usually occupied

by Ed Fearnside, Chris Ratter’s regular navigator. Pace notes aren’t allowed but Fearnside will have had a good look at the course and noted any important details.

In front of me is a typical electronic rally computer, not needed today but evidence that the series takes in rally-like multistage events. Also, as Ratter has done, you can use your fettled Freelander in events outside the MSA British Cross County Championship.

Sure, there’s not the drama of a 500bhp engine behind us as Ratter drops the Freelander’s clutch, but within a hundred yards it’s obvious that this is a very fullon sport. On this bone-dry surface the Freelander is soon travelling at over

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 29

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freelander challenge

From top: discussing the action; Ratter’s usual navigator Ed Fearnside buckles up; another custom cross-country job, this time Ian Bartlett’s 3M206

70mph on the straight sections. “The trick with this,” shouts Ratter through the intercom, “is to know when to be fast and when not to be.” Ratter seems to be going fast most of the time and I’m now very glad that we don’t have 500bhp. We fly around a left-hander in a lovely fourwheel drift and are suddenly pointing down the side of a massive concrete wall.

Ratter straightens us up and then nails it as we fly past the wall. I haven’t put myself in such a vulnerable position in a car since I strapped myself next to Carlos Sainz in his Corolla WRC car. Ratter is not in the Sainz league, of course, but he’s doing a fine job.

Once you’ve toughened up your Freelander with hefty alloy bash plates under the sump and rear diff, and fitted its ding-dong suspension parts and safety kit, you have only gone part of the way to creating a successful package. This is a motor sport in which the driver plays a massive part. Attack a rutted section a bit too fast and something will break.

It’s about judgement, experience and car control – not just with the steering wheel but with the throttle, too.

News of the Freelander Challenge has quickly swept around the vast Land Rover world. And, not surprisingly, Freelanders are being fettled in garages around the country. Their owners are in for a real treat.

Possibly even for a surprise, because, as I have discovered, cross-country competition is more intense than you might think.

BRINGING IN NEW BLOOD Through its Go Motorsport campaign, the governing body is spreading the message that it doesn’t take big bucks to take part “Go Motorsport is the MSA’s dedicated programme to encourage participation in motor sport across the country,” says Ben Taylor, MSA Director of Development. “Whether you want to take part as a competitor, volunteer to help or just enjoy watching the action, the world of motor sport is much more accessible than many people imagine.

“Supported by the work of ten Regional Development Officers, Go Motorsport aims to show people how easy it can be to get started and to dispel some myths about the cost of doing so. As the Freelander Challenge series shows, there are a wealth of possibilities available to those looking to enjoy club level motor sport for a very modest outlay.

“The overriding message is that within the wider motor sport family, there is something for everyone, whatever your background and whatever your aspirations. There has never been a better time to get involved in the sport, so check out www.GoMotorsport.net to get further details and all the information you need.”

This is a motor sport in which the driver plays a massive part.

Attack a rutted section a bit too fast and something will break Winter 2011 www.msauk.org

31

Sue Darbyshire, 48, is from

PEOPLE LIKE US A teacher, a young mum, a roof designer and a Porsche nut all sacrifice their energy, time and money in pursuit of motor sport.

Gemma Briggs talks to them 32 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

“I’ve been involved in motor racing since my first wedding anniversary, which was 26 years ago. I knew nothing about motor sport at all but George, my husband, was a mechanic for someone who did 24-hour motorcycle racing. When we first started going out he asked how I’d feel about going to Spa. I’d never been to a motor sport event before and it just completely blew my mind. I said, ‘if this is motor sport, I want to do it’. We started in sidecar motorcycle racing. George built and raced it and I was the passenger; it was something we could do together. We’ve since raced at Spa a couple of times with the Morgan and it’s awesome.

“I mainly do VSCC events with the race car but our second Morgan is a sports car so we do some MRL events too; this year seems to have been exceptional – we’ve done maybe 20.

“The race car I’ve owned for eight years, we bought it for £14,000 as a wreck, and I’ve had the sports car for about five years and it cost £27,500 as a restored car. At the time of buying the first Morgan, we could

DOM ROMNEY

Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire and her day job is designing roof trusses for buildings. She owns two 1929 Morgan Super Aeros with which she competes in Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) and Motor Racing Legends (MRL) events.

clubman competitors not afford £14,000 but were very kindly offered half the money by one of the other Morgan racers – Gary Caroline. The value of the Morgans has gone through the roof; both are now worth in excess of £50,000.

“With vintage cars, the upkeep is a full-time job – particularly the Morgans as they have a very on-the-limit engine and it requires constant attention. My husband spends every moment he’s not working on the cars; we could not afford to pay anyone to do that. But George works for himself doing general restoration, mainly of Morgans. I’m his best advertisement!

“I’ve never totted up how much I spend a year. I work full-time and I spend all of my salary going racing. It’s only because both my husband and I are working full time that I can afford to race. We’ve not had a holiday that did not involve racing for more than 20 years. I’ve never seen a hairdresser and I don’t bother about clothes. We spend no money on our home. It takes weeks to decide whether to spend £50 on something for the house, but if George comes up

I’ve never totted up how much I spend a year.

I work full-time and spend all my salary racing and says the Morgan needs ‘x’ amount spending on it, it is always done.

“It’s our life; we do not know anything

else. It’s a lovely crowd of people. We’ve always raced and never had children but I do not feel I’ve missed out.”

it was going to lead but I’m still racing in the 750 Motor Club’s Toyota MR2 Championship, four seasons on.

“The car has evolved a lot and I am very grateful to my friends, family and supporters who have helped me and been patient with my obsession! As time has gone on it has become a hobby for everyone involved with the MR2 and now it is great to have dates in the diary where we all know we will meet up, have some banter and enjoy running the car. My neighbour transports the car, and his wife and son also help. My wife, parents and friends all

come along; if I did not have their support I really could not carry on.

“I try not to add up how much a season costs as I almost certainly spend too much, but it must be in the region of £3,000 this year. Some of this has been absorbed by others but most has to come from my own pocket. The majority goes on entry fees, with the next highest cost being fuel for the car and the tow vehicle. Other consumables I seem to get hold of quite cheaply and my mechanics are myself and a friendly local garage between events, and a group of friends on race days.

“When the calendar is first published I always hope I can do the full season and attract the sponsorship, as an extra £500 will make the difference. But generally I have to pick the circuits I know and avoid circuits that are car-breakers, like Brands Hatch, as there’s a greater chance of sustaining damage. I haven’t been abroad since 2005 and we holiday in a dilapidated static caravan in Scotland owned by my wife’s uncle. We recently sold one of our road cars so are now a one-car family and we make other small cuts here and there. So long as I can find the money to race and there is no physical reason to stop me, I’d love to carry on. But it also depends on whether the people who help me want to continue and are still enjoying it.”

Rob Barnett, 31, is head of art at a Buckinghamshire secondary school and lives in Towcester, near Silverstone. He has held a race licence since 2000 and competes in the 750 Motor Club’s Toyota MR2 Championship.

“I’ve always loved cars but I’m not from a motor sport family. When I was 18 I started work at the karting centre at Silverstone part-time as a marshal and later as an event director and instructor. I did Silverstone’s week-long race intensive course and then I understood single seaters much more. I became fascinated with all forms and levels of motor racing.

“I started in the British Racing Drivers’ Club Single Seater Championship in 2001 and 2002 and thought I had the money for the 2003 SEAT Cupra Championship, until the sponsor pulled out. I was working a lot of weekends [before he was teaching] so couldn’t race and I almost gave up on the sport. But it is like an itch you have to scratch, so in 2008 I bought a road-going Mark II MR2 from eBay and set about teaching myself how to build and run a race car. I had to strip it and sell all the bits to be able to afford the roll cage. There was one point when I even had four jobs and I sold all my childhood things. The aim was to do a PowerNights event at Silverstone five months after buying it. I didn’t know where

I bought a road-going Mark II MR2 from eBay and taught myself how to build a race car. I had to strip it and sell all the bits to be able to afford the roll cage Winter 2011

Andy Blythe picked up his Porsche 924 for the same price as its roll cage

Andy Blythe, 41, is a motor

vehicle lecturer at Middlesbrough College and lives in the North Yorkshire town. He owns a Porsche 924 that he races in the Northern Sports & Saloon Car Championship (NSSCC).

“I paid £250 on eBay for my car. It had a broken engine but a perfect shell because it had lived down south in the warm. It cost me more to travel and pick it up than I paid for it. It was a road car that had failed its MOT and I’ve had it for five or six years. I race it with a normally aspirated engine because the turbo blew up, but I’m hoping to put it back in over the winter break.

always been about budget.

Motor sport is something I love to do and I’ll do the best I can with what I have.

“Sometimes I come second in class – if there are only two cars! If I can beat two or three cars then I’m happy. I’m a Porsche nut – I’m assistant regional officer for the Independent Porsche Enthusiasts’ Club – so it had to be a Porsche. I could have gone out and bought a Ford Fiesta but there’s so much scope for development with my car.

“The entry fees are about £300 and I put £60 of petrol in the car and go for

best days ever was when I took the black cross off the back of my car. I’d love to get the car out more often and get into the middle of the pack. I cannot see myself ever stopping.”

“Originally I was a kart racer but a friend of mine who had always wanted to race cars started racing a BMW about eight years ago and I used to spanner for him. Now I do a couple of races a year with my Porsche. I usually do the first and the last race of the season – I just can’t afford to do more than two. At the rest of the races I’m spannering for my friend. Previously I’ve run the car as a project with the college, so they’ve paid the entry fee and I’ve built the car with the students for experience. But because of budget cuts I don’t think this will carry on.

“I’ve now got a predicament: do I develop the car and not race, or just race the car as it is? I can’t even afford a trailer. I don’t live too far away from the circuit so I tow it there. It’s always been like this for me; when I was karting I used to drive round the country with the kart on a roof rack. It’s 34 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

it. I’m still running on the first set of tyres it had. We’ve done all the stuff on the car that does not cost money and for the rest it’s all been beg, steal or borrow. The roll cage came out of an ex-Croft school car; I got it for £250 – a real bargain. In total I’ve spent about £3,500 – that’s for everything from my race suit, helmet and equipment to my ARDS test. I’ve always wanted to go rallying but I think that’s really big money.

“I love racing in the NSSCC because of the prestige – I’ve got the signatures on my licence. One of the

DOM ROMNEY

When I was karting I used to drive round the country with the kart on a roof rack. It’s always been about budget. Motor sport is something I love to do and I’ll do the best I can with what I have

clubman competitors Kelly Drewett, 20, is a care

assistant from Tegryn, Pembrokeshire.

She competes in navigational rallies with her sister Lindsey, 19, in their Vauxhall Nova Redtop.

“I’ve owned my car for about a year – my mum and dad helped me to buy it – although there’s no family connection to motor sport. I’ve only lived in Wales for about four years and where I lived in England before then there was nothing like this, only autograss. My friends are into it and I watched a few rallies and thought it would get too expensive building a car. But we found a Nova for about £400 with a roll cage and we only had to do a few bits to it.

“I drive and my sister navigates. I think the navigating is much harder! I love competing; it’s nice to beat the boys sometimes, just to show them we can do it.

I love everything about it:the adrenaline going out there and the thrill of it being all night. My parents are brilliant, especially with money, as if I need to borrow money for an entry they help.

“This is my second year rallying. Last year I only did three events because I was pregnant. My baby is now eight months old and this year I’ve done ten rallies. When you add up the entry fees, I’d say I’ve spent

£2,500 this year. My dad insures his car to tow the Nova, so there’s the petrol in his car too. It adds up; every one costs £250. I do some work on the car but mainly I pay a local rally preparation bloke to do it.

“Most people my age go out drinking but if we’ve got a rally coming up I don’t go out for a few weeks beforehand. I work to pay

for it – I’m a care assistant and do 12-hour shifts. At the moment it’s been tight as I’ve been on maternity leave. It’s also hard for my sister as she’s a university student. Most navigators will pay their entry but it’s been me paying for everything.

“I definitely want to continue. Once you’ve started, it’s very hard to stop.”

I drive and my sister navigates. I think the navigating is much harder! I love competing; it’s nice to beat the boys sometimes, just to show them we can do it. I love everything about it

GREAT SCOT

Dario Franchitti may be British motor sport’s finest export to America, but he came from humble beginnings, says Andy Hallbery

READER AWARDS T W E E T ErR

LAT PHOTOGRAHIC

o f t h e ye a

Drove the DW12 today, still needs some big work to balance it but it’ll be a good bit faster than the old car. It sounds like a Porsche 962! @dariofranchitti

start line

start line

LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Four-time IndyCar champion, twice a winner of the Indianapolis 500 – you

might think Dario Franchitti was served his career on a plate. Well, think again. The Scotsman’s early steps are a lesson in determination, aiming high with your dreams, and not giving up.

Dreamer? Yes. Ask him about his first thought of being a racing driver, and his answer comes straight back: “My dream to be a racing driver started when I was three,” he says. “It’s one of the first things I can remember, but when you are young like that and growing up, everything is simple. I remember starting racing in karts and thinking that Formula 1 or any of that stuff was just a given at that age. Then you get to about 14 or 15 and you begin to realise how difficult this could be.

“After that I never took it for granted, I never expected the success. Even when I was in DTM or when I first went to America, I still felt it was all going to stop somehow.”

Racing was in Dario’s family’s genes, and his dad, George, is pivotal in his career. George knew when to get involved and when to step back, but you still find him in the pits at races today, making sure the helmets are prepared, giving less for his son to worry about. Then he steps away.

In the karting days, though, George was hands-on.

“We would go on a Friday afternoon,” remembers Dario. “Dad would leave Mum in charge of the business, and him and I and Marino [Dario’s younger brother, also a racing driver], and sometimes my sister Carla, and a friend of my dad’s who helped us, would head down. There were three particular friends in my career who would come karting with us, and they still come to races today. It was always a family thing, and while it was an amateur thing, we took it very seriously.”

George won’t say it out loud, but he risked a lot once he realised his kid had a gift. Even Dario doesn’t know the full story. “I don’t think he will ever tell you what he went through, to be honest,” Dario says. “He hasn’t really told me, but I have half an idea.”

The story – we believe – is that George remortgaged their house. A brave move. Even braver was that he didn’t discuss it with his wife Marina. Dario laughs at the thought of this last chance saloon.

“That was the one and only bullet we had left in the gun, I guess. Dad went and borrowed money from the bank – then told my mum later what he’d done! That was pressure. Let me tell you,

TRAGIC END TO THE 2011 INDYCAR SEASON Franchitti’s record fourth IndyCar Series title was overshadowed by the loss of Dan Wheldon in an accident at the season finale in Las Vegas.

“We didn’t want to lose a friend,” Franchitti says. “You’d give anything to have him back here.

Hurt is losing Dan. Hurt is

Getting an early start: Franchitti on the way to karting victories in the Scottish (1984) and British (1985 and 1986) Junior Championships

seeing his family and his friends, and as much as the championship meant to me… as hard as I tried to win it, there’s really nothing. There’s not a feeling of anything. Maybe with time there will be, but I don’t know.”

Like Franchitti, Briton Wheldon left behind his European roots and made his racing fortune in America, joining IndyCar full-time in 2003 and claiming the title at only his third attempt. Wheldon twice won the legendary Indianapolis 500, a second and unexpected victory coming this year despite not having a regular

drive in the series. The 33-year-old had spent the year testing the series’ 2012 car and his death shocked the motor sport community worldwide.

“We know as safe as we try to make it, it’s still a dangerous sport,” says Franchitti. “We’re going to keep trying to make it safer.

“It’s tough. It’s a horrible part of the sport, and it’s a horrible part of life, really. When you see Dan’s family, see [wife] Susie and the boys, you realise ‘whoa’. That’s the tough part, really. The racing part, you can deal with that.”

through the last four or five years racing for IndyCar Championships, people talk about pressure. For me, that’s not really pressure. For us then it was if I damaged the car we couldn’t afford to fix it. If I didn’t win that last race at Thruxton, then realistically that was going to be the end of my aspirations of being a racing driver.”

George plays down his role. “I was chief cook and bottle-washer,” he says. Dario sums it up much better.

“My family gave up so much, and that’s how I was able to follow my dream. When time allows, I go back to Scotland, we sit around the kitchen table, and talk about the sacrifices my family made.”

He’d learned a lot, but the next step was a one-shot chance. That step was Formula Vauxhall Junior, and win or bust. Pressure? Believe it.

“The people that I got involved with at that stage were brilliant: the Leslies, Davids father and son, they were just terrific. They taught me a lot, and it was a very good situation for a young driver to be in. That was something I’d seen them do with Allan McNish and David Coulthard, so that was a really good start.”

Dario won the 1991 championship, but the funds were gone. There was little to look forward to. Then came a gift that would change his career and his life.

“Getting involved with Jackie Stewart and Paul Stewart Racing (PSR) was the next big step. Being involved with Jackie was the biggest thing,” he says, “Jackie allowed me to just drive the car, and learn. He said: ‘I’ll find the money. You can pay me back when you win some money.’

“Then the year I won the Young Driver I’d already done a year with Jackie and PSR.” He had been groomed. Dario’s 1992 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver prize was presented by new

My family gave up so much, and that’s how I was able to follow my dream. When time allows, I go back to Scotland, we sit around the kitchen table, and talk about the sacrifices they made Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 39

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start line McLaren Formula 1 signing Michael Andretti – who became the Scotsman’s team boss in 2003.

“I learned so much from Jackie,” Dario says today, “and from all the people that he and Paul had assembled at PSR. It was a great place to be a part of.” For George this was a tough time. Having been so hands-on and having taken the financial gamble on his son’s career, it was time to pass over the reins.

“It was difficult, but you have to,” George says. “They knew better than me, and know what’s right. It was better than me trying to tell them how to set up cars.”

Or in Dario’s words: “Dad was definitely your typical ‘racing dad’ in karts. But when I got to cars, he let it go. He was always there, but he left it to the team.”

That team is now Red Bull Racing and is dominating Formula 1. Many people recognise that, in a different time zone, that could have been Dario. Instead, he pursued his successful career in the US. Back to his early US days, and a six-month dabble with NASCAR. How did his karting days relate to that?

“When I went to NASCAR I really had to fight against that style,” he says. “I had to learn a new way of driving. I think what you learn from your formative years is very important. The feeling between a kart

Jackie Stewart allowed me to just drive the car, and learn. He said: ‘I’ll find the money. You can pay me back when you win’

Clockwise from top: Franchitti and Emanuele Pirro at the Goodwood Revival 2005; at the 1996 Autosport International Show; in 2007, receiving Autosport’s Gregor Grant Award from Sir Jackie Stewart; with father, George

and any kind of racing car is massively different. But you definitely learn the basics that stay with you.

“As far as racecraft and how to set up a car or a kart, I learned a massive amount. But in some ways, how you learn to drive, how to set up a kart and the style that you develop come from those young days and translate to cars. I still have that same style today.”

Final question then: from your karting days and education, could you engineer your own IndyCar? The response is a big laugh. “I think I’ve been doing this for so long that if they gave me a base setup to work from I could tweak it myself. But I would need that base because of all the calculations and the maths that go into the mechanical balance. Simple things like the ride height or the centre of pressure, and aerodynamics. After that, yes!”

LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

WE ARE FAMILY

If Dario Franchitti’s career was fuelled by his dad, spare a thought for his brother Marino (pictured). The junior by

six years, Marino had an elder brother to look up to. As dad George had been to Dario, was Dario a father figure to his younger brother?

“I tried to be,” he says, “but I think I was more a hindrance than a help, because I had pretty much zero patience. To me, Marino has done things on his own. When I was racing karts I got the best

stuff we could afford.

Marino got the castoffs. Because of that, he developed a much tougher demeanour, and really had to fight for every single thing, and it’s put him in very good stead. As little as I helped ‘Mino’ in karts, when he started racing cars I tried to help him as much as possible.

“The first time we were in the same car,

our styles were almost identical. Our feedback, our feel for the car, the way we drove each corner – it was kind of freaky, actually.”

Then there is cousin Paul di Resta. “When Paul started I was already in DTM, and I was able to support him. When I started racing karts, his dad Louis helped me with my dad, so we were

already a team. I was able to support Paul financially, and when he started talking about moving up to cars, I was able to help him there, too.

But with Paul it was never a case of ‘this is how you should drive a corner’. Paul’s driving style is completely different to mine. And he is a completely different personality.”

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 41

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go do What?

CAR TRIALS

Season over or looking for budget ideas for 2012?

Use your road car for some extra-curricular fun

What?

What?

Why?

Why?

AUTOTESTS Some of motor sport’s great names started out in autotests, where you can show off your car control by tackling – as fast as possible – a course laid out with cones. You’ll have bags of fun practising handbrake turns, powerslides and reverse flicks. Every event has several tests and you should get two attempts at each one.

Where and when?

Autotests at Park Hill Golf Club, Seagrave, Leicestershire, are run by Loughborough Car Club (www.loughboroughcarclub.co.uk), and include one on 13 December.

How much?

Around £15 entry fee, plus fuel.

DRAG RACING If you fancy getting your motor sport fix by doing something completely different this winter, test your nerve with some full-speed quarter-mile runs at a drag strip.

You’ll get unlimited runs and at the end of each one a computer analysis will show your reaction time on the start line, time along the strip and terminal speed. It’s a chance to find out just how fast your road car can go.

Where and when?

Northamptonshire’s Santa Pod Raceway runs regular ‘Run What Ya Brung’ days (www.rwyb.co.uk) for a £25 sign-on fee and £10 admission. For a twist, why not try ‘Drift What Ya Brung’ on 14 December (www.dwyb.co.uk)? The entrance fee includes tuition.

How much?

£60 advance entry fee for Drift What Ya Brung, plus fuel.

What?

NAVIGATIONAL RALLIES NIC AYRE / DUNCAN STEPHENS

Why?

If you tried the tabletop rally in the autumn issue of MSA and it stirred your interest in navigational rallies, why not find a driver and try the real-life version? Heading out at night, you will follow a route along country roads, aiming to arrive at control points

Why? Piloting your car along a set route up a slippery, bumpy hillside – without stopping – is the basic aim of car trials, a great day’s fun for the driver and bouncer (otherwise known as a passenger). There are up to ten variants of the route and four rounds on each event, and your skill is measured on how far up the hill you get, with zero points (the goal) awarded if you make it to the top.

Where and when?

Go to the British Trial and Rally Drivers’ Association website at www. btrda.com for a user-friendly event search tool.

How much?

Around £30 entry fee, plus fuel.

without incurring penalties for getting there too quickly.

Where and when?

Many motor clubs organise navigational rallies. Visit www.GoMotorsport.net to search for clubs in your area.

How much?

Around £50 entry fee, plus Ordnance Survey maps and fuel.

What?

HILL CLIMB Why?

From the glory of Goodwood to the nostalgia of Shelsley Walsh, there’s a real romance to hill climbing, with its emphasis on precision and speed.

Newcomers can join in, as many meetings have classes for standard road cars (as long as a simple timing strut is fitted to the front bumper). Remember to take a helmet and fireproof overalls if you fancy having a go.

Where and when?

The Hillclimb and Sprint Association website (www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk) has a list of many of the events taking place across the country.

How much?

Around £80 entry fee, plus fuel.

All costs quoted are estimates based on entrance fee and a tank of fuel. To find events near you, visit www.GoMotorsport. net and click on the ‘Go Find’ tab.

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 43

ACCESS ALL

There’s a story about Michael Schumacher’s return to

racing, three months after fracturing the fibula and tibia in his right leg. FIA medical delegate Professor Sid Watkins had Schumacher hop, bouncing up and down on his injured leg and ankle until the Prof was satisfied the damaged limb was healed and strong. Harsh though it seemed, the logic was spotless: what if Schumacher went out and broke the other leg? Would he still be able to extract himself from the cockpit and scramble to a safe distance?

Schumacher demonstrated that he could, but what opportunities does motor sport afford those who couldn’t.

What sort of welcome does it extend to people with disabilities?

Dr Gary Hartstein, Watkins’ successor, is blunt: “There are certain criteria where common sense demands you not be indulgent. If a car is on fire then a disabled person needs to be able to get out of it just as quickly, and be able to get the same distance away as an able-bodied person.”

If that sounds like a barrier to entry, then it shouldn’t: it’s a perception of the able-bodied that disability means 44 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

inability, but one not necessarily shared by the physically disabled population.

Fortunately those handing out race licences tend to agree.

“People with physical problems know themselves very well and they know the workarounds,” continues Dr Hartstein.

“I think the medical team needs to be aware of the special needs of From top: Dakar, the ultimate ambition; the various participants in terms of the Motorsport extrication, but even at club level we’re Endeavour team, with Graham Raphael dealing with a population of people second from right; who really know their situation and Captain Tony Harris condition very well, who understand facing the press its implications and who are open and transparent about it. I think basically, pretty much anyone can get a competition licence at an appropriate level providing that they do not have physical or mental conditions that would make them a danger to others and/or themselves. Unfortunately there are medical problems that will prevent you from getting a licence, but outside of those pretty much everything is fair game.”

Graham Raphael and Mike Mackenzie are the leading lights of Motorsport Endeavour, which has the purpose of taking people with a wide range of disabilities and involving them in rallying, racing, hill climbing,

CREDIT

How should you cope with disability, asks Matt Youson?

Simply sign up for the Dakar…

disabled motor sport

track days and a host of other motor sportrelated activities. The level of competition isn’t always intense – among many other events they organise a Beaujolais Run – but the commitment is unfailingly fierce, shot through with a deep-seated love of racing, and has an agenda beyond the simple pleasure of driving at speed.

“Increasingly we find that what we do tends to focus on two Captain Tony Harris groups,” says Raphael. “We’ve and co-driver found that disabled kids really Corporal Tom Neathway in their benefit from getting an early Wildcat at the team’s introduction to motor sport and first BCCC event, we also do a lot of work with which featured on Top Gear injured troops coming back from Afghanistan. We welcome disabled drivers of all sorts, of course, but the children and soldiers are where we concentrate our efforts.”

Raphael broke his neck in 1976, diving into a swimming pool while on a recce for the London-Sydney Marathon. Medical advice said he wouldn’t walk again, but Graham takes a dim view of words like “can’t” and “won’t” and got back on his feet.

Over and above the physical recovery he’s a firm believer in motor sport as a catalyst for mental rehabilitation.

“The phrase ‘confidence is the sovereign remedy’ is one particularly appropriate to what we are doing,” he says. “It isn’t a question of worrying about access for wheelchairs to race tracks. Long before that stage is reached, people with disabilities have to be shown what is possible. If someone experiences something they never thought they would be able to do, then we’ve achieved our aim.”

Mike Mackenzie is a case in point. He’s currently confined to his bed – having had his legs amputated 18 years ago this is a recurring hazard of his condition – though he admits to “probably overdoing it a

DAKAR PHOTO COPYRIGHT A.S.O. – DPPI/VARGIOLU

Graham Raphael takes a dim view of words like ‘can’t’ and ‘won’t’. He’s a firm believer in motor sport as a catalyst for mental rehabilitation

bit,” having recently driven to Russia to take part in the annual Moscow road rally for disabled drivers.

“Speaking from personal experience, when I was injured one of the biggest turning points for me was getting back behind the wheel of a car. I’d been in the Spinal Centre at Stoke Mandeville hospital and thinking rather morosely that my life was over. My rehab programme had been 15 months of learning how to do things for myself again – but driving was when I really felt the relief of being normal. Mentally it was a big leap forward to be able to do that – and motor sport is another step beyond that.”

“It’s much the same for the troops,” adds Raphael. “You can actually see the effect it has and the growth of the individual back to some form of normality. We’re trying to build on that and our current work is geared towards putting together a serious karting competition between the regiments.”

Motorsport Endeavour is likely to find a receptive audience in the armed forces, if the efforts of Captain Tony Harris and his team are anything to go by. Harris and colleagues have formed Race2Recovery, a racing team consisting of wounded service personnel, set up partly to support service charities but also to prove a point. The team’s target is to compete in the 2013 Dakar Rally.

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 45

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disabled motor sport is that inexperience, more than disability, is the hurdle Race2Recovery will have to overcome. Rookies on the Dakar are one thing, motor sport novices another.

With that hanging over it, Race2Recovery is building up to its goal with a fairly intense introduction to motor sport, competing in the MSA British Cross Country Championship and a host of other national and international events.

“We know we’re novices,” admits Harris, “and while we’re aiming at the top we’re starting at the bottom. We’re racing in the BCCC but we’re not up there with Dan Lofthouse and co. We need to build up to a powerful car like the Bowler Wildcats we’re going to be taking to the Dakar and so we’re taking the steps we need to take – though we have to take them pretty quickly.”

It’s here that Race2Recovery perhaps has a built-in advantage. “There are so

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF JIM BLACKSTOCK, RACE2RECOVERY

Rallying with a disability is about beating any obstacle, whether that’s fitting a boot over a prosthetic, or nailing a suspensionclobbering hill

Harris is missing his left leg below the knee. “Just a scratch really,” he says, while pottering around in the kitchen, making tea. This isn’t his last reference to Monty Python’s Black Knight. “About two years ago I was blown up in Sangin, Afghanistan. I was in a Jackal vehicle.

Big bomb. I didn’t get any fragmentation injuries, just blast damage. I was thrown a long way from the vehicle. It shattered both my feet and when I landed – eventually – my left elbow shattered.

“I think it’s vital that the last great thing you do in your life, the last amazing story you have, should not be that day you got blown up, or shot, or hurt or had an accident.”

Viewing it from the outside, Harris’s attitude towards motor sport with a disability is refreshing. “Bizarrely it’s one of the few sports where the disabled and the able-bodied are on a completely level playing field. As soon as you get in the car, it doesn’t matter, and absolutely nobody cares.” Even so, entering the Dakar seems ambitious, definitely a case of starting at the top. But that, says Tony, was the point.

“We wanted to set ourselves a challenge, to do something that had never been done before. The aim is to inspire people, which ultimately comes down to the bottom line of having to prove a point. You have to aim at the pinnacle: anything in the middle would reinforce the message that guys with disabilities have to accept less. Maybe not a

We wanted a challenge.

You have to aim at the pinnacle: anything in the middle would reinforce the message that people with disabilities have to accept less

many aspects of motor sport that our guys can do because of their military background.

We don’t generally race across the desert but we’re good at reading the ground. We’re used to operating with sleep deprivation, we understand how our bodies react to that sort of circumstance and to working in the heat or the cold. We know that the capabilities of a team are based on some really low-level stuff like having good administration, getting the logistics operation tied up – even things like making sure your hygiene is right. This is what makes a racing team work, right at its core. There’s no point racing if you’re not equipped to finish.” life of no challenge but one where Gratifyingly Harris, like Raphael the top end of achievement is out and Mackenzie from Motorsport of bounds.

Endeavour, talks in FIND “Amputees don’t generally fulsome terms about the tackle the Dakar. It’s widely support from the motor OUT MORE For further information known as the hardest, racing community in on racing with disabilities, toughest endurance motor terms of facilitating visit the British Motor Sports sport event in the world. disabled access. “The Association for the Disabled, www.bmsad.co.uk; Hopefully we’re going to advice, access and Motorsport Endeavour, www. inspire other people with encouragement we’ve motorsportendeavour.com; or Race2Recovery, www. disabilities or in difficult received could not have race2recovery.co.uk situations to think very been better,” he says. carefully about what it “The sense of a shared is that’s stopping them.” purpose and the desire to help Perhaps not apparent to the general is tangible. In fact, it’s not all that public but obvious to the racing community different to the military.”

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 47

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a day in the life

THE RALLYING DOCTOR WHO’S ALWAYS ON CALL When the RACMSA Rally of Scotland goes to plan, Chief Medical Officer Dr John Harrington relaxes with a coffee I’ve been involved in rallying since 1987, mainly with the

Scottish championship, and I’ve never been able to escape. So when Iain Campbell, the clerk of the course for Rally of Scotland since the event started in 2009, was looking for a chief medical officer, it seemed natural to do it.

I’m based in rally HQ for the event. The team there includes the clerk of the course, deputies, assistants, radio operators and representatives from the police and ambulance services.

I’ve always made sure that when I ask my colleagues to attend at horrendous o’clock in the morning, I’m already sitting at my desk. On the first two years of the rally, with everyone needing to be ready three hours before the first stage, it meant the safety crews had to be in place for four o’clock in the morning! And with the rally taking place late in the year, it meant it was very dark and cold – a lot of people just slept in their cars. For this year we looked at the course-car schedule and it’s not so bad, so we had everybody in place for seven o’clock instead.

If an event runs smoothly, my work is done when the first car leaves the starting ramp, because hopefully nothing is going to happen where I’m needed. So that’s when I’ll sit back and have a coffee.

The job of chief medical officer means that there is a great amount of work during the year. The safety plans need organising, I need to make sure I know all the stages

LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

If an event runs smoothly, my work is done when the first car leaves the starting ramp and I go along with the radio guys when they do their reconnaissance. When you add all the other rallies I do, it means doing a little bit of work every night, planning various events.

International rules for events such as Rally of Scotland mean we need more rescue units and first intervention vehicles (FIVs). Rescue units are MSA-licensed, usually ambulance-based and crewed by three people who are experienced marshals

This isn’t likely to be a nice quiet day for the chief medical officer

TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY

and have first-aid skills supporting role. If everyone We want to hear from and training in extrication. is busy it will be the recovery people for whom motor The FIVs might be Land unit that reports back to sport is a profession, as well as a passion. Nominate Rovers or similar, so they HQ, so in each incident yourself – or another – at can carry similar equipment there should be three msa@thinkpublishing. co.uk but not casualties. vehicles responding.

Under National B rules, you Back in HQ, I’m hearing all the only need a rescue unit or medical radio messages and checking what’s cover every nine miles. For international happening with the results service, which events, the norm for which it is agreed that is close to me. I’ll be keeping an eye on the a casualty should get attention is within stages and have an idea of where everyone ten minutes, which has been translated is, so if there is an incident at, say, junction to seven kilometres. So for the Loch Ard 15, I know who should respond. My wife, stage, which is 30km long, we need one who is an incident safety officer, is with rescue service at the start and then four me, keeping everything up to date with mid-points. information as it comes back to HQ. There will always be a rescue unit At the end of each stage, I will always at the start of each stage, and then we make sure someone from my team goes will alternate rescue units and FIVs at through with the closing car to check each 7km point. It all depends on how anyone who hasn’t declared an injury. hazardous a section is, where you can When the adrenaline flows you lose the park safely and where you can get radio potential to recognise injury, so we’ll check contact – all of which is checked before helmets and, if necessary, examine the the rally. You also have recovery units, driver or co-driver. Then, when the closing which take away broken-down and crashed car reaches the end of the last stage, it’s vehicles, and these play a very strong time to relax.

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 49

Blue Hills Mine This rugged coastal venue is one of the country’s most remarkable motor sport locales, says Cornishman Matt Burt Many motor sport venues in Britain are

nestled in scenic areas, but few of them possess the breathtaking drama of Blue Hills Mine’s location.

Situated on the rugged north coast of Cornwall, the venue is usually the last major test in the Land’s End Trial, a prestigious event organised by the Motor Cycling Club (MCC) and held annually over the Easter weekend.

The location of Blue Hills Mine, between the towns of Perranporth and St Agnes, means the venue is never forgotten by those who tackle it.

Competitors taking on the climb find their gaze drawn to the precipitous drop on their right-hand side where, far below, the Atlantic Ocean crashes against the cliffs.

The MCC was one of the first motor clubs when it started in 1901 and, despite its name, it soon permitted cars on the long-distance reliability trials it organised. The 600-mile London-Land’s End-London run was established by the MCC in 1908. Over the next two decades car reliability improved, so organisers sought to incorporate more challenging sections. That’s where steep coastal roads such as Blue Hills Mine, first used in 1924, came in.

Former MCC president and competitor John Aley says: “The road was surfaced, but only just, and featured a very sharp left-hand bend.

The whole area, including about two miles either side of the hill, was a bogey-timed section that had to be covered at a certain average speed.

Then it became an observed climb and caused a lot of havoc, but by the

DATA BURST

mid-1930s it wasn’t enough. Cars and bikes could be expected to get up it.”

In the mid-1930s, the MCC secured a lease on the hillside at Blue Hills Mine and, using an unmade track that branched off from the sharp left bend in the road, built a new course that took a more direct route up the hill.

“It was a radical step to lease the land,” says Aley. “The track was widened to make just enough room for one vehicle. It was – and is – pretty steep and pretty rough. It’s about one in four in most places. It cost £37 and 15 shillings to have the road made.”

Blue Hills Mine developed a fond following, but when Aley took over the event in 1980, he spotted another opportunity for the club.

“Looking through the records, I noticed that although we were paying rent to a local solicitor, the lease had only been for 20 years and so we had no right to the land. I was worried that someone was going to spot this and stop us having motor sport there. At about the same time, some of the land in the area went up for sale,” he says.

“I tracked down the nominal owner in Switzerland. The land cost £5,000 pounds when we bought it in 1981. I wanted to make certain that we could carry on there, because without Blue Hills I think the Land’s End Trial would be just another trial.”

Safely under the MCC’s watchful eye, Blue Hills Mine remains an arduous test, and regularly attracts a varied entry of 300 competitors in cars and on motorbikes, sidecars and even the odd moped.

An “anything goes” mentality pervades, especially since the MCC brought in Class O, for “ordinary”

LENGTH: Varies, depending on conditions DATE OPENED: 1924 LOCATION: near St Agnes, Cornwall WEBSITE: www.themotorcyclingclub.org.uk CONTACT: Peter Lawley (MCC general secretary)

peterlawley@talktalk.net

50 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

The hats might have changed since the 1920s (above), but the challenging track and determined spirit remain. As do the spectators, always happy to let drivers know where they’ve gone wrong

place notes

Blue Hills Mine will continue to hold a special place in the hearts of the trialling community

to feel they have conquered it at some point in their life.”

Cornwall’s tin industry has all but disappeared, yet one defiant mine still exists at Blue Hills and, fittingly, the awards for Class O finishers of the Land’s End Trial are crafted from the tin it produces. It is another example of how closely this special venue is entwined with its local environment.

HOW TO TACKLE THE HILL There are three sections: “old” Blue Hills includes part of the original climb, but is now relatively tame and is used by Class O competitors; Blue Hills 1 is in the bottom of the valley and the tough Blue Hills 2 climbs steeply up the south side of Trevellas Coombe. John Aley reckons there are two main psychological hurdles.

“First you have to get over where you are. You can’t help thinking ‘hmm, that’s a big drop off the cliff’,” he says.

“Also, in a car, you’ve got the awful racket of rocks hitting the underside. If you’ve got a special that is made for trials, you don’t worry too much. If you’ve got a production car, as long as you’ve got your suspension raised and a sump shield, you won’t damage anything, but it is very difficult to tell yourself that when rocks are banging on the bottom!

“The hill is better taken fairly fast, but it’s slippery and steep and you’ve got to vary

your throttle. You can’t carry too much speed because there is a wiggle halfway up and the earth banks on either side are pretty forbidding.

“The fascinating thing is that each time you drive it, the hill is different – some years it is very slippery, sometimes there is loose shale. If you are unlucky enough to have to stop halfway up, 30,000 Cornishmen are standing there offering you advice on what you should have done!”

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org

51

DAVE COOK / LAT PHOTOGRAP 0HIC

vehicles, which made the event more accessible to newcomers.

Aley himself has conquered the hill in a variety of machinery, including a Fiat 126 and a Volkswagen Beetle.

Apart from the Land’s End Trial and another event run by the AutoCycle Union, the venue is the domain of coast path walkers. Devotion to Blue Hills doesn’t just extend to the competitors who return each Easter; the venue attracts an unusually resilient bunch of helpers too. Aley says: “We’ve got a lovely bunch of marshals, many of whom are locals and turn out every year. They do get free pasties, so there’s the incentive!

They are a very hardy bunch – you can imagine what the weather is like at Blue Hills sometimes.”

As for the future, Aley believes Blue Hills Mine will continue to hold a special place in the hearts of the trialling community: “For some, Blue Hills is so important that I’m certain they do the Land’s End Trial each year just for the chance to get at it. More than any other trials hill, people want

ALL CLUB TOGETHER With some careful thought, you can build the membership of your motor club and secure its future, says Marcus Simmons

human nature being to gravitate towards those with whom you already have something in common. But it’s a pretty poor way to promote your motor club.

The MSA has already given clubs a leg-up, in the form of the country’s ten Regional Development Officers (RDOs) appointed under the Go Motorsport initiative. These part-time recruits can come from all walks of the motor sport life, from resting drivers who otherwise earn their crust through tuition, to East Midlands RDO Richard Egger, a businessman and competitor who describes himself as a “hardcore clubman with a marketing background who never had an aspiration to move into the professional world”.

“The first thing any club needs is a mindset of talking to strangers,” says Egger.

“The second thing is that it’s purely and simply a numbers game. If you talk to 100 people, one will get involved. It’s not a very good strike rate – and you never know when and where you will find that person – but you have to do it.”

Egger brings up an example from Loughborough Car Club, where he served as chairman for 17 years. “We had a stand outside Halfords for a day, handing out leaflets,” he says. “At the end of the day we thought we’d wasted our time. Then four years later a lad turned up saying, ‘I picked up your leaflet outside Halfords years ago, but never got in touch because I was sorting my job out.’ That lad is now membership secretary, actively competes, and brings his wife and baby.”

Clubs also need their target membership to view the sport as accessible. “The biggest mistake that motor sport makes is taking £100,000 of sexy technology, putting it on a stand and saying ‘that’s a rally car’,” points out Egger. “People will look at that and 52 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

The biggest mistake motor sport makes is taking £100,000 of sexy technology, putting it on a stand and saying ‘that’s a rally car’

think they can never have it. But if you put £1,500-worth of Citroën Saxo on display, that’s within range.

“And don’t complicate things. Don’t ask people to fill in forms, go here, go there or spend ages preparing a car. Tell them to be at a location at 7pm on a Thursday, bring waterproof clothing and get involved.

“All you need to do is get people doing something that’s one step above spectating, so that when they turn up you can give them something they enjoy. That’s the product you have to deliver.”

One successful club is Cramlington and District Motor Club (CDMC). Based in north-east England and with an autocross

LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Preaching to the converted – it’s an easy habit to slip into,

performance

tradition, it was 2010 MSA Club of the Year.

Chairman Dave Wellden, who has overseen an expansion into rallycross this season, explains: “The club was top-heavy with competitors and not enough foot soldiers, so we promoted a marshals’ championship.

Marshals go to different events and have a registration card that gets signed by the clerk of the course to prove they’ve marshalled, and they score points based on that. At the end of the year we award a marshal of the year, and reward them with karting. That’s created some interest.

“That was in conjunction with the development of the junior autocross class, for drivers aged 14 and over. We had a massive influx of juniors into the club – we’ve now got about 12 active members – and their parents have come along and joined too.”

Clubs must be careful that expansion is gradual and organic

Historic events, such as the Classic Sports Car Club’s Swinging Sixties day at Brands Hatch (top), and Go Motorsport initiatives (above) are great ways to inspire participation at a club level

TELL US ABOUT YOUR CLUB

Has your club found a great way to attract new members and raise the profile of motor sport? If so, we want to hear from you – let us know at msa@ thinkpublishing. co.uk

rather than sudden and orchestrated. Egger points out: “If you grow a club by 50 per cent you’re probably going to struggle to organise it. If you’ve got a club with 50 members, you may lose three in a year, but if you recruit six new people then you’ve given yourself a six per cent growth, which is pretty good in the current climate. And if you can’t gain numbers, then simply having more of them active and doing stuff is progress.”

Egger also believes that youth is vital for the sport – and it has been a target of Go Motorsport. “I’ve probably done about 50 to 60 school visits,” he says. “Firstly, hopefully the kids enjoy it and become better citizens; secondly, it can turn them on to competing; thirdly, the engineering and technology side can interest them, even if that’s not necessarily in a motor sport direction.

“We have to get the message across that we’re not an elitist activity and that we do put something back into the community.

And from those 30 kids you might touch on 120 people, including the dads sitting there thinking ‘I’ve wanted to go rallying since I was a kid.’ Good schools are so mediaconscious now, and the next thing you know you’re in the local newspaper.

There are so many little wins.”

Wellden and the CDMC are working along similar lines: “We’re hoping to work in conjunction with a local academy, whereby if the youngsters join a designand-technology course we can teach them to drive in autocross cars on private land.

“We’ve just got to broaden our appeal and be flexible. If not, you cease to exist.”

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 53

ASK THE EXPERTS

From National Motorsport Week and Team UK to event fines and pickups, our panel tackles your puzzlers…

National Motorsport Week is designed to draw public attention to motor sport and bring in new blood. Next year it will run from 30 June to 8 July, from the Goodwood Festival of Speed to the British Grand Prix.

The best way to plan for next year is to contact your Regional Development Officer – you can find the details on the Go Motorsport website. The RDO will help clubs set up activities that will attract new members to the sport and/or generate local media coverage for the clubs themselves.

The week is aimed at grass-roots events showing how easy it is to get involved in the sport, even on a tight budget. A National Motorsport Week pack, with ideas, logos and more, will be available later this year.

For information or advice, visit www. nationalmotorsportweek.co.uk.

PICK ME UP

Why can’t I enter my pickup or van in a rally?

Pickups and vans are classed as commercial vehicles, so are not permitted unless the supplementary regulations (SRs) are modified (J5.20.6.). SRs for truck racing and most cross-country events are modified in this way, especially for the latter where many entries fall into this classification.

Theoretically, SRs for a rally – stage or road – could be modified to permit commercial vehicles. However, in England, Wales and Scotland, any part of an event’s route that is on the public highway is subject to the Motor Vehicles (Competitions and Trials) Regulations, which stipulate a maximum average speed for the time schedule that is lower for a commercial vehicle than for a motor car – typically 54 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

25mph rather than 30mph. It is impractical to set different time schedules for different competitors in stage rallies, and for road rallies it is virtually impossible. This isn’t limited to rallies: classic reliability trials and any events that involve time schedules or time limits must also comply.

The army has been using Land Rovers in stage rallies for decades. However, their vehicles are configured as two-seater soft-tops so count as sports cars under MSA Regulations, so they are not limited to the lower average speed of commercial vehicles.

JOINING THE ELITE

How can I be part of Team UK?

Team UK is the MSA’s development squad for the country’s most promising young race, rally and co-drivers. Members are picked to be trained in sports science and human performance to help them make the most of their talents as they bid to reach the top of the motor sport ladder. The line-up is selected by MSA Academy staff, including MSA Performance Director Robert Reid and National Race Coach David Brabham.

Successful drivers will demonstrate outstanding potential, as well as an understanding of the off-track work that is vital to modern professional drivers, such as event preparation, fitness training, sports psychology and media handling.

To help younger drivers prepare and develop, the MSA provides important information through the MSA Academy.

Junior drivers and karters should attend the Performance Master Classes, a series of free workshops delivered by MSA coaches at motor sport events nationwide. Competitors aged 16 to 18 should consider the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence, a part-time course by Loughborough College that focuses on the areas of human performance that create successful drivers.

More information about Team UK and the MSA Academy is on the MSA website.

HELP SHAPE THE SPORT

Can I join a Specialist Committee?

MSA Specialist Committees represent various motor sport disciplines, and meet two or three times a year at Motor Sports House. The MSA requests nominations for committee posts in late spring each year.

Anybody wishing to apply must be a member of an MSA-recognised motor club or Regional Association, which must sponsor the application. The role is voluntary, and is normally for three years. No formal qualifications are necessary, but significant motor sport experience is required.

GRAND PRIX HELP

How do I become a marshal at the British Grand Prix?

The first step is to become an MSAregistered marshal. To do so you must join an MSA-registered club, then attend sufficient training days and seminars.

Each year the MSA sends British Grand Prix marshalling application forms to several major MSA-registered clubs, which distribute the forms among their marshals.

To work at the Grand Prix you must have significant experience and your application must be accredited by the club and returned to the MSA. The duty chiefs of the event select marshals from these applications, basing choices on applicants’ skills and experience. Novices are not considered, and the marshal’s licence grade must reflect this.

LAT PHOTOGRAHIC

FINDING NEW BLOOD

How can our club engage with National Motorsport Week?

ask the experts THAT’S MOTOR SPORT New Dunlop MSA BTCC champion Matt Neal on perseverance, hard work and the threat of complacency

HISTORY

How can I find out if my car is eligible for an FIA Historic Technical Passport (HTP)?

An HTP is a document stating that a vehicle is acceptable for FIA international historic competition events. HTPs are available for cars that mirror the specification of a car that competed legally in fully international events of the time. Any production car that was homologated by its manufacturer can get an HTP to a specification laid out in the homologation papers without having to prove that such a car competed. For others, the applicant must prove that such a car competed. A vehicle must be inspected by an MSA registrar before being granted an HTP.

Above: Williams F1 through the ages, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Below: that isn’t all official marshalling kit

I was once told that in conflict with a rival “a closed mouth equals a wise head”. Some of the best advice I’ve had is to keep my mouth shut, turn and walk the other way. I can’t say I’ve done that every time, but manufacturers want personalities, not robots.

Another great piece of advice was never to give up.

My first years in the BTCC were tough. Times like those can make you doubt yourself, but after those years the results started to come, and come royally. I’ve said in the past that 95 per cent of my race career has been hard work, disappointment, tears and knockbacks, but it’s all outweighed by the highs of the other five per cent.

The worst advice I’ve had was not to worry because “it’s in the bag”.

Never underestimate the opposition; this is why my approach is always to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I can’t remember being given any advice before this year’s title showdown at Silverstone, but I’m old and ugly enough now to know what works for me.

Sometimes it’s chatting and doing interviews, or if the pressure is really on I might just want to keep quiet and collect my thoughts.

I advise young drivers to fight hard and fight fair; then you can walk away with your head high, whatever happens.

Sure, a championship decider isn’t just another race, but you can only do your best and approach it with a positive attitude.

I can’t begin to calculate how few drivers have been able to make a career as a race driver work, so there needs to be a life beyond driving. I have worked throughout my career, which has helped me survive the tough times and have a life away from the circuit. Don’t lose sight of your education; it’s too important.

CHARITABLE DONATIONS

What happens to event fines?

Revenue from fines is placed in an MSA Fines Fund then distributed to various causes, including the Motorsport Safety Fund, a UK-registered charity that produces booklets, DVDs and other training resources, such as first aid, rescue, recovery and safety guidelines. Some of these have been adopted by the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety and Sustainability. In 2011, the MSA has transferred £30,000 to the fund and £5,000 to the automotive industry charity BEN.

Matt Neal claimed this year’s title for Honda Racing, in his fine-tuned two-litre Civic

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 55

BLINDED BY YOUTH BRITISH SALOON CAR CHAMPIONSHIP, 1981

Martin Brundle rues the year he was teammate to Sir Stirling Moss in the British Saloon Car Championship and failed to make the most of his hard-won wisdom The daftest error I made in motor racing occurred towards

the beginning of my career. I started circuit racing in 1977, in saloon cars, then moved to single-seaters and raced in Formula Ford 2000 for a while before the money ran out.

At the same time, I managed to land a drive in the 1980 BMW County Championship and did quite well in that against some pretty decent drivers, including Nigel Mansell and Andy Rouse. Those results attracted Audi’s attention and for 1981 I landed a seat in their British Saloon Car Championship team, driving an Audi 80 alongside Stirling Moss. I’ll never forget the first time I actually met him – we were getting changed in the toilets in the old British Racing Drivers’ Club bungalow at Silverstone, which seemed a bit surreal. Here I was, a young kid from Norfolk, and my new teammate was this 51-year-old legend.

Stirling was very approachable and we became – and remain – good friends. At the time, though, I was brimming with the confidence of youth and interested only in

blowing his doors off. Stirling had so much wisdom and experience of how to conduct yourself, on and off the track, and would have been happy to share it with me, but I was preoccupied with my own performances and completely failed to tap into it.

I had been gifted a fantastic opportunity and wasted it totally, although it didn’t do me too much harm in the long term. For one thing, Audi’s team sponsor, BP, took me into Formula 3 the following season, which got my single-seater career back on track, and a couple of years later I joined the Tyrrell Formula 1 team. At that time Jackie Stewart was often around the pit garage and he took me to sponsor functions and so forth. He taught me a great deal about off-track etiquette and I tried to take it all on board. That’s when I realised what an idiot I’d been by not adopting the same approach with Stirling. I should have spent six months of our season together tapping

into his knowledge and contacts, but thanks to Jackie I was lucky to get a second chance while I was still quite young.

It’s funny, because Stirling has also said that time spent with Audi was his biggest error, albeit for different reasons. He didn’t really like driving on slick tyres, with all that grip, because the parameters had changed so greatly since his heyday. I remember one race at Brands Hatch, though, when it rained and the cars began sliding around in the manner to which he was accustomed. He was absolutely majestic that day.

I’m still busy in the paddock nowadays, of course, with my television commentary work and watching my son Alex compete in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. I’m more than happy to share my experiences with young drivers if they ask, but most don’t bother and some of them seem to think they already know everything. Really, though, they’re just repeating the mistake I made.

I had been gifted a fantastic opportunity and wasted it totally

LAT PHOTOGRAHIC

Moss racing at Brands Hatch (main) and offering Brundle a few tips (inset)

56 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

Fire extinguisher system

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Racelidz‛s FIA Speed Racesuits are a lightweight 3 Layer Nomex Racesuit and are FIA 8856-2000 Homologated.

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Han‛s Open Face Helmets FIA 8858 2002 Homologated

IN THIS

ISSUE:

Gear of the Year results p59 Win a TW Steel watch p61 Grand Prix Racewear special p62 Fireproof suits p64 Fitting your roll cage p66

Gear

READER AWARDS

Thanks to everyone who took part in the inaugural MSA magazine awards. The results of the prize draw are on page 5, thanks to everyone who took part. The votes have been counted, the results are in, and this year’s winners are…

VENUE OF THE YEAR

Blue Hills Mine

Although the remarkable development work at Silverstone and Snetterton have cemented these two venues at the heart of British motor sport, it was a little-known venue of Blue Hills Mine in Cornwall, which has captured the readership’s heart this year. To find out more about this rugged trialing venue, turn to page 50. www.bluehillstin.com EVENT OF THE YEAR

LAT PHOTOGRAHIC

Goodwood Festival of Speed

The visitor figures speak for themselves (150,000), but in case you’ve not been Goodwood Festival of Speed (see above) is brilliant. “There’s just no other event that combines such a range and collection of cars and motorbikes, in one place

at one time,” says one voter.

Go. Go now. 2012 tickets are now available. And yes, it’s definitely worthwhile booking ahead. www.goodwood.co.uk/ festival-of-speed DRIVER OF THE YEAR

Alex Lynn

At just 17 years old, Alex Lynn has already made an impression with Fortec Motorport in the Formula Renault Series winning the Graduate Cup Trophy. He also contested the Formula Renault winter series achieving five front row starts and three wins out of six races. Having just returned from contesting the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand, Lynn has been

chosen as a BRDC SuperStar driver and a member of the MSA’s Team UK. What a year and a well-deserved winner! www.alexlynnracing.com MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR

Caterham

Having just been bought

by Team Lotus Enterprises, Caterham Cars is proud to be one of the few remaining British-owned and British-based car manufacturers, with the majority of parts sourced from within the UK where possible.

Established more than 50 years ago, Caterham continues to set the standards for performance and handling. www.caterham.co.uk

HELMET OF THE YEAR

Arai GP-6 PED

Yes, it’s not the cheapest, but the Arai GP-6 PED is one of the best money can buy. Every Arai helmet goes through extensive testing, far surpassing safety standards for motorcycle helmets. Each handmade Arai comes with a “birth certificate” proving its date of manufacture. whyarai.co.uk FIREPROOF OVERALL OF THE YEAR

Alpinestars GP Tech Race Suit

A highly competitive category, it seems that MSA readers are fairly partisan when it comes to brands, but these top-end overalls got your vote. Turn to page 64 to read about the GP Tech’s more-affordable cousin the SP. www.alpinestars.com Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 59

reader awards GLOVE OF THE YEAR

Alpinestars Tech 1-ZX

It’s Alpinestars again. We reviewed this top-of-the-range glove earlier this year (MSA magazine, Spring 2011, page 60). We loved it then and clearly you all agree. Alpinestar’s special lightweight Nomex® weave make this a particularly breathable option. www.alpinestars.com

COMPETITOR WEBSITE OF THE YEAR

www. jensonbutton.com It’s been around a while, but if you’ve still not had a go at the design a Jenson helmet, then you should.

Handy if you’ve not decided on your own helmet design for the season. Either way, next step is a major sponsorship deal with Vodafone.

GADGET OF THE YEAR

Racelogic Video Vbox

BOOT OF THE YEAR

Puma Future Cat

Another victory for MSA magazine reviews here, our gear tester loved the Future Cat in his review in the Autumn issue (page 66). ‘The most comfortable boot I have used,’ he said. And the majority of you agree. A big thumbs up for a brand that’s only recently begun to make real inroads into the motor sport market. www.puma.com/motorsport

This was a hugely competitive category, which caused much debate. However, Racelogic’s Video Vbox takes it. One reader commented: “It took me a while to figure it all out, but it delivers professional-standard driver feedback that’s given me an edge come race weekends.” www. videovbox.co.uk ONLINE RETAILER OF THE YEAR

www.demon-tweeks. co.uk

It almost came down to a Demon Tweeks (DT) v Grand Prix Racewear tie, but DT takes the top spot. “Endless stock to choose from”, “great customer

service”, “great value”… lots of praise for MSA magazine’s favourite online retailer.

CLUB WEBSITE OF THE YEAR

360mrc.com

Difficult to judge, as we all know the great and the good of our clubs simply don’t have, for example, the budgets of an Formula 1 driver.

However, the internet it a vital communication tool for informing existing members, as well as growing the club.

To find out more about how to grow your motor club, turn to page 52.

TWEETER OF THE YEAR

Dario Franchitti

Love it or hate it. Twitter is becoming a widely used form of social media for motor racing stars. Find out more about one of our greatest exports on page 36 in our exclusive interview. twitter.com/#!/ dariofranchitti PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

Colin McMaster

Hopefully we’ll be seeing plenty of Colin’s work in MSA magazine throughout 2012.

READER AWARDS

BEST MOTOR SPORT BOOK, DVD OR GAME

The Mille Miglia: The World’s Greatest Road Race by Anthony Pritchard

First held in 1927, and staged periodically over the next 30 years, the Mille Miglia (‘thousand miles’) road race was one of the greatest of all motor sport events.

Published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the last race, this fascinating book recreates the races, the atmosphere, the politics and the technical changes. RRP £26.65

TW Steel Dario Franchitti Edition £575

www.twsteeluk.com

TW Steel build chunky watches for people who like a bit of heft to their wrist.

The company has a number of motor sport tie-ins, each with a distinctive steel design and workings as precise as any racing engine.

This Dario Franchitti special edition celebrates the four-time IndyCar champion (see profile, on page 36), highlighting his car numbers, the blue, red and green of the flags marking his Scottish and Italian heritage, and, more obviously, his name.

The case-back features Franchitti’s signature and lists his title successes. Although if he carries on like this, they might have to release a new one in a few years.

More of a David Coulthard person? Turn the page for another TW Steel timepiece that might be more to your taste.

WIN!

This £575 TW Steel watch

For a chance to reduce that price tag to a grand total of nothing, just write in, as described in the terms and conditions

TERMS AND CONDITIONS Send the competition code (MSA magazine Winter 2011 – TW Steel) with your name, address and telephone number to Think, The Pall Mall Deposit, 124-128 Barlby Road, London W10 6BL or via email to msa@thinkpublishing.co.uk. No purchase necessary. One entry per person. Check the terms and conditions in full at www.msauk.org. Promotion closes at 11.59pm on 24 January 2012. Promoter: Think, The Pall Mall Deposit, 124-128 Barlby Road, London W10 6BL. Open to UK residents only aged 18 or over

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 61

BUYER’S

GUIDE

Santa Claus is driving to town It’s that time of year again, and if you’re hunting for motor sport-related gifts, Grand Prix Racewear (www.gprdirect.com) has plenty of suggestions

TW STEEL DAVID COULTHARD CEO TECH CE4001 - 44mm £625 + VAT CE4002 - 48mm £675 + VAT

The flagship design from the TW Steel motor sport series, this limited edition watch commemorates David Coulthard’s 13 Formula 1 grand prix victories for Williams F1, McLaren and Red Bull Racing.

As well as a stylish piece of wristwear with an Italian leather strap and titanium highlights, it’s an expertly made timepiece, accurate to within a twentieth of a second, thanks to top-quality Miyota movement.

MONZA LEATHER KIT BAG £287.50 + VAT

From Caracalla Bagaglio comes a classiclooking holdall that’s large enough to be useful and small enough to count as hand luggage. With a detachable shoulder strap, full-length zip, high-quality inside lining and metal feet that will stop it wearing out the moment you put it down somewhere, there’s a reason this has become a bestseller.

Luxury living

62 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

DRIFT CAMERAS

HD170 Stealth £166.66 + VAT X170 £83.33 + VAT

This range of action cameras from Drift lets you take care of the driving while the technology looks after the recording.

The X170 features DVD-quality visuals at a wide angle, capturing everything that flies past your vehicle, while you stay in control using the wireless remote. With a three-hour battery life and 32GB of memory you can cram in plenty of recording, and it also comes with a full set of mounts, so you can film from just about anywhere.

Then there’s the HD170 Stealth, for when DVD-standard feels decidedly low-tech.

As well as all the features of the X170, this version can pick up full high-definition visuals and record at 60FPS, allowing smooth slow-motion playback. Replay your finest moments, or pick out the split second where it all went wrong – either way, it’s an exceptional piece of kit.

advertorial MOLECULE™ WASH £66.00 + VAT

A full set of Molecule’s specialist motor sport cleaning products.

Each kit contains a Nomex-cleansing washing liquid, a stain protector spray, an anti-microbial refresher and an intense spot cleaner. Between them the carefully designed Molecule cleansers scrub out unwanted odours and keep material safe, bright and breathable.

The ideal way to look after a fireproof suit and keep it in perfect condition for the day it might save your life.

Holiday reading

UK CIRCUIT GUIDE 2011 EDITION £39.99

Dunlop’s guide to UK motor sport circuits covers Anglesey, Bedford Autodrome, Brands Hatch, Cadwell Park, Castle Combe, Croft, Donington Park, Goodwood, Jurby, Kirkistown, Knockhill, Lydden Hill, Mallory Park, Oulton Park, Pembrey, Rockingham, Silverstone, Snetterton and Thruxton.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS

How about the life of the world’s foremost proponent of karting – in his own words? Or, if you just can’t decide, it’s hard to go wrong with Grand Prix Racewear vouchers

ALPINESTARS LEISUREWEAR Caps From £17.95 + VAT Belts £10.36 + VAT

T-shirts From £17.99 + VAT Trainers From £58.29 + VAT

It might not be designed to meet any safety requirements, but the Alpinestars leisurewear range still meets the company’s usual standards of style and quality.

An extensive range is available online and in-store, in a variety of colours and sizes.

QSTARZ GPS LAP TIMER £139.99 + VAT

This top-of-the-range GPS timer and data logger combines versatility and power to cut those vital seconds off your lap times. A standalone device, it can log your race and times, upload everything to your computer, and even share your records with other users online. It has an impressive 42-hour battery life, holds up to 400,000 waypoints and can log your movements five times a second, for pinpoint accuracy.

01327 855 585

Top tech

Every Split Second Counts Martin Hines’ autobiography is more than just the story of the world’s most successful karting driver and manufacturer, with multiple world and European championship titles to his name. It’s the tale of a man who revolutionized karting, promoting and developing new disciplines such as indoor tracks and superkarts; a man who discovered and nurtured Formula 1 stars, and who lived his life as if every split second counted.

Grand Prix Racewear Gift Voucher If you don’t know what that special motor sport person in your life needs or you’re not sure of their sizing you can always buy a GPR gift voucher and let them decide.

Available in any amount from £25 upwards. £25 plus

£17.99 + VAT

WWW.GPRDIRECT.COM Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 63

BUYER’S

GUIDE

It’s one of the most expensive accessories you’ll buy, so make sure you pick your fireproof suit wisely, says Ben Anderson

suits you Thanks to a certain foresighted group from across the pond, the flame-resistant material Nomex has become ubiquitous within motor sport and thankfully makes the possibility of a fiery accident a less terrifying prospect than it once was.

As well as doing its best to keep you safe from flames, the Nomex in your chosen suit will dictate how much you pay for it. It is this, plus the comfort and weight of the suit that should decide which option you plump for, according to Grand Prix Racewear’s (GPR’s) Tom Capstick.

“The difference between a top of the range suit and a middle of the range one is the number of Nomex layers,” explains Capstick, who is the perfect person to help you sift through the myriad options when picking out the right suit for you.

“It’s about a £700 difference between having two layers or three, but more Nomex gives you a bit longer to get out of the car if it’s on fire!”

The Nomex makes suits chunkier, so the various manufacturers have gone to great lengths to reduce weight and increase comfort without compromising the latest standards of safety that all legal suits must meet.

“The driver has got to be comfortable in what he’s wearing,” adds Capstick.

“Aesthetics should take a back seat initially, for the sake of comfort, because you want to be focusing on the track in front of you, not on how uncomfortable you are!

“Also, if you’re racing somewhere warm or in a very hot car you don’t want to be wearing a suit that makes you feel like you’re in an oven – it needs to be breathable to keep you cool. After that, it’s all about aesthetics; a lot of people need embroidery on their suits and that needs to be factored into the cost.”

64 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

OMP Classic

(£389.57 + VAT)

OMP owns the historic market as far as race suits go, offering a range of classic-looking modern outfits to suit various budgets. Most popular is the pale blue Classic. Wearing one is like being transported back to the 1960s, and if you’re prepared to shell out an extra £400 you can opt for the top of the range Vintage Light suit and look exactly like double Formula 1 world champion Jim Clark.

BEST FOR VALUE

OMP First 2 (£260 + VAT)

This suit is the best of GPR’s three entry-level suits. Sparco’s Sprint suit is £35 cheaper, but the material in the OMP First 2 is a bit thinner, which makes for a lighter feel. The First 2 is a comfortable fit, though the cuffs are long and the collar rises quite high. It’s a no-frills suit, but the shoulders make it look racey compared to other entry-level options.

Alpinestars SP (£316.63)

A lot of the younger generation of drivers are drawn to Alpinestars, but its suits are not the most functional, according to GPR. The OMP Dynamo is the more popular of the middle of the road suits GPR sells, but the Alpinestars SP is the same weight and over £100 cheaper. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing (you’ll feel more like a mechanic than a driver), but for an extra £100 you can upgrade to the lighter and more stylish GP option.

Puma Trionfo (£890 + VAT)

This top of the range suit features an extra layer of fire-resistant Nomex, so the price is almost double that of the lower level options. Manufacturers spend time and effort working weight out of these suits and filling them with more elastic than a knicker drawer. The result is an ergonomic lightweight suit that is pleasing to the eye, but probably not worth the extra expense unless you’ve got money to, ahem, burn.

gear

POLE POSITION

what’s hot

New products setting the pace this spring ProMech Speed 998 Office Racing Chair £599.99 www. promechracing.com

Sometimes life makes you spend time sitting in an office, moving very little, so you can afford to spend time sitting in a car, moving very quickly. To make the working hours more bearable, you can ditch the old plasticky contraption and replace it with ProMech’s luxurious Italian leather office racing chair. And in case jealousy makes co-workers try to run off with it, you can have a name and logo embroidered for an extra £24.99. It comes complete with alloy-style armrests and a paddle-shift system for adjusting the height. No roll cage, though…

WRC2

£39.99 www. wrcthegame.com

The official game of the WRC, available on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, lets you try your hand at 78 stages, including new super special stages and a Berlin urban race. Substantially cheaper than running your own championship-standard rally car, but it might just leave you pining for the real thing.

BLOW THE BUDGET

Pro-Shift PS3 gear control unit www.proshift.com

Give your car Formula 1-style gear shifting through steeringwheel paddles. It runs on a closed-loop electronic mechanism, with built-in rev limiters and a vast number of adjustable parameters. Quotations are available from 01332 668100 or info@proshift.com

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 65

HOW DO I…

LAT PHOTOGRAHIC

It’s one of the most important safety features of your car, so your Roll Over Protection System must be properly installed Grab your Blue Book and see what it has to say about your car’s Roll Over Protection System (ROPS).

Section (K)1 tells you that when correctly installed, the ROPS will ‘substantially reduce the risk of injury’. So you may be surprised to learn that some people use whatever comes to hand to fit their roll cage.

“We’ve seen some great examples of craftsmanship at national and higher class – and some horrendous examples also,” says Patrick Gallagher of Motorsport Integrity, a company created last year that offers a ROPS-inspection service. “We’ve seen bits of silicone, bits of exhaust – and have even heard of a plastic cage being found in South Korea! Why would you do this when you need your roll cage to function?

“One example we came across was a guy who had newly purchased a vehicle. The door bars were flushed and painted but when we put our testing equipment on it, there wasn’t a weld or anything bonding it together. If he’d had a side impact then the bar would have come in like a spear.

So it had looked great but the reality was different. In that case it was more dangerous to have a poorly fitted roll cage than to have no roll cage at all.”

The MSA’s Technical Director, John Symes, says the first question to ask yourself is which ROPS requirements apply to vehicles in your chosen discipline.

You must also consider whether you are permitted to install the cage yourself, as a ROPS certified from 2008 onwards has

66 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

gear

Having a Roll Over Protection System is not just about making sure your car meets the regulations, it’s about keeping you safe in an accident

General principle: all those metal bars are considerably tougher than your head

to be fitted by an installer approved by the manufacturer.

“If you are installing a non-certified cage you need to check that it complies with the applicable regulations, ensuring that things like tube size, door bars and construction material are all compliant,” explains Symes. “In the past we’ve seen several cases of poor welding leading to ROPS failure.

“Guidance on welding is covered in (K)1.3.8, which must always be considered prior to installation. Always keep in mind that while good appearance does not guarantee a good-quality weld, poor appearance often indicates a poor-quality weld.”

According to Symes, an area often overlooked is the mounting of a ROPS to the vehicle bodyshell, the requirements of which can be found in (K)1.3.2. “Bear in mind that the bolt and reinforcement plate

dimensions quoted in this regulation are only minimum specifications,” he says.

“Exceeding these is perfectly acceptable and often good practice. Make sure the vehicle structure is sound and capable of taking the loads that it may be subjected to.

“When considering door bars, bear in mind that while the minimum requirement is for a single tube, a double door bar system clearly gives a higher degree of protection.”

If you are concerned about how the ROPS has been fitted in your car, for around £250 a company such as Motorsport Integrity will carry out a comprehensive check, making sure the original design intent is working and testing the quality of the welding.

Having a ROPS is not just about making sure your car meets the regulations, it’s about keeping you safe in an accident – and there can be no better motivation to ensure it is doing its job.

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 67

VIRTUAL INSANITY In the past decade, simulator technology has developed at a tremendous pace. Ben Anderson checks out the latest equipment When 1997 Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve first raced at Spa, he learned the circuit by practising on a PlayStation game. This is probably one of the earliest examples of a racing driver using simulation as an aid. Now, Formula 1’s state-of-the-art simulators are so realistic they can also develop mechanical and aerodynamic setups on the cars.

International sports car ace Darren Turner has developed simulator technology for leading Formula 1 teams – including McLaren, which has one of the most advanced simulators in the world.

Having been involved from the beginning, it’s no surprise to find that Turner has become one of the first to make simulator technology available to the wider racing community.

“I was lucky enough to be at McLaren when they started doing it at the back end of 1998/1999,” says Turner, who runs a simulation company, Base Performance Simulators (BPS) , in Banbury. “It started as offline simulation – just pumping numbers into a computer – but soon there were lots of questions about driver input.

“The first four years were frustrating.

Sometimes you would do just one or two laps before you’d have to stop and work out why it was doing something random, but eventually it started to become representative of real life and by 2002/2003 the design and engineering departments became convinced of its merits.”

These days McLaren’s test drivers use the simulator on race weekends, to help Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button work out car settings. Other teams have followed suit, both inside and below Formula 1, and commercially available simulators are springing up as the technology filters down to the lower tiers of the sport.

“To have a good simulator you’ve got to have good steering and good visuals,” explains Turner, who offers two-hour sessions at BPS for £450, rising to £1,400 for a full day. “The majority is what you can see and what you feel through the steering wheel. That’s the difference between a good simulator and a PlayStation game.”

68 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

Most simulators consist of chassis pods (some connected to motion platforms) hooked up to custom versions of the software rRactor and data-logging systems. By working with racing teams, simulators have used databases and driver feedback to become increasingly accurate.

“You have to think differently when driving a simulator,” says Turner. “There are lots of subconscious cues you get when driving a real car and you lose a fair amount of them in a simulator, so you have to concentrate harder on the things you do have. You can’t come in with a PlayStation attitude – you have to build up exactly the same way you would at the circuit. I would say the concentration level is higher in a sim than in real life.”

The iZone Driver Performance Centre at Silverstone takes a broader approach, offering mind management, physical

You can’t come in with a PlayStation attitude – I would say the concentration level is higher in a sim than in real life conditioning, engineering and media training alongside driver coaching on its simulator, which can be hired for £100 per hour.

“We’re trying to use our simulator to help drivers find out more about themselves and where they need to be to access their peak performance,” explains Andy Priaulx’s driver coach John Pratt, who launched iZone with Priaulx late last year. “It’s about giving drivers the mental skills, the physical skills, and the driving skills to succeed – whether you’re an eight-year-old karter or a 60-year-old gentleman.”

The newest simulator is at Grand Prix Racewear (GPR), which has teamed up with Cranfield University to run a sim at GPR’s Silverstone emporium. Driver coach Matt Kelly hopes GPR can become the place to go to for using simulators to develop drivers.

techno file

Meet the rivals. In blue, to the left, BPS, owned by Darren Turner (above). Top right and bottom left are the GPR setup.

Below left, with the white frame, is the iZone model

“A simulator is the motor sport equivalent of analysing somebody’s golf swing,” says Kelly, who was asked to head GPR’s project by the late Martin Hines.

“We want to use the sim to teach drivers the practical necessities at an early stage, so they will have a better chance of being successful on the track. GPR is about strength in depth and quality.”

Having tried several simulators, I’d previously been unconvinced of their benefit. However, after trying the GPR sim, which uses Cranfield Motorsport Simulation’s G-queuing system, developed in conjunction with a Formula 1 team, to simulate g-force, I’ve changed my mind. It’s not so much the merits of the simulator that make the difference (although, as Turner says, it’s important to make it as good as you can), but how you use it.

Using simulators as a coaching tool brings them into their element: it is possible to make realistic and useful refinements to your racing lines and driving technique.

Certainly they’re not to be dismissed as jumped-up PlayStation games.

a5 sim_Layout 1 10/11/2011 12:05 Page 1

In Association With

Now Offering The Very Latest In Motorsport Simulation Our new simulator works by harnessing cranfileld’s sustained cueing system, which exerts pressure on the driver’s body through a series of actuators situated around the seat. This pressure is designed to give the driver a sense of the real physical forces they would feel in the seat were they actually driving a car.

Oliver Rowland, Formula Renault Race Winner “The GPR Simulator is amazingly realistic, the feeling you get driving it is fantastic and allows you to absorb yourself into the driving experience, in my opinion the best option available currently, driving on it has helped me improve my techniques enormously, I recommend it”

Tom Kimber-Smith LMP2 Championship Title “After having experienced simulators before nothing compares to this one. The seat dynamics gives you perfect feeling of what the car is doing and you fall very quickly into a real life experience. A perfect scenario for testing” Ben Anderson - Autosport Magazine “Simulators are becoming increasingly relevant to motorsport at all levels and GPR’s version is among the best I’ve tried. The constant-G seat is a novel idea that adds an extra dimension of realism to the experience.”

Unit 1 Silverstone Technology Park, Towcester, Northants, NN12 8TN Tel: 01327 855585 Email: simulator@gprdirect.com

national court

MOTOR SPORTS COUNCIL NATIONAL COURT SITTING TUESDAY 6 SEPTEMBER 2011 David Munro (Chairman) Ron McCabe Chris Mount

CASE No J2011/13 – David Jacobs The National Court has considered the matter of David Jacobs.

This matter was referred to the Court by the Stewards of the Meeting at Brands Hatch on 16 and 17 July 2011 under General Regulation C2.6.3. Mr Jacobs had been convicted of an offence under General Regulations C1.1.5

in that he drove in a manner incompatible with general safety.

There had been a series of incidents, culminating in Mr Jacobs colliding with a car at Paddock Hill Bend which was being recovered from the gravel trap by marshals who were operating under waved yellow flags.

The Court viewed video footage of the incident and has also considered Mr Jacobs’ account of events. The Court notes that in his evidence Mr Jacobs acknowledged that he disregarded the yellow flags

SITTING THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 Tony Scott Andrews, Chris Mount, Peter Riches Mr Jamie Champkin instructed by Fortec Motor Sport for the Appellant Mr Howard Lapsley instructed by Motor Sports Association for the Defendant 1. There are two Appeals before the Court, each made by Fortec Motor Sport. The appeals are against decisions made by the Stewards of the Meeting arising out of Round 7 of the Renault Formula 3.5 Series which was held at Silverstone on 21 August 2011: (a) Stewards’ Decision No 4 dated 21 August 2011, relating to the Appellant’s Car No 7 driven by Alexander Rossi which was ordered to be excluded from Race No 2, the reason being “non-conformity with wheel nuts threads”; (b) Stewards’ Decision No 5 dated 21 August 2011, relating to the Appellant’s Car No 8 driven by Cesar Ramos which was ordered to be excluded from Race No 2, the reason being “non-conformity with wheel nuts threads”.

2. It is agreed between the parties that as the facts in each Appeal are the same the two Appeals should be dealt with together.

3. Written submissions have been made on behalf of the Appellant by Mr Champkin and the Court has before it the written “Results of conformity checks after the second race” prepared by Michel Cruquet and Elio Ramos (the Commissaires Technique for Renault Formula 3.5 Series).

4. The Court has heard oral representations by Mr Champkin on behalf of the Appellant and by Mr Lapsley on behalf of the MSA. 5. The Court has also heard oral evidence from Jamie Dye, Team Manager of the Appellant and from the said Michel Cruquet and Elio Ramos for the Defendant.

6. The Court has before it the four wheel nuts removed and sealed from each car at the event.

7. It is clear from the Formula Renault 3.5 2011 Technical Regulations that the wheel nuts, the subject of this Appeal, are parts within the “Category A” classification wherein no modifications are authorised.

8. It is the Appellant’s case that there has been no modification of the wheel nuts, they have simply been used repeatedly for their true 70 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

despite being aware of the stranded car and knowing that he himself had grip problems.

Nonetheless he had failed to reduce his speed and was attempting to maintain his position of third in the race.

In so doing he caused an entirely avoidable accident and put others at considerable risk of injury.

This was a grave offence and requires further penalty to mark that fact. The National Court wishes to make it plain that all competitors must obey flag signals. Their safety and

the safety of others depends upon that.

In the circumstances Mr Jacobs’ licence is suspended for 12 months from today’s date and thereafter his licence status is reduced to National B and no existing results (to date) shall be used for the purposes of upgrading the licence.

Mr Jacobs is ordered to pay £1,500 costs.

This decision was set down at 12.44 hours on Tuesday 6 September 2011.

DAVID MUNRO CHAIRMAN

purpose and have therefore been subjected only to what might perhaps be termed “wear and tear”.

9. It is the Defendant’s case that the wheel nuts have been modified and therefore do not comply with the relevant Sporting Regulations.

The evidence of Michel Cruquet and Elio Ramos is that, in their opinion, the wheel nuts have been machined so as to remove the first few threads within the wheel nuts.

10. The Appellant has produced further wheel nuts which it says were acquired new and subjected to repeated usage on a jig subsequent to the Silverstone event which has resulted in the effective removal of the first few threads in each wheel nut, this being entirely consistent with the condition of the wheel nuts which were sealed at Silverstone. This evidence is given by Mr Jamie Dye who confirms that which is said at paragraph 8 above. Mr Dye specifically denies that the wheel nuts in question have been modified whether by machining or by any other such process.

11. The Court does, however, give regard to the Formula Renault 3.5 2011 Technical Regulations wherein it states “scrutineering may consist of comparing the part to be checked against a similar new genuine Formula Renault 3.5 part”.

12 The Court has available to it wheel nuts which are accepted as new genuine Formula Renault 3.5 parts.

13. Even a cursory visual inspection of these parts shows that there are nine threads within a new wheel nut. A similar inspection of the wheel nuts, the subject of these Appeals, shows that each has no more and sometimes less than seven threads.

14. On that perhaps somewhat simplistic basis alone, the wheel nuts, the subject of these Appeals, are not consistent with a new genuine part. The Court accordingly finds that this is sufficient to justify the decisions made by the Stewards of the Meeting.

15. The Court therefore finds it unnecessary to determine whether or not the wheel nuts have been subjected to deliberate machining or other deliberate modification (and there is no forensic evidence of this, merely an expression of opinion).

16. The Appeals are accordingly dismissed.

17. The Appeal fees are forfeit and the Appellant will pay £1,000 by way of contribution toward the cost of the two Appeals.

Decision set down at 17.50 hours on Thursday 22 September 2011.

TONY SCOTT ANDREWS CHAIRMAN

SITTING TUESDAY 2 AUGUST 2011 Guy Spollen (Chairman) Len Pullen Rick Smith CASE No J2011/08 Morgan Sports Car Club 2010 Power Torque Morgan Challenge

In the matter of the Eligibility Appeal of Alex Lynn and Oliver Rowland the National Court finds as follows: A 2010 Race Championship Notice of Intent was lodged with the MSA on 30 June 2009 and a letter was sent by the Race, Speed & Kart Executive to the Morgan Sports Car Club Race Series Coordinator providing outline approval.

On 23 October 2009 a completed 2010 Championship Permit Application Form was received by the MSA and duly acknowledged.

On 1 March 2010 an email was sent to the Morgan Sports Car Club Race Series Coordinator expressing concern that no draft regulations had been received by the MSA. Subsequently, on 16 March 2010 a final email was sent to the Morgan Sports Car Club Race Series Coordinator advising that the MSA considered the 2010 application had lapsed.

Despite the absence of a Permit or any final approval from the MSA, the Morgan Sports Car Club went ahead and ran the 2010 Power Torque Morgan Challenge.

In June 2011 the MSA referred the apparent breach of the General Regulations to a National Court Investigatory Tribunal for an inquiry, providing the Morgan Sports Car Club with the opportunity to be heard.

On 2 August 2011 the Morgan Sports Car Club was legally represented before the Tribunal and conceded that: 1. Neither a Permit nor MSA final approval had been granted for the 2010 Championship.

2. No Notice of Intent had been submitted for a 2011 Championship.

3. It was on 7 April 2011, when a copy of their 2011 Championship Permit was requested, that the organisers of the series appreciated that no Permit had been in place since 2009.

4. The Motor Racing Championship Control Panel had, on an emergency basis during the afternoon of 7 April 2011, granted outline approval for the 2011 Championship with the MSA permitting the allocation of Championship points.

5. The sole responsibility for making the necessary Championship arrangements with the MSA had been with the Morgan Sports Car Club Race Series Coordinator, who had performed the task without criticism for nine seasons.

The Morgan Sports Car Club Race Series Coordinator had failed in her responsibilities and duties in obtaining the necessary Permit/ permission for 2010 and 2011 unbeknown to any members of the Morgan Sports Car Club’s Committee.

The aforesaid admissions having been made, the National Court reconvened to decide what action should be taken and/or penalties should be imposed.

The National Court was impressed that: The Morgan Challenge Race Series had been run successfully and without irregularities for 25 years.

•

SITTING TUESDAY 4 OCTOBER 2011 Steve Stringwell (Chairman) David Scott Rick Smith CASE No J2011/15 David Gathercole The National Court convened to consider as to whether further action should be taken against Mr DA Gathercole regarding an incident which took place in the pit lane at the Silverstone Classic on 24 July 2011.

• Upon discovering that no Permits/

permissions for the Championship Series had been obtained, immediate and effective steps had been taken by the Morgan Sports Car Club to prevent the possibility of any further lapses.

The National Court therefore considered: A contribution of £500 towards the costs of the hearing should be imposed.

That the results of the 2010 Championship should stand.

That any outstanding fees must be paid forthwith.

• • •

For the avoidance of doubt, the National Court notes that: The duty is on the organising club to ensure that necessary Permits have been granted.

Clubs and officials cannot rely on the MSA to notify them of any omissions on their part in applying for and obtaining Permits.

It is to be expected that clubs organising Championships will ensure that there is in existence a Permit for every meeting where a Championship is being run.

Club race committees must ensure that the challenging and increasingly complex work of a race coordinator is fully supported and that all applications are submitted to the MSA within the required timescales.

• • • •

This decision was set down at 11.30 hours on Tuesday 2 August 2011.

GUY SPOLLEN CHAIRMAN After hearing verbal submissions from Mr J Champkin, representing Mr Gathercole, and the Court viewing a short DVD of the incident, the Court orders that no further action should be taken in this matter but reminds Mr Gathercole of regulation H1.3.

No order is made as to costs.

This decision was set down at 12.12 hours on Tuesday 4 October 2011.

STEVE STRINGWELL CHAIRMAN

Winter 2011 www.msauk.org 71

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opinion

Simon says..

Motor sport can be ruinously expensive, but Simon Arron knows how to secure an afternoon of racing enjoyment for 14 quid

Simon Arron is a former editor of Motoring News and Motor Sport.

Now a freelance F1 writer, he contributes to titles including Motorsport News and writes a blog for The Daily Telegraph’s motoring section

costs to support the competitive instincts of one’s progeny. The previous year’s campaign, he says, had consumed about £30,000, what with a back-up chassis, spare engines and fresh tyres. Oh, and then there was the motorhome…

I went away thinking the world was possibly even dafter than I’d ever imagined, but in this instance the ends justified the investment. Ten years passed before I next saw that same karting dad: the venue was Albert Park, rather than Buckmore, and his son – one Lewis Hamilton – was about to make his Formula 1 debut for McLaren in the Australian Grand Prix. When I mentioned our previous conversation, Anthony Hamilton laughed. “That ‘motorhome’,” he said, “was really just a tatty old Bedford.” It had served its purpose, though, allowing father and son to spend more time at circuits, focusing on the task in hand and evolving a vision that eventually bore spectacular fruit.

My own racing debut was the polar opposite. At 21 I’d completed a basic trial course at Jim Russell Racing’s Silverstone school, driving a Van Diemen RF78 between plastic cones on the Hangar Straight.

That was a birthday present and I had neither the wit nor wherewithal to take things any further. Six years later, though, a friend was competing in a couple of Formula Ford races at Oulton Park and wondered whether I’d like to drive his Crosslé 45F in a third,

74 www.msauk.org Winter 2011

“There is scope for serious, cheapskate entertainment in disciplines not fringed by Armco”

NEIL WEBB @ DEBUTART

Buckmore Park, 1997. I’m chatting to a karting dad and ask how much it

non-championship event on the same programme.

I already had some racewear – used for occasional track test features – and the whole adventure cost about £14: £10 for an entry and the rest to buy him a pub lunch. He didn’t even request compensation for some nosecone damage – I knocked it off by sliding wide at Cascades, then compounded the error by running it over. He botched it back together with tank tape and, once it was more or less the right shape, continued to use it like that. Even 25 years ago, motor sport was seldom so frugal.

I have long harnessed a belief, though, that there remains scope for serious, cheapskate entertainment in disciplines that aren’t fringed by Armco.

Many years ago, Car magazine ran a feature in which two writers were given £200 each to drive from London to Edinburgh – and the fee had to include purchase of a car for the trip. I’m sure a modern motor sport equivalent must be possible.

You can pick up 12-year-old hatchbacks for about £500 (with MoT); the thrill of the purchase would form part of the tale, but I’d love to acquire such a car and use it for autotests, production car trials, navigational scatters and anything else that doesn’t require expensive safety systems. And once you have squeezed out almost every drop of life, the most appropriate send-off would, surely, be to strip it down for a spot of banger racing.

Motor sport can be ruinously expensive, but isn’t exclusively so. It’s a matter of opening your mind rather than your cheque book.

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RULE CHANGES DO NOT THROW AWAY!

RULE CHANGES

Decisions taken at the Motor Sports Council meeting of 13 September 2011 that affect regulations in the Competitors’ and Officials’ Yearbook Consultation and ratification The Motor Sports Council must consider all new regulations proposed by the Specialist Committees. The regulations are first published on the MSA website so that comments may be received before they are presented to the Motor Sports Council for approval, incorporating any modifications that result from the consultation process (which may have included review by another Specialist Committee or Advisory Panel). Approved rule changes will be published here and will

be incorporated into the next edition of the relevant MSA Yearbook(s).

Explanation of format Regulation changes are shown as red additions or struck through deletions. A dotted line (…) indicates that the regulation contains further wording that is unchanged and has been omitted for space reasons. The dates of implementation are stated immediately above the Regulations, while reasons for the changes are given below.

Date of implementation: 1 January 2012

Rescue, Stage Safety and Rally Recovery Units and Equipment

Rally Recovery

Date of implementation: immediate Approval to Organise an Event 2.7. MSA approval for the organisation of an event (except authorised Speed Records or as specified in D.5) is reserved for those motor clubs recognised by the MSA as ‘Registered to organise Competitions’ (Recognised Clubs), which have complied with the requirements regarding Status and Fixture List and must be in membership of an MSA recognised Regional Association.

Reason: In order to comply with FIA Record Regulations Speed Records must be considered events and issued a Permit. Issuing Speed Records an Event Permit would also invoke the Master Insurance Policy ensuring that all officials are suitably covered.

Additional Note: Executive Committee have agreed to the proposal of Speed Records being brought within the Event Permit system, subject to each Permit being specifically authorised by the Speed Executive.

Stage Safety Unit

(F) Emergency and Medical Services

Rescue

(A) National Sporting Code

✕

✕

✕

Tools 1 spill kits Powered Tools 1 crash rescue kit (expansion) 8/10 ton capacity/ pPowered hydraulic equipment

✕

(D) Organisers

Hydraulic ram and extensions

✕

Date of implementation: immediate 1. Competitions may only be organised in the territory of the MSA by: (a) The MSA or (b) A Club or Clubs registered by the MSA in accordance with A.4.0. (c) Any other organisation approved by the MSA for the promotion of motor sport. (d) Authorised Entrants organising a Speed Record Attempt.

Reason: In order to comply with FIA Record Regulations Speed Records must be considered events and issued a Permit. Issuing Speed Records an Event Permit would also invoke the Master Insurance Policy ensuring that all officials are suitably covered.

Additional Note: Executive Committee have agreed to the proposal of Speed Records being brought within the Event Permit system, subject to each Permit being specifically authorised by the Speed Executive.

Medical Full selection of suction catheters including yankeurs Yankauers 1 portable oxygen set (900 litres in not more than 3 cylinders). Regulator to be capable of delivering 15l/min 15 litres/min Cricothyreotomy/Cricothyroidatomy kit (or “mini track trach”) 9 12 intravenous cannulae (three each 14, 16, 18, 20) and suitable fixation 4 x 500ml hHartmann’s solution or equivalent

✕

✕

✕

✕

✕ ✕

✕

✕

✕

Reason: Clarification on a number of items as well as spelling corrections.

Also removal of Spill Kits duplication.

CUT OUT AND KEEP Updated rule changes to your Competitors’ and Officials’ Yearbook

(G) Officials Date of implementation: 1 January 2012

G28.7. The total costs for the provision of Technical Officials is a matter for negotiation and prior agreement between the Organising Club and the Chief Scrutineer or Official in charge of the technical team.

For guidance only, the Technical Advisory Panel has recommended a maximum daily expense rate of £40 and 45 pence per mile for travel.

Officials are reminded of their obligation to disclose fees earned from motor sports activities to the HMRC and to account for tax where necessary. Advice on any potential tax liabilities should be available from their local tax office. The specific reimbursement of actual costs should not create a tax liability and individuals falling solely within this category and not receiving any fees need not report them on their annual tax return.

Reason: This regulation was accidently removed from the Yearbook in 2010. This guidance is important and should be re-instated.

(H) Competitors: Licences Date of implementation: 1 January 2013 13.2.3. If you want to upgrade your licence and you are already in possession of a current 2011 Competition Licence …

A maximum of two signatures may be obtained at a car race or long circuit kart meeting. In exceptional circumstances only, documentary evidence, such as printed official results sheets may be accepted as proof of performance for upgrading.

Results which predate the competitors last upgrade will only be accepted where the total number of results obtained is sufficient to meet the upgrade criteria from the basic competition licence for that discipline to that being sought.

Reason: To recognise the different format for Long Circuit racing which is very similar to Car Racing.

(J) Competitors: Vehicles Date of implementation: 1 January 2012 5.1.1. Competitors competing under the provisions of H12.1 are permitted to make modifications, additional to those permitted by regulation, solely for the purpose of enabling operation of vehicle control systems.

Reason: To permit modifications to vehicles which would otherwise be prohibited for Disabled Drivers. Such modifications are currently being used however there appears to be no general provision within current regulations.

This proposal has received the support of the Technical Advisory Panel at their meeting of 22nd June 2010.

5.2.5. With the exception of cars of periods A to D have bodywork providing a minimum transverse cockpit opening width of 81cm. This width may not be interrupted.

Reason: The reason for this regulation being ease of extraction is now adequately covered by J.5.19.2

(K) Competitor Safety Date of implementation: 1 January 2012

1.1.12. Harness Bar. A transverse tubular member attached across either the main hoop or backstays to accept harness mountings.

Reason: Currently no regulations for Harness Bars, in line with FIA ROPS requirements.

1.3.4. Diagonal Members. At least one diagonal member must be fitted. Their location must be in accordance with drawings K5 or K6 and they must be straight. The combination of several diagonal members is permitted.

Where two diagonals in the form of a cross are used, at least one of the diagonals must be a single piece tube. …

1.3.5(b) Doorbars (for side protection): Longitudinal members must be fitted at each side of the vehicle (see drawings K9 and K12). They may be removable.

The side protection must be as high as possible but not higher than one half of the total height of the door aperture measured from its base.

Where two members in the form of a cross are used, at least one of the members must be a single piece tube.

Reason: Tidying up and alignment with FIA regulations. Clarification to allow forward facing braces where they may be more practical.

1.3.9. Harness Bars. Minimum dimensions 38mm x 2.5mm or 40mm x 2.0mm.

Cold Drawn Seamless Carbon Steel with minimum tensile strength of 350N/mm.

Harness straps may be attached by looping around the tube or by threaded fixings using inserts as drawing no. 44 welded into the tubes(s).

Drawing no. 44:

Reason: Currently no regulations for Harness Bars, in line with FIA ROPS requirements.

✃

1.4.1. Specifications of the tubes used: Minimum Material Cold Drawn Seamless Unalloyed Carbon Steel, containing a maximum of 0.3% of carbon.

Note: For an unalloyed carbon steel the maximum content of additives is 1.7% for manganese and 0.6% for other elements.

Minimum Yield Strength 350 N/mm2 Minimum Dimensions (Ø in mm) a) Mandatory tubular members 45 x 2.5 or 50 x 2.0 38 x 2.5 or 40 x 2.0 (For roll cages/bars approved prior to 1.1.95). b) Optional tubular members 38 x 2.5 or 40 x 2.0

Reason: To align the ROPS material specification with the FIA requirements, whilst providing clearer definition of the material specification.

1.6.1. …

The compulsory diagonal member for all events except rallies can be fixed as illustrated, in all basic rollcages (drawings K5 and K6). The combination of several diagonal members is permitted. …

Vehicles of Periods A-Z as defined within the current FIA yearbook for which a valid FIA Historic Vehicle Identity Form or an MSA approved Vehicle Log Book/Vehicle Identity Form/Vehicle Passport Technical Passport (HTP) has been issued – be fitted with a rollbar/rollcage as specified within the HTP these papers issued for each individual vehicle and with that vehicle being in compliance with that specification.

1.6.2. Sports Racing Cars The rollbar must conform to drawing K1 with diagonal brace (drawings K6 and K31).

Forward facing stays are permitted for open Sports Racing Cars. …

1.6.3. Single Seater Racing Cars The rollbar must be symmetrical about the lengthwise centre-line of the car and of a minimum height 90cm measured vertically from the base of the cockpit or 92cm measured along the line of the driver’s spine from the bottom of the car seat. There must be at least one brace rearwards from the top of the rollbar at an angle not exceeding 60° with the horizontal, this brace must be the same diameter as the rollbar, if two braces are fitted to the tube the diameter may be reduced to 20mm26mm the wall thickness being maintained. In addition, Where two braces are fitted, they may be rearward or forward facing braces should be considered.

Reason: Tidying up and alignment with FIA regulations. Clarification to allow forward facing braces where they may be more practical

10.3.3(d) There must be no alteration to the structure of a helmet. Where a radio intercom is fitted this should only be done in accordance with the helmet manufacturer’s instructions. Fitment of cameras to helmets by whatever means is not permitted unless an integral camera is provided by the helmet manufacturer and that model of helmet is approved under one of the accepted standards.

Reason: Safety and to clarify that helmet mounted cameras are not permitted.

11.2. Recommended visor and goggles standard (minimum) BS4110Z BS4110, BS4110:1999, BS EN 1938, European Standard 89/686/EEC.

Reason: We have been advised that BS4110Z is not the correct standard. Upon advice from the Department of Transport these are the correct standards for visors and goggles.

(N) Autocross and Rallycross Date of implementation: 1 January 2012

4.21.1. Have a maximum engine capacity of 1400cc 8V The engine must be naturally aspirated and must not have a capacity exceeding 1400cc.

Reason: 8v vehicles are getting difficult to find and the wording proposed mirrors the Junior Rallycross vehicle and will bring both Junior categories in line.

4.21.5. The dashboard is to remain as standard and in the original position, additional instruments may be fitted. All other interior trim may be removed.

The driver’s seat must not recline be a Competition Seat compatible with the requirements of 4.21.11.

Reason: Concerns that Junior competitors are using standard seats which may not be compatible with the required harness.

5.1.4. For National ‘A’ National ‘B’ and above status Permitted Events only, for venues authorised by the issued Track licence to include Joker Laps, the Joker Lap may be used. Two Judges of Fact to be appointed to oversee its use.

5.1.4.1. In each qualifying heat, one of the laps must be the Joker Lap. Those drivers who do not take this Joker Lap will receive a time penalty of 30 seconds. The penalty for drivers who take it more than once will be decided by the Clerk of the Course. At 1.6.4(a) An effective rollbar must be fitted with its top edge not less than 5cm above the exit of the Joker lap, the cars on the main track have priority. the helmet of the normally seated driver. It must be wider than the driver’s shoulders 5.1.4.2. In each Final, one of the laps must be the Joker Lap. Those drivers who at that height. It must be constructed of good quality seamless steel tubing of minimum 35mm diameter and wall thickness of 2mm. It should have a 6mm hole drilled do not take this Joker Lap, or who take it more than once, will be classified last in in the underside for checking the tube thickness. It should have the top bar straight or that Final before the non-starters. If this concerns more than one driver, they will be classified in the order of their respective positions on the starting grid before the slightly curved but no tubes meeting in an inverted ‘V’. It must be effectively braced non-starters. At the exit of the Joker Lap, the cars on the main track have priority. to structural members.

5.1.5. Joker lap Characteristics: Length: must be such that the time needed to cover a lap is at least 2 seconds longer than the best lap time achieved by a Super Car. Width: minimum 10m, maximum 12m.

The entry and the exit cannot be on the racing line.

Safety protection, to separate the two roads, must be in place. At the exit it must be possible for the cars to be driving at the same speed as on the traditional circuit.

A marshal post will be put in place if judged necessary for safety reasons.

Reason: These proposals mirror FIA regulations in regard to Joker Laps which are used throughout Europe. In addition a request to permit Joker Laps at National ‘B’ status events which are used nationally throughout Europe.

The following Regulation was withdrawn after approval, pending further consulation:

19.2.2. All cars in Category 3 are required to have a valid Historic Technical Passport Rally Vehicle Identity Form (HRVIF). to which Those in Category 3 must have the relevant FIA Homologation Forms must be attached.

Reason: In the revising of the Yearbook wording it appears that the established requirement for all cars to have identity papers has been lost. Reference to “Historic Technical Passport” is incorrect and has been changed to “Historic Rally Vehicle Identity Form”.

25.2.1. Competitors on Historic Special Stage Rallies must present at scrutineering an MSA or FIA Historic Vehicle Identity Form.

25.2.2. This will be the definitive document for both technical eligibility and age.

Reason: Regulations applicable to Historic Special Stage Rallies are set out in (R)49 thus to have regulations only applicable to Historic Special Stage Rallies within (R)25 N6.2.7. The bodyshell must be of the vehicle manufacturers' specifications and means those regulations can easily be overlooked. There is also confliction between minimum thickness with the exception of rear wings/rear quarter panels and these two regulations and (R)49.4 removable parts and panels, which may be of alternative materials. Seam welding,

and localised gussets/reinforcement is permitted. Substitution by a Space Frame Historic Special Stage Rallies Chassis will not be accepted for any vehicle issued a CCLB from 1st January 2012.

R.49. The MSA has created the Regulations in 49 so that Historic Cars may be

used for competitions under a set of rules that preserve the specification of their Reason given: It has always been common practice for Rallycross vehicles to period and prevent modifications of performance and behaviour which could arise have replacement panels. This therefore regulates that practice whilst ending the through the application of modern technology. Historic competition is not simply acceptance of Space Frame Chassis for newly log booked vehicles. another formula in which to acquire trophies, it is a discipline apart, in which one of

the essential ingredients is a devotion to the cars and to their history. Historic Motor (P) Cross Country Events Sport enables the active celebration of the History of the Motor Car. Historic Special Stage Rally vehicles must comply with Special Stage Rally Technical Regulations Date of implementation: 1 January 2012 with the following exceptions 46.2, 46.3, 48.2, 48.2.6, 48.3, 48.4, 48.5, 48.6, 48.8, 1.1.10. Organisers intending to use any Forest Enterprise property for events not 48.10.1. And the regulations below. covered in 24.1.1 must liaise with the Forestry Liaison Officer at least three months

before their event. The use of Forestry Commission property must have been Reason: To remove the anomaly between (R)48.10.1 and (R)49.8.2 approved by the MSA. Permission must be applied for by an annually specified date, prior to the Forest Enterprise year (which runs 1st January to 31st December).

49.4. An A validated Historic Rally Vehicle Identity Form (HRVIF) must be obtained

from the MSA and presented at scrutineering. This will be the definitive document for Reason: Road, Endurance and Navigational Rallies needs to be amended to read the the technical specification of the vehicle for which it has been issued. same as R24.1.1 (Stage Rallies) in order to fully comply with the terms of the Master

Agreement. This also applies to P1.1.10 for Cross Country Events.

Reason: The proposal clarifies that the HRVIF is to be presented at scrutineering

and is the reference against which the vehicle will be checked.

(R) Rallying

49.8.1. Historic Vehicles must comply with 48.10.2 to 48.10.10 Date of implementation: 1 January 2012

1.4.1. Organisers intending to use any Forest Enterprise property for events not Reason: (R)49.8.1 duplicates (R)49 covered in 24.1.1 must liaise with the Forestry Liaison Officer at least three months

before their event. The use of Forestry Commission property must have been 49.8.2. Vehicles must be equipped with a safety rollover bar in accordance with approved by the MSA. Permission must be applied for by an annually specified date, K1 to K1.4.3 inclusive, K1.6.1 and K1.1.6.2 Section K Appendix 2, Drawing 37 a) or b). prior to the Forest Enterprise year (which runs 1st January to 31st December).

Dotted lines signify optional features.

Reason: Road, Endurance and Navigational Rallies needs to be amended to read the 49.8.3. Door bars may be of single tube, crossed tube or twin tube design [Section same as R24.1.1 (Stage Rallies) in order to fully comply with the terms of the Master K Appendix 2 drgs. 12 (g) or (h)]. A single Diagonal Member is mandatory, a second Agreement. This also applies to P1.1.10 for Cross Country Events.

Diagonal Member may be added to form crossed diagonals. Diagonals may be either

installed across the Main Rollbar or between the Backstays.

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Reason: The current Regulation makes no references to the requirements in (K) for minimum material requirements, minimum mounting foot dimensions etc. The change in R49.8.3 clarifies that a single diagonal is the minimum requirement, that crossed diagonals may be used and that the diagonals can either be across the Main Rollbar or across the Backstays. This reflecting what has become custom and practice.

(S) Sprints, Hill Climbs and Drag Racing Date of implementation: 1 January 2012

9.4.8. If a driver has not previously competed over the course within the preceding four weeks, he must make at least one observed practice run in the car to be raced (2.1). The Stewards of the Meeting have power to waive this requirement in the case of a driver who has practised in at least one car or can give satisfactory evidence of his familiarity with the course and any other car in which he is entered to compete but has not practised.

Reason: Duplication of S2.1.4.

(T) Trials Date of implementation: 1 January 2012

1.3.12. If possible, alternative routes should be planned in case of a change of weather conditions and to accommodate all types of cars eligible.

Reason: To encourage the proper provision of routes to suit all vehicles entered.

1.3.24. At single site events a A medium sized spill kit must be available at each section or group of adjacent sections. At events which utilize the public highway each vehicle must carry a small spill kit. the start of each section. Exceptionally for Sporting and Car Trials, where sections are adjacent to one another a single medium sized spill kit may be deployed.

Reason: The reference to J5.20.13. preceded the definitions and is no longer necessary.

4.1.1. Passengers must be properly seated, i.e. both the Passenger and the seat back must be upright and facing forward. In Sporting Trials the passenger’s hips must be located within the cockpit and on or in front of the rear axle line.

Reason: In Sporting Trials the nature of the competition requires the passenger to move their body weight about to assist traction and stability. This regulation is intended to limit the amount of movement permitted to keep the passenger within the extremities of the vehicle.

6.2.5. The SRs will specify the location of the finish.

Reason: There is currently no requirement to define and specify the finish.

9.4. Vehicles may not be fitted with torque biasing differentials in full and free operation between the driving wheels (it is not Permitted to fit any form of differential that was originally offered by its manufacturer as torque biasing, whether fitted in modified form or not) unless:

9.4.3. It is not Permitted to fit any form of differential that was originally offered by its manufacturer as torque biasing, whether fitted in modified form or not.

Reason: Relaxation. In Classic Trials front wheel drive cars are suffering differential failures. Stronger free operation differentials are not available. Permitting aftermarket differentials will improve reliability and reduce competitors’ cost.

9.8.3. All vehicles should carry a small spill kit complying with J.5.20.13. Mandatory for Classic Reliability Trials from 1st January 2012.

Reason: The reference to J5.20.13. preceded the definitions and is no longer necessary.

10.9. Wheels of up to the Sstandard diameter must be used, except for Classes 5(b), 7(a) and 8 where wheel diameter is free. In Classes 1 and 3 to 6, w here any production car manufactured before 1960 was fitted with wheels of diameter greater than 15in by the manufacturer, Competitors may use smaller diameter wheels on both or either axles.

Reason: Amendment and simplification of regulations to provide clarity and remove contradiction.

10.12.4. Cars in Class 1 may fit replacement differentials, crown wheels and pinions provided the differential action remains free operating.

Reason: Relaxation. In Classic Trials front wheel drive cars are suffering differential failures. Stronger free operation differentials are not available. Permitting aftermarket differentials will improve reliability and reduce competitors’ cost.

11.1.1. Two Wheel Drive Production Cars, first registered on or after 1.1.98 12 years prior to 1st January in the current year, taxed for road use, carrying no ballast, no modifications and driven to the venue.

Reason: 1.1.98 provides a suitable cut off point in vehicle design rather than a rolling 12 year limit.

11.1. Class 1: 2WD Production Cars carrying no ballast.

11.1.5. Wheels and tyres may be altered in accordance with 11.12.

11.5. Class 5: 4WD Production Cars.

11.5.6. Wheels and tyres may be altered in accordance with 11.12.

11.12. It is permitted to replace standard wheels Use only wheels of standard diameter or a maximum of ± 2in that originally specified for that make and model of the vehicle, provided they can be fitted without altering the hubs or anything attached to them.

Reason: Amendment and simplification of regulations to provide clarity and remove contradiction. After Consultation the addition of T11.1.5. and T11.5.6. necessary to complete the clarification of regulations.

11.12.1. If standard wheels on older cars are no longer available, it is permitted to use in their place wheels that are no larger than the originals in either diameter or rim width.

11.12.2. Where wheels are changed, diameters less than 15in are prohibited.

11.12.3. Tyres of up to 155 section are permitted, unless a wider section was specified as standard.

11.12.4. Cars originally fitted with wheels of over 15in diameter can use wheels of 15in diameter.

Reason: Amendment and simplification of regulations to provide clarity and remove contradiction.

National Trials Car Formula

12.1. The National Trials Car Formula involves four wheel vehicles complying with all Technical Regulations except J5.2.2, J5.2.3, J.5.2.4, J.5.2.6, J.5.20.4, J.5.20.6, J.5.20.7, J.5.20.8, J.5.20.9, 9.1 and 9.8 and Period Vehicle Waivers. Vehicles can be divided into two classes, up to 850cc and over 850cc up to 1650cc.

Reason: Clarification. Sporting Trials cars have not had the engine and transmission separated by a bulkhead and complete floor since the formula was determined in the 1950s. Due to the very specific specifications it is not practical to apply J5.2.2. and J5.2.3. to existing cars.

12.4.6. Any handle One handle must be fixed a minimum of 63.5cm forward of the centre line of the rear axle must be fixed in accordance to dimension E as detailed in Chart 12.3.

Reason: Clarification of regulations for passengers’ grab handles.

12.9.4. Vehicles must carry one at least spare only, which must be a driving wheel as fitted on the car, fitted with any listed tyre. It is not permitted to add ballast to the spare wheel.

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Reason: To stop competitors carrying ballasted spare wheels.

Chart 12.3.

B Minimum front track measured on C/L of wheel hub tyres contact patch C Minimum rear track measured on C/L of wheel hub tyres contact patch

Reason: Using the centre line of the tyres contact patch is more appropriate than that of the wheel hub.

(U) Karting Date of implementation: 1 January 2012 13.1.2. Full face helmets are strongly recommended mandatory.

Reason: Safety. To avoid somebody using an open face helmet in karting.

Date of implementation: 1 January 2013

14.1.2. A competitor will be considered as a ‘Novice’ and must use Novice number plates (17.24.4), for Long Circuits Q11.3. applies, until he has obtained six kart race signatures from MSA Stewards. (Completion of the ARKS Course (H.8.3) will constitute one of the six signatures.) Three of these signatures may have been obtained at NatSKA meetings held under an MSA Permit. Thereafter he can continue to compete on a National ‘B’ Novice) Licence, or can upgrade to a National ‘B’ Licence in accordance with H.19.2 but he will no longer be considered a novice.

14.1.4. New competitors on to Long Circuits will be considered as Novices and must carry Novice plates (Q.11.3) until they have received four signatures from MSA Stewards for competing successfully on Long Circuits.

Reason: Clarification.

Date of implementation: 1 January 2012 17.1.1. All bodywork fitted to short circuit karts (with the exception of pre 2011 homologated Cadets and Super Cadets) must be CIK Crash-Tested and Homologated, with the sole exception of the rear protection. CIK Crash-Tested and homologated bodywork that expired in 2008 or 2011 may continue to be used.

CIK Crash-Tested and homologated ‘Mini Kart’ bodywork is may be mandatory for the Cadet and Super Cadet Classes for newly homologated current homologation chassis from 1st January 20112 (refer to Cadet and Super Cadet Class regulations for specific dimensions).

Reason: Allows bodywork with CIK homologation expiring at the end of this year to continue to be used for MSA karting. No “Mini Kart” bodywork homologation currently exists but may become available before 2012.

Long Circuit Gearbox Kart Bumpers 17.11. All long circuit gearbox karts in the 125 Open, 250 National and 210 National classes, unless specified in class regulations, must be fitted with bumpers/bodywork providing front, rear and side protection.

Reason: “Long Circuit” bumpers is a misnomer as the regulations apply to any of the gearbox classes that do not use the short circuit CIK style of kart.

17.12.6. Have the attachments of the lower bar parallel (in both horizontal and vertical planes) to the axis of the chassis; they must be 220155mm minimum apart, but are recommended to be a minimum of 220mm apart as mandated by CIK Superkart regulations, and centred in relation to the longitudinal axis of the kart at a height of 60mm ± 20mm from the ground.

Reason: It has been discovered that a number of existing karts have attachment points different to that specified. It is not considered that these dimensions were a critical safety issue but were incorporated to harmonise with CIK Superkart regulations.

17.15.2. Consist of two bars each side of the kart both bars being connected with 2 tubes and welded together, and presenting a vertical flat face, and they must be attached to the chassis frame by a minimum of 2 points. These 2 attachments must be parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the axis of the chassis, and must be a minimum of 500450mm apart but are recommended to be a minimum of 520mm apart. Note for CIK Division 1 and 2 Superkarts, the 2 attachments must be perpendicular to the axis of the chassis and must be a minimum of 520mm apart.

Reason: It has been discovered that a number of existing karts have attachment points less than specified and not necessarily perpendicular to the chassis. It is not considered that these dimensions were a critical safety issue but were incorporated to harmonise with CIK Superkart regulations.

Non-Gearbox Karts 18.3. Unless Class Regulations permit, Aany form of manually operated or variable ignition (advancing or retarding systems) is forbidden.

18.3.1. The use of programmable electronic engine management systems, which can be varied whilst the kart is in motion, is also forbidden.

Gearbox Karts 18.4. Unless Class Regulations permit, Tthe use of programmable electronic engine management systems, which can be varied whilst the kart is in motion, is also forbidden.

Reason: Avoids the repetition of regulations and clarifies meaning. Deletion of sub-headings to ensure clarity when reading subsequent regulations.

18.5. Engines must be fitted with effective radio interference suppressors as specified by the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1952.

Reason: Clarification. The Act referred to no longer exists and has no current equivalent.

(V) National Records Date of implementation: 1 January 2012 Jurisdiction The FIA will adjudicate upon all claims to International Class and World Records.

Claims to such Records following attempts within the territory of the MSA will be submitted to the FIA by the MSA. The MSA will adjudicate upon all other claims to Records made within its territory.

1. Vehicles Eligible to Establish Records. A World, International or National class Record can only be established with a vehicle coming within one of the classes specified by the FIA. 2. The driver(s) must possess an International Competition Licence in the case of attempts at International Records, or a National ‘A’ or International Licence for attempts at National Records.

3. Records Recognised. The only Records which may be recognised are Local Records, National Records, International Records and World Records. No distinction is drawn between Records made on a track and Records made on a road.

4. Records restricted to their own Class. A vehicle having established or beaten a Record in its own class may thereby beat a World Record, but cannot beat the same Record in any other class.

5. Periods and Distances Recognised. Only such durations and distances for International Records and World Records shall be recognised as laid down in Appendix D to the FIA International Sporting Code.

The MSC recognise such National Records as listed below. No competition against time under the name of ‘Kilometre Speed Trial’ or ‘Mile Speed Trial’ or similar shall be authorised unless all the conditions laid down in these rules for attempts at the Record for such distances are observed.

6. Records not to be Established during a Meeting. No performance achieved during a meeting shall be recognised as a Record, other than a local Record.

7. Attempts at Records. The conditions under which attempts on Records shall be made are specified in detail in Appendix D to the FIA International Sporting Code and in Special Regulations issued by MSA, copies of which are available on request.

8. A successful Record attempt may not be publicised without the authority of the MSA, who will have the sole right to reject or approve the proposed publicity.

9. Records Recognised Kilometres Miles Hours 500m SS 1⁄4 SS 1 SS 500m FS 1⁄4 FS 3 SS 1 SS 1 SS 6 SS 1 FS 1 FS 12 SS 5 FS 5 FS 24 SS 10 FS 10 FS 50 SS 50 SS 100 SS 100 SS 200 SS 200 SS 500 SS 500 SS 1000 SS 1000 SS 2000 SS 2000 SS Abbreviations: 5000 SS 5000 SS SS – Standing Start 10000 SS 10000 SS FS – Flying Start

1. Jurisdiction The FIA will adjudicate upon all claims to International Class and World Records.

Claims to such Records following attempts within the territory of the MSA will be submitted to the FIA by the MSA. The MSA will adjudicate upon all other claims to Records made within its territory. At all times these regulations should be read in conjunction with the FIA’s Appendix “D”.

2. Records Recognised The only Records which may be recognised are Local Records, National Records, International Records and World Records. No distinction is drawn between Records made on a track and Records made on a road.

2.1. Local Record – recognised by the MSA, within its jurisdiction, as the result achieved on an approved course, whatever the nationality of the driver. A record made during a race is not recognised.

2.2. National Record – established in conformity with the rules of the MSA and deemed to be a Class record on its territory, or the territory of another ASN with their prior authority. Irrespective of class it may also be recognised as an absolute national record.

2.3. International Record – recognised by the FIA as the best result achieved in one of the categories, groups, cylinder –capacity classes or other sub-divisions prescribed in the International Sporting Code and Appendix D. 2.4. World Record – recognised by the FIA as the best result achieved irrespective of category, group or class prescribed in the International Sporting Code and Appendix D. 2.5. Records restricted to their own Class. A vehicle having established or beaten a Record in its own class may beat a World Record, but cannot beat the same Record in any other Class.

3. Vehicles Eligible to Establish Records FIA World and International – see Appendix 1. National – see Appendix 2.

4. Times and Distances Recognised 4.1. International – refer to Appendix D 4.2. National MILES Standing Start ¼ - 1 -5 - 10 - 50 - 100 - 200 - 500 - 1000 - 2000 - 5000 - 10000 Flying Start ¼ - 1 - 5 - 10 KILOMETRES Standing Start 500m – 1 – 5 – 10 - 50 – 100 – 200 – 500 – 1000 – 2000 – 5000 – 10000 Flying Start 500m – 1 – 5 – 10 HOURS Standing Start – 1 – 3 – 6 – 12 - 24 5. Record Attempts 5.1. All attempts shall be subject to the prescriptions of the FIA International Sporting Code, the MSA National Sporting Code and General Regulations in so far as they can be applied.

5.2. For all record attempts, reference should be made to FIA Appendix D. 5.3. An International or National record attempt or the organisation of a group of record attempts is considered to be a sporting event. National attempts are considered to be a National event independent from the nationality of the competitors.

5.4. Records can be made on a track or road.

5.5. A successful attempt must represent an increase of 1% of the average speed of the current record. The Attempt Permit may be issued to the competitor attempting

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the record or a registered Club. The successful competitor(s) will be the record holder subject to ratification by the MSA. 5.6. The competitor may not publish or have published, distribute or have distributed the result of an Attempt before ratification by the MSA, unless prior permission is given. The results may then be circulated and must include the statement “Subject to MSA Ratification” in clearly visible letters. The MSA have the right to reject or approve the proposed publicity.

6. Application for a Record Attempt 6.1. The Entrant or Organisation must submit a completed Application for Authorisation to the MSA’s Speed Executive, at least 6 weeks prior to the date of the Attempt together with the appropriate fee.

6.1.1. An Organising Permit, otherwise known as Attempt Permit, is issued as the authorisation.

6.2. Mandatory declaration for authorisation: 6.2.1. Proof of landowners’ permission.

6.2.2. Local Police Authorities to be informed.

6.2.3. Fully licensed Speed Event Rescue Unit and Crew Required.

6.2.4. For any venue or course without a valid track licence, a plan and surveyors report must be submitted. A valid track licence is required for all Attempts.

6.2.5. Liability for all MSA costs.

6.2.6. Liability for all Officials costs.

6.2.7. Any noise or environmental restrictions.

6.2.8. Necessary Insurance.

7. Officials 7.1. The MSA will appoint a Steward who will be responsible for the supervision of the Attempt, has the authority to stop, suspend or modify the programme; will maintain a detailed log of all stops and operations at a control station. After the Attempt, send to the MSA a detailed report and the relevant reports of the Timekeeper and the Scrutineer.

7.2. Other Officials required to supervise operations at Control Stations and observation along the course.

7.3. The Entrant is responsible for nominating and the costs of, an MSA licensed Timekeeper, Eligibility Scrutineer and Rescue Unit, approved by the MSA Records Panel for Record Attempts.

8. Licences 8.1. The competitor(s) must hold a valid International Competition Licence for an International Record Attempt; for a National Record Attempt an International or National ‘A’ (Open), National ‘A’ or a licence endorsed “Record Attempts Only”.

and end of the measured distance event if they are not straight and are used as part of the course for the flying start. The measured distance must be covered in both; consecutive runs must not exceed 60 minutes. Should a competitor make an unsatisfactory start and providing the vehicle does not cross the control line a re-start is permitted.

9.6. For records up to 10miles and 10 kilometres the course may be of the open or closed type.

9.6.1. Open Course – the measured distance must be covered in both directions and including the return run must not exceed 1 hour.

9.6.2. Closed Course – the car crossing the single control line lap after lap. The direction of running is free, as appropriate to the track licence.

9.7. For records over 10 miles and Time records the course must be of the closed type. The direction of running is free. For records over 5000km and 24 hours on a circuit where all curves are in the same direction, the direction of running may be reversed every 5000km by crossing the control line, turning back and passing over it again in the opposite direction without stopping.

10. Scrutineering 10.1. Prior to the start, the Scrutineer will verify that the vehicle conforms to the category, group and class, and the relevant vehicle regulations and safety requirements.

10.2. Using approved measuring instruments measure the cubic capacity of the engine. Alternately, affix approved seals to the relevant components for examination at the conclusion of the Attempt. Seals may only be broken by the person affixing the seal or with their written permission by a person designated by the MSA to make the examination.

10.3. The vehicle must remain under the control of the Scrutineer if transported to another place for verification.

10.4. At the end of the Attempt, the Scrutineer will make the final verification and give a written report to the MSA Steward.

11. Timekeeping 11.1. On an open course, time is recorded as the car crosses the start and finish lines in both directions with a break at the end of each run.

11.2. On a closed course times are recorded lap after lap as the car crosses the single start-finish line.

11.3. At the end of the Attempt, the Timekeeper will give to the MSA Steward, a written report, the original record of times and relevant calculations.

11.4. A Speed Timekeeper, of the appropriate grade, as nominated by the MSA is required.

12. Control Stations 12.1. Stations may be located along the course at designated areas.

9. Course 12.2. Authorised stations: 9.1. The course may be either a permanent or temporary track or a circuit and have a 12.2.1. Open Course – One next to the start line and finish line. The station near the valid track licence relevant to the Attempt. start line will be the main station where any operation allowed will be carried out.

9.2. The course may be the open type with a control line at each end of the measure 12.2.2. Closed Course – One next to the single control line. distance or of the closed type with a single control line.

12.2.3. Intermediate stations at a maximum interval of 5km (2.5km in the case of 9.3. A section of track covered without stopping, with reversal of the direction of run- simultaneous attempts). ning after crossing the control line at each end of a measured distance is a close course. 12.2.4. A car shall not be out of sight for more than one minute during its travel.

9.4. During an Attempt of up to 24 hours only the vehicle attempting the record, 12.3. At all stations, the vehicle must be stationary with or without engine running. nominated Officials, Rescue and service vehicles are permitted to use the track.

Pushing the vehicle within the limits of the station by the competitors’ assistants 9.5. For records up to 1 mile the course will be of the open type with a maximum is permitted. gradient of 1%; for flying starts this will apply to the two extensions at the beginning

12.4. Starting the engine by a push start is permitted or by its normal designated starting method.

12.5. If the vehicle stops during an Attempt, it may restart by its own means and continue.

12.6. Should the vehicle stop along the course, the driver may push the vehicle without any outside assistance to the nearest station for authorised replenishment or repairs to enable the vehicle to resume the Attempt.

13. Authorised Operations 13.1. Before the Attempt, except for replenishment materials, all spare parts, auxiliary materials and tools to be carried on the vehicle or held at a main station shall be listed with their total weight and given to the MSA Steward. Only the listed items are permitted to be used during the Attempt. Body panels, window glass and exhaust systems shall be considered as replenishment materials and need not be listed.

13.2. Competitors’ assistants using the authorised spare parts, auxiliary materials and tools of the station may carry out operations at main and intermediate stations.

The vehicle must be stationary during such operations.

13.3. The station may have tools, materials and equipment similar to that of a normal road service stations.

13.4. All operations concerning refuelling, cleaning, tuning, fitting, replacement of wheels, tyres, sparking plugs, injectors, electrical components, repairs and welding are authorised.

13.4.1. Welding of the fuel tank, its lines and attachments is prohibited at any station but may be permitted at a designated place purely for the repair and under the supervision of an appointed Officials.

13.5. Replenishment materials are deemed to be – wheels, tyres, sparking plugs, injectors, electrical components, water, oil, fuel, hydraulic fluids, hoses, fastening devices and items normally found at a normal road service station.

Coachwork, body panels, window glass and exhaust systems shall be considered as replenishment materials.

13.5.1. Replenishment is permitted at the intermediate stations.

13.6. Operations not permitted at stations, may only be made by the driver alone using the parts, tools and materials authorised for the Record Attempt.

13.6.1. Operations permitted outside of a station or along the course shall be those made by the driver alone using the parts, materials and tools authorised for the Attempt and without any outside assistance.

13.6.2. Spare parts, auxiliary materials, tools and ballast carried on the vehicle must be property positioned and firmly secured.

Special Vehicles: Vehicles on at least four wheels not aligned, which are propelled otherwise than through their wheels.

Special Automobiles: A land vehicle propelled by its own means, running on at least four wheels not aligned, which must always be in contact with the ground; the steering must be ensured by at least two of the wheels, and the propulsion by at least two of the wheels.

Groups, Classes & Cylinder Capacity Group I: Reciprocating 2 or 4 stroke engine with forced induction Group II: Reciprocating 2 or 4 stroke engine without forced induction Group III: Diesel cycle engine with forced induction Group IV: Diesel cycle engine without forced induction Group V: Rotary engine with forced induction Group VI: Rotary engine without forced induction Group XV: Hydrogen reciprocating engine 2.2 Groups I & II combined – with or without forced induction Groups III and IV combined – with or without forced induction Class A over 8000cc Class B over 5000cc up to 8000cc Class C over 3000cc up to 5000cc Class D over 2000cc up to 3000cc Class E over 1500cc up to 2000cc Class F over 1100cc up to 1500cc Class G over 750cc up to 1100cc Class H over 500cc up to 750cc Class I over 350cc up to 500cc Class J over 250c up to 350cc Class K up to 250cc 2.3 Group VIII: Electric Engine Class 1 unloaded weight up to 500kg Class 2 over 500kg up to 1000kg Class 3 over 1000kg

14. Records Over 10 Miles and Time Records 14.1. Except for replenishment materials, all spare parts and auxiliary materials not carried by the vehicle shall be at the main station.

14.2. The equivalent total weight shall be carried by the vehicle as ballast; the safety roll-over bar shall be considered as ballast.

14.3. The total weight of the spare parts, auxiliary materials, tools and ballast carried by the vehicle shall not exceed 5% of the homologated or declared weight of the vehicle, plus 20kg. The weight of the replenishment material is free.

Appendix 1 – FIA World and International Records Are available on the FIA website.

Appendix 2 – National Records Vehicles Eligible to Establish records

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