Haven't been back on website until today.
"You cannot do both. If you hand someone a monopoly, then they will behave like monopolists."
I've 15+ years experience in Sourcing and single suppliers can be controlled via proper contractual details. The main risk in single suppliers is if they exit the market despite any existing contracts, and I tended to follow an 80:20 split in supply to lever cost and also provide a safety net.
"In other threads we have people who state that the only way to lower prices is to increase the number of traders by reintroducing 'tuning and allow competitive pricing."
More traders means we need more competitors to give them a decent living. Chicken and egg. At smaller club meetings the local traders keep the sport alive without doubt, and they need to be kept on board.
"One area where you may have been mislead is to consider that there is no other choice for the various classes, that they have to stay 'MSA'."
The cat's out of the bag now with IKR, and I can see the appeal for folks with older equipment and no class to run in of course. But likewise IKR is not for some folk due to driving standards for example.The challenge for MSA is to get people into their series, and that's not by pandering to the less numerous elite, it's to get the numbers in who want to do it for enjoyment. The entry fees for MSA vs non-MSA only differ by a maximum of £20 in northern Scotland, and I for one think it's worth it for the extra regulation, safety, and higher driving standards.
"However, your understanding of exotic materials and mine are considerably different. Magnesium alloy isn't exotic, not compared to metal matrix composites, or carbon fibre grid reinforced tubing and similar variations. The price of mag alloy components has nothing to do with the material costs, but the price people are willing to pay for what they see as an advantage."
Magnesium is more than twice the cost of aluminium last time I looked, placebo effect or not it could still be banned with no real effect on performance. I don't know the cost part of the material in the final cost. Or how about just stating hubs must be aluminium - very easy to test via a flame test on a tiny piece if suspected of being non-aluminium, and aluminium has a distinctive appearance anyway. Magnesium would be picked up quickly as the poor scrutineer would have a very large flame to contend with.
"Have you read the certification requirements for helmets? Do you think that Bell, for example, considerably exceed those standards in a helmet that costs £500, and exceeds the £500 standards by a factor of 10 if you buy a £5000 helmet?"
Agreed, and that's why I'd like the sport to allow motorcycle helmets that have had a sufficient Sharp rating that people can investigate the results, and decide for themselves what's the safest helmet they can afford. I don't buy into the reduced visor aperture for karting helmets - I've never seen a visor compromised in my time, and I'd rather as a driver have the increased peripheral vision to avoid an accident in the first place.
"Except that as soon as that happens (and it has in the past) the importer negotiates different prices for the tyres with each trader. The trader's margin falls to the point that he has to raise prices in other goods or go out of business."
Again back to contractual conditions, and providing the supplier with a price formula for raw materials to ensure they don't get stung, and conditions that specify the prices to traders. Do the MSA have professional sourcing teams, do they run proper tenders, etc?
Your comment on the MSA committee members is correct, some people will develop biases and favourites over time, but this will happen with new members too, so I believe it needs strong leadership from the top guy or gal with clear tasks and goals for karting - we certainly haven't had this, and is the new guy the man to do this?
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