"Once again taken totally out of context. but I'm glad people can see through charters such as yourself and PaulM-Rotax. "
You demonstrate the problem. I have not taken you out of context, I have merely taken your words as you have written them, but I have interpreted them differently, not in the way you wanted them interpreted.
One of the complaints, regular and loud, is about the MSA and other organisations operating in secret, but you start your organisation by conducting everything in secret and barring anyone who might have a contrary opinion. So others who see only supporting opinions for their point of view begin to think that 'they are right' regardless of the reasons that differing opinions may exist.
Indeed you go on to state that you don't see any need to listen to these people, and certainly not if they have good reasons as to why your immediate wants might not be the good ideas you think them.
"Why do you have to buy a rotax rad for 180+vat when you could fit another one for £75 + vat.... "
Well, it depends what you think karting should all be about. One of the problems of karting is the time and money it takes to be a source of karting parts. Once it takes up more time than can be accommodated in one's spare time, then one needs to be able to earn a living at it. It must be at least as lucrative as anything else one can do in the time.
In the old days, there were all sorts of jobbing engineers who could make money from machining engines and putting them together. There were something like ten types of engine in the British National class and they were fairly delicate when run on the edge of destruction.
But these classes were killed by the convenience of the Rotax, no more Push and Go, no more rushing round the track to collect karts that had simply spun out and then the engineering part died as the engines became more reliable, the bread and butter work of unsiezing engines died.
So to stay in the business and be able to provide kart parts at a reasonable price, one had to be an importer of a commercial class. And with commercial classes came the idea of 'equal racing'.
So there are two troubles with the £75 radiator. One is that it reduces the opportunity for the importer to cover his costs and means that other parts will become more expensive. Sure, a radiator may be £75 but a piston becomes £60 or else the importer just goes out of business.
Secondly, once one allows the £75 non-standard radiator, one also opens the way for the £1750 radiator, much more efficient than the standard and raising the idea of chequebook racing to a new level of expenditure. With the result that being or staying competitive is either beyond most people's dream or insanely expensive. Complaints that we have already heard even under the current regulations.
Indeed I was talking to a northern driver recently who said that while the South might adhere to the rules, up north there were no rules and under IKR one was competing not against similar engines but against hugely overbored monsters with speed differentials that are frightening.
"Why do i need a flipping medical."
The question is not whether you need one in comparison to driving your car on the open road but whether the medical serves any purpose in the higher stress condition of racing. How many people discover, for example, that they have high blood pressure which might lead to heart attacks or strokes as a result of a race medical and subsequently get the appropriate treatment which then makes them safe.
If not discovered, how many deaths would it take for karting to be much more rigorously controlled by government decree?
The real problem is not whether you need a medical but why something which could be included in the annual visit to the doctor that is already encouraged as 'free' and subsidised by the state and forms part of doctors' remuneration should be so expensive merely because it 'can be charged for'.
"Why would I want to be associated to organisations that don't react quick enough "
By this I assume that you mean clubs. You seem determined to undermine clubs, perhaps because they disagree that you know what you are talking about or perhaps you don't have the influence in the clubs that you would like. One of the problems of undermining clubs, of creating the idea that all one needs is a Facebook page and revolutionary ideals, is that to an increasing degree non-commercial karting is of little interest to the track owners.
Fragment the support for clubs and teh clubs will disappear. Most track owners will tell you that a single commercial event can rake in £100 per driver for two hours on the track (eg: Buckmore parks series) and get over 30 drivers.
Turning the club activities into merely an extension of commercial activities, where 30 drivers from the Max Championships, say, compete with XYZ Ltd Staff bonding day for track time and have to pay commercial rates and for additional safety measures (like enough marshals) is likely to lead considerably higher fees for those involved.
"A BIT LIKE THE ABKC SHOULD HAVE PROTECTED THE CLUBS WISHING TO RUN/INCLUDE THE MAX SERIES)"
Why should the ABkC have to protect the Max series because they were unable or unwilling to organise themselves in time to follow the procedures?
Perhaps you would also like the ABkC to support drivers who had had their licences suspended for offences committed on the track or were running non-compliant engines as well? After all, no doubt those people would think they had an equally valid reason for being supported.
" Get people racing and into the sport."
I agree, but I think that your approach of ignoring all the arguments and procedures is simple demagoguery. It is after all simple, if you want to change the structure of the ABkC, then get people or influence on the committees of the clubs, ensure that your points are well argued and organised and then if the ABkC refused the democratic and procedural action of the clubs, get them to resign from the ABkC.
Rushing around advocating civil disobedience may sound fun, but it is an immensely destructive experience for all concerned.
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British kart drivers association by 'BanzaiBoy' (15 Apr 2014 @ 8:13)
