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Being the organiser of a group that has had 100+ active racing members for several years (ERC Series - that is Arrow Wheels as the faster group, AES sponsor the slower group), as Roger points out we have zero representation, as all drivers have to be members of an MSNZ Club anyway. There is no point in going down the route of an incorporated society just so that we can get affiliated to MSNZ to pay them a heap of extra cash and get just one wasted vote in return.
One vote to the BMW car club with about 120 active circuit racers, Alfa with about 30, MG (Auckland) with about 25 and so on, plus the Formula Juniors 20? Historic Formua Fords 20? Historics 20? F5000's 30? Super Historics 10? Muscle Cars (Central, Northern, Historic etc) guessing, 80+? There are also a fair few Auckland Car Club members racing classics too. Get the drift? This is just the Northern part of the North Island.
It is NOT democratic and as long as it is one vote per club on every issue, whether they have 100 racers or rally members, or nil, is hopelessly unfair. Between TACCOC, HRC and the other named marque clubs, it is still a minimal number of votes for several hundred racers.
If I was a club representative with no active rally members, then I would abstain from voting on rally issues. Do other club reps apply the same logic and principle? I doubt it.
We NEED adequate representation from this area but as long as the status quo on voting exists, we'll never get it. The Northern Race meetings predominantly consist of series of one sort or another and it works extremely well, particularly for the Clerk of The Course, the Race Director/Promoter and even the MSNZ Stewards as they generally only need deal with the convenor to get issues resolved.
Race entry numbers are generally better and the meetings more viable because of it, hence over 250 entries at a typical classic 2 day meeting, maybe 100 at a one dayer, yet only 68 at a Taupo Tier 1 meeting on the same day as a Hampton Downs Classic, a couple of years ago. But who gets the support, the promotion the kudos? Not the northern classics.
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