Riders and Drivers Meeting Report

I attended the R&D meeting on 11 February, along with the usual small number of other rider/drivers, and here are the main points:

• Entry fees - increased by £5 across the board. (but see below in the BIG THING)
• Entry Closing dates - keep an eye on Eurodragster, but they are generally the same as last year - three weeks ahead.
• Main Event / Euro Finals - heading for being restricted to FIA / UEM classes only - no UK Sportsman classes.
  
  So the chances of us being able to run rounds at those two meetings are pretty much non-existent.
• BIG THING - Santa Pod will be effectively banning petrol generators in the pits areas - there will be an electric supply laid on (similar to caravan points in camping grounds) - one for each entrant which will be charged for (£25) as part of the entry fee - that is, entry fees for rounds at Santa Pod go up by £30 per round this year.
  
  For the bigger boys this will probably be a saving, but for the likes of the majority of us it's going to be an additional cost.
  
  The background is that SPRC expect that the use of petrol generators in camping areas (areas where people stay overnight) will soon be banned by the Health and Safety people because of fire risk, and they are trying to minimise the final impact and get there first.
  
  Note that "sharing" will not be allowed - if you enter, you pay, and if you don't "enter" you don't get yourself or your crew into the pits - but the details of any enforcement were not announced.
  
  Shakespeare County have not gone into this yet, but will be looking hard at it. Apparently this is a "third party" deal and the strip/clubs get very little out of it. Shakespeare County entries are expected to go up by the £5 only.
• NEXT BIG THING - Noise limitation - again from H&S side, there is a move to restrict noise output from all forms of motorsport - therefore it's expected that some form of restriction will be introduced before long. As the majority (in quantity) of noise is generated by the mid-range competitors (read - us and the other Sportsman Competition classes) they will probably be the first to be restricted. The idea being that if the overall noise level is reduced, the peaks produced by the big boys will be tolerated. This is similar to the industrial standards which allow short periods of high noise levels to be tolerated without ear protection.