BSCRA Annual Council Meeting – 1 December 2024 (Zoom meeting)
Those present -
Apologies , Will Stemman (Safeguarding),
Chairman's Report
Mark Witham thanked all the officials and volunteers.
In 2024 the revised Clubman Nationals has proved very successful, there has been some increase in the number of competitors at the 1/32 and 1/24 Nationals but a drop in numbers at the Club Team Championship/ Production Challenge.
Additional meetings at the National Centre are planned for 2025
There has been much
more use of brushless motors, and work is in progress on brushless INTRO cars due
to be introduced in 2026
Treasurer’s report
The treasurer reported the Association's income had covered its costs in 2024 with
a modest surplus. He thanked our sponsors -
Our main expenditure is the National centre and track. The rent is the largest single item. Some further expenditure on track maintenance is planned, Some cost savings have been achieved.
Overall the pre-
Membership fees for 2025 will remain at £13 Adult & Club & £6.50 Junior.
Entry Fees
for the main National events will remain at £24 per person per class adult : £12
per class junior: £96 for the team of 4 in the club team event.
The Production Challenge and F2 race entry fees for adults will be £20 per person for super production (including Genesis), £16 per person for F2 : half price for juniors.
The Clubman Nationals will be a stand alone event. Entry fees for adults will
be-
Fees for the new events are shown in Racing Events section below.
As always these
are the fees for advanced payment, 25% extra will be added to adult fees if paid
on the weekend of the event but there is no extra for juniors paying on the day.
Racing Rules
INTRO 32
The membership have voted for a brushless INTRO 32 class to be introduced
for 2026. There has already been considerable testing of various brushless motors
in the brushless version of the Genesis chassis. Some of the motors tested have
proved rather too powerful for an introductory class on a club track, so are no longer
under consideration.. Work is in progress consulting manufacturers about suitable
products and developing suitable scrutineering methods. It is hoped to have prototypes
running by the spring of 2025.
Brushless Ecoms
There has been some concern about potential problems resulting from disabling the reverse current protection on Ecoms. Further testing is planned to establish if any changes to the rules might be needed.
Controller Eligibility
Controllers have again been scrutinised by tests at some major
2024 events on the Nationals track. All the controllers measured have met the rules.
There will be similar testing at future events
National Track and National Centre
There has been substantial maintenance on the track prior to the 2024 1/32 Nationals
and further maintenance will be carried out early in 2025 In particular a number
of track joints and corners were re braided. A big thank you to all the volunteers.
The track does not need to be moved so there is less degradation particularly at
the joints.
Work is in progress on a replacement race control system which will make
live streaming of events easier. The race control computer is the only part of the
track electronics we don't have spares for, the exiting race controller will be
retained as a back up.
Competitors are generally doing a fair job of cleaning up their pit spaces at the
end of meetings, but this could be better. Council members will continue to ‘take
the lead’ and show an example in starting the clean up at the end of a meeting.
Racing Events – Nationals, BOC and other racing on the BSCRA track
1 1/24 BOC round 1 22/23 February – this will be run to the normal BOC format. Entry fees will be £15 per class or £40 for all 3. James Cleave will take the lead in organising the event
2 Clubman Nats 15/14 March – following the very sucessful 2024 event, the same
format will be adopted in 2025. James Cleave and Gavin Wills will take the lead in
organising the event
3 1/32 Nats – 3-
The same qualifying procedure as 2023& 2024 will be used . Nick Thrower has agreed to be the main race controller.
4 Brushed Nationals 12-
5 ISRA Rules meeting 23-
The team production event will be run with hand
out tyres but unlike the ISRA Worlds the other parts will not be hand out. It's
envisaged the 2025 Worlds production body will be mandatory, subject to that being
available in plenty of time.
James Cleave will take the lead in organising the event.
Entry
fees £20 per class for the 3 individual classes, the team event entry fee will be
£20 per driver + the cost of the handout tyres.
6 Club Team / Production Challenge – 27/28 September -
Mark Witham will take the lead in organising the event.
7 Super Challenge and Southern 32 and Saturday Race 1-
Saturday -
Sunday -
Full details to follow later.
8 1/24 Nationals – 15/16 November This will be the final round of the 1/24 British Open Championship. It will again be a 2 day event with the same format as 2024. The lead in organising the event will be arranged in the next few weeks.
9 1/32 British Open Championship – A change in the rules allows home members to race at 1/32 BOC meetings. We look forward to seeing how well this works during the 2025 season. BOC participants will be consulted about how well the change is working in good time to decide if any changes would be advisable for 2026.
Thanks to all the clubs who are hosting championship rounds. There has been a disappointing lack of offers from southern clubs to host 2025 championship rounds
10 1/24 British Open Championship – The 2025 championship will have 4 rounds, 2 rounds
on club tracks and two on the Nationals track (see above).
Clubs are welcome to decide
what time to open their tracks for practice providing production saloon practice
is available from 12:00 to 14:00 on Saturday with qualifying and racing from 14:00
11 Endurance Racing There is insufficient interest in Endurance racing to justify attempting a 24 hour race in 2025. This will be reviewed again when planning the 2026 season.
BSCRA Officals
The existing council members agreed to continue. There is a vacancy for a Public
Relations Officer, if anybody is interested in volunteering please contact the chairman.
A few of the Area Coordinators are planning to stand down over the next few months,
work is in progress on new coordinators.
Future Meetings
The meeting ran successfully using Zoom. The next Annual Council Meeting is scheduled for 30th November 2025 but interim meetings may be called by the chairman.
December 2024
-
BSCRA Council Meeting – 12 March 2024 (Zoom meeting)
Those present -
This special Council Meeting was called to discuss the rent on the National Centre and how brushless / strap motor classes will be run at the 1/32 Nationals.
National Centre
The costs of running the industrial building at Corby have substantially increased.
The other tenants have already agreed to increased rent. It was unanimously agreed
that BSCRA must respond to the landlord's request promptly.
The Treasurer advised
that we could afford to pay an increase this year. It was agreed the association'
must aim to balance the increased costs in future years so we will need to increase
income and where possible make savings to cover the cost of the increased rent,.
The council is working on all that. It was accepted that there was limited scope
to increase income in 2024, and we won't see the full benefit of the changes till
2025 when extra events at the National Centre are being planned.
Brushless / Strap Cars in National Finals
The association must aim to increase the numbers racing at National events and take
steps to prevent reductions in the numbers racing. The current rate of development
of brushless cars leads to concern that if they dominate the overall results, some
of those with strap powered cars will stop racing at National events.
The speed
of the latest brushless powered cars at a recent international race meeting indicates
we must plan on the assumption that brushless technology will eventually dominate
National open class finals. Only a few of the fastest British drivers already have
the fastest brushless technology, it's entirely possible one of them will win. However,
it's unknown how may strap cars might be in the finals, apparently the best kit is
currently in short supply. While some thought the finals might be mainly brushless
cars this year, the majority of the council thought that was much more likely in
2025.
After considerable discussion it was agreed there should be separate finals for brushless and brushed (strap) cars in sports and F1 and the discussion moved on to the timing. After further discussion the majority voted to introduce the separate finals in 2025. The 2024 sports and F1 finals will be open to either technology as in previous years. In 2024 separate trophies will be awarded for the top runner of the technology that was not the outright winner in sports and F1.
The detailed plans for separate finals in 2025 is work in progress. If any membership voting is needed, that will be done in annual round of rule change voting in September 2024.
March 2024
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