It seems that this years race calendar has become a point of contention. I would offer the following suggestions and ideas as everyone begins discussions on next year.
Ideas to set a calendar. First lesson learned from this year is do not call local events “Club days”. This takes on the same connotation as in Victoria where drivers think it is a one club only event. SA is not like Victoria where all the clubs get a club-members only day the last weekend of each month. All events in SA are open to every driver regardless of their home club or the host club. The calendar is set first by available dates that are evenly spaced. Add to that avoiding Mothers day, Fathers day, Anzac Day , Easter and Bathurst weekend.
It has always proven successful to start and end the year with one event in January , Aussie day at Bolivar , and one event in December , Xmas meeting at Monarto. During the year all 2 or 3 day or championship events must be spread out to one every second month . One regular event and one 2 day in February , April, June , August , October . 2 regular events in March , May , July , September , November
Major events, championships, 2 day special meetings. If the AKC continues then that leaves us only 4 months in which our local “major” events can happen. It may require swapping February for March, and October for November as far as what type of mix of events, but the 2 day events will include state championships, closed state championship ( state cup) , City of Whyalla , City of Mt Gambier and City of Adelaide.
From this you can assume that every one of those events are not possible to be run every year if you expect decent support , and because there is no longer any large numbers of interstate drivers to bolster our numbers. For instance the two country title meetings just should not occur in the same year, and if a state championship series still exists then perhaps even the City of Adelaide could become a bi-annual event ??
Single day events , open meetings. The above then gives 15 single day events , plus Aussie day and Xmas meeting makes 17. Spread over 3 local tracks you get 5 or 6 single day open events at each track , plus the 3 or 4 major events. From this it must be seen that any “series” like the Festival State Cup should be run as single day events only, and past experience says they were successful so something along those lines should be continued.
Look after all the tracks. Somewhere it has been forgotten that we are responsible for supporting 6 tracks. To go to Whyalla for everything in the past 2 years has seen Mt Gambier almost forgotten, and their local numbers are barely in double figures. No major events at Barossa , or hosted by Barossa at other venues, has seen that club’s membership drop from 100 to 35 in the past 3 years. Yes that is as many as Southern has lost in the same period, but Bolivar still has 3 digit numbers to support it. And Monarto has declined by at least 50 as well even with the AKC round , because it is not an event for the locals to compete in. Very soon no major “Australian” events will happen at any of our tracks when all the titles go to Tailem Bend … do not put our heads in the sand and say they won’t … they will.
You are spot on Ian. However I cannot understand why Southern are running a meeting in conjunction with The Bend. I refer to the Rotax Pro-Tour. Do we have to take into account the number of racetracks or clubs. The Bend is not a CLUB or even affiliated with KA or KASA. Disappointed to say the least.
Maybe it is time that the clubs looked back to when karting was attracting good numbers which in turn meant tracks are viable.
Sadly I too think the Bend will have a dramatic effect on major events in SA. Whether you agree or not, I believe the KA restructure of the Nationals and State Championships have and will continue to adversely affect the growth and improvements of facilities.
We all acknowledge that disposable income is less and people are time poor these days, so they look to maximise their time and dollars.
I just hope that clubs will stop chasing the glory events and start to build the base of support again. That means Mums and Dads and fun - think back to why you got into karting. Very few go the distance and spend the time and money to race at the top end.
Good luck in the future - I certainly continue to think of you and the good times we had cheers