Last night was one of the Launceston RC’s semi regular committee meetings and a number of issues were discussed and decided upon, a number of which have some impact for this year, a number of which impact next year.

First off however, is a reminder that there is racing at the Scottsdale Show this weekend.   If you are interested in racing, check out the facebook group or contact Ian Scott.

Dates For Your Diary

While we are on the issue of dates, the Christmas BBQ and December / January racing was discussed.  After a somewhat interrupted year the Committee wanted to minimise the disruption to racing but still allow a reasonable break over the Christmas and New Years period.  As a result, the dates for November and December have changed a little.  Rather than racing on the 2nd Friday, we will be racing on the first Friday (6th of December).  This means that there will be no practice night on Friday the 29th of November.  There will then be a Christmas BBQ on Saturday the 14th of December at Quercus Park, more details on that later on.    We will restart racing on January the 10th, the normal 2nd Friday in January giving just over a 3 week break between the Christmas BBQ and January Racing.  

Changes at Race HQ

Many of us have had it happen where we break a truck, and want to change to a class where they have another vehicle.  Whilst this is a good idea, it also places a significant extra burden on the race director during the night to make those changes.  Also, on occasion we have had classes with very low numbers and border line on racing at all.  As a result a few new measures are going to be put in place:

• A minimum of 4 vehicles are required to run a race or heat of any class at a Launceston RC Race meet.  The only exception to this will be the novice class. If numbers fall short, you will be refunded your entry fee for the class or heat of the class that is not being run.
• If you only have 1 vehicle entered on a race meet, then the Race Director will attempt to move you to another class if numbers, and his time, allows
• If you are in 2 classes in a night, then you still have 1 vehicle running if you break a vehicle and you will not be able to change your 2nd race class.

There has also been a little confusion as to what to do if a car breaks on the track.  If a car is broken it is not the job of the Marshal to fix your car and you must not shout directions at them across the track.  More than likely they will not understand, and it is not their job.  The job of the marshal is to watch for over tuned cars and right them, not fix your car. Secondarily, if you are knocked out of a race for any reason you are supposed to step to the back of the stand and remain there until the end of the race.

Class Changes

Over the past months numbers of vehicles in the 8th scale class have been slowing down to fairly low numbers, and as with touring cars in the past, this has put the committee under pressure when there is expanding interest in other classes.  There has been a significant growth in the number of, and interest in, Stadium Trucks after a strong class of them ran at the Launceston Cup, with a number of members wanting to run them, or having recently purchased vehicles to race.  As such, the 8th scale class is being replaced by a Stadium Truck Class.  For the remainder of 2013 the Stadium Truck Class will be run incorporating 8th scale vehicles that are currently running, however in 2014 it will be a Stadium Truck only class.  We know that this will disappoint some members, however the Launceston RC track really is a 10th scale track, and 8th scale racing is available for those interested at the NWRCCC at Latrobe.

General Discussion

A number of general matters were raised and discussed.  The club will be purchasing an updated version of Alycat to try and get the system to be a little more stable.  The Drivers stand will also undergo some modifications soon to raise it a little higher.  There was also discussion about attending Agfest as a promotional activity, but the Committee decided that we were unlikely to get the people we needed to man the display for three days.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns or ideas, feel free to discuss it with any of the members of the committee.