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You may recall that I’ve been working on formalising the specifications for building a Cyclekart in Australia. The main reason for doing this is to satisfy insurer requirements and gain venue confidence so that in the future we are able to organise public Cyclekart events like Tieton in the US.
After trying unsuccessfully to organise local events, I realised that a formal structure is required before we are able to get event insurance and in most cases even be able to open a formal line of enquiry with local councils.
The reality is whilst events of the same scale as Tieton are still some way off, for them to be able to happen we need to start laying the groundwork now. So I have been working hard over the past three or four months to put together a formal club to support this end.
The main aim of the club is to promote the sport of Cyclekarting in Australia as well as provide members with additional benefits like access to parts and resources. Ultimately when we get to the stage of organising public events we would like to be in a position where the event insurance is provided by the club and we can communicate with local councils and venue owners in an official capacity without the risk of personal liability.
I approached the GB Cyclekart club a few months back who were generous enough to allow me to use their guidebook as the basis for the club guidebook. There are a lot of similarities in club legislation and insurance requirements between the UK and Australia which have been directly relevant, plus they also have many years of actual event organisation under their belts from which to draw from.
The guidebook and constitution are now finished and the club is formally registered as the Cyclekart Club of Australia inc.
The intent is to have representatives from all states and territories to better represent local requirements for the growth of the sport in your local community.
We are now at the stage of filling additional committee positions and am looking for volunteers to nominate for those roles. If you are interested in helping promote Cyclekarting in your local area and are willing to volunteer a few hours a month to participate in club meetings and help shape the club into something that works for all, please send me a message with your nomination outlining your involvement in Cyclekarting and what you can bring to the club.
...'From little things, big things grow'.
Mick
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Discussion — 10 months ago
i absolutely agree with this, and its been on my mind also. good work getting in contact with uk cyclekarts and getting the information required to take things further.
i might also add, the cyclekarts will need some degree of scrutineering. i also think if a rear diff is used, a brake rotor must be installed on both sides to ensure it will stop. id hate to smash into someone all because one wheel didnt quite have enough grip, and therefore no brakes. i know simplicity is key, but so is safety, and i didnt incorporate crumple zones in my design
might help with insurance also if they know we are actively scrutineering the vehicles
i might also add, the cyclekarts will need some degree of scrutineering. i also think if a rear diff is used, a brake rotor must be installed on both sides to ensure it will stop. id hate to smash into someone all because one wheel didnt quite have enough grip, and therefore no brakes. i know simplicity is key, but so is safety, and i didnt incorporate crumple zones in my design
might help with insurance also if they know we are actively scrutineering the vehicles
Yes scrutineering is included at part of the event organisation along with a drivers safety meeting. Simple stuff but easy to manage and helps keep things safe. Nothing different there to what happens in any other motorsport really. No need to reinvent the wheel.
You can take a flick through the draft guidelines HERE if you are interested
Must admit I've struck a brick wall with the insurance but I do have some additional companies to contact direct (courtesy of Shannons.). The broker that I originally contacted had a knock-back from every single one of their insurers.
These are all specialist events insurers too. In all honesty after the first few knockbacks I was not surprised.
The other option that I was considering was affiliation with Motorsport Australia but after talking to them I don't think that this is viable either. Affiliation costs about $500 / year from the club. So that's not too much of a barrier, but to be able to take advantage of their insurance, every participant in an event needs to have an MSA 'Speed' license. This is $160 per year, which I think pushes the cost outside of what a casual Cyclekarter might want to pay. This is the same license required for any type of motorsport, simply because the racing is head-to-head. There is unfortunately no lesser / cheaper license available.
Whats more is that there is still a $5000 excess, which is payable on any claim so the club would need to have provision to cover this in case a claim was made. The net result is more cost for club members, which is not a good starting point for what might amount to one or two major events a year.
Things are a little different for say a monthly meet for a local branch of the club as it can be classified as a test-and-tune type event. In this case a different slightly cheaper license is needed but that is still about $130, plus the excess then goes up to $10,000. Quite how a local club of maybe half a dozen members can cover such as cost is beyond me. MSA is simply not geared up to cover this kind of sport at this kind of level.
What I really want to try and get in place is a policy that will cover lcoal monthly meets and the occasional larger event for a cost that can be easily covered by a small clubs membership dues without needing to raid the bank. Even if that meant that insurance for the larger events needed to be treated separately. But I suspect that it might be a long journey to get there.
You can take a flick through the draft guidelines HERE if you are interested
Must admit I've struck a brick wall with the insurance but I do have some additional companies to contact direct (courtesy of Shannons.). The broker that I originally contacted had a knock-back from every single one of their insurers.
These are all specialist events insurers too. In all honesty after the first few knockbacks I was not surprised.
The other option that I was considering was affiliation with Motorsport Australia but after talking to them I don't think that this is viable either. Affiliation costs about $500 / year from the club. So that's not too much of a barrier, but to be able to take advantage of their insurance, every participant in an event needs to have an MSA 'Speed' license. This is $160 per year, which I think pushes the cost outside of what a casual Cyclekarter might want to pay. This is the same license required for any type of motorsport, simply because the racing is head-to-head. There is unfortunately no lesser / cheaper license available.
Whats more is that there is still a $5000 excess, which is payable on any claim so the club would need to have provision to cover this in case a claim was made. The net result is more cost for club members, which is not a good starting point for what might amount to one or two major events a year.
Things are a little different for say a monthly meet for a local branch of the club as it can be classified as a test-and-tune type event. In this case a different slightly cheaper license is needed but that is still about $130, plus the excess then goes up to $10,000. Quite how a local club of maybe half a dozen members can cover such as cost is beyond me. MSA is simply not geared up to cover this kind of sport at this kind of level.
What I really want to try and get in place is a policy that will cover lcoal monthly meets and the occasional larger event for a cost that can be easily covered by a small clubs membership dues without needing to raid the bank. Even if that meant that insurance for the larger events needed to be treated separately. But I suspect that it might be a long journey to get there.
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