Well, that bit of news stirred things up (see
previous post) and has created some serious and heated debate. On that basis I
thought you might like to read the official reasons for this new directive from
the MSA ...
" The reason .. follows the increased level of scrutiny that
the sport currently finds itself in and the reports from two of the stage
rallies that have run split fields so far this year. The reports from
the, on those occasions, MSA Observers, were that when they surveyed the
Special Stages before the first field went in that the levels of spectators,
their distribution and general behaviour were satisfactory but that by the time
the second field ran the situation had changed sufficiently to become unsafe,
and that is for the faster cars. "
" Obviously the value of the Safety Delegate's survey is of
reduced value if ahead of the first field because at that time the spectator levels
are somewhat less. We have considered his running between the two fields but
then the first field wasn't checked before it ran and so forth. Put
simply the practice of running two or more fields, whilst popular with some
competitors is not conducive to overall safety and that must be our overriding
concern and priority. "
For the moment it doesn't look as though the MSA will change its
mind. That's down to a couple of things, and not just the level of scrutiny
they are under from higher authorities, but also because the issue of rally Safety
Delegates is still far from defined. At the moment there is only appointee for
Scottish events, and as I understand it, that is a temporary position until
responsibilities have yet be clarified.
In fairness to the MSA their hand was pretty much forced with
regard to the appointment of Safety Delegates and it was done in such a rush
that the initially appointed SD, working with the organisers of the first event
up here, were working things out as they went along. The idea being that from
this first practical assignment a set of interim rules could be created and
worked on from there.
As of this moment there is still no final system in place nor a
list of duties that an SD must perform. It is very much work in progress.
I suspect that this business of smaller capacity cars and 2WD cars
running ahead of bigger cars and 4WD machinery will be discussed further in the
weeks and months to come.
And whilst I urge patience from all corners, the trouble is, we
don't have the time!
What was it Corporal Jones once cried? "Don't panic!"
No comments:
Post a Comment