Rally - The Gathering

Last Thursday evening the great and the good, as well as the not so great and the godless gathered in a quaint travellers’ inn close by an aerial transportation hub on the outskirts of Auld Reekie in central Scotland.

The occasion was a visit from some of the High Heid Yins from Motorsport UK and the principal office bearers of the Scottish Association of Motor Sport Clubs plus a few representatives from some of those very clubs. After a glorious three course repast - consisting of soup, sandwiches and chips - the assembled throng trooped into the conference suite.

Perhaps the word ‘throng’ is not entirely appropriate. Despite the fact that there are over 50 affiliated motor sport car clubs in Scotland, there were less than 30 delegates in attendance. Hardly an encouraging number in these fraught and difficult times which the sport is facing.

Anyway, after an hour’s presentation from the four principal guests, the floor was turned over to a Question & Answer session. Despite the lowly number of club reps, there did follow a quite vigorous exchange of views although no blood was spilled.

Which begs the question. How many clubs and officials knew this meeting was taking place not to mention how many ordinary club members, and of course competitors, knew there was such a thing?

Which nicely ties into one of the main themes of the evening – communication. The sport in general is pretty poor at communication, and not just from the top down, but even at club level there does appear to be lack of decent and regular communication planning. It’s all very well having a website or social media presence but it needs to be managed and updated, which means ‘inviting’ a suitable ‘volunteer’ to take on the role.

Not so long ago, most clubs posted out Newsletters on a regular basis to members and met up usually once a month in a local hostelry. Things have changed. More folk meet up on Zoom or Teams or Facetime these days and issue information through their social media outlets. There are far fewer face to face meetings and gatherings taking place which is why Thursday night’s assembly should have been better attended. It provided those with a query or grievance to take it right to the top and ensure a personal response.

We, as a sport, really don’t help ourselves very much, eh?

And so on that basis, a short report on the evening’s proceedings will be published on this very page shortly, so by all means, spread the word!