MX-5 Motorsport Championship Round 7

26 August 2020 / Ian Combes

Update 26/8/20202 : Round 7 of the MX-5 Club Motorsport championship at SMSP on the 13th September has been cancelled due to COVID-19 considerations.

Unfortunately, with new COVID-19 'recommendations' issued by the NSW Health Officer last Wednesday, it has become infeasible to continue with this event.

Motorsport Australia are still considering their position, but it is likely that they will adopt these recommendations at face value, which restricts sport to local areas. In this context, that probably means local council areas (i.e. not 'Sydney') - NSW Heath have not been very clear on this, and MA will take a conservative view on the subject in the absence of any written clarification from NSW Health.

MA have not outright banned Club-level motorsport (as they have with state and national motorsport), but they are likely to request restrictions that make it impossible to conduct this event. At the very least, MA will wait until the last minute before making a decision. Leaving the event open any longer will just make the pain of processing refunds much more painful.

Other options were considered. Unfortunately, the ARDC have no other dates available this year, so postponing the event was not an option.

Whilst ARDC will accept AASA permits, switching to a AASA permit now would be perceived as going against the recommendations of NSW Health, and hence bad PR for the club ('gaming the system').

Other issues considered included the congested nature of the South Circuit pit area, and the large numbers of flag marshals needed at the circuit (both bad things in the current climate).

The Club will proceed with the track day at Pheasant Wood. This was always going to be a AASA event, has much more open areas, and needs relatively few volunteers. So, look out for that soon.

Refunds will be arranged for everyone who has paid their entry fee for the 13th.
No, we will not be giving credits for the Pheasant Wood event - it will be a different entry fee, and we will still have refunds anyway.

My apologies to all the Club members who were looking forward to the SMSP event.