Thursday 8 February 2018

February News Update

The first month of 2018 is now past. Social media feeds tell me that many of your clubs are having your award events and this is a great reminder that for many of us, the joy is in competition. But it is also an opportunity to recognise the many other people without whom the competitive and social events would not happen. Well done to everyone.

My own diary of 2018 events has already begun with a couple of meetings in January. I was also at Knockill for the SMS Academy day. A highlight of the day was a visit from Aileen Campbell, Scottish Government minister for Sport and Health. This was an excellent opportunity to highlight the work of the SMS team and for wide ranging discussions about motorsport and will hopefully put our sport in a good light at Holyrood.

On the topic of the Scottish Government, I know that many of you are keen to see progress towards the closed road legislation being adopted in Scotland following the recent approval in Wales of the Westminster Act passed last year. What I can say is that this is very much at the top of the agenda of the MSA and every effort is being made to move this forward as soon as possible.


The next outing for me is this coming weekend when I will be on radio duty at the Arnold Clark Snowman Rally then to Colnbrook for the Regional Committee meeting and back to Knockhill later in the month, this time as Club Steward at the Grant Construction Stages.

I did get an e mail a few days ago that highlighted to me yet again how much pressure we put on the volunteer resource across Scotland and further afield. The SMMC radio group looking for cover at some 30 events involving over 40 days sport in 2018. This is just the rally and cross country events to which needs to be added the race and speed events before even touching the autotests and road rallies.

Out of interest, does your club keep a log of who turns out on events? Part of the work we are doing with SportScotland through SMS includes volunteer participation and we are looking into ways of trying to get a number. I will be raising this question at the next SACC meeting.

The latest scrutineers bulletin from the MSA includes some important and helpful clarification of existing rules and regulations. Of particular importance is the change to fire extinguisher testing requirements. The new regulation came into effect at the start of this year and I have no doubt that it will catch many people out at the opening rounds of this season. I understand that the scrutineers may allow a degree of leniency for one event but that log books will be marked to make sure it is done for the next time. Please make sure all of your members are aware of this change.  See extract below:



Fire extinguishers


Regulation (K)3 in the MSA Yearbook has been amended to require all fire extinguishers to be serviced in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines, or every 24 months, whichever is sooner. This regulation change was ratified by Motor Sports Council for 01 January 2018 implementation. Unfortunately, there was an error in the rule changes notification sheet published in October 2017, which indicated an incorrect date of implementation of 01 January 2019. We would like to confirm that this regulation is as per the MSA Yearbook, effective as of 01 January 2018. So, to summarise, where an extinguisher is required by the discipline regulations, it must now be serviced in accordance with (K)3. Please work constructively with competitors to ensure that they are aware of this requirement and that they have their extinguishers serviced accordingly – particularly with acknowledgment to the notification error in October 2017, which may have left some competitors with less time to prepare than would normally be the case. If you have any doubts, please feel free to contact the MSA Technical Department for further clarification or assistance – and you can also advise competitors to do the same. For FIA-homologated fire extinguisher systems, the servicing must always be carried out by the manufacturer or their approved agent to maintain the validity of the homologation. Current regulations for non-homologated systems do not require the service to be carried out by the manufacturer or their agent. However, we would suggest that before submitting an extinguisher for service the competitor checks with the manufacturer, because servicing outside of the manufacturer’s network may affect their recognition of that product. Please note that we are currently preparing an information sheet concerning fire extinguisher requirements and servicing – in much the same way as we have done in the past for FHRs and single-seater ROPS – and this should be published and circulated in the next week or so.

Or you can find the full bulletin on the SACC site 

The MSA have published another couple of rule changes following the most recent Rallies Committee but these only impact on Road and Navigational events and seem to be sensible changes.

A reminder to everyone that the next SACC meeting is on Tuesday 20thMarch and will include the AGM.

Best regards

Pete Weall
Chairman SACC