ROAD GOING SALOONS - STATEMENT

The committee issue this further statement to clarify the position of the club regarding the removal of Road Going Saloons from our fixture lists.

Following the tragic accident at Birmingham Wheels raceway in November 2019 the ORCI have engaged the services of a HSE consulting company to look at all procedures, regulations and car construction rules and advise on how to be allowed to continue running meetings to satisfy the Coroner prior to the release of their inquest findings in March 2021.

One of their findings was the lack of consistency of standard safety procedures across the various formulas run in the UK. This applies to ORCi operated formulas and those at ORCi affiliated tracks. The findings being that all oval track formula carry the same level of risk and should have standard safety regulations.

At the committee meeting on 3rd March 2021, the Road Going Saloon formula was discussed at length. Particularly the changes that would need to be made to comply with standard safety regulations. (Addition of roll cages, harnesses, removal of all glass and lights, removal of fuel tank and installation of a fire walled race fuel tank as a minimum). These changes would lead to the class no longer being 'Road Going' as getting an MOT with the above changes would be impossible.

The decision was taken at the committee meeting to obtain clarification from the ORCI on the Road Going Saloons at Crimond raceway and if the club would be allowed to continue to run the formula in its current form.

Contact was made with the HSE consultants and various E mails sent and received and it was made clear by the consultants that they were concerned by the potential safety factors in this formula and pointed out the risk factors to the promotion.  

With our Governing body, the ORCI changing from a “Governing body” to an “Advisory body” if we still went ahead and ran the RGS, any incidents relating to the RGS formula (driver, staff, spectator, equipment) would not be covered by our insurers as we had not followed the ORCI advisory on basic safety regulations.

Liability would fall firmly on the club and its directors. This information was provided to the club on Tuesday 16th March 2021. The committee met informally on this date and the decision to remove RGS was made and statement published.

All committee members agree that the loss of RGS from our race programme is a significant one. No-one wanted to see the end of a formula that was uniquely 'Crimond'. However, settling any incident would financially bankrupt the club and its current directors.

There is no 'blame' to be attributed to the HSE or ORCi, they advise all tracks on the safest ways to run our sport to ensure its longevity.

We hope this clarifies matters and will bring an end to speculation as to why's, where's and what-not's behind this decision.

Bill Barrack

Chairman

CSC Promotions