MORE THAN A NAME CHANGE?
Theuk’s motors port governing body gets a shake-up in a bid to attract new blood.
It’s all change in UK motorsport. Or should that be Motorsport UK; that’s the new name of the organisation previously known as the ‘MSA’, the Motor Sports Association.
Motorsport is in one of its most volatile periods in its history. Topics such as how to attract new people into the sport, especially volunteers, how national motorsport approaches electric car technology, bursting racing and rally calendars which are spreading entries thin and high barriers to entry are all things that need to be considered and potentially addressed to secure a long-term future.
The organisation has given itself a shiny new logo. As an aside – it’s supposed to represent four wheels and four nations in perpetual motion.
The name change is a very small part of what’s to come. For rally fans, the last 12 months have been relatively blissful at a governing body level and a possible sign of things to come.
Since the 1981 World Rally champion co-driver David Richards began his three-year tenure as MSA chairman in January of this year, the speed at which decisions have been made has been epic.
The seeding issue has been fixed, allowing vulnerable cars to run in a better road position to give them better conditions. It appeared years away from being rectified if at all, but ‘DR’ made quick work of that. Then he succeeded in extending the life of belts and seats. Brilliant.
But in truth, that was just the beginning, and a mere start as to what’s to come according to the organisation, which has been focusing on karting recently.
To add to Richards, his long-time colleague Hugh Chambers joined officially on November 1 as chief executive, but he’s been working on the governing body’s rebrand since the turn of the year.
So, what is behind the name change. Why is it more than that?
“No one is saying changing the name or putting a new logo above the door is going to change the culture of the organisation, but it is hoisting a flag above the building and saying ‘we are going to behave differently from now on’,” says Richards. “We can’t get away from the fact that our principal purpose of being there is to regulate, but we also have a responsibility to promote the sport. I think that’s the bit that’s been missing of late. I believe the MSA in its previous guise has been a good regulator.
“What we are going to do however is – and this is what is absolutely necessary in our opinion – is to promote the sport better.
“If we don’t do that, we will have diminishing participation, a loss of interest in motorsport and it would eventually disappear off the page and we have to address that.”
So, better customer service, and aggressive promotion of the sport externally is the target.
As an example, the indoor karting industry has around one million participants each year in the UK. Motorsport UK has 30,000 members. There’s untapped areas that it can promote in, to help boost the numbers of competitors in the UK.
“The last 10 years there has been a gradual decline in licence holders,” says Chambers.
“People have said it’s inevitable. However, if you look to Australia, a country that has half the population and with geography that is challenging [for motorsport], they have actually grown their numbers over the last 10 years by 15 per cent.
“They have the same amount of licence holders as Britain, with half the population. That frames the ambition, we’re not going to accept that it’s an inevitable decline. It’s not.”
Chambers reckons from now on your MSA licence will “pay for itself within weeks” thanks to a number of benefits in areas such as accommodation, travel, outdoor clothing, breakdown recovery products, events and magazine subscriptions. While it hasn’t confirmed if the price of licences will change, it’s a good start that the governing body is looking to give back, and acknowledging it needs to do more for members. It also wants to become more transparent, explaining why decisions have been made.
There will be many competitors reading this who had cried out for more when it comes to explaining why decisions have been made. That looks like a key target of the ‘new’ organisation moving forward.
Richards has also confirmed that what he refers to as “the executive” at Motorsport UK will have more flexibility and power to make quicker decisions.
“There are discussions ongoing about how governance can change.
“The executive team here at the governing body need more authority, need to be better trained, and more appropriate for taking decisions themselves and helping guide committees and working with committees,” says Richards.
“I believe we have become too bureaucratic and we have allowed ourselves to slow down the process.
“This is a dynamic sport that moves quickly and we have to be reactive of that and adjust as a governing body to the needs of the sport.”
Hearing Chambers and Richards talk, it’s clear they have listened to competitors. Now the power is in their hands and they have the ability to deliver on these promises to the motorsport community.
Chambers is fresh out of guiding the governing body of the sport of sailing through a very similar transition, and his and Richards’s motorsport background – the two ran the BAR Formula 1 team in the mid-2000s as well as Chambers working at Prodrive through the Mcrae Subaru era – should combine nicely to progress things forward again in the next few months.
If the rumours that Richards is shaping up to run for FIA president one day are true, this is a great opportunity for him to make an impression and add further motivation to get things in the UK right. But it’s not all down to him, and the organisation will need to back this more forwardthinking concept. ■
“In the last 10 years, there has been a decline in licence holders” Hugh Chambers
One-time Monaco Grand Prix winner and Andros Trophy regular Olivier Panis will return to the ice racing series to race a top class Elite Pro electric car this winter.
Panis will share a car with son Aurelien in the final round, set to be held at the Stade de France in Paris in early February. Aurelien Panis, who won the single-make electric support category title last season, will race the new four-wheel drive, fourwheel steer electric car for the whole series, run by Exagon Engineering.
“I’m very happy to return to Trophee Andros this winter with Team Plastic’up,” said Panis Jr. “A big challenge awaits us this season after our electric championship title last year. We will fight at the top with a brand new 100 per cent electric four-wheel-drive Silhouette. It is a very exciting and motivating challenge to take on the best in the discipline. I’m proud to be one of the first drivers to represent this new electric car. On top of that, for the final race at Stade de France it will have a special taste for me because I’ll team up with my father. I can’t wait to share this great experience with him!”
The new Andros Sport 01 electric cars, which Motorsport News tested in January, will compete alongside traditional internal combustion engine V6 machines this winter, with entries confirmed for Panis and Franck Lagorce. Another former French F1 racer, Franck Montagny, will also take part in three rounds, starting with the traditional season opener at Val Thorens on December 8.