2009 MSA Fee's Hike

[Major Mallock]

Please comment, to see if you share any of the following opinion.

I have just received my renewal reminder for 2009 and notice that once again that the cost of my licence has gone up more than the cost of inflation, in fact approaching 6%.

Not only do I not think this is justified, it has made me think about just what value I get from the MSA

It is true that the MSA are the gate keeper of our sport and as such I have no choice but to comply and pay the fee, and this I will, but if there were a viable alternative I would take it.

I have been a competitor in Sprints and Hillclimbs for many years and it is only now I am asking myself exactly what value MSA is to me. It is true that at each meeting there is an MSA steward in attendance, but exactly what his function is or what he achieves I am completely lost.

The real value to me as a competitor comes from the organisers, without whom there would be no activity at all. These organising motor clubs must operate in a framework, and obviously this framework comes from the Blue Book, yet the standard of organisation varies widely. Here in the Northwest Longton and Liverpool certainly are leaders in excellence and I suspect need little in the way of MSA input, infact I am sure the knowledge flows the other way. So the MSA is not raising the bar of the other organising clubs!

The regulations across all regions vary in class types and engine size breaks, again it being down to the local clubs to decide whats best for their local entrants, so again where is the MSA governance?

In summary, it seems to me that I am paying a fee to maintain central office representing racing in Britain, but which offers little benefit back to the amater Hillclimbing and Sprint fraternity. Maybe its time to look to the real value the MSA bring to the grass roots. Just how much would it cost for all Organising clubs to meet and agree a common frame work? for my part a lot less than the £72 I will be paying for 2009

I have copied this email to a number of organising clubs for possible inclusion in their news letters to see if my opinion is shared.

It is also to basis of an email I have sent direct to MSA for their comment.

Now what do you think?

[blackx]

Cant really comment as I get both my licences for free....

It does seem an unfair hike in % terms though....

[Rescue Dude]

It's an opinion certainly shared by me. I have upgraded to a Nat A licence this year to basically get more choice in the meeting's i compete at and £72 seems way ott to me.

[Bernard]

Passports cost a similar amount and last 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!!
If only there was an alternative!

[jo white]

Originally Posted by Bernard

Passports cost a similar amount and last 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!!
If only there was an alternative!

Good valid point with regards to passports,,

i think it is assumed that most people who compete in motorsports are completely loaded ,how wrong they are.

If weve all got to have the controversial ID cards prehaps this could incorporate MSA details as its going to have everything else on it .

[Jim Spencer]

Originally Posted by Major Mallock

I have been a competitor in Sprints and Hillclimbs for many years and it is only now I am asking myself exactly what value MSA is to me.

The sport still exists?

If 'we' want a professionally run (which given the size of motorsport in the uk, it would have to be) national governing body to ensure that we can continue to do what we do - then it's a small price to pay IMHO.

I'm the treasurer of a National club, 9k members, membership fee £15 - to do it for that we can only afford 1 part time (very!) admin assistant, everybody else (180 officials) is a volunteer. Make the organisation some 20 times bigger and need a few staff, offices etc etc and you'll quadruple the cost easily - but you would still be reliant on volunteers to make it all actually work...

[Steve Wilkinson]

I have maintained my MSA License since 1991 and in that time the fees have more than doubled. As far as the question "what did the MSA ever do for us?" the Speed Event community then maybe we should all think long and hard about how the Blue Book is put together.

The MSA Speed Events committee meet numerous times a year. They are volunteers but do get paid expenses. Then there are the sub-committees which are also populated by volunteers who again get expenses.

The MSA also provide a Steward to each speed event. The Steward is also on expenses. The Steward is there to ensure the general regulations of the Blue Book are followed and that the Track Safety Certificate is adhered to.

If there was to be an alternative then whoever was to set it up would (a) have to provide a set of general regulations to abide by (the equivalent of a Blue Book), (b) register championships checking that they comply with the general regulations, (c) provide Stewards at each meeting to ensure the event fully complies, (d) provide insurance cover, etc etc etc etc.

Given that there are probably only 1000 active speed event license holders the fees for such an undertaking would be far in excess of £100 just to cover the costs let alone make a profit!

So despite feeling ripped off, despite the continual above inflation hikes in license fees (probably due to the rising fuel costs in the last 12 months) I think the MSA provide a cheap and efficient service to speed eventing.

[Jim Spencer]

Perhaps it's a different question that's needed?

If we accept (or even begrudgingly conceed it!) that it costs what it costs, what worries me is:-

Why does it come across that the focus of the MSA is at the top end of the sport?

Why do people refer to: -
'The Grass Roots..'
when that should read
'The vast majority of licence holders..'

Reading pages 22/23 of the just released financial report is scary stuff, 70% of the Training Trust Awards to 'Elite Talent Development', top award in the Club Development fund to 'MSA British Championships' (Though could be trialing & autotests i suppose?) Total award value of the club development fund was £40k, Rescue £46k, training trust £239k which seems OK - but £170k of that was the aforementioned Elite Talent Develpoment - whatever that is.
There's probably more funds available, almost certainly in fact, but what I don't see is the enquiries as to why the clubs arn't applying? I get a real impression that Clubs feel divorced from the governing body, 'Grass roots' (I hate that term!) somehow being different from the rest of the sport, when they are in fact IT.

If that's not addressed and everybody made to feel at least involved, if not always part of the process, then the bottom of the pyramid will eventually cease to exist.
Forget the cost, change the focus.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Jim Spencer

There's probably more funds available, almost certainly in fact, but what I don't see is the enquiries as to why the clubs arn't applying?

All Regional Associations, MSA affiliated Clubs and MSA Championships are kept aware of the amounts of money that are available and what they are for.

I suspect the vast majority of clubs have a reluctance to apply for funds as they then may come under closer scrutiny from the MSA - like what are they doing with the money?

The British Sprint Championship applied for funds to assist in the procurement of permanent trophies some years back. The deal was we had to spend the dosh and then apply for the funds from the MSA after we had made the outlay. We took a risk that the money would be forthcoming and were relieved when it finally came through! This has resulted in a fine set of trophies which the MSA representatives who come to the Awards Night are always impressed by.

In general there are funds that clubs do use - mainly to pay for Marshal Training etc. However I do agree with Jim that things like "Elite Talent Development" are skewed towards the top of motorsport and it is the entry level sport that really needs the funding.

(NB I always prefer Entry Level to Grass Roots not being a gardner!)

[Derwent Motorsport]

I've been involved in running events and clubs for more than 30 years. I do feel that the MSA needs to offer more to clubs and the majority of club members and licence holders.
However unlike other sports where the governing body gets income from their major event and that is used to help clubs and recruitment, Bernie gets all that money from the GP and the MSA's commercial arm does not make a huge amount. The MSA gets pulled in many directions. there are those that think the MSA should be "helping" young talent for rallying and racing but should they do that with the money raised from licence fees and permit fees?
The Club Development Fund is actually a tiny pot of money and there is a limit of £5k per project, hardly enough to make much of a difference. There are also limits as to what you can get a grant for, it has to be for improvements or equipment etc, not for reducing entry fees etc.
I reckon that the MSA actually spend proportionally more money on "representing" the higher "professional" levels of the sport than those drivers bring in. Those drivers, teams, promotors, organisers etc that do it for a living do not in fact pay very much to the MSA compared to the average club or licence holder.