Hello all,
The world is a strange place at the moment with normal life turned on its head. Before we get into what’s happen or not happening with in the club firstly, I just want to say that in times like these the is more to life than racing. The health and general well being of those around us and that we are care about has to take priority. The only thing that is clear at the moment is constant change and a level of uncertainty. Just about everyone has been affected in some way. Many workplaces have shut their doors or have reduced hours, many industries sectors have ground to halt. This has directly affected many members of the club and others in the motorsport community. Moving forward this appears to be getting people back into action. The challenge is to see how we can get back to club activities without while keeping the virus under control and not risking our members health.
Before I get into events and a return to the track a few general club announcements. In a couple of months we are due for our AGM. In these unprecedented times the Committee has decided to postpone the AGM until September. Hopefully things are a little more normal and we can have a club meeting before then. Good to see so much work going on in the back ground while we have been locked down. Many cars are getting some upgrades, new cars getting built and new members coming on board. Rohan Smith is our latest member; he has purchased a Honda Civic. Currently getting caged and prepared for track action. Great to see another modern FWD join the grid. Andrew Pinkerton has been very busy with the ex Fock /Peters Datto and it’s looking exceptional. Bruce Henderson has his Audi Class D Turbo running for shake down. Travis Talbot has the Egg’s new engine all sorted, few cars have been getting some love with Darren Hossack, and there is more going on. Steve Langman, Scott Coulson, Richard Gay, Brett Stevens, Eddie Metz and of course Craig Lindsell all keeping busy. Going to be great to see the cars back on track and it’s fair to say most will look and go a little differently. Also going on in the break has been plenty of iRacing, working with Eddie we will get the 2LSS league all sorted and running again in a few weeks. Heading into winter we now have added 2LSS hoodies and Tee Shirts to the 2LSS shop on Teamapp, limited stock. They look very sweet and those looking for the new flash Car Display boards and bases also on the store. https://2lss.teamapp.com/store
With the uncertainty over the past few months it’s been impossible for clubs and promoters to plan events. In the past weeks the restrictions have been a moving target. The level of paperwork and administration has gone up a notch, so we need to be mindful of the extra workload and complexity that is being encountered by the event promoters. Patience and understanding while everyone navigates the new normal will be required. The people organising the first events are going to be pioneers and will encounter issues along the way. Every aspect of a race weekend is going to have to be run through a COVID19 filter. While some parts of our life’s are heading back to normal other parts are still restricted, racing at our level is not classed essential so how the government view our needs is yet to be seen. Once we get back to the track the difference from our previous events will be immediately noticeable. There will be no Club BBQ’s, no dinner on Saturday nights, no presentations and the social interaction that I believe is what makes the club what it is today will be limited with social distancing. I’m sure the racing will just as good so that will not change at least. We will just need to do the best we can.
Events going forward are going to rely on the following things, restrictions that allow the meetings to proceed, enough entries to make the events viable for the promoters and event promoters that are prepared to do the extra work to make it happen. Winton Raceway are working through their events and seeing what can be done to make them happen. As it currently sits the Winton SuperTruck round can’t going ahead with the current restrictions, but this weekend the restriction are changing so this might make the event viable? Restrictions such as interstate travel, safety of the officials / volunteers and maximum number of people at gatherings etc all play a part in this. The 2 Litre Festival is a slightly different case as it’s still a while away and the thinking is restrictions will be lessened in that time. But we need to provide PIARC with a commitment that we will have the numbers required to make the event viable. So in the coming days you will receive an email with a link to an expressions of interest. Basically, we would need enough people to commit to the event to give the go ahead for PIARC. This will be a 2-stage process, an expression of interest firstly and if we get the required numbers we will ask for entry’s up front for commitment. Then once the required entries are received, we will commit to PIARC that we will be therefor the event. This unfortunately doesn’t guarantee the event will go ahead as the other category’s need to do the same. If the event does not go-ahead full refunds will be given. No one knows how many people have the discretionary funds to go racing. Don’t be surprised if there is an increase in the costs of events/garages. We work our way through the process with these 2 events before working out our next steps. We have been offered to do a Test and Tune session as a group at Winton over the weekend, but couldn’t get the required numbers. But this sort of event is likely to be an option in the future so if people are interest please let me know then I can arrange with the circuits. The upshot of all of this is the championship might further affected by all of this. We will work through those details once all of this washes out.
Lastly, I just want to say the effects of the mental and financial wash up of all of this is likely to be felt for some time. If anyone is having difficulties please don’t do so in silence. As a community there may be ways in which we can help.
In the interest of getting everyone together virtually, I will host a club Zoom meeting on Tuesday night at 8:00pm. Rather than a general chit chat how about people take some photos or video of their progress during lockdown. Then give everyone a bit of a run down of their changes. For those interested see details below.
Simon Hales is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: 2 Litre Sports Sedan Club Meeting
Time: Jun 2, 2020 08:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85863717014
Meeting ID: 858 6371 7014
Hopefully see you at the track sometime soon,
Simon,
President
2 Litre Sports Sedan Club