ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Club held its AGM at Tewkesbury Park Hotel on Saturday 21st February.

The most important business of the meeting was change of personnel. After more than 20 years service as Club Chairman, David Cox stood down. In addition, Mary Cox relinquished the post of Club Administrator after 12 years in post. Rotational retirees: David Cox and Patrick Huston were re-elected. Co-opted directors: Nick Harrison and David Parkinson were elected.

Nick Harrison was elected as Club Chairman, Patrick Huston as Club Secretary, and Tony Cotton as Club Treasurer.

After the conclusion of this business, David Cox stood down from the post of Club Chairman, and Nick Harrison took over the chair.

By a unanimous vote David Cox was elected to the post of Vice President. (Note, acceptance of this position does not preclude David becoming a director).

Tony Cotton made presentations to David Cox and Mary Cox. David was presented with a model of his Ralt RT3 with Royal Agricultural College colours painted over Ayrton Senna’s colours just like his car. There was some banter over accurate portrayal of ‘duct tape’. Mary was presented with a book of paintings by the 19th Century Birmingham artist David Cox. For more details see ‘End of an Era’.

After the presentations David and Mary Cox left the AGM for another engagement. The newly appointed Chairman Nick Harrison took over the Chair. The Secretary’s and Treasurer’s reports were made prior to the departure of Mr & Mrs Cox. The Secretary made the following points about the 2008 season:

• It was the first year with the Classic Sports Car Club (CSCC) organising the majority of MRC's races.
• The relationship with CSCC had been generally successful with fewer complaints from the membership. A competitive pricing policy had kept entry numbers high and all UK rounds had made a profit.
• The solitary meeting organised by Peterborough Motor Club had been a financial high point of the season but it would appear that this will be the last meeting that PMC will organise at Silverstone.
• The MRC's formation of a Race Sub-committee had been a successful innovation with the calendar available early.
• Following the untimely death of Ray Dackombe, the board had advertised for board members. The following were co-opted in June: Nick Harrison, David Parkinson and Sarah Harvey-Fern. The latter had been allocated the position of director designate. The process had uncovered some anomalies in the club's articles. These anomalies were the subject of later AGM business.
• Directors held six meetings during 2008.
  

Significant events during 2008 included

• AGM with lunch at The Royal Agricultural College.
• A presence at the Autosport show and a stand at the Stoneleigh Show.
• A 50th Anniversary celebration, with parties for past and present members at the Rockingham meeting.
• Douglas McLay representing club racing at the MSA.
• Further evolution of the Website & Forum by Stephen Brooks.
• A championship of 13 rounds, 5 of them double headers.
• The introduction of the Mono Classic Class and the Ray Dackombe Trophy.
• The club continued to present Driver of the Day and Most Improved Driver Trophies, both of these trophies were sponsored.
• There was a non championship race at Spa.
• Membership numbers increased, the final total being 121 members. This number included 19 guest members. The financial success of some meetings depended on attracting guest drivers.

Looking forward to 2009, the Secretary noted 'headline sponsorship' by Track & Race Car magazine. The sponsorship had resulted from a chance contact by David Cox at The Autosport Show.

The Secretary looked forward to the 2009 season:

• The championship will consist of 12 races, ten to count.
• Costs per race will be similar to 2008.
• A further update of Website is in hand.
• The Mono Formula Cup will be introduced.
• Mono1000 & Mono1400 classes will replace Mono1200F & Mono1200S.
• The new Club Administrator will handle race entries, 'in house'.

The Treasurer presented the financial report. Important points:

• In an attempt to increase profits per entry the entries for 2009 are being handled by the club administrator.
• It was hoped that handling entries within the club would engender greater trust and persuade competitors to submit entries earlier than has become traditional in some quarters. It was intended that payment would still be taken on the closing date.
• The effect of CSCC's prepayment requirements on cash flow through the club's reserves was displayed graphically. This graph illustrated that it was essential for the club to have adequate financial reserves.
• After 2009 costs had been ‘finalised’, Croft increased the cost of purchasing our races at its meeting, resulting in a £3,000 cost to the club.
• Costs have been calculated on the assumption that there will be 43 entries per race.

Advertising for directors had revealed the numerically anomalous situation existing between articles 35 and 47 in the club’s articles. This was addressed by inserting the same number (13) into each article. (Note: there is currently no intention of appointing more than 11 directors). This proposal was approved by a majority vote, there were no dissenters. Following this decision by the AGM and after a short speech in praise of youth by the new Chairman, Sarah Harvey-Fern was elected as a director.
The meeting was closed at 1610hrs.

A.O.B.

Tony Cotton made a presentation (a Belgian gourmet meal, in kit form) to Russ Giles, to thank him for acting as club official at the Spa Meeting. (see Parts Department)

The new Club Administrator, Simon Davey made a presentation to the meeting by recorded video.

Rupert Reader initiated a discussion on the way classes with different performance were mixed on the grid. Several members and directors contributed to the discussion. The final contribution was from Stephen Brooks who explained that financial reality dictated the situation.

The wisdom of starting and ending the season at Snetterton, a track where profit for the club, in 2008, had been least, was raised. Opinion was divided between those who believed that the problem was with Snetterton and those who believed that the problem would apply to any circuit that opened and closed the season.

Richard Purcell enquired into the economics of increasing the length of races and the economics of using other tracks. The Chairman of the Race Committee, Peter Whitmore replied, he stated, “that when: timetable, availability and cost are considered, the 2009 calendar was the best available within the constraints imposed by the club’s aims and objectives”. All race organisers had been contacted and considered, we had chosen those that most suited us.

Some ideas were offered for the improvement of the championship. Neil Harrison suggested double points for the final race meeting of the season. Geoff Fern suggested that at what were now doubleheader meetings, there could be one qualifying session and three races.

Douglas McLay informed the meeting that the MSA:
• had made dry break fuel sampling connections compulsory.
• had changed the rules with regard to red flag situations.

Nick Harrison pointed out that the MSA had changed the restart regulations for red flagged races.

Richard Snuggs asked for information on the Track and Race Cars magazine's logos. Stephen Brooks anticipated them being rectangular and of moderate size.
Patrick Huston noted that in recent years the size of the championship had declined from 15 races (plus Spa) to 12 races for the 2009 calendar. He suggested that the number of races in a season could be a topic for discussion on the Forum.

P. J. Huston, Secretary
27 February 2009.

Looking back at 2008....

A close relationship with CSCC - here is the Autosport show stand

Russ's Reynard at Stoneleigh

Guests at the Rockingham 50 years celebrations

The Spa race was enjoyed by all participants

A paddock scene at Mallory - Patrick Huston gives advice to Neil Harrison?

A line up of Mono cars