Whilst my role as President of Autosport Club continues to be challenging with all the
variables our sport faces, it is also immensely rewarding.
As has been seen recently, we were forced to make a difficult decision to postpone a sprint
event due to very wet weather conditions. If we held the event at Mt Alexander Road, we
would likely have damaged the road, disrupted local farmers, and faced a large maintenance
bill from the council. These aside, the creek which runs alongside the road was swollen to
the extent that had a car gone off and ended up in the creek, there would have been serious
consequences for the occupants. On a positive note, we will rerun the event later in the year.
At our recent committee meeting, it was agreed that for the future we will aim to hold a social
evening mid-winter to avoid any future winter weather conditions upsetting events. I think
this is a great way to socialise and have some fun.
Autosport Club is in great shape. We have some awesome competitors who are at the top of
the sport along with a strong membership hovering around 125 members. We have fantastic
committee members who work tirelessly to achieve our goals. We are in good financial
shape despite our increasing costs to run events. One initiative we are focusing on is to
reduce traffic management costs at sprint events. As a result, we are working with Atlas
Group who prepare our traffic management, to train a small group of people as traffic
managers on the day that will reduce costs. If this role interests you, please get in touch.
Your committee continues to make positive changes and upgrades that affect the club and
the sport. We have recently purchased a good late model Ford Transit van that we are
starting to fit out. This will take us forward for at least the next 15 years, or so. A small
subgroup of committee members is investigating options to maximise our exposure of our
events, especially the Canterbury Rally. Another group is planning a Safety Seminar that we
think will benefit one and all, especially those new to the sport or who have been away from
it for a few years.
The club has several younger members on the committee who have stepped up and taken
on specialist roles so that we are not underrepresented at events. As a result, we have
conducted several training sessions as we move to establishing new people into these roles.
We have a core group of volunteers who continue to serve us well and it was particularly
pleasing to hear from several who put their hands up to help at Auchenflower recently. We
are always on the hunt for more volunteers, so reach out if this is you.
Importantly though, it is you the members I wish to thank as without you we have no club.
We have several exciting events planned for the remainder of the year, including the Hanmer
Rally, 2 more sprints and we may be able to throw in an autocross, so watch this space.
This is my 6 th and final year in the role of President of Autosport Club which as I said has
been very challenging and rewarding and I have loved getting into the nitty gritty of rallying,
which is a great passion of mine. If you have any aspirations to stepping up to this role I
would love to hear from you, as we take the club forward.
Keep safe
Murray Christofferson