Later Guidelines explain specific areas of organisation for particular disciplines of our sport, however when organising any competitive event there are common areas of organisational skills and event structure, whether you are organising a closed-to-club autotest or a national stage rally.  Above all, a club should go into any event with its eyes wide open on the financial front.  This means proper budgeting over costs and entry fees and, where appropriate proper security for gate receipts.

   The most important aspect of any event is the management structure, its chain of command and responsibility.  Too often good events are marred by the "one man band" approach, where an official, often a Clerk of the Course, is trying to run the whole event with little help or assistance from other club members.  As a club you must ensure that this does not happen, and this section of the manual should help to increase your awareness of the importance of the various key positions necessary within all events.

   The size of the Event Committee or Management Team depends very much on the size, status and nature of the event.  With small club events it is possible to combine certain roles and areas of responsibility.  However, one overriding condition must be realised by all those who accept positions on the event committee: any official of a meeting may not also compete in that meeting. (C.l.l.)

   The key positions for any event are, the Clerk of the Course, the Secretary of the Meeting, and the Scrutineer.  This is the very minimum number of nominated officials required to organise any event.  On the day of course do not forget that you will also require marshals to help the nominated officials run the event.  In addition you will also require at least one Steward, (C.2.). Whilst the Steward is a nominated official, his duties and responsibilities do not start until the meeting itself, so we will explain their important contribution later.

   Most events involve the timing of competitors, so you will also require a Timekeeper.  Other important officials to be considered dependant upon the discipline being organised, are Chief Marshal, RR.  Officer, Judges of fact, Driving Standards Officers, Noise Test Officials and Pit Observers.

   Before explaining the areas of responsibilities of these positions you must establish a line of communication or chain of command.  This should follow the principles portrayed in Chart A.

Clerk of the course (C.5.)

   However, he/she has much to do prior to the event itself, co-ordinating other officials in arranging venues, drafting the Supplementary Regulations (B.8.2. & B.8.3.), and ensuring that everybody else knows what he/she is doing.

   Ideally he/she should delegate as much as possible to other responsible officials in order not to be swamped by the nitty gritty aspects of organisation.  Only then, and with a strong coordinated team will your event run smoothly and become a pleasure to organise.

   During the period prior to the event the Clerk of the Course should be in regular contact with the other members of the Event Committee, especially the Secretary of the Meeting.  Ideally this should be done through regular meetings of the Event Committee, thereby providing a forum to monitor the event's progress and to discuss and overcome problems.  He/she should make regular reports to the club and its committee and solicit additional help and resources as needed.  Remember that you will need marshals on the day and cultivating club members' enthusiasm for your event at club nights will help to motivate members and their friends to give their time to your venture.

Secretary of the meeting (C.3.)

   The Secretary will ensure that the Supplementary Regulations are printed and widely circulated as appropriate to the events status, and will normally be the official to coordinate enquiries from prospective entrants.

   Some larger events appoint an Entries Secretary to liaise solely with entries, sending out builetings and other pre-event paperwork.  This releases the Secretary of the Meeting to concentrate on the other duties already outlined.

The scrutineer (C.6. & C.8.)

   For small club events it may be possible for one official to fulfil these duties, but commonly at larger events where there are more things to check, the Chief Scrutineer will be assisted by Assistant Scrutineers.

   Prior to the event the Scrutineer should have an input to the drafting of the Supplementary Regulations and be available to assist the Secretary of the meeting with technical and eligibility questions from prospective entrants.

   Once the event has begun, and scrutineering is completed, the Scrutineer must remain available to advise the Clerk of the Course on any matters that may arise e.g.: protests regarding eligibility, or in the case of an accident to establish whether the cause was mechanical etc.

The timekeeper (C.6. & C.7.)

The chief marshal

   The Chief Marshal is responsible for recruiting the marshals essential to the running of your event.  Once recruited these officials need managing if they are going to be an effective part of the team.  The Chief Marshal will ensure that the right people are allocated and that all positions are covered adequately, carrying out the instructions of the Clerk of the Course.
 

Stewards (C.2.)

   The responsibilities of the Steward start by ensuring that the Clerk of the Course and the organisation team are running the event to the requirements of the MSA as contained in the Yearbook, and to any legislation that may affect the event.  They are also the official to whom a competitor must appeal against decisions taken by the Clerk of the Course.

   Basic requirements for a Steward are impartiality, common sense, experience in the running of events, and a sound working knowledge of the Regulations, both event and MSA.

   It is important for a club to establish proper relations with the MSA Steward.  To do this:
 

1. Try and achieve phone or letter contact well before the event.  Tell him any last minute details - time to arrive, how to get there, where he can stay, park his car, any food/ lunch arrangements.
2. Ask him if he has all the paperwork he requires and check he has sufficient passes to get in.
3. Be sure the Club Stewards are in situ when he arrives. (if it is an MSA Steward).
4. Have time to introduce him to your other Club Officials and drive him or walk with him around the important areas well before the start of practice/competition.
5. Ask him to tell you where he will be throughout the event.  So that you can get hold of him if necessary.
6. Make some effort to have some premises available in the event of bad weather if a formal Stewards Meeting is required.
7. Invite him to inspect the course before the start of practice and the event.
8. Assume he has stewarded before, has done your job long ago and knows most of the tricks.  He will be trying to establish a friendly relationship - respond accordingly.

   There is of course more to event management and organisation than just choosing the right people.  As with any form of recreation that requires the organisation of an event, there is the inevitable paperwork and bureaucracy.  The accompanying Chart B provides a typical time/ task picture, showing the sort of lead times required to organise an event.  These tasks may be subdivided into (a) seeking and (b) giving.  In (a) you will include such tasks as seeking permission from landowners, Police Highway Authorities and residents as appropriate to your event.  You will also have to obtain the permission of the MSA by way of application for a Permit and if using thePublic Highways you will be subject to the Motor Vehicles (Competitions & Trials) Regulations, administered by the MSA in respect of England and Wales, and RSAC in respect of Scotland.

   In (b) you will include those tasks which involve you in generating things such as Supplementary Regulations, route or course planning, processing and confirmation of entries, and the actual organisation of manpower as previously outlines.

   This then is the typical procedure for organising an event:

1. First you will decide on the type of event and the date you wish to run, at this stage you will probably only have an idea within the club as to who will Clerk the event.  At this stage you will need to liaise with the landowner as to the availability of the venue.
2. The the date will be submitted to the Regional Association to which your club belongs for their dates meeting.  Once the date has been ratified, not clashing with a similar event within the association, you may then proceed to the next stage in the organisational process.
3. The club committee will select the persons to organise the event and confirm the date in your club calendar.  At this stage you should have selected the venue.
4. Approach the landowner and negotiate terms for the use of the venue for the date required having surveyed the venue as to its suitability and to outline the broad plan of your event.
5. The event Management Team should now be finalised and confirmed.
6. Start drafting the Supplementary Regulations for the event.  The bare bones of the SR's must follow B.8.3.
7. Once drafted your SR's need to be approved by the MSA.  This is achieved by applying for permission to run the event.  The procedure is simple.  First you must complete a Permit Application Form, available from the Events Department.  You must complete the form and enclose a set of draft SR's.  B.2.1. specifies the minimum period of application, which for most events will be six weeks.  If you apply late your application may be refused although typically a penalty will be applied depending upon the reason for delay.  Some smaller or less competitive events do not require a full permit and these are detailed in B.4. and B.5. Here different periods of notification apply so make sure you read the Yearbook carefully!

   Typically the confirmation by way of the issue of your permit, will be received within two to three weeks of receipt of your application.
8. Now you may issue your SR's to prospective competitors.  Obviously to give as many competitors chance to plan their programme, the preceding sections should be completed as early as possible to achieve the maximum period for entries to be accepted.
9. SR's now being available, entries should start to be received by the Secretary of the meeting.
10. Whilst the Secretary is busy acknowledging entries the Clerk of the Course should be finalising the route or competition course.  In so doing arrangements should be made to order the necessary equipment, e.g., bunting, arrows, Warning Notices B.1.8., timing equipment, noise meter and any other equipment as necessary to the running of the event.
11. As the day draws ever nearer the issue of any additional paperwork needs to take place along with the issue of any Final Instructions as necessary.
12. The Event.
13. After the event you will need to collate and issue results.  This may be done on the day or within seven days depending upon your SR's and the instructions from the Clerk of the Course.
14. The Steward will have completed a report form and submitted this to the Clerk of the Course.
15. The Secretary of the Meeting must now send the following to the MSAs Events Department: Copies of all paperwork issued to competitors and officials, copies of the signing on sheets, the Stewards Report, copies of results and return the Permit together with the remittance within 14 days.
16. Hold a debriefing meeting with key people so that you learn by your experience.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

   This then is the correct procedure for organising an event.  The other Guidelines in this manual will explain the specific needs and requirements for individual disciplines. However one area of administration not covered above is if your event will use the Public Highway.

   All events which traverse the Public Highways whether in whole or in part are governed by the Motor Vehicles (Competitions & Trials) Regulations 1969, as amended, copies of which are available from the Competitions Authorisation Section (CAS).  The legislation is administered for and on behalf of the Minister of Transport by the CAS Department of the MSA.  In order to provide effective liaison CAS has a network of Route Liaison Officer (RLO's) for each Police Authority who are there to help you plan your route and liaise with the Police and the Public.  The addresses of the RLO's may be found in the Red Officials Yearbook.

   The legislation applies to any event which is competitive whether the competitive part of your event is on the Public Highway or not.  Therefore any event from a club Treasure Hunt to an International Stage Rally must comply with the requirements.

    The legislation makes various provisions for different types of event, some will require formal application for authorisation to be made to CAS, other types of events may be automatically authorised if complying with the necessary requirements.

   The basic criteria are as follows:

17. Your event has a fixed route which competitors are required or are likely to traverse but has no more than 12 competing vehicles.  Such events are authorised automatically under Regulation 5(a) of the legislation.  The requirements being that neither you nor your club organise another event for 12 vehicles within 8 days of one another.  If organising an event which complies with Regulation 5(a) you should contact the Police with your route and you must contact the RLO's as applicable and apply for the necessary Permit from CAS.  Events which typically run to this regulation are the Treasure Hunts and Navigational Rallies organised for no more than 12 vehicles.  However even these events often have more than 12 competing vehicles in which case see (b).
18. Your event has a fixed route which competitors are required or are likely to traverse and in which the number of competitors entered will exceed 12 vehicles.  Route by definition means the route of the event and therefore you may not argue that you have a number of routes each with no more than 12 vehicles.  Such events may have no more than 180 vehicles in respect of daylight events and 120 vehicles in respect of night events.  Such events require formal authorisation by CAS, the procedure for which is as follows: an application shall be made to CAS no less than 2 months before the event and no more than 6 months, the application shall include a completed form E.404 (Application for Authorisation) and two copies of the route on tracing paper to the scale of the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger series of maps, the route tracings shall include the location of the start and finish and all controls or places where the competitors are required to stop or leave the Public Highway and the time of the first competitor.  You must also contact the respective RLO's as applicable at least 3 months before the event and he/she will advise you of any additional requirements applicable to the area for which he/she is responsible.
19. Your event has no route, and no merit or award for the lowest mileage, and in respect of that part of the event which uses the Public Highway, there are no performance tests, and competitors are not required to visit the same places, except that they may be required to finish at the same place by a specified time.  Events which typically comply are Navigational Scatters and such an event qualifies for automatic authorisation under regulation 5(b) of the legislation.

 

 
 
 
 
 

   As with the other events previously described, you must contact the RLO's and apply for the necessary Permit.

    Footpaths and Bridieways may be crossed or traversed but you must obtain permission from the Highway Authority under Section 33 Road Traffic Act 1988.  BOAT's may be used but as they are subject to a public vehicular right they are subject to The Motor Vehicles (Competitions & Trials) Regulations 1969.
   Therefore a BOAT may not be used for an event where competitors are required to exceed an average speed of 3Omph.  With all such ROW's you may not organise a Race or Trial of Speed as this is prohibited under Section 12 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.