AIDKA The Way To Improve

[Old Karter]

Well I have been reading the section called Apathy in the forums and that has really sparked me off. I have been around dirt karting and karts for well over 25 years and help start SADKA back in the days. Our rules have changed over the years once AIDKA came along but our structure has not. We are not setup at the moment to run a national body due to the association being based in South Australia.

I have taken the time to write this article to offer some different points on how to improve the association:-

Promotions
It should not be up to just the clubs. AIDKA needs to appoint a National promotional officer who gets a honour payment of around $ 3000 a year. This would make this person accountable to promote dirt karting. They would liase with magazines, clubs and karters alike to submit articles, organise displays and try to get some TV coverage of major events. AIDKA has the funds to fill this position but is not proactive enough at the moment to do so.

Rules
The way our association is structured at the moment means every club regardless of membership size gets the same vote. This will not work as clubs are voting for rules that dont effect them. It is very easy for any club to have a ring around before a rule change meeting to try and influence smaller clubs to vote their way. The 125cc mediums class is a classic example of this as many little clubs voted no and they wouldn't even run this class at normal club days.
125cc Light 125kg
125cc Medium 145kg
125cc Heavy 175kg
Technical rules should be sent to a committee run by the National technical officer for voting on. this would allow the Nat Tech to vet rules prior to the rule change meeting. We also need to seperate ourselves away from businesses. Lightnings, Kartbay, Browns and Lewis have the best intentions for dirt karting but would vote in the favour of certain products if it was going to increase or reduce sales.
The same rule change system could be adopted for all positions at AIDKA with general rules going to the Nat Cheif Steward and the kart modification and safety rules going to the Nat Scrutineering coord.

Title Events
A rule put up by Morgan last year had a great idea which I feel the association needs to adopt. It would never get through at the rule change meeting as many smaller clubs would miss out on titles unless their track and facilities improve. The only modification to the rule bellow would be as per Dirt Racer mentioned a leasing agreement with a larger club where they would pay a fee set by AIDKA to run the title at another track with better facilities.

Rule For Track License

For a club to run a National Title or State Title they must have an "A" class license which is awarded from the following criteria

• Track pits hold up to 450 karters
  
• Canteen and other track facilities must be able to support 450 karters plus spectators
  
• Track must comfortably run 20 karts
  

For a club to run a State Title they must have an "B" class license which is awarded from the following criteria

• Track pits hold up to 250 karters
  
• Canteen and other track facilities must be able to support 250 karters plus spectators
  
• Track must comfortably run 20 karts
  

For a club to run a club meetings they must have an "C" class license which is awarded from the following criteria

• Track pits hold up to 100 karters
  
• Canteen and other track facilities must be able to support 100 karters plus spectators
  
• Track must comfortably run 16 karts
  

In the event a smaller club (B or C Class) wishes to hold a National or State title they must apply in writing to AIDKA with a signature from a host "A" Class or "B" Class stating they will be running the title at another venue. AIDKA if accepting the clubs nomination will set a Fee of $ **** which is payable to the host club for rental of the circuit and facilities.

Constitution
AIDKA was tasked with changing the constitution five years ago. They formed a committee and submitted a number of different versions for voting on but it was pushed under the rug. We need to get together as a association with a constitutional lawyer to come up with a correct foundation for the association. Currently by having the clubs run the association and not a board or committee South Australia due to its club numbers will always win on votes.

Okay this is part one of this saga so I wait for peoples replies have fun.

PS: Tom sounds like somebody on the AIDKA executive to me.

[tom]

Lots of very good ideas there old karter..

No i'm not on the AIDKA executive, but have been looong ago. I don't think it helps when trying to have serious debate on the internet to hide identity.. My name is Tom Bawden.

I agree that AIDKA is not ideally suited to a national organisation, and understand especially the WA clubs feeling marginalised.

I think a system of giving weighting to clubs votes is a great idea. An easy solution would be to have each club's vote total the number of their racing members. (ie 250 members = 250 votes, 40 members = 40 votes, etc..) If the SA clubs have the greatest numbers, then why shouldn't they have the greatest say ?

It is wrong that a small number of members are preventing the majority from being able to progress as they would wish.

I view AIDKA as a facilitator and the clubs as members of a co-operative effort to promote dirt track racing as per the current AIDKA rule-book.

It's up to the clubs, there is not enough communication directly between the club secretaries, and i see this as the major problem with the association, sometimes the clubs think it is easier to complain about AIDKA, rather than take action.

Productive discussion like what is happening on these forums can only be a good thing in my opinion..

The AKA is currently attempting to form a board of directors to make desicions on behalf of their karters, i feel that AIDKA should avoid this sort of decision at all costs. More responsibility should go back to individual clubs.

AIDKA should be responsible for licencing and insurance, as well as being a facilitator to discussions between individual clubs. I feel that is the best way to represent the majority of karters.

[Cougar]

Why would Morgan propose a rule that would cause theirclub to miss out on State and National Title consideration?

[Kart 11]

"Track pits hold up to 450 karters"

What club in the whole of Australia could hold 450 karters in there pits. Is that even possible? Other than at ADKC who pits are huge...