The following was part of an email I received today regarding the upcoming Icebreaker meeting 22/23 September:

New Hampton Downs safety requirements

On 24 July 2018, Hampton Downs issued the following announcement:

With our continued drive towards improving safety where possible, we would like to inform you of some requirements for hosting and running a motorsport event here at Hampton Downs.

So in no particular order:

-Frontal Head Restraints - Both Hampton Downs and Highlands will be making Frontal Neck Restraint (FHR) devices mandatory for all track-based speed activities at Highlands and Hampton Downs. These devices have been proven tosignificantly reduce the risk of serious injury or death. This rule covers both permitted and non-permitted events.
For vehicles which have a 4 point harness or great, there are various tethered devices available including Hans, NecksGen REV, Impact Accel or Simpson Hybrid. These are acceptable.
For vehicles fitted with a standard lap and diagonal 3-point belt system a Foam roll/collar types is acceptable.

-Electrical Tag and Testing – all electrical equipment that is to be plugged in the HD electrical supply within the garages or any other areas will need to have a current Tag-&-Test tag on it. If a piece of equipment is seen connected without a current cert the team/driver will be asked unplug it.

-Infield parking – this has improved massively and your assistance with the no-parking behind the garages is greatly appreciated as it has now significantly reduce the risk of fire and pedestrian verse car incidents on site as well as increased the accessibility to the garages. What we would like to reiterate is maintaining clear access roads into the site. This is still a constant issue and once again is needed not only from a H&S point of view but also from a practical point to allow the recovery teams easy access to the various track entry points when they are need to attend an incident.

-Fire extinguishers – is has been noted on a number of occasions that a few teams are arriving at the track without a fire extinguisher to have available when refuelling. We would like you to remind competitors/drivers of their obligations to have one on hand at all times when refuelling – this does not include using the ones that are positioned in the pitlane boxes at HD.

-Refuelling – when refuelling we now require you to have a spill matt under the vehicle to catch any spilt fuel. These are able to be purchased at any safety shop.

With many thanks from us all at Hampton Downs.

Seems like these are all effective immediately as no date is given?

Heaps of people will have to buy a new helmet as their current one won't have / be able to have HANS posts attached to it. So there goes at least $2000 for helmet and HANS device, plus quite possibly a new harness to fit over the HANS device. Or if you can't afford $2.5G's for all that, throw away the 5 point harness and put the standard lap-and-diagonal seatbelt back in and you only need a foam neck roll. That's safer!!!

The electrical test and tag is the biggest scam since WoF's. Test and Tag is NOT A LEGAL REQUIREMENT!!!!!! Read it here https://worksafe.govt.nz/topic-and-i...al-appliances/ It's a big money making scam under the pretext of safety, and every man and his dog is falling over themselves to jump on the bandwagon that is sailing over the test and tag cliff. Why do you think switchboards have RCD's? To protect the person from electric shock. You can have an appliance tested and tagged - that only means it was in serviceable condition at the time of the test, just like your car was at WoF time. Who knows what happened after that? It could have a damaged cord or some other fault, but as long as it's got that magic sticker on it, you're good to go. I honestly hope whoever dreamt up the whole test and tag scam, dies by electrocution. Same for every idiot that can't think for themselves and goes along with the whole test and tag scam.

The other thing with Test and Tag is, any moron can do it. All you have to do is some horsesh*t couple of hours course somewhere and be deemed "competent", then you can test and tag to your heart's content. You'll have no idea what is happening electrically, what the tests are actually doing and testing, nor be able to explain why the appliance failed and what needs fixing, but hey you're now a Test and Tag guy / girl. Are you going to trust your life to some bozo with no qualifications when he tells you your appliance won't kill you?? What a joke. By the way, I know what's happening, because among other things I'm a registered electrician.

And now you'll have to go and buy a spill mat to put petrol in your car. You can keep that next to the refuelling fire extinguisher, the sheets of plywood you have to put the jack and axle stands on, and whatever else they care to dream up. Have to buy a bigger car to cart all this extra crap around!! My God it is never ending.

So what are we getting for the "safety levy" that is charged at every meeting, when we have to provide all the gear? We are paying them so we can use our own safety gear?? Seems to me that we get exactly nothing for the "safety levy" fee? If it looks like a scam, and smells like a scam, it probably is a ......?

Why don't they just can car racing full stop, because it's obviously far too dangerous. The car club I belong to has the club circuit booked at the end of next month, for circuit sprints. I'd imagine it's a permitted event, so we're all going to have to have HANS devices or foam neck braces? In a MGTC doing 45mph with a strong tail wind? If that day still goes ahead, after that I doubt I'll ever go back to HD. Between all this garbage from HD, the exorbitant charges from HD and MNZ, and all the other compliance / licence / authority card / everything else, it's just not enjoyable anymore. No one in classic racing is doing it for the money, so what else is there to do it for??

So to sum it all up to two words, for me at least, I'll go with "nail", preceded by "final".

My boss at work is the crew chief for 2NZ Sprint Car at Western Springs. I drove the truck to Palmy last season, and helped out at Western Springs too. Was fun, enjoyable, and I learnt a few things too. Guess I'll be playing in the dirt from now on......