HRCA

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE HISTORIC RACING CAR ASSOCIATION (HRCA), HELD AT THE OFFICES OF MOTOR SPORT IRELAND IN DAWSON STREET AT 8PM ON 16^TH NOVEMBER 2009.

PRESENT:

David Miller                 Chairman

Ken McAvoy               Vice Chairman

Ed Cassidy                  Events Officer

Liam Ruth                   Newsletter

Clive Brandon             Committee Member

Frank Nuttall

David Kelly

Michael Doyle

Stephen Doyle

Dominic Peel

Mark Kelly

Billy Crosbie

Bernard Foley

Noel Kavanagh

Matt Dunne

David Moloney

Pete Murray

V X O’Reilly

Alan Kessie

Frank Hart

Pamela Cochrane

Jackie Cochrane

Eddie Burke

Nick Bennett

Plus 3 other persons who did not sign in or whose signatures are illegible

APOLOGIES:

Barry Smith

Mick O’Shea

Dave Dunne

Kieran White

John Porter

Maurice Cassidy

Jonathan White

Brian Cassidy

Orla Cassidy

1. APOLOGIES.

The Chairman read out the apologies as per the above list.

1. OPENING NOTE FROM THE CHAIRMAN.

The Chairman asked the meeting if they would accede to a change of order of the Agenda. He asked if “Any other business” could be transacted before the election of the new Committee. He asked for a show of hands on this proposal, and the a change of order was approved by a majority of members.

1. MINUTES OF THE AGM OF 2008.

The chairman explained that unfortunately these are not available for this AGM. He explained that they had been prepared by the previous secretary who due to personal circumstances was unable to retrieve them, and accordingly could not provide them for the evening. He had resigned during the year.

AK stated that this was negligent by the Committee and was highly irregular. The Chairman again apologised, and explained that the matter was beyond his control.

1. CHAIRMANS REPORT FOR 2009.

The Chairman then read out his report for 2009, as follows:

“The last AGM was attended by just over 30 persons

In 2009 the HRCA had it’s high points and low points. More about those later. Your Committee met over 14 times during the year. At our first meeting the championship for the year was laid out, and Leo Nulty was appointed as PRO. In February Alan Kessie ran a very successful test day and in March we had a big turnout for Motorsport Ireland’s try racing day at Mondello as well as cars on the streets of Dublin for St Patricks Day. Also in March we had our Launch Day combined with the 25^th Anniversary of the formation of the HRCA. This event was held at Weston Airport and was all organised by Leo Nulty and was a big success with press and TV coverage.At the end of March we changed over our web site to Terry Holmes and it has been a big success with about 40,000 hits since early April.

After the 9^th April Committee Meeting Alan Kessie felt it necessary to resign from the committee. Once again thanks to Alan for a lot of work done up to that date. This was unfortunately followed by Jonathan White for personal reasons. My thanks to him for all his work over many years.

Class 1 and 2 competed in 12 race meetings, with 10 to count, between Mondello, Kirliston and Angelsey, with between 11 and 18 cars on the grid, giving an average of 16 cars per event. This is slightly down on last year. Was this due to the recession?

On the other hand, on the hills it was a different story, where we had 10 hills with 7 to count and between 6 and 16 cars entered, averaging 9 over the championship – this was up on last year. Is this down to the George Mangan Trophy I wonder!!

The pre 55’s championship had only 2 races and 4 hills. 15 turned out in the Park but only 9 at the October Mondello meeting. There were 5 entries at each of the hills.

The Committee were glad to welcome Liam Ruth and Barry Smith to the committee earlier this year, and they have both done a lot of work on your behalf.

During a Mondello Meeting in May there was an impromptu drivers meeting which got a little heated and this lead to a drivers forum held in Dawson St with 24 drivers in attendance. Some positive conclusions were reached at this forum, including:

• Hill climb handicapping
• An invitation class
• Car classification
• Mini class inclusion
• Reduction on photos
• An e-mail answering service provided by Ken
• But no secretary!

Again this year we went to Angelsey in early July and due to the lack of entries just before the event a decision was taken to revert to a 2 race and 1 practice format to keep the cost to each person at €350 limit. After many e-mails and discussions at committee the outcome was not satisfactory and this led to a protest being lodged with Motorsport Ireland – only the 2^nd in the history of the HRCA. This has now been resolved by the Committee and the protest was withdrawn.

The Park this year was marred by the weather, deer and downright bad driving. To watch the U Tube footage just undid the positive vibes created by Weston and the Try Motor Sport Day and the Mondello Live.

I must say again a big thank you to Liam Ruth and his colleagues in Arbour Hill for the lunch at the Park on Sunday

This year’s Park is apparently on and will run on the same circuit with Paddock at Farmleigh which will be bigger and with a Big Screen to watch the racing. The date announced last month is the 14-15 August.

We were told that each Class has to be affiliated to a main club in order to register the championship and to be covered by insurance etc. Your Committee decided to go with M.E.C. and this is still ongoing.

Liam Ruth and Barry Smith volunteered to take on the Dinner dance and annual prize giving and the result of their hard work will be enjoyed on 28^th November. We hope that all members and their friends will attend.

Because it was our 25^th Anniversary Liam decided to put together a bumper newsletter which appeared in September and is a superb production. Well done Liam. And it doesn’t stop there – Liam proposed and made a new Trophy in honour of our good friend and member of the pre 55 section – Tony Colley. This will be given out at the Dinner- again a big thanks to Liam.

We were well represented this year at the Dunboyne Festival with 11 members in superbly turned out cars, which did HRCA and Dunboyne Club proud.

And on that note I would like to say a big thank you to all on the committee this year – especially Ken as vice chair for the use of his office for our meetings, now that most of the committee live on the south side. To Clive Brandon for a difficult task as Eligibility Officer, and to Ed Cassidy for all his work on handicapping and championship updates.

I am stepping down as Chairman after 4 years, but I hope to stay on the committee, to keep my 40 year association with old sports cars going and to try to promote their use as they were designed to do and to push to improve their image on the various grids. Thank you.”

The Chairman requested a proposer and seconder for this report. It was proposed by Frank Nuttall and seconded by Jackie Cochrane.

1. TREASURERS REPORT 2009.

The Chairman apologised for the fact that the Treasurer could not be present this evening and stated that  he had forwarded the accounts for the Association, which indicated that the Association’s affairs were  in good shape with a balanced expenditure and income account.

The Chairman asked for a proposer and seconder for the Accounts and they were proposed by Clive Brandon and seconded by Ed Cassidy.

1. ANY OTHER BUSINESS.

The Chairman advised that a number of matters had been submitted to the Committee for consideration on the night. These were circulated as per the attached list.

The Chairman then took each Proposal individually and allowed some debate on the subject followed by a vote and the following was the outcome:

ü  Proposal 1. Increase Pre 55 Membership Fee

Proposal defeated – no change to fee

ü  Proposal  2. Publish Minutes of all Committee Meetings

Proposal defeated

ü  Proposal  3. Change the Date of the AGM

Proposal accepted

ü  Proposal  4. Only paid up competition members to vote on

Technical Regulation changes

Proposal accepted

ü  Proposal  5. Rules of the HRCA be inspected and updated regularly

Proposal accepted

ü  Proposal   6. Honesty Sheets be introduced before season

Proposal accepted

Vinnie O’Reilly asked if the web site could be updated to include the 3 races in Angelsey. Ed Cassidy stated that this has been done.

Vinnie O’Reilly also asked if the points system and the breakdown for each race could be put on the website. David Miller said this is a good idea and will arrange same.

Alan Kessie stated that it was agreed at the 2008 AGM that an “Invitation Class” would be introduced in 2009 and that the Regulations would be altered to reflect this. Alan Kessie asked if this has been done. David Miller stated that it had not been done as he recalled that the motion referred to by Alan was only for a limited invitation system to work and that this was further reviewed at the Driver’s Forum and David Miller read from an extract of the motion put to the AGM. Alan Kessie stated that he did not agree with this and that it was wrong when the Committee was aked to do something after the AGM, and they did not do this. David Miller stated that it was unfortunate that the Minutes of the 2008 AGM were not available to settle this issue, but he remained convinced that no instruction was given to the Committee to change the regulations for inclusion of an invitation class. Alan Kessie stated that his recall was that all members of the committee were circulated with the minutes of the 2008 AGM and he reserved the position that he would locate his copy and circulate the minutes to prove his point

Eddie Burke asked for the definition of the Pre 55 class to be changed to limit cars to not later than 31^st Dec 1954, and not 31^st Dec 1955 as current. David Miller stated that this would be considered by the Committee

Michael Doyle asked that the Website be updated to clearly show all members car and their respective classes. It was agreed that this will be done.

1. ELECTION OF OFFICERS.

David Miller stated that the following nominations have been received in writing and by the due date:

Liam Ruth stated that he had been contacted by Barry Smith who could not attend on the evening, but asked for his name to be removed from the nomination for Treasurer.

David Miller then declared that the positions of Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer, and Newsletter Officer were filled in accordance with the nominations above.

David Miller then stated that there will have to be an election for the post of Speed Events Officer and asked the meeting whether this election should be by a show of hands or ballot. A vote was taken and it was decided that the election should be by ballot.

DM then advised the meeting that he was in possession of a number of “proxies” and that these were sent to him and one was for David Kelly. He explained that these have been sent in by people that could not attend the AGM and wished their votes to be cast by their “proxy” Matt Dunn stated that this was not fair as there was no advice in the notice of the AGM that “proxies” would be allowed. Alan Kessie stated that the “Rules of the Association” did not provide for any “proxy voting”

After discussion by the members it was decided that “proxy” votes would not be allowed.

A ballot was then held and the results checked by Eddie Burke and Nick Bennett. On the basis of the ballot Ed Cassidy was elected with a result of 16 votes for him and 9 votes for Alan Kessie, with 2 blank returned ballot papers.

David Miller then handed the meeting over to Ken McAvoy as the incoming Chairman.

Ken McAvoy thanked everyone for the honour bestowed on him and promised to work hard for the HRCA in 2010. He also stated that he was optimistic that together with the officers elected tonight and with a further group of committee members to be added the HRCA will have a strong Committee for 2010. He asked for anyone prepared to serve on the Committee to contact him after the meeting.

The meeting closed at approximately 9:30pm.

ATTACHMENT 1

PROPOSALS FOR DISCUSSION UNDER ANY OTHER BUSINESS AT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – 16^TH NOVEMBER 2009.

1. 1. PROPOSALTHAT THE PRE 55 MEMBERSHIP SHOULD BE INCREASED TO THE SAME LEVEL AS ALL RACING MEMBERS.

Proposed by Alan Kessie

1. 2. PROPOSAL THAT THE MINUTES OF ALL COMMITTEE MEETINGS BE PUT ON THE WEBSITE, BUT ACCESSED BY PAID UP MEMEBERS ONLY VIA LOG IN CODE.

Proposed by Alan Kessie

1. 3. PROPOSAL TO CHANGE THE DATE OF THE AGM TO SEPTEMBER OR 2 WEEKS AFTER THE LAST CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND TO MEET GREEN BOOK DEADLINE FOR RULE CHANGES

Proposed by Alan Kessie

1. 4. PROPOSAL THAT THE RULES OF THE HRCA BE CHANGED TO ALLOW ONLY PAID UP COMPETION MEMBERS WITHIN THE LAST TWO SEASONS TO BE ALLOWED TO VOTE ON TECHNICAL REGULATIONS TO BE SUBMITTED TO MOTOR SPORT IRELAND

Proposed by Alan Kessie

1. 5. PROPOSAL THAT THE RULES OF THE HRCA BE INSPECTED AND UPDATED AS NECCESSARY BY THE COMMITTEE AND IF NECCESSARY AN EGM BE CALLED ONCE THE COMMITTEE INSPECT SAME TO VOTE ON ANY PROPOSED CHANGES IN THE RULES AND TO DO THIS IN SUCH A WAY AS TO MEET AND COMPLY WITH ANY MOTOR SPORT IRELAND REGULATIONS

Proposed by Alan Kessie

1. 6. PROPOSAL THAT THE COMMITTEE ISSUE STANDARD DRIVER “HONEST SHEETS” BY MID JANUARY EACH YEAR. THESE SHEETS SHOULD BERETURNED BY THE DRIVER AND REVIEWED BY THE ELLIGIBILTY OFFICER AND ALL DRIVERS INFORMED OF THEIR CLASS ELLIGIBILITY ASSESSMENT FOR THE COMING SEASON, AND INCLUDING NOTICE OF THE REASONS FOR THE CLASSIFICATION SUCH AS TO ALLOW CHANGES TO THE CAR IF PREFERRED BY THE DRIVER TO ADJUST THE CLASSIFICATION. ANY DRIVER NOT SUBMITTING AN HONESTY SHEET WILL HAVE HIS CLASSIFICATION DETERMINED BY THE ELLIGIBILITY OFFICER AND SHALL HAVE NO RIGHT OF APPEAL AND WILL NOT QUALIFY FOR CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

Proposed by Ken McAvoy