Dear slot racers,

I was very disappointed when I read article “IMCA supports no longer EEC 2008” from IMCAs web site. I can’t understand this. The situation of me is very difficult now because of this kind of decision. I try to explain.

For Model Car season 2008 I negotiated a very good contract with my employer. This contract included OFFICIAL IMCA European Endurance Championship 2008 plus OFFICIAL IMCA Worlds. After these negotiations I gave the address of IMCA web site to my boss. So, he can watch the results of the EEC and other races.

But now everything is gone. There is left Euro Cup –serie without any official status. This is very bad for me. It is very difficult to explain to my employer, other partners and local media what was happened. At the worst cases they can think I have cheat them. It is very difficult to continue now. Probably I have to withdraw from IMCA Worlds 2008.

I have been in motor sport over 30 years racing with motorbikes, karts and slot cars. For me this first time ever the status of championship series collapses in this way.

I hope you can understand my situation.

Collapsing of status of EEC also harm badly my attempts and my motivation to promote IMCA style racing in Finland. We started new “IMCA GT” class two months ago and last race there was 7 nice GT cars on the grid. We also started discussion about new prototype class immediately when IMCA launched them.


Best Regards
Kai Kivekäs
Scuderia Kaitserrari

I agree.

besides personal organiztions like Kai explained, I think whats even more important is this hobby is bigger than us all, and when there's huge breakdowns and negative parity between people in the hobby, it's just going to hurt the hobby more.

We're going to have more important racers/organizers seperate and resign/retire/withdraw, and at the end of the day, the hobby will be hurt the most.

Regards

big Al

Hello Kai,

Your concerns are very important. Ours is a very small hobby and we can not divide ourselves up into little pieces if we are going to survive. For those of us that are also involved in promoting and organizing slot racing, we can not afford to loose any opportunities for sponsorship, publicity and support. Even more important, we MUST honor our commitments. If we fail to do this then we have no future. This is guaranteed.

Although my responsibilities with IMCA have not begun as yet, we must find a solution. I am clearly not taking sides in the circumstances that brought about this EEC/EUROCUP proposal, however I will offer to discuss a resolution of the matter with both JPvR and Tamar . . . if I do in fact have all of the parties involved correct.

In any event, let's work it through with a bit of time and not escalate the matter in any way or withdraw yourself from the IMCA Worlds in July. This will not serve our common purpose and future. Thanks for bringing your situation forward and for your patience and hard work. Let's hope we can get it all resolved as quickly as possible. All the best.

Mark Campbell

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Hello Kai,

I see today on the IMCA web site that the EEC will retain it's official IMCA status provided there is independent race direction. I do not believe there is anything new to anyone in such a requirement at any level of competition. My only personal regret in all of this is that I can not be at the race. All the best.

Mark Campbell

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Gentlemen
I deliberately stayed off the air to let the dust settle down...a strategy best followed when there are differences in opinion on IMCA matters.....
But with a mere 4 weeks to the race in Alsdorf it is time to get back on track. That we would continue to race there has never been in doubt...Regardless of its scale the Spa Francorchamps track has always been the scene of great races... with or without an "official seal of approval"

EEC.... My personal status
From the very first post in this forum my position has alway been clear in that...

..."I, as a slot retiree, somehow inherited the organisation of the 2008 1/24 FIA GT European Endurance Championship"

Nor I nor my fellow organisers had actively sought to acquire this IMCA certified EEC status, but have supported it because we all agreed that, although in many ways flawed, it was indeed a good initiative!

FIA GT..the long and winding road to Spa
If I look back..I think I can speak for all parties concerned that it has been a long and winding road for all of us. At its publication on Oct 16th just 3 months before the first event, only 6 of the 24 cars that IMCA's sponsor commitments specified were available!!! 75% of the cars did not exsist, 2 seperate sets of regulations had to be matched and 3 groups of organisers had to learn to work together..with each other and with IMCA.

Faced with such a huge challenge it was good to see that both Badet & Merlijn events rose to the challenge and, even if not all procedures were 100% by the book, managed to keep the races on track and the finish on time.
Such were the raving reviews that the new born championship even made the headlines on the Official FIA GT website!

Off course there were some problems as well, but but these were by most accepted as the child deseases of a new championship.

If I look ahead...I can see that we've almost come to the end of the road. The Spa track glimmers in the next valley, and with some pride I see that there will be 24 FIA GT cars on the grid.

EEC Status...after the dust has settled
During the trip it has become clear to some of the travelcompanions that it would be best if their ways would part.
But to do so we must walk this road to the very end.
"We...", as Mark Campbell fittingly remarked, "..MUST honor our commitments. If we fail to do this then we have no future"

So I have contacted both Jean Marie Tillen and Jean Pierre. I will focus on the organisation of the race and will make sure that on saturday morning everything is in place for Jean Marie to do the Race Direction. Jean Pierre has agreed to provide the means and tools to end the championship in the one and only way possible...by crowning the new European Champions.


with kind regards
Tamar