GETTING STARTED AS A COMPETITOR

Basic Requirements

Safety equipment i.e. a helmet and overalls, are not required for Autotests, PCTs or NavX rallies.

A competition licence is not required for Autotests, PCT’s & NavXs that are organised solely for members of the organising club; you must have a club membership card though.

But you will need some sort of vehicle for all events!

We said earlier that we aim to promote affordable motor sport, so these are the events that you can do in your everyday road car.

• Production Car Trials
• Autotests
• Navigation Rallies (NavX)
• Sprints
• Hillclimbs

So, you can use an ordinary road car for (almost) all the events that we organise. The exceptions are the Classic & Sporting Car Trials, but you can get a taste of driving up muddy slopes, if that’s what you fancy, by having a go at a PCT – in your shopping car.

Some basic preparation will be required. For PCTs and Autotests it would be sensible to remove wheel trims. To compete in sprints and hillclimbs you will need to mark the location of the ignition switch and battery earth terminal, and a ‘timing strut’ to activate the timing beam. Although the rules do not require you to have one, you may find the security of a full harness beneficial at sprint speeds. Regulations are detailed in the "Blue Book" mentioned below.

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Competitors in over 70% of UK motor sport events do not require MSA licences; only club membership cards are necessary. These so-called 'Clubsport' events include road rallies, autotests, trials and certain cross-country events.

When members of other clubs compete, however, licences are mandatory, chiefly so that protests and disciplinary procedures can be properly conducted.

There are four basic grades of competition licence: Clubman, National B, National A, and International. There are further subdivisions including Race, Non-race, Truck, Kart, Rally Historic etc. For the sort of club events run by Bristol Motor Club the only licences you need to worry about are Clubman and Non-race National ‘B’.

You can download more information about Competition Licences here and you can download the Competition Licence application form here . Licences run from January – December each year, and the annual fees (2009 figures) are: Clubman: £23; Non-race National ‘B’: £37.

When you get your Competition Licence you will also receive your personal copy of ‘The Blue Book’. This is officially called ‘The MSA Competitors’ Yearbook’, and is regarded as the motor sport bible. It is distributed on CD-ROM as well as the printed version. Here you will find (easier on the CD-ROM!) the regulations governing the running of every type of motor sport event, and the rules to be observed by all competitors. As a licence holder you will also receive a regular copy of Motorsports Now!, a glossy magazine published four times a year by the MSA to keep competitors informed of news in the world of competitive motor sport.

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