Can someone please explain how this was allowed to happen, can someone that actually knows all the facts explain to me what has gone on behind the scenes that has led us to have half a championship that doesn't even start until August. Has no other club put up their hand to host a round, is it possible to fix what there was up until this year.

AORC what a joke. hope the rival series can do a better job of it as thats what i will be looking at and some state rounds

I agree with Gavin, all parties should put their cards on the table and let us all know the truth, having 2 different top tier series is not the answer as it didn't work for the NRL or Indy cars -all it did was put their sports back 10 years.

I agree with most the comments and I think it's a bit like taking formula one and turning it into formula V, but please remember most of these people do the job for free, in their own time and most of the people have good intentions. If you are unhappy you can always get more informed by jumping onto the relevant boards and actually help steer the ship. I think the biggest issue is the professionalism of the sport is starting to widen the gap to the administrative set up. Personally i will except whatever come up as I don't have the time to get on one of the boards.

FOA and others,

I'm really disappointed and frustrated about the position that AORCom and Off Road is in right now, I feel the Commission has been put in a hole though the doings of others within our sport, and that we are being left to pick up the pieces without being able to defend our position to the gossip and rumours that some people seem to enjoy.

I' m concerned that a handful of organisers can dictate the future of our sport and that we seem to be unable to resolve the issues to ensure the future of the Australian Off Road Championship.

If you get the AORC new letters (please email offroad@cams.com.au or message me if you do not get them and want to read a copy) you would know the process of setting the AORC calendar for 2012 started in June, an email went to event organisers asking for expressions of interest with their proposed dates, upon receiving these, they were sent a contract with ORRInc to be signed and returned prior to the calendar being set. 

The Commission had planned to release the 2012 calendar as early as August this year, but that was not to be.  Some of the organisers had concerns with their contract with ORRInc and would not sign it as it was, the issues included:

• Sale of merchandise
•  Media coverage (print not TV)
• A proposed fee (per event) to be collected as part of the entry fee, at each event to assist in paying for promotion and media. (print media)

Anyway to sum it up in brief, a dispute has broken out between ORRinc and some of the Event Organisers regarding this agreement and 2012 Championship.  Following a number of unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issues the CAMS Administration was asked to intervene in an attempt to mediate a timely outcome.  Some of the organisers thought it was time, at this point to contact the CEO of CAMS to tell him their concerns and demands, fair point however David Morgan had been involved from very early on and in fact was probably more in the loop than the commissioners at that point (remembering the issues were with the commercial aspect of the Championship not the sporting or regulation, which is what AORCom is responsible for).  David contacted all of the Organisers himself to hear them out and work, with all of us, at possible compromises.   Finally a deadline given and three organisers withdraw their application to hold a round.  Leaving us, with three rounds of the AORC for 2012. 

The door is open to all event organisers to still apply to hold an AORC round in 2012, but we did need to get a calendar out NOW, not later or next year while we wait and hope for more rounds to magically appear, there will be no retraction as someone suggested, we have taken our time and worked so hard on this.  So many emails, and teleconferences have  taken place the  past four months, my kids and husband have missed out on so much  while I sat in the office,  reading or writing emails,   or with my ear glued to a phone, so if anyone thinks we haven't tried, think again.  Remember none of the commission gets paid for our time, it's all for the love of the sport, did any of you really think we wanted things to be this way...No we don't.

I'm not speaking for the Commission, but there it is, if you are unhappy about it talk to event organisers, or your state commissioner, you may get different view on things from different people, and that's fine too, everyone tends to see things from their view point, but Ive told you as I see it. 

There have been and still are so many rumours out there, the best way to deal with these is go to the right people and ask the questions, you will get an answer. But don't ask on a forum or in an abusive manner.  Make a phone call, send an email or ask face to face the next time you are at an event.

So where to now, for me it's planning for the three AORC events and do some state racing too, and more time with my family as this is the end of the Commission for me, I have two week remaining, however I did not resign because of this, after four years I felt now was the right time to step down, and did plan this a number of months ago, in fact I'm angry and sadden by the events of the past four months and now this seems like the worst time to leave but I made the commitment to myself and my family.

Some members of our sport wanted to take Off Road a step up to the next level and that's great but I question; have we tried too hard and to fast? We want prime time TV, but we don't want to pay (and it costs $1,000's, believe me).  We want events  right across the country  (which is greater still) but the distance travelled and amount of time away from  work, families and other responsibilities is becoming so great that I wonder, is this why competitor numbers are dropping at National level. 

So what do we do we all do now?  We show the  three remaining  AORC rounds our support, and if you want more racing, show more support to your state and club races,  and help your clubs,  with more hand some of them may be in a better position to step up and apply for AORC Rounds in 2013, 

I am sorry for the many volunteer who put so much time and effect into this sport, we all do this for love not money (I hope), and it is disappointing at this time, however I believe a 3 round championship is a great start and there is still room for more should clubs wish to host an AORC round in 2012. I guess sometimes things have to get worse to get better, and I'm sure 2012 will be positive year for all whatever your choose to do, and lets all work towards a stronger 2013.

 

-- Edited by 232 on Monday 19th of December 2011 02:17:14 PM

232 wrote:

---

I' m concerned that a handful of organisers can dictate the future of our sport and that we seem to be unable to resolve the issues to ensure the future of the Australian Off Road Championship.

 

I'm not sure "Dictate" would be the right word, please get your facts right before all the blame goes to those event organisers who are also trying to do what is best for the future of the sport.

 

well lets take finke for instants i can see why they would have problems with the agreement to give rights to aorc because as a race they have commerical agreements in place with there sponsors already they have all so a very good website to show there intentions.

http://finkedesertrace.com.au/business/tenders


also i do know what it is like to be a volunteer it is a very unthankful and costly job to have. but it seems strange that a Commission of volunteers can set out of guide lines and dictate to event organises that they must let aorc have rights over an events that volunteers more then likely spend over 12months orgainising and getting sponsorship to run. are aorc offering a finace package to these events to assist in in the running of them or do they just wish to get the finacal gaint from other volunteers/clubs work.

this is not a direct attack on you sue or any of the commission. i would just like to know why aorc have decided to take this option on the commercial side of the sport and why they didnt decide that the time window of 6 months was to short to orgainse this and try to make it happen for 2013 and let the 2012 season run as it has for the last few years. as remember no one is getting paid to go through these tough times in our sport and six month is not much time if an event has already in place the sponsors and marking ready to go.


and also if the forum wasnt here no one would no what the hell was going on.

Lamby, please don't get me wrong, dictate may seem like a hard word to use but from my point of view (and this is me speaking not the commission), we were left sitting and waiting, the issues were between ORRInc and the organisers, a list of demands (or requests if that a better word) for changes were made, then dicussions ended. Some of these issues could and were able to be addressed, some weren't but some organisers choose to pull out of discussion. I don't only blame the organisers at all, there were to parties involved.
I for one am happy to see you didn't leave the AORC and am really greatful to you and the club that you holding an AORC round in 2012 and wish you all the best for a sucessful and dry event. I think many lessions have been learnt this year. The biggest being open and honest communcation with all and by all parties going forward.

William, the commercial aspect came about before my time, it I believe (and I can only go on my understanding of things from information I have been given) through the desire of some competitors, organisers and other in the sport to take Off Road to the masses, CAMS in the beginning gave a some amount of money to fund this and ORRInc was formed to look after the Commerical side of things, including the promotion and media coverage, assist with gaining sponsership for the Series and individual events if requested, etc. This has nothing to do with the Commission, our part of this situation was to set the calendar after the contracts were signed between ORRInc and the events. These contracts are not a new thing this year, contracts with ORRInc are in their 2nd or 3rd year of being part of the requirements to run an AORC round. As to the long term plans for the commerical side of things you will have to ask the members of ORRInc what the plans and goals are.
Hope that answer your question at least in part.

You are right in part the forum does sometimes provide imformation and is a platform to air ones views on things in the off road world and most of the commission do follow, but the only problem is, at times there are people who use it to spread rumours or gossip with no knowledge of the facts. All people need to do is ask the people directly involved. I'm sure if you call them they would be only to happy to talk.

There is a couple of guys from ORRINC working very hard to solve this situation at the moment, I believe that they are still working towards getting an outcome for all the previous years events that have chose not to conduct rounds of the AORC.
Having said that, there is still a lot of work to do to ensure that the future of offroad racing in Australia continues to progress.
Everyone may not be aware that an AORC event costs $100 grand plus to conduct, we have responsibilites to our clubs, sponsors and competitors to make these events as succesful as we can and if an agreement that could jeapordise all of these things has no flexibilty then clubs will not be willing to gamble that money or time on something that could be an economical failure.
Hopefully an outcome can be achieved with the remaining clubs and get the AORC back on track, but believe me when I say that nobody is holding out on the AORC for fun, there are some very serious issues and if they are not dealy with properly then the sport will never move forward.

Pretty simple......orrinc is the problem?
Can someone tell me, is orrinc a full self supported commercial venture, or does the Aorc have a vested interest to receive some of the benefits.
Obviously orrinc does not suit our sport? Why did it take a few years to work this out?
I feel the lesson is that private enterprise has no place in the sport at this point, if we are to build the sport then we should keep the selfless nature that we have had for generations.

Lamby: I guess you would know but can you tell me how $100 grand adds up? I can't believe that you are getting more money from sponsors than competitors? Is this an assumed number (what it would cost if people didn't donate land and services). If my maths is correct most of the AORC rounds had 50 -70 competitor at around $600 entry. That would equal $42,000 at best. With this in mind I can't see how you would get it to stack up in any way at all. I understand you would sell vendor space videos and all ancillary products but can't see more than $60,000 in that. Any chance of enlightening everybody a little more? (Sorry to put you under pressure).