Results of the first meeting

[N Mortimer]

Hi All
Here are the results of the formula libre group meeting in Ottawa today.

We started with a great lunch provided by the Tifosi Club and introduced ourselves and our cars and expertise to the group.
I gave an opening address stating that we have over 40 members and 28 were present. Two thirds of the members are from Quebec and only 4 members have sports racers. I met with Vince Laughran from Circuit Mt Tremblant and Bruce Gregory from Calabogie Motorsport Park last week to discuss holding races at their tracks.

The topic of forming a club with FSAQ sanction was discussed at length with input from many including Francois (lawyer), Marcel (owner of formula tour) and many others. With an official club we would need directors, insurance, meeting minutes, pay HST, club fees, pay fees to FSAQ, etc. As a result it was voted to have an informal association with a social fee for the first year and discuss it again next year. The social fee will pay for our wine and cheese and BBQ's at our races.

The subject of a name was discussed with humour and it was decided to call the association Formula Libre as this is bilingual and well recognised.

All agreed that gentleman racing is our mandate and Terry Dale a steward of international reputation has kindly volunteered to be our steward and race director. We certainly couldn't ask for better !

The object of our races will be fun for all.

Our Classes will be determined by similar performance groups and will be a sliding scale.

There will be trophy's provided by the tracks for each group.

The schedule is:
25-27 May Tremblant
23-24 June ICAR
6-8 July Tremblant
10-12 aug calabogie IMSA ($350 if reg before July 1, $425 after. 3 thirty minute races plus practice and qualifying)
30 aug - 2 sept calabogie MCO
21-23 Sept Tremblant (tentative depending on the number of participants at the 2 prior Tremblant races)
This was determined by scheduling, track support and demographics of our group.

We can organise an observed lapping day at Tremblant to conform to their requirement for all drivers at their races being currently familiar with their track.
We can also organise lapping at ICAR.

Additionally we can organise evening races at Calabogie using their gentleman race series rules and mufflers.

It was also suggested that we have stickers made to identify the cars in our association and Dominique Lebreton volunteered to work on a design.

The question of Sports Racers being allowed to run in formula libre races in Quebec was raised as they would like to race with Libre instead of sedans. We will raise this point with FSAQ and Vince at Tremblant.

Mike Nilson and Mary McClure have kindly volunteered to act as our safety scrutineers when they are available.

Francois Bordeleau has kindly offered to assist in legal matters and assist in organisation.

Myself, Franc Roiron and Marcel Lafontaine will assist in the organisation and John Saikaley will be our Chef.

So this is a great start to a fun association !
Thanks to all who attended.