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CONTROLLED MUFFLER, THE QUIET INVASION.     

By now all members should be aware that a registered AKA silencer is MANDATORY for 100cc clubman classes by July 1st 2000 as per Rule 34.06.   This rule applies to all members at all times including practice, racing and funkarters.
The AKA silencer is in short supply at the moment, with dealers only having minimal numbers, so get in quickly and place your orders otherwise you could miss out on race day.    
All clubs have been advised that you will not race without one so be aware that at the Festival State Cup round at Southern, you will be require to have one fitted or you will be sent home.  It's not a 5-minute job to fit one, so don't show up on race day and expect to buy one and fit it, unless you have a good supply of power tools and half an hour to spare. 
Fun Karters will also be unable to use our club unless they have one fitted by July 1st.    So please don't be surprised if a club official sends you home for not having one.
The good news is that early testing seems to indicate no real change in performance, although drivers may find it more difficult to tune the carby when it's harder to hear the motor revs.
One last tip, check the make and model of your muffler before you go to order the silencer, as there are two models available.  One suits Magnum, Bullet and Raap (and requires the muffler end to be cut off), the other suits S4, S10 and Eagle (with the removable end cap).
Get on the phone to your Dealer and get one!


FREE MEMBERSHIPS AT BAROSSA G.K.C.   
Earlier this year the Committee of the club decided to offer free membership to members who were prepared to become involved with the committee and attend meetings at Gawler once a month.  We are surprised to say that the response has been UNDERWHELMING to say the least.
As a Club we need members who have the time to come along and take up positions, have a say and vote.  Its not hard, you don't even need to work at the club, just attend a monthly meeting. 
All new members and non racing members are welcome, and should get along and take advantage of the offer, because new fresh ideas are what the club needs from all members not just those who race.
If you are interested, we meet on the first Wednesday of every month, at the Kingsford Hotel, Gawler.  The first round starts at 7:30 in the bar, then we head upstairs to get into it.  Just ask the Barman, he'll tell you where to go!


AGM (ELECTIONS) SEP 6TH.  
Once again we need members to take up positions on the committees, and it's a sure-fire way to make you go faster.  You could become President (really quick in clubman heavy), Vice President (unbeatable in senior national), Secretary (Super heavy superstar's sister) Treasurer (PRD Hotshot), Competition Secretary (Mother of the Champ), or any one of the other officials needed to keep the club going. 
The above reflection of officials may be a little tongue in cheek, but it does back up the theory that the more you put into the sport, the more you will get out of it. 
Becoming involved also gives you a greater insight into A.K.A. matters and the opportunity to vote on how next years manual should be written or how our club should be run.  So get involved or we'll become a hire track!


WORKING BEE JULY 9TH.         
Unless your travelling to Mt Gambier to race, you will have nothing to do on Sunday the 9th, so leave the lawns, forget the house work and get up to your club and help tidy the place up.
The fun starts about 9:00am and there is no shortage of jobs to get into and finished before 1:00pm when all the freeloaders turn up and want to get on the track.  After 1:00 we will have a small wine appreciation session, and something to wash it down with while we watch the weekend warriors do their stuff.
I really hope to see a good turn out because if we have to start paying people to do the work, our club membership fee will be more like Southern SKC in years to come, and who can afford that!  (Sorry Southerners just joking..)


NEW RACE FORMAT TO BE TRIED ON AUGUST 12TH.   
Barossa GKC has always felt that one of the biggest problems in Karting is that you arrive early in the morning, spend all day racing and get home late, only to realise you have done about 20minutes of actual racing for the day. 
So what can we do to shorten the day and increase the track time?  It's simple, we combine classes from the current 13 – 14 down to 7, run 2 extra heats per class and finish earlier than the old 3 heat system. 
You now get 3 heats of 10 – 12 laps and if you DNF or have a bad one, you've blown it right!  Under the new format you have draw/reverse, draw/reverse and a final heat, all points count and one bad one wont put you out of it, Great!
If you're asking yourself how can this work,  it's simple, the old system had 13 classes x 3 heats equalling 39 heats for the day.  The new system has 7 classes x 5 heats equalling 35 heats for the day.  Each heat takes about 12 minutes to run from roll out to finish, so 4 less heats saves over 45 minutes by the end of the day.
From a drivers point of view, instead of doing 36 laps for the day, you will now do 60 laps for the day.  If that's not value for money, I don't know what is!


CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS:  ARE YOU IN THE RUNNING?   
At the end of each year the Barossa Go-Kart Club has a trophy for the Champion in each class.  It seems that one of the clubs best kept secrets is how our Club Championships are run.  For anyone wondering here is a brief outline of the scoring system.
At every Race meeting organised by our club, points are allocated towards the Club Championship for your class.  Points are given proportionate to the number of competitors who have nominated in your class, for example if you win for the day in a class of 10 you get 10points, second gets 9 and so on.
Your points are allocated from the time you join as a member, and you must nominate as a Barossa member on your entry form each time you race.  At the end of the season all eligible drivers have their points tallied, and the highest points in each class wins.
The trophies for each class are handed out at the AKA / Festival state cup presentation at the end of the year.  If you would like to check where you are in the Championships, positions will be posted on the notice board at our next race meeting.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?   
If you don't have time to come along to committee meetings and you can't make it to working bees, how is anybody going to know what you think of the sport in general?   We always hear gripes and rumblings coming from the pits on race day, but no one ever seems to want to talk to the committee about problems within the sport. 
Why not put your thoughts on paper and send them to
P.O. Box 105 Nuriootpa.  5355.

Here's WHAT CHEESES ME OFF, just to get you started.
It's so hard to find out about Karting, and when you do it's so difficult to get membership, Licences, OLTs, and all the other gear just to get out on the track.
If I want to go racing no one seems to want to help me and the officials treat me like some kind of idiot.
I have to get up at about 5:30 on a Sunday mourning to get to the track early enough to get a decent park, and I don't get home till after dark if I wait for presentation.   The Day is too long for half an hours racing.
The playing field is not level.   Why am I racing against water cooled motors in a controlled class which was for Yamaha only.
Why am I forever forking out for the latest greatest muffler whenever something new comes out?  Why the hell do I have to buy these whiz-bang mufflers and put silencers on them?
Why are there good AKA14 pipes and bad AKA14 pipes, surely the AKA can set a better standard.  Am I now going to have to put a silencer on my AKA14 pipe?  Hello,… who's lost the plot?
So I do the work and spend the money and get my kart to 88dBA, what do I do in 2003 to get down to 86dBA?  Even the Rookies can't get that low, will they need silencers too?
I don't understand why there are so many classes now, it seems that if you can't do any good in clubman or nationals, you buy a Rotax, Resa, PRD, Atlas, Whisper, ARC or 125 gearbox and then complain to your club that you cant get a run. 
Who was the economic genius that decided our club should pay the AKA thousands of dollars each year to build up a track fund, which, if our club ever borrows, it has to pay back in full.  Does that make sense, we give AKA money, and we borrow that money, then give it back to the AKA.
I think I have said enough to get in more trouble than Ned Kelly, and these were my opinions not the clubs.  I would really like to hear your thoughts on Karting, which you can send in anonymously if you like.