Post by Speedway Central (David) on Jun 22, 2015 21:12:17 GMT 12
Below is the Statement they release on FB within last hour
............................................................................................................................................
Superstocks To Aussie
35 mins ยท
Hey all,
Firstly, I want to apologise for the hastily written post earlier today about the cancellation of what was a very promising introduction to Superstocks In Australia. The rumour had got out before we had a chance to put anything up in Facebook. As we have always been transparent about what it is we did or do I wanted to explain a few things to everyone before we shut this page down for good.
What happened?
To organise 16 Superstocks to go to Australia, we first needed to assess who wanted to go. We had verbal agreements with the drivers but warned them early on that the pace would be a little slow as there was much to organise and it had to be done right as we had learnt from the prior year. One of the biggest problems we faced was insurance. Many Australian Insurance Companies wouldn't look at them because they are a very unique car to New Zealand only and they were not sure what to insure them for. We know what they are worth in New Zealand, but there was no experts in Australia. It took 2 and a half months to organise a special race car insurance that would only cover four containers for $800,000 and rightfully so, some of the drivers were not happy about this. The Insurance Company also said it would only be whilst on the water. We had no choice but to put it to the drivers.
During the sorting out process and after we sent out the first contracts, we were also able to secure a better insurance deal and had the cars covered on and off the water and the only time they weren't covered is whilst they were racing.
The other problem was a thing called carnet... this is based around a special importers licence to allow the cars to even enter and leave Australian shores. Allan had overlooked this at the start, but was on to it very quickly and this is where everything fell down. The carnet requires a detailed explanation of the car and its uses as they have no identification tags or licence plates to identify them. And like the insurance, we needed to have detailed information on these before they would give insurance or allow the carrnet. So effectively, we needed signed contracts from the drivers before we could proceed. The drivers would not commit without having everything signed up and we couldn't commit until they signed..... a catch 22 situation.
A first contract was sent out 5 weeks ago and the amended contracts went out 1.5 weeks ago. It really wasn't ideal, but we needed to make sure we had everything looked after.
Another issue is that some of the guys were not interested in the teams format as they felt that if they went to Australia for a teams race, then there is no such thing as doing light teams racing. Its either full on or nothing. The suggestion was made to the organisers that the format be changed to a individual event 3 days from the expiry for them to sign their contracts. As we felt there was no other choice and there had already been thousands invested, we agreed to change the format and extended that return date of their contracts to the 20th June.
We were being put under pressure by people to tell them a yes of no answer in regards to whether this event will happen almost immediately as they could secure cheaper flights. Having talked to the drivers, we assured them there would be no surprises in their contracts and they felt that there would be no problem committing, so we released that it was ok to book flights etc....
No one is to blame for this and its just one of those things that did not work out. I noticed some people had stated they had lost money, and for that we sincerely apologise, but understand that as of the 22nd June 2015 the organisers have just lost $8000 of money already invested.
I hope people understand that even though its not an ideal situation, it was better to let people know we will not carry it on and try to patch it up as we went.
Please be aware this is NOT the drivers fault and they have a right to refuse to sign. No one was forced and sadly, the back up drivers we had, thought they were not going to get an opportunity as it was getting to late and decided to also not go.
We have been contacted by some drivers today and asked if we would consider looking at taking them at the end of the season with a guaranteed commitment and having liased with the organisers it has been decided that this will no longer be an option. There maybe an option to take another class at some stage as the insurance and carnet licences can be transferred to another class and delayed. This is now being considered.
Once again, we apologise to everyone that had committed to this event and we are just as gutted as you all are.
This post will stay up for 24 hours before we shut this page down
................................................................................................................................................
Above taken from Superstocks To Aussie Facebook page.
............................................................................................................................................
Superstocks To Aussie
35 mins ยท
Hey all,
Firstly, I want to apologise for the hastily written post earlier today about the cancellation of what was a very promising introduction to Superstocks In Australia. The rumour had got out before we had a chance to put anything up in Facebook. As we have always been transparent about what it is we did or do I wanted to explain a few things to everyone before we shut this page down for good.
What happened?
To organise 16 Superstocks to go to Australia, we first needed to assess who wanted to go. We had verbal agreements with the drivers but warned them early on that the pace would be a little slow as there was much to organise and it had to be done right as we had learnt from the prior year. One of the biggest problems we faced was insurance. Many Australian Insurance Companies wouldn't look at them because they are a very unique car to New Zealand only and they were not sure what to insure them for. We know what they are worth in New Zealand, but there was no experts in Australia. It took 2 and a half months to organise a special race car insurance that would only cover four containers for $800,000 and rightfully so, some of the drivers were not happy about this. The Insurance Company also said it would only be whilst on the water. We had no choice but to put it to the drivers.
During the sorting out process and after we sent out the first contracts, we were also able to secure a better insurance deal and had the cars covered on and off the water and the only time they weren't covered is whilst they were racing.
The other problem was a thing called carnet... this is based around a special importers licence to allow the cars to even enter and leave Australian shores. Allan had overlooked this at the start, but was on to it very quickly and this is where everything fell down. The carnet requires a detailed explanation of the car and its uses as they have no identification tags or licence plates to identify them. And like the insurance, we needed to have detailed information on these before they would give insurance or allow the carrnet. So effectively, we needed signed contracts from the drivers before we could proceed. The drivers would not commit without having everything signed up and we couldn't commit until they signed..... a catch 22 situation.
A first contract was sent out 5 weeks ago and the amended contracts went out 1.5 weeks ago. It really wasn't ideal, but we needed to make sure we had everything looked after.
Another issue is that some of the guys were not interested in the teams format as they felt that if they went to Australia for a teams race, then there is no such thing as doing light teams racing. Its either full on or nothing. The suggestion was made to the organisers that the format be changed to a individual event 3 days from the expiry for them to sign their contracts. As we felt there was no other choice and there had already been thousands invested, we agreed to change the format and extended that return date of their contracts to the 20th June.
We were being put under pressure by people to tell them a yes of no answer in regards to whether this event will happen almost immediately as they could secure cheaper flights. Having talked to the drivers, we assured them there would be no surprises in their contracts and they felt that there would be no problem committing, so we released that it was ok to book flights etc....
No one is to blame for this and its just one of those things that did not work out. I noticed some people had stated they had lost money, and for that we sincerely apologise, but understand that as of the 22nd June 2015 the organisers have just lost $8000 of money already invested.
I hope people understand that even though its not an ideal situation, it was better to let people know we will not carry it on and try to patch it up as we went.
Please be aware this is NOT the drivers fault and they have a right to refuse to sign. No one was forced and sadly, the back up drivers we had, thought they were not going to get an opportunity as it was getting to late and decided to also not go.
We have been contacted by some drivers today and asked if we would consider looking at taking them at the end of the season with a guaranteed commitment and having liased with the organisers it has been decided that this will no longer be an option. There maybe an option to take another class at some stage as the insurance and carnet licences can be transferred to another class and delayed. This is now being considered.
Once again, we apologise to everyone that had committed to this event and we are just as gutted as you all are.
This post will stay up for 24 hours before we shut this page down
................................................................................................................................................
Above taken from Superstocks To Aussie Facebook page.