Enjoy this edition of
The Holding Rope

THE LIQUID QUARTER - September 2007

Over the winter layoff, some members of the new 2007-2008 committee have been busy upgrading quite a lot of important, and mostly neglected paperwork, and race day issues.

The first improvement has been to the VDBC website, where you can now complete your membership renewal on line, safe and secure, through PayPal. Just log onto www.vdbc.com click on the ‘Information’ bar, scroll down to ‘Become a Member’. When the page opens to ‘Membership’, scroll down to ‘Order your Membership Renewal Online’, fill in all the fields, go to ‘continue’ and a new page will open. This will say ‘Payment Details’, so click on either ‘Single’ or ‘Family’, and a security box will pop up, click ‘yes’, then, once the PayPal page opens, go to ‘continue’. Another security box will pop up, click ‘yes’, fill in this section, add your credit card details, click on ‘Review Order and Continue’, click pay now, and you have completed your payment, safe and secure! You will receive a receipt to your given email address for confirmation of your payment. Sounds a lot, but in 3 minutes, you’re done! In the next few days you will receive your membership pack, along with your members card/s. Welcome to the Victorian Drag Boat Club for season 2007-2008!

The second very important change has been the new VDBC Tech. Inspection Form (formerly APBA Drag Scrutineering Form). This is a much long awaited and needed improvement in this area of safety, as the old form did not cover enough inspection points for all boats, and also had no provision for capsule hydros. The new form is much more detailed, so therefore every boat owner/driver must be aware of the changes made, and check that your personal safety equipment and boat meets these new levels. Some boats won’t need any alterations, but some will. Keep in mind that this has happened for a reason. The club has been aware the old form was not up to scratch, (and some boats!) and a lot of time and effort is now being put into your safe well being, whilst racing. You can download the 2 page form on the club web site. Make your changes now to your boat, and don’t leave it to race day, because if it isn’t right, you won’t be racing, for your safety’s sake.

A third improvement is also aimed again at drivers that being the ‘Dear Competitor’ letter that go out prior to race events. Unfortunately, in the past the club has copped plenty of flack that we never start on time, always running late, etc, etc. This coming season, in order to prevent this from happening, ALL race entries will now close on the Friday evening, prior to a race day. No more boats turning up to race on the day, those days are now over! In order that the club can start on time, means we have to have all boat numbers locked away on Saturday so that the Round Robin draw system is finished on Saturday afternoon, ready for Sunday morning. There really is no excuse drivers cannot have the entry in on time. The club agrees it has been slack on this in the past, and also acknowledges that this has been the reason for the late and sometimes frustrating very late start times.

Another improvement will see ALL competing drivers now go straight to the clubrooms for completion of their entry form and breath test before setting up their pit area. Once you have passed the above checks, you can now move your boat into one of three lanes set up in the back car park where Tech. Inspection will take place. Once you have passed Tec. Inspection you can then proceed to the pit area, in readiness for racing. This is also aimed at expediting the inspection process in readiness for a scheduled 10.30 start. The scrutineers will be available on each Saturday before racing for inspection of your boat, and after your boat passes, you only need to complete your entry form and breath test on Sunday morning. Tech. Inspectors will no longer be coming to your boat; rather you will be coming to them, in the lanes, for inspection, and no exceptions. This includes capsule hydros!

And don’t worry, all the above is aimed at the VDBC having a better organised system, for the volunteers that do this work, so they too can enjoy the day, (some of these volunteers are racers themselves). All the VDBC needs is your co-operation on the improvements and to work with us and to ensure we have a smooth transition.

You can pick up a copy of all the relevant improved paperwork, the new 'Tech Inspection Sheet’, the ‘Dear Competitor’ letter and ‘Race Day Procedures’ at the VDBC clubrooms at the next General Meeting. It is highly recommended reading.

Please note that memberships are now due, and if you would like to keep receiving this newsletter, then read the ‘Membership Report’ for more information on how you can become a member for season 2007-2008.

Attached with this newsletter is a monthly calendar, one that you can stick on your fridge at home or your office. It has all the relevant information for you about what’s going on in your club, and other important dates. Keep it handy, and you can even write other personal dates on it as well. Look for it in each newsletter!

Don’t forget to order your copy of the DVD, ‘Australian National Drag Boat Championship’, held at the NWSC 2007. So if you raced, there’s a great chance that you will feature in the show. And wait until you see the Ariel shots from the camera ‘blimp’, especially the hydro runs!! Get you copy now, only $40.00, call Dale or Wendy to place your order. Limited stock available, so get in quick!