PR Officer's Report

Since taking on the role of PR Officer at Southern Car Club, I have come to realise that there is in fact a great deal more to be done than I first expected. Having competed in my first season's rally driving in 1996, I was able to generate a reasonable amount of press coverage for my debut year which resulted in chairman "Mao" asking if I could do the same job for the club. Chuffed to be asked, I agreed at once. Foolish boy!

Within the club year there are several events which go on as they do every year - Bournemouth Winter Rally, WouldBeGood Stages at Goodwood, etc etc. These are not the events that I will be focusing my efforts on however. Instead I will concentrate on new and lesser known events that the club runs. Without doubt this is one of the best car clubs in the country, for event organisers, national competitors and structured events, including its magazine! (Creeping will get you everywhere - Ed)

Therefore it is my aim to make it so in front of the general public as well as the motoring fraternity. However, I will need all your help throughout the year in order for us to be officially recognised as one of the finest Car Clubs in the UK. Since becoming a member in late 1995 I think I have met about 50 of the club members, yet the club membership is considerably more. Whilst I appreciate the club nights may be a long way for some people to travel, it would be nice to meet certain members (especially Active ones) at least once a month rather than just at Goodwood! If you do come down, please introduce yourself to me, so that I can take you off my list of home visit targets with the "Dirty Tapes". If you do not know what this means, I suggest you attend club nights more regularly!!

My targets for the year include inviting all local press to attend at least one SCC organised event throughout the year, to get SCC mentioned in at least one National newspaper during the year, also to get coverage more regularly on cable and even terrestrial TV.

One of our new events which we took part in as a club was the Brooklands Motorsport Day on March 1st, situated at the birthplace of British Motorsport - Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey. Having unveiled my Renault Clio rally car there last year, I was invited back this year, which I thought would be perfect for the club to attend. The day is held in aid of the motoring charity BEN with a memorabilia auction raising money for this very popular cause.

When we offered to have a club stand on display, we were asked if we could run a demonstration rally stage. Considering that we were in the midst of Winter Rally preparation this seemed a "tad" ambitious, having only 4 weeks to prepare the display. However, this car club is bold, cavalier, creative and not scared of hard work (ref the London International Rally for non-believers) and so we said "sure, no problem, piece of cake". Paul Smith and I then proceeded to put together a demo stage. Oddly, the insurance proved the biggest stumbling block with confirmation of cover only coming through the Monday before the actual event.

All was resolved eventually, enabling us to take our brand new club hospitality unit to its first event with a selection of rally cars on display. These included our new vice-president's car - Tony Jardine's Escort Cosworth, my Renault Clio courtesy of TI Motorsport and John Blaber's Group A Peugeot 205 1.9 GTi which he is using on this year's Mintex series. Two Historic rally cars were also there - John Leppard with his Peugeot 504 and Chris Partington and his Saab two-stroke of 1960's vintage. Apart from Tony's car, which was feeling a little fragile, all of the above took part in the three demonstration runs through a 1.2 mile special stage. Mr Blaber posted best time and most spectacular spin all in one day.

The weather proved to be dry but very cold, but the day was very well attended nonetheless. Our stand attracted a great deal of interest, which we hope will result in some new members joining as this was our aim for the day. The day as a whole last year raised £12,000 for the charity Ben and this year it raised £31,000!

I have been called by the museum to thank everyone involved from the club for all their hard work and effort, which I too would like to reiterate. Considering the time we had to put on the display - well done! Next year will be bigger and better. I want to see if we can have all Southern Car Club's active competing drivers on display with their cars - rally, race, sprint, whatever! - and next year we will have a lot more time to prepare for it and will let you know in advance. If you have any PR ideas or PR queries please do not hesitate to contact me or speak to me at the club on Monday evenings.

Must dash - I'm going to chase "The Sun" for some sponsorship, or is that to chase "The Sun Girls" until they give me sponsorship, I can never remember.