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Anyone else done this: Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) Participants and Officials Survey ?

Received it today and will look at it in the next couple of days.

Just finished it. If you do it, be prepared to get a shock when you see how much it costs to compete and / or volunteer as official

1600Dave wrote:Just finished it. If you do it, be prepared to get a shock when you see how much it costs to compete and / or volunteer as official

Yes, that was a bit of a shock!

1600Dave wrote:If you do it, be prepared to get a shock when you see how much it costs to compete and / or volunteer as official

Number one reason why I didn't renew my CAMS licence this year.

Hi.
CAMS has always been a boys?organisation. Fancy charging you to volunteer while the boys? sit back and take all the glory . Feel sorry for all you guys who have to use them. Lots of reasons including old age why a lot of us said goodbye etc.

Since I'm not a CAMS member, I did not receive the survey and don't know as much as all of you. That said, I've always loved the idea of racing and have dreamed of having my own race car.

So could you all enlighten me on what the concerns are out of the survey? Also, can someone explain how on earth volunteers are made to pay money to volunteer? How about they refer to volunteers as props, supports, foundations, or pillars? Since that makes more sense..

I work in the world of tenpin bowling, and our national body are taking money from members and offering little support in return, and I guess it just frustrates me to see something else I like going south so badly.

Maybe I've read this all wrong, and CAMS is doing great.. Please enlighten me

Its not that CAMS charges volunteers. Its the costs incurred by volunteering, such as travel to and from the events, accommodation if its a distant multi day event etc. which come out of your own pocket.

As for the boys sitting back and taking all the glory, I have several friend who have worked for CAMS. They worked hard, the pay was ordinary by industry standards and they would regularly cop abuse from some of the members they worked to help. I don't think they got much glory.

On the flip side RACERS and AASA do seem to put on pretty good events at more club racer friendly prices.

Wombit wrote:So could you all enlighten me on what the concerns are out of the survey? Also, can someone explain how on earth volunteers are made to pay money to volunteer?

I did the survey too. I don't think the concerns are about Cams, but the total cost to compete can be a shock. The survey asked for all costs for the last 12 months, including any competition car purchase, maintenance, mods, entry fees, registration, fuel, accommodation, food, licences, club membership etc etc etc.

As crazyracer said, Cams don't charge to be a volunteer, nor for the official's licence. Cams & AASA are basically insurers, & the volunteers work for the event organiser.

Pretty obviously the survey, or that part at least, is designed to demonstrate how important motorsport is to the economy. So I helped out ...

Nonetheless, it is sobering to see how much I spend on my obsession ... err hobby.

I’ve always been appalled at the way the top end of motorsport use volunteers to run their big dollar race meetings. Why should F1 and Supercars not pay for their staff?Professional sport is pathetic at this, and CAMS is complicit. Volunteers should be for amateur sport only.

I received two copies - one as an official/competitor and one as a representative of the Victoria and Tasmania Club. So I will be doing it twice!

CAMS get a pretty hard time, some of it justified, some not. The people I have met there seem committed to doing the best for the sport and those involved and work pretty hard. I've not seen any 'fat cats' as some would suggest. Just my observations from my dealings.

CAMS don't charge officials for their licence, nor do they charge for working at events. In fact they, or more correctly the event organisers, provide free admission, a guest pass, clothing and food (or some of these items depending on the event). It is the costs of travel and accommodation plus time off work, that the officials fund themselves. It really comes down to people doing what they love and being involved in the sport and each individual has to make a choice whether the enjoyment they get from officiating, justifies the expense.

My comment up the top about cost was not meant to be critical of CAMS, simply that the survey asking the questions and getting you to tally up spending on motorsport can lead to a shock ! Personally, as both competitor and volunteer official, I have no issue with CAMS. Most recently, I've been "upgrading" my officials licence and the guys at CAMS have really helped out with organising stuff like event assessments.

As far as volunteering costs, for me its $50 in fuel to get to Eastern Creek, maybe double that for Wakefield Park (plus a night's accom & food), same for Bathurst. There are rewards, some events its free passes for a friend, uniforms, free camping or a free feed (although as mentioned above these come from the event organisers, not CAMS), other events its just getting close to the action. For me, the reward for volunteering is being able to participate in something I love when I don't have time / money / motivation to get my car ready to compete (or like the last 12 months when its sitting broken in the shed.......)