Managing a Motorsport Club - My Initial Thoughts

Last year, I decided to run for a position on the management committee of the motorsport club I’m a member of. It has been eye opening to see what goes on to run a club with around 100 members.

Here’s a few things I’ve learned over the last 9 months.

It’s a thankless task.

You’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t. You won’t keep everyone happy, and you just have to try and do the best job you can do. Mistakes will be made, but if you step up and right the course, people will respect that.

People have less time to volunteer and help out.

There’s a lot of work involved in keeping a club running. There’s only a few people who put their hand up each year to help. You need to have spare time every week to put into the club, and some people just can’t do that. I think that’s doubly hard when your club is made up of people who volunteer at motorsport events. They already spend a lot of time volunteering. Where do they find the time to help the club?

You get to see a different side to motorsport.

You find out more about the different parts of motorsport you aren’t involved in. You hear more about the management of the sport, and learn just how hard it is to try and balance the needs of all stakeholders.

There’s great value to being part of a club.

The club has a wide membership base, with years of experience in many different aspects of motorsport. There’s a great comradery to be had between members as well.

Part of the problem of having less people actively working as part of the club is it is hard to unlock that value. It’s hard to organise training or social events when money (both club and members) is tight and hands on help is limited.

I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that there is always opportunity to grow and improve the club. Both how the club operates, what the club does for members, and what value it provides to members. The question is how to unlock that value where people are time and cash poor?