Last week, at the Autosport International show, Club Arnage took advantage of the Motorsport Safety Fund's annual Watkins Lecture to present the Fund with a cheque for £1200 for donations collected on their behalf.
Club Arnage was represented by Ian Selvage (Aricus654) who presented the cheque to Ian Roberts, Chairman of the Motorsport Safety Fund. Also present were CA's Tristan Selvage (FezBoy) and the Fund's Dominic Ostrowski.
Club Arnage collects money on behalf of two charities, the Motorsport Safety Fund, and Worldwide Cancer Research. Donations are given largely for Cub Arnage's widely respected annual Le Mans Guide, and are shared equally between the two charities. For this donation, a significant portion of the funds were also raised through the Debora Dudley Memorial Fund.
The Motorsport Safety Fund dates its roots to the death of Roger Williamson at Zandvoort in 1973, after which a fund was set up with the primary aim of educating marshals on fire fighting and rescue. It has the aim of aiding improvements in safety standards at motorsport events and is run entirely by volunteers.
The Watkins Lecture, named after the late great Professor Sid Watkins took place on 15th January 2015 at the Autosport International Show at the NEC near Birmingham UK. The 2016 Watkins Lecture was given by the FIA President Jean Todt who, in conversation with the BBC's James Allen gave a fascinating account of his career at Peugeot, Ferrari and the FIA.
More information about the Motorsport Safety Fund can be found on their website: http://www.motorsportsafetyfund.com/
A report of the 2016 Watkins lecture is available at the FIA website.
Ian Selvage/Kristof Vermeulen
A significant portion of the funds raised were from the Debora Dudley Memorial Fund - just over £400 of the £2400 we are giving away at this time. I kind of made a promise that we would give a special mention of this when we gave the funds away, so it would be good if you could amend the blog appropriately - no need to mention the actual figures though.