IFMAR president comments on fuel regulations, spec fuel, and availability concerns for upcoming Off-Road Worlds

0 Aug. 19, 2014, 11:15 a.m.

Main Photo: IFMAR president comments on fuel regulations, spec fuel, and availability concerns for upcoming Off-

8/19/2014
By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC.com

Last month, concerns over the feasibility of shipping fuel to the host track for this year's IFMAR 1/8-Scale Off-Road World Championships arose. Due to increased scrutiny over the potential dangers of the fuel, as well as having it shipped into and out of the country, IFMAR and EFRA have been working on a means of ensuring fuel will be available to racers - which previously included working with manufacturers to have a supply of fuel on hand in case racers are not able to provide their own. Of course, details have been muddled as the information has passed through the grapevine, and now IFMAR president Dallas Mathiesen has released a statement.

Press release from IFMAR:

www.ifmar.org

IFMAR 1/8th Off-Road World Championship

Due to the confusion following the recent EFRA statement published in the media, and comments following the announcement and in social media, we would like to make the following clarification:

IFMAR's current 2014 rules for off-road do not have “Controlled Fuel.” In the case of the event this year, the Race Organizer needs to respect a number of laws and rules regarding more than 200 liters of fuel being stored in a location. This is the reason why the organizer of the IFMAR event in Sicily decided to contact a number of fuel manufacturers and asked them if they were interested in sponsoring the event in order to get some fuel into the venue for traveling racers.

As a service to participants, the organizer will sell fuel at the track site for the normal shop price. This will allow the race organizer to provide a service to the racers so they don't have to transport fuel, and also partially cover expenses for the safety requirements and rent storage rooms.

In order to make this new situation workable and as smooth as possible, we need to make some modification to the normal procedure:

Drivers using the sponsored fuel will get a bottle with the desired fuel when entering the pit lane or when you want to start you engine at one of the motor start locations. The brands of the sponsored fuels will be published shortly.
Drivers NOT using one of the sponsored fuel has to respect the following:
A limited quantity (1 - 1,5 liter?) per driver will be allowed to be brought in each day.
There will only be one "fuel gate" with a checklist to control this, only the driver (pit pass with photo) is allowed to bring in his/her fuel.
It's not allowed for a team to share a can (3 liter), only one bottle per driver is allowed.
During final days it will be allowed to bring a larger amount of fuel, the exact quantity will be announced at the team manager meeting.

It's not allowed for anyone else to sell or supply fuel inside or nearby the venue.

It is the full responsibility of each driver to ensure that their "non-sponsored fuel" fulfill all EU regulations and has legally been brought in to Italy. Neither The Organizer, AMSCI, EFRA or IFMAR will be accountable for this.

For safety reasons is it only allowed to smoke at special designated areas

Both IFMAR and EFRA are aware that this will have consequences for the future of international IC events and we will have to investigate these new laws and regulations. Other blocs are also requested to check their laws and to see what has changed.