2003 was the second year that the National Conference was held under the new format which allows delegates to focus on the future vision and direction of the sport with presentations of major topics, discussion groups and guest speakers. This year delegates came to Conference empowered and prepared to make decisions and provide direction and the outcome was extremely positive with clarity for the future provided in several important areas.

There were 18 Clubs represented from Whangarei in the North to Invercargill in the South. Also in attendance were the elected Executive, the Treasurer Mike Martin and the Development and Administration Manager, Robert Hutton. Life member, John Lennox, officially opened Conference on Saturday morning reminding delegates of the importance of making decisions and providing direction for the future.

The President, Chris Fraser, presented his report and following this the Minutes of the 2002 National Conference were adopted. The Treasurer, Mike Martin, presented the financial accounts and answered questions from the floor.

Chris Fraser then reported on the progress to date of the Strategic Plan and acknowledged that with progress made to date it was time to review the plan and re-establish a revised plan for the next five years. Delegates agreed that the same format should be followed as used to develop the initial plan, with input from key people within the sport. With this mandate established the Executive will now proceed to set up a structure for the review and generation of a new Strategic Plan.

Alan Sherris, the chairperson of the Rules Sub Committee, then made a presentation and lead a discussion session on the future National Sprint Championship Format. At the conclusion of the discussion the delegates decided that a change was required and provided direction on their preferred option.

Following the break for lunch, Robert Hutton, the Development and Administration Manager, presented a Business Plan for the next 12 months and beyond, focusing on the desire to attract corporate sponsorship and the issues that needed to be addressed in order to achieve this.

This was then followed by a very informative and enlightening presentation on sponsorship by Bob McMurray from Springboard International. This was followed by a general discussion with Bob answering several questions and providing valuable information to delegates and the Executive about sponsorships and maximising the value of them.

Bob Cunningham, Chairperson of the Judicial Review Sub Committee and John Lennox who was a member of this committee, then made a presentation to delegates on the proposed new Judicial Code, the background and reasons for it and explained the operation of the new code. A general discussion then followed with delegates accepting in principle to adopt the new code, subject to some additional minor changes. The delegates also agreed that the Executive would establish a program for training of Stewards and Clubs in the use of the new code and agreed with a suggested implementation date of 1st April 2004, provided the Executive were satisfied that this date could be achieved. A copy of this new Code is available for download from the Downloads page.

The final presentation on day one was from Alan Sherris regarding future class structures. This presentation followed discussion from the 2002 Conference and a discussion document on future class structure prepared by Alan and the Rules Sub Committee. Delegates then broke into 6 workgroups to continue work on the subject and then each group reported back to the Conference providing more strategy and direction for further work to be done on this important subject.

Day one concluded with delegates breaking into two groups (North and South Island) with the opportunity to work on a combined clubs event calendar for 2004.

Day two began at 8.15 am with each Club delegate giving a 5 minute presentation to Conference covering such things as what they had done well and poorly over the past 12 months as well as the Clubs priorities and views for KartSport New Zealand for the next 12 months. These presentations were extremely positive and helped all Clubs get an idea of what other Clubs were doing as well as providing valuable feedback to the KartSport New Zealand Executive.

Following the morning tea break Alan Sherris gave his final presentation on the By-Laws process and acknowledged the difficulties some Clubs were having with 4 By-Laws rounds each year. Following further discussion Alan then recommended the adoption of a Notice of Motion prepared by the Executive to change the number of By-Laws rounds each year to a minimum of two.

There were a total of 4 Notices of Motion put to Conference.

The first was to introduce a revised Constitution with additional minor changes to include references to SPRAC, clauses required by IRD and a change to make this website the official source of notices. The Notice of Motion was passed.

The second and third Notices of Motion were to make changes to the makeup and term of the Executive and these both passed unanimously.

The final Notice of Motion was to change the number of By-Laws rounds each year to a minimum of two. This also passed unanimously.

The following persons were then elected for the next 12 months :-

Allocation of Road and Dirt events was then decided as follows :-

2004 NZ Road Championships - confirmed, Christchurch, February 7th & 8th 2004.

2005 NZ Road Championships - Taupo - date to be confirmed.

2005 SI Road Championships - Christchurch - date and venue to be confirmed

2005 NI Road Championships - Taupo - date to be confirmed

2004 NZ Dirt Championships - Rotorua - date to be confirmed

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