TRANSPONDERS FOR EASTERN CENTRE MOTOCROSS
Following my proposals to the MX sub-committee last November, the Centre Board has asked me to seek clubs' interest in jointly financing an independent “Eastern Timing Group” (ETG) to provide a timing service for hire by clubs across the Centre. The extra cost for a club using the timing service would, if recouped through the entry fee, amount to £2 per entry. ETG would be non-profit making.
If adopted, the scheme will utilise a special MX version of the RFID passive transponder system from Enymind, Finland, pioneered by Richard Snowden of Diss MCC for Enduro events. A portable overhead powered antenna array across the finish line energises each transponder tag as it passes underneath. The tags, 30 mm x 100 mm, do not have batteries and therefore need no maintenance. Encased in a transparent plastic strip to be taped on the front mudguard, they will initially be supplied to riders at £2 each and, if reasonably cared for, last indefinitely. A patch of transparent sticky back plastic vinyl film 50 mm x 120 mm will be supplied with each tag to hold it on, which will avoid adversely masking the colour/graphics of the mudguard, and provide extra protection. Alternatively, any kind of plastic tape can be used, and stickers can be applied over the top if desired - the more covering the better for protection. The encased tags can be removed and re-fixed at will. A second tag (to save swapping if two bikes are owned) and replacements for damaged tags will cost £5.
ETG will maintain a permanent database of riders and their personal tag ID. It will not be necessary for event secretaries or riders to register the tag ID for individual events. New, occasional and out-of-Centre riders not owning a tag will be able to buy it from ETG on event day. The scheme is one that is manageable at club-level events, and is distinctly cheaper for the rider than the AMB system.
A relatively small number of riders own an AMB transponder for use in other centres. These cost up to £230 each. In 2009, over 600 individual riders – and this does not include youth riders – entered Eastern Centre MX events. The proposed RFID technology, which is being developed for MX by at least 3 other companies across the globe, in conjunction with the scheme of operation planned, enables timing to be brought to Centre MX without needing the extensive administration, maintenance and finance of magnetic induction technology as used by AMB.
A fully costed and engineered package has been offered to clubs to jointly fund the £10,000 project cost of creating an operational ETG, which will then be owned by shareholding member clubs. The Centre itself has already pledged to invest as a shareholding member. I have offered to set up and run the ETG team for at least the first year. Riders may wish to express any views – for or against - to their clubs (or me). Given that club committees have to discuss and decide on the proposal, and that equipment has to be made and purchased, it is expected that the scheme, if accepted and proven successful, could be operational later in the year.
Richard Sillett
01376 584092
