Motor Sport Association of Zambia has reaffirmed that its 2020 calendar remains suspended due to the health threats caused by the corona virus. The Association has confirmed that it has lost out on sponsorships and donations valued at over K1 million due to suspension of its activities.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Zambia business times – ZBT, Motor Sports Association of Zambia president Sam Chingambu stated that they have cancelled some tournaments and events because they don’t want the drivers and crew the scores of people who attend the rallies to risk getting infected with the Corona virus.
He said that the Motor Sports Association also has international affiliation obligations to mother body organizations such as Federation Internationale de l’Automobile – FIA and Federation internationale de motorcycleme – FIM for Motor cycles.
“Motor sport is a crowd puller. Many people attend these motor rallies and so social distancing becomes very difficult. Secondly, the rally drivers and navigators who are sitting in the front seat, there is no aspect of social distancing about it. And also the crew members who rush to service their vehicles. They bump into each other when going to the car”, he said.
Chingambu also disclosed that the association has lost out on funding because many sponsors can’t fund an event if there is no activity and the sponsors have also directly been affected by the pandemic. The association runs events such as the motor rally’s, motor cross Championships, motor sport Spin & drifting, go-Kart’s and enduro’s.
“In terms of finance we have been hit. If we combined al the disciplines, we are looking at a budget of over K1.5 million per annum just to smoothly run these events and also participate in international events”, he said.
He also stressed that another major factor that makes it difficult to continue their normal routine of events is that their activities are done on privately owned land and the owners of this land are understandably skeptical to allow people on their property because of the virus.
“In terms of rallies, we run on private land and farms. And there is no farmer or landowner who is going to allow you to go in their farm with COVID 19 in the air. He/she has got animals, workers and a family to protect from the virus. So definitely, they cannot permit you to go run these events on their farm”, he said.
Meanwhile, Chingambu says that this year is a bit challenging for them and that all tournaments remain suspended until when the situation changes. In line with acting in line with the new normal, wearing of masks still remains a challenge for the sport but the association would sit and advise we’re new measures and actions are agreed.
The association is also looking out for guideline from the National Sports Council of Zambia as well as its international federations to see how best these various motor sports disciplines can be resumed.
