[woodcote]

Spurred on by plenty of people asking "when will we be racing again at the Barn?", I've jotted down some fairly detailed and rather daunting thoughts that might start to prepare us. Please don't read on if you need cheering up - go straight to the socially-distant drag racing thread instead!

It goes without saying that we need to be socially-responsible - both to prevent infection rates rising and to protect each other and the future of the club. The older people are - or if they have underlying medical conditions - the bigger the risk of a more serious illness if they catch Covid-19. That includes quite a few of us at WHO. I want us to help each other get through this, not put each other at risk. The pandemic is nowhere near over - we're in for some challenging years ahead and must remain flexible to ensure we can enjoy some racing.

       

Firstly, these pictures remind us of what a WHO event is about - twenty or so mostly unrelated people in close proximity indoors, handling numerous shared surfaces for up to six hours for an evening event - and ten hours for a Saturday event. Such a social gathering is absolutely impossible to hold at the moment in the UK.

The first things we will need to happen are...

• The Barn to re-open
  
• The government to allow indoor social gatherings of up to 50 people lasting 6-12 hours
  
• Social distancing regulations to be reduced to 1 metre or less
  

The third change might happen soon. I haven't heard any news about the first - and the possibility of the second seems a long way off at the moment.

When all three changes happen, there will still be numerous conditions we are likely to need to meet. Such as...

• Compulsory wearing of face masks by all participants
  
• Regular hand-washing by all participants
  
• Regular sanitising of all shared equipment / surfaces - ideally after every use
  
• Floor markings to ensure strict social-distancing
  
• Temperature checks before entering the building
  
• Anyone showing any symptoms (even of a cold or hayfever) to be asked to leave
  
• Collection of mobile phone contact details on registration
  
• A flow of fresh air through building
  
• No food or drink served on the premises
  
• Deep-cleaning of venue before and after event
  
• Cleaning of toilet, washbasin and handles after every use
  
• Protection of volunteers
  

There will also be slot car and WHO-specific issues to consider and plan for...

• Marshals handling cars
  
• Marshals being at least 3 feet away from each other and from drivers - at least 6 feet if face-to-face
  
• Sharing controllers
  
• Team races - shared controllers and social-distancing
  
• Spacing each driver station by 4 to 6 feet (to allow for people being two feet across the shoulders - and any jiggling when they drive!)
  
• Set-up and tear-down team members working at least 1 metre apart at all times
  
• Handling money
  
• Club shop
  
• Club paperwork, flyers etc
  
• The difficulty of taking photographs and video while social-distancing
  
• Welcoming new racers
  

Some of these issues can be dealt with by sensible track design (variations on Indianapolis or Le Mans); use of gloves and sanitizing products; paying for race fees in advance on PayPal; closing the club shop (or operating it as mail order); removing all WHO paperwork from the Barn; limiting photographs to certain times and areas of the room. We can also make sure racers have their own personal club loaner controller and club car for the evening. We will definitely need to modify the HO driver station - perhaps with extension cords like the one we already have for racers who use wheelchairs. Our digital equipment is more flexible, but we will need to stop in-race driver changes for team and pairs races - the formats can be easily adjusted.

There will be the need to purchase a good supply of sanitiser and PPE (gloves, surgical masks, visors) for our volunteers, who will be exposed more to potential infection. We will need to be more specific about volunteer roles and not expect individuals to do tasks from the moment we unlock the door to when we leave. Our volunteers will require - at a minimum - this protection...

• Set-up and tear-down crews wearing disposable gloves and masks
  
• Welcome desk person to have a full-face visor
  
• One person to run race control and to solely handle keyboard, mouse, USB etc
  
• Exclusion zone around race control - full-face visor available
  
• Exclusion zone around digital scrutineer/car ID-er, who wears disposable gloves and mask/visor
  
• Cleaning crew to wear disposable gloves, apron and surgical masks
  
• Volunteers to have regular rest breaks to sit outside
  
• Volunteers should not be expected to both set up and tear down
  

As it is difficult to extend the time of the events (and unwise in terms of infection-control), it may be necessary to shorten the racing to ensure the pre-event cleaning, track set-up, track tear-down and post-race clean can all take place without any hurry. A mid-race pause and clean-down might also be sensible.

My initial thoughts are than this will take a lot of planning, organising and utmost care and supervision during the event. The elephant in the room is that several of us are in the highest-risk groups - including people in the shielding group - and some of us are most unlikely to safely return to indoor social gatherings until the virus is more-or-less eradicated from the population (ie when UK Covid deaths are in single figures per week and new cases across Sussex are zero). That includes me, which - whether we like it or not - will have an impact on when and how the club returns to racing. It may be that digital events are easier to organise in these conditions? And that may impact on planning for the 2021 season.

Of course, there are alternatives to racing at the Barn. The mail-in proxy HO drag racing is one. Smaller groups racing at people's homes (even outdoors) is another - although not yet. Neither is ideal - we want to be back at the Barn, all of us together. However, we may need to explore these - and other - alternatives. What is becoming clear is that the Covid-19 pandemic is not over. There are numerous models of how the pandemic may play out, but this is one of the most useful - looking at three alternatives...

   

This suggests that any return to the Barn may stop and start. We will need to be flexible - and prepared. There are things I have probably missed and ideas I haven't thought about - please to add them below.

I know what I've written above is a downbeat assessment -  and things may turn out better than expected. We can certainly hope for that, but let's prepare for what is most likely to happen.