I was a bit surprised and irked-off in the Indonesia round of the Rotax Asia Challenge to have to pay for transponder rental. It was the first time I've even had to pay for transponder rental. Do you pay the organisers for transponder rental in addition to the entry fee?

My problem with it was that we weren't informed that we have to pay for transponder rental until we got to the track - I think it really should be mentioned in the regulations if you're going to charge for them. We also had to pay for some kind of additional insurance and no details were actually given to us as to what the insurance would cover - but we're talking transponders here .

The CIK-FIA regulations for any major meetings such as the World Championships, European Championships, Asia-Pacific Championships and similar state that the organisers are not allowed to charge competitors for transponder rental. Of course smaller events don't have to abide by this rule.

So do you pay for the transponder rental, and how much are you charged for it? I would think it would be better if the entry fee was increased if they really need to squeeze a few extra bucks from competitors rather than surprising competitors with additional charges when they show up at the track.

wow, u would think Rotax Asia Challenge is a big enough event to comply with the rules. maybe squeeze extra bucks to recover cost of meet. who knows.

Last Miri race was my 1st time ever to pay transponder rental. Of course we agree to do so prehand. We were the one whos pushing Miri organisers to purchase the transponder system.

We paid RM$200 for transponder and entry fee was RM$350.
RM$550 per karter. Guess we are desperate to have a race..

i come in peace...

i can , for the time being , only respond to the insurance matter.

for the insurance , IDR 50.000 per driver it will covers all of your mechanics too.the drivers itself allready (here in Indonesia) been cover when they apply for the karting license.

the programme called "Program Keselamatan Bersama" (i guess you understand this in bahasa.... ).

sorry if we didnt give you any details information about this matter before.

Constructive criticism here.


It would be a lot better if this was explained in the regulations. Many drivers were left feeling cheated - even though it's not a large amount you feel like you're just handing over money for no good reason - and you fele cheated because you didn't know of these extra charges until you went to the registration.

If you check the regulations for the Macau AKOC event earlier this year you'll see that they state clearly in bold and in red color that competitors will be charged for transponders - so no surprises when you show up to race.

If there is a driver who is his own mechanic he wouldn't have to pay to cover his mechanic would he?... or if two drivers are sharing a mechanic wouldn't they only need to pay once for the insurance? Or if your mechanic already has an insurance policy that covers himself he wouldn't need the insurance either.

Explaining it in the regulations would also create a lot less hassle at the registration table - I and others had to run back to the pits to get more money.

for the last paragraph....it would be a big help for me too!
but.....we've...well...me personally (cause that is my department) are trying to deal with this "too many hassle" on how to make it "less hassle".....
hopefully , if..thats if....u want to come and race again in Indonesia , things would be different....

i'm blabbing , arent i?

sorry...

For thailand, the national championship races will charge you THB500 (about 45 ringit) for the transponder (AMB) rental per race meeting, i think it's fair, not only because that you have the accuracy timing or stop the stewards from some unknown mistakes (miscounting the laps, manual stopwatching.....), but take this into account, they have to invest about THB500,000 (i think about 45000 Ringit) for the whole thing (they have the mainbox loop system, and about 30 transponders), then i think it's fair enough to pay for that (or else, buying your own transponder for THB10000 and you can use it only on race weekend, because there's no loop in use out of the race)

Mikko mentioned that all the CIK World events does not charge for the transponders. He is right in many sense. CIK World events are participated mainly by factory teams or factory backed drivers. The entry fees include the transponder fees.

In Europe, all the organising clubs charges transponder rental fees. In Belgium the fee is 20 Euro or you bring your own transponder for use. I feel that drivers should pay for the rental of the transponders since they cost close to RM1800 per piece. It is a lot of investment to get 60 pieces to run a race. However, there is no rule to say that drivers cannot own their own transponders and bring them to the races.

If an Organising club wants to charge rental fees, then it is fair to give early warning that transponders rental will be imposed. Over here in Malaysia the drivers have been having it good for a long time. You will note that now double entry fees are chargeable if you put your entry after the closing date. I think this is one area where it must be implemented fully. You still have drivers coming on a saturday to put in their entry and arguing that they had forgotten and all sort of excuses. Why do we have to go through this?? I believe if drivers take things more seriously and get organised things will be better for everyone. Dont you agree?

James Leong

Interesting that they charge for transponeders in Thailand.

Yeah the CIK-regulations of no cost allowed to be brought on to competitors for transponders apply to any CIK-FIA Championships, Trophies and Cups - so not to normal national championships for example.



I think it's actually the club's fault that this has been happening, and it's good that they are finally doing it the right way - the double-entry fee has been in the regulations forever but hasn't been enforced. When I first arrived in Malaysia I sent in my entry and payment a good 3-4 weeks early for my first several races... then I realised I was always waiting in line at registration behind people that hadn't sent in their entry so I thought what's the point in me sending them in early if nobody pays double-entry fee anyway and make me wait in line - so since then I always started to pay on race-day as well.