The FIVA Events Commission
What is the Events Commission and what does it do? That is a very good and often asked question. Well, it hardly comes as a surprise, that Events are one of FIVA’s major focus points as we promote and encourage the active use of our historic vehicles. The spirit of yesterday’s vehicles on tomorrow’s roads lives on within the Events Commission’s work to help to address FIVA’s broader mission of the protection, preservation, and promotion of historic vehicles.
It is not just a question of placing events on the FIVA Events Calendar, appointing FIVA Stewards to World and International category events or even attending regular Events Commission meetings.
Take the very successful FIVA World Rally Events in 2021 held in Germany (Cars) and Greece (Motorcycles) for example. The German ANF applied to put their event onto the FIVA Events Calendar three years beforehand. Indeed in the same year, other countries also applied as so many countries are now hoping to host FIVA World Events for cars, motorcycles and/or utilitarian vehicles that these events are appointed several years ahead. So popular are they that we already have applications for FIVA World Events far ahead as 2026.
For the more usual events, both National and International categories, the calendar applications for the following year usually start to come in about 6 months before the New Year. And in a ‘normal year’ we expect to have about 25 International and 80 National events worldwide on the Events Calendar each year. Unfortunately COVID-19 still had an impact during 2022 resulting in some events being either Postponed or Cancelled. We are hoping that 2023 will be closer to ‘normal’ but ultimately COVID-19 and Government regulations will decide.
For an International Category event, the Events Commission needs to be satisfied that the organiser is capable of organising and running such an event according to the FIVA Events Code and the rules and regulations pertaining to motoring events of countries in which the event will take place. The evaluation usually entails visiting, or getting an assessment of, the organiser’s National category event a year before it becomes an International event.
No event organiser is just going to approach FIVA without some promotional work by us to make the organisers aware of the benefits to them, and indeed our FIVA members, of putting their events onto the FIVA Calendar. This promotion work is usually done through dialogue with event organisers at exhibitions, events, at organisers’ offices or by Video Conference as required. Once FIVA’s work to ensure the rights of historic vehicle owners to continue to use their vehicles on public roads is explained, by far the greater majority of event organisers understand the need, and are only too willing, to support FIVA’s work.
Some organisers may not be aware of what FIVA is and what its mission is; this also needs to be explained. Indeed the FIVA ID Card system also needs to be explained to them to help organisers to select appropriate vehicles by not only looking at the participant’s event entry form but also to study vehicles’ FIVA ID cards during the process. We are also supporting the FIVA Youngtimers ID Card to enable younger cars to be included in applicable events so as to encourage their preservation and use by their owners.
For World and International category events the event will have a FIVA licenced Steward appointed who can help and guide the organisers and, if any disputes arise, help with making any judicial decisions as required. After such events, the Steward submits a written report to the Events Commission and the event organiser, where any issues arising can be raised and dealt with as required.
From an International pool of circa 35 trained and experienced FIVA Stewards the Events Commission appoints a FIVA Steward for all International category events. And our Stewards must attend a FIVA Stewards’ Seminar, at their own expense, once every two years to maintain their knowledge of event rules and regulations. The FIVA Steward is thereafter given a new license which remains valid for 2 years.
The Events Commission has published a FIVA Events Code with relevant Annexes to help to guide event organisers. A Stewards’ Handbook is also published to help our Stewards carry out their duties on events..
The Events Commission also annually decides on a list of four Premier events (1 in each Continent) from within the annual FIVA Events Calendar at which four “FIVA Best Preserved Vehicle” awards will be presented to the most deserving participants. We also compile a list of ten events worldwide where ten “Spirit of FIVA” awards will be presented to deserving participants. And to thank the organisers of International Category events each organiser is presented with a FIVA International Event Award and an Event Organisers Certificate. All of these awards are highly treasured by the recipients!!
The FIVA Events Commission is also one of the key FIVA links with the world motorsports governing body – the FIA, and for Motorcycles – the FIM.
Internally the Events Commission has ongoing cooperation with all the other FIVA Commissions to ensure FIVA’s mission is fully addressed.
Hopefully, this short insight into the work of the FIVA Events Commission has been of interest and whetted your appetite to maybe come and join us in our work to protect, preserve and promote historic vehicles.
Malcolm Grubb – VP Events November 2022
Members of the FIVA Events Commission
Chairman:
Malcolm J. Grubb (FBHVC) – UK
E-mail: here
Vice-Chairman:
- Kamen Mihaylov (BACR) – BG
Secretary:
- Carl-Michael Emer, (ASC) – DE
Treasurer:
- Janko Uratnik, (SVS) – SLO
Commission Members:
- Ruedi Muller, (SHVF) – CH
- Stan Minarik (ACCR) – CZ
- Emmanuel Bacquet (FFVE) – FR
- Laszlo Tomcsanyi (MAVAMSZ) – HU
Under Article 7 of the FIVA Statutes and Rule 4 of the Internal Rules the General Assembly delegates the authority to oversee motoring events to its Events Commission (EC). The EC’s remit covers all matters concerning the organisation, direction and management of such events within the FIVA specified sector of interest. Internal Rule 4.5 authorises the FIVA Events Commission to issue codes as required to govern FIVA registered events.
Members’ Roles within the FIVA Events Commission
The goals of the FIVA Events Commission
Aims and tasks
The Events Commission will meet at least twice a year to progress its programme of work, exchange information and to investigate further opportunities to launch better services to FIVA members and Event organisers. In the meantime the Events Commission Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer will undertake the day-to-day tasks of the Commission. Liaison with other FIVA Commissions and external authorities will take place to ensure a cohesive approach to motoring events within FIVA.
Structure and Procedures
Chairman
- Liaison with the FIVA General Committee
- Liaison with other International Federations and Organisers of events
- Liaison with other FIVA Commissions, Strategic planning and review of EC programmes
- Management, planning and overseeing the operation of, and division of effort for, the Events Commission programme of work
- Planning for and preparation of the Events Commission’s annual Work Programme and budget
- Liaison with FIVA Ambassadors
- Liaison with FIVA Stewards regarding their availability, event appointments and timely completion of their Event reports
- Coordination of projects for members of the Events Commission
- Potentials for Sponsorship
Vice Chairman
- Liaison with Event Organisers directly and at exhibitions e.g. Race Retro, Essen
- Organisation and management of the FIVA International and National Events Calendar
- Checking the Regulations of events regarding their conformity with the FIVA Events Code and Annexes
- Management of the Events Commission’s website content
- Liaison with the FIVA Web-master and FIVA General Secretary to ensure the presence of up-to-date EC information and its activities
- Contact with ANFs and member Clubs regarding their events
- Liaison with Commercial entities that may be of assistance to FIVA Event Organisers
Secretary
- Administration of the Events Commission’s activities
- Organisation of meetings and support for training seminars etc.
Malcolm Grubb – VP Events November 2022
World Events
For many years FIVA has encouraged our Members and other historic vehicle owners to participate in what are called FIVA World Events. These events are held annually, for cars, for motorcycles and for utilitarian vehicles and are usually organised by an ANF or a prominent Club member within a national ANF. FIVA “World Events” for cars and motorcycles are generally 4-7 day non-competitive tours of countries visiting interesting and scenic locations during the days’ motoring. Overnight Hotels and daily meals are organised for you as part of the package and various attractions and entertainment are included where available and appropriate. For 2023 we are hoping to run our first FIVA World Event for Utilitarian vehicles along with a Motorcycle World Event and two Car World Events – so please keep an eye on the Events calendar as more detailed information will be available. To assist organisers when planning and running these events the Events Commission has provided a special guide to help them along the way. Annex 6 of the The FIVA Events Code is the specific guide related to the organisation of FIVA World Events.
International Events
An event run according to the FIVA Events Code, registered by FIVA through their Events Commission and for which FIVA will appoint a Steward.
National Events
An event overseen by the National Authority (ANF) of FIVA as defined in Art.4 of the FIVA Statutes and Para.1 of the FIVA Internal Rules. Such events are run generally in their own country according to the FIVA Events Code and for which the ANF, or event organiser, will appoint a National observer.
Regularity Events
An event of a touring but competitive nature in which the greatest speed is not a deciding factor, but in which average speeds (50km/h or less on public roads) must be imposed. The organising club must be a member of, or affiliated to, FIVA as defined in Art. 4. of the FIVA Statutes.
Touring Assembly
An event of a touring nature that is generally non-competitive with or without classification. Any classification should not be decided by speed or timing elements. The organising club must be a member of, or affiliated to, FIVA as defined in Art. 4. of the FIVA Statutes.
Concours d’Elegance
An event that provides historic vehicle owners with an opportunity to display their vehicles and for them to be judged on their appearance. The organising club must be a member of or affiliated to, FIVA as defined in Art. 4. of the FIVA Statutes.
Exhibition event
An event that provides historic vehicle owners with an opportunity to display them to the public. The organising club must be a member of, or affiliated to, FIVA as defined in Art. 4. of the FIVA Statutes.
Vehicle Categories
It is up to the Event Organisers to define the age ranges of accepted vehicles appropriate for each of their events.
This will typically be in the form of e.g. 1930-1960, where 1930 is the lower age limit and 1960 is the upper age limit. Therefore any vehicle outside this date range cannot enter. Within these date ranges Organisers can define classes and categories as they wish.
As a guideline FIVA has defined these following classes – they are completely optional but may be used by organisers if they wish.
All FIVA registered events may use these classes; sub-divisions are allowed
- Class A: (Ancestor) Vehicles built up to 31st December 1904
- Class B: (Veteran) Vehicles built between 1st January 1905 and 31st December 1918
- Class C: (Vintage) Vehicles built between 1st January 1919 and 31st December 1930
- Class D: (Post Vintage) Vehicles built between 1st January 1931 and 31st December 1945
- Class E: (Post War) Vehicles built between 1st January 1946 and 31st December 1960
- Class F: Vehicles built between 1st January 1961 and 31st December 1970
- Class G: Vehicles built between 1st January 1971 and 31st December 1980
- Class H: Vehicles built between 1st January 1981 and 31st December 1990
- Class I: Vehicles built between 1st January 1991 and the FIVA age limit as defined by the HISTORIC VEHICLE DEFINITION
- Class Y: Youngtimers: Vehicles between 20 and 29 years old.
Malcolm Grubb – VP Events November 2022.
Important information for organising a FIVA event
Dear organiser,
FIVA is an international federation and the FIVA Events Commission helps its event organisers and provides them with the correct information about organising events in foreign countries. Of course, you can always contact the ANF of each country but within the EC Documents menu above, you will find some basic principles about organising events in a foreign country.
Even within Europe, you will find that in the field of organising events, we are still some way from having unified regulations.
We will update this information on a regular basis. Meanwhile, if you have any suggestions or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us by E-mail: here
Malcolm Grubb – VP Events November 2022
Stewards for International FIVA events – 2023 listing
- Argentina: Alec Daly, Daniel Claramunt, Ricardo Battisti
- Bulgaria: Kamen Mikhailov
- Canada: Nigel Matthews
- Colombia: Ricardo Morales Rubio
- Cyprus: George Ioannides
- Czech Republic: Stan Minarik
- Denmark: Henning Thomsen, Niels Jonassen
- France: Emmanuel Bacquet
- Germany: Carl-Michael Emer, Carsten Krukenkamp, Detlef Krukenkamp, Johann Koenig, Jürgen Ockens, Ralf Stamm
- Hungary: Laszlo Tomcsanyi
- Japan: Seiichi Saito
- Luxemburg: Sandra Heinisch
- The Netherlands: J.J. Dólleman, Jos Jurriëns
- Poland: Bartosz Balicki, Marek Gacek
- Slovak Republic: Valentin Zbynovsky
- Slovenia: Janko Uratnik
- Spain: Antonio Arderiu Freixa, Joan Espelt, Josep Ma Companys
- Switzerland: Daniel Fischlin, Frank Aeschlimann, Lukas Oberholzer, Mark Rufer, Ruedi Muller
- United Kingdom: Malcolm Grubb
- Uruguay: Carlos Scoseria
- U.S.A.: Malcolm Welford
Malcolm Grubb – VP Events February 2023
Stewards’ Licence Renewal Form 2023
Stewards Event Report submission
Event Report Archive – Not currently available
Documentation and user guides – Not currently available
FIVA‘s Preservation Awards
It is very rare indeed to see a historic car, or bike for that matter, in its original configuration. As it left the factory in other words. Such a find not only time warps us back to the way things really were, it is also a testament to the care and respects its keepers have shown for it over the years. It is a privilege to see chrome plating of a quality we can only dream of today, to sample leather of a kind no longer available, and to admire the attention to detail unimaginable in the time-pressured world we now live in.
It is to honour and record these original icons our motoring past that FIVA has created the Preservation Award to be given at select events around the world. Each of the brass plaques, weighing 1.2kg, will be individually numbered and registered, inextricably linking it to the vehicle and its current keeper.
| 2019 | 1928 1 LANCIA LAMBDA SERIE VIII
Compared with the technical benchmarks of its era, the Lancia Lambda presented in 1922 was one of the most advanced automobiles of all times. There is simply no room to enumerate all its innovations here. Let’s just say that the Lambda had the first unitary body ever built and defined the layout that only became established gradually as the standard three decades later. Around 11 000 units were created up to 1931 in nine model series. This car is one of six that Lancia prepared as works cars for entry in the Mille Miglia in 1928 – and probably the only one that survives to this day. Three years after the murderous competition it came into the hands of a British owner. He kept the Torpedo for more than 40 years, using it as a tourer between England and Switzerland up until 1939. His travels put nearly 300 000 kilometers on the clock. When this 91-year-old Lancia paraded at the Concorso d’Eleganza it just completed the 2019 Mille Miglia! |
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| 2018 | Wanderer 4PS HeeresmodellOriginal quotation from a Wanderer sales leaflet: “The machine meets the highest demands for extraordinary mountain performance and develops such an enormous speed, which is hardly applicable in traffic, but is sometimes desirable for sports purposes. We guarantee a speed of 85 km per hour. “ In 1886, the name Wanderer first appeared on the bicycles of the company “Chemnitzer Velociped-Depot Winklhofer & Jaenicke”. 1902 – it had meanwhile moved to Schönau near Chemnitz – created the first motorcycles with a single cylinder of 215 cc from their own development. From 1905 V2 models were built.
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| 2018 | 1913 SCAT 25/35 H
This car remained in the same family for 104 years. SCAT (an acronym for Società Ceirano Automobili Torino) was a family-run car company based in Turin, Italy, which produced cars from 1906 to 1932. Many of the early SCATs competed—and won—in the Targa Florio endurance race. This preserved example, which experts believe has a factory-built body, was kept by the family of the original owner for 104 years. In 2017, it went through an extensive conservation process to keep the car in its original state. The work paid off, as the example won the FIVA Preservation award. The car is powered by a 40 hp, inline four-cylinder engine and is notable because it is the first to use a compressed-air starter for the ignition, as opposed to a hand crank. |
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| 2018 | Alvis TF21 Graber Super from 1966The 24th edition of the Pays de Fougères international rally on 25-28 May 2018 brought together 180 crews from a dozen-odd European countries, as well as an entrant all the way from Thailand. For the first time, the rally was chosen by FIVA (the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens or international federation of historic vehicles) as one of the 10 venues where a FIVA Best Preserved Vehicle award is presented. At the rally, Englishman Paul Chasney scooped the FIVA Best Preserved Vehicle award with his remarkable Alvis TF21 Graber Super from 1966, one of the last six bodies made by the famous Swiss coachbuilder Herman Graber. However, the judges (veteran FIVA steward Rainer Hindrischedt and FIVA VP Communications Gautam Sen) were hard-pushed to choose between the Alvis and the superb 1959 Lancia Flaminia saloon of Claude-Michel Perseil, which was the close runner-up. The annual Pays de Fougères rally, organised every May by the Automobile and Heritage Association of the Pays de Fougères, was – from the start – one of the first events to combine beautiful automobiles of the past with the (often lesser-known) architectural and gastronomic heritage of northwest France. It has always been less about discussing nuts and bolts and valves than discovering the many facets of a rich heritage, both mobile and immobile. Above all, perhaps, it’s a chance to introduce the general public to the intriguing world of historic vehicles, as the cars are exhibited at locations accessible to the public during the three days of the event – this year at Dinard, Granville and Fougères. Meanwhile, the Sunday afternoon of the rally sees each vehicle presented to the public with a detailed but lighthearted account of its history. Free-of-charge to visitors, the aim is to tell the story of each car, reviving happy memories and, it’s hoped, awakening the interest of the younger generation in our industrial heritage, in the aesthetics of car design, and in the people and human activities behind it all. This annual rally always manages to bring together cars that are rarely seen elsewhere. Rare and exclusive marques such as Marauder, Swallow Doretti, HRG, CG and Darracq joined the traditional luxury brands of Bentley, Delage, Delahaye and Rolls-Royce, not to mention thrilling sportscars from Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bugatti and even a Ford GT40, to excite onlookers. Next year’s Pays de Fougères international rally will again be held in the Fougères region, from 17-20 May 2019. |
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| 2017 | 1927 Hispano-Suiza T49During the Villa d’Este concours dÉlegance the FIVA Best Preserved Vehicle Award was presented to Marco Gastaldi. Marco Gastaldi’s 1927 Hispano-Suiza T49 Weymann Sport Saloon by H. J. Muliner won this award. It was in remarkable shape considering it has been on the road for 90 years. Download the complete description of this vehicle as recorded by Mr. Gastaldi here: Hispano-Suiza-T49 |
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| 2017 | 1929 NSU 201TThis FIVA Best Preserved Vehicle Award was presented during the Ibberbürner Veteranen Motorcycle Event on June the 4st 2017. The event showed many different unrestored motorcycles making judging difficult but the completeness of this NSU was the key point for the 5-headed jury. Technical details:
Owner:
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| 2017 | 1929 Packard 645 Deluxe Eight Dietrich Dual Cowl Sport Phaeton
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The spirit of FIVA award
In 2016, the 50th Anniversary of FIVA, the Events Commission (EC) introduced the “Best Preserved Vehicle” awards that have been presented at some high profile Concours d’Elegance Events every year since. These awards continue to be awarded annually.
However in 2018, to encourage more historic vehicle enthusiasts, a “Spirit of FIVA” award was created to enable FIVA to support more enthusiasts and events around the world. These “Spirit of FIVA” awards are now presented annually at 10 events worldwide, one at each event, to those participants, organisers, officials, etc. who exhibit enjoyment, camaraderie, friendship, inclusivity, and general bonhomie and hence are deemed to be deserving of such an award.
Events Codes and other documents from the Events Commission
The downloadable documents of the Events Commission, and other commissions, can be found by clicking this link here.
Also, the updates on EU regulations that might or will affect the use of historic vehicles and youngtimers can be found there.
Malcolm Grubb – VP Events November 2022
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