THE Classic Car Club's 10th year of racing in Macau is to be marked with a greater emphasis on safety and a new policy towards the classic racing class. Tom Surrency, the club's chairman, said racing had changed in recent years, and measures to enhance safety standards were now necessary. Drivers who wished to take part must now practise race driving before entering the event, he said. They could do this by participating in other races in the region that were authorised as qualifying events by the Hong Kong Automobile Association. ''The speeds are faster, the standards of scrutinising are much higher, and while we are club racers we still have to take precautions,'' Mr Surrency said. Cars are already required to be fitted with roll bars, fire extinguishers, full harnesses and ignition cut-out switches. Drivers must wear gloves, boots, fire-proof suits and an approved helmet. The club hoped to improve the spectacle of the racing by attracting more ''pure classics'' on to the track. ''Hong Kong is limited in the number of classic cars, and not all owners will want to race,'' Mr Surrency said. ''But if we can get more of the older cars back on the track - the 1950s and 1960s cars rather than 1970s - it will even out the classes and make a more interesting race for spectators.'' Replica cars will no longer be eligible, although those competing this season, such as Kerry Anderson's D-Type Jaguar, will be accepted. The classic race provides some of the closest and most popular racing of the Macau weekend. It also has the most distinctive cars. The 1953 Morgan 4 that competed in the first Macau Grand Prix in 1954, and led for much of that race, competes regularly in the classic. The club depends of this kind of popularity to find a main sponsor. Mr Surrency said the classic cars would attract wide Asian television coverage.
