Brief History

Motorsport in Malta grew out of the British Forces based in the Islands way back in the 1950’s and 1960’s primarily who established the Forces Motor Racing Club, which however was exclusive to British Forces Personnel.  Years later, this rule was relaxed to allow anyone having served with the forces or been a Boy Scout to join the Forces Motor racing Club.  Eventually, a number of Maltese clubs sprouted, and in turn evolved into the first Maltese motorsport federation in 1976.  This worked well for a number of years until an unfortunate accident during a Hill Climb in the early 1980’s brought all Motorsport to an end, as the Maltese police authorities decided not to grant any more permits for any Motorsport event.  This was a significant blow to Maltese Motorsport as it brought to an end not only the then Federation but also a number of clubs wound up.  In 1985 ASM was founded and at that time it was the only club organising motorsport events. By 1989 Motorsport was back to an acceptable level, when a number of clubs managed to restart to organisie motorsport competitions again, including drag racing, hill climbs and sprints, navigational exercises, off-road and karting.

Various attempts were undertaken to re-establish the Federation, however none were successful as by then the clubs were working on their own obtaining the required permits for races.

Establishing MMF

Late 2006, government decided to back the efforts of a number of enthusiasts to establish a federation.  A meeting was called by the Kunsill Malti ghall-iSport (Maltese Sports Council) for all interested parties; and as a result of this meeting, a  statute drafting committee was established with the remit of writing down a statute for an eventual federation.  The thirteen  (13) members of this committee, met for some 15 times, where with great dedication, perseverance and loads of bridge building and confidence building measures, finalised the statue and established the Malta Motorsport Federation on 1st June 2007. These were:

  • Mr Brain St John – Member AROC
  • Mr George Abdilla – Member AWDC
  • Mr Frans Deguara, Mr Johann Pace and Mr. Frans Azzopardi – Members ASM
  • Mr Peter Borg – Member ICC
  • Mr Joseph Laus, Mr. Adrian Spiteri and Mr. Sylvester Mifsud Members IKC
  • Mr. Joe Anastasi – Member IRMCC
  • Mr Alex Borg – Member MMC
  • Mr Willian Sant – Member MMRC
  • Mr Mario Mifsud

The first Interim Committee was set up to handle the Federation business, until the first general meeting was held. The 7 members of this Interim Committee were:

  • Mr Joe Anastasi – Chairman  (IRMCC)
  • Mr George Abdilla – Secretary (AWDC)
  • Mr Mario Mifsud – Public Relations
  • Mr Robert Zammit – Treasurer
  • Mr Brain St John – Member (AROC)
  • Mr Frans Deguara – Member (ASM)
  • Mr Alex Borg – Member (MMC)
  • Mr Willian Sant – MMRC
  • Mr Joseph Laus – IKC

Within a month, 7 clubs and an association were affiliated with MMF and these were::

  • All Wheel Drive Club Malta – AWDC
  • Alfa Romeo Owners Club – AROC
  • Assocjazjoni Sport Muturi – ASM
  • Island Karting Club – IKC
  • Island Radio Model Car Club – IRMCC
  • Malta Motorcycle Club – MMC
  • Minimoto Racing Club Malta – MRCM

After having the inaugural AGM on the 11th September 2007 in which members approved the Statute and committee, the first aim was to seek both National and International recognition.  MMF quickly established contacts with the Maltese authorities, be it the different Ministers’ responsible for Sport, the Finance Ministry, the Transport Malta (i.e. the government entity responsible for transport matters), and was registered with the Kunsill Malti tal-iSport (KMS) which is the National Council for Sport.  Internationally, MMF immediately sought recognition through membership of the FIA. a goal MMF achieved in its first 6 months of existence. In October 2008, Mr Tonio Cini was elected Chairman of the Federation whose position was renamed to President.

In 2009, MMF was registered NGO with the Commissioner of the Voluntary Organisations.

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