Quote:
Originally Posted by WestHam92
Doesn't that prove my point? If Crees is a club racer, then why is he in "Britain's premier motor racing series"? It's not Crees I have a problem with per se, it's the setup of the championship that allows him to compete in it.
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The issue comes if you look at it the other way though I feel.
If you introduce some form of criteria for entry based on talent alone, you'll end up with people only entering if they are in a realistic chance of taking the title.
From the current grid, that is about ten drivers at best.
Everyone who is entering for their own gratification won't meet that criteria and will enter a.n.other series.
With grids that are pretty much single figure entries, audiences will switch off, sponsors will walk away and no one will pay for the series to exist.
I think we are in this situation because of the manufacturer dominance of the 80s and 90s. There was a romantic notion of a private entrant being able to take a win. That meant that when Neal took that first race win, a lot of manufacturers thought 'why bother if someone can use a 2nd hand car and win?'.
The appeal for manufacturers dwindled before it was about budgets. This was a blessing in disguise, because it meant series organisers had to make the series valuable to privateers and the factory-backed model was dropped while other series still relied on them.
The regular rule change since has meant that everyone has their chance to shine (reverse grid, ballast etc.) But the best teams will have the consistency to take the titles. This is demonstrated by 2/3s of the races being decided on performance alone. This rewards the best ten I mentioned before. The rest of the grid are hoping to get lucky in the other 1/3 of races.
No one wants to come last, but everyone should have a realistic goal that equals success to them. For someone like Hamilton, it's achieving points. For Crees, it's probably hoping for some top tens and a Jack Sears trophy. For Neate, probably for the thrill of competing.
BTCC can be that to all of those, whilst simultaneously allowing Turkington, Cammish, Sutton, Butcher etc. compete for the title and BMW, Honda, Toyota to gain brand exposure in the UK on a FTA live broadcast.