In 10 years time......

[KayBee]

Where will we be in Ten Years Time? I hate to say it but probably saying just the same things as now but everybody being Ten Years older.

[garry]

I have found from my years of talking to drivers from all types of championships is that we all agree that we would like value for money but we cannot agree as to what we consider value. On the continent the club racer cannot understand why we travel what can be a long distance for sometimes 10 laps practice and 10 laps racing. They consider it better to only do six 2 day meetings with 2 qualifying and 2 races. The argument against this in this country seems to be drivers who work on a saturday, however if there are only 6 meetings missing work is minimised.This also means less travellng etc
All drivers want more track time for less money, this will never happen and we must realise that the main clubs BRSCC and BARC are now run like a business ie they are there to make money. However if we all ran our businesses like some clubs we would all be in big trouble, they cannot keep running championships with less than 15 cars. This is no good for the club ( entry money doesn't cover hire cost ) is no good for the spectator and no good for the competetor. They need to force some amalgomations. This would mean that the organising clubs should make money from a meeting and hopefully then be able to pass some of that on to the marshalls and competetors.
As to the marshall problem, we all know we could not race without them and that they all do a difficult job for free or at their own cost. Drivers, even those on a tight budget, should be willing to pay say £10 extra on an entry fee to pay the marshalls ( as long as it goes to them )
i feel that this would be a small price to pay to help towards at least one problem that needs to be sorted soon.

[Ian-S]

Hopefully in ten years sensible people will be running the clubs in non-profit form, Octagon will go bust thanks to the FIA, and cost of hiring tracks will be sensibly priced....

The clubs need to get together and stand up to Octagon and the track owners and get them to reduce track hire fees, the last time I was involved (4 years ago) the hire fee for Brands for £13000 a day, by reducing the track fees some money can then be diverted to the marshalls to cover some of their costs.

Of course the tracks, clubs and Octagon don't care about competitors or marshalls, they are into this though of thinking that there is a never-ending stream of people willing to pay silly money to race, one day they will realise there is not, but it'll probably be too late.

The MSA wants to gets some guts and start refusing championship licenses, I know they've started doing this, but a lot of championships are still going with 15 or less cars.

I remember a few years ago talk of club racing being done on a weekday evening in the summer, to save the cost of hiring the circuit at premium weekend rate, of course, most people work on a weekday

[Stephen Green]

Gary, many thanks for the kind thoughts reference marshals and some help towards costs.

Ian, there is no way races could realistically be held mid week in the evenings because most circuits have a curfew of around 18.30pm.

Regards,

Stephen.

[Ian-S]

Yea and that too

Although I understood at the time that circuit curfew's were different for weekdays, doesn't the Brands school run into the evenings sometimes?

[Stephen Green]

Not that I am aware of Ian, but don't take that as being gospel mate!

[garry]

Ian-S
I was invited to the MIA's meeting with the MSA and Club representetives regarding the future of Club racing and the first meeting was dominated by the subject of circuit hire costs. At the end of the meeting it was agreed that A Club Association was to be formed to represent the Clubs and approach the circuit owners to try and get the costs reduced. Although I think this is worth trying I feel it is doomed to failure especially if the BRSCC and the BARC ( who between them account for approx 80% of circuit hire for race meetings ) did not join or force the issues.
The problem is that the circuits are run by accountants and they do not see why they should give a reduced fee for club racing when they can get more money for co-orperate days.
Unfortunately I feel that they do not care if a few clubs and championships die out as there will always be enough National racing and the richer club drivers to keep up enough meetings. Even if we all turned around and said that we are refusing to pay I don't think it would make a difference, they would just carry on without club meetings.
The costs of entry fees in the BARC have not gone up ( for us anyway) for the last few years, whereas the BRSCC entry fees are huge. Both clubs hire the circuits for the same money it seem's just that the BRSCC are trying to recoupe all the money lost on the VSR and ISC in one go. A 2 race meeting for BARC is £220.00 whereas BRSCC is anything from £290-£330 depending on circuit.

[Dan Friel]

We visit Lydden hill in my speed series.. £85 entry this year.. for a sprint.

Madness. i'm being very selective on the events / venues that I'll be visiting this year.

Almost makes racing worthwhile..

[Ian-S]

and why do you think I'm in glorious retirement?

(from racing that is, not working )

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by Stephen Green
To be really honest I didn't have anything specific in mind, but maybe something like driver extraction, a quick appearance by the rescue unit, maybe even a nice fire if that could be arranged. For the most part the spectators only ever see us weilding brooms or falling over our feet as we run through gravel traps. Do you have any ideas yourself Martin?

Actually, I like the sound of that idea. I'm sure there are many drivers who'd volunteer to be the "dummy" (now, now) in an extraction demonstration.

[Stephen Green]

Maybe it's something to mention to BRSCC and BARC as the season progresses. Leave it with me and I'll start the ball rolling!