Rise and decline of race series

[hometune]

Once again this winter we have new club racing series being proposed with predictable reactions from competitors and organisers. I have been thinking for a while about how many series have come and gone and there seems to be a recurring pattern.

A fledgling series is formed by club or individual and flourishes or flounders in it’s first season depending on how happy the prospective competitors are once the racing starts.

If the series flourishes, over the next few seasons it gains championship status and attracts more entrants, some new, some from other series, all entering for their own reasons. These could be hope of success, wanting to be associated with a succesful series or even just the desire for close and clean competition.

The series will now be called succesful in.club racing. But by this point the problems will probably have already started. Those with eligible cars who want to compete will have joined. The cream will have risen to the top and those who only wanted success but haven’t got it will begin to look elsewhere. If the standard of driving has been allowed to deteriorate others will leave. Unless new drivers can be persuaded to begin racing or existing racers be persuaded to get new cars a peak will have been reached. New series may have come along which are more attractive because they allow more or less modifications and therefore cheaper car running costs or lower lap times. As the number of competitors begins to drop bad driving may go un-punished as the organisers seek to keep those racing in their series. The series declines and amalgamates or dies.


Although very simplistic, this seems to apply to many series from the past. Everything from special saloons (70’s), Clubmans/ Sports 2000 etc (80’s) to Road saloons/ Mod prods (90,s).

Has it always got to be this way?