HSCC Cadwell

[coppice]

A meeting I never miss, which has provided some wonderful racing for single seaters and much more. But dear oh dear, the grids are thin this year . A few years ago we had two heats and a final for FF1600 and big grids of sports and saloons. I can understand a diminution in some grids - lots of clubs are fishing in the same pool for races with Elans, Cortinas and so on but where have all the single seaters gone ? And why cant we see more sharing with other clubs if grids are small?

Half a grid's worth of FF1600 and nine - nine ! - Modsports. Come on..

I am not pointing a finger at HSCC but really - we have lot of racers in the UK , how do we tempt more out at the same meetings ?

I'll enjoy my weekend , it's Cadwell in May after all but I do hope for better .

[Mike Harte]

I think that a considerable part of the problem about a lack of entries may well be down to the fact that a lot of people believe that they have far more financial needs rather than indulging in what can be a quite expensive hobby.

[coppice]

Well, yes , obviously that is true for some . But what I struggle to see is how CSCC gets 20-40 car grids , and so I believe does HRDC and CTRC , so why does HSCC struggle ?And where have the 50 plus FF1600s of a few years all gone- hibernating, waiting for 60th ?

[Thundersports]

This is a meeting I always attend at the wonderful Cadwell but looking at the entry list i'll be giving it a miss. There's been a lot of dissatisfied HSCC racers due to their pricing policy on entry fees which is clearly showing now.

[kipper]

Originally Posted by coppice

Half a grid's worth of FF1600 and nine - nine ! - Modsports. Come on..

I am not pointing a finger at HSCC but really - we have lot of racers in the UK , how do we tempt more out at the same meetings ?

I don't find that some of the HSCC's entries are particularly surprising. For example, there is a quite a lot of cross-over between the Modsports and the CSCC's Special Saloons and Modsports, which are also racing at Thruxton this weekend. In this context, I'm not surprised by nine cars on the list. In addition, there does seem to be a bit a cycle between series that do well and those that are not. For instance, a few years ago, HSCC's Historic Touring Cars got good grids, whereas the CTCRC's Pre-66 series did not. This weekend, the latter series will pretty much have a capacity grid at Mallory, whereas the few HSCC cars are merged in with the Historic Roadsports.

However, things like Historic FF1600 don't really have an obvious home elsewhere (apart from racing against more modern cars), which suggests that there are some other issues at play as the rate of decline has been bigger than some other series.

I'm intrigued as to whether merging things is the solution - some drivers do seem to be deterred from racing in a more mixed grid. For instance, as you know, the MG Trophy is racing with the Jaguars this year. It's interesting to note that there are only six MGs on the entry list for Thruxton - which is a significant decrease on their average grid in 2023.