A Question of Cost

spmcc · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 87

Hi guys, it's me again, poking my nose in.
Need to ask the tourists (Ryk, Tim and Peter) a question.Has the expense of "doing" the Nationals been worth it?
With the ever increasing cost of petrol/diesel and all the allied costs I'm getting a proposal together for the AGM suggesting decreasing the numbers of Nationals from 8 to 6 with 4 to count. With the possibility of combining all the classes at one meeting, but making them 2 dayers. With practice on Saturday morning and 2 rounds of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Another round of qualifying on Sunday morning and then Finals.
Your comments would be appreciated.

TimR · Site Admin Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 298

Oi get your nose out its cold and wet ... oops that the dog sorry Jon

As for the cost versus the worth

In all fairness if Ryk & Pete were not doing this with me i would be on the bike doing it as couldnot justify the cost in the car by myself ( approx £40/50 to do cotswolds and thats just fuel just one person and i think it was around £65-75 for all three of us )
as for dropping the rounds down i couldn't answer that seeing as first year in national series but my mind says no i would prefer the way it is as i do enjoy the rounds and the format as it is not all combined as i think thatw ould just ruin the atmosphere that is present as there is time to do things and with saturday qualies if for some reason you could not make it then you would be severly hampered to get that good run in on sunday ..and the issues of Pitmen and marshalls if you are trying to do more than one class i think as well
Cheers
Tim

Mr.B · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:53 pm Post subject:

Hi Jon,i have an opinion,for what its worth.????
Making any of the 'National' events shorter,series-wise,is much better for the 'Home' clubs.
Take us,'CMCC' this year for example.
When we go on our travels we inevitably have to earn extra brownie points with the missus.This usually means missing other 'less-important' Sundays club meet.
So with about 6 of us doing STCC this year and the 3 doing Nitro's the club has suffered badly.Some weekends 9/10 regulars missing.And the knock on effect is that Fred Bloggs says'Oh well if they're not racing this weekend,I won't bother myself'
I'm not suggesting people shouldnt experience different challenges but the organisers of these 'other events' should maybe consider the club roots a little more.Lets face it if they die out then there wouldnt be participants elsewhere.
Anyway to summarise i'd support a move to less rounds for the clubs sake.
Thats how I see it............
Paul.

pjlague · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:20 pm Post subject:

Hi Jon
I would say the cost is worth it,we went as a group that cut the cost down,I tend to agree with Tim,This is a national championship and you should have the 8 rounds,if you cut it down to 6 it is just like a club championship,and you would not go to all the tracks we used this year, it would not be worth the traveling for just 6.
As Tim said the Saturday for practice is very good,to get the car sorted,racing on Sunday,i like it just as it is,I hope it stays the same,I will be racing GT 235 nationals championship next year.
Best Regards Pete.

BallisticMissile · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:27 am Post subject:

take the stcc as an example, if you have your club points alongside the outright ones, that tends to promote a bit of group participation.... so like pete and tim said, everyone helps eachother out

leon n his dad kindly transported me to most of the stcc this year
if you can fit 2 peoples stuff and a gazibo in a mini, then im sure others could 'carpool' for nationals etc too

or perhaps regional championships where the best from each area are sent off to a national final?

that would cut everyones costs down
_________________
for some reason, my car likes to fly off kerbs...

note to self, steer clear of the red n white bits!

spmcc · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 87

Ballistic, sorry don't know your name. But we're talking about the IC Nationals here, not a "local" regional series. There are no club points to be won, yes if a group of you go from your club you are in essance representing your club. But a shared round trip of 120 miles or so for a round of the STCC is small potatoes compared to the Nationals. Snett. is my local track and I suppose it could be called Ryk, Tim and Peter's local as far as the Nats. are concerned. My next nearest is Aldershot a round trip of just about 300 miles, Brooklands is about 340 after that it gets crazy Halifax, Mendip and Wrexham are over 500 miles. The trip to Brooklands this year cost me personally nearly £100 and that was with 3 other people sharing. I have a wife, mortgage and all the other ancillaries to support and spending that 8 times in a year (which incidentaly I haven't this year) puts a dent in my personal finances. Some drivers just can't carpool for various reasons. The electric on-road section reduced the number of Nationals this year to 4 simply to "help" with costs and have proven to to very popular with full entries at all the meetings. If the IC Nationals are to continue with decent numbers of racers turning up the format has to be changed. If you want to know just how bad it has got 19 drivers raced at Wrexham in the 200mm Foam National this year.

Ashers · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 85

Hi Jon, I feel I must have my two penny worth on this subject, having been in this hobby for over 30 years and particiating in Electric (boring) Nitro and Large Scale racing and having done national racing for many of those years I must say that if the nationals can only attracted numbers in the twenty to thirtys I would feel they are a waste of time and harm the club racing seen as we have seen at CMCC this year. I would like to suggest an alturnitive, The Nationals should be run over the course of a bank holiday weekend 3 days and should be made up of 1-2or3 drivers maybe the club champion plus second and third place from each club that wants to particiate in the national series this weekend could be held at one of the better tracks each year and moving from year to year. I feel this system would result in a true national champion and not a champion that has managed to go to the required 6 rounds with only 20 or so drivers at each meeting.
I reallize that some drivers like to go to different tracks and pit their skills I would therefore suggest that clubs could hold open meeting say one per month throu the year for those drivers wishing to travel could go to. Anyway see how you feel about this lot. Regards Ashley

BallisticMissile · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:56 pm Post subject:

thats what i meant.... so nominate the top 3 from the winter Tri Club championship or something? to go for a one off national shootout or something?
_________________
for some reason, my car likes to fly off kerbs...

note to self, steer clear of the red n white bits!

spmcc · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 87

Thanks Ashers, sound idea, unfortunately there is a hardcore of racers who aren't to keen on change, and these are the guys that go to the AGM. Me being me have at one time or another put the cat amongst the pidgeons at a couple of AGM's, but usually to no avail.
Next year is going to be a kill or cure year for IC National racing and I hope the "new" elected committee realise this.

Ashers · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 85

Hi Jon I do understand the way AGMs work having been to several in the past, the way to get round this is to lobby those members you can to get some changes made. My idea of one championship weekend comes from the flying boys they hold a national weekend every year to find a national champion in each class of flying, this weekend attracts 100s of people both flying and watching and is a great weekend away.
Also as I said before I think the club scene would benefit from promoting local racing and club championships. Another idea that has just come to mind would be to contact the most local clubs in the south east lets say around 130 Miles of London to arrange trophy meeting between these clubs for those that want to travel I am sure these meeting could be done on a single day basis something like STCC.

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