WHAT DO YOU WANT OUT OF YOUR RACING?

The reason I am asking this question is that the plans for the 2015 season are already taking place and so it would be valuable to have an idea if what is being planned is what people want.  Consequently, please post your thoughts.

These are my thoughts:

Over the years I have competed in a variety of championhips, and also various series such as the RAFMSA Race Challenge and the AFRC, plus many allcomers races.  I found that championships were too restrictive regarding their rules and also financially unreliable regarding changing rules and the cost of having to make changes to keep within those changing rules.  Additionally, you could also find that there was just one or two of you in your class, so there was little competition.

Consequently, several years ago I had a long think regarding what I wanted out of my racing, and to be frank, my racing enjoyment comes from having a battle with someone.   I’m not bothered if they finish ahead of me or behind me, as long as I have a battle on my hands.  In fact some of my most enjoyable and memorable battles ended up with me crossing the line behind the other person.  Another important consideration for me, is having the company of other like-minded racers at the events for some beers, banter and BBQ etc.  Furthermore, I also like to visit and race on challenging circuits/venues.  Therefore, I have found that cherry-picking various events provides much greater enjoyment and value for money than contesting a championship.

I am not too bothered about collecting awards as I would rather collect memories, but one thing I did enjoy with the RAFMSA and AFRC races was the Performance Index points system as it approximately reflected how well a driver/car combination was performing, that was not reliant on a persons budget.  Consequently, if you are not lucky enough to be involved in a scrap, you then have something to quantify how you performed in the race.

Billy
I'm with you on the wanting to have a good race with someone in a series that has reasonably large grids and a nice mixture of cars, and no silly home made rules.
I like the idea of a couple of sprints to test out the cars and socialise and even the outings to events such as Santa Pod.
St Gueno plus is an absolute yes
I'm not really bothered about the performance index stuff as I tend to play each race by ear anyway and can never remember much after the track walks anyway but happy to support it if it goes ahead.
looking forward to it

I'm with Crusty Chief on this

I want blondies at every event with huge knockers !

Pi to me is a flawed concept ! At one point when I had the mk2 I was doing very well in the Pi. Truthfully I think that all this meant was I had reached the end of my ability. You can win Pi by driving consistently within your comfort zone it does not mean your a good driver it just means you have found a level

Thanks for the replies.

The MSVR allcomers don't have any awards, and I reckon that is to minimise costs as much as possible. I'm more than happy with this as it deters the pot-hunters in their mega-powerfull Caterhams etc.

Its also less hassle if we don't have to calculate the PI points as well.

So it looks like we want to keep it as simple as possible, and just search out the events giving the most fun and value for money

I feel I should add to my last post reference pi ! In some cases people choose to race whatever car is there preferance knowing that they are unlikely to win a first past the post race due to faster cars. In these circumstances I do see the worth of Pi scoring as it gives everybody the chance to be rewarded for there efforts. If it was something that we wanted to do between ourselves and give out gentlemany awards then I would be pleased to contribute.


As for what I want from Racing ? I can honestly say that ive got it at the moment good fun with excellent social and banter a bit like what we had a fee years ago before the dark forces and agenda motivated decisions crept in

Ian

Sorry Billy our replies crossed

For me the question is what do I want from my hobby, which i don't class as racing i class it as fun stuff usually related to burning fossil fuels. I would like to see next year's activities to mirror my other hobby, dogging, I feel it should be a combination of doing and watching LOL.

I couldn't agree more about enjoying a battle with cars of simular lap times. The 4hr at snett was perfect, I had a great battle with a Morgan one lap and then scrapped with an MG hatch. So for me a mixture of hatchs and sports cars is perfect. I do also think that watching some other events as a group would be good such as the spitfires buzzing about duxford, santa pod etc at these events we can let our hair down more as we don't have to drive the next day. Also these events will be a lot cheaper than a weekend racing.

Mr Fuller you are a pervert, I realise now why you had so many toilet breaks in the woods on the way to Snetterton, you could have been there much earlier.
I'm surprised you managed any hanky panky after that rather large meal you let Mr Brown buy you.

Pie man wrote wrote:Pi to me is a flawed concept

Mr Smythe
Are you saying Mr Brown has reached his peak because he won this mysterious Pie competition in 2012?
Envy is a terrible thing you know
Admin

Sorry Admin I never meant to upset Bill or poo poo his achievements I must say this whole concept of the admin on a forum discussing things with us mere mortals instead of just deleting peoples post and threatning exclusion is quite novel do you think it will catch on

Thanks for your reply Ed, it raises a point about having non-racing events, which would be a good idea. If the Duxford airshows don't clash with any of our races, then I'm more than happy to arrange a visit, though there would be a limit on numbers.

A camping weekend at a site where open fires are allowed would also be good

Billy
Now we can take up the Irish offer to race over there, only needs Ed to remove all his old stickers and we could go.

Hi Bill, are you looking at doing the hillclimbs over there, or racing at Mondello Park? I would certainly like to race at Mondello Park, and from memory, it is only about 30 miles from the Dublin Ferry. They have allcomers races at Mondello for some of their events, although they can be a bit hairy - EG they have sometimes included F3000 single seaters

Do you have any idea of ferry prices?

With the amount of travel, could also have a few days holiday across there as well.

When I enquired about racing with them last time, they were very amenable. I have had a very quick look at last years events, and did not see any allcomers races. Consequently, it would probably be best to be a sub-division of one of their other races. They don't have many championships and I suspect that their GT Championship would suit us best. They seem to have grids of about a dozen cars for this, so would most likely do us a good deal if a group of us went to support those races.

Depending on ferry prices, I will have a look at their 2015 calendar, when it is issued.

Just looked at Ferry prices and its about £235 each way travelling before and after the weekend at the cheapest time of day (evening). So that's about £470 plus the fuel to/from Holyhead, which is quite expensive. The Formula Vee racers go across every year for the Formula Vee festival, so they may have further info on group bookings/discounts. Does anyone know any Vee racers?

Looked into the Irish option some more, and based on this season, entering the GT Championship as invited guests would be best approach.  Most events are double headers and about £200 to enter.  There is also a triple header event which is about £240 to enter (all 15 minute races). However total cost is likely to be around £850, so you might want to make a long weekend or small holliday out of this to make it worthwhile.  What are your thoughts?

Probably not for me next year due to the cost of the French trip but could be good for the year after.

numbnuts wrote:Probably not for me next year due to the cost of the French trip but could be good for the year after.

Agree with Ed, holiday and race in France next year and same thing in Ireland in 2016.
Sounds like fun to me

That would be my preference as well

The Irish also have a system where the larger the grid size becomes, the lower the entry fee gets. The GTs are currently running at about 10 to 12 cars on the grid, consequently if we could bolster that with say another 6 cars, then I reckon we could be looking at a reasonable discount. At the moment we don't have enough people to make this point viable, but for 2016, its a distinct possibility.

Additionally, we also do not know whether MSVR will continue with their allcomers races next season, in the same format as this seasons. If they do, then I think we should give them our support, as it is the size of grids that is keeping the entry fees low.