Club lights idea Vs. Road saloons faliure

hen I first wrote the idea for the multidiscipline junior series I had the road saloons situation well and truly in my mind. When racing in the Ford Saloons with East surrey college we often competed on the same bill as the Road Saloons and many a driver in that series had a whinge about the costs and it was the same in the 750MC's Stock Hatch series costs would escalate.

The problem is simply as Steve Medhurst said when racing cost do just escalate. And that is why I didn't include racing as part of my idea. My idea was really to put motorsport in the grasp of students and younger enthusiast who simply are not catered for at the moment. The idea was to run 1300 and 1600 saloons in scatters, 12-cars, sprints and autotests with point scoring rounds being in two of each type of event. So no racing is involved and that keeps costs at rock bottom. A tyre regulation is something I missed but that could easily be resolved. I firmly believe the interest is there because most people who I intended the series for, already own a Competition ready car. As pretty much all mods are banned, this means any car can be competitive. Anyway car superiority would not give much of an advantage in a scatter rally or a 12-car, that's really all down to navigation skills. And autotests I imagine are not car dependant in a big way if everyone runs the same unmodified level of car. Another advantage is that the series would not require any of its own events as it could run within existing events. So the calendar could look something like this.

Feb 28 Scatter (188)

Mar 9  12 car (188)

May 3  Autotest (Farningham)

May 28 Sprint (Crystal Palace)

Jun 17 Sprint (North Weald)

Jun 28  Autotest (Farningham)

Oct 3  Scatter (188)

Nov 9  12 car (188)

This is just an example of what it could be. I think running a demonstration class at Crystal Palace will attract interest. Think of it as a potential competitor, a championship that requires not much more than you already have to get to college in. OK for instance you have a 1300cc golf (I use this example because I had one for a year and even managed to finish last in a scatter with it) totally standard I buy some strut braces, an OS map and the big outlay a crash lid and some overalls (for the sprints). Membership to SDMC and some entry fees. What more could be spent except on cosmetic or safety equipment. This is something I am convinced could work and could be quite big. Incidentally I got the idea from a 1950s books called 'Racing a Sportscar' by C. Foulis. In the book the chap goes and buys a second hand sportscar and races it and sprints it for a year. He tried to race on the minimum outlay in a completely standard car and a lot of people did the same apparently. Well we could do the same in 2001 as a organised budget series. I repeat I am convinced of the potential success of this as a series and I hope Club lights can be born.

Sam Collins

This sounds brilliant to me, a bit more like club sport used to be with a range of disciplines with a wide range of skills required. The sport in general has, over the last 30 years, become more one-discipline orientated, perhaps because of the specialization needed to be competitive, and this suggestion is less cash dependent which is good. I see some problems with the interpretation of any 'no mods' regulation but I have thoughts of a solution. Lets have other's thoughts--especially the beginners.

Chin

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