Nobody.....

Just goes to prove Dave that Nobody is better than you buddy:lol:

Aw thanks mate:D

even without the epr fopar (imho) the brca hasnt done the best thing in the world. i for one was hoping to be able to do both classes competetively in 2011 but just as last year cant do it. its a crying shame as both classes could do with the support of the racing comunity, especially in the current climate. what a shame the powers that be cant see this and continue to make both clash at every oportunity. now like many others I have to chose one class or the other. i can see another difficult year for the model shops, distibutors etc etc just from this alone as sales of spares, kits, tyres, electrics etc are going to drop. for the likes of bloomers craggy etc etc etc it also naffs up 2 years of racing as they cant qualify for both euros either so sponsors are forced to make difficult decisions as to which way is best to send their drivers for the next 2 years rather than just saying go do both lads.

i know the brca have a difficult job that none of us want but is it really that hard to talk and arange 12-16 weekends between april and september not to clash or am i seeing this all wrong. im sure they managed it for a couple of years and both classes enjoyed massively improved numbers especially at the sharp end. i know the argument is to also allow f4, f5 drivers to enter the nationals but surely regionals are there to let drivers improve their f ratings and get experience for nationals, euros, worlds etc etc

Well, from what I can see, the 8th section does actually have any venues booked yet. :eh?:

So surely that section at least can move things around?

If that is the case just make both nationals championships 6 rounds.
Wouldn't that stop there being a problem?

before this gets totally out of hand lets look at some facts, there are 26 weekends between 2nd april and the 25 september, contrary to popular opinion the committee do try and avoid clashes where possible and we do not select our dates until we know both the international calender and the uk off road calender, we try to avoid bank holiday weekends if at all possible as it is not fair to send racers up the motorway system on a bank holiday friday.
we avoid a clash with the 1/10 euro's the 1/10 worlds and the belgian GP which we know many uk 1/10 racers like to attend.
we then avoid clashing with the 1/8 euro b and a races.
we managed to avoid 3 of the 4 bank holidays and now we have to fit in the clubs wishes in terms of dates, remember some of our venues (Oswestry and southport) are in publicly accesible parks and are constrained on dates by other users. this year we have clashed rounds 2,3 and 4 of both series which all occur occur in a 6 week period and include 2 international 1/8 events and 2 1/10 international events. i really do not see how we can be accused of not doing the best for both 1/10 and 1/8.
it will always be impossible to not have a clash of some sort, this year is poorer than before due to the 1/10 worlds and associated warm up race which is in europe. next year may improve but then that depends on where the 1/8 worlds is. it is very easy to criticise the committee when you are looking at a calendar and see what is to you a free weekend with no clash. however you do not have the information that on that date we have no club able to do it and so have to move it forward or back. what you have is the minimum number of clashing events we can achieve given the constraints we have.

We understand and we are not critisising, I am simply making a suggestion from looking at the overall calender which includes 10th and 8th national and international dates. Maybe, just maybe in the hustle and bustle of trying to get it all together something has been over looked.

To pick up on your first paragraph, you state you avoid bank holidays, etc etc... then why is round 4 on a bank holiday and clashes with a 8th date?? If it was a case that the host club could not cater another date, was another club asked... dare i say it, such as EPR??

Also, unless something changes... bit pointless avoiding 8th euro B & A championships in the future, as no 10th racer will be doing either of them due to not qualifying.

The remit just does not add up

8th are at fault for not having less rounds, but as it lies, 6 10th and 8 8th.. although as previously stated 10th has 8 national weekends with the EOS finals.

The commercial aspect must also be considered.

Model shops need more customers to survive, and currently we are seeing less and less model shops... clashing races means that shops would need to choose which race to go to, which means the model shop is not supporting all of his customers at the actual place where customers want support (the track). ok so not all shops want to go to races on sunday or cater for both classes, but many do.

IF that shop then decides to drop stocking a class because of clashes.... who loses?? the customer, then the club, then the class. (and the shop during all of that period)

Then on another level, we have distributor companies that support both classes. Some of these distributors employ people to attend races to support the shops, the customers and their team drivers. Clashes again will result in the need to decide which event they attend. This is most likely based on which class creates the most revenue. Without the distributor chap at the event, the class loses support, development and quite importantly media coverage.... funny how most of these guys are at 8th races and media coverage of 8th is far greater than 10th.

I think this is a tough job to organise any section let alone avoid clashing with another.
I think the only way it will change is if enough members agree a proposal at the AGM that where possible clashes between 1/10th and 1/8th should be avoided.
Also if you want EPR as a venue then you have to to go and vote at the AGM.

The BRCA is constitution and its possible for the members to get anything changed. You just need to get together and attend the AGM!!

We have put to the 1/8th section a number of years not to clash with the Kyosho masters in June as it is same weekend every year but it always does. I was thinking of getting as many Kyosho drivers as possible together and making a rule that the weekend of the 18th June is kept clear for the masters.:p

Jon,

Just out of pure curiosity..have you emailed your suggestion(s) to both Sections respective Chairmen?

i assume you mean round 3, which is the only one on a bank holiday, in that case moving one week back would clash with the worlds warm up and moving one week forward would clash with the euro's warm up. as i said we did what we could with what we had.

Sorry Jon thats not what I'm saying!

It seamed to me looking through the thread that the point your making is that we all want the best 8th & 10th scale drivers competing in both National Championships (which I'm all for) so that they have an opportunity to qualify for both classes big international races?

If thats the case most of these drivers wont be that interested in competing at 1/10th end of season finals especially if they have more important commitments in 1/8th etc.

With many big yearly meetings in 1/8th and similar meetings starting to happen for 1/10th like the oople race its a very congested calender which is only going to get more difficult to work to everyones liking.
So if there was 6 rounds for each nationals championship wouldn't that make it easier to fit them in with no clashing dates?
That way guys can do both championships if they want to and it makes it easier for all the factory sponsored lads and anyone else wanting to qualify for Euros/Worlds for both classes to do so!

As you know Jon I am with you on this one. Thats said if I was still allowed to attend race meetings and Lee was still racing then my situation would be totally different to what I had before.

With Lee working Saturdays to start with I thought it would be bad to have two day events, but when we discussed it recently it was actually easier to get a few Saturdays off Than hope the events did not clash as he works every other week.

So thats just me /us. It must be damn hard to please anyone who is doing two classes in this day and age. I appreciate moving one forward or backwards might solve it this time but only two years ago Truggies were steering clear of 8th and these were the two classes many drivers favoured over 10th. Now that 10th has developed a more public image many more want to compete against each other in these classes also.

Hell I have more reason to not support the BRCA as no one supported me this last 18 months, but having been there I can see so many problems why things just inevitably eventually clash. Now its 8th and 10th it was truggies and 8th before that it was on and off road, but can you see my point.

tell you what lets do what the yanks do national is held over one big meeting then you will have loads of spare weekends

comments about travel and the north south devide this is always gonna be a problem more for some people to travel than others

i was hoping the 1/8th section would go for the leser option of 4 2 day meetings rather than the 7 one day and the 1 2 day this would have enabled me to do them all and take the family along too nice weekend away and half the traveling to do too which is going to be more expensive than ever come january with the extra vat and the growing price of fuel too with all these events 2011 will be the first year in 10 that i feel i wont be able to do the full rallycross national series.


this is besides the point but i do think that the sections should be able to work to a common result which is our top boys being able to compete at the top level

this leave the decision up to the drivers
I belive that lee martin chose this year to concentrate on 10th rather than 8th to enble him to gain a worlds slot for 2011 but his choice was a loss for the 8th nationals as when he did turn up was up the front with the best of them
on the other foot 8th national champion bloomfield was 8th all the way and now will not be at the 2011 worlds (from what i understand ) which is a shame with the relese of the new tlr22 would be near the front
both of these drivers were a loss to the other section inmho
ther were others that chose one section over the other but the list would be too long

There is also one point in here i think is worth raising, How has a track such as kiddy been awarded a national when it does not even operate as a club? (please correct me if i am wrong as things can change)

For me nationals should be run on the best tracks, but also the revenue and exposure from a national event should be used to invest back into the sport and raise the grass routes level/profile. Not sure how this is achieved when you don't have a club running

I just hope all that have offered to help on the day do so as last time a full national (not End of seasonal finals) was held there, where there not requests on the day for people to help run the meeting??

The kiddy "issue" is being debated down in the thread in BRCA section?where the poll is.

Hi Simon,

Whilst we do not hold "club meetings" Kiddermister is still a club- there a large number of members there who have access to the facility, we also host a full winter series and regional events.

We have a full plan of action for the coming months to get the facility back to its absolute best, and we also have a team assembled for on the day assistance to host the event. Rest assured it will be a fantastic event.

Not fully sure what your point has to do with calendar clashes mind you.
Tom

first of all people should contact there regional rep.

He she voted for the clubs that run the nationals (1/10th) if it is still the same as when I was involved.

1/8th I have no idea how this works, it would be worth contacting them to see if it is possible to sort the date.

If every body did this then there is a possibility something might happen, or if like AGM people chat on line and do nothing, nothing will change.

;)

Or perhaps it is time for a new type of championship?????

What do you have in mind Mr Phil? :)

I feel it is most important for the 1/8th and 1/10th Off road sections to manage any date clashes as their are many great racers that do both disciplines and it would be very sad for UK racing that we cannot sort this calendar issue out.

Hi Tom

I guess the point i am trying to make is that Kiddy National clashes with the 4th 1/8th Nat, I wanted to clarify if Kiddy was a club which you have confirmed it is but i can assume that the club meets say 7 times a year for winter series + 2 regionals but no club meetings, i firmly belive that nationals should help develop clubs to aid grass routes racing to ensure we have a healthy base for the future which for me i am not sure Kiddy does. (just my personal opinion as i see it as a venue not a true club)

I have for example always been a big supporter of Oswestry as they always put a huge effort in to organising an event (whilst people have knocked the track over time) Over the time they have had nationals it really looks like from the outside that the club has grown (now i could be wrong) not to mention they always manage to provide the most helpers to run a national and it generally runs very well.

It is a shame that in 2009 we had very minimal date issues yet in 2010 it started to go wrong and in 2011 it is getting worse.

Looks like i need to decide wether to refuel or recharge for 2011

Si

I feel I have to pipe up on the Kidderminster point, even though it's not really totally relevant to this particular thread.

Kidderminster IS a club and actually holds more Sunday 1/10th scale events at it's venue than many West Mids clubs, only Coventry I believe have more (because they run other classes for other forumlas like short course etc.).
When the request was made for helpers for the national event there was a good response from those that, like myself, think it's a great place to race.

The West Midlands region doesn't really have much "club" racing as far as I can tell (only raced in that region since the mid 80s so I might have missed it) because the racers prefer to get out and about and see different venues. Most club events seem to be casual affairs on a weekday evening if there is enough light. Oswestry excepted as they have a proper club championship on a weekday night which I would love ot go to but nearly 4hrs weeknight round trip to a 'club' in my 'region' isn't practical.
To that end Kidderminster runs as actively as just about any other club in our region and has, in my opinion, the best track in the region if no the country .... my opinion remember.
So with my opinion considered then I would ALWAYS put Kidderminster forward for a national if it was my choice as I consider it to be unbeaten as a venue ..... money where my mouth is? Too right ... it is going to cost me & my good lady close to 500 real cold hard pounds in lost earnings to support Kidderminster on the national weekend ... see you all there, just make sure your cars fit in the box! :p

Hi Si
I can understand your point, but are nationals really there to encourage newcomers to the sport, or are they there to showcase the best drivers and facilities that we have across the country?
If we go to the same venues every year then surley we will just end up with 7 or 8 fantastic clubs with great facilities. Which is great for people who do the nationals anyway but not for newcomers to the sport.

Part of the reason why the number of club racers has declined is down to the sheer number of nationals/regionals, and once a year meetings which are becoming more popular. This means there are very few weekends free for club meetings, and when there are free weekends most drivers take the opportunity to practice on a national track. In turn this means the big tracks earn additional revenue all year round along with the benefits of holding a national.

Yes, using the information gained from this thread, my suggestion has been formally issued to both sections today. We now wait and see.