Having raced both formats I can see the advantages and disadvantages of both types of racing / qualifying. Laps racing does work well at club level and is easy to follow for spectators too. Though mixing the abilities up in the heats is not my idea of fun
Personally I think the best compromise is what is run by a Kellers Model Car Club in Norwich. Everyone is in graded heats as per the current 5 minute system, and they still race over 5 minutes. The difference is that each qualifying run is done on a staggered grid, with everyone going on the tone. In the first round car 1 starts on pole, car 2 second and so on. For the following rounds the grid is based on where you finished in the previous race / qualifying heat. This saves the bundle start into the first bend, but I can see that this would cause problems with mixing the heats up as there would be no easy way to decide who starts on pole.
The finals are then worked out in the same way as the current 5 minute system. The advantage of this system is that the newcomers can have a proper race everytime they hit the track, while the better guys / gals can either have a race or treat it more as a normal qualifying run and wait for the finals to have there on track battle.
The arguement from how I see it is more based on whether the heats should be mixed up and qualifying scrapped
In my view it doesn't matter whether you race over laps or a set time as the person that completes it first will still win
