Great question.
I agree that there weren't nearly enough lumps and bumps to keep it "edge of the seat" interesting.
At Batley we recently resurfaced the outdoor track with astroturf and there was a little bit of me that was nervous of this as I quite liked the fact that there were lots of different surfaces, lumps, holes etc. which could catch you out (but it was always the same for everyone).
Fortunately at Batley the astro was well laid and the sub layer has kept an imperfect surface meaning that you can still get caught out if you take a bad line - this can only be identified when racing begins. Yes, the grip is slightly higher (stay off the sand...) but it still feels like off road racing.
The ultra flat carpet surfaces do take a certain degree of fun out of it and though I am not for one minute saying that driving fast on a flat surface is any easier (I'd still be slow!), it is not as much of a spectacle. On lumpy stuff usually the same fast drivers will still win, just in a slightly more interesting way.
I know that there will be clubs that have to race on the given surface available - i.e. sports halls etc. and I am not criticising them (i.e. I occasionally travel to Manor RC down the M1 which race on carpet and that is great), but for a big event I prefer to see a challenging surface, rather than simply a challenging layout
I think I'm in a minority though as I know that there were lots of negative comments in the past from visiting drivers about the old Batley track - I just viewed it that it is the same for everyone so even though it was anything but a level playing field, it stayed as a level playing field (if you know what I mean)
