Driver opinions...3 leg finals???

[colin76]

Good afternoon one and all. Now firstly I am trying to look at this as a good problem to have, at Holbeach in the end we had too many entries to be able to run 3 leg finals for all. Good from a financial and regional interest point of view, not so good as caused a few last minute head ache's. Personally I enjoy the 3 leg finals as I prefer "racing" instead of racing against the clock, but I am after your opinion's on this matter. I along with my trusty side kick have been going through a few ideas on how we can maximise the entry count and offer more racing for all...Please read on....

So after a conversation with the B.R.C.A we are running 4 qualifying heats. Now the good thing with this is I think people can look at this as though it's a practice round in heat format! The problem we went into the Holbeach meeting with was, with us normally running 3 leg finals for all finals, and with the much larger than expected entry list (63 of which 15 were open drivers running 19 cars), we would have been running somewhere near 60-65 heats so this was simply not possible. Now I am hoping by presenting you with some facts and figures I can try and ask your opinions on a couple of ideas.

Holbeach, we ran 10 qualifying heats (3 - 4wd, 3 - 2wd, 2 - S/C, 2 - Open, which was capped at 2 full heats), with 4 rounds of qualifying meaning a total of 40 heats. Finals we ran 1 leg for all except the A final 2wd & 4wd Regionals which were 3 legs, in total we had 13 Finals. So to summarize we had a total of 53 races, we started at 9.30 and finished at around 6pm, we lost a little time for a couple of nitro stock car races running behind us meaning we could not hear the start tones etc, and had to re-run 1 heat due to power trip, so say around 20-25minutes lost time max, the final listings were turned around in around 15-20 minutes. So 8 1/2 hours running time and with the unexpected delays we could probably have finished in around 7 1/2 - 7 3/4 hours.

Now the open class although some see as a practice for other regions (granted), which is true, also give a good opportunity to advertise our clubs venues to drivers from outside our area and possibly attract them back for future meetings. However I have always said I don't want the open class to ruin the EoE series. In hindsight if we had not have run the open class at Holbeach and instead ran 3 leg finals for all we would have ended up with around 53 races, so we could have done it, however with the late change in rule clarification I felt the best thing was to reduce the finals instead of turning 15 drivers away. Lesson learnt.

Now going forward, and this is where I would really appreciate your input. I was thinking on the way home from Holbeach how I can get around this, and an idea was put to me earlier this evening (Tuesday 2nd April). If say we capped the entry to 80/90 cars (8/9 full heats of 10), with around 2/3 drivers taking part in two classes this would be say 52 drivers. This is how we could plan out a race schedule...
8 heats (3 - 4wd, 3 - 2wd , 2 - S/C), with 4 rounds of qualifying totaling 32 heats. 8 Finals with 3 legs for all (A,B,C 4wd 9 finals, A,B,C 2wd 9 finals, A,B S/C 6 finals), totaling 24 finals. So giving us a grand total during the day of 56 races, now allowing 8 minutes for each heat including 3minutes generous turn around between heats, meaning it would in theory take 7h 28minutes (8h 26mins 9 heats maximum), to run the races, plus obviously any delays during the day, working out finals etc etc. So we could close booking for a Regional meeting on the Monday before the meeting, and if there are less than 52drivers 80cars then we could start taking bookings for an open class, this way maximizing our attendance figures and income for the host club and the Regional pot. Also we know we could run the 3 leg finals for all this way (possibly keeping the open class at 1 leg finals to save on time), or.......
We keep it as it is with a cap the open class at 2 full heats, and if we get enough regional drivers to make 8 full heats plus the 2 open heats we end up with the same situation as we found ourselves at Holbeach and only run 1 leg finals except the A finals, or.......
We scrap the open entries all together with the prospect that if we get 50-60 plus entries of all regional drivers it will not matter as we will have time and they will all be regional races, on the flip side if we only get 30 entries although we will have plenty of time to run the meeting, both the host club and regional pot would be short of funds.

Now I am asking for your input on this, I don't want to see an comments about the B.R.C.A rules, or any blame pointed to one person or another.

I want consistency for the remainder of the season, and I don't want people to view this as a switch around in the rules, more of a effort to keep you the drivers happy to race for the remainder of the season.

Many thanks in advance for your opinions.
Colin Parsfield

[Chris Larner]

Why such a late start?
Why not start at 8.30?
Just to add something else.

[wrighty]

Does that mean the results from holbeach will be scrapped or will the result from leg one of the lower finals will be classed as the result then leg 2 &3 will not count ???
The way i see it is that we should carry on as started

[colin76]

The start time is 9 because a couple of venues cannot always gain access until after a set time, also it gives a longer time to get people in, booked in and gives free practicw for those wanting to get there early enough.
As for the Holbeach results, they are as per the meeting, i can just see us getting to a meeting later in the season and having the time to run more leg finals, so i am trying to get it set now. So what do you think of the open class? Keep or scrap it?

[wrighty]

Scrap the open.....
Run 4 + 1 and 3 for A final
i feel it will make for a more relaxed meeting and a little more time between rds and finals

[Mr.B]

Making it a 2 minute turnaround between heats would save you over 1/2 an hour?

[Benh]

EDIT: Just read the top post right through.

Open to be opened at date "x".
All regional entries before date "x" guaranteed a spot.
All entries after date "x" first come first served.

As for encouraging others back to the area - As soon as word is out that the numbers are up, the competition is good and the tracks are getting great reviews it will happen by default.

Quality first, quantity will follow.