The rise and fall of race series/championships

[Al Weyman]

Posting on another thread has got me thinking as I once ran a championship that at its height had a 150 members (with cars!) and three separate races a meeting with reserves to dwindle to nothing.

I always find drivers/entrants in this sport a bit of a fickle bunch. I mean how many times do you see a championship or series on the crest of a wave one year to be down to single figure entries the following year and eventually dropped or amalagamated. What is the driving force behind why people decide to enter or stay away? Is it they can no longer win if some particular car comes to the fore, is winning overall really the be all and end all as I know it is for some who have given up as they no longer can win or do people just get bored. Is it because some change or other in the regs may have more of an impact than first invisaged or championships amalagamated?

Any thoughts on this?

[Stuart H]

Off the top of my head there are drivers who have loads of money an can afford to run there cars at the front ie: testing every week or every other week.
Being able to change tyres before the start of every round.

[NaBUru38]

Organizers often rush to get bigger quickly, rather than establishing a sustainable model. Sometimes they do risky decisions without considering side effects. Sometimes they stay in the past and the present destroys them.

Racing isn't just what happens on track. It's very expensive, so competitors decide carefully what they do. They will leave a championship if cars get too expensive, if races are too dangerous, if they don't like the rules, if purses are too low, if ratings or attendance are too low, if the sanctioning body is too harsh or unfair, if the ambient is too dense, etc. Just one factor can bring down a championship.

Organizers must be good leaders. Bernie and the France family have been dictators, but the results have been good. Other championships have succeed with democratic systems (DTM, Super GT).

[G.Walker]

Thundersaloons - BRSCC messing with the rules

SuperRoad Saloons - BRSCC messing with the rules

Formula Saloons - Along the lines of.... I can race with other Supertourers/V8s/Cossies in Formula Saloons or I can go race in another championship, lap the entire field and tell mates in the pub the next day how great I was. Ergo No one wants to spend serious money and end up at the rear of the grid

[Al Weyman]

The thing is though we cant all be winners or in my case never be a winner. If the the overidding criteria for competing in any event is because you can win where does that leave everyone else. Without the canon fodder the high rollers won't look so good. I suppose its best not to anaylis it too much or you would just think WTF am I doing this for!

[djinvicta]

AL. I would think you do it for V8 noise/grunt/adrenalin. Personally, Pete Thurston and myself stopped when the recession started to hit. Cost was and must be still, a major issue.

[terence]

Ultimately its just a sign of the times,possibly showing that most grids are made of ordinary people with ordinary jobs,or not.I remember a couple of years ago,asking if a particular series was getting too big too soon.Quite a lot of flack for that question,but,a little further on and I see that even their grids are suffering quite badly. It'll be quite a few years yet before the grids of a lot of series get back to how they were in the UK I'm afraid.

[terence]

OOP's,double post,bloody Warsteiner! Hic.! One other thing is circuit cost, bad times and owners take the opposite action to what they should do,ie,LOWER circuit charges!

[Al Weyman]

I agree there Terry.

[Westysprinter]

I think its rule changes. We need stability, rule changes usually add cost, some folk havent noticed, there isnt a lot of money about

[Al Weyman]

Yes I agree there as well. Often the changes are made in an effort to rivive a series/championship but often has the opposite effect. Things like going over to stickier tyres all it means is it cost everyone more and everyone goes a tad faster but the same guys win.

[mpbenson]

Cost, for whatever reason (rule changes or just the march of technology meaning some setups become less competitive over time) would be the prime motivation in my eyes, it's often that the cost of staying competitive overtakes many of us with all the other commitments we have in our lives.

Once the cost of competing becomes too high, people will move away.

We can't all be winners, but take away the chance for a decent number of different people to get a shot at the podium and they'll go elsewhere.

When the same people win every meeting for whatever reason (but more often than not it's to do with being able to purchase a competitive advantage in one way or another) and the rest of the field know they're never going to be in a position to compete, they'll go where they think they'll get a race. If the series' that are losing out in this way don't address it, they end up with the same 'big fish' in a pond of novices who hang around for a few races and then move on.

Seen it too many times over the years, sadly.

[terence]

Agree with what you say,ultimately that comes down to lack of policing the particular series/championship. There is only so much that can be spent on a given car,if regulations are adhered to.But we have been down this road far too many times to realise the various organisers basically don't care,as long as the grids don't suffer,of course! Its a vicious circle.

[philip seaman]

Al, I think I might have been racing in the championship you mention in your original post, a couple of thoughts, if drivers are allowed to make/change the rules it is generally the drivers who are at or near the front of the grid that make the most noise and often get there own way, in my opinion rule changes are best left to the organisers, consistent rules work well.... fuel prices can't be helping grid numbers either, when you have a 400 mile round trip towing thats £150 + race fuel

[Al Weyman]

Yes I agree there Phil, to be brutally frank I think some drivers need their wallets protecting from themselves! What I have seen many times is someone makes a song and dance, gets rules changed and then you never see them again.

[terence]

I am convinced that a lot of these problems are brought about by clubs not being strict enough towards their so called front runners. As said,someone complains that someone is going faster,so can you change the rules a little bit otherwise I'll have to go race with another club. OK,so go race with them then,very simple isn't it!