Fuel crisis in UK - Is it going to cancel races this weekend ?

[Tony Harman]

Well here it is - a huge fuel crisis, started in France, prevented a few people attending the Spa Classic last week, has now spread to the UK with devastating effects and looks like moving through the rest of Europe.
We have a race at Cadwell this weekend and unless I can fill the tow car and race cans we won't be going - will the BRSCC cancel the meeting I wonder ? - nothing updated on their website since March !!!

[Tony Harman]

Just heard - Cadwell is cancelled

[Dan Friel]

Goodwood is going ahead..... an free extra campsite has been provided at the racecourse on the hill..

[Tony Harman]

Not sure that's a good idea - with such a shortage should the motor racing fraternity be seen to be using what is now a precious resource ???

[SNH]

If the fuel shortage is still bad, then I think the answer has to be no they shouldn't use the fuel.

[josvandeperre]

Let us take our lead from F1 which has been testing throughout Europe all week - if its good enough for them it must be good enough for everyone else

I understand Silverstone is going ahead and Goodwood are still advertising

The petrol has already been made so its not as if motor sport is robbing diesel

Also its far easier for organisers to go ahead than organise refunds even assuming they are liable to which is unlikely

My guess is that the amount of petrol used by the 80000 at Goodwood and 20000 at Silverstone even without this weekend's increased use of public transport is insignificant compared with one day's school run (for instance) or commuting in a big city

[SNH]

take our lead from F1.....interesting viewpoint!
As for the amount of petrol used on school runs & commuting, aren't they more important?

[Dan Friel]

School kids should walk to school or get the bus - so I don't mind parents cars running out of fuel!!

It looks like it should be sorted by the weekend anyway, but it'll be interesting to see whether crowd numbers are effected..

[SNH]

Dan
we don't have any buses to the school...............

Did they race much in the 70s oil crisis?

[Dan Friel]

Well that could be a problem then..... perhaps I was talking too generally.

Not sure about the 70's, wasn't born until 1976.

[josvandeperre]

Yes kids should walk / bus / bicycle to school

Yes - so what if parents run out of fuel - no they are not more important - what is the stat - as I recall it is that 80 % of car journeys are less than 2 miles - which I (perhap mis-)quoted from the International dump the car day brochure which is on September 22

And yes I believe much commuting is a phenomenal waste of resources - one of my neighbours revs up his boxster for three minutes then screams off to get another packet of fags - he is gone for at most four minutes every time

and yes racing may have stopped during the oil crisis - this is not an oil crisis it is a statement of dissent by the public - a vote of no confidence in the government and its policies

So Dan I guess I'm with you on this one - have fun at Goodwood (where I should not be suprised if March has laid on a tanker for the competitors etc)

[Dan Friel]

I expect Lord March to have several tankers awaiting for Mr Moss and co. tomorrow morning... nothing else would do!! He probably has his own supplies at the airfield I guess.

School runs take up 20% of all commuting traffic, stop that - and you solve most of the problems in one go!!

[SNH]

Commuting - 4 mins for a packet of fags = stupid
going to work = sensible

Kids - depends on distance, state of roads, (some places you wouldn't bike/walk)

Oil crisis - it was a question

[josvandeperre]

And before I forget I don't see those paragons of social conscience at the FA suggesting to millions of fans that they stay at home, to millions of sunday leaguers that they do not play or even to the main leagues that a postponement is in order

[TimD]

A question which deserves an answer, SNH. Here goes...

We were fortunate, actually, that the big oil crisis of the 1970s hit during the quietest months of the year. The Arab-Israeli conflict was October 1973, and the OPEC embargo of the USA only kicked in during November.

So we had plenty of time for the world's politicians to get things sorted before the spring.

The RAC Rally organisers agreed with the government to a 10% voluntary reduction in stage mileage that year, which was also expedient in PR terms, because the BBC and some of the sterner newspapers were keen on seeing it stopped altogether. Was that the year it had Daily Mirror sponsorship?

There was enough fuel for the South American leg of the world championship to take place in January 1974, although who was able to take part was occasionally problematic. The Hexagon Brabham F1 team got to Rio de Janeiro to discover that someone had spread a rumour that they had been unable to prepare their car in the crisis, with the result that FOCA had commandeered all their hotel reservations!

The Racing Car Show at Alexandra Palace was cancelled for that year, and Ford got such a pasting at the hands of the chattering classes for releasing the Capri RS3100 homologation special in the teeth of an oil crisis, that Lotus decided discreetly to postpone the launch of their new wedge-shaped Elite 501.

Unfortunately, they neglected to tell their own advertising people, who took out full page ads in most of the motoring press announcing a car which hadn't been announced.

As the winter receded, the RAC MSA negotiated with the government the way forward for the new season, and agreed upon a reduction across the board of 30% of events, and 30% of mileage in each race. But as the season opened in Britain in March, the fuel was starting to flow freely again. The Race of Champions went ahead without restrictions.

Dan may be too young to remember all of this, but I can still remember the petrol coupons that were issued. Rationing never actually took place, but it was a sufficiently close thing for the ration books to be issued, and emergency allocations arranged. My grandfather's ration book was carefully and specifically made out to TAE100M, his new Hillman Avenger, which was deemed to have a special case for an allowance because he was a bank manager (!).

[SNH]

"And before I forget I don't see those paragons of social conscience at the FA suggesting to millions of fans that they stay at home, to millions of sunday leaguers that they do not play or even to the main leagues that a postponement is in order"

- doesnt make it right tho........

TimD - wasnt the Round Britain race cancelled as well with James Hunt et al?
I remember my mother getting coupons as well. Also, football matches were cancelled.
There was another problem a few years later with fuel. I remember queueing in my Mini

[Steve Hart]

As a father and a club racer, could I see myself saying "sorry son, I can't take you to school today because I need the petrol to go racing this weekend"?....get real.

[josvandeperre]

Reality is the school run by car in most cases is an unnecessary luxury

The point remains that most of these unnecessary car school run journeys will waste far more fuel than all particpants and spectators will use in a typical weekend of motor sport

[Steve Hart]

Now let me think...which would be the luxury, the nation's motorsport events or it's children getting to school safely?

The "point", as you put it, is that the thread poses the question as to which should have a priority, a school run or racing. In the real grown-up world, the comparison is totally absurd. It maybe so that some car journey's are the result of laziness but you cannot possibly know how many, and unless you are evangelically "green" we all make a few of these ourselves. Let me guess Jos, ...you don't have children, you live in a city, you just love watching racing cars, and boy it really bugs you when at a quarter to nine in the morning you're stuck behind mum in her Freelander....because you have more right to be there than her, don't you?

We all here love racing, but most of us take it for what it is, a sport.

[SNH]

Mr Hart....well put!