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Where you do even begin on this subject?
Before leaping to possible 'solutions' I believe it is necessary to ask some pretty fundamental questions first and establish the terms of reference.
Firstly it is critical to realise that this discussion is about what would constitute "Premier Classes" i.e. Classes worth of crowning NZ Champions from.
Implicit in that is ensuring some form of development pathway.
There will always be tensions between what competitors want to race, what competitors can afford to race, what is of interest to commercial partners and finally what is of interest to the viewers.
What competitors want to race is complex. It seems that kiwis love to tinker in their sheds and employ their singular brilliance to compensate for a limited budget. It’s about getting a group of people around you and having a crack.
These people love freedoms.
Unfortunately they are the same people who cry when someone with more resources beats them by being able to better exploit the same freedoms.
It can lead to lesser drivers with a bigger ‘toolbox’ getting crowned. Is this a problem? Not for me to say
Control class racing develops drivers. No question.
But less skilled drivers and teams with the wrong approach rapidly become discouraged.
The viewing public don’t help here. Less than a podium and you’re a w**nker.
TRS this season for example often had the whole field of 20 cars covered by less than 1 sec. In the mid pack 0.2 sec was the difference between 18th and 8th at times.
Hard to call a guy 0.5 sec off pole a w**nker. In a ‘soft’ class he’d look like a star.
The public (apparently) want to see passing. The ‘purist’ public want to see passes earned.
The purists are in the minority so we end up with a situation where many passes are due to massive performance differences.
What do commercial partners want?
Who would know? Usually we just take their money and run…
Actually in this era, what they want it a buzz, lots of ‘clicks’ and exposure.
TV is still King but who is paying?
Where are the celebrities of the sport?
Next time you go to a race meeting, look at the amount of people it takes to simply run the event.
No wonder promotors seem to cover their costs off the competitor (and associated bodies), spectators are a bonus.
To attend an event for a spectator requires quite a commitment in terms of time.
So what makes for a good day out? That alone is worthy of discussion.
Who are we aiming at? There are plenty of folks who enjoy re-living the yesteryears but that is not what Premier classes are about.
Whilst I agree that we must learn from the past to prevent the mistakes of tomorrow, I also believe that the past is no template for now or the future. These are different times.
The recent past was a disaster due to naked, vested self-interest.
No one is blameless in this and I’m not sure that any of those involved really should have a say in where we go from here.
Discuss.
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