The end is nigh? or a shifting tide?

[terence]

Although far removed from actually racing,track day at Spa-Porsche GT3 -open pit lane means as many laps you can drive .Costs a lot less than a six hour race.
Plus you dont buy tyres or any consumables for the car after you have finished with it.
Cant wonder why some change camps.!
One thing that sticks out in this discussion and something that was mentioned is scrutineering.This is one area that should be closely looked at I think.When one hears of a car not actually inspected for conformation because the "Insppector"would rather have his posh lunch with the owner,little wonder then that so many 'iffy' cars are running these days.But hey ho,round and round we go.Till you jump off that is.

[midgetman]

There's a lot of people jumping off the merry go round Tel. Or rather, not getting on in the first place.

[Moneyseeker]

Interesting topic and as someone who has been involved in historic events for many years, I agree with much that is posted.

I, like others, feel there are too many events all chasing the same entrants and the same 'celebrations'. Events like the Silverstone Classic have brought the 'sold grids' business model to the fore which sees individual race promoters putting grids into events with their cut of the entry fee which has put up entry fees.

I am not a technical person but I can see that the increased level of preperation of cars has pushed perfomance that others can't match, certainly a big historic meeting has trucks and awnings that wouldn't have been out of place in F1 20 years ago...

I would agree that everyone seems to be trying to create a festival event which has added costs that need to be passed to the ticket buyers, entrants and exhibitors. Some events to my mind have got into the 'bigger than ever, record attendance' mode which is just a stick to beat you with in the end.

Also the wealthy amateur is getting more prepared, I was at a owners club track day a while back and several drivers had hired big motorhomes and had professional driver coaches with them. I also noticed that Base Sims were at Race Retro promoting to the classic racer market.

The knock on effect of the growth in historic racing and motoring up to now has been record auction prices for race and road cars, although I have read that apart from exceptionally rare or well provenanced cars, the prestige end of the market is a bit toppy and the 70's/80's Fords and bread and butter stuff is on the march price wise.

The same goes for classic motoring (non-racing) events, there are simply too many, all chasing the same audience, exhibitors, car clubs and sponsors and IMO not all will survive.