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Old 24 Oct 2009, 09:20 (Ref:2568527)   #7
Tim Wilkinson
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Join Date: Feb 2005
England
Essex
Posts: 782
Tim Wilkinson should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
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Originally Posted by Al Weyman View Post
may at least encourage some Trackdayers to have a race or two.
Personally I doubt the concept will have much effect, any take-up is likely to come because it's MSV and they're a known name in trackday-land, where a lot (all?) of the motorsport clubs aren't.

In my view what stops trackdayers having an occasional race is the cost of making that step to racing. It's two-fold - the cost of prepping a safe track / road car to "race" standards e.g. extinguisher, cut-offs, dated harnesses, helmet and race-suit, timing equipment; and the personal costs - medical costs, about £300 to do the ARDs, £50 a year for a license. And it goes on....

How many would want to shell out that much money for one or two races? Plus the blue-book is a bloody shambles, so you're never sure whether your car is truly legal, or whether the 3-year old twice used helmet you've got is going to be outlawed next year.


As a trackdayer I took the plunge a few years ago, but haven't raced as much as I've wanted - the new series would interest me if it wasn't hour long race. I doubt the fuel tank would hold that much!

CSCC Tintops would be fine for me, but doesn't allow carbs where injection was standard, does it? Same applies to pre-93s - is that a recent rule-change, as i'm sure original regs allowed that swap.

Overall, this is one step to getting trackdayers involved, but it's a drop in the ocean to making motorsport more accessible and popular. The whole organisation structure needs overhauling, in my opinion. What I'd like to see is MSV rivalling the MSA - start from scratch with a minimal set of "catch-all" championships, properly promoted at circuits with good spectator facilities and minimised costs for competitors. I doubt that's a popular view, though.
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