Irish RX Forum

[Ramah]

Ok, just to start a discussion off who wants to say what this year ?
From my point of view

1) The rounds are too close together

2) We should have at least 2 summer rounds and before someone says it how much would it cost to clean the track afterwards ?

3) Joker lap ????????

discuss..............

[johnny99]

Yes summer rounds would be good.

Bigger gaps between rounds to give compeditors time to repair cars.

I am also afraid that without the Brits coming over, which brings great crowds, and revenue to Mondello, they may find it hard to make a profit, and thus put a nail in the coffin of Irish RallyX. I would like to know why MI did not allow the buggy's race in Mondello. This would have only increased the interest in motorsport in Ireland, and bring better crowds.

More advertising for motorsport in Ireland, the stands were bleak on Sunday.

John

[Graz]

Unfortunately, Irish Rallycross is on the decline again. For it to be successful, you need spectators. But the quality of cars in the series is not there, nobody wants to spectate in winter and the loss of the GB round is huge.

Irish racing as a whole is in a big tailspin. It's very sad.

[murf]

mondello say they dont have the dates to give us during the summer,more time between events would be a good idea,first if you have any problems you will have time to sort them,and it also gives you time to get the funds together.not having the brda over is a big blow for us,i know more of us traveled over there than they had coming to us but it got us more publisity,and it was a much bigger day out for drivers and paying punters,mi and the rallycross committee in my opinon better have a very good reason for their decision,after all they are ment to represent the drivers,not dictate what they think is right for our sport,we seem to be going backwards where the brda are coming up with new ideas and a fresh way of thinking about rallycross,maybe its time for some fresh thinking for us too,maybe one set of people should be in charge,maybe more drivers should be on the committee.if we want change we need people to come along to the open forum and let their views be heard,i will be there repeating what i am posting here and other issues i have

[Ramah]

From what I heard the reason that the BRDA fell through was that the buggies were not allowd to run, I dont know if that is the case but if it is it was a very bad call especially as they do would not have made any difference to us anyway and from my prespective would have been great to look at anyway.
As far as the quality of cars goes I agree that the super car field is small a sign of the times and fair play to the lads competing for keeping the super car class alive but the other classes gave us great racing this year & its racing the punters come to see ! It's very hard to obtain sponsorship when there is about 50 people in the stand and no one knows the event is on anyway, what about getting some media source to sponsor the championship in kind to promote the events in return for their name on the championship eg: the FM104 RX Championship, it would'nt cost them anything and we would get some media promotion out of it and so on. On that note does the championship have a press officer ? and if it does who is it ?, the only way we are going to improve the sport is with media assistance and with perhaps a RX super weekend held in the summer as a show case event.
Im off the soap box now.........

[johnny99]

I've heard that the Brit's are not coming is because the buggy's were not allowed to race, which I think is not very smart. There must be someone on here that know's that facts, and can inform us why that decision was taken.

The FM104 RallyX, or something similar is a very good idea. Why not a bigger company, like ESB, Tesco, Ryanair, etc.

We do need bigger grids in Supercar's, but the other classes are doing well, I'd be more worried about Mondello not attracting bigger crowds, and therefore not making enough profit to keep it going. It's our only racetrack, and a good one at that.

John

[Ramah]

Originally Posted by johnny99

The FM104 RallyX, or something similar is a very good idea. Why not a bigger company, like ESB, Tesco, Ryanair, etc.

Media is the key, I agree that a big sponsor would be great for the sport but without media attention thet would not be possible.
It is a great pity that the gang from the UK will not be coming over I allways tend to as do us all, to raise our game when they are around and it's great to race in front of a crowd, if the buggys were the problem, what was the problem with them ?
But lets face it the BRDA is only 1 round it's the rest of the rounds that I would be concerned about, people will come to motorsport in mondello, look at the rallysprint the other weekend, by all accounts it was a huge success

[205munchkin]

The british championship is a package, and it is promoted as such. Either all the classes come or non at all. The Rx150s wernt allowed so there is no place in the calander for Mondello.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by 205munchkin

The british championship is a package, and it is promoted as such. Either all the classes come or non at all. The Rx150s wernt allowed so there is no place in the calander for Mondello.

Incredibly short sighted of Mondello or whoever made the decision but dare I say typical.

[johnny99]

Originally Posted by Graz

Incredibly short sighted of Mondello or whoever made the decision but dare I say typical.

I would have thought that the decision was taken by M.I., and not Mondello. Why would Mondello make such a decision, more car's, more action, more punters paying at the gate.

John

[rallycross mad]

it's mi decision on the Rx buggy's . i was at the meeting last year when the topic of the buggy's came up the board would not listen. its wasn't the time to talk about them is what Olly o dunovin was told !! so when is the time ? what is wrong with them running here ? they hardly get on safe on the boat coming over if there OK in england!!! i think it's time for change at the top !

[paulp]

A lot of good points on this post, particularly on the issues of running the buggies. At the Autosport show a number of BRDA drivers expressed their disappointment at not being able to race at Mondello this year. As a driver and a Rallycross fan I was disappointed, not to mention the loss of a good day for drivers & spectators, the TV coverage also helps when trying to get people interested in our sport as potential sponsors & paying spectators!
Having said that we cannot rely on one “big day” to fund our season. We have our own championship, with drivers who love the sport and will turn up come rain or shine. We need to build on this and perhaps look at other talents drivers have such as Sales & Marketing experience etc.
Peter Stott has done a fantastic job in building up the Rallycross Open Series. The class structures have evolved attracting drivers and sponsors. He took on the established British Championship and made his own series. Both championships seem to be growing in stature and not to the detriment of each other. No reason why we cant do the same for our championship.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by johnny99

I would have thought that the decision was taken by M.I., and not Mondello. Why would Mondello make such a decision, more car's, more action, more punters paying at the gate.

John

That's why I said 'or whoever...' I'm not sure who makes these decisions. It could be trained chimps for all we know.

[johnny99]

Originally Posted by Graz

That's why I said 'or whoever...' I'm not sure who makes these decisions. It could be trained chimps for all we know.

Your not being fair to chimps,

John

[tkiwan]

Hear hear Paul.
We are the ''Irish Rallycross Championship''.
I have been sending out updates to the press and some have been printed.
73 cars out for final round is not bad the way things are for people.
Time for a few more help the clubs do a bit and stop the moaning we still a great championship stop writing it off.

[Ramah]

Originally Posted by tkiwan

Hear hear Paul.
We are the ''Irish Rallycross Championship''.
I have been sending out updates to the press and some have been printed.
73 cars out for final round is not bad the way things are for people.
Time for a few more help the clubs do a bit and stop the moaning we still a great championship stop writing it off.

From what I can see no one is writing off the championship and as I said previously the racing in the classes was very good this year, however what can be done to promote the sport ? In response to the comment about boring cars I admit some cars are not as quick or spectacular as others depending mainly on budgets. I used to think the juniors were completely boring but after sitting in the stand this year the juniors provided some of the best racing from the classes and the sport needs to be inclusive and affordable we all cannot drive supercars (I wish !), What about getting an open round in Mondello ?

[bigted]

Not Me

[Ramah]

It doesnt matter if it's FIA approved or not, it's the only circuit we have to run on & I include anyone who uses circuit in this. The problem as far as I can see is about exposure letting the public know about events and about Mondello, I agree that John, Ian and every one over there is working hard to promote the track but the budget given the gate returns must be very small. It is up to MI to help promote the sport I wonder what the licence fees are used for and what split is apportioned to marketing ?
Classes, cars, presentation can all be discussed later but if we dont get bums on seats in Mondello were would we go it if closed ?????????????

I took my car to the park last year to help promote rallycross (and to give it a lash, way too much ) perhaps some more promotion on the ground at other events with static displays and hand outs would help, I know ALMC have a great car show in May which I am sure they would include a RX section and maby some demo runs at other events like the modified car show in Mondello, but we go back to the winter events I think a couple in sping / summer would not be a bad thing and lets see if we can address the track cleaning issue

[tkiwan]

How many people help, Support, or Join, Carlow Car Club or County Kildare Motor Club ?
These are they 2 clubs that run all the Rallycross events and organize the Championship rounds. Just an idea but its a clubman sport here but not many support the clubs running the sport.

[EvilPumpkin]

Tom, with respect, there's a reason people don't join those clubs. Originally, the catchment for those clubs would have been marshals coming off of the bank. Now we don't have the marshals either - and some of that is thanks to the high handed and downright rude behaviour of some of the organising clubs (not necessarily the ones mentioned by the way) over the last few years. This is in no way a reflection on the small group of hardworking and fair people, like yourself, Graham, Robert (just a couple of names off the top of my head) and all of those guys, so please do not take it as such.

We're caught in a vicious circle there - but the attitude of the organising clubs, although it's improved, still needs to change some more if they hope to attract any new members.

That being said, I don't think anyone is decrying the efforts of the org clubs in this thread - it's more about the official authority for motorsport in Ireland and querying exactly what they're doing to stop circuit racing from dying.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by EvilPumpkin

That being said, I don't think anyone is decrying the efforts of the org clubs in this thread - it's more about the official authority for motorsport in Ireland and querying exactly what they're doing to stop circuit racing from dying.

That's the point right there. This is what needs to be tackled first. The individual organisations thereafter.

[Ramah]

Ok here,s the thing if you want to have a go at MI or setting up an new governing body ( & good luck with that one !) start a new thread, I was interested in what suggestions came up to promote improve rallycross over here !
like
Promotion, how about a gate ticket comp with the winner getting a few laps in the lunch break in one of our cars
Media coverage as I suggested
getting the uk lads back etc etc

Other wise Im out

[Graz]

Originally Posted by Ramah

Ok here,s the thing if you want to have a go at MI or setting up an new governing body ( & good luck with that one !) start a new thread, I was interested in what suggestions came up to promote improve rallycross over here !
like
Promotion, how about a gate ticket comp with the winner getting a few laps in the lunch break in one of our cars
Media coverage as I suggested
getting the uk lads back etc etc

Other wise Im out

So Ramah, simple promotion while maintaining the status quo is the answer eh? The only reason RX and all other Irish motorsport is knackered is because of lack of promotion?

Come on on man, see the big picture. Promotion is not the holy grail that's going to solve everything. The foundations must be right and they ain't regardless of promotion. Who should do the promoting? I would have thought that promotion without the full backing of the governing body is pointless.

Exactly what do you want to promote and what do you want to achieve from promoting it? You don't have a sport that can be promoted right now to any degree of success - you must have something to promote!! Like any successful sport, it is only succsessful when it is profitable - who makes it profitable? Fans unltimately. There is nothing about Irish Rallycross as it stands (or the majority of the Irish circuit scene) which is going to be appealing to fans. Using Rallycross as an example because this is the main pont of the thread, get the Euro RX back and then you'll have thousands of fans in the door and a useful vehicle for your 'promotion' and a means of getting more people into the sport.

If you or anyone else think that Euro RX or BRDC are just 'one even't and we can survive without that,' well then you're deluding yourselves because quite simply, you can't - and aren't as you continue your slow and painful decline.

[Ramah]

Originally Posted by Graz

So Ramah, simple promotion while maintaining the status quo is the answer eh? The only reason RX and all other Irish motorsport is knackered is because of lack of promotion?
If you or anyone else think that Euro RX or BRDC are just 'one even't and we can survive without that,' well then you're deluding yourselves because quite simply, you can't - and aren't as you continue your slow and painful decline.

Firstly I diddn't say "simple promotion" you did ! I mearly sugested that promotion is one way to heighten to promote the sport and I did say that loosing the BRDA was a bad blow to our championship but the BRDA is "just 1 round" all be it the biggest round of the year, what I was interested in opinion on was how we could get more than 50 spectators into the stand for the rest of the rounds !
As for the ERC, I agree that getting a round of the ERC over to our shores again would be great however Mondello would have to spend a considerable amount of money upgrading the track to get it over again which I dont think would be a runner.
Look I think rallycross is a great sport and has had some great racing this year even with a low supercar entry I was just interested in some simple suggestions to get the sport heading in the right direction but I dont think from this thread that there are any forthcoming so Im out......................

[shhh]

Originally Posted by Graz

The only reason RX and all other Irish motorsport is knackered is because of lack of promotion?

Best of luck to all with this. We made huge efforts to do same TV etc etc and that was during the good times when the grids were packed with exciting Division 1 cars