Motorsport and the Coronavirus

[justracing]

Originally Posted by Rudernst

I can also several drivers, not only marshals either calling it a day or greatly reduce their level of commitment to historic motorsport,
having learnt how to get on in life without itRuE

That very thought process has been on my mind for several weeks, I'm convinced that wholesale change will take place effecting the lives of many. As you say not only drivers but car preparation businesses, clubs, circuits, caterers, event organisers, the list goes on and on. I honestly don't think the general public has got a handle on the financial implications of this devastating virus, lord knows the physical illness and death tolls are horrendous enough but I fear the longer term impact is frightening.

[S griffin]

I too can see a few clubs of motorsport struggling with numbers and demand. Palmer will be doing his best no doubt to help series survive where he can. I’m sure he can arrange good deals with the series that race on his circuits

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by justracing

That very thought process has been on my mind for several weeks, I'm convinced that wholesale change will take place effecting the lives of many. As you say not only drivers but car preparation businesses, clubs, circuits, caterers, event organisers, the list goes on and on. I honestly don't think the general public has got a handle on the financial implications of this devastating virus, lord knows the physical illness and death tolls are horrendous enough but I fear the longer term impact is frightening.

I imagine some of the big event promoters have already been hit by poor advance ticket sales for events that they will still have to postpone or more realistically cancel. As you say the inevitable economic down turn will hit 'discretionary spend' which is things like days out, weekends away at events or even attending events, this will hit advance ticket sales for next years events.

Possibly some of the bigger festival style events may have to scale back to focus on the track action and some of the previously included non-track entertainment cut back as essentially that is all cost you can't now monetise.

Having been part of the management team on big events in the past, glad I am now in the more specialist field!

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[midgetman]

I'm hoping that because most of my customers are juniors that pester power will win out. I'm not expecting to see such a large grid of Seniors and Masters when we're all back at it. Lots of bravado, but with c. 20k job losses in the airline industry alone today there's not going to be much money around.

[Geraint Owen]

It isnt all doom and gloom

Whilst there are a number of individuals who will have really suffered financially, there are others whose incomes remain unchanged. There are a lot of people on modest incomes out there working from home. There are lots of high net worth individuals who will ride this out without noticing

For those who are lucky enough to have not been hit financially, their expenditure is likely to have fallen dramatically. No holidays, no eating out, no commuting costs, even half price school fess but most of all NO RACING. These people will be itching to get out there an go racing and will have some cash with which to do it

Add to that the amount of time the home fettler has spent at home. There are a lot of project cars that have made major steps forward!!!

[The Fat Clerk]

[QUOTE=Geraint Owen;3974723]It isnt all doom and gloom

For those who are lucky enough to have not been hit financially, their expenditure is likely to have fallen dramatically. No holidays, no eating out, no commuting costs, even half price school fess but most of all NO RACING. These people will be itching to get out there an go racing and will have some cash with which to do it

Wife and I are very lucky to be in this position. She works at home as an Accountant and with furloughing and small business loans to sort out for her clients, she is working flat out. Being retired I'd love to help but when I was working there were only 10 numbers in my world -
binary if you didn't get it

No Club or MUK Committee meetings, no eating out, no Hotels every other weekend when Stewarding, no Holidays because the Isle of Man TT & the Ulster Grand Prix aren't happening.

What is a man to do?

[John Elwin]

[QUOTE=The Fat Clerk;3974761]

Originally Posted by Geraint Owen

It isnt all doom and gloom

For those who are lucky enough to have not been hit financially, their expenditure is likely to have fallen dramatically. No holidays, no eating out, no commuting costs, even half price school fess but most of all NO RACING. These people will be itching to get out there an go racing and will have some cash with which to do it

Wife and I are very lucky to be in this position. She works at home as an Accountant and with furloughing and small business loans to sort out for her clients, she is working flat out. Being retired I'd love to help but when I was working there were only 10 numbers in my world -
binary if you didn't get it

No Club or MUK Committee meetings, no eating out, no Hotels every other weekend when Stewarding, no Holidays because the Isle of Man TT & the Ulster Grand Prix aren't happening.

What is a man to do?

Well, surely these E-races would benefit from your experience. Or you may have noticed elsewhere on hear that Scalextric looks like becoming the next big thing!

[The Fat Clerk]

I've got quite a long Scalextric circuit (based on PFI) where I race Karts (Carrera)rather than cars. Trouble is it takes up the Lounge and Dining Room and a bit of the Kitchen so it takes a long time to set up and sometimes can incur the wrath of the Boss.

[coppice]

I am lucky enough to have no financial hit , age having one compensation, but the year will be a very strange and empty one without motor sport. Starting last month even if it now seems ancient history , I've missed Goodwood MM and Cadwell CSCC weekends and a number of day trip venues like Easter Monday Oulton, sundry Croft and Harewood stuff , the latter two being very local.



I feel that while there is an inevitable wish to have a truncated , but intense season , that might owe more to wishful thinking than reasonable expectation . I strongly suspect that the only motor sport will be behind close doors stuff to keep TV audiences happy . Not my thing , really , as I so much prefer being there.



In many ways , I wish we could grasp the nettle now , and write 2020 off , rather than whistling in the wind and hoping it'll be ok this year, only to fall victim to ever later start dates , and more disappointment , until the winter buffer is hit - which will only prompt more reactive rescheduling . I hope I'm wrong but I'd rather the sport proactively planned on the basis of a 2021 restart , with anything earlier being a bonus and a pleasant surprise

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by coppice

.........

In many ways , I wish we could grasp the nettle now , and write 2020 off , rather than whistling in the wind and hoping it'll be ok this year, only to fall victim to ever later start dates , and more disappointment , until the winter buffer is hit - which will only prompt more reactive rescheduling . I hope I'm wrong but I'd rather the sport proactively planned on the basis of a 2021 restart , with anything earlier being a bonus and a pleasant surprise

I'm still being as positive as I possibly can about Spa and Le Mans in October and Race of Remembrance in November....

[Gerard C]

Hope to see you at Le Mans, David, would mean we're healthy… Just hope we'll have enough marshals to take care of us this might become, at last, a priority even at amateur level.

[Moneyseeker]

Everyone seems to be waiting on the Prime Minister statement on Sunday evening to see what if anything is eased. I fear the the large gathering type events will be disappointed. There is speculation of a gathering of 30 people possibly allowed by the end of June, but then they are not going to go from 30 to 30,000 people within a couple of months?

Reason for caution I think is that according to reports the actual likely UK daily infection rate the government is given is around 16,000 to 18,000 (perhaps as high as 20,000) not just the data figure of 5,000 to 6,000.

[john ruston]

More chance of Ricard happening week before.
We here on island are in for long haul
My take on it is that being a densely populated small island we were always going to suffer.Similar situation to Belgium.
Presumably Ricard is in green area?
The French do have the advantage of big spaces between cities. We don’t!
Money still on Goodwood being first meeting.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by john ruston

More chance of Ricard happening week before.
We here on island are in for long haul
My take on it is that being a densely populated small island we were always going to suffer.Similar situation to Belgium.
Presumably Ricard is in green area?
The French do have the advantage of big spaces between cities. We don’t!
Money still on Goodwood being first meeting.

I concur with m'learned friend.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by john ruston

More chance of Ricard happening week before.
We here on island are in for long haul
My take on it is that being a densely populated small island we were always going to suffer.Similar situation to Belgium.
Presumably Ricard is in green area?
The French do have the advantage of big spaces between cities. We don’t!
Money still on Goodwood being first meeting.

Yes, I think Ricard is green. The red zones are mostly concentrated around Paris & to the east - Alsace etc.

[S griffin]

To be fair Ricard is quite a remote location IIRC. So that probably helps

[delta]

I have had my head down past few weeks and just getting on with what I can to try and make a bit of money and survive. I get fed up reading all this speculation on what race meetings will happen or not.
Listen!!! I am not the brightest spark on here but I just cant see us getting back to any kind of racing until there is a vaccine sorted or the virus has completely gone.

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by john ruston

More chance of Ricard happening week before.

We here on island are in for long haul

My take on it is that being a densely populated small island we were always going to suffer.Similar situation to Belgium.

Presumably Ricard is in green area?

The French do have the advantage of big spaces between cities. We don’t!

Money still on Goodwood being first meeting.

Unfortunately we've been fed stories of "when this thing is over", but it isn't going to be is it? There's going to be no V CV-19 Day, no celebration of the lights going on all over the country.

I'm not even sure that beyond the front pages of the tabloids there's much appetite for going out and "getting back to normal." We all talk with bravado about getting back on track, but who actually wants to share toilets and facilities with strangers?

It would be a financial disaster for an event to tool up for even 3k spectators yet they stay away in droves.

I think that small, closed doors events may be the only way forwards. Test days and track days. Anything that doesn't require a massive infrastructure of organisers and marshals. I have to admit if I were entered into Silverstone Classic I'd pull out - huge entry, crammed into garages. No, not just yet thank you. There's always next year.

I don't know how many of my kart team drivers will want to get out when the tracks open. I'll be making changes to do it as safely as possible - awning canopies only, no sides, karts as much as possible 2m apart, no team catering etc - which will limit the numbers so prices will have to rise. And that will be common throughout the sport - with fewer competitors or spectators there will be pressure on prices because costs will be the same. In fact costs will rise as we invest in PPE and cleaning facilities.

Motorsport took a long time to get here. I think this is going to be a reboot - maybe a good thing considering how much we moan about what we have?

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[midgetman]

As usual, Delta said all I did only much more succinctly! Well done Iain, hope you're keeping well.

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[john ruston]

Absolutely agree!

[midgetman]

Here's how Italy is handling it all. But of course they're further along the curve than us, already heading out of the Sanger zone whereas we're still in it

https://www.tkart.it/en/editor/karti...e-authorities/



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[Gerard C]

Seems both kart and car tracks will be very soon allowed to re-open under conditions.

[midgetman]

I do apologise for the auto correct error. I meant to say "danger zone" it was nothing to do with the great Terry. Although I'm sure he'd have enjoyed such a Freudian slip.

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[peebee2]

Originally Posted by john ruston

My take on it is that being a densely populated small island we were always going to suffer.Similar situation to Belgium.

One of my favourite islands, Belgium LOL.

[GCCheddaris]

Whether or not it's a good omen for motor racing, horse racing returned to Europe this week with meetings in Germany at Hanover and Cologne albeit behind closed doors. There are three meetings scheduled in France on Monday while the German Bundesliga is also slated to return on May 16th so maybe, just maybe, there is some light at the end of the tunnel for motor racing.