Too many club level championships?

[Derwent]

Spectators don't really like one make races. Sadly clubs and drivers do. There was a meeting at Croft last year with only MX5s and Focus's racing. About 4 lots of MC5s having three races and 2 lots of Fords having 3 races.

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by Derwent

Spectators don't really like one make races. Sadly clubs and drivers do.

One make is OK, one model has become old. Bring back proper prod-saloons, multi-class, big grids and lump as many single car races into it as possible. Same for road sports.

I'll make an exception for proper Caterham racing, though, that tends to be a ball.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Derwent

Spectators don't really like one make races. Sadly clubs and drivers do. There was a meeting at Croft last year with only MX5s and Focus's racing. About 4 lots of MC5s having three races and 2 lots of Fords having 3 races.

As a spectator in the 70's & 80's I used to love the one make series (Metro's Renault 5's, Fiesta's etc), they used to offer some good close racing. Also, having raced a Mini 7 briefly in the early 80's, their racing also always seemed popular, but maybe this was more so with friends/relatives of the people actually racing the cars.
Maybe times have changed?

[Plantagenet]

Not waning to be deliberately combative, but I'm afraid i don't think spectator preferences have any bearing these days given their numbers at club meetings are so low and will have hardly have any bearing on the economics of running race meetings (this is clearly different from things such as Goodwood or the Classic where gate receipts will form such a large component of the revenue).

The key for club series to survive is getting numbers on grids and clearly this seems to be the preferred approach for drivers of caterhams, mx-5s, boxters etc. There do seem to be a lot of them though catering for a racing crowd that will likely shrink again in '23 so i do expect some further consolidation in future.

[Adam43]

Sunday five a side football does not consider the spectators, it is primarily there for the competitors. It is the same for club Motorsport. They are paying for it. And the market for spectating club Motorsport is generally limited to our mothers and other family!

FWIW, I prefer a mixed grid, makes it more fun as a competitor. But I also see that others might like the same machinery thing. Good to cater for both.

[abw]

Originally Posted by fergus_r

... it's the norm for BRSCC Caterhams to have at least four of their championships in action over a weekend.

Now that the Caterhams are with BARC they are due to have a meeting at Donington with not only all of the 'official' Caterham championships, but also Caterham Gradautes and CSCC Magnificent Sevens!

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Adam43

FWIW, I prefer a mixed grid, makes it more fun as a competitor. But I also see that others might like the same machinery thing. Good to cater for both.

Where an MR2 Trophy or EP3 Civic Cup or City Car Cup or BMW 125i Cup or Renault Clio Cup car is eligible for that championship, it's also eligible for mixed races, like multi-category enduros. So that seems to strike a good balance.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by abw

Now that the Caterhams are with BARC they are due to have a meeting at Donington with not only all of the 'official' Caterham championships, but also Caterham Gradautes and CSCC Magnificent Sevens!

They are a hoot to drive. I can see why they are popular.

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

Where an MR2 Trophy or EP3 Civic Cup or City Car Cup or BMW 125i Cup or Renault Clio Cup car is eligible for that championship, it's also eligible for mixed races, like multi-category enduros. So that seems to strike a good balance.

Best of both worlds