Racing without Championship registration?

[mark77]

Hi any idea on the number of races you can compete in without paying a registration fee.

Over the last few years I raced with the 750mc but this year the dates just do not work for me and it looks like i can only make 2 meetings so I don't want to pay the £130 registration fee.

Any idea if this will be ok - and if other series generally let you race once or twice without registering?

Thanks

Mark

[chezza]

I don't know how 750MC work, but I know that if it was with us (BARC SEC) you need to pay the membership and registration fees if you want to race, thats once, twice or the whole season.

[Tim Falce]

Most series want a registration fee, championship registered or not. Some will let you pay a fee per race, such as the SRGTC, if you are only doing the occasional meeting. Don't forget there are club fees on top of series registration fees.

[ANDY J]

Hi Mark the classic touring car club will let you do 2 weekend memberships in the year so have a look the calender if you find a couple of races that suit you come and have a go.
Full details can be found at www.classictouringcars.com

Cheers Andy

[slim40]

Project 8 will let you pay for a day membership as many times as you want I think £20 per meeting and the races are at some very nice tracks and friendly people

[big andy]

what are the registration fees for exactly ?

[Al Weyman]

Well CTCRC registration is in fact the club membership and that pays for organising and prompting the championship as unfortunately this is not done by BARC and without the charge the championships would suffer as a result of zero promotion. Not ideal I grant you but thats how it is. Some of the money for example will be spent paying for a stand at Race Retro next weekend. cTCRC also put on barbys at the circuit and I think do their bit for the fee and no one makes any money out of it of that I am sure in fact quite the contary as I am sure members of the committee do a lot of unpaid work and fund their own expenses.

[MGDavid]

Club 360 have a membership fee of a quid and no registration fees. Legendary Circuits series has no fees other than entry, and Barry's hour at Spa is the same.

[Al Weyman]

Thats more for the long distance racer though isn't it? But worth noting.

[midgetman]

Such an innocent post.......such a can of worms

[chezza]

Registration fees can be used for various things, up keep of a website or magazine, promotion of the championship/series, supply of sponsors stickers - especially where things like sunvisors are involved as they are quite costly, end of season awards, etc.

[tim dodwell]

A website does not need to cost much, and news can be posted on it. You don't need a magazine - info can be Emailed. Low registration fees will do a much better job in publicity - the Motorsport press, and the forums (!!) will do the rest.
Sponsors should pay for any stickers that have to be displayed, and IMHO all awards. If a series has no sponsor - possible in the current climate - then the competitors should accept more basic awards.
All of this should enable registration fees to be kept very low - which would increase the attraction to competitors.
Add in a partial refund system - when a race reaches a certain level of entries, each competitor gets back part of their entry fee. To lessen the paperwork, this can be done at the end of the year - or transferred to the next round.
Competitors must start helping organisers more though - by entering early, so that the organisers know how things are going. Also, it would be nice to get an entry list with our final instructions - as we used to do.
After all, if you can't make a race (car not ready etc), most organisers will refund the entry fee (less a small amount - £20 wouldn't hurt).
I speak as someone who competes (or tries too!!), and once organised (Road Saloons), and I am sure I speak for a lot of other competitors too.

[Al Weyman]

I agree there Tim, all the sponsors sunstrips and stickers are supplied by the sponsors, I know because I did most of them and the sponsors paid me not the club. I also agree money can be saved in many areas now, there is no longer any need for expensive club magazines to be posted out at great cost, I couldnt believe what that was costing and surely today everyone has either internet or smart phone access to keep them updated.

[mark77]

Thanks for the replies

I don't mind paying club membership but I'm not willing to register for the championship at £130 for only 1 race meeting in the season. So it looks as if I'm going to take in the odd race with the classic touring car and project 8

[chezza]

One of the other things that I missed before is the championship registration fees to the MSA will often be covered by the registration fees. Also you have to have to pay a certification fee for any series too.

Having had several years experience with drivers and awards now...provide smaller or lower quality awards drivers get the hump becuase they feel their commitment (time not just money) isn't being rewarded.

Motorsport press - unless you have a relationship with one of the motorsport publications any advert (not editiorial) is going to cost you money.

Websites don't have to cost much, but they still cost. How much will depend if you have the knowledge amongst the team/committee to be able to produce a decent quality website and have someone to keep the time to update it and keep it fresh. If you don't have that knowledge and not everyone does then you're left to pay someone outside to do it. Also if your a new club/championship/series or having to start a site from scratch for whatever reason these can cost quite a bit to set up initially too.

Stickers etc are often provided by the sponsor - however these are costly to distribute and also depending on the depth of the pockets of your sponsors may mean that you have to cover costs of something else. In these times gone are the days when sponsors are bottomless pits.

Throughout my time in motorsport the club has always paid for the awards, either at each round, or at the end of the year. Yes the sponsors may provide additional awards at the rounds or at the end of the year, but the cost of the pots themselves are covered by the club.

Also in response to "everyone has internet or a smart phone". That isn't the case and some drivers still want a magazine because although they have internet they don't want to sit at a computer to read a magazine, still want their regulations and entry forms posted to them. Just becuase you are doesn't mean that everyone is in the 21st century.

Although I suppose the reasoning above is dependent on what people would consider very low?! I don't think £30 is too much to register to race for the year, £100 just to register (not including club membership) I would think is steep.

[Al Weyman]

Well the cost of distributing the stickers is easily got around, you dish them out at the circuit. Whether the few want a mag or not is surely irrelevant at the end of the day as its the majority that are funding this and its usually full of rubbish and not worth opening anyhow. If they few desparately want a mag lets see if they are prepared to pay for the service, bet you won't have many takers. I agree £30 is a fair fee.

[chezza]

Just interested...what would drivers be willing to pay for a registration fee?

How much is too much?!

[Al Weyman]

I would say it depends if you have to join a club as well if so I think the club fee and registration should be no more than £100

[Westysprinter]

NSSCC allow non registered drivers for a higher entry fee, but the way our grids are going registered drivers usually fill the grids.

[pete21]

BARC N/ W CNC Heads sports saloons no registration fee . Well established championship 30 years aprox , fantastic versatile grids , great friendly people.
Have a look!!

[Al Weyman]

I think the evidence is on the wall that those with high registration or dual club joining requirements are slipping by the wayside. In the current climate IMHO these fees should be dropped immediately.

[Al Weyman]

BTW it looks like 750MC are taking a leaf out of CSCC's race format and putting on longer two driver races which can also be ran a two driver, single driver or as a relay with two cars for the one entry fee and only one guy has to register. If you cannot beat them then join them I guess.

[MartinSmith]

Originally Posted by MGDavid

Club 360 have a membership fee of a quid and no registration fees. Legendary Circuits series has no fees other than entry, and Barry's hour at Spa is the same.

Just to confirm, we did away with the £1 fee, its just too much agg.

Registration and membership to 360 MRC is free with the entry, we dont however, have the added cost of Championship Status or even series as each of our events is unique so we are mindful that clubs do need to cover "admin" fees as such...but.......

Its very easy for me to say this and I will get stick, but, alot of this registration malarky is "old school" and a case of "we've always done it" Lets be honest, the actual concept of "the club" is now out of date, it is, its based on a principal that was founded when "little tommy Trinder" and "lashings of Ginger Beer" were popular, you were never alone with a stand, when roads were empty, a can of petrol was served with a cigarette for thrupence hapny and a house cost about the same as an entry to a race nowadays. Some people like the idea of a club, grass roots racing, a clubby feel, but, clubs need to evolve now because , in this day and age, what is the registration for?...(gonna sound like the beginning of Hong Kong Phooey)

Insurance? - no, there is a per capita charge on the permit, do what we do, build it into your entry price

Admin - mmm tricky... no , maintaining a database of drivers etc is not rocket science, the club has to pay a registration fee to the MSA, annual and divided between your customers it would be pence but that again can be costed in your entry All the other stuff including the day to day running of the club, exhibitions such as Autosport or Race Retro computers and the equipment that you need to run as a club can I'm sorry, all be factored into your race entry fee so that your customers all pay a fair amount, the more you race, the more you pay, its only the same as petrol isn't it?.(dont get me started!! ha ha) ..and we are shafted enough on that!! ha ha
Website - do cost yes, but again, to host a site for two years is cheap as chips on the likes of godaddy or vista, and again, divided by 100 members, its peanuts, sorry it is But I will admit that getting an all singing and dancing platform up will cost at first and believe me, although ours won an award, the people who built it I could shoot, but thats another story!, but our first site was nothing and it did the job for a while

Magazine - yeah that costs, so SELL it, that way, the people who want it can buy it, the people who don't...dont. We send out a newsletter on e mail, its not the best thing in the world and if im honest could be better, but if you want to know whats happening in motorsport, talk to our sponsors...this post is on their forum...they cover the whole story

Awards - well we are very lucky because this great forum of ours supports our event by providing our lovely awards, (a word from our sponsors there) but, if they didn't, we would again build it into the price of the entry

Awards Dinner - you normally have to pay for the ticket anyway...dont tell me the registration fee is needed for that, our annual 360 dinner is at the LittleChef on the A14 lol...or is it the BBQ at the racetrack on the friday before the race, my attitude is , if you want all that hospitality etc...you pay extra for it...go race with others and pay the costs (and the registration fees)

No, I believe the registration fee is a sign of commitment that most clubs like and rightly so if you are running a series or championship, however, as we get more and more "value focussed" and customers want more choice, more options, they will look at this as a stumbling block, I for example, want to race where and when I like, with who i like, i don't want to pay 100 here and a 100 there so that I have that choice, so i will just not bother with a club that wants all that up front ....and clubs should wake up and smell the coffee because if they don't, they will need more than a registration fee to keep em going.



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[alfaracer156]

Well put Claire. Mike

[midgetman]

Strewth. Twice in a week, on two separate threads, we have Tenths Consensus. Well said Claire