Britsports

[Old Ropey]

Can anyone enlighten me as to how successful this championship was this year and whether this will continue in 2005.

[Elio]

As ever it totally depends on who you ask!!

From a spectator`s point of view (which probably isn`t the one you`re looking for!!) I saw some entertaining races with packed grids this year. I anticipate the same next year - any dilution caused by competitors defecting to the new BARC Open Sports series (Britsports done in sprints rather than enduros!) should hopefully be propped-up by the JCC Centurion runners being included in 2005.

I have to admit that I only saw races at Brands (which seem to get the best grids) but what I saw was pretty good. A good collection of different cars and drivers and some interesting (if not a little tricky to follow at times!) races.

I am hoping for a lot more from this series in 2005. I have watched the impressive EERC develop Britcar over the last couple of years and hopefully Britsports (or whatever they end up calling it) will go the same way.

[MikeHoyer]

I liked it, although I only went to one event, so I don't know how succesful it is overall.

Not a massive crowd watching, but then it was the end of November...

[Elio]

That crowd was probably me!!!! (Personally I think that`s the next step for the EERC - getting some decent crowds in to watch their racing - which overall, I think has more to offer than all of the other "club" level stuff out there).

[Stephen Green]

Originally Posted by Old Ropey

Can anyone enlighten me as to how successful this championship was this year and whether this will continue in 2005.

It might be a good idea to look at the EERC website for more news www.eerc.co.uk

[Ian Sowman]

Originally Posted by Elio

That crowd was probably me!!!! (Personally I think that`s the next step for the EERC - getting some decent crowds in to watch their racing - which overall, I think has more to offer than all of the other "club" level stuff out there).

As it happens, I disagree because a lot of people tend to find longer races boring. A quality meeting full of 15-minute races would be more promotable than an EERC event I think.

[Stephen Green]

I think you are right Ian, shorter races seem to attract more interest from spectators. I think one of the attractions to Britcar and Britsports for drivers is the value for money aspect, in that you get a lot more track time than if you were doing shorter races?

[ss_collins]

Yes endurance racing is on the whole deathly dull to watch... just drones on... (this coming from a person who loves endurance racing!)

But Britcar is mega - Britsports seems to be doing ok - but whether it will be needed with new open series remains to be seen (and vice versa)

[Stephen Green]

What makes Britcar are the large grids and seriously fast cars, Britsports is gradually catching up though.

[Elio]

Endurance racing dull? Prima facie maybe. But Le Mans gets a decent turn-out every year doesn`t it??

I saw three British GT races this year - the Saturday one at Snet in June and the 2 at Brands in October. All three were great races, some only being decided in the dying minutes/seconds.

I agree that for a casual spectator a varied programme of short sharp races will always be more user-friendly. However if spectators can be reliably kept up to date with whats going on by a decent PA I think Enduro racing`s appeal could certainly be widened.

Unfortunately the BOAC races and 1000km WSPC races at Brands were just before my "spectating" time but I do tend to recall they got fairly decent turnouts at the gate.....

(Idea for EERC - a method of getting the PA onto radio and maybe giving away/selling radios at the gate... Probably not "do-able" technically speaking....)

[MikeHoyer]

I think a combination of races would help for the general spectator, I like endurance racing, so I'm happy to watch an hour or more from different parts of the track, but the F3/GT package for example has Formula Ford, which has short, exciting races.

I think it's just getting more people interested, I mean if Britcar/Britsports and the BTCC are racing on the same weekend, which one will have the bigger crowd?

[Ian Sowman]

Originally Posted by Elio

I agree that for a casual spectator a varied programme of short sharp races will always be more user-friendly. However if spectators can be reliably kept up to date with whats going on by a decent PA I think Enduro racing`s appeal could certainly be widened.

A couple of points here. I've not been to many Britcar/Britsports meetings but I understand that very often the programmes/entry lists have been woefully inadequate with a number of omissions/phantom entries that did not appear/spelling mistakes etc. That's a massive turn-off for spectators.

Secondly, the PA is very important. Does Britcar have its own resident commentator? Certainly worth considering given the unique nature of the category to provide more interesting, useful and well-informed commentary to the spectators.

[Stephen Green]

Ian, they did suffer with very small grids for Britsports earlier in the year but that seems to have changed now. For the Brands Hatch round in November Robin Murphy and Brian Jones were the commentators. One of the down sides to racing on the full GP circuit at Brands is that there are no working speakers on the GP Loop so you are a bit in the dark out there (especially in the night race ).

[Ian Sowman]

Stephen, I was more referring to the fact that there was little correlation between the cars listed on the entry and those on the track, apparently.

On the point you make, yes Britsports grids did pick up towards the end of the year - after a lot of other sports racing championships had finished, it appeared to me.

[Elio]

I think the entries Ian is referring to are those that were appearing on the EERC website. They were very, very dodgy to say the least (some cracking spelling mistakes!) and only really helped the more discerning "anorak" who could sort out the proverbial wheat from the chaff (if that`s how you spell it!).

The Night race meeting at Brands in November this year was the first time I have got anything constituting a programme at the gate upon entry. It was perfectly adequate but nothing particularly inspiring - certainly better than nothing.

I think the problem with the PA at most circuits is that you can`t really hear anything whilst cars are passing. In a sprint race the cars don`t get the chance to spread out that much so you can always hear some commentary whilst the cars are "away" at other parts of the track. With an enduro it`s different. Cars get spread out and you can only really get bits of commentary here and there. You rapidly lose the continuity of the whole thing.

Something in your ear that you can turn up loud would massively improve my ability to follow races. I `spose I could put the camera away and do a lap chart...!?

[MikeHoyer]

Dedicated radio would go some way to solving the problem of commentary, I don't know what the cost to set something like this up at a circuit would be though.

Then at least you could have a radio with an earpiece, the circuit could even try and flog them!

Like in the Open races at Brands, at the start a lot of cars pitted, leaving the field spread out before the race had begun virtually. I was working as a photographer that day anyway, but if I had just been a spectator it would've been confusing.

[johndpeat]

Lets see how meny Questions I can answer for you.Yes Britsports will continue into the forseable future along with Goldarts.The club hopes that now the Britsports has had a full season behind it they can attrach more entires for next year so they can then offer longer races.The Programme's will improve but please remember the club will not have a final entry list till a week or 2 before the event and people do change their mind about racing.Now Claire has come onboards this should help.
Mike I think it unfair to compare a club event like the EERC to a National Championship like toca.Commentators are often the regular circuit guys.The club can not really afford to hire a full time commentator to follow them round.
As for the BARC Open/Britsports question,The open only offers short sharp races.If the club gets sufficent regular entires to birtsports they will be putting on longer distance races than the current format so it will be up to the drivers to decide.Do they wish to race in sprint races or proper long distance races.

[MikeHoyer]

I didn't mean that there was anything wrong with the commentators, in my experience the commentary teams at smaller events are usually very knowledgable, and keep you very well informed as to what is going on. I meant you can't always hear it, if there was a radio broadcas, we could listen to it on our own radios wherever we were on the circuit.

[johndpeat]

At the end of the day it is all down to counting the pennies.If the club finds itself in a postion to offer a radio service at it's meeting they probarbly will.Till then I am afraid you will have to straining to here the pa system.

[Old Ropey]

Thanks everyone, seems like I started something. We are looking around for a few possible options for next year, Britsports sounds like quite a few other categories that are ok, but perhaps could be a lot better with just a little more effort.
Basically I'm trying to find out if it's the poor man's GT championship (poor being relative of course)

[johndpeat]

Hi Old Ropey with several GT teams looking at Britcar you could do alot worse than britsports.