DMN 2008 - drivers, cars, regs?

[bdwoody]

i have a suggestion chezza can rod tow a caravan around all year please !!

[chezza]

Lol!

2008 registration forms will be going in the post this week.

[graham bahr]

(as an aside, who thought up the current system? Is it taken from another series?).

no it wasnt taken form elsewhere, it has like the rest of the rules evolved over the years

[carrera]

Originally Posted by bdwoody

i have a suggestion chezza can rod tow a caravan around all year please !!

and points accrued should be divided by the number of driven wheels!

[TIMELORD]

This might sound a bit too radical, but I thought I'd suggest it anyway as food for thought... How about the second race being a Handicap?

It could be twenty or thirty minutes long, with a mandatory pitstop for all cars, the faster cars obviously spending longer in the pits (the exact time depending on the number of laps and the handicapper's view of each competitor's probable lap time).

Race 1 would still be a scratch race, and with grids for both races being decided by practice times as normal, there would be no danger of drivers sandbagging in an attempt to fool the handicapper (in any case, it would be an idea to have the same person handicapping at each round, so s/he would have full knowledge of everyone's capabilities). The final handicap for each round would be set once Race 1 is completed, to ensure that any data the handicapper is using is up-to-date.

Points would be awarded as they are now, with Races 1 and 2 of equal value.

If this is too much, how about a non-championship end-of-season Handicap Trophy, or even the final race of the year being a double-points Handicap?

[chezza]

Time-lord...your not the only one to along those lines and I'm sure someone was going to bring it up for discussion...I must remember next meeting!

[mig]

Personally I have never understood why someone who is faster should be handicapped surley it is up to other drivers to improve themselves or their mounts and I think with cars coming and going from the pits it would be a recipe for a big accident.If someone is dominant in their class there is a rule to introduce a weight penalty.

[chezza]

Some of you will be getting reg forms today, some of you will be getting them a little later. I ran out of address stickers and couldn't get any more so I'm going to have to wait til the weekend to get some...or hand write about 40 envelopes! But seeing as I'm sat at home nursing a sore throat and a cold I might hand write them

[BertMk2]

If you introduce handicapping and pitstops then you're heading dangerously towards "endurance racing" territory - and then it all starts getting a bit dull. With pitstops you lose track of who's where in the race and it all becomes harder to follow for the casual spectator (which is one of the points that has been raised against the current points system). Keeping it simple on track is the best option surely? The current race structure works well so why change it?

[chezza]

Well we're not thinking of changing it...its others suggesting that we do...to make it more interesting.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by chezza

..to make it more interesting.

I'd have thought DMN was one of the few championships that didn't need any help in that department!

[retro_msport]

Personally I would have loved for the last race of the year to be a reversed grid ...

Oh how different could the drinking in the pub afterwards have been ...

The only thing i can think of is ....

All cars in class line up in their class, with a small gap between classes. So there is 5 pole positions.

Spectators would be able see what cars are in what class and follow it through the race, ie say a class C car normally runs with the class A's, the spectators would see the driver catch them up and mix it with them.

A volenteer from the Drivers crews/helpers/mums and dads could hold a banner up for each class on the grid, coloured to match the circles on the cars.

No... well it is silly idea Friday

[tim dodwell]

Don't mess with the regs - it's a great series with a fantastic variety of cars, which is a spectators dream. Handicapping just creates confusion. The grids prove that you are doing it right.
The only suggestion I could make to even things out, would be to make List 1A/B tyres compulsory for ALL cars. That would also reduce competitors costs, and stop that muck being flung everywhere. My car is covered with bits of rubber after a race, some bits containing small stones which smash screens and headlights. I was shocked when I found the cost of using slicks - which would have knocked 2 to 3 seconds of my laptime.
Unfortunately, by the way, my Scirocco won't be joining you next year, as I have had enough of all the obscure problems that it keeps giving me. Having cured all the problems I had at Brands, the tachometer has now stopped working, and the conversion's wiring is a nightmare (deep sigh).
Happy Xmas and a fun New Year to Y'all.

[retro_msport]

Allthough changing to Treads, Tim, would mean wheel changes for some competitors .. as Treads arn't avalible in the sizes that the slicks are .. more cost overall.

Also the loss of grip would mean some changes to the cars, damper re-valving, ARB changes .. ooooh its getting expensive

Also race cars use slicks ...

I like slicks

[graham bahr]

as cheryl said (appart from some minor class tinkering) the rules are staying the same.

we cant do reverse grids because in the first place it will confuse the hell out of everyone and in the second place it would be downright dangerous, with the speed differntials between the classes, picture this driver in his first race in a fairly std nova or something with 40 cars that vary from a bit faster to insanely faster all overtaking the nova driver on the first lap, it doesnt bare thinking about

re tyres, the performance difference between list 1A and 1B tyres is huge so that wouldnt give an even playing field anyway, infact going that route would do the opposite of evening things up, as at the moment almost the whole field runs slicks, a lot of cars would dissappear elsewhere if they couldnt use slicks, personnally i find the prospect of trying to race a near 500bhp car on anything but slicks a rather worrying thought

pit stops and longer races arnt really an option, the racing is less pure in terms of drivers skill and car prep being the only deciding factors currently, it would also substancially push up costs takingthe racing beyond the budget of many of our competitors

[graham bahr]

back to tyres for a second, if anyone really wants to run on treaded 1A/1B our cannons tintop challenge could be the place to be, rules are similar to DMN except, 1A/1B tyres only, no 4WD, no spaceframes or sports cars, no engines bigger than 6cyl, RWD turbo cars to run a inlet restrictor

[Eddy V]

What I would like to see is a clear number system for classes.
I know that a lot of people are married to their fav number, but often the coloured dot isn't visible or people wonder why two similar looking cars (but quite different ones engine wise) are miles apart.
Why not like the Caterham boys do: class A from 1 to 99, B from 100 to 199 and so on.

Or at least a nice big A or B or whatever next to the door number.

I'm an old man and my eye sight isn't what it used to be and we do not want to punish the wrong car do we?

[chezza]

Yes thats true...and unless you know which classes the cars are in the coloured dots don't mean much...

The problems with have with numbers is that we struggle enough with number allocation, and are currently on at the MSA to allow us to use 3 digit numbers (you have to have dispensation from them). Also we have issues in that people want their favourite numbers and so on. Maybe we can look into the letters thing.

We are also going to be having numbers on the backs of cars to make them more easily identifyable.

[bdwoody]

Originally Posted by mig

If someone is dominant in their class there is a rule to introduce a weight penalty.

now theres a thing!

handicapping ,we went to the power nights thing this year and nobody had any idea what the hell was going on even the guy that won didn't know he had...or how.

[jonbryant]

Originally Posted by bdwoody

the guy that won didn't know he had...or how.

Reminds me of someone Woody :P

[bdwoody]

i don't get that jon care to explain?

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by graham bahr

we cant do reverse grids because in the first place it will confuse the hell out of everyone and in the second place it would be downright dangerous, with the speed differntials between the classes, picture this driver in his first race in a fairly std nova or something with 40 cars that vary from a bit faster to insanely faster all overtaking the nova driver on the first lap, it doesnt bare thinking about

Taking the idea from WTCC;
How about reversing the top 8, or less if need be from Race 1? The first few are always there or there abouts.

When Rod missed a gear off the line at Brands last time out out thought " Excellent, this is going to be good ! "
Mind you. didn't last long did it?

Sorry. One of my casual observations

[jonbryant]

I saw your face after that first win at Lydden remember?

"How the...?"

[bdwoody]

Ah Those Were The Days,hang On That Was This Year ,time Flys Don't It.

[jonbryant]

And I bet you still haven't fixed the dent!

Incidentally... the calendars are out! PM me, Chez or Rod to place your order. To quote someone who has seen them:

"WOW do they look good!"