SpeedSeries event feedback

[stephenh]

Well if that is the case, then unless I'm very much mistaken, I don't think it is possible. I think we would cease to be an MSA approved club. However the only way to be sure is for the Speed Series committee to ask the MSA if we can do it.

[John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison]

9 hours ago, benedwards64 said:

Sorry, not had a chance to sit down until now! As Barny mentioned I’ve run in the Javelin series for the last three years so I’ll cover off a couple of queries I’ve seen raised in this thread.

Scrutineering: a fair number of competitors will often travel to tracks the evening before, and more often than not the Javelin team will be running a trackday or similar the preceding day. Once this is done they are usually happy to scrutineer any cars that are there from about 5.30pm. Scrutineering of the remaining cars takes place on Sunday morning first thing, and they typically have two teams of two (plus other helpers) looking over the cars, helmet, paperwork etc. The scrutineers are generally pretty detailed, I’ve been pulled up in the past for a loose wheelbearing and the odd fluid leak, but generally their focus is to make sure everything is attached to the car properly, no fluid is being dropped and there’s no fire risk from uncovered battery terminals etc. If a harness is out of date they don’t mind, if it’s frayed or damaged they do. I’ve seen people with faulty inertia-reel seatbelts refused a drive until a replacement is sorted. 

Running of the day: the Javelin team do a very efficient job of keeping everything moving. Scrutineering, sign on, noise testing and the morning chat are all over by 9am and it’s straight on track for two sighting laps (usually done in two groups). By this time the marshals are all out and the untimed practice run begins. Cars are called in class order (by sub-class if it’s a big class) with the tin-top classes (A, B and C) going in order, followed by F (Caterfields etc) and S (Single seaters, Radicals and the like). The lady in charge of the tannoy does an excellent job of queue management, calling the next class up in time so that there’s no gap between cars and no unnecessary queueing. F and S get a bit more warning as we usually take longer to tog up. Cars are released at roughly 30 second intervals, but they keep an eye on faster/slower cars to ensure no-one catches the car in front. Reruns are dealt with immediately (you literally get sent straight back into the queue when you come in) and break-downs involving a tow are usually dealt with in 2 minutes. Yellow flags are minimised if at all possible – if you spin out, where safe to do so, you must continue at race speed so as not to impede the car behind you. After all if they catch you, they get a re-run on warm tyres
Usually the sighting, practice and 2-3 timed runs are done by lunch, with the remaining 3-4 timed runs in the afternoon. There’s a 5-min turnaround to sort timing between runs. Generally you’re going for a run every 40 minutes or so. If the runs finish early (as at Blyton, where it rained and about a third of the field stopped running) they will open the track for as many fun (un-timed) runs as you can fit in. Think I did about half a dozen at Blyton to give me some wet practice…

Cost: this season it’s £139 for the ‘lesser’ tracks (Blyton, Woodbridge, Kendrew) and £159 for the ‘bigger’ tracks (Snet 300, Anglesey, Cadwell). 

Regs: all on the website. I won’t go into too much detail as I don’t know how stuff compares to the MSA regs. It’s operated under the IOPD and a licence is required for each driver (£15 a year or £5 a round).

Timing: historically it has just been total elapsed time, but they have new timing gear which will apparently give split timing, top speed etc. This is new so can’t really comment yet, they weren’t using all the functionality at Blyton. Stoppages due to timing issues are rare, if anything happens they let the 2-3 cars on track finish and reset before sending the next car out.

Single-make sprints: Javelin currently also run the Toyota Sprint Series and Mazda Sprint Series, both of which have far more class definition. I have no idea if they’d be available to run a dedicated WSCC event, but I’m sure they’d be open to the conversation. It may give the firmer class structure some people seem to favour?

I hope this is useful to some. As I said I’m not affiliated with Javelin in any way, nor have I taken part in an MSA sprint so I cannot draw any comparisons nor do I want to detract at all from all the hard work that goes into running club events. I’m happy to expand on my experience or answer any queries here or by PM if necessary.

Cheers  
 

Thanks. Some good and bad stuff there. £139 - £159 seems expensive for a single day event though

[AdamR]

But if you are getting twice the number of runs...

I intend to do a Javelin event this year as well as some MSA ones. Not sure I've ever come away from an MSA one thinking 'that was a slick operation and I feel like I got good value for money' - I haven't done many though, granted...

[graham frankland]

MSA provide the rules, framework, acceditation of stewards, scrutineers, clerk of the course etc and possibly marshals for the Motor Clubs to be able put on Events.

It is the CLUBS that organise and run events run under the MSA rules.

The MSA DO NOT run the Events!

Just for the record the 2017 WSCC Speed Series Calandar includes events organised by 12 to 13 different Motor Clubs in addition the the one organised by the WSCC.

At the last count our WSCC Blyton event this year has at least 6 invited Motor Clubs to help us ensure we have sufficient entries to make the weekend viable.

Some Motor Clubs do a great job and some not so great but we need them all.

The challenge is for us all to find a way of achieving a higher and perhaps more consistent standard of event together with an acceptable level of competitor participation from each of the clubs that we go with for our annual calendar!

Glutey

 

[Lawrie]

The structure of motorsport is rather strange.  Historically a local motor club could provide most of the officials, but as clubs are now smaller, they relay on borrowing them from other clubs, and I expect WSCC do this too.  Events were organised for club members, with a few local clubs invited too.  Now you need to invite regional associations, and nationwide clubs.  Competitors often join more that one club in order to enter different events.  Access to venues is limited, and gaps in the calendar rare, so its very difficult to promote a new event.

Marshals are now being more organised (and trained) by the MSA but the organising club has to find them and persuade them to turn up.

[graham frankland]

I have today received the final regs for the Shelsley Walsh events on 6th & 7th May.

I think I am correct is saying this the first doudle header  event they have held where there is pratice and competiitons on both days (similar to our \Blyton event)

In addition changes have been made to speed up the practice sessions, now to be run in competition order rather than first come first served self select order.

Signing on can be done on Friday PM

In addition they are hopefully making arrangements for some scrutineering to be available also on the Friday afternoon!

I appreciate these are "little acorns" from one of the oldest MOTOR CLUBS in existence!

So maybe just maybe not all will be lost as far as the other clubs are concerned?

I will give John Panda a copy of these regs in readiness for his up-coming Comp Secs Meeting!

Glutey

 

[phelpsa]

They've been running double headers for at least as long as I've been competing. Glad they're seeing sense over practice orders!

[B.RAD]

Just back from the Bentley Drivers Club sprint at MIRA, usual great paddock comraderie and banter which made for a very enjoyable day. However we were all a bit disappointed for the last car to return to the paddock and just after 3.30pm and to have no further runs. Got the two practice and two timed but there was easily enough time for another run at least. 

Shame because otherwise it was a really great event and fantastic to see new faces and friendly faces again. 

[Terry Everall]

That has happened before and thats one reason I don't go anymore....Why do the clubs do that?????

[pete g]

they said they had to be off site by 5pm  and had awards to give out 

[B.RAD]

To be fair it was about 4.30pm when the awards had finished and we were leaving, so that does make sense. Shame though, it would have been the perfect day if we'd had a run or two more. Wander if MIRA could be approached to change that rule?

[pete g]

practise was a little slow  . but timed runs seemed to go ok . its alway nice to get a timed run in before lunch if possible . especially with changeable weather