Motor Sport?

Motor sport is one of the most tiresome subjects anyone can mention in polite company. Just mention the word to an environmentalist and you’ll be pinned to the wall whilst being berated about the planet and the ethical irresponsibility of burning fossil fuels in the pursuit of enjoyment, or you’ll be nailed by the NIMBYs for making too much noise, or you’ll be marked as a heartless brute for taking a genuine classic car and turning it into a racing machine. These are just some of the reactions a motor sport enthusiast can expect; there are other reactions like “huh?”

Well the fact is that many people are employed in the world of motor sport; in accessory shops, engineering companies, preparation shops, circuit owners, and the list goes on. Yet the general public knows or even understands very little about it. Of course they’re not going to learn much more from this either!

However, there are a few things that I’m currently thinking about as I sit here in a country where the weather is generally dry and they have races at night instead of at civilised hours during the day.

The first is the British GP. I confess to liking Silverstone and indeed I used to enjoy visiting, on alternate years, Brands Hatch. The two circuits presented differing challenges both for the spectator, who would spend many hours looking at the rear end of the car in front, one year in Kent and the next in Northants and the drivers, who would either have to deal with the flat out nature of the airfield or the dips, bumps and lumps provided by the Kent “bowl”. All that alternation came to an end in 1986(?) when Silverstone were awarded the contract for the British GP for 10 years; this also coincided with the beginning of the NIMBY issue at Brands, where race days on the GP circuit would be severely restricted. Now, thanks to a spat with the BRDC, Bernie E has taken his ball away and given it to Donington.

Donington is a historically important motor sport venue having held Grand Eprueves (that’s an old name for them) in the late thirties. Indeed it deserves its place in history as much as Brands or Silverstone, but in order to bring it up to the necessary standards it is being re developed. This will involve considerable work from the designers to the contractors. Reports suggest that planning permission has been granted and therefore the work may commence. We can view the plans on line and indeed I have seen it and it is good. But, and here is my problem, I just can’t see that all the work and the infrastructure changes needed for the event will be in place by July 2010! This is being discussed at http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107962. I’ll no doubt come back to this at some point.

Then there’s historic motor sport. This really confuses me. There are various regulations to cover differing types of car and periods under which those cars raced. This was originally decided by the FIA (we all know who they are) and the most popular is what is termed Appendix K. This set of regs is applied to saloon and sports cars built in sufficient numbers to be homologated (you can look that up for yourselves), for motor sport. In the case of Pre 1966 saloons it was Group 2 racing. Now, here’s the catch. There are many people in this class of racing who are racers; there are also many who are rich. Put those two together and you’ll find that the rich racers win. This is not strange, nor is it unusual, it is simply normality. Competition breeds success, if you have the dosh. It does mean however that those of us with less than the odd million quid, have to make do with picking up the results as and when we can. Personally I don’t mind this but then at my age I’ve probably got as many laurels and winners pots as I’m likely to get (and I’m pleased to say I have a few).

However I do get really fed up with the petty jealousy arising from those who want to march out of step with the rest. The criticism of the Masters Racing Organisation in the UK by some racers is a little rude to say the least. In a nutshell Masters have taken historic motor sport and decided to make it a more user friendly experience for their customers, who, surprise, surprise, are the entrants. Not the spectators, not the circuit owners, nope it’s us the drivers. My confusion revolves around this anti Masters thing. It seems that those who are railing against Masters are those who think that cheating or rule bending doesn’t happen in other clubs or organisations. Well it does, it may be that those clubs make the correction of these things more visible and/or like the HSCC, run a tight ship, but it does happen all over. People need to realise that cheats generally only fool themselves. Using that as an excuse not to race is, I feel, somewhat self defeating.