At our last club meeting we were having a chat about the present & future direction of club level racing. Our last club event only attracted six cars. We sort of concluded that the downturn started with the two year seatbelt rule. Now with things like compulsary accredited race suits, two fire extinguishers with three year lifespan, balaclavas etc, it is highly unlikely that we will ever get those cars back. For a guy that has a car worth a couple of grand that simply wants to have a bit of fun these extra costs are enough to make him just not bother. There will be those that say good ridance, our sport has grown & we don't want crappy old cars running around making the sport look bad. I happen to hold the view that we should be promoting our sport from the ground up, so club level racing is where it all begins.
Someone from our club had an idea & we are going to try it. For want of a better term we will call it off road autocross. It will be conducted on our short course track at Avalon. Because it's an autocross you can drive pretty well anything, including older buggies that don't comply with current regs. It is two cars on the track at once (staggered) & they will do we think, two laps. Depending on how many cars we get will depend how many runs you get. I am pretty sure we are also having a "flying" start to avoid gearbox dramas. We also think this will perhaps be a great way to let our kids (that are of propper age) get to have a drive of dads car in a fairly controled environment, without having to worry about keeping out of peoples way. All cars will be scrutineered & all drivers must have licences. The minimum licence for autocross is far cheaper that the regular off road one. I think it is planned fro October but I'm not sure. I will put up a date when I find out.
Go for it Stingray. There are many clubs outthere doing simular things but because thye are not on "Off Road" permits they are not promoted and advertised for the general off road competitor, usually it is only the members of the organising club that know about it. For example our club run a simular type event over a 3km course and last year we had vehicles from many disaplines competing and it was a most enjoyable day for all
Any way to keep our club sport happening is a good thing. Where else are we going to get new blood.
Most Clubs have a lot of trouble raising officials for events and end up concentrating effort & personel on just one race a year. Our Club ,Sydney Off Road Racing, this year cut down on our own club rounds and included rounds of other clubs to make up the calendar.
Thank you Stingray, for reminding me there is other ways to play. We used to do that type of stuff untill a number of the contestants started running State, and National rounds . Of course there was only club events early on ,except for The race, Hattah. so you only had to get the car ready for one major,,. Nowdays there are races everywhere to play at for the big kids and like you said we need to get club racing some where to start and I think you are on the right track.
Wil chase up the idea at our club to get that sort of stuff happening again.
