Ma5da racing...getting a bit rough!!!!
Discussion
I watched the MX5 racing at Castle Combe this weekend. Great stuff for the spectators! It brings to mind the good old days of Honda CRX and Rover Tomcats......never let a race go by without a red flag or a safety car and at least two or three cars destroyed at every meeting! Basically a bunch of guys with more money than sense, knocking seven bells out of each other at over 100mph. Seriously.......this championship is not for the underfunded!!! The bill for accident damage must run into thousands for every car!
If you like watching cars crashing, don't miss it!!!
If you like watching cars crashing, don't miss it!!!
Are there any particular incidents that you are referring to?
I watched the same races on the Sunday at Castle Combe, and thought that the series looked like a brilliant one to get involved in. I'm seriously considering hunting for a car for 2011.
Whilst there were a couple of cars that were quite badly damaged, the vast majority of the dings and scrapes could be very easily beaten out, squirted with paint, and polished over. - Did you look at the cars up close in the paddock? - Whilst the cars all appear smart and shiny from the spectator areas, they are all pretty rough and ready up close, and the series organisers take what is best described as a "sensible" view to the standard that cars are being repaired between meetings, The cars you see with a stoved wing, door and bumper will NOT be going into a bodyshop for a £1000+ repair before the next outing! Whilst not banger oval standard, there were more than one car that I saw which had been repaired with a brush and a coat of Dulux
Bits are readily available, and bargain basement cheap .... and entire car can be bought for about £500 to scavenge from, with a bit of money coming back from the parts that are not required.
I watched the same races on the Sunday at Castle Combe, and thought that the series looked like a brilliant one to get involved in. I'm seriously considering hunting for a car for 2011.
Whilst there were a couple of cars that were quite badly damaged, the vast majority of the dings and scrapes could be very easily beaten out, squirted with paint, and polished over. - Did you look at the cars up close in the paddock? - Whilst the cars all appear smart and shiny from the spectator areas, they are all pretty rough and ready up close, and the series organisers take what is best described as a "sensible" view to the standard that cars are being repaired between meetings, The cars you see with a stoved wing, door and bumper will NOT be going into a bodyshop for a £1000+ repair before the next outing! Whilst not banger oval standard, there were more than one car that I saw which had been repaired with a brush and a coat of Dulux
Bits are readily available, and bargain basement cheap .... and entire car can be bought for about £500 to scavenge from, with a bit of money coming back from the parts that are not required.
mat205125 said:
The cars you see with a stoved wing, door and bumper will NOT be going into a bodyshop for a £1000+ repair before the next outing! Whilst not banger oval standard, there were more than one car that I saw which had been repaired with a brush and a coat of Dulux
Bits are readily available, and bargain basement cheap .... and entire car can be bought for about £500 to scavenge from, with a bit of money coming back from the parts that are not required.
I saw one car that had a wing held together with duct tape Bits are readily available, and bargain basement cheap .... and entire car can be bought for about £500 to scavenge from, with a bit of money coming back from the parts that are not required.
I was racing in the MR2s and we're in a similar position that spares are cheap from scrap cars should the worst happen, but everyone tries to avoid the serious panel bashing as nobody wants to wreck someone's season.That was the first time I'd watched Mazdas though and have to say I really enjoyed it!
I was referring to the write-offs that were taken back to the paddock on a recovery truck after the second mazda race. Don't know if the drivers were hurt, but the cars weren't going to out on track again anytime soon.
I think you can run around at the back of the masda field with a home built special, but the guys at the front are spending mega-bucks on engine development. It started out as a budget series but now its so big it has turned into a cheque book championship. I think you are talking £30000+ a season if you want to win. I walked round the paddock...most of the cars come in articulated lorries with huge awnings and a team of mechanics.
The attitude to body damage seems to be its a minor expense compared to the other costs...so they don't care! Cheap club racing it is not!!!
I think you can run around at the back of the masda field with a home built special, but the guys at the front are spending mega-bucks on engine development. It started out as a budget series but now its so big it has turned into a cheque book championship. I think you are talking £30000+ a season if you want to win. I walked round the paddock...most of the cars come in articulated lorries with huge awnings and a team of mechanics.
The attitude to body damage seems to be its a minor expense compared to the other costs...so they don't care! Cheap club racing it is not!!!
bmwguy said:
I walked round the paddock...most of the cars come in articulated lorries with huge awnings and a team of mechanics.
I'm in no better position to define "most" more or less than anyone else, but the trucks appeared to be carrying a good number of cars per unit (there is an "arrive and drive" rental element to the series), and for every 'x' truck transported car, there were 'y' people bringing their own car on a standard trailer and kipping in their tent next to it.I agree that running at the front is going to cost money, as well as require skill though. I think that running a bargain cheap road tyre in the series, however, is a breath of fresh air. In other series where slicks or 888 trackday tyres have been involved, the budget quickly gets ridiculous .... To run a BMW Mini, for example, will require at least 4 tyres for a weekend, and there'll be no change from £500 for them.
My original point wasn't about cost. I guess as with any motor sport, with the MX5's you can spend as much or as little as you want to. My point is that it seems to be getting very rough with door handle banging and mid-corner nudges becoming the norm rather than the exception....but hey! If you want to go banger racing, you pay your money and take your chances...
The same meeting at Coombe saw 33 Golfs go door to door and not a single retirement due to damage so its usually down to the type of championship - some of the Golfs are immaculately prepared and despite all this the racing is excellent too.
Judging by the other thread on here damage is encouraged - to me thats not racing
Judging by the other thread on here damage is encouraged - to me thats not racing
Interesting reading the drivers interpretation of this video of two of the races.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co88txvfzHA&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co88txvfzHA&fea...
To clarify a few points, I was supporting the team britalia car (45), the red car that had the car land on its bonnet. Yes the car is heavily damaged but is certainly not written off. Repair cost is amazingly cheap however that in itself does not mean that damage is encouraged, indeed like most other forms of racing apart from banger racing, it is supposed to be non contact. As I posted in the other topic when you have a successful and highly competitive series such as this, there will be the inevitable shunts. This is not to justify the kind of behaviour that was suggested in the other topic, I for one do not want to be constantly repairing accident damage.
This series is most definitely not about money no object who has got the biggest chequebook, far from it. If you read the regs you will see that the opposite is true, and with almost 70 registered drivers and full grids (3 races with 42 cars on the grid for each one at castle combe) for every round, I would argue that this is down to it being so cheap compared to other series.
This is a great affordable series and should not be condemned as banger racing on the strength of a first lap pile up.
Daz 65
This series is most definitely not about money no object who has got the biggest chequebook, far from it. If you read the regs you will see that the opposite is true, and with almost 70 registered drivers and full grids (3 races with 42 cars on the grid for each one at castle combe) for every round, I would argue that this is down to it being so cheap compared to other series.
This is a great affordable series and should not be condemned as banger racing on the strength of a first lap pile up.
Daz 65
Daz65 said:
To clarify a few points, I was supporting the team britalia car (45), the red car that had the car land on its bonnet. Yes the car is heavily damaged but is certainly not written off. Repair cost is amazingly cheap however that in itself does not mean that damage is encouraged, indeed like most other forms of racing apart from banger racing, it is supposed to be non contact. As I posted in the other topic when you have a successful and highly competitive series such as this, there will be the inevitable shunts. This is not to justify the kind of behaviour that was suggested in the other topic, I for one do not want to be constantly repairing accident damage.
This series is most definitely not about money no object who has got the biggest chequebook, far from it. If you read the regs you will see that the opposite is true, and with almost 70 registered drivers and full grids (3 races with 42 cars on the grid for each one at castle combe) for every round, I would argue that this is down to it being so cheap compared to other series.
This is a great affordable series and should not be condemned as banger racing on the strength of a first lap pile up.
Daz 65
Have to agree your comment, looking at the footage [couldn't see too much due too the tyre smoke]it looks more like a racing incident and one or two not having no where to go just went for the wrong part of trackThis series is most definitely not about money no object who has got the biggest chequebook, far from it. If you read the regs you will see that the opposite is true, and with almost 70 registered drivers and full grids (3 races with 42 cars on the grid for each one at castle combe) for every round, I would argue that this is down to it being so cheap compared to other series.
This is a great affordable series and should not be condemned as banger racing on the strength of a first lap pile up.
Daz 65
just to balance it up, in my experience the racing can be very clean;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzcQYij4hD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFwGkBqSoM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzcQYij4hD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFwGkBqSoM0
mat205125 said:
Interesting reading the drivers interpretation of this video of two of the races.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co88txvfzHA&fea...
Send this one to the CoC or the series organiser. The worst deliberate contact I have seen for some time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co88txvfzHA&fea...
Perhaps Car 90 was optimistic in Race 1 but that does not mean you go for revenge in Race 2 and try and knock someone off the road. Perhaps No 43 should read the Blue Book Q 14.4.2?
MGRacer said:
mat205125 said:
Interesting reading the drivers interpretation of this video of two of the races.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co88txvfzHA&fea...
Send this one to the CoC or the series organiser. The worst deliberate contact I have seen for some time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co88txvfzHA&fea...
Perhaps Car 90 was optimistic in Race 1 but that does not mean you go for revenge in Race 2 and try and knock someone off the road. Perhaps No 43 should read the Blue Book Q 14.4.2?
no.53 said:
crikey the driver of car 43 should have his license revoked - just some of the worst stds i have ever seen.
Top marks to the driver of the in car camera for keeping his cool when there was a total tosser on the track.
I agree 100%. Regardless of whether the camera car was a little optimistic in race one, the behaviour in the second race was deliberate and uncalled for .... A shame that the footage finishes before the end of the race. Anyone know the final finishing order?Top marks to the driver of the in car camera for keeping his cool when there was a total tosser on the track.
mat205125 said:
Anyone know the final finishing order?
Full results from the entire day are here;http://www.tsl-timing.com/ccrc/2010/102468.pdf
ok...I am guessing to a certain extent...but based on the fact that this year the front runners are suddenly going a lot quicker and the rules have changed. (Available to download from the BRSCC web site)
New for 2010: Non standard pistons are permitted and no material or weight is specified, non-standard valves are permitted, valve seat angles are free, balancing of crank and con rods is now permitted. Fly wheel can have material removed.
None of that was allowed last year. Last year the best you could have was a well put together standard engine. Now you can use some pretty exotic race technologies.
At Castle Combe at the weekend, the majority of the field were doing the same lap times as last year. However, the front four or five cars were 2 seconds a lap quicker than previously.
Is my guess that some serious money has been spent unreasonable?
New for 2010: Non standard pistons are permitted and no material or weight is specified, non-standard valves are permitted, valve seat angles are free, balancing of crank and con rods is now permitted. Fly wheel can have material removed.
None of that was allowed last year. Last year the best you could have was a well put together standard engine. Now you can use some pretty exotic race technologies.
At Castle Combe at the weekend, the majority of the field were doing the same lap times as last year. However, the front four or five cars were 2 seconds a lap quicker than previously.
Is my guess that some serious money has been spent unreasonable?
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