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This time last season, the historic and club racing strata I’ve loved for decades saw competitors’ post COVID-19 hunger for motorsport evidenced in many of the strongest domestic grids in years. Ramifications of the Brexit fiasco and the misery of the pandemic certainly kept those racers able and minded to continue at home. We weren’t exactly riding the crest of a wave, but there was cause for cautious optimism among grid organisers and event promoters.
The current energy cost crisis, exacerbated by the ghastly ongoing situation in Ukraine and resultant skyrocketing of everyday expense had not reared their ugly heads until this spring, but have torpedoed global economic growth. While racing remains a luxury for those who can afford to compete, the sheer number of events is diluting the pool to a perilously dangerous degree.
It’s a fight for survival, which not every group will weather. While there are those which appear to be bucking the trend – Equipe Classic Racing’s vibrant and attractive offer continues to enthuse entrants in the historic arena, for instance – ever rising circuit hire fees and diminishing revenues can only lead to a spiral of decline or an overdue rebalance.
As in the natural world, survival of the fittest rules; species prosper or fade to extinction. Clearly something needs to be done, and doubtless options are being continually assessed, to ensure a future. Whatever shape that is.
At last weekend’s annual Thruxton Historic event, Historic Promotions – which presents the showpiece alongside the circuit management team at the British Automobile Racing Club’s home venue – was faced with a dilemma. Support for three of HP’s sister concern Motor Racing Legends’ four grids were the smallest on the bill. Five Jaguar Classic Challenge/Pre-’63 GT starters, eight Sixties’ Touring Car Challenge with U2TC and 10 Historic Touring Car Challenge/Tony Dron Trophy runners set off into one-hour races.
Although the HTCC pack was on a par with previous years, the others were well down. Even the Royal Automobile Woodcote Trophy/Stirling Moss Trophy 1950s’ sportscar field at 15 was half of 2021’s bumper crop. The questions widely asked were why, and why were the (era and time complementary) smallest grids not amalgamated?
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MRL boss and HP partner Duncan Wiltshire spotlights four factors for the thin fields. “It was extremely disappointing, no doubt, but too many events, hence greater competitor choice, is a key one,” he explains.
“After the pandemic, we might have expected the number of meetings to reduce, not increase. The backlog of family holidays and, particularly, weddings [postponed from 2020-21] took regular drivers away, but the principal reason our Woodcote Trophy/SMT and Jaguar grids were hit so badly is next month’s Le Mans Classic.
"Competitors are saving their cars [and preparers gearing up for the biggie, traditionally run in alternate years]. We underestimated that because, with everything that has happened over the past two years, attitudes have changed.”
"We underestimated that because, with everything that has happened over the past two years, attitudes have changed" Duncan Wiltshire
That typically one third of competitors are now entering events in the two weeks before them has become more prevalent, if not the norm, across club racing, where others enter then withdraw. Although this matter of budgeting when meetings are close together, with fuel costs already at record levels and rising by the week, is more of an issue at grassroots regional levels than in the premium historic arenas.
More encouragingly, however, MRL is seeing significantly stronger interest in its new Snetterton event on 16-17 July, where its charismatic Pre-War set gets to play for the first time since the season-opening Donington Historic Festival.
Last weekend’s massive MG Live festival at Silverstone drew a lot of competitors – including 60 for the MGB’s 60th anniversary race – but entries elsewhere were poor. At Austria’s Red Bull Ring, a depleted Masters entry – seven Gentlemen Drivers [GT], seven Sports Car Legends and 10 three-litre Formula 1s – reflected competitors juggling the increased issues of transporting cars based in a non-EU country, which also deter European privateers from coming here.
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Only the 17 Endurance Legends (the modern sports prototypes and GT cars that are proving very popular within the package to drivers from around the world) showed potential. Faster, more affordable, stronger and more sustainable than DFV-era F1s those in the know tell me, it’s not difficult to see why.
This weekend, the Historic Sports Car Club bounces back from largely slim grids at Cadwell Park, and miserable weather on day two, with a fine 270-strong entry at the favoured Donington in our British heartland. Of those, around 225 are for the club’s own championship races, so perhaps there is a glimmer of hope. The balance span two Monoposto sets, the Monoposto Racing Club subscribing to double-headers as at Snetterton in April.
Increasingly, I foresee cooperation between organising clubs, prioritising serving memberships or working on a purely commercial basis, becoming closer. With HSCC, Vintage Sports-Car Club, MRL, Masters and others weathering challenges, not to mention the ageing demographic of competitors, amalgamating grids (as the Sports Car Club of America does in the US) and sharing costs, risks and rewards – probably with twin tiers of events at different price points – must surely be the way forward?
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