Launching a new club racing category is never easy – and it’s even more difficult at a time of economic uncertainty. There are so many tricky decisions to be made about the specification of cars, the format of the racing, the calendar, the sporting regulations and so on.
And then there’s the question of how bold to be for that inaugural season. Many clubs opt for caution, wanting to pair a new idea with an existing series for that first campaign as interest builds to avoid the problem of forking out for expensive track time to give the new championship a standalone grid, only for just a handful of drivers to commit. This could lead to huge amounts of money being thrown down the drain and threaten the new concept’s future before it has properly begun.
With this in mind, the 750 Motor Club took a sensible approach with its new-for-2025 Swift Sport Challenge. It had planned for the 2006-11 Mk1 1.6 VVT Swifts to be on the Hot Hatch grid for the first few events before giving the new series its own races later in the year. But it has been faced with a very nice problem, and incredibly strong interest has resulted in a revision of the club’s calendar. Well over 20 Swifts are now expected to be ready for the start of the season, so sharing with Hot Hatch was no longer an option. Instead, the category will get standalone contests from the off at Silverstone in May. Aside from Snetterton in June, when it could still partner Hot Hatch, individual races will continue for the rest of 2025.
Clearly the 750MC is doing something right to have garnered such high interest from the start. And that stems from careful choice of the base car. “One reason I chose the Swift was it fitted the performance bracket we were looking at – not super-quick but sensible track car performance,” explains 750MC managing director Giles Groombridge.
“I used to spend a lot of time at the Nurburgring and there was a company that would rent out track-prepared Swifts. You could pay by the lap and you would get novices pounding these things around all day. They’re really tough little cars and that was the thinking behind it.”
After settling on the Swift, the next step was to develop an affordable kit to convert cars into race specification, with Tegiwa offering such an option for under £5,000. Once a level and accessible playing field was developed, a couple of the cars were built and tried out in Hot Hatch events and the Birkett Relay last year, proving the perfect advertisement for their reliability and performance.
“They’re hardy little things – everyone seems to love the cars,” adds the club’s communications manager James Winstanley. “We’re starting with a warm hatch, not just a shopping car.”
Another key reason for the high levels of interest is the attractive package the 750MC has put together for a full season. A special deal has been created that encompasses registration and entry fees, club membership, a pre-season trackday and transponder hire, and is available for £2,500. And the club has also sought to bring the costs down in other innovative ways.
The fastest two qualifying times for drivers who take part in expensive Friday testing will be removed, while competitors who drive their car to and from events will receive a £250 credit. Other novel ideas include bonus points for drivers who complete a day’s marshalling.
There are several key elements to the Swift Sport Challenge that demonstrate it is exactly the sort of introduction that should be welcomed
The end result is a new series that seemingly has a very bright future, especially since it’s captured the imagination of a whole range of drivers.
“We’ve got three women and a big mix of age and experience,” Winstanley explains. “We’re probably into double figures in terms of novices and we’ve got three or four 16/17-year-old drivers. Hopefully people can learn from the more experienced drivers – there’s no faster way to learn than from watching experienced drivers.”
Regular readers will know Autosport has long argued that there are too many championships on the national racing schedules. But, just because the market is dangerously saturated, that does not mean new series should be outlawed. In a fast-paced sport, innovation is crucial and new ideas must continue to be encouraged.
There are several key elements to the Swift Sport Challenge that demonstrate it is exactly the sort of introduction that should be welcomed. First of all, it features a newly developed car and is therefore not just stealing machines from existing series. And, just as importantly, the new ideas for ways to minimise cost and attract new drivers into club racing prove that it’s a completely different proposition to others in the marketplace. It has a genuine USP.
Should there indeed be 20 or more Swifts on that inaugural grid in May – and those numbers are sustained throughout the season – then we can categorically say that this is a new club contest that was needed. Perhaps it’s time for more rigour to go into the permit approvals process to ensure this is the case for every addition to the club racing world, not just some of them.
This article is one of many in the new monthly issue of Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the February 2025 issue and subscribe today.
