FRCC Invitational 2013

[Racing Snake]

All,

with the success of this years event the idea would now be to keep this going & turn it into one of the events that Scottish Region is know for. We did a great job raising over £1000 for Yorkhill Children's Hospital thanks mainly to the efforts of Kenny Clark, so lets do it again.

I have to discuss some things with the FRCC committee however for the moment I'm going out on a limb as the ideas flow. The main idea is to turn this into a 2 day event:

possible formats

• Oople Style

1. Saturday = Practice & 4 rounds of Qualifying (both 2WD & 4WD)
2. Sunday = 1 round Qualifying & 3 leg Finals for all (both 2WD & 4WD)

• Normal Format

1. Saturday = 2WD Qualifying & Finals (short practice at the begining of the day)
2. Sunday = 4WD Qualifying & Finals (short practice at the begining of the day)

This obviously means that if competitors are travelling from faraway reaches of the country that they would have 2 nights accommodation to deal with as well. So with this in mind I'd very much like to leave this thread open to the masses to provide some feedback on this idea.

Thanks

[orinoco]

Sounds Great, I'm for 2wd sat and 4wd sun. More time to concentrate on setups, coz you know how much I like to tinker and change my setups between rounds.

[sidawson]

I like the sound of the oople style.

I will make a suggestion that Kenny and Nathan get a weight restriction to give some mere mortals a chance say 8 KG

[V6Jim]

It's gotta be the 2WD Saturday, 4WD Sunday. Quite a few folks will only do one class (ie me) and to appear for two days to run one class isn't on....

Can't think of any good reason for the Oople style really...

Jimmy

[discothesnake]

Originally Posted by V6Jim

It's gotta be the 2WD Saturday, 4WD Sunday. Quite a few folks will only do one class (ie me) and to appear for two days to run one class isn't on....

Can't think of any good reason for the Oople style really...

Jimmy

OOple style is defo the way to go! It's cracking. Relaxed and you've got loads of time between races.

That's the way I think it should go.

[V6Jim]

Doesn't make any sense to me.

If you had only 2WD in one day it would be super relaxed too. I can't speak for others, but if I was only running one class I would find it hard to justify being there for two days!

Most drivers who attend Oople events would be running both classes, so that works OK at an event of that status.

Jimmy

[discothesnake]

Not true Jimmy. 90% of people who attend the oOple race run just one class (because you have to) and it lasts two days. Loads of time between rounds. Ive done it two years running and its a great format.

We've been over this before and we don't have enough racers in Scotland to do 1 class per day.

Think of how many racers were there on Sunday. 5 heats. If you took 1 class away from that there would 24/25 cars. And that was a busy meeting.

Wouldn't work I'm afraid.

[paul whittock]

I can see jimmys point of view I only run one class aswell and I travel from Sutherland (Inverness) . If it was to take place over a two day period it would work out to costly. But I also like the oople way if I lived closer to the event I would say yes. But saying that its all for a good cause so I would deffo go anyway the racing was awesome. Maybe something could be done about pit space thou it was tight in the back room a few more racers and you couldent move.

[V6Jim]

Originally Posted by discothesnake

Not true Jimmy. 90% of people who attend the oOple race run just one class (because you have to) and it lasts two days. Loads of time between rounds. Ive done it two years running and its a great format.

We've been over this before and we don't have enough racers in Scotland to do 1 class per day.

Think of how many racers were there on Sunday. 5 heats. If you took 1 class away from that there would 24/25 cars. And that was a busy meeting.

Wouldn't work I'm afraid.

I assume John is wanting to expand the meeting to two days in order to attract more entries? As Paul has pointed out, more entries would be pretty much impossible to handle in the Hall at Grangemouth. I would say the capacity of that hall would be about 30 - 40 drivers. So another venue would have to be considered anyway. Without an increase in numbers a two day meeting isn't necessary.

If you then get an increase in numbers to justify the two day meeting the format could be either Oople or normal. It may just be me, but I still don't think the Oople format makes any sense at all. Even if you run both classes and especially if you only run one.

Jimmy

[sidawson]

Originally Posted by V6Jim

I would say the capacity of that hall would be about 30 - 40 drivers.

Jimmy

We regularly used to run with 50+ drivers on a Friday night with tourers.

The hall is bigger than you think guys we in the past have used the front of the hall in the corridor by the kitchen and there is also a smaller hall off to the side that is accessible so space isn't an issue

[discothesnake]

I agree that it was a bit of a squeeze but do you have any idea the cost of hiring a large gym hall? It's catch 22 I'm afraid.

You need the numbers to attend to hire a big hall.
We don't have them.
You need to run to a format to suit drivers who run both classes to keep the numbers up.
You need to suit drivers who run one class as they don't want to run both days. Eh?

What happens if someone who wants to run 2wd only works on a Saturday?
If you run the oOple format there is racing both days for both classes.

If I (or anyone else) races down south, we have to stay in hotels. You could look to do that and save on traveling.

There is ways round it and I know John is just puting out feelers but I reckon oOple format would be best.

[StevieD]

Si,s right we had 53 racers with touring cars on the friday night in the hall.
The oople format works well. I am like dave been the last 2 of them only run 2wd as thats all i have. If you get a chance to go to oople you will find out its the way to go for relaxed racing.

[V6Jim]

Originally Posted by discothesnake

What happens if someone who wants to run 2wd only works on a Saturday?
If you run the oOple format there is racing both days for both classes.

Surely then that person couldn't enter the Oople format meeting at all then? Whatever class he ran? Or can you just attend on the Sunday despite it being a two day meeting?

Jimmy

[discothesnake]

I suppose technically you could If you ran the meeting to FTQ format. You could turn up on Sunday morning, do one qualifier and stick it on pole!

You are obviously not convinced Jimmy but if you run it to 2wd on Saturday and 4wd on Sunday, you are stopping someone who only runs one class from racing both days. To me that is unfair if it's only to suit a handful of people who only want to run one class.

[jason-l]

I think I'd prefer 'Normal' format, ie. like EOS Finals.

Unless someone can demonstrate how the oOple style schedules work, I'm struggling to see how it makes a day significantly more relaxed (if youre in both classes)?

Example, if you're running both classes:

Normal - 4 heats and 3 finals Sat (7 driving + 7 marshalling = 14 x 5 mins = 70 mins), repeated on Sunday.

oOple - 8 heats Sat (8 driving + 8 marshalling = 16 x 5 mins = 80 mins), then 6 finals Sun (6 driving + 6 marshalling = 12 x 5 mins = 60 mins)

The 'hours worked' are very similar... oOple has slightly greater workload Sat (80 mins 'duties' vs 70 mins), slightly lesser workload Sunday (60 mins 'duties' vs 70 mins) - but with single class guys having to travel both days when their saved cash could help them help the charity

Also, is there not an elephant in the room when discussing the oOple format in the context of a Grangemouth winter charity meet? ie. this is a meeting in an urban location in winter - both precluding cheap overnighting in tents and a Sat night party atmosphere... which is surely part of what makes oOple style work (which I hope to experience in 2013 )?

[discothesnake]

I'm actually starting to lose the will to live on this one.

EOS style format does not work up here as we do not have the numbers!

The reason we are discussing this is to try and come up with an alternative format, not throw obstacles in the way.

Try and be a bit more positive.

[StevieD]

Best thing the doubters could do is enter the oople event which is normaly in july. Then that gives them the experience of how it runs. Plus plenty of time to organise frcc event to suit.

[V6Jim]

Originally Posted by discothesnake

I'm actually starting to lose the will to live on this one.

EOS style format does not work up here as we do not have the numbers!

The reason we are discussing this is to try and come up with an alternative format, not throw obstacles in the way.

Try and be a bit more positive.

The reason for this thread is to discuss the pros and cons of whatever format we might think appropriate. If it happens that we disagree with your veiwpoint it doesn't mean we're 'throwing obstacles in the way'.

If there is insufficient numbers for two days racing separate classes then the event should be over one day only. If there is sufficient numbers for a two day meeting then I still think separate classes per day still makes sense.

I'm not an unintelligent man, but I still absolutely fail to see any advantage in running this meeting Oople style.

Separate days for me.

Jimmy

[discothesnake]

Fair enough Jimmy. It's nothing to do with people disagreeing with me, I'm just trying to explain how these meetings run.

Sure, one class suits you as you have one car. People with two cars end up being frustrated due to lack of time. Running two classes means 14 races and that's crazy.

Remember, the people who run two classes are the ones who are keeping the number of cars up. Without them it'd be an extremely quiet meeting.

I'm not gonna say any more on the matter.

[sidawson]

I like the idea of the oople style as I will be running 2 classes next year and it will be my first ever with a 2wd so I like the idea of more setup time to get the most out of the car.

Look at the flip side of this. If you feel you have free time go and see a junior and ask how there getting on. Offer to help setup there car help them make changes to improve there weekends racing and teach them what to do.

It's only toy cars guys.