MSA Press Release

[Jim Spencer]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson

Firstly I suspect the confusion is arising with the use of the phrase British Hillclimb Championship. I suspect what David Spencer is referring to is the British Hillclimb LEADERS.

Secondly several people have registered in Caterhams!

Yes!

Hi

I think Dave's refering to the problem of progression from Nat B to Nat A events as a whole - not just the BHC.

Most folks are going to start in Nat B meetings - Yes?
Most folks are going to want to progress through the sport one would hope..

But currently that's not easy to do unless you go from roadgoing, to mod prod and/or onto single seaters within the Nat B structure and then move to Nat A events.
If you build/develop a car to be competitive in the road going classes (at Nat B level) you can't (or there's little point) progress with that car, in the same specification, to Nat A meetings as the class spilts are different..

Must be logical to somebody I suppose..

Of course if does mean we can have loads of classes at combined Nat A / B meetings which help the sport from a spectator viewpoint no end

[Duggy]

Originally Posted by Webbo

I think you will find the Caterham/Westfield entrants did so as to be able to enter the channel island rounds. Apparantly you need to be registered in the BHC to enter Jersey/Guernsey

Correct me someone if i am wrong!

Jersey does give preference to registered contenders however it's no guarantee of an entry.

[steve88]

Originally Posted by Duggy

Jersey does give preference to registered contenders however it's no guarantee of an entry.

We Locals have to qualify to enter based upon fastest times in class and number of cars in class. If registered it does help but does still not guarantee entry. Think this why alot of the Guernseys join national round as well to be guaranteed an entry into Jersey. This is my understanding of it as the criteria for entry this year was never published !!! Bit unfair on local contenders as anyone from anywhere other than Jersey are guaranteed an entry if registered yet we are not .

Notwithstanding the above alot of this is due to the very limited pit space we have at Bouley Bay

[Duggy]

Originally Posted by steve88

We Locals have to qualify to enter based upon fastest times in class and number of cars in class. If registered it does help but does still not guarantee entry. Think this why alot of the Guernseys join national round as well to be guaranteed an entry into Jersey. This is my understanding of it as the criteria for entry this year was never published !!! Bit unfair on local contenders as anyone from anywhere other than Jersey are guaranteed an entry if registered yet we are not .

Notwithstanding the above alot of this is due to the very limited pit space we have at Bouley Bay

You contradict yourself there Steve, one minute your saying overseas contenders are not guaranteed an entry and then a few sentences later you say "Bit unfair on local contenders as anyone from anywhere other than Jersey are guaranteed an entry if registered yet we are not ."

The criteria has not changed for several years, if it wasn't published I can only apologise unreservedly on behalf of the JMC & LCC. At least we have one, some events just say "at organisers discretion end of".

[steve88]

Originally Posted by steve88

We Locals have to qualify to enter based upon fastest times in class and number of cars in class. If registered it does help but does still not guarantee entry.

Was referring to local entrants ,

Always a great day whether am running or not , had a great day this year running the pits and having the craic with the competitors . Like I also said it is our unfortunate paddock situation which limits the numbers which we can allow.

[Dad's Lad]

Originally Posted by dennis.doyle

I suspect so too & agree that all premier championships need feeders into them. One of the press releases says that BARC will be running the Leaders. Have details for the Leaders, e.g. class regs, costs, etc. ever been published on the Web before? Perhaps it might be worth a try, maybe even after counsultation?

Leaders Regs and some others are posted to the Doune website - admittedly not the first place people would look but it show up on google for searches like 'hill climb leaders regulations' so it isn't exactly hidden.

I don't know about the number of rounds as it doesn't really affect me even though I'm out at more events than pretty much any driver. The championship could definitely be promoted better and hopefully BARC will have new people to do that.

Having said that I don't think it is set up to become a big event at each venue even if they only host one round. Look at Prescott, their big event weekends are the ones that aren't British or Midland rounds, which actually feel much smaller by comparison. They have more spare time on those other weekends, and probably better incomes from it being two one day events. Cavalcades seem to be added more and more to events to add interest but they just slow things down really.

I've heard people asking for Sunday practice but I haven't heard any solutions for how to cover the cost of them, due to the reduced number of entries that can be handled.

I think it is better that they consult first rather than rush into changes - though I haven't heard of anything public from them yet.

[Duggy]

I live in Jersey and have watched or competed in the channel island bhc rounds on and off for 20 plus years. My one and only experience of a UK BHC round was spectating at Shelsey a few years ago.

My thoughts based on my limited experience are this..........

At Shelsley I could only watch one day, Saturday, and was amazed that all I saw were a couple of practice runs from each of the (circa) 200 competitors. It was totally different to what I was used to and to be honest I thought it far less of a show for the spectators.

If for instance your a big fan of 500bhp Audi Quattros you have to spend two whole days at trackside to see the guy flash past four times. At our one day events you get to see the guy four times in less than 8 hours at trackside.

I have done Wiscombe several times as a competitor at two day club meetings and got two practice and two or three official runs on each day of the weekend. Personally I wouldn't travel any distance to spend a whole weekend at an event for the same amount of runs spread over two days. Each to their own I guess but those are my views.

To sum up, a smaller championship visiting each venue once for one day meetings would be the way to go in my opinion. Cavalcades just don't float my boat, I enjoy seeing the best drivers driving their machinery to the limit be that Goulds, Caterhams, Minis and everything else in between.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Duggy

I have done Wiscombe several times as a competitor at two day club meetings and got two practice and two or three official runs on each day of the weekend. Personally I wouldn't travel any distance to spend a whole weekend at an event for the same amount of runs spread over two days. Each to their own I guess but those are my views.

This is often the view of "local" competitors with both Barbon and Harewood getting far larger entries for their National B events!

I suspect that all venues will make more money out of running two National B events over a week-end than they do out of a BHC week-end.