Too Big?

I had an interesting conversation a few weeks ago at one of my races, which started out with a very simple question – “Are there too many ‘big races’ today?” That started a fairly long debate but, none the less, raised some things I’d never considered before.

The chat was really about the demise of club racing – from my point of view I’ve seen this across the UK in the majority of classes, but I also understand this is a fairly common theme throughout the rest of the world too. It seems to be a fairly common approach that drivers will see what the next ‘big’ race coming up is, either choosing to save their holiday time for that event, build their calendar and ‘off weekends’/family time around those races, or visit that one venue for practice or testing in the lead up to that race.

I’ve written many times about my view of our sport becoming more and more professional, and I do believe this is becoming an extension of that approach. The top drivers and teams are focussed on the big events, because those provide publicity for the sponsors, exposure to more people at the event, or even have bonuses linked to them. And because the top drivers do those races, that means other drivers gravitate towards them too. For me, a race event is about three factors – one, my own racing, two, spending time with my friends, and three, being able to watch some of the best drivers in our sport at the same time. That’s exactly what bigger events provide – a chance to do all three elements, and that’s something I’m very aware is a common train of thought throughout the paddock.

However, we do need clubs. Clubs need to remain financially stable in order to provide the facilities for the big events to allow them to visit, and also to accommodate the many people who don’t race at the big events, and do focus solely on their local clubs. However, it’s very much a double-edged sword. To give some context, the reason my team and I started up the Essex Winter Series, was because at the time, our local club was struggling to keep running. We saw setting up a series as an opportunity to provide some funds and support to the club which, in effect, allowed them to continue running. Thankfully, the club now has a healthy turn-out each week, and that in turn has allowed us to expand our EWS in other ways.

Of course, the easiest way for us to keep up the numbers at club racing will be to encourage more drivers into the hobby in the first place – more racers always means more to ‘share around’. But I’d also like to see the big events also move around between tracks, that way more get an opportunity to benefit from those races and also promote their facilities to other racers out there. Of course, if you’ve looking for the same three factors from racing as I am, you can easily tick off numbers one and two just from your local club meeting. And two out of three isn’t bad, is it?

Have an opinion on the topics discussed? Leave them in the comments below.

Oli Meggitt is a race organiser, announcer, RC racer and has also been known to stand and talk in front of a camera. Now a columnist for Red RC you can read his thoughts, insights and ramblings fortnightly.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author.