NEW CLASS / SERIES; Historic Sports Sedans. formation meeting.20/04/13 ACC

[AMCO72]

I know I have gone on about handicap races since 'Auntie fell off the tram' !!!!!!!! I have seen some of the best racing EVER under a handicap system, so WHY are so many people against it. Surely it cant be THAT hard to work out handicaps. Ok, so you aren't going to get it dead right, because of all sorts of reasons, but it will be near enough.

Watching those hard chargers working their way through the field, while those they are trying to catch are doing their best to keep in front has made for some very memorable battles.

And don't tell me it is dangerous. For one thing it avoids that mad scramble at the first few corners in a scratch race.

If we don't get some handicap type racing in the future, I am predicting that cars that usually run at the back of the field will slowly drop away, never to return.

I have spent some time myself being tail-end Charlie, and have spoken to other drivers in the same situation. Without exception they have all said how surprised they were at the speed difference between them and the front runners.

We are all being told that we are out there to have fun, well I can tell you it is NO fun at the back, especially when you get lapped.

[Ellis]

At Baskerville Historics (Its in Tassie for George's benefit) each Oct, they have for the last race of the 2nd day , a handicap 10 lapper called the Boss of Baskerville.
Apart from the field sometimes being slightly depleted after 2 days of racing the spectators in the main stay on till its over.
It can have Improved Production , Sports Sedans , HQ's and Historic Grp N cars all out together.
Its well worth watching.

[Jac Mac]

I know I have gone on about handicap races since 'Auntie fell off the tram' !!!!!!!! I have seen some of the best racing EVER under a handicap system, so WHY are so many people against it. Surely it cant be THAT hard to work out handicaps. Ok, so you aren't going to get it dead right, because of all sorts of reasons, but it will be near enough.

Watching those hard chargers working their way through the field, while those they are trying to catch are doing their best to keep in front has made for some very memorable battles.

And don't tell me it is dangerous. For one thing it avoids that mad scramble at the first few corners in a scratch race.

If we don't get some handicap type racing in the future, I am predicting that cars that usually run at the back of the field will slowly drop away, never to return.

I have spent some time myself being tail-end Charlie, and have spoken to other drivers in the same situation. Without exception they have all said how surprised they were at the speed difference between them and the front runners.

We are all being told that we are out there to have fun, well I can tell you it is NO fun at the back, especially when you get lapped.

[color="#0000CD"]That sounds like really good plan Gerald, rather than creating a whole heap of 'new' class's with the constant difficulty of decent field numbers, just start a 'classic' handicap series where all types are catered for. First race for any competitor at any circuit if they have no previous lap times they go off the back of the handicap or perhaps something like 20 seconds should cut down on any first time out hedging and let the new boys dial themselves in, shouldnt be difficult to get good fields with a larger pool to draw from..[/color]

[ERC]

We have run our series 100% on handicaps for 17 out of the last 18 seasons.

I keep an historical record of lap times at each track for each car/driver combination. On race day, race one is never a points race, always a scratch race.

Races 2 & 3 are for series points and are handicaps. My system uses a mix of current times and historical, at a ratio of anything from 5:0 to 0:5. A bit of massaging is often applied if a driver has had it too easy, or had problems, but overall, it works pretty well. Sure, a yellow flag or safety car intervention can stuff it up, as can a driver who has struggled with a misfire and suddenly resolves it.

Needless to say we COULD apply a rule whereby you can't beat your previous best time that weekend by more than a specified %, but why bother? It is chocolate fish racing and if people don't like the structure, or don't drive with respect for the other drivers, then they can play in someone else's sandpit.

In terms of eligibility, it has always been a pragmatically applied Euro 'road' series, which is why we need this race series, as road and race cars don't mix too well.

[Peter Nelson]

Hi Folks, been a while since I managed to log on here, but is there any chance the historic sports sedans will race in the coming season again? There is a great group of cars and hopefully they will get to race this season. Any information wouldl be really appreciated

[John McKechnie]

Peter- the guys who ran in the Historic Sports Sedans at HD in Jan and March want to do it again and will be running Ice Breaker at HD mid September- see HSS at Ferrari meeting thread for info. Glad you appreciated the show, and hope you and others can come along.