BRSCC Circuit ownership.....

[Walshy]

I touched on this in another Thread and thought it might deserve a bit of mileage.

With all the current talk about the BRSCC and the so called "troubles" it is experiencing, one of the main factors seem to be the cost of circuit hire.

Indeed, some of the lack of FF1600 interest in this years Festival is down to the cost of entry, hence the need for the club to allow other categories to compete, thus diluting the Festival to a mere Club meeting.

Would it not have been a prudent move on the clubs part to have dived in two footed and purchased the Brands Hatch circuits when the opportunity was there. They could have beg, stole and borrowed to get their hands on these obvious assets and they would never have looked back.

Maybe they tried and were unsuccessful. I don't know and maybe someone can enlighten me? I'm not having a pop at the club here, I just wondered if it was something they should have looked at.

At present, and has always been the case, the club has never had an asset such as a circuit and they are at the mercy of the circuit owners who dictate circuit hire fees, which will undoubtedly, continue to rise. It just seems a little odd to me that one of the longest running clubs in the country has never had any circuits on their books. The revenues alone through corporate days and racing schools would surely cover the upkeep. Add to that the race meetings and the gate receipt (regardless of size) which they don't even get.

I suppose this is History now and nothing can be done about it, but surely the club would have had a better "seat at the table" had they circuit ownership as part of their hand....................

[Ian Sowman]

Probably a wider issue than just a Formula Ford one

I suspect that it would have been very, very hard for the BRSCC to have afforded the Brands Hatch circuits - I don't know, just a suspicion. Smaller circuits would make more sense initially (say if they had taken the lease of Mallory Park, not BARC).

And to some extent, the rate of increase in circuit hire costs has only started increasing really significantly in the last few years, so it wasn't so much of a problem in the past.

[Walshy]

Is that not the point though. I thought business minds were supposed to foresee such events and recognise an opportunity when presented with one.

[Ian Sowman]

Well, we don't know if they recognised it or not - maybe there was just nothing they could do about it?