Irish rallycross Open forum

[Cryos]

I must say it was a good night, this years open form was the most attended for many years.

First off the committee for 2005 was discussed, dermot carnegie who had been driver liason for the past 3 years has steped down, taking his place is next years tipped champion John Mc Cluskey.

I must say in johns limited time in his role he has already accumalated alot of questions and quierys from drivers and was quiet keen on presenting them on the night.

The Rallycross Committee For 2005 is as follows:

Donal Leehey
David Aelward
John Morris
Pat o'Down
John Mc Cluskey
Robert Moody

Other Persons who would be in attendance at committee meatings are :

Michael Fitzimons - M.I Rep & FIA Track Inspector
Joe Shirly - Technical Adviser
Paul Grogan and Graham Lenehan - Championship Register

2004 has proved a good year for irish rallycross, statistics show that numbers over the year have increased, more notably in Stockhatch.

Discussion was raised about giving points to persons with fastest qualifying times and or class points for persons winning A,B,C,D stockhatch finals, however a firm agreement was not found and the committee will re-commence in later stages to discuss this in more detail.

Other iteams dicussed were the track resurfacing at mondello which is due to start to take place at the end of january, John Morris commented that the extent of the surfacing needed wasnt known so their plans for simple patching of the track surface has turned into a compleet track resurface, not expected to be finished untill late february / early march, therefore loosing two rounds, however both are expected to be replaced one before the brda event and one before the RSS.

Confirmation of 4 other rallycross rounds that are not related to the irish championship were confirmed last night, the round in august will be a testing round for the Drivers Vs. Mondello to prove that rallycross numbers would be greater in the summer rather than the winter, something john morris was compleetly against.

Another point raised was of children and non compeitors / pit crew personell on the pit wall, i would like to note how john morris doubled back on himself, firstly saying if debreys was to come across the wall and hit a spectator it would be a big blow to rallycross due to motorsport irelands new insurers, one person sugjested safety fencing along the pit wall, which would be alot better for all motorsports seeing as mondello as an International Racing circuit, but then he started going on about access to the pit wall, a number of things were sugjested but the main point was to police the wall, however mondello are firmly opposed saying that it would cost them money to do that.

There was a very catch 22 feeling about some of the discussions related to mondello, when solutions were found they would be dismissed due to financial restrictions.

Discussion was also held on the entrance to rallycross 3, during the year they had been changing the entrance layout and some worked better than others, it has been decided to leave the rallycross 3 entrance as it was in the last two rounds (i.e wide entrance into it).

The weight restrictions for next year for ALL supercars will be 1200kgs, all cars will be weighed next year along with measurements of the turbo systems (if applicatable).

Robert Moody commented on the amount of new machinery currently being built and invested into the irish championship at the moment, the likes of eugene cahill who should make his debut (whenever the first round is).

Other areas of concern that were raised is the grids, mainly concering both weiving cars and the types of classes out on grids.

Firstly as graham lenehan said there is strickly no weaving off the start line for 100 meters, however if the driver can get past a slower car safely then they may do so.

Secondly, refrencing to my accident the concern over much slower cars being raced with faster cars on track have been raised, from now on organisers will attempt to keep classes together better.

Tirewarmers are still alowed in the 2005 Championship, however will not be aloud for the 2006 championship which will be in line with the 2006 british championship (according to a phonecall chris evans said he got with terry wright).

There will be 3 persons going around checking that competitors are not using rollers (which are banned), these persons will not be nammed for certain reasons, persons will carry digital cameras and report to the c.o.c.

Des ryan will contine c.o.c. duties this year along side graham lenehan and / or declan grogan, C.O.C will be enforcing rules and will be repremanding more this year.

There are no other major points to take across, but Declan kellys drunken version of "The good old days of rallycross" (which was compleetly off the point) was something to marvel !

rallycrossIreland.com have approched Robert Moody and John Morris in aims to work closer with championship organisers and the rallycross committee, this year all entryforms can be downloaded off our website, entry lists will also be sent to us and championship points will be done a.s.a.p and posted up also.

We presented online facilitys for drivers to submit entry forms and pay, john morris has taken on board what we can do for the championship and has gone away to think about it.

Great night !

Pictures will be up soon @ http://gallery.rallycrossireland.com (server will be down from Friday to monday evening due to new server aquisition)

[EvilPumpkin]

Interesting one about the pit wall.

It is virtually impossible to police the pitlane when the garages are in use as people just wander through them.

Someone needs to educate the idiots who think that the pitwall is safe that motorsport is dangerous. Last rallycross where I was up on the last corner, we had 3 youngsters all of whom appeared to not yet be into their teens standing up at the armco at the top of the pit wall. We had to radio to get them removed and had they not gone, I would have run that corner under yellows.

What is so hard about keeping your kids under control and not letting them in the pitlane? Why should it be Mondello's job to babysit? We don't have people running around on the track and yet access to the track isn't guarded. Why not? Because people know it's dangerous. People just need to understand that pitlane is part of the live circuit and treat it with the appropriate respect.

[Cryos]

Thats true EP

But they expect compeititors and teams to do it, the idea of a pit pace was sugjested but once again that was heavaly opposed by mondello once again that would need someone to check them.

The solution they came up with was keep the backs of the garages closed, however this does not stop people from going in the gates at either end of the pitlane..

So theres no probable solution really..

[EvilPumpkin]

In fairness, in my experience, the majority of the "offenders" for want of a better word are actually with the competitors. Some of the older ones actually show up in their driver overalls.

The gate at the far end is generally padlocked. If you take the garages out of the equation, that makes the only entrance to the pitlane the one up by the tower. There's generally enough people up there from the organisers to ensure that no-one who shouldn't be is wandering through.

The bottom line is that the pitlane is a clearly labelled restricted area. People are ignoring this. There is be no requirement for additional fencing on the pitlane - simply a requirement for people to take responsibility for their own actions instead of sitting back and expecting other people to do it for them.

[MagnetON]

I'm sure you'd find that all the under 16's in the pit lane are linked to competitors or teams, very few of the "Joe Public" would go into those areas. So, competitors, do your bit first and ensure that your under 16's are kept out of pit lane and then we'll get a feel for how real the problem really is.

I'm also with EP on running corners under yellows if there are people in inappropriate areas. I HAVE done so on occasions for cars, bikes, and karts and in those circumstances where it's clear that there will be no overtaking at the last corner if there are people standing at the Armco it's amazing how quickly someone in race overalls appears and gets them to vanish when the marshals haven't been able to get them to move.

So, competitors and teams, think about it... get your own house in order before making it someone elses problem.

[EvilPumpkin]

Originally Posted by rxie

Confirmation of 4 other rallycross rounds that are not related to the irish championship were confirmed last night, the round in august will be a testing round for the Drivers Vs. Mondello to prove that rallycross numbers would be greater in the summer rather than the winter, something john morris was compleetly against.

Sorry, not clear on this - what is it John Morris is against?

Originally Posted by rxie

There was a very catch 22 feeling about some of the discussions related to mondello, when solutions were found they would be dismissed due to financial restrictions.

So who was going to pay for the solutions? I've no doubt the drivers would all be up in arms if their entry fees went up, so where's the money supposed to come from.

Like the vast majority of small European circuits, Mondello doesn't really make any money on smaller events. The money is made in the performance driving school.

If solutions require financial outlay, then that cost will be passed on to the competitor.

John is an ex-marshal and ex-driver with many years of experience in Irish motorsport. I find it hard to believe that he would refuse to do something if safety was a genuine issue and one that was the responsibility of Mondello (for instance, the pitlane isn't Mondello's responsibility. If unauthorised people are entering clearly labelled restricted areas, they do so at their own risk.)

Maybe if you can give a clearer idea of the areas you're talking about we could discuss further.

[Cryos]

Confirmation of 4 other rallycross rounds that are not related to the irish championship were confirmed last night, the round in august will be a testing round for the Drivers Vs. Mondello to prove that rallycross numbers would be greater in the summer rather than the winter, something john morris was compleetly against.

One of the irish rounds will be moved to august, the weekend before either the brda or rss takes stage in august, some drivers were up in arms claiming that beter weather would attract more people to the events, i can see where john is comming from he said that it wouldnt attract more people, so if it attracts more people in the warmer weather (yes i relise we are in ireland) that they will look into running rallycross events during the summer.

There was a very catch 22 feeling about some of the discussions related to mondello, when solutions were found they would be dismissed due to financial restrictions

Probably one of the best examples was where one of the jmcrallysport team guys asked john morris about the possibility of tv coverage this year, obviously it would cost money to put a tv crew there, and the general concensous between 99% of drivers is that if the entry fees were put up to accomedate tv crew then we would of been happy to do so, however it was either john or elizibeth waldron that dismissed it saying that it would involve too much admin work.

Items relating to promotion of the championship threw solid media such as newspaper was greated by the financial restriction thing aswell, however like martin byrne pointed out newspapers are happy to put in something.

When talking to john afterwards there was a number of facilities that people were willing to provide to mondello, however his reply to anyone including me when i sugjested something else was "Look at it this way, its another link in the chain".

Basically what im trying to get at solutions and facilities have been made available to mondello but for one reason or another they dont like outsourcing.

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by rxie

Probably one of the best examples was where one of the jmcrallysport team guys asked john morris about the possibility of tv coverage this year, obviously it would cost money to put a tv crew there, and the general concensous between 99% of drivers is that if the entry fees were put up to accomedate tv crew then we would of been happy to do so, however it was either john or elizibeth waldron that dismissed it saying that it would involve too much admin work.

Ok, if the majority of drivers are supportive of this then don't arrange TV through Mondello. I can see where John is coming from when he says it means extra admin work for his staff to work out how many people have paid the extra entry fee and whether or not enough people have paid to allow Mondello to get TV in without making a loss, along with the timescales involved with late entry fees etc.

Have an additional "Promotional Fund" agreed with the championship organisers and add that to the championship registration fee. Work out how much it would cost to have something like two rounds covered by RPM (Suggest the first round, when all the cars are nice and shiny and the last round where the championships are up for grabs) and then use the rest of the fund for things like newspaper and radio advertising. Bring RallyX to the public with adverts in Irish car magazines "Come see World Rally Cars going HEAD TO HEAD at Mondello" or such like.

[EvilPumpkin]

Agreed. I think there is a misunderstanding here about what the circuit is responsible for vs what the club is responsible for.

Possibly this arises from John being the circuit manager and also a member of the committee?

[Roundy Mooney]

Originally Posted by rxie

Secondly, refrencing to my accident the concern over much slower cars being raced with faster cars on track have been raised, from now on organisers will attempt to keep classes together better.

Rixe your dead right they should not be letting you out with stock hatch cars that are obviously quicker than you

[Cryos]

lol roundy !!!!

Bloody right, the two stockhatches on that heat got a better start then the modifieds :P .