classic thunder

[GPR 1]

Hello everyone , this is my first post on here , but i was wondering if anyone can tell me whats happened to the ctcrc's classic thunder championship this year . I see the Bullits not racing this year but after following it for the last 3 years its sad to see so few cars out there . Is it just a finacial thing or cars not being ready ?

[Al Weyman]

I think thats the nub of it, big powerful cars require big old budgets which are harder to come by these days. When someone like Joss takes a two year sabbatical to concerntrate on business that must tell you something. Manufactures winced at running cars like this hence the emergence of the 2 litre Touring Car formula so you can only imagine how much it costs to keep these slicks and wings cars going for a privateer especially in a recession. I dont think the hard winter helped either and a lot of grids are down.

[andy robinson]

Originally Posted by GPR 1

Is it just a finacial thing or cars not being ready ?

both for me !
spent toooo much last year running the falcon, will be out later this year

[GPR 1]

I can imagine that cars like the Falcon and the skylines drink money and the sport dose suck you into spending way more than you intend to . Hopefully more cars will turn up for the Mallory festival , until then its back to shacky dvd re-runs .

[Al Weyman]

I personally think the championship should take a step back and put the 'Classic' back into it. Its gone away a bit from the original concept when I joined the club and with the emergence of other series like the revived Super Saloons may be better to insist original engine family fitted to the cars,

[big andy]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

may be better to insist original engine family fitted to the cars,

i can not think of any cars that have raced in ct over the years that would fall foul of this

[andy robinson]

Originally Posted by big andy

i can not think of any cars that have raced in ct over the years that would fall foul of this

probably only Lee Costellos old school rover V8 powered mk1 escort : which is really the sort of car that should be in CT

[Al Weyman]

Originally Posted by big andy

i can not think of any cars that have raced in ct over the years that would fall foul of this

V8 Engined Seirra for one and doesn't your Mini have a Vauxhall engine although not sure if it ever came out but believe the intent was there at one time, Lee's car has gone over to the revised Special Salooons which is a better fit for the car as it was only invitation class because of the altered floor pan. The problem I saw is that rules were being changed and extra classes created to accomadate certain vehicles then they fail to show up anyhow. I had several decent races (including a couple with Dave Brodie in the field with a Seirrra 4 door) with the IROC-Z when it was in its old format and it could just about hold its own in fact I won the class at Brands in a thrilling 100th of a second decider on one occassion but when you are letting Sonny Howard plastic Mk 1 Escorts in that run away with it and V8 Mk 3 Capris (it never actually entered, another one of those that 'was' going to and never appeared and rules were changed to accomadate, it should have been a Mk 1 to comply with the existing rules) etc I think it drifted away from the original format. Just ask yourself why Formula Saloons failed after so much success in the first place, it was too radical which = big bucks.

[Sarnie]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

and V8 Mk 3 Capris (it never actually entered, another one of those that 'was' going to and never appeared and rules were changed to accomadate, it should have been a Mk 1 to comply with the existing rules) .

Al, I guess that was the Capri you mentioned before that was being built by Mark Fowler some time back?

The rules had already changed when I first looked at CT in 2010. Still getting it finished, don't have the time I used to have, hopefully be out next year if there are any cars left in CT.
Went to Rockingham the other week, think there were 3 CT cars in Sundays race, the rest of the grid were having a freebee to make the numbers up. Hopefully everyone is just having a year out and will be back for 2014.

Wonder if mine would be allowed to race in Special Saloons, I realise if it was a Mk1 with a Windsor V8 it would be welcomed with open arms, but as a Mk3 (one did race in Thundersaloons) with a Modular 32V Cobra V8 on throttle bodies (32V version came out in 1993) I'm not so sure.

[big andy]

Sarnie yes your Capri would be welcome in the Cscc special saloons

[GPR 1]

I surpose its back to the same old thing , too many championships chassing an ever decreasing amount of cars especially the exspensive to run ones . I mean if you look at Joss's Bullit he could run somewhere most weekends with it and the same goes for alot of the other cars . It also seems bad planning to run lots of simiiar championships on the same weekends like they have so far this year . I think the cross selection of cars run in the past made it good spectating and for me usually the high light of the meeting . Apart from the pre93's the other championships run by the ctcrc seem to be loosing cars and they are not all the megga bucks to run machinery

[GORDON STREETER]

The writing was on the wall when ex touring cars were allowed in IMHO.
And to think I won this championship in 2001 in my humble Anglebox

[Al Weyman]

I agree with Gordon as well who posted while I was editing, his Anglebox was the epitimy of a Classic Thunder car IMHO. Touring cars allowed in and what happens, they now all bugger off to their own championship leaving the change to the rules that allowed them in still on place.

[big andy]

Agree with a lot of what you are saying AL . But championships have to move with the times .dont think the regs were changed to let touring cars in they always kind of fitted . I'd love to see ct back to how it was in the late 90s but sadly this is never likely to happen . Personally ill be doing a few rounds in the series this year but money is a lot harder to come by and the nsscc is my main championship . Ct needs to run with the fords again till the numbers pick back up which I'm shaw they will

[G.Walker]

The market place is competitive, the HSCC supertouring championship and CSCC special saloons have given racers of once Classic Thunder cars further choice in 2013.

IMHO Classic Thunder still has a place on the national scene, As I see it if you race in Eurosaloons you race directly with rapid Sportscars (Sakers/TVR's), QMN you predominantly in South East...

4WD stuff and more modern machinery are not everyone's cup of tea but then neither are knee jerk rule changes.

Will be at Mallory to see if grids have picked up!

[Sarnie]

Thanks Andy, thats good to know.

Simon

[medius]

Have all the cars moved on to different championships, or are they parked under tarpaulins waiting for times where the owners are a little less financially restricted?

Same goes for the other CTCRC championships. C&HTC are doing alright, but PHTC is on its backside with single figure grids. What happened to all the Escort Mk1s, Dolomites, Avengers, Capris etc? And Group 1 Capris, Golfs, etc? Money has to be a big factor, they aren't really megabucks to run (maybe to build from scratch these days though). CTCRC has always been (in my eyes) the ''working man's championship'' with people from regular professions, not the retired doctors/solicitors/bankers that prop up most historic racing. If that type of person hasn't got the money to race, then numbers fall. People like Neil Bray used to run his Fiesta alongside the Capri, now its one or the other.

[Al Weyman]

wouldn't be money with Neil lol! Rule changes and amalgamation of championships neither of which suited my particular car is what's done it for me although I will still have a forage out in 93's as regs there more sensible for my later model car as long as you can accept it won't ever live with an M3