CTCRC Pre-93s gain Championship satus

[Al Weyman]

How did Mod-Prods start, again?

Tim you are getting mixed up ModProds was a championship Brian Sheridan and I started in the 87' and it ran right up till end of 2005 and then was amalgamated into Classic Thunder and renamed Classic Modified Saloons. Classic Thunder originally had a more standard class within its structure which became Pre-93 saloons. In my opinion it was always going to be a rocky marraige (ModProds and CMS) as I said at the time (please remember I was heavily involved with this for nearly 10 years as chairman of the RSCC and also competitor) that the regs were far more akin to pre-93 and thats where, with a few minor adjustments either way (IMHO) they should have gone. But as that was full to capacity with BMW's (not knocking you guys I'm sorry if it came across I was) then the natural decision was to place them in with the Classic Thunders which some tried and were totally blown away and dropped out.

So you see just maybe the pre-93's would have prospered better with the ModProds than with the Bimmers and maybe now this just may happen as I am now going to de-tune certain elements on my ModProd Camaro IROC and commit to the championship for 2008 and I hope a lot of you guys will as well especially as it now has Championship status and a hundred quid race entry fee if you opt to do one other race on the day at full price.

[Highside]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

So you see just maybe the pre-93's would have prospered better with the ModProds than with the Bimmers and maybe now this just may happen as I am now going to de-tune certain elements on my ModProd Camaro IROC and commit to the championship for 2008 and I hope a lot of you guys will as well especially as it now has Championship status and a hundred quid race entry fee if you opt to do one other race on the day at full price.

Hi Al,

Actualy a few of us did go from Mod-Prods to Pre-93 (well four at least off the top of my head),and I think we were all glad that we did as we had a cracking years racing. I don't think there was any complusion from anyone for us to directly join CMS (although Denis gave some strong encouragment). I think most people looked at the state of tune of their car, decided how far they wanted to go and either built their car to CMS or Pre-93 or took their car off and played elsewhere.

[Al Weyman]

Yeah I know you did and I am not having a go at Dennis who has worked really hard on this, I just think its a bit unfortunate that yet another period series is to be launched for 2008 to thin the entries even more all because some people cannot find common ground, they all need their heads knocking together as my old mum used to say :-)

[COLIN STUBBS]

Problem was that there was only a very few mod prods left at the end.And classic thunder was suffering the same,although every now and then the numbers swelled a bit.LMA became the place to be with old touring cars and stuff like that.There just isnt the number of cars left to race regularly,and if you look at all the different places you can run cars like that,and look at the quality of the races in the southern and northern championships,what chance does CMS stand?

[Tim Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

Tim you are getting mixed up

Maybe I am. But my question wasn't about the history of Mod-Prods (I'm aware of it's decline in numbers, and merger with CT, and of what the class structure was within CT), it was about how it got started way back when. From your posts on ten-tenths it seems you started Mod-Prods as a split-off from another championship, and kept similar rules or at the very least targeted similar cars. Not too far from this situation, it seems.

Please feel free to correct me if I'm off-beam.

My point on previous success (or otherwise) of pre-90 reg'd classes in CT was another point entrirely.

But you're right, the in-fighting doesn't help anyone. Then again, can any competitive sport really run completely smoothly?

[Al Weyman]

I agree Colin so can someone tell me why another series yet again is going to start in 2008, it really is a bit daft whatever any of our differences here surely people can see that, how many posts have been on this site in the past about too many race series chasing too few competitors and yet here we go again yet another one and even more poiniant, this time the series it is setting about rivaling was/is healthy and not broke unlike the ModProds towards the end.

[Al Weyman]

Maybe I am. But my question wasn't about the history of Mod-Prods (I'm aware of it's decline in numbers, and merger with CT, and of what the class structure was within CT), it was about how it got started way back when. From your posts on ten-tenths it seems you started Mod-Prods as a split-off from another championship, and kept similar rules or at the very least targeted similar cars. Not too far from this situation, it seems.

Please feel free to correct me if I'm off-beam

You are a bit off course actually as there were major differences in what we set out to do and what championship we were running in at the time namely Road Saloons. Tim Dodwell will agree I am sure that he was adamant (and more power to him still is) that he would not allow trailering and cars had to be driven t and from the track something we thought dangerous, the cars also had to be road legal including tax and insurance and be the specific model as entered with all the relevant trim.

We wanted something different and it came about after a chance meeting with myself and Brian after I had totalled my car at Oulton and wondering how the hell I was going to get home. We also allowed a lot of the modifications previously being done on the sly in Road Saloons (like uprated springs after I caught one of the front runners changing theirs) and moving mounting points within 12mm etc but this time bought into the open and made trasparent. We also allowed a base model of a car to be modified into the model as entered, we were the first innovators of moving up a class if engine was Multi-valved, we had a proper buying plate, we allowed over sized engines etc etc etc, way way different I'm afraid and I spent many many weeks working on the regulations, if it was a copy as it looks like this is and others who copied mine it would have taken 10 minutes.