strange question, first steps to new series

[gravel_monkey]

hi all, i know this is a strange one but after many many chats about this with trackday guys,marshals and racers i was pondering trying to get a new budget series off the ground stealing the base idea from something that was brought into rallying a while ago and has been a success. anyone even the slightest ideas on first steps with this. knowing my luck and ideas it will be a non runner but i feel worth looking into

[Al Weyman]

Check out if there are similar series around all ready as the last thing any one wants is yet another look a like.

[Joyce George]

Ring the MSA- they know what can & can't be done. First port of call for any proposition I would have thought.

[Alfaholic]

Have a word with Claire Smith about what she went through setting up the 360 Motor Club and the 6hr races.

[gravel_monkey]

cheers guys, will do.
there is definetly nothing like it at the moment. based on the figures from rallying you could potentially do a season including buying the car for less than 2500. might be worth following through, not literally

[big andy]

gravel monkey . every club as a starter series .some of them are for near production cars as you could wish to have .

so how do you propose to do it cheaper ? £2.5k wouldnt pay for entry and fuel .

[Lancsbreaker]

Not wishing to pour cold water on any ideas, but how many events would your £2.5K (including car purchase) buy you? I don't think you can draw direct comparisons with rallying, circuit fees and MSA permit fees alone add up to significant amounts.......I've just spent a huge amount of time organising a series of three race meetings for the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, and tracktime costs anywhere between £100 and £190 (+VAT) per minute! - just for circuit hire......

[terence]

First off you need to look for an area not already covered, come up with what cars are carered for and STICK to that formula, make sure you can get a decent grid so that you dont get into the position of having to accept any entry that comes along!
Get in touch with MSVr (Dave Willey) and check on circuit hire costing, budget for around 20k for this allowing for unseen costs.You could try Donington as a comparison.
Believe me, the groundwork takes time, lots of phone calls etc etc.Whilst I understand your passion, think again about it, circuit visits for meetings costs of fuel, phone calls cost postage costs.In short, nice idea but seriously think about doing it ,really hard!

[Al Weyman]

I think CTCRC has a lot of the events covered with something for most people from the lowly Group N type Pre 2005 saloons to the outrageous Thundersaloons. MSV do that Trackday Challenge thing I believe and there are so many others, what is your idea for a series maybe its worth telling us. I started up ModProds years ago with a very enterprising person who could raise funds and sponsors, we could never have done it on our own without that initial sponsorship money.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by gravel_monkey

cheers guys, will do.
there is definetly nothing like it at the moment. based on the figures from rallying you could potentially do a season including buying the car for less than 2500. might be worth following through, not literally

A years rallying including car for less then 2500? Not sure about that. Entry fees £250-300 per event so based on an 8 event season that's £2000-2400 already without fuel and tyres let alone car!

The 'cheapy' rally classes recently have been 205 and BMW challenges and F1000 - the first two are well covered in circuit racing with Stock Hatch and Production BMW championships so that leaves F1000 (and I'm not sure that would work on a circuit). Or have I missed something?

[deley]

Identify the market for your new series - does it really exist?
Understand all of the costs to run the series including what a realistic "average" cost for competitors would be.
Understand what income might be from entries and ideally series sponsors.
Work out the technical / sporting regulations for the series - to make it "budget" it has to prohibit just about all car modifications.
Work out a plan to launch and promote the series and to run the series for the next few years.
Register it all with the MSA (if running under their jurisdiction)
As I suspect you will not necessarily be looking to become an organising club you'll need to find one that you can run your series through

Bottom line though is before diving in make sure there really is a sustainable market that will deliver reasonable grid numbers on a regular basis .... ideally without getting into a turf war with existing series/championships. We already have more than enough "small grid / catering for similar markets / we want our own version" series/championships .

[gravel_monkey]

the figures all have to be looked, as well as everything else. the idea is all just that at the moment. we know people who have entered the rally champ we are basing it on and have run the car for around the 2500-3000. some guys have spent double that.depends on how much you want to put in.
cheers for all the feedback and ideas though

[nvzi126]

Al Weyman may be right.