Messages

I'm very sad to hear this - he drove my car in 2016 the 24hr and was a great help getting everything ready for the race.

As Martin says, we will miss him.

I have written to members with the date of our 2018 24-hour race, but also wanted to announce it here on the forum.  We will be back at Snetterton for the 29th running of our wonderful 24hr race (and yes, we will be clapping the finishers up the pit lane as usual) on the 17th, 18th & 19th August.

This is the same weekend as the 2CVGB National Rally, so we are aiming to co-ordinate activities with them, which was hugely popular at Anglesey a couple of years back.

See you there

Preliminary 2018 Classic 2CV Racing Club Race Schedule

I have written to all members today to announce the race schedule for 2018, but thought it also worth posting on the forum.

We are still waiting for BARC to confirm costs, so will announce entry costs as soon as we have the information.  As ever, we will endeavour to keep these as low as possible with the aim of getting as many 2CVs racing as we can

•   14th & 15th April  - Cadwell (2-hour Enduro + sprints)

•   12th & 13th May - Brands

•   23rd June - Oulton Park

•   21st & 22nd July - Donington

•   17th, 18th & 19th August - Snetterton 24-hour

Soup, Chicken and Lemon cheesecake for me please - although not all at once.

I'll bring along some nice port for Wayne as well...

Bully,

We run under our regs, so Tuff Jugs are specified for 602s.  I'm not sure what's specified for Hybrids

Best MC

At the open board meeting and the AGM there was a strong wish expressed by members that a 602 should win the 24 hour event; and the concept of a 24 /24.5 hour race was discussed as the best way to achieve that.  The board has worked on that basis since then.

It has become clear that if we were to run the race in this format that we would be likely to lose our Mini Grand friends; so a poll of members was organised in order to determine members' views as to how they would like the 24hr event run in the light of this news.

With the information from this survey, the board has determined unanimously that the 24hr event should be run as a simple 24 hour race as it was last year. 

We look forward to seeing all of you there.  I'm sure we will be discussed this matter again at this year's AGM.

Car 43 - the Gulf car - is a well known and successful car with 3 podium finishes in the 24hr

We had a family team that had booked the car for the 24hr, but they have just told us that they are no longer able to make it; so we have a fully-prepared race-ready car available for the 24hr

Happy to rent the whole car as is without crew; or seats in the car (as long as we can find 4 competent drivers).  We have a full spares package, including a spare engine, bodywork etc, etc. Wayne has just shaved 12 fresh tyres for the car, so we have plenty of tyres too.

Anyone interested, please call or PM me
Meyrick 07768 392962

Hi Paul,

That's right.  This is in response to the members strong request at the open board a while back that we organise matters so that a 602 is the winner of the race; and is reported as such.  The board discussed a variety of options, which were then discussed with BARC, and this was the most feasible route.  I'll talk to BARC and understand exactly how this works and put a more detailed post up when I have chapter and verse.

I gather that its not that unusual, so BARC presumably know how to run it safely.  I've driven a Smart in the Spa 24hr, where we had a 6-hour race during the 24hr and that didn't seem to cause any safety problems.  Best MC

This is what I have from BARC at the moment:
Venue:      Snetterton

Timetable:   Sign on              1700hrs 18th August, 2017
      Scrutineering      1700hrs 18th August, 2017
                Testing               18th August, 2017
                       4 x 30 minute exclusive sessions
                       0900-0930hrs, 1050-1120hrs,
                                                1340-1410hrs, 1530-1600hrs
      Qualification      18th / 19th August, 2017
                       Day 1900-2030hrs, 18th August
                       Night 2115-2215hrs, 18th August
      Warm up              1015-1035hrs, 19th August
      Race                 1700-1730hrs 19th / 20th August, 2017

Good work, thank you Martin.

For those of you that haven't seen it, there is a nice article in Car Magazine on Classic 2CV Racing.

Well done to Chris for getting that in there. 

Not so sure about the title, but its good publicity all the same.

For those of you who didn't get to Race Retro, I've attached a picture of our stand, with Ash's car looking fabulous.

We will post a full report on the event, with costs, numbers of inquiries etc after the next board meeting.  As a great man once said, 50% of advertising works, 50% of it doesn't.  If you can tell me which 50% works, you'll be a very rich man.  Which is another way of saying that we will probably never be able to tell what we actually achieved.

Thanks, Bully, we're trying our best and have a number of strands in play for improving the coverage of the series.

We've got two different proposals on getting a write up for each race next year, which we will consider at the next board.  Both are experienced journalists, but with different approaches and cost levels.  The aim is to ensure that we have ready-made articles and pictures for all the magazines and websites (including our own), so that we will get proper coverage of the series.

We are also looking at commissioning a proper video of the 24-hour so we have a short clip and a longer programme (for DVD) again for use on the website and, in the future, things like our upcoming stand at Race Retro.  Its something that the VW Fun Cup do really well, but there's a cost to it of course.  The thinking here being that if we have a professional DVD, if we can sell that at £20-25 a pop, the sales will help to off set the costs of commissioning it.  This will also be going to the next board, once various quotes etc have come in. If you want an idea of the sort of quality we are aiming for, have a look at this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HYs-BYOn-s

Clearly, the focus of that video is more on the charity than the race, but hopefully it gives an idea.  We already have live commentary and some fixed cameras which Martin organises for the race radio, so its a case of recording it all, adding some in-car, a roving camera and then the time-consuming and difficult part of editing it into a decent story.  Simple to describe, but quite a lot harder to execute.

Lastly, on getting journalists in 602s, I guess this is a bit of an appeal.  We have at least four journalists that would like to do a sprint race; and Autocar who are happy to drive in and write up the whole season including the 24hr, where they have offered to field an entire driver line up.  The issue on this is finding the teams that are prepared to give up seats for this.  Reality is journalists don't pay for seats; and I'm afraid that they won't let you see the article before they publish it; so we have to go with what is possible.  So I guess we are asking for volunteers to provide seats?  Happy to talk about subsidising entry fees etc.

Sean,

I'm afraid not.  The contract is done.  Have a look at the survey summary in the post in General Discussions.  It was convincingly in favour of Snetterton.  That wasn't the only determining factor either, though.

Anglesey have promised quite a bit each year and have not really delivered on their promises.  We should have had shiny mew lavatory / shower blocks; fuel availabile on time; working wi-fi for everyone and so on and so on.  Its difficult to form a sensible relationship with a circuit when you are let down year after year.

Snet is also convincingly better value by the time you have taken into account how much easier it is to have other series run races as well.  BARC take care of that for us, and we've just not been able to attract other races to Anglesey with us.  That leaves us with a track with more spaces, better facilities that's also nearer for more than Anglesey is.  That willl hopefully allow a lower entry fee for us; coupled with the fact that most teams report using 12 tyres at Anglesey; whereas 6 is the norm at Snet.  I'm sure we'll all have a view on the cost of 6 buffed, fitted tyres, but its somewhere between £300-500 depending on how far you are from where your tyres get buffed.  Again, have a look at the survey - cost is the single biggest factor which we can influence, which is stopping people racing.  Snet should mean a materially lower cost for most people.  There's also the option of the 300 circuit (if we can solve the marshalling problem) if we are successful at getting entries up - and I know that Anglesey has the "loop", but a) its dull;  b) would probably prove a bit of an engine killer for 602s; and c) means you lose the corkscrew

Then the weather is, on average better at Snet.  It doesn't ALWAYS blow a gale; and although we've had rain of biblical proportions, we've not really had both.  We've even had completely sunny weekends there too.

Its taken me rather longer than I expected to prepare this, but here's a summary of the results of the survey.

I know these things are a pain to fill out, so we really appreciate so many people, 117 in all, taking the time to fill it in.  Its been really worthwhile and has already helped shape the 2017 season; and the timing of the announcement of the 2017 race schedule.  Its been quite complex to do, as we had divided the questions into three segments, so we had to make sure that we looked at all the responses for each question and eliminate any double-counting.  There were also some areas where respondents were asked questions which weren't relevant to them, for which we apologise.

We will review this briefly at the AGM to add a bit more colour; and for those who aren't forum addicts.  If you have any questions or comments, please let us know:  these are your views and, as a board, we will do our best to reflect them all.

I've had to divide it into two files, as the presentation is too large.  Too many pretty pictures, I guess.  Sorry about that.