MRA Round 4 - 14th and 15th September

Postby **Boyracer** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 10:40 am

If you run CAMS classes I reckon you need to stick to the rules so 2F needs to have passenger seat and door trims.

Where do the turbo NAs fit in or do they at all?

Is anyone actually going to police the rules or do you just leave it up to the competitors?

ja9 · Postby **ja9** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:46 am

evil_weevil wrote:2B would be anything with a rear wing (T wing) and aero. can run slicks or semi slicks. pretty much go nuts.
turbo would fall under 2B for now regardless if 1.6, 1.8, 2L or even superchagred. .

NA turbo = 2B

neilh · Postby **neilh** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 12:01 pm

Chris, I think it is a great idea but I agree with Boyracer,

You will need to clearly define the rules at the start of the season then police them. While the gentleman’s approach sounds good in theory, it tends to all fall a part pretty quickly. Just talk to the people who have tried to run the MX5 challenge as a series in NSW before. The intentions always start out good, but you will encounter the minority of people who will make things difficult, especially when there is a $5 trophy on offer! This is ultimately what killed the MX5 challenge the last time around.

I am not trying to turn you off the idea of running it as a series, in fact I think it is a great idea but I would suggest that if you are serious you talk to some of the people who have done it in the past to understand the challenges they faced.

evil_weevil · Postby **evil_weevil** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 1:24 pm

Cheers Lou and Neil,
And as I mentioned, was a 3 hour off top of my head thought as the excel and pulsar guys seem to have done quite well first season in.

Good point too Neil, I'll have a chat to Goughy cause I know when I bought my mx5 he was the go to man!

Craig mentioned perhaps going off the MSC classes on lap time classes. I think that is a good idea too.

I wouldn't mind having a crack, the guys who run TT policed the series well so I think we could do ok, as long as there are some ground rules before 2014

mazmad · Postby **mazmad** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 1:40 pm

What is the drawback of an hp based class system? Everyone supplies a dyno chart from one of a list of accepted dyno's. etc etc.

I am sure there must be a drawback as it isn't being used. (this question for those who have been involved in the mx5 racing for a while pls...)

neilh · Postby **neilh** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:13 pm

mazmad wrote:What is the drawback of an hp based class system? Everyone supplies a dyno chart from one of a list of accepted dyno's. etc etc.

I am sure there must be a drawback as it isn't being used. (this question for those who have been involved in the mx5 racing for a while pls...)

I think you just identified the main problem.

People supply their dyno results at the start of the season. The reality is with a cleaver engine tuner, you can make that dyno read out be whatever you want it to be. There is no guarantee that this is the power figure people will actually race with for the rest of the season. To police it, you would need to put the cars in parc ferme after a race the re-dyno the cars. This is obviously a lot of work and cost for an amateur racing series, and not realy viable at our level.

mazmad · Postby **mazmad** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:34 pm

Makes sense. Thought it was too obvious!

ja9 · Postby **ja9** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:29 pm

I think we are now over-thinking everything and the reason it will not succeed. If I ever win a trophy I'll donate it the next guy who wants it so badly.

The biggest issue is getting people to the track. Try and impose all these sorts of restrictions already mentioned and you will kill everything. Do you really care about coming first that badly. For me it's about the comaraderie that you gain and as long as I'm chasing someone or being chased that makes my day and for good racing.

Why don't we have a class for the people who really care about coming first and getting a trophy and call it, oh I don't know, say Trophy Class :shock:

and the rest Social class.

I jest but seriously over this already.

mazmad · Postby **mazmad** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:36 pm

lol !

Chris Gough had a similar experience with the MSC in this forum and I think taking a leaf out of his book - having discussions offline between interested parties, and then presenting it as largely a fait accompli - might be the best way to go.

ja9 · Postby **ja9** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:56 pm

mazmad wrote:Chris had a similar experience with the MSC in this forum and I think taking a leaf out of his book - having discussions offline between interested parties, and then presenting it as largely a fait accompli - might be the best way to go.

Totally agree with you there Craig. "Too many cooks spoil the broth"

I couldn't see much wrong with what Chris wrote in his first post.

neilh · Postby **neilh** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:58 pm

I totally agree with you, it should be all about having fun.

That is the reason 99% of the people going racing at our level. Most people, including myself could not care less about trophies. However if you are going to run a race, you need to be prepared that unfortunately there will be people who will be obsessed by a $5 piece of plastic. To my knowledge it was these few who caused the problems last time around. I would suggest that to make this succeed, you need to understand exactly why the series failed last time, so these issues can be avoided this time around. I think Chris used a lot of these lesson learned in the MSC series.

I think we should learn some lessons from other categories as well. For example the HQ guys have a BBQ and a few beers at the track after the first day of racing at their two day events. I think this is the type of friendly environment we should be trying to promote.

mazmad · Postby **mazmad** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 4:04 pm

neilh wrote:However if you are going to run a race, you need to be prepared that unfortunately there will be people who will be obsessed by a $5 piece of plastic. ...

There were a few of them in the Super tt on the weekend (not the mx5 crew), some at the point end and some nowhere near it. Taking it all a little too seriously.

Of the 7 mx5s there on Sunday, 2 were in a different league. Of the rest of the mx5s I think all got pb's - no trophies - and all walked away with big grins from what I could see.

Lets have more of that!

oztrackdays · Postby **oztrackdays** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:29 am

I like the Wakefield 300 approach

Pole sitter + 2 seconds group A

Next 2 second group B

Group C the rest

And if you do a race lap .5 or more a second faster than qualify no 6 dollar trophy for you.

It's simple cant really cheat with car parts.

evil_weevil · Postby **evil_weevil** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:39 am

Oztrackdays - you on the Facebook page for mx5 challenge?

Few people there seem to think its a good idea too and may get some more people interested!

Postby **Boyracer** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:41 am

The Production sports thing is a disaster at the moment, I reckon MX5s need to totally distance themselves from it.

I agree with the time class thing, that way you don't need to worry about what is done to the car, as long as it's a MX5 it can run.

The general consensus from what I can see is people just want good, cheap, fun racing.