The AGM & Aubrey Brocklebank's paper

[Frank Barnard]

This is the draft of a letter sent to Christine Thompson on receipt of the above, for members interest:
Thank you for your notice about the AGM. I am not proposing a resolution but I thought it might be helpful if I submitted my initial thoughts on Aubrey Brocklebank's paper.
* Cadwell and Croft are mentioned as two possible venues, which are okay if you are based in Middle England (or Wales or Scotland). If you live in the far south east as I do (Rye, Sussex) they are a long way to go for fifty minutes racing, however enthusiastic one may be. Brands, Lydden, Thruxton, Castle Combe, Silverstone, Mallory and Snetterton are more feasible. Pembrey and Anglesey (if they turned out, as I fear, to be the balance of the four circuits suggested, for reasons of cost) are not.
* The suggestion that a £200 deposit should be made, with the balance payable end-March, depends on drivers doing the whole championship. This does not allow for changes in circumstances (personal or mechanical), or for rent-a-drivers like me who enjoy perhaps two or three rounds, not including the 24-Hours. That would be my loss, of course, but also perhaps the Club's.
* I am still not sure I grasp the concept of the Club paying drivers to race (taking money with one hand and giving it back with the other), particularly as entry fees may be reduced anyway. If that's the only way to get support, then maybe the writing really is on the wall
* Finally, I question the suggestion that the Club might 'join the Historic bandwagon'. These classic and thoroughbred classes are based, I believe, on originality of specification (although a good deal of skulduggery goes on). The 2CV in current race-trim is anything but. If this really was a favoured route to go (assuming support for the various life-saving proposals is not forthcoming, or they just don't work) then I guess it might be time to consider establishing a 2CV class in an appropriate and established Historic championship, if the speed differential is not judged too great. But in that case it might well be required that cars are returned to a basic or simpler spec, albeit with safety kit, unless it could be argued that 2CVs, like any other race saloons, have a long-established pedigree of sustained improvement.
However, there is also the question of over-subscription to this sector of motor-racing which, while providing competition described by AB as 'inferior' (possibly correct, given the dices we saw at Silverstone) is nonetheless hugely popular hence the over-subscription and enables lots of hopefuls and dreamers to gain circuit experience and have fun for relatively low cost. And, if they are reasonably prudent, have a car that's worth a bit at the end of it!

As something of an outsider these days (though a paid-up racing member with Brands, Silverstone & soon Mallory under my expanding belt) I sincerely hope the Club can work its way through its current travails. I'll be attending the AGM and also, as I say, racing the following day, which at least demonstrates some commitment. I hope these comments are seen, then, as constructive and helpful. The meeting at Silverstone showed the will to survive is there. Mallory should provide a further, valuable debate.

In summary then:
* Four shorter rounds in '08, not including Snetterton, split into two 25-minutes races, YES
* Venues focussed entirely in the north, NO
* Subsidies, QUESTIONABLE
* Go Historic, COULD BE THE FUTURE, LIKE IT OR NOT