RE: Pistonfest track time
Friday 11th May 2007
There’s still Snetterton track time available at this year’s Pistonfest. Sessions are available from 10-12pm on Sunday 27th May. Each session lasts half an hour and costs £40. Tickets for Pistonfest itself are available from the mini site below, and to reserve your track time email paul.garlick@pistonheads.com
Pistonfest track time
Tickets still available for Snetterton
Discussion
Yes - change of policy on track time. The track time is costing £30/hr from MSV and thay have only given us the 2 hour slot because we thought it would make the event much more appealing....maybe not! The additional £10 goes to cancer research charity. We were also going to bring down our Britcar M3 for passenger laps but there is also no interest in that.....thought you ot were Piston-heads!!! 
It is very rare that I feel the need to post a negative comment and I tend to avoid it even then. I had refrained from commenting on this but....
Firstly PF is about socialising, meeting friends and getting drunk. I have attended and enjoyed every PF and that's what people do. Not very conducive to driving at the limit on track and amongst novices.
£40 for 30 mins is expensive; there can be no argument about that. £10 to charity, what’s that about? If I want to give to charity then I will, I don't understand why we are being forced to give to charity; it feels like a charity fine is being imposed on us.
Yes I am a petrolhead and I love to get my car on the track as much as I can. When on track I generally find I am driving among track experienced drivers. That provides me with a feeling that those around me are well versed in the rules.
Giving novices a one time shot, 30 mins and your off, will encourage them to 'make the most of it'. People will line up so that they can test against each other. That will lead to them racing each other and that's completely against the rules and for very good reason.
I had hoped to put both my sons on the track but in the end it just doesn't feel safe.
I'd rather pay for a full trackday for them elsewhere than risk putting them into this event.
Firstly PF is about socialising, meeting friends and getting drunk. I have attended and enjoyed every PF and that's what people do. Not very conducive to driving at the limit on track and amongst novices.
£40 for 30 mins is expensive; there can be no argument about that. £10 to charity, what’s that about? If I want to give to charity then I will, I don't understand why we are being forced to give to charity; it feels like a charity fine is being imposed on us.
Yes I am a petrolhead and I love to get my car on the track as much as I can. When on track I generally find I am driving among track experienced drivers. That provides me with a feeling that those around me are well versed in the rules.
Giving novices a one time shot, 30 mins and your off, will encourage them to 'make the most of it'. People will line up so that they can test against each other. That will lead to them racing each other and that's completely against the rules and for very good reason.
I had hoped to put both my sons on the track but in the end it just doesn't feel safe.
I'd rather pay for a full trackday for them elsewhere than risk putting them into this event.
Track hire for the weekend to stage the racing is the best part of £40,000 it was estimated that £30 per car would just cover the costs of the track hire if all the slots were taken .The tracktime is being run by MSV in there normal manner and i would expect that they will not run novices and experienced drivers at the same time hence the sessions.
Simon Leith said:
The track time is costing £30/hr from MSV The additional £10 goes to cancer research charity.
Unless that's a typo, if MSV are charging £30 per car per hour, surely 30 minutes would be £15 plus charity donation?
Simon Leith said:
MSV have given us the 2 hour slot
So that's 4 sessions then? Surely that would allow for different experience levels rather than just running everyone on open pitlanes? I am keen to give Snetterton a go, as I reckon it will be better suited to my heavy old tank than the Indy circuit at Brands was but the fact remains that it is a heavy car and I've only been on track a handful of times, so I'd be something of a rolling roadblock to guys out in porkers, Elises and the like.
Last question - What's the limit in terms of cars per session, both in terms of maximum allowed and minimum needed to run it?
30 mins hard track time for a standard road car is a long time. I run no more than 15 mins at a time in the TVR and that's on well worn tyres.
If people are running tyres with plenty of tread they will be like jelly after 15 mins hard driving and I can't see people choosing to foreshorten their session by coming back into the pits half way through their session. There's going to be lots of cars with increasing degrees of under and oversteer all trying to get that last hot lap before they time is called on their session. It simply doesn't seem safe.
When was it decided that the trackday would have to fund the trackday and race day hire. We didn't pay for the race day last year. I thought Stingray sponsored this event. It appears that the trackday punters are the sponsors this year.
If people are running tyres with plenty of tread they will be like jelly after 15 mins hard driving and I can't see people choosing to foreshorten their session by coming back into the pits half way through their session. There's going to be lots of cars with increasing degrees of under and oversteer all trying to get that last hot lap before they time is called on their session. It simply doesn't seem safe.
When was it decided that the trackday would have to fund the trackday and race day hire. We didn't pay for the race day last year. I thought Stingray sponsored this event. It appears that the trackday punters are the sponsors this year.
Edited by tvrbob on Sunday 13th May 17:41
That'll be me Feedback from many members from last year's was that track time would be a good idea for the weekend as well as lighting for the PF area, some entertainment on the Saturday night and something to do over the weekend. So, we organised some track time whic the 2CV club have covered to allow PFers to get on track. We put lighting up in the PF area, made sure there was some music on the Saturday night and organised PF Games and football. This is what was requested.
It was a typo earlier, it's £30 per half hour session.
Just to clarify, Stingray sponsors the 2cv 24 hour race only but helps PH to organise PF free of charge. It takes a huge amount of time and effort. The idea last year was to help Ted get PF back up and running and to mkae some money for charity. The idea of running extra events was to make PF a better event and this has taken more time and effort this year to do. So, just to clarify, the 2cv club are sponsoring the track time (in order to satify the request of PFers last year), Stingray sponsor the 2cv 24 hour race (nothing to do with PF), Stingray help PH organise PF (any money made goes to Cancer Research), PFers don't sponsor the event or the track tme..they just turn up, get drunk, have fun and IF they want some track time, it is there for them. Hope this clears things up TVRBOB??
It was a typo earlier, it's £30 per half hour session.
Just to clarify, Stingray sponsors the 2cv 24 hour race only but helps PH to organise PF free of charge. It takes a huge amount of time and effort. The idea last year was to help Ted get PF back up and running and to mkae some money for charity. The idea of running extra events was to make PF a better event and this has taken more time and effort this year to do. So, just to clarify, the 2cv club are sponsoring the track time (in order to satify the request of PFers last year), Stingray sponsor the 2cv 24 hour race (nothing to do with PF), Stingray help PH organise PF (any money made goes to Cancer Research), PFers don't sponsor the event or the track tme..they just turn up, get drunk, have fun and IF they want some track time, it is there for them. Hope this clears things up TVRBOB??
Simon Leith said:
Feedback from many members from last year's was that track time would be a good idea for the weekend as well as lighting for the PF area, some entertainment on the Saturday night and something to do over the weekend. So, we organised some track time whic the 2CV club have covered to allow PFers to get on track. We put lighting up in the PF area, made sure there was some music on the Saturday night and organised PF Games and football. This is what was requested.
It was a typo earlier, it's £30 per half hour session.
Just to clarify, Stingray sponsors the 2cv 24 hour race only but helps PH to organise PF free of charge. It takes a huge amount of time and effort. The idea last year was to help Ted get PF back up and running and to mkae some money for charity. The idea of running extra events was to make PF a better event and this has taken more time and effort this year to do. So, just to clarify, the 2cv club are sponsoring the track time (in order to satify the request of PFers last year), Stingray sponsor the 2cv 24 hour race (nothing to do with PF), Stingray help PH organise PF (any money made goes to Cancer Research), PFers don't sponsor the event or the track tme..they just turn up, get drunk, have fun and IF they want some track time, it is there for them. Hope this clears things up TVRBOB??
It was a typo earlier, it's £30 per half hour session.
Just to clarify, Stingray sponsors the 2cv 24 hour race only but helps PH to organise PF free of charge. It takes a huge amount of time and effort. The idea last year was to help Ted get PF back up and running and to mkae some money for charity. The idea of running extra events was to make PF a better event and this has taken more time and effort this year to do. So, just to clarify, the 2cv club are sponsoring the track time (in order to satify the request of PFers last year), Stingray sponsor the 2cv 24 hour race (nothing to do with PF), Stingray help PH organise PF (any money made goes to Cancer Research), PFers don't sponsor the event or the track tme..they just turn up, get drunk, have fun and IF they want some track time, it is there for them. Hope this clears things up TVRBOB??
Just to clarify back, PistonFest is a festival event where members of PistonHeads pay a fee for camping and facilities, spend money on the beer tent and other concessionaires, and which is linked to an event such as a drag racing weekend or (more recently) a 24hr racing event that is happening anyway.
Personally the latter is of little concern to me and the 24hr 2CV racing last year was just an annoying background buzzing that was a relief when it was over.
The racing event that you sponsor is not laid on for PistonHeaders and, as you say, neither is the track day as such; it seems more an opportunistic way of recovering some costs from some rich gits with flash cars who can afford to splash some cash around - after all, you do appear to be making a very healthy 100% profit between what you propose to charge and what you have admitted MSV will charge you, and that's at the new "oops, we made a typo" (sic) price.
I resent your comments that PHers "just turn up, get drunk, have fun" as if this is somehow a bad thing. That's like saying the people who go to Reading Festival just turn up, get drunk, and listen to some bands. I think you'll find that in both cases there is an entrance fee, and if that doesn't cover your costs it's just bad business / bad management.
PisonFest is not a charity fund-raising event for Cancer Research, and laudable though the fact that profits are going to them, I think it is out of order to play the charity card here.
For your information, I happen to give a reasonable amount to Cancer Research by monthly Direct Debit anyway. so my conscience is clear there and emotional blackmail won't wash.
I'm sure that PHers appreciate the efforts that StingRay have put into PistonFest, and I'm sure it will be a great event as ever, but don't try and make out that you are doing us all a massive favour here. If the sums don't add up for you then don't be involved in it. That's the decision you make when you enter into a sponsorship deal.
Edited by JonRB on Sunday 13th May 19:27
JonRB - I think you have mis-understood me. I (Stingray) sponsor the racing event, that's it. PH/PF is nothing to do with that arrangement. I (Stingray) help PH organise PF. I am sorry you took my "You just turn up..." comments the wrong way. I am also a PHer. My point was that the event is put on for PHers and a lot of effort goes into to it. The 2cv club have commited around £3,000 to secure the track time so it is NOTHING to do with Stingray or their sponsorship. The 2cv club did this because they want PF to be a success for everyone. It is not a profit making excercise for the Club or for Stingray and I am certainly not 'Playing a charity card', I was simply trying to explain the structure of the commercials of the weekend. If I have not done this accurately then I apologise. We, 2cv club, PH and Stingray were simply trying to put on a better event for all involved.
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