On Your Marks 2015 - Asda Charity Trackday - Bruntingthorpe
Discussion
On the subject of price per lap...
We've debated this long and hard, and it's very difficult to ignore the fact that the bulk of the punters at the day are ASDA employees and family, many of them on very low wages. It's easy to overlook a price rise to £10 or more for a lap that would price out many of the people who are going to be on much tighter budgets than the lucky few who can afford to blat round the track, spending more money than we will raise.
Let's be honest, if we had all simply paid into the hat whatever the day would actually cost us in fuel, tyres, brakes, paint, whatever, then we would raise more money than the punters paid. And where's the fun in that?
I get the idea of £10 for a named special car, and £5 for whatever turns up next, but for me that's as far as it should go. If we deny little Johnny the pocket-money ride that he's been looking forward to all year, then it will be a much sadder day. Let's not go down the route of charging £30/40/100 a lap - it won't work for that event.
We've debated this long and hard, and it's very difficult to ignore the fact that the bulk of the punters at the day are ASDA employees and family, many of them on very low wages. It's easy to overlook a price rise to £10 or more for a lap that would price out many of the people who are going to be on much tighter budgets than the lucky few who can afford to blat round the track, spending more money than we will raise.
Let's be honest, if we had all simply paid into the hat whatever the day would actually cost us in fuel, tyres, brakes, paint, whatever, then we would raise more money than the punters paid. And where's the fun in that?
I get the idea of £10 for a named special car, and £5 for whatever turns up next, but for me that's as far as it should go. If we deny little Johnny the pocket-money ride that he's been looking forward to all year, then it will be a much sadder day. Let's not go down the route of charging £30/40/100 a lap - it won't work for that event.
IanH755 said:
LOL, The only pic of my car all day Taken shortly before the McLaren moved over and chipped my screen 
but it shows how busy the left side of the runway got!
Ian H We hold our hands up! Getting consistent photos of all the cars is very difficult. Taken shortly before the McLaren moved over and chipped my screen but it shows how busy the left side of the runway got!Edited by IanH755 on Monday 24th August 13:22
I was part of a five strong team made up of 3 photographers and 2 video production people.
I would of loved to feature certain cars individually, as making a fuss of the track cars is something I did have the intention of doing.
However the event is so so big and we cant cover everything. Track cars are a huge and very dominant part of the event. Raising huge amounts for the chosen charity. (They also look awesome in photos) lol.
See you all there next year and we will come round to each club and introduce ourselves to you all.
\\\\Again a MASSIVE well done to you all////
Edited by Simonlphoto on Monday 24th August 21:20
No problem Simon, as you said there's so much going on at anyone time it would be virtually impossible to capture everything there and no criticism was intended. The Rally stage pics looked particularly good though, every year I want to pop over and have a ride but never get around to it!
?
Hi Paul,
Just to clear the air / clarify my position...
I massively respect what he gave up in order to raise money for charity, fair play to the chap and yes, congratulations on the amount of money raised. Good effort and he should be very proud.
My issue was the tactics being used into some of the corners, very much a 'get out of my way' kind of attitude. It didn't bother me particularly as I'm used to racing and having a car dive up the inside mid corner is very normal. But some of the other drivers on this day were novices and driving like that would have no doubt scared them senseless! That's my issue, I watched him twice dive up the inside of a pack into the first corner, with one car resorting to taking avoiding action.
But, fair play on the amount of money raised, that's what the day is all about and everyone had a good time!
We were considering doing three laps for £10 as an incentive but as it was we were so busy all day anyway we didn't need to.
PDB said:
James,
I'm surprised you think Jim's driving was "shocking". The McLaren was one of, if not the quickest car on the day and he was able to pass pretty much everything with relative ease, pretty well anywhere, which may have surprised a few people, but I don't believe he did anything untoward.
He was on track continuously all day. He arrived at the start with the McLaren tanked up and 4 Jerry cans full of fuel. Buy lunch time, that was all gone, so he went to fill everything up again and he left after the track closed running on fumes. He also started the day on a brand new set of McLaren P1 tyres and wheels. The tyres were almost slicks by the time he left and the wheels were peppered in chips from flying stones.
He almost certainly did more laps than anyone and comfortably raised the most money (we were charging £10 for some of our cars), so he should be congratulated.
My apologies for the green mobile chicane Cobra. John goes by the name of "Captain Slow" but again, he was on track all day and only stopped for the lunch break.
It was a tough day for the older technology cars and the attrition rate was high. The dark blue Cobra needs a major engine rebuild after cooking its big ends. This same car was rear-ended on the way to the event last year and spent the day sitting in the car park with a very crumpled rear.
Paul
?I'm surprised you think Jim's driving was "shocking". The McLaren was one of, if not the quickest car on the day and he was able to pass pretty much everything with relative ease, pretty well anywhere, which may have surprised a few people, but I don't believe he did anything untoward.
He was on track continuously all day. He arrived at the start with the McLaren tanked up and 4 Jerry cans full of fuel. Buy lunch time, that was all gone, so he went to fill everything up again and he left after the track closed running on fumes. He also started the day on a brand new set of McLaren P1 tyres and wheels. The tyres were almost slicks by the time he left and the wheels were peppered in chips from flying stones.
He almost certainly did more laps than anyone and comfortably raised the most money (we were charging £10 for some of our cars), so he should be congratulated.
My apologies for the green mobile chicane Cobra. John goes by the name of "Captain Slow" but again, he was on track all day and only stopped for the lunch break.
It was a tough day for the older technology cars and the attrition rate was high. The dark blue Cobra needs a major engine rebuild after cooking its big ends. This same car was rear-ended on the way to the event last year and spent the day sitting in the car park with a very crumpled rear.
Paul
Hi Paul,
Just to clear the air / clarify my position...
I massively respect what he gave up in order to raise money for charity, fair play to the chap and yes, congratulations on the amount of money raised. Good effort and he should be very proud.
My issue was the tactics being used into some of the corners, very much a 'get out of my way' kind of attitude. It didn't bother me particularly as I'm used to racing and having a car dive up the inside mid corner is very normal. But some of the other drivers on this day were novices and driving like that would have no doubt scared them senseless! That's my issue, I watched him twice dive up the inside of a pack into the first corner, with one car resorting to taking avoiding action.
But, fair play on the amount of money raised, that's what the day is all about and everyone had a good time!
SoftwareSorcerer said:
On the subject of price per lap...
We've debated this long and hard, and it's very difficult to ignore the fact that the bulk of the punters at the day are ASDA employees and family, many of them on very low wages. It's easy to overlook a price rise to £10 or more for a lap that would price out many of the people who are going to be on much tighter budgets than the lucky few who can afford to blat round the track, spending more money than we will raise.
Let's be honest, if we had all simply paid into the hat whatever the day would actually cost us in fuel, tyres, brakes, paint, whatever, then we would raise more money than the punters paid. And where's the fun in that?
I get the idea of £10 for a named special car, and £5 for whatever turns up next, but for me that's as far as it should go. If we deny little Johnny the pocket-money ride that he's been looking forward to all year, then it will be a much sadder day. Let's not go down the route of charging £30/40/100 a lap - it won't work for that event.
To be honest I thought £5 was a bit high for one lap anyway. When you consider the people I took out in my passenger seat, most were kids. Let's say they had £20 maybe £30 to spend on laps all day they're not going to get many laps at all and I think you'd have a quieter track and less money raised. It works well as it is. We've debated this long and hard, and it's very difficult to ignore the fact that the bulk of the punters at the day are ASDA employees and family, many of them on very low wages. It's easy to overlook a price rise to £10 or more for a lap that would price out many of the people who are going to be on much tighter budgets than the lucky few who can afford to blat round the track, spending more money than we will raise.
Let's be honest, if we had all simply paid into the hat whatever the day would actually cost us in fuel, tyres, brakes, paint, whatever, then we would raise more money than the punters paid. And where's the fun in that?
I get the idea of £10 for a named special car, and £5 for whatever turns up next, but for me that's as far as it should go. If we deny little Johnny the pocket-money ride that he's been looking forward to all year, then it will be a much sadder day. Let's not go down the route of charging £30/40/100 a lap - it won't work for that event.
We were considering doing three laps for £10 as an incentive but as it was we were so busy all day anyway we didn't need to.
Edited by JamesHayward on Tuesday 25th August 11:13
I wouldn't be suprised if many of the cars including mine would cost more tha £5.00 in fuel alone doing two laps. Like I say I'm happy to be involved in these events but there gets a point where I'd rather make a contribution to the charity in cash than run an expensive car at disproportionate cost.
The serious damage to my car caused by the debris on the track is putting a big question mark over future participation I'm afraid. It's easier and cheaper to pay a sizeable donation. I fully get the point about kids coming along and getting to ride in their dream cars, but this year, the damage outweighed the benefit in my mind.
Paul
Paul
PDB said:
The serious damage to my car caused by the debris on the track is putting a big question mark over future participation I'm afraid. It's easier and cheaper to pay a sizeable donation. I fully get the point about kids coming along and getting to ride in their dream cars, but this year, the damage outweighed the benefit in my mind.
Paul
+1Paul
SoftwareSorcerer said:
I get the idea of £10 for a named special car, and £5 for whatever turns up next, but for me that's as far as it should go. If we deny little Johnny the pocket-money ride that he's been looking forward to all year, then it will be a much sadder day. Let's not go down the route of charging £30/40/100 a lap - it won't work for that event.
I couldn't agree more Drew, although it would be sad to see some cars / owners pull out in the future the whole picture needs taking fully into account. I completely understand the issue if you're in a £100k+ super/hyper car but for alot of volunteer drivers this is not the case. It's all about managing everyone's expectations I suppose, all this said it won't stop me returning next year with my fully rebuilt engine 
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