The end of sprint racing in club motorsport?
Discussion
Well probably not, but it's got me thinking a bit.
There are significantly more endurance style race championships today than there ever were 20 years ago and the reasons are obvious.
- someone to share the costs with
- plenty of teams to do the running/maintenance which is great if you know nothing about car prep or even a race event.
Entry fees aren't helping though, its actually cheaper per minute of track time to enter an endurance event than a sprint race and that's before you can split the costs. Most of the other expenses are the same - cost to get to the track, accommodation, with only fuel and maybe tyres costing more.
Sprint race entry circa £405, for max 45 mins track time (£9 per min) (assume 15 mins qually)
Enduro entry £785 for 150 mins of track time (£5.22 per min, before splitting the cost) (assume 30 mins qually)
I reckon I can do an event that's within 1 hour of me for £600, but that doesn't allow for new tyres, damage etc. An enduro would be £1200-1300 but split between 2, and with more track time.
I've really struggled this year to get my wallet out for the sprint racing that I do, I have a feeling that the cost of living crises may be felt particularly keenly in sprint racing before endurance racing this year. And indeed will it get to the point that sprint racing is no longer on a clubs race programme for next year or beyond?
There are significantly more endurance style race championships today than there ever were 20 years ago and the reasons are obvious.
- someone to share the costs with
- plenty of teams to do the running/maintenance which is great if you know nothing about car prep or even a race event.
Entry fees aren't helping though, its actually cheaper per minute of track time to enter an endurance event than a sprint race and that's before you can split the costs. Most of the other expenses are the same - cost to get to the track, accommodation, with only fuel and maybe tyres costing more.
Sprint race entry circa £405, for max 45 mins track time (£9 per min) (assume 15 mins qually)
Enduro entry £785 for 150 mins of track time (£5.22 per min, before splitting the cost) (assume 30 mins qually)
I reckon I can do an event that's within 1 hour of me for £600, but that doesn't allow for new tyres, damage etc. An enduro would be £1200-1300 but split between 2, and with more track time.
I've really struggled this year to get my wallet out for the sprint racing that I do, I have a feeling that the cost of living crises may be felt particularly keenly in sprint racing before endurance racing this year. And indeed will it get to the point that sprint racing is no longer on a clubs race programme for next year or beyond?
That’s not the point I was making. It’s more that there are significantly more enduro style events than there were and that they are cheaper for a competitor to enter as costs are shared.
It’s not helped by the fact that per min of track time sprint racing is more expensive to enter.
What I think might happen is that as racing gets more expensive there will be more focus on clubs providing enduro style championships than sprint racing.
It’s not helped by the fact that per min of track time sprint racing is more expensive to enter.
What I think might happen is that as racing gets more expensive there will be more focus on clubs providing enduro style championships than sprint racing.
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