RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

Brands Hatch was a big disappointment for William Hornsey as he was not able to take part in the races due to blowing up an engine in testing on the Friday before.
” I felt something wasn’t quite right in testing and the times weren’t coming, and then during the last lap of the last session the engine got very hot so i coasted to a halt to investigate”
Hornsey with the help of his championship rivals diagnosed that the cooling system had not been diagnosed properly and in addition the crank bearings had failed.
“It was a very disappointing weekend, two no scores means that it will be hard to get back into the championship top 10 at seasons end. However one good thing did come out of it, and that is that I have been loaned last years champion ( Jeff Humphries) engine for the rest of the season.”

The car was taken to race preparation experts Lanan racing where the engine has already been installed.

” The plan now is to shake down the car with the new engine, get it on the rolling road, and then head off to anglesey for the next round.”

The Brands Hatch rounds were won by Andy Tibbs and Joe Ferguson, with another SAXMAX driver Josh Cook leading the championship.

Stock Hatch stalwart William Hornsey has completed the first 2 rounds of the 2010 championship at Snetterton over the weekend. Coming off the back of a couple of days testing and a last minute engine rebuild Hornsey’s hopes were high coming into the weekend.

However it became apparent that the speed shown in testing was not translating in to race pace, and coupled with a poor qualifying effort, Hornsey found himself down in 17th place for his heat.

“I was disappointed in my driving for the qualifying session, the car has been vey difficult to drive in the wet in the past and although better I still don’t have the confidence to push it as hard as it could go in the wet. Unfortunately in Stock Hatch qualifying determines your weekend and I was always going to be struggling from there on in.”

As is the norm with Stock Hatch, the first heat was red flagged and then run as a two part race where Hornsey finished 15th. This left him 26th for the final but a good race inspite of picking up some accident damage saw him finish 18th.

Sunday’s races were less eventful and a top 30 finish in the final was all that could be mustered.

“the car picked up a lot of ailments during the final including a slipping clutch, misfire and some fuel pressure issues. As well as the accident damage i have a busy couple of weeks to sort the car out for the next round.”

The finals were won by Josh Cook with last years champion Jeff Humphries 2nd.
Full results can be found at http://www.750mc.co.uk/images/uploaded/01_Snetterton_13-14th_March_Stock_Hatch.pdf

Hornsey shows signs of contact during stock hatch final.

Brands hatch test

Stock Hatch driver William Hornsey completed his final day of testing ahead of the 2010 Stock Hatch season at a wet Brands Hatch last week.

Again working with driver coach Malcolm Smith, Hornsey was able to get very quickly down to a quick wet lap time. Hornsey said, “it was a tricky day weather wise but we were able to change a few things on the car to improve my confidence and with Malcolm’s help start to understand where to place the car on a wet Brands Indy lap. Overall I came away satisfied with the days work and feel more confident than I have been before about my prospects for the forthcoming season.”

The car is now at preparation experts Lanan Racing undergoing a ground up rebuild in time for the first round on March 13th.

Hornsey prepares for final Stock Hatch season.

Seasoned stock hatch racer William Hornsey has been out testing recently at Snetterton in his venerable Peugeot 106 Rallye. After a couple of years of part seasons due to time constraints, Hornsey has committed to competing on the whole season with race preparation experts Lanan Racing, and legendary driver coach Malcolm Smith to improve his fortunes.

Hornsey said “ It’s going to be my last season competing this year as my work and family commitments make it very difficult to commit to the time required to do justice to a championship challenge. Therefore I am looking to go out on a high and feel that Lanan and Malcolm will help me make the most of the season. The aim is to finish well inside the top 10 championship positions.”

“ Testing last week at Snetterton was very cold, but the car ran well and was not far from the leading times of the previous race meeting. I am very much looking forward to the challenge ahead.”
Testing at Snetterton

The view from Clubland
Getting value for Money
William Hornsey – Stock hatch competitor.

The age old issue of club motor racing is cost, or more specifically, getting value for money doing our highly addictive hobby. Even the most miniscule of championships will take £5000+ of your income to complete and even then you would likely be far away from a competitive season.
It has to be said that the main reason in the UK for the high cost of competing isn’t necessarily driven by the competitor’s desire for obtaining the competitive advantage through laying down the cash, on better engines or suspensions, but a lack of entrepreneurship on the parts of both the organising clubs and the circuits.
A couple of seasons ago there was the ill fated ‘Powernights’ race meetings, which were mid week evening races which failed to really work due to the races in question being standalone and not part of a championship season. Understandably driver’s would be loathe to compete in a ‘meaningless’ race due to the risk of accident damage or mechanical breakdown, thus potentially thwarting their championship ambitions. However the fundamental raison d’etre behind this type ofmeeting should be revisited and perhaps tweaked.
Jackie Stewart’s autobiography gives us many pointers to how racing could be today for the club competitor. I’m not suggesting that we go back to straw bales and disused airfields, but the spectators of the time paid to watch the races and the money went into the driver’s pockets as start money or prize money. I don’t need to tell you that this does not happen today.
Ok, so the first point to address is the fact that most club events are very poorly attended by spectators, mostly the people in the stands are driver’s family and friends who probably got in on the tickets dished out with the entries. However, how many club events do you see being advertised?
The clubs won’t risk the cash required to advertise an event as generally they do not get the gate money. Unfortunately, the circuits, as well as charging for the hire of the track, also keep any revenue derived from spectators. However the marketing departments at these circuits won’t invest in promotion as, they possibly conceive the reward not mitigating the risk. And yet they can work, anyone who has ever raced at Castle Combe will attest to the 8000+ crowds that regularly attend their championship days. With the greatest of respect for Castle Combe it is hardly fan friendly in terms of facilities, but still the fans come so it would appear that there is enough latent demand for club level motor racing from the general public.
It would seem that club racing will remain an expensive proposition whilst we have this impass. The circuits and the clubs need to work together to generate spectator revenue, either by allowing the club to keep any gate receipts or by the circuit reducing its track hire charge and funding the reduction through increased spectator attendance. We are not talking ten’s of thousands of spectator’s either – a thousand would do at £10 per head. That’s £10k in total, minus say, £1000 in PR/Advertising spend on things like local radio adverts, local paper promotions etc. This could be used to offset the circuit hire cost, and therefore reduce entry fees, or be used for prize money for the winners and any multitude of other options, not least of which making the venues more child friendly so that families can see it as a cheap day out – ( fairground rides, kids clubs etc).
Club motor racing lacks a distinct amount of entrepreneurship at all levels, and whilst we may not be in the entertainment industry per se, I think all agencies tasked with running and promoting a meeting should look long and hard at how to provide better value for money for the competitor.