Dwindling grids!!

[craig hauxwell]

Agreed Steve it does need to be advertised more especially by the clubs with the exception of those that do and repeatedly not just a one off. There are clubs that are just sitting back, waiting for entries to come in and then when there isn't enough to fill a grid ring you 2 days before the meeting and tell you its cancelled so what chance do you have of entering another meeting when another club denies you an entry because " your too late we don't accept late entries " or "the programme has gone to print " so some clubs are not helping themselves and the repeated clash of dates year after year isn't helping either but sorting that would be a logistical nightmare I would imagine and with limited weekends available

[me123]

Why not just go back to the good old days of the early eighties and run open sidecar races where you could run anything instead of all the splintered classes.
Back in the days when you could have a choice of 10 meetings a weekend to go to.
In the mid eighties the acu banned racing tyres for solos other than soft road going tyres, they pushed this through after many complaints and petitions causing so many issues for solos at the time.
They were also being rumoured at the time to be wanting to do away with sidecars, well it may have taken them 30 years but slowly but surely they are managing to get what they wanted,they have achieved it by dividing and concouring by bringing in so many classes that you will never ever get full enough grids to be viable.
As someone who has been brought up from a very early age with sidecar racing as a 2 year old in1965 going to meetings with my parents I find it very upsetting to think that the class may one day not exist anymore.

[KatieMsidecar]

I think a couple of try out days at Llandow and Teeside Autodrome where the public can come along and passenger, and drive too if possible, without the need for first having an ACU licence, would help encourage more interest. I am willing to organise these, either at the end of the season, or in March or April next year, but would need sponsorship of £300 to do so.

I have an idea of holding a Sidecar Celebration Day, with all types of competition and road sidecars. I am not currently an ACU official, so would need plenty of help from accredited coaches, Clerks of Course, etc. I know of a venue which has land suitable for all - a tarmac track for the roadrace ones to give some taxi rides, a flattish field for grass track, hilly field for mx, enduro and trials. Of course, I may need AMCA clubs for the trials and mx. The problem is that the venue is in Pontrhydfendigaid, Mid Wales, a long journey for a lot of people, so whether such a day would attract enough public and competitors, I don't know. It would take me at least 2 to 3 years to organise, but I think it would be a great day out!

Back to roadracing, when I started in 2011, I didn't see any other drivers with novice jackets on, and I don't remember any in 2012 or 2013 either. However, this year I have been on the grid with three new drivers, so it's not all doom and gloom. I started far too late, at age 57, and now at 62, it is really hard to progress because I do sometimes get a bit frightened! I was thinking of giving up, but if I can progress with Ian and Gerald who are on similar bikes to me, then that'll be OK.

If two people want to roadrace, sharing costs and racing a sidecar has got to be cheaper than racing two solos, hasn't it?

Marianne