Driving Standards in The Monoposto Racing Club

Russ Giles could not attend the last Directors' Meeting but sent his apologies and responses to the agenda items. For 'Any Other Business' he wrote:

"General Driving Standards across all classes

I was amazed that I saw a chequered flag, rather than a red flag finish to a race at Cadwell. It seems that it is normal to finish on a red flag nowadays. There is a lot of talk of poor standards in officials, but we the drivers are giving them all the ammunition they need to cut our races. I think a letter should be sent to all the registered drivers, this would explain in simple terms that driving standards need to be improved and that 'Heroic' manoeuvres have no place in Mono as they usually go wrong. That overtaking attempted from way back is likely to cost 15 other drivers half their race and as we pay over £5 a minute for that track time it is a very costly price to pay for that little bit of bravado.

Russ Giles"

One would have to note that if the Mono2000/Classic/1800 race at Cadwell had been 15 minutes + 1 lap, i.e. one lap longer, it would have finished under red flags.

Having suffered the first significant damage to my Swift in more than four years of ownership, I find myself in complete agreement with Russ. One of George Orwell's essays discusses Charles Dickens and ways of improving society. For some of the essay he compares the ideas of Karl Marx with the philosophy of Charles Dickens. Broadly speaking Marx believed that only restructuring society with suitable rules could effect improvement, whilst Dickens, from the evidence in his writing, thought that all that was required was for everybody to behaved better towards their fellow man. In motor racing we have our own version of this debate, some believe that it is the responsibility of officials, including officials in the MRC to maintain standards, while others believe that if standards are to improve, that it is up to individual competitors to improve their driving when racing.

Any club has a major problem when attempting to improve driving standards amongst its competitors because they work within the framework provided by the MSA and administered by the race organisers as represented by the CoC. The latter is dependent on reports from the marshals and on many occasions this system has proved to be blind to major incidents in club races. While the collision I was involved in at Cadwell Park was seen by the majority of those spectating at the restaurant, it was ignored by the officials. Incidents that cause red flags frequently go uninvestigated. The reality of the situation is that the CoC has a race meeting to run. If there are many incidents during a meeting or a race the CoC will lack the time and if we are honest the inclination to investigate all the incidents that take place. The CoC's priority is to run the next race, rather than dealing with a group whose lack of discipline has caused a red flag or red flags. The CoC may regard loss of race time as apt punishment to those in a red flagged race, the racing equivalent of a form detention.

The latter point throws the onus of attempting to improve driving standards onto the club to which the competitors belong. The problem that the club has is that it is working in an information vacuum. In the absence of any relevant information from the MSA or CoC, the club is dependant on information from the competitors and as we know from watching F1, drivers have egos and rarely if ever admit that they were at fault. Usually, a witness will be another competitor and the cockpit of race car is probably not the best place to see the whole picture. Thus a club is severely limited with regard to its sources of evidence and equally limited with regard to the action that it can take, any action must be within the limitations set by the MSA or the aggrieved competitor may appeal to the higher authority.

After the collision at Cadwell I completed one of the club’s Driver Complaint Forms and submitted it to the Club Secretary, one must admit that there was an element of the Mikado’s Pooh-Bah about this transaction! But on reflection, and for reasons given in the above paragraph, later withdrew the complaint (further parallels with the Mikado).

The reality is that the control over driving standards at club meetings is both extremely limited and patchily enforced. There is certainly greater freedom to drive badly at a race meeting than there is at a track-day, where, to keep the majority of their customers happy, the organisers will cause miscreants to sit out sessions or for severe infringements (e.g. overtaking under red flags) be sent home without refund. I have even seen a group sent home from Spa. However, like the track-day organisers, it is of the greatest importance to a club that it persuade its competitors to drive with consideration. The financial regime pertaining from 2008 onwards, necessitates that a club's financial success be linked to maintaining healthy grids and while the larger teams carry the skilled individuals and spares to repair damaged cars, the smaller outfits may be put out for a significant percentage of the season by the sort of damage that some would consider minor. Some disastrous races (Mallory Park, Mono2000, 2006) have had a significant effect on grids for the remainder of the season. In the present financial climate this is necessary that a club’s competitors have machinery to race and retain their enthusiasm to race. Any other outcome is disadvantageous to the club.

The MRC is in a position to recruit into motor racing, to recruit we need to show that our races are not some version of expensive dodgems, that newcomers can expect an appropriate amount of track time, that they can expect to return home with a straight car. Remember that some hire their car when they first participate, their day may cost them four figures and any damage will be repaired at full commercial rates. On these occasions the estimate of more than £5 per minute of track time is a gross underestimate. If we wish to retain these newcomers we need to demonstrate that we can reliably provide value for money as well as entertainment.

Thus, we are unable to impose the revolutionary changes that a Marxist approach to driving standards would require and must fall back on the Dickensian philosophy of everybody being more considerate or if that is too much to ask at least hope that our competitors do not try foolhardy manoeuvres..

Patrick Huston

How do you punish an over-optimistic manouevre?

Some series developed a reputation (deserved or otherwise) for being "expensive dodgems".

Sometimes, aggressive moves are successful. Helps if you are an F1 talent.

Pictures: Autosport.com