Editorial

'I get all the news I need from the weather reports'; Simon & Garfunkel's line is an accurate description of the requirements of those on holiday, and that applied to my wife and myself in the latter part of January. Unfortunately, a more complete version of the news became available as we neared the UK. It became obvious that financially it had been another tough week, and the headlines indicated that we were returning to the land of modern robber barons.

The modern version of the robber baron seems to fit the description of their medieval predecessors: greedy, unprincipled, without morals and with the belief that they can selfishly get away with any behaviour with regard to the plebs* and the well being of the country; self interest personified. And as in the past their behaviour is legal, sanctioned and protected by the laws of the day.

It would appear that Max Mosley's upstanding tenure as head of the FIA is coming to an end. Many will regret his loss, and the way he raised the FIA's profile to the front pages of the tabloids. A hard act to follow, one would have thought, but it is rumoured that Sir Fred Goodwin is in the frame as Mosley's successor. The very Sir Fred who until recently was Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland while they made a 28 billion pound loss. Sir Fred and his fellow bankers can claim with some justification to have done more to bring down the Western capitalist system than Mao Tse Tung and Nikita Khrushchev combined. Additionally, they managed it in the brief period of eight years (since bank deregulation), so he looks to be a worthy substitute for Max.

However, I do like to look behind the tabloid headlines and asked myself what special skills would Sir Fred Goodwin bring to the job, what made him stand out from the field of recently unemployed bankers who have lost billions and retired on multi-million pound pensions? Could it be RBS's multi-million pound sponsorship of the Williams F1 team four years ago or the billion plus deal ,with funding from RBS, that was closer to the heart of F1? Or could it be that he has more than one car and occasionally drives his Ferrari to Knockhill?

The next news was the Government's rejection of the petition proposing a 'grandfather clause' be inserted into the law on noise pollution. The clause would have enabled established use be taken into consideration in court cases pertaining to this law. In rejecting the petition, the Government stated that it is ‘trusting councils to use common sense when dealing with complaints’; some hope! If one considers the situation that the local councils have been put in by this legislation, this looks like spin, an effort to deflect blame away from those who drafted the law.

This ruling empowers those making a complaint, the immediate beneficiaries were those living in 'the big house' adjacent to Croft circuit. The motives for this complaint seem to have more to do with the plot of 'Die nasty'**, than noise pollution. It would appear that the family doing the complaining were once associated with the running of race meetings at Croft, and the partnership has now broken up. Their legal action has resulted in £140 000 damages and legal charges of £700 000, sums that one would expect the circuit to have difficulty finding.

Croft circuit is estimated to bring approximately £3 000 000 into its area every year; we all know how, even my impecunious outfit spends an amount equal to the race entry fee at every meeting. The result is that the actions of those in the big house are not universally popular, especially with local businesses in this time of economic recession.

In recent years, the authorities at Croft have been punctilious about enforcing the requisite noise requirements on competitors. I have written about this twice before, disagreeing with their technique rather than the requirement. I now suspect they were wasting their time, antagonising competitors and participants was never going to placate those in the big house. The Government's enactment of the law concerning noise pollution had provided some individuals with the stick that they required, the problem could be that Croft circuit exists not that it has been excessively noisy.

There is discussion on various blogs that Croft is used for 200 days per year and the other usage has generated problems for race meetings. It would be interesting to see the overall breakdown, but track days for cars are relatively few and amongst the most controlled that I have attended. The numbers per session are moderate (approximately 20), static noise testing is stringent, there are 5 minute breaks between sessions and as cars fall by the wayside during the day the sessions are maintained with reduced numbers of cars; no open pit lane in the late afternoon at Croft.

I suspect that if Croft is in operation for 200 days per year, a significant number of days are devoted to other purposes related to driving e.g. young driver training. Naturally, local amenity does not come into a judicial judgement any more than the financial benefits to the area.

What does come in for judicial consideration is the effect of Croft Circuit on the rural aspect of the region. One wonders if this was at the forefront of the planning decision that was taken during WWII. The current effect of the circuit must be insignificant in comparison with an airfield operating four engined heavies, each of which had four engines and at least 6000bhp announcing themselves through open exhausts. We have a local flying Lancaster and it is awe inspiring when it flies over at 50', a Caterham at 200m bears no comparison. If it is now argued that area is a rural idyll, this can only be done if one ignores its wartime incarnation as a bomber base.

But the past history of Croft Circuit has little to do with the case, we are dealing with the law ‘as she is wrote', and this law is an affluent NIMBY's charter. They can use it to get their own way and get richer, Croft damages: £140 000, legal fees: £700 000, the looser in these cases usually picks up the tab for the lawyers. Look at the situation from a different standpoint, can you imagine the owners of the little house bringing a similar case with regard to the Chatsworth rally event? Most of the points made in the Croft court case apply.

Some in the racing fraternity have argued that the Croft authorities have maximised use of the circuit to increase their profits, and that it is the greed of the circuit authorities that has resulted in the current situation, detrimental to racing. The reality is more likely to be that the Croft authorities have maximised use of the circuit in an effort to balance their books (and coincidentally provided a local amenity). The Croft circuit represents an attractive prospect to a racing driver, but it is a long way North, and must set its race entry fees (and track day fees) at a level that will attract the majority of drivers to travel an additional two hundred miles to their venue. Thus, Croft cannot command the same entry fees as Brands Hatch, for example, even though some would consider the venue to be superior.

If the noise pollution law remains unchanged several circuits are as vulnerable as Croft, many airfields are equally vulnerable. All that is needed is someone with sufficient money and a grudge.

Fingers crossed for our meeting at Croft in 2009, it's an important part of the Monoposto Club’s racing calendar.

Patrick Huston

* You may have noticed that our locals, adjacent to the Lindsey Total refinery, are in revolt over a contract arranged to bring little or no benefit to their area.
** The editor has never seen an edition of this American soap so any links with any plotline are pure conjecture.

Once again, a photograph of popular 1960's/70's musicians. The editorial team reveals it's age. (Simon and Garfunkel. Not Tony and Patrick)

World Motorsport Supremo (and defender of human rights) M Mosley, in a charming family portrait with his dad, a genuine Fascist leader.

Sir Fred Goodwin, who has done to RBS what Russell Brand did to Georgina Bailey. Click pic for a motoring anecdote about him.

Patrick's Lanc, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight PA474. Awe inspiring.

Croft, an airfield circuit with character (but rubbish toilets).