Class Struggle

I take the task of 1600 representative, (appointed this year), very seriously. Therefore when I see the car of Tony Cotton up for sale, I have to ask the reason why. Is he moving to another series? It seems very strange that his car goes up for sale only a day after he puts some kind of coded message on the Forum. Something about a Renault, Mr P and Mrs H.. I ignored it as I thought he was just making a play for Sara Hughes. But then we have the news of the break away in F1 by many of the major manufacturers. It’s all very suspicious. Will we see a Cotton-Renault lining up next year alongside the Brawn-Mercedes. Tony works in the financial sector and after all the recent scandals we know how these guys wheel and deal behind the scenes. This venture was probably sorted out on Flavio’s yacht.

On the other hand he could just be moving to another class within the Mono family. Either way it’s just not good enough. We can’t have drivers swapping about from class to class willy-nilly. The fans will get all mixed up. We have to have some continuity. We’re not footballers after all.

For this reason I intend proposing that any driver wanting to leave the 1600 class must give a two year period notice of intent. He/she will then be allowed to move if the grid balance can be maintained. For instance if driver A wanted to move to the 2000 class from 1600 and driver B wanted to move from 2000 to the 1600 premier class then a straight transfer could be organised in a very short time period of approx. one year. Looking at past transfers and the ebb and flow of individual class grids I’m surprised this hasn’t been brought in earlier. I therefore suggest that all drivers return immediately to the class where they first started until we can get this transfer thing sorted out.

There would be many benefits. Jim and Jeremy Timms for instance, both being ex-1600 men would come back. They share transport so it would be much better for them being in the same race. Costs of new wings on a 1600 would be so much cheaper than carbon fibre Dallara things and no more problems with fancy electronics.

Adrian Wright, Jock and Ewen Sergison, Geoff Fern, Brian Jones, Nick Catanzano, David Cox and Nick Anstruther, to name but a few, are therefore required to turn up at the next meeting in a 1600 car.

The same basis applies to retirement. Take note Patrick Huston and Geoff Jones. I’m sure these guys only retired as they’d lost the spark after moving to the lower classes.

A two year notice will need to be given in future prior to anyone retiring. Bankruptcy, ill health, death etc are no longer valid reasons for this complete abdication of responsibility shown by some of our members.

Naturally the above actions will swell the ranks of the 1600 grid. But not to worry as we do have two grids at all meetings. Any spare grid slots can be filled by the other classes, possibly on a lottery basis. After all we only need two spare slots to get the entire 1400 grid in and only one slot required for the super duper Dallara funny cars, or whatever the class is called, so Graham can continue with us.

Fair enough.

Grid costs are another item crying out for change. The obvious way is a split by classes rather than drivers. So if one grid has twenty nine 1600s, two 1400s and one 2000, then the grid cost should be split equally between the three classes. £3,000 a grid, say for example, divided by three is a thousand pounds per class. 1000 divided by 29 1600s gives a grid cost of £34.48. (illustrated left). That’s very good I can hear you saying. I admit the cost for Graham, being the only competitor in his class, is a wee bit steep but on the credit side he would be racing with the premier class. Obviously these lesser classes would have to start at the back with passing of 1600s not allowed. But what do you expect for this kind of money. We’re not here to please everyone.

I don’t want anyone to get the idea that I am in any way against the other classes in Mono. I’m not an elitist. I’ve talked to competitors from these lower classes several times in the past. I find that they are normally very good at giving directions to the burger bars and toilets etc, normally located at the lower end of the paddock.

David Parkinson

Real reason for Mr Cotton advertising car (sniffpetrol.com)

Flav's yacht

Graham Read, preparing for the £1,000 race.

David Parkinson has all the charm, diplomacy and tact required to run a major motor racing series. No idea who these two are. though.