Editorial

The Monoposto Racing Club exists to provide racing for 'the man in the street', and judging by our full grids, and by requests that our members race on the grids of others, we are succeeding in our main aim which could be summarised as providing affordable motor racing.

Inevitably, the composition of our grids has changed over time, but one characteristic of the club is that it has usually fielded a heterogeneous collection of cars. Some would like our grids to be composed of a homogenous group of cars in the way that a club racing FF1600, or Formula Jedi races. In my opinion the variety of cars that we race is both a strength, and a perceived weakness. The strength is that variety contributes to full grids, the weakness, that our racing is not as 'pure' as it could be.

Just over ten years ago all our classes were racing on one grid, but as the membership increased, two grids became the norm. With two grids came the debate as to which classes should race together, this debate has no obvious solution, and is ongoing with different mixes of classes racing at various venues this season. Arguments as to which classes should race together are well rehearsed, reflecting personal preferences and fears. I will not repeat them here, but observe that one advantage of having a variety of classes is that the Club Administrator can mix and match, so that numbers on the grid are maximised, more members race, and the Treasurer smiles more frequently (No. Never smiles. - asst ed & treas). Another advantage is that the MRC can introduce a class, and patiently allow numbers to increase as momentum within the class slowly builds. Over recent years this has occurred in the Mono1800 class, and it now seems to be happening in the Mono1400s.

While the overall numbers racing Monoposto have increased in recent years, numbers racing in individual classes vary in a way that sometimes to defies logical prediction. In an era of financial constraint, who would have predicted that the greatest growth would be amongst the Dallaratocracy? On the other side of the coin, in the past I have complained about the difficulty of writing race reports for the Mono1000 class because of the number of superficially identical red Speads/JKSs on the track, currently this is not a problem. Drivers and entrants are individuals and the composition of one of our grids is a result of many and various decisions by individuals, so numbers vary. As a club, we do our best to accommodate various trends; I originally wrote 'each year's trends', but thought better of it, a year may be too long a period of time!

Currently, the Mono2000 and Mono2000 Classic classes are very strong, and currently it is these classes that represent our best chance of fielding a 'homogenous' grid. However, one hesitates when using the word homogenous when referring to such a disparate selection of machinery, at least they all have 2 litre engines, more or less!

How do you see Monoposto developing in the future? I will leave you three items to debate:

• The variety of cars eligible to race in our championships is large, we can offer enjoyable circuit racing to those whose cars do not suit other series, for example the 8 valve and 16 valve Formula Vauxhall Junior cars. The club has usually taken a pragmatic view of the cars that race together, if they are capable of setting similar lap times, then it is appropriate that they race together. Thus there are three distinct chassis/engine combinations in both the Mono1600 and the Mono1800 classes. Is the composition of these classes appropriate?
• Some see racing in a menagerie class as inferior, a throw back to Formula Libre races of earlier eras when race meetings traditionally finished with a Libre race to accommodate those who still had intact machinery, and wished to race again. However, a Mono1600 race, or a Mono1800 race is not comparable with Formula Libre because we have taken steps to ensure that the classes contain cars of similar performance. Is the racing in these classes devalued by the mix of cars involved?
• Which is the most important: the performance of the car*, or the skill of the driver when it comes to succeeding in Monoposto?

* Assuming reliability.

Patrick Huston
12/06/10

FVL - Mono is one of the few places to run it

2 1600's - FF1600 and FVJ

A 3rd - equally valid- choice in Mono 1600 is FR1700.