National Day 2011 Discussion - What do members Want?

[RoboEK]

I was at Nat day so hopefully i can comment on this without getting flamed (except for my spelling) I would of liked to go to the AGM but wasnt aware it was open to non commity members or where it was being held, after the group photo every one just split, i think it would be a better idea to have it mid day next year so more can attend and maby make it so you have to show your membership card to get in?

As for the "overcrowding from other brand cars debate" i honsty dont care what people turn up in as long as its in spirit with the event, in a ideal world every car there would be a Renault turbo or from the sport range, but thats just not realistic, life gets in the way (i should know i had to sell my old 5 to buy a "Family car") but as long as every one there understands that its a renault day and is willing to come and have a chat then the more the merrier. i go to jap fest every year yet i drive a French car and a German van.

I had fun this year at Nat day and will definatly be attending next year whether its in a Renault or not.

[Tony Walker]

So you pay your twenty five quid to be a member and are then denied access to club stuff, not goong to work.

Only if they where a new member not owning a renault turbo. Maybe a discount to the next years nd could be offered by that time hopefully they will own a renault turbo

[f0xy]

mistakes will be made..........but to be honest if i under took anyone and yeah i did it was 100% intensional cause i had good reason to...the times i backed off on the corners to wait for the straights the cars in question wanted to "race" me along the straights??? fair play??? yeah.i loved it.....if a driver is acting a bit of a pillock all of the time ie in my opinion the lad in the renault 19 early on and the lad in the escort(trying to drift).......there the ones we should be mentioning.......but not a word??? i dont think its a proper issue having spoken to the mushroom racing lad who is a prof driver and spent a lot of time on track for every national day at mallory he says and i quote"the standard of driving is very good and gets better every year"...this statement is also supported by the staff at mallory park.

To be honest I agree. I came in 2009, and was there this year - on track both times and well worth it. Even though the weather was worse this year, the driving standard from everyone was far better IMO.

I signed up before ND2009, just for the day and I'm not bothered to about admitting it. Reason being I know quite a few people off here very well and that's how I heard about the day in the first place - word of mouth goes a long way. If you are wanting to stop non-members/non-renaults coming you should have a manual booking system or some sort of manual verification - where a committee member has to be contacted for the ticket and approved or whatever, as you won't stop people just signing up on their own and buying through a shop - then just turning up on the day...

I didnt have one complaint about the whole weekend, both years - seemed well organized beforehand and on the day. Yes the briefing was 'brief', but it was the same last year so I knew what it was going to be like. Yeah it could be better, but the majority of people going on track (bar the few newcomers) will have enough common sense from previous track days to know the rules. Id say the only reason it has to be more in depth is for the new people.

With regards to checking wristbands and the general organization on the day I didn't have any gripes either. My wristband was actually checked a few times by the lad stood next to the armco on the exit of the paddock, other times it wasnt - but hey ho. If the driver does not have a wristband then its their own risk really IMO - as if they crash or become seriously injured there will be no next of kin record to match it up to from when they signed the form and had the number put on their band...

Ive read the whole thread but didn't actually see a figure of how many 'very active' RTOC members were on track? If it were only those on track there surely be a significant loss to the club - yes it may be 'ok' to make a loss but wouldn't the club benefit in the long run from having more cash in the account for other events? IMO it would..

Some of the stuff posted in here I could not believe - but everyone has their own opinion and thats that. Ive been on to trackdays in the past where the morning has been 20min sessioned with novices and advanced, then the afternoon full open pit - which worked well and kept the day moving - may be an idea worth considering if people are bothered about having a session for newcomers. I saw my name mentioned a few pages back regarding posting it on CS too - if the committee didn't want the day being advertised elsewhere it should have been said when the ND details were first posted in the original thread - IMO of course. Although, I don't know how many cars it would have stopped coming, as the three people I was with came in 2009 too, so they were already members on here and knew about the 2010 day anyway.

I saw a comment also about people feeling that the more 'advanced' drivers are getting pi**ed off with the novices going slow - but to be honest it is not AT ALL like that (Unless the advanced driver is a complete d*ckhead). With the amount of track days I've done you have to accept that new people are always going to be there - just like when you come across L platers on the road. There is no point getting silly, ranting and raving that you were being held up as it wont get you anywhere - its just about the patience and then passing safely. Im sure all the regular track day goers will agree with me on that.

If there is a majority of members bothered about the 'track day' being over populated with 'non active members', maybe the ND should be something else in the year and then RTOC have their own organized track day where other cars can come without anyone being bothered - the club could make a lot of money from something like Mallory hosting it as their own track day, especially if the ticket prices were upped. You could get away with another £70 on top of the price if not more and still have a lot of people turn up mid summer.

[Miller]

After spending most of the night reading and replying to this thread these are the only relevant points I have taken from it. There has also been a lot said that is just rubbish with people saying things that are not even true.


Briefing
This year the briefing was given by a new member of staff who was standing in for the normal person, as he was on his honeymoon. The briefing was short but he did explain all the flags and he did say to only overtake on the left. It was very basic but to the point, normal the briefing is more detailed and I am sure if we go back to Mallory park then it will be back to normal standards.

Marshals
For next year I can say to Mallory that we want them to come down hard on every mistake, but I think this will then cause the same topic to arise but in reverse saying they were to strict so it is lose lose situation for me. You need to remember these guys are doing these 6 days a week……maybe the reason they were not using the flags much was because they thought the standard of driving was good? I have spoken to Mallory this week and was told by john ward (managing director) that his staff was very happy with the driving standard considering the level of experience we have.

John has always briefed the staff that the majority of drivers are new to track days so the marshals knew to be more on the ball. I was also approached by mike at mushroom racing (old prima cars) at midday and he commented on how good the standards of driving were and each year it has been getting better. Mike organises trackdays and does instructor work so I would say he knows what he is talking about. I was only asked to deal with one driver on the day about erratic behaviour. Penfold can I ask what time that picture was taken at?

Track sign on
This year we only had 96 people sign on after the drivers briefing and last year we had 115 people. So why is it, this years ND was too busy but last year it was not a problem? Remember last year we had to do the briefing outside as so many people were there. Do you not just think that people were a bit more paranoid about the condition and that is what has made you think it is busier because you were more aware of people around you?
Mallory do not normally have this many people signed on for a track day but as we charge so little for the privilege then most people are happy to go out for a few laps then come in, if they were to pay more they would want to be out every minute possible.

Wristbands
As clee has said next year we will issue the wristband on the day so you will need to bring your shop invoice with you (details still to be sorted out). I would like to add this year I was checking wristbands from 9 - 10:30 but I do not think this should be necessary as we are supposed to be a club of friends. If people believe that we have such scum within the club that requires us to monitor every wristband then we can get this staffed for the full day. I was very disappointed to hear in the morning from mike (mushroom racing) that he had overheard people were discussing how they were going to swap bands and this was why I did the checks in the morning.

Non members
The reason so many non-members were at this years ND is the club members fault, we restricted tickets to members only for the first three months then we open it up to all. At the point that non-members could then buy tickets it was very disappointing at the miserable amount of tickets that had been bought by club members.

Without the non members attending our event we would not be able to recoup the money we have, I know the club is a non profit making organisation but for the last three years we have been able to keep a excellent financial balance, as after ND we have had the funds to pay for the next years ND and pod day (around £13,000). So if we never got this extra money then each year we would get closer to financial ruin.

What people seem to forget, the club pays for more than just ND and pod. We have website costs, advertising costs, club merchandise and also parts for the shop (that we do not make profit on as it’s a service we offer members). So everyone needs to remember that if we start to make massive losses at these days the club will not be able to offer what it does. These are the only two events during the year that we can make some money back.


We have three options with non-members buying tickets that that is as follows:

• Do not allow any non-members? See above
• Only allow them on in the afternoon? We tried this in the past and we sold no advance tickets and made larger losses.
• Keep it to the same as what we have done but maybe restrict sales to non-members till June instead of May.

I would like to add that we have always had non-members price £25 more than the membership price. Maybe we need to have it only £20 more so they do not join for the cheap track day and each year if they insist on coming back they will pay the full non-member price?

Beginner’s laps
The only sensible idea we have had about beginners that will not require massive amount of organisation on the day. Has been for the first hour to be beginners only, I think this is a good idea but I would like you “the members” to come up with the criteria of what a beginner is……is it people who have done less than 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6 etc track days? As Emma has now done 6 track days and she would still class herself as a beginner but other people in the field might find her to be too experienced? The only problem I see with this is people will not want to say they are beginners as their ego will take over so it might just be a waste of time.

Pricing
We have always kept prices low for ND and I think if we increase the prices the event would get even less people coming to it. The main reason for this is to allow people who would not normally attend a track day to dip their toe in the water. It has always been the same, the club has had between 800-1200 members and the numbers at ND have always been around 200-300. As Andy has pointed out how do we go about sorting this or do we just need to face the realty that it’s only ever going to be the core members that turn up to ND?

Do you think if we made the gate entrance less or even free it would make any difference?

Renaults & Non-Renault cars
I think I am not alone with this opinion but the day will always have non-Renaults at our ND no matter what type of day or venue is. A large number of club members do not own the car they first joined the club with and have now moved on to pastures new. But they still stay and support the club by attending events to see friends, therefore it would be unfair to shut the door on these people. I know one day I will not own a Renault but I will still attend events to see the people I have became good fiends with.

ND Venue 2011
I will be asking the members in a separate thread to suggest possible venues that are located in central UK, so Scotland and the south of England are out the window. I will call the suggested venues for price, availability and their on site facilities regarding camping.

If I have missed any points then just say and I will reply to it.

Regards and goodnight.
Chris

[jaffa]

all worthwhile points covered,and hopefully this will bring closure to the subject bring on national day 2011 and lets hope its at mallory it gets my vote.

[jaffa]

pmsl shhhh miller dont say who the warning for erratic driving was given to....it could destroy that persons repuation.

[5teve L]

I think the main issue with 'other cars' was with the people that either joined just for a cheap track day (takes the p1ss TBH) or other people that abused the ticket sales by buying bulk. I understand the club needs to try to recoup some costs but it is supposed to be RTOC national day & NOT just another track day.

RE; the beginners.
Maybe people that haven't had any track experience & people that feel they need to be classed as a beginner should go on for an hour.

As for no events up north or down south it's understandable, but in my other hobby we travel all round the country & camp or stay in travel lodges for the weekend to attend, so no reason why people couldn't do the same if the venue was good enough & holds interest...
As was said before, is Mallory going to get a bit stale ala Pod did for Nat day, or is it because we have the best of both worlds now with both of the events in the year & this maybe splits the members to either event a little ??

[warpspeed]

Well we could hire Knockhill for one day, ban non-members or members who have joined just for the ND and have it purely for renault owners.

Knockhill is cheap enough that if the same number of renault owners that were at Mallory were to arrive the club would probably make a healthy profit.

Question is how many would turn up? very few i would imagine!

We can't have our cake and eat it, if we want an event at a proper track with camping etc then we need to get more people in to financially allow it to run year after year, IMO.

[HAndy]

open the gates to renault sports clubs, there just isn't enough rtoc members interested in any of the events that are organised which shows in the numbers of turbo cars at events, and as said in one of the above pages ,renault have not produced any real large number of new turbo cars to keep the club moving in this direction, and ive said before in another posting there is enough diversity in this club to interest most renault fans, cant see what a few more sections involving 182,172, valvers ,williams , 19's,meganes,is going to hurt,plus it would be nice to see a better mix of renault cars on track etc,and there are quite a few supercharged and throttlebodied clio's and the like on the streets ,which would make for good fun at track events, that way we would not have to taut tickets outside of the club and stop anybody turning up in allsorts looking for a cheap day out!!keep it renault only.

my 5 pence worth again, and before anyone says where were you on national day, i was still busy working on the beast so i can at least bring it to one event this year

[Mart]

and before anyone says where were you on national day, i was still busy working on the beast so i can at least bring it to one event this year

That's club support & committment for ya. Right there.

[Mart]

Chris, do you think a hill-climb/time trial type event is a feasible option for year's ND?

As said before, I think Mallory ticks all the boxes, but if it's cheaper to 'hire' a hill-climb track, that could potentially be made an rtoc-only event, and in the least silence those that are grumbling about non-rtoc'ers being at our ND.

I'm just thinking, we've done Pod, we've done trackdays; maybe it might be worth looking into something different?

Heck, even Andy could sort the 'Rainbow Warrior' in time (maybe) to show us how it's done properly

[jaffa]

Chris, do you think a hill-climb/time trial type event is a feasible option for year's ND?

As said before, I think Mallory ticks all the boxes, but if it's cheaper to 'hire' a hill-climb track, that could potentially be made an rtoc-only event, and in the least silence those that are grumbling about non-rtoc'ers being at our ND.


I'm just thinking, we've done Pod, we've done trackdays; maybe it might be worth looking into something different?

Heck, even Andy could sort the 'Rainbow Warrior' in time (maybe) to show us how it's done properly

that sounds like a winner i vote for national day up the hill in scarborough...will make for an interesting eve event

[Miller]

Chris, do you think a hill-climb/time trial type event is a feasible option for year's ND?

As said before, I think Mallory ticks all the boxes, but if it's cheaper to 'hire' a hill-climb track, that could potentially be made an rtoc-only event, and in the least silence those that are grumbling about non-rtoc'ers being at our ND.

I'm just thinking, we've done Pod, we've done trackdays; maybe it might be worth looking into something different?

Heck, even Andy could sort the 'Rainbow Warrior' in time (maybe) to show us how it's done properly

Yes it can be done, would we need a racing licence for us to time the runs?......i am sure Andy would know?

I will start the thread for venue suggestions now

Chris

[Alastair]

Chris, do you think a hill-climb/time trial type event is a feasible option for year's ND?

As said before, I think Mallory ticks all the boxes, but if it's cheaper to 'hire' a hill-climb track, that could potentially be made an rtoc-only event, and in the least silence those that are grumbling about non-rtoc'ers being at our ND.

I'm just thinking, we've done Pod, we've done trackdays; maybe it might be worth looking into something different?

Heck, even Andy could sort the 'Rainbow Warrior' in time (maybe) to show us how it's done properly

Your not invisible for once Mart

Hill climb sounds really really good but i doubt we would be able to do any timed runs due to MSA regulations and insurance?

If insurance turns out to not be a problem then a sprint type afternoon at Mallory / another airfield event (Cloerne near Bristol is cheap but no camping) would also be good, somthing like: open pit track all AM, and 30 second starts for a sprint event for an hour or two in the afternoon, and also use the straight for some 1/4 mile (ish) or 0-60 runs for another hour? That would take a fair bit of organising for timing gear etc but would add an extra dimention to it, and keep everyone happy. Wasn;t the Brunters day run in this sort of format?

I like the sound of the rainbow warrior getting fixed - not seen it in the flesh for years! Any update Andy?

Gutted I couldn't make it this year, back to the UK in Mid Sept. I will be there next year though, and happy to help out anyone with organising the event or doing some marshalling on the day if required for a competetive part - just PM me.

Mart - did you sell Whitey yet?

[MFaulks]

I’ve come to this thread late, and have read it pretty much in its entirety. I didn’t manage to make the day, and so can’t directly comment. However, I fully agree from listening here that the collection only of the bands sounds like a must, and I would be happy to commit to help giving some time to do this, as I’m not going to miss next year! This year I had full tickets for 3 drivers – 3 cars had been planned, and one of those for a chap from a French 5 turbo club and he was going to drive over. In the end for me, the GTA suffered on the rolling road session the previous Friday and as a consequence the cars didn’t go .

Anyway, I think the great thing about this club is the level of involvement and passion it generates. All opinion is good, as it’s the impetus to keep momentum. I’ve been a member here a couple of years, never had a 5, and don’t actually official have a Renault turbo to my name, so had I made it I was planning on having a friends said project GTA turbo and a track Fiat X19, which is mine.

The day does need to make money for the club, it should not be setup or accepted to make a loss, otherwise, it will suffer in the long run inevitably. I put together a Rolling Road day for the RAOC members recently, and having committed to the day and rental of the facility, had to pay, but the result was of the 6 or 7 people who said they would come, only one turned up and another by proxy as I took the car myself. Net result do you think I will do it again – nope I think not , and the RAOC club is and will lose out. So it is very difficult to get these things right, and clearly I hadn’t albeit a much much smaller thing.

Morning session sounds great as that would suit me . My question would be do we have members who are experienced and willing to give training / tuition sessions in the first session i.e these get booked and paid? I would be up for booking in for a teach-in, as I could do with all the help I can get

[Mart]

Al', if you're referring to personal car insurance, that's null & void as soon as you put a wheel on track (unless, of course, you have specific track cover), so I can't see any problem as far as hill-climbing/sprinting goes - Everyone simply signs a form on the day knowing full well that if they bin their car, it's down to them & only them; ie, nothing to do with RTOC, nothing to do with the hill-climb venue/management there, etc etc.

If that's all agreed, and everyone's aware of their insurance being null & void, we should be able to time the cars running.

Andy, can you confirm if that's the case?

Yep, Whitey's gone to pastures new of the Hungarian flavour.

[jaffa]

this is all well and good as long as at the end of the day there are many hands to make sure things are managed properly ie all of the commitee working most of the day.......the hill climb is a good idea and i will support it but it seems to me that we would have to surely provide all of the staff,marshalls,ambulance,liability insurance,cost of the venue,camping, etc etc....i dunno??

now somewhere like harewood would be a winner first of all....

1,its 10 miles from me
2,plenty camping
3,excellent facilities
4,perfect viewing
5,pub round the corner
6,curry house round the corner
7,self contained ie shut the gates noone gets in
8,got some contacts...there...i can see it now....looks good.

[Mart]

In that respect, it's no different to Mallory though; ie, the price we paid for hiring the track for the day must've included marshalls, ambulance/medical centre staff, some form of liability insurance, etc as well.

[Andrew Cooke]

Al', if you're referring to personal car insurance, that's null & void as soon as you put a wheel on track (unless, of course, you have specific track cover), so I can't see any problem as far as hill-climbing/sprinting goes - Everyone simply signs a form on the day knowing full well that if they bin their car, it's down to them & only them; ie, nothing to do with RTOC, nothing to do with the hill-climb venue/management there, etc etc.

If that's all agreed, and everyone's aware of their insurance being null & void, we should be able to time the cars running.

Andy, can you confirm if that's the case?

I don't think any venue will allow timing without scruitineering and it being a sanctioned event.

I've hired Curborough for testing before, you'll only get it midweek, it is noise sensitve (as are many hillclimb venues). It comes with nothing, you need to sort out marshals, emergency services etc.

Prescott host Pugfest, they might be interested, but I imagine there will be noise testing, oh, and I don't think they'd appreciate bonfires, the Bugatti Owner's Club is strange that way..

I think you'd stand more chance of getting and airfield type sprint venue, which brings us back to Bruntingthorpe

[clee]

Might also need MSA licence to do timed or even just to book a hill .It's not a difficult process .RAOC are MSA approved ,I will ask Dellboy .

Brunt we do timed events and just need insurance

[clee]

Drivers will need a sprint licence as well .....

[Mart]

I think you'd stand more chance of getting and airfield type sprint venue, which brings us back to Bruntingthorpe

In that case, what about getting in touch with these people http://www.motorsport-events.co.uk/track-days.php and seeing if we can have an exclusive rtoc trackday at one of their airfields?

If the airfield/'track' is large & diverse enough, we could effectively host track action and sprinting at different parts of the airfield.

[Andrew Cooke]

this is all well and good as long as at the end of the day there are many hands to make sure things are managed properly ie all of the commitee working most of the day.......the hill climb is a good idea and i will support it but it seems to me that we would have to surely provide all of the staff,marshalls,ambulance,liability insurance,cost of the venue,camping, etc etc....i dunno??

now somewhere like harewood would be a winner first of all....

1,its 10 miles from me
2,plenty camping
3,excellent facilities
4,perfect viewing
5,pub round the corner
6,curry house round the corner
7,self contained ie shut the gates noone gets in
8,got some contacts...there...i can see it now....looks good.

Good venue, plenty of chance for 2 wheeling through the esses

[Andrew Cooke]

If the airfield/'track' is large & diverse enough, we could effectively host track action and sprinting at different parts of the airfield.

that was probably the biggest failing at Brunters, we were spread awfully thin over a huge site, lost all the atmosphere

[Mart]

But Brunters didn't have a sprint section per se - IIRC, it was just a timed straight run in the lunch hour, that, if I also remember correctly, not many people knew it was taking place anyway.

[Andrew Cooke]

But Brunters didn't have a sprint section per se - IIRC, it was just a timed straight run in the lunch hour, that, if I also remember correctly, not many people knew it was taking place anyway.

no, there was "1/4miling" all day at the far end, a top speed run at some point that noone knew about, and the track bit. See what I mean, you where there and didn't see 2/3 of what was going on.

[Mart]

You're forgetting my poor memory I can't even recall which car I took to Brunters

[Andrew Cooke]

http://www.prescott-hillclimb.com/otherevents.aspx

I'm not pushing this, but you can see what pugfest is.

[HAndy]

That's club support & committment for ya. Right there.

mmmm.. made the pod meet this year ? or did u forget that
besides i could have turned up in a jap crap, but where's the renault theme in that???

[Mart]

Andy, why d'you think we'd stand a better chance of hiring Prescott as opposed to Curborough, etc? Same meat, different gravy in the grand scheme of things, no?

[Mart]

besides i could have turned up in a jap crap, but where's the renault theme in that???

A Nissan would've felt at home

[Andrew Cooke]

Andy, why d'you think we'd stand a better chance of hiring Prescott as opposed to Curborough, etc? Same meat, different gravy in the grand scheme of things, no?

Prescott compared to Shelsley. It's not that I think Prescott will be available, just that I think Shelsley will be unavailable, plus I have to say it's a dreadful venue. It's pretty much a straight run up a long hill, so you need to be a mountain goat to watch, then everyone is spread out in a long string. That first track walk of the season at Shelsley always reminds you how unfit you've become over the winter.

Although if you want a weekend slot Curborough is used pretty much every weekend for competition, hence you only get it midweek. Prescott on the other hand is rarely used, so might be available.

The nice thing about Harewood is the paddock is at the top of the hill, and spectating from there is pretty good, you can keep everyone together.

[jaffa]

wait a bloody minute what the hell are all the moaning ninnies ie("i felt intimidated on track" "you were going to fast for a trackday" "you over took on the wrong side"no one came and spoke to me") gonna be doin while all us lot are bombing around an hill climb venue......the answer please.cause we are back to square one.............ah ok i will let em polish my helmet

[warpspeed]

A Nissan would've felt at home

Wonder if that's because Nissan is mainly owned by Renault?!

[J8TRO]

I think the ideas above are great

I also wanted to clarify that my post on page 3 was referring to Jaffa as one of the Uber members of RTOC, and most certainly not one of the free loaders I was annoyed about. I just forgot to put his name with the others.

If you read my mail it could come across differently......eh Jaffa

[jaffa]

I think the ideas above are great

I also wanted to clarify that my post on page 3 was referring to Jaffa as one of the Uber members of RTOC, and most certainly not one of the free loaders I was annoyed about. I just forgot to put his name with the others.

If you read my mail it could come across differently......eh Jaffa

xxxxx

[jaffa]

I think the ideas above are great

I also wanted to clarify that my post on page 3 was referring to Jaffa as one of the Uber members of RTOC, and most certainly not one of the free loaders I was annoyed about. I just forgot to put his name with the others.

If you read my mail it could come across differently......eh Jaffa

oh and can we have a 'uber' members section at the next national day please i quite fancy sitting up higher looking down on the rtoc minnions.......

[jesus in the seat of a 5]

oh and can we have a 'uber' members section at the next national day please i quite fancy sitting up higher looking down on the rtoc minnions.......

you will never be that high jaff.... {jesus..next in line}.., personally after talking to quite a few people over the phone , the general vibe i get is that mallory is excellent they just wished there wernt so many people whomb arnet even in the club out on the track and at the event...

[J8TRO]

mallory is excellent they just wished there wernt so many people whomb arnet even in the club out on the track and at the event...

5 pages of a thread, 239 post, and the man they call Jesus sums it up in one sentence.

[car.crash]

5 pages of a thread, 239 post, and the man they call Jesus sums it up in one sentence.

it was mentioned pages ago.

[JRP]

I think car crashes idea of flags and novices etc was a blinder people should start listning to people like him... it pains me to say it but sence is prevailing from that one

[jesus in the seat of a 5]

it was mentioned pages ago.

yes we all know that!, wheres the rolling eye smillie when you need it...., i was mainly reffering to phone calls id had since, gawd , this forum is so crap at times, sometimes i think its better to just own a 5 etc etc and say s*** all..., can people not be jolly on here etc..., its not like i was going to take all the credit for some allmighty words of wisdom or something..

jesus...

[JRP]

yes we all know that!, wheres the rolling eye smillie when you need it...., i was mainly reffering to phone calls id had since, gawd , this forum is so crap at times, soetimes i think its better to just own a 5 etc etc and say s*** all..., can people not be jolly on here etc..., its not like i was going to take all the credit for some allmighty words of wisdom or something..

God wants a chat with you PM him (me)

[car.crash]

yes we all know that!, wheres the rolling eye smillie when you need it...., i was mainly reffering to phone calls id had since, gawd , this forum is so crap at times, sometimes i think its better to just own a 5 etc etc and say s*** all..., can people not be jolly on here etc..., its not like i was going to take all the credit for some allmighty words of wisdom or something..

jesus...

it wanst a dig, just a comment.

[jesus in the seat of a 5]

it wanst a dig, just a comment.

it all just words...its how it sounds or reads my friend..., remember i know your manor.......

[Streetfighter]

Can't resist any longer...........although i don't really know where to begin.

I have to say I was shocked at a few things:

1 - poor briefing, I know the guy was nervous but if he wasn't up to it the other guy should have done it. "you've all been here before so off you" go is not acceptable.
2 - how many non members were on track (see the club has admitted some fault towards this)
3 - how few 5's there were (shame that's all)
I know a few people who passed wrist bands to non members the night before and when I saw who was there on the day I have to say i was fairly pi55ed off.
If I didn't love what is available through the club in order to look after my 5 i would question why i need to be a member based on that.

This was the first time I had been to Mallory and i'm not sure i'd go again.

On track it wasn't too bad, usual tools who indicate to let you past down the straight and then drag with you neck and neck until they inevitably fall off at the next corner, which is how you caught then up in the first place
People driving on the edge in poor conditions, yeah it's your choice but don't overtake in bends on the limit unless you have a thick wallet to pay for the other people you might take out (non Renault cars btw)

No secure areas to put things, i.e. decent pit garages for wheels/tools etc.

As for people staying out on their own (ref MX5 gang) I went and befriended them in order to borrow various things they had They were a lovely bunch, don't forget it's a 2 way street. If you're pi55ed they came to our Renault event that's different, change the rules, but don't bitch they're antisocial!

What was to stop someone turning up later in the day and going straight on track? No one was checking wrist bands!

If it were me I would only allow members on track (any car) I would pay a little extra for this privelege. If anyone can go on what's the point in being a member?

I know it's good we can have the track to ourselves and it all be very relaxed, but I think it was a step too far. Not even checking people have a driving license is a mistake.
Going to a higher standard track would ineviatably cost more so there has to be a compromise somewhere.

As for sessioning it, this would only work if someone wants to put the extra time in to managing it, prior to, and during the event. 3 groups doing 20 min sessions? would work Splitting the day for the day for novices, I don't agree, seems like wasting too much time for those only "allowed" to go on in the afternoon. If you want to go to a track day then it's the chance you need to take, be observant, let the faster cars past, go at your own pace and you'll have agreat day, don't winge it's scary

See you at Mallory next year (awaiting wrath of current organisers)

[D4WNO]

Good post Streetfighter

I'll just deal with the bits that I am able to comment on, no point with guess-work as that doesn't help anyone

poor briefing, I know the guy was nervous but if he wasn't up to it the other guy should have done it. "you've all been here before so off you" go is not acceptable.

I 100% agree, I wasn't at the briefing itself as was helping set up the sign-on but have heard some very bad things about it. We can only apologise about this and Miller has it noted to ensure a thorough briefing is provided next year.

how many non members were on track (see the club has admitted some fault towards this)

I'm not entirely sure of the numbers but I think Clee has the figures for this. He did say that this year was a learning curve and has already come up with ways to ensure that this is kept tight for next year Unfortunately some members really took the mick so this will be watched very closely.

I know a few people who passed wrist bands to non members the night before and when I saw who was there on the day I have to say i was fairly pi55ed off.
If I didn't love what is available through the club in order to look after my 5 i would question why i need to be a member based on that.

This is a real shame and not something the club can really do much about. We are going to be limiting the purchase of track time to one per member to begin with, which will hopefully help to lower the chances of this being able to happen (this is a very big problem area and we'll be talking about this in much more detail in the CM forum, there will be flexible situations though)

This was the first time I had been to Mallory and i'm not sure i'd go again.

It would be a real shame if you didn't, we're hoping to fix everything for next year. This has been a huge learning curve - which we probably needed to happen so we can make greater improvements for the members.

On track it wasn't too bad, usual tools who indicate to let you past down the straight and then drag with you neck and neck until they inevitably fall off at the next corner, which is how you caught then up in the first place
People driving on the edge in poor conditions, yeah it's your choice but don't overtake in bends on the limit unless you have a thick wallet to pay for the other people you might take out (non Renault cars btw)

This has been mentioned by a few members. Miller will be speaking to the track officials and ensuring that they are very strict on flagging people. I do hope that the more thorough briefing may aide this a little also.

No secure areas to put things, i.e. decent pit garages for wheels/tools etc.

I've since learnt that Mallory do have some garages so there is a possibility that perhaps we could pay them a little extra next year to cover the cost of the use (if we use that track - that is another discussion going on)

What was to stop someone turning up later in the day and going straight on track? No one was checking wrist bands!

Miller and I did stand out there for the first little while checking some bands, but other things such as the shop, sign-on, gate etc needed to be looked after. We had only a few CMs able to help out this year and unfortunately the gaps really showed. To take the pressure off the CMs so we are able to concentrate on other things we have already agreed to pay for an extra staff member solely for checking wrist bands . If it's any consolation, I actually had an utter **** day and managed about 10 mins of personal time to go on track with my other half for a few laps, due to doing CM stuff and the bloomin' rain. We neeeeeed more help, that's very obvious. We did originally have more assistance but some very unfortunate things happened near to the time and we had to cope the best we could.

p.s - Massive thank you to Char, who basically controlled the shop for 99% of the day, out of kindness, she's not even a CM . Helped us LOADS!

Not even checking people have a driving license is a mistake.

This confuses me, as I thought we were checking these upon sign-on. It may have been that some were missed by whoever was responsible for this. I wasn't aware at all of this as I was at the end of the line writing the numbers on the bands. I'll have this checked as not at all happy about that.

See you at Mallory next year (awaiting wrath of current organisers)

Lol, not at all. We ASKED for feedback and comments after all. We all have our own views on it and look just how much the club has learnt from this thread alone. It's all going towards making the next National Day better than it has ever been before

Phew, that took ages - I'm going for a little kip under my desk at work

[IANMM]

Good post Streetfighter




Miller and I did stand out there for the first little while checking some bands, but other things such as the shop, sign-on, gate etc needed to be looked after. We had only a few CMs able to help out this year and unfortunately the gaps really showed. To take the pressure off the CMs so we are able to concentrate on other things we have already agreed to pay for an extra staff member solely for checking wrist bands . If it's any consolation, I actually had an utter **** day and managed about 10 mins of personal time to go on track with my other half for a few laps, due to doing CM stuff and the bloomin' rain. We neeeeeed more help, that's very obvious. We did originally have more assistance but some very unfortunate things happened near to the time and we had to cope the best we could.

p.s - Massive thank you to Char, who basically controlled the shop for 99% of the day, out of kindness, she's not even a CM . Helped us LOADS!

If you need help like this at any other future events i will put my name forward....im sure some other area reps would be glad to help out

ian

[James5]

If you need help like this at any other future events i will put my name forward....im sure some other area reps would be glad to help out

ian

More than happy to help out if I can

[D4WNO]

Thanks guys, that's really appreciated. Of course, we do hope that we can find a way around things without others needing to put themselves out and taking away from their own track time (track time doesn't bother me as only go out as a passenger anyway). We can hire additional staff and find better ways to do things where we can.

As part of the AGM next year I'd really like to properly introduce some of the Area Reps too, I think it would be good, especially for some of the newer members. You guys work hard too and I think that needs to be expressed.