The verdict on how COVID impacted club racing in 2020

Amid all the doom and gloom in the world in the past year, positivity has been in short supply. But let's have an upbeat statistic in relation to the 2020 club racing season. Of the 108 English series with comparable data, 55 featured average entries that were either the same or higher than during the 'normality' of 2019.

Yes, there are plenty of caveats to that. The shortened nature of the season because of the coronavirus pandemic meant one bumper grid could skew the averages a little. And the delayed start to the campaign led to an unprecedented clamour to get on track. But, putting all of those considerations to one side, it was still a significant achievement given the economic and health challenges faced during a tough 2020.

"It was a terrible season on the whole and really difficult, but it could've been a lot worse," says British Automobile Racing Club group CEO Ben Taylor. "There's always silver linings to be found and we can take those learnings into 2021."

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One of those silver linings was the stunning entries among some series. Twelve categories managed average grid sizes of 35 or above - a brilliant figure in any year, let alone one with so many obstacles. Leading the way was the British Racing & Sports Car Club's ever-popular MX-5 Championship for Mk1 models on 51 entries, just ahead of MotorSport Vision Racing's 7 Race Series on 50, which really flourished last year after achieving championship status.

Other notable performers were the 750 Motor Club's Roadsports and Club Enduro categories, and the Classic Sports Car Club's Swinging Sixties division (pictured below at Mallory Park). Another to star was Equipe Classic Racing, which attracted an incredible 32 teams and over 100 individual cars to take part in its 3-Hour Relay race at Donington Park on the second week after racing restarted, while it also produced 40+ car grids elsewhere.

Back in November 2019, Autosport calculated the average grid size for each of the major organising clubs. And, although we have done that again for the season just gone (featuring any category that had at least three events in 2020), given all the caveats of it being such an unusual year, it is important not to overanalyse the figures, and we are therefore not exploring them in as much detail this time around. Nevertheless, the fact that six of the eight main English clubs enjoyed increases in their average overall grid sizes is another positive sign.

PLUS: The good and bad of 2019's 177 English motorsport series

When racing finally got under way in July, three and a half months later than planned, nobody could be quite sure what the appetite from competitors would be. The Castle Combe Racing Club was one of three clubs to hold events on the first weekend after governing body Motorsport UK lifted its permit suspension, and among its entries on that July day was a 28-car Hot Hatch grid.

"I think we all got a bit less picky about what we did and where we did it - and I think that's a good thing" Ben Taylor, BARC CEO

"When we started racing, we were very heartened by the numbers," recalls CCRC chairman Ken Davies. "Everybody has been affected by this pandemic to a greater or lesser degree, so it exceeded our expectations. People were enthusiastic and ready to race and that was great."

That enthusiasm to get back on track was seen near enough across the board, and clubs did what they could to encourage as many drivers as possible to emerge from the long winter hibernation.

"Every championship bent over backwards to try and accommodate the wishes of people who wanted to go racing," says Taylor. "I think we all got a bit less picky about what we did and where we did it - and I think that's a good thing. There's always a danger that people, over time, decide they only want to race at this circuit or that circuit, with this person or that person. It got mixed up a bit last year and people enjoyed a bit of variety."

Autosport has long argued that there were too many club racing events spreading entries too thinly, but the pandemic meant this was no longer a problem. While COVID-19 undoubtedly accelerated that too far, the fewer events did mean each individual one was better supported. And best supported of all the clubs was once again the CSCC. Its September Donington Park meeting attracted almost 500 entries, an incredible figure that the club itself does not expect to be matched this year.

"I can't see grids like that ever happening again - the support was astonishing!" says club director David Smitheram. "I think our policy of doing refunds gave members confidence, and that helped. For now, I think the way Hugo [Holder, fellow director] and I and the committee are doing things, particularly for the members, works - if a decision has to be made, we think, 'What's right for our members and volunteers?' and not, 'What's right for the bank balance?'"

There were plenty of other success stories. MSV's Supercup went from strength to strength in its second year, while the BRSCC launched its new CityCar Cup category for race-modified versions of the Citroen C1, Peugeot 107 and Toyota Aygo. Around a dozen were on track last year, but at least 47 are estimated to be in build or ready for 2021, proving its popularity. The merger of the BRSCC's Mk3 MX-5 Supercup and Super Series also worked perfectly, creating a bumper grid once again.

But the largest individual increase went to the club's Fiesta Junior championship. Just four cars took part in the 2019 finale, but that peaked at 15 last year, meaning the average rose by 160% to 13. Not bad for a series that had been written off as having no future.

"That was very pleasing," says BRSCC chairman Peter Daly. "It had fallen by the wayside and hadn't been managed well for a period of time, and that had gradually led to a decline and loss of identity and direction.

"We put a lot into marketing and put some taster days in place. With the teams on board, we managed to get it back up. It was because of the investment in time and the focus on what we want to be and who we want to be. We also have some new cars in build [for this year] and, on top of that, we've got 14/15 registrations already."

While Fiesta Junior was a success, albeit from a very low base, many organisers agonised over whether to run their series at all or not award championship points. Three of the MG Car Club categories - MG Trophy, Metro Cup and Midget & Sprite Challenge - opted against crowning a champion last year, and the club's competitions secretary Mark Baulch believes that was the right approach to take.

"It was a difficult decision - we have to do what's best for our competitors," he says. "There was some discussion over reigning champions. The reigning MG Trophy champion, for example, was a guy from Scotland and, for most of last year, you couldn't come out of Scotland and, as he couldn't defend his title, would it be fair to run a championship?"

That was one problem the CSCC did not have to contend with as it does not run any championships. Given the disrupted nature of last season - not least with the risk of having to self-isolate at any time - it was perhaps another factor that worked in the club's favour.

"I think last year, because there were so many affected championships, it made it easy for drivers to think, 'We will abandon doing the full year and we will just dip in and out'," reckons Smitheram.

"We'd got 12 months of overheads but only four months of racing, rather than 12 months of overheads and six or seven months of racing" Peter Daly, BRSCC chairman

While there were plenty of success stories last year, it's important to recognise what a struggle it was for many series. Stricter restrictions in Scotland reduced the Scottish Motor Racing Club to just three half-day events, while only one, tiny trial meeting was held in Wales all year.

Four English categories had average grids in single figures, and the one that featured the largest decline was the Ferrari Challenge UK (down 53% to an average of nine cars). And that's perhaps no surprise given that it's a one-make championship for one of the most expensive machines in club motorsport. Some of the BRSCC's manufacturer-backed Caterham championships also found it tough. Academy numbers were up, but figures were down for the other divisions.

"The Caterhams have, in a way, been a victim of their own success," says Daly. "They've introduced 50 new drivers a year into the motorsport arena and then in four years' time there will be 200 new drivers in motorsport all having a Caterham and they've got to race somewhere. COVID was one problem and the second problem was the marketplace being diluted slightly. We weren't the prime choice for racing your Caterham, and some of that came down to people wanting to race at other venues or wanting to race abroad.

"This year we've been working hard on the regulations, like the change in tyre specification for the National Caterham UK championship, putting slick tyres in now, which makes them a couple of seconds a lap quicker. Subscriptions are higher and Caterham are continuing to sell brand-new 420Rs."

The BRSCC is taking a similar approach with other categories, taking stock of the situation and looking at ways to improve. For example, its main Fiesta senior series had another season where grids averaged 15 cars - a far cry from its glory years. But the introduction of a new Mk7 ST turbo machine for this year is set to provide a boost.

"A lot of work has gone into that, making sure we've got the right specification of car, making sure the tyres are the right specification," adds Daly, who is expecting entries to rise.

Another example of this modification of regulations can be found with the CCRC. While its Hot Hatch Challenge flourished - again, possibly because it's not a championship - and Formula Ford and GT entries were up, its Saloons series suffered one of the largest decreases (43%). For this year, the post-2000 age limit on cars has been scrapped, opening the category up to a wider pool of competitors.

"We're hoping that will make a difference," says Davies, who believes the Saloons series was hardest hit by restrictions on spectators and entertaining sponsors at meetings. "People have got cars hanging around that possibly wouldn't have previously been allowed, and there were no particular objections from existing competitors. We would like to go back to those days of 42 starters and a couple of reserves."

The COVID-19 situation meant there were no shortage of challenges faced by the clubs and competitors, both practical and financial. They had to get used to new administrative processes and operate with the lingering threat of events being cancelled at a moment's notice.

"As a driver, there were a lot of challenges because you had to register all your safety equipment online, and remember to do that and sign on and download the instructions online," says Daly. "That was alien to a lot of drivers, especially if they were part of a team [that would normally deal with the administration side].

"As a club, there was also the challenge of balancing the books. We'd got 12 months of overheads but only four months of racing, rather than 12 months of overheads and six or seven months of racing."

Overcoming those challenges certainly wasn't easy, but there were some positives, such as the pre-event signing-on and scrutineering, and removal of reams of paperwork as processes moved online.

"Competitors weren't expected to push their car at seven o'clock on a cold winter Saturday morning across to the scrutineering bay - that was a huge sigh of relief!" adds Daly.

Ultimately, the entire club racing community pulled together and came up with innovative solutions that enabled at least part of a season to take place.

"Everybody is taking a very responsible and realistic view of the crisis," believes Davies. "As passionate as we are about motor racing, we're talking about people's health, people's lives and people's livelihoods and those must come first."

As we all face fresh uncertainty in the build-up to the 2021 season over the coming months, that message will be important once again. Last year proved what was possible under the most challenging of circumstances, and gives at least some cause for optimism for what lies ahead.