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

There were 177 different racing series organised by English-based clubs this year. On the face of it, that sounds like a rather large number. And, as any reader of Autosport will know, we've long argued that there is too much racing in this country - not just in recent years, we've been making the point for decades.

The club racing season that has just concluded has highlighted a number of problems with the UK motorsport scene. There were events cancelled or affected by a shortage of marshals, there were dates cancelled due to a lack of entries, and there were some clubs that were booking excessive amounts of track time that they simply weren't able to fill. All of which suggests the club calendar is a little too congested.

Despite these negatives, there are some series that are doing incredibly well - 12 of the 177 have attracted an impressive average of over 35 cars. And Motorsport UK CEO Hugh Chambers believes circuit racing in the UK is proving "extremely robust and strong".

"I think there's a number of reasons for that - there's a very strong community and club network," he says, picking out the "vibrant" 750 Motor Club for particular praise. The circuit owners, principally with MSV, what Jonathan Palmer has done in terms of investment and a vision of what those circuits can be - the quality of experience is fantastic. Those clubs and classes that are doing a great job have got packed grids."

But that's not the case across the board, and Chambers is pragmatic about whether or not there is indeed too much club motorsport.

"The crux of this is whether you are a free market economist and whether you believe the market should decide or if you have a command-and-control view of it," he says. "There are arguments for both sides of this and something in the middle is probably the optimum.

"The way the calendar is put together, it's very difficult to have a command-and-control supply-chain way of approaching it. Each club has their own specific requirements and for us to intervene in that is extremely complex - it needs great caution.

"At the same time there's no question there's a number who think there are too many events. Instead of clubs having three sparse grids, they could have one big grid - but is that our job as a governing body [to tell clubs what to do]? Perhaps it's our job to encourage that and we can help to facilitate these things."

It is an interesting question, and whether or not the governing body should intervene is one up for debate. But regardless of the answer to that issue, Autosport has decided to break down each club's offering and look specifically at which series have done well and which haven't - and why. This includes all English clubs, while the very different situations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will be explored at a later point.

British Automobile Racing Club

The British Automobile Racing Club experienced the very highs and lows in terms of entry numbers this season. Back in April, the club broke records when an incredible 99 Citroen C1s competed in the C1 24-hour race held at Silverstone, after receiving special dispensation from Motorsport UK for the massive entry.

But then the following month came a race at the opposite end of the scale. Just two cars participated in a Tin Tops race at Brands Hatch. The series had been run by the now-closed BARC South Eastern Centre but, with many competitors joining the Classic and Modern Motorsport Club instead, there was a lack of interest in the BARC series continuing. It did not reappear after that Brands event.

Even when not counting that mammoth 99-car one-off grid, the C1 Challenge still topped the BARC's charts in terms of average entries for a category with a single grid. But it wasn't all plain sailing this year as the second 24-hour event at Anglesey in September embarrassingly had to be cancelled after a lack of marshals volunteered to attend the meeting.

BARC general manager Ian Watson admits he can't be certain there won't be similar issues again next year.

"I'm never confident when you're relying on volunteers turning up to man meetings," he says. "You can never be sure [on numbers] - it was Anglesey this year, but all venues have their own individual problems and, if you've got a lot of racing in the same areas at the same time, marshals will vote with their feet."

Despite that setback, Watson is pleased with how the season went, even though the overall average entry is one of the lowest of all the major clubs.

"In general, it was a fairly good season -we obviously had one or two disappointing grids, as most people have had in their own way," he says. "It's always disappointing when people can't get the grids they want, but the meetings overall were good."

One of those disappointments was the Series Elite category for Jaguar XE Project 8 saloons. A lack of cars and technical troubles led to the series holding only one event with just four drivers before it joins up with MotorSport Vision Racing's GT Cup for 2020.

Of the other smaller grids, Watson says that discussions are taking place over the future of MaX5, which only broke into double figures at two of its seven meetings this year. The Renault UK Clio Cup also struggled in what was set to be its final season, only for Renault Sport Racing to step forward to support the category in a new format. The Michelin Clio Cup series for older Clios - although the current car was accepted for the first time this year - also suffered from minuscule grids and its future is yet to be decided too.

The final grid that was regularly below 10 was Division 1 of the British Truck Racing Championship. While the logical conclusion would be for it to join up with the Division 2 trucks (which number around a dozen), Watson says this is not possible.

"The truck events are limited to 20 on track so we have to keep them separate," he explains. "There were five or six Division 1 trucks at some events, but there were a lot more at others [meaning they wouldn't be able to share grids]."

Grid sizes

Note: All figures only apply to UK rounds and include series that had at least four race events.
* shared a grid with another series at one or more rounds, but figures are based on each series individually
** split over two or more different grids
*** not including special 99-car 24H race

British Racing and Sports Car Club

Just like the British Automobile Racing Club, the British Racing and Sports Car Club experienced extreme highs and lows in terms of numbers of entries this season. Out of all the categories included in this feature, the BRSCC includes the one with the largest average entry (MX-5 Championship: 57) and the smallest (Fiesta Junior: 5).

Club chairman Peter Daly believes the affordability and availability of the Mk1 MX-5s and BMW Compacts featuring in the Compact Cup are among the factors of the popularity of those two series.

"We've had great numbers in MX-5s and both of those series have got very good coordination - we've been able to create a paddock environment that's sociable and I think that's part of the success of them," he says. "They're relatively easy cars to buy and low cost, and they're both very competitive at the front."

That's in contrast to Fiesta Junior, which has failed to attract more than six cars at any point this season. But Daly is confident of a turnaround for 2020 as a couple of taster days held at meetings this year showed good interest.

"We've put a lot of investment of time and money into Fiesta Junior, which we're fully behind," he adds. "Preregistrations are already up for 2020."

While the Caterham categories have continued to be popular - and the Academy series is already fully subscribed for next year - Fiesta Junior isn't alone in attracting a single-figure average. The merged Touring Car Trophy and TCR UK contest managed an average of eight but, with 13 at the final round, Daly is more optimistic for next season.

Also struggling was the Porsche series, but major changes are planned in a bid to widen the number of eligible cars and make the series more attractive. The OSS series for prototype machines was another to have a tough season, averaging just 10 cars, after attracting 32 two years ago.

"OSS shows how championships can come and go so quickly - but that's one of the challenges all clubs face," says Daly. "We're committing huge amounts of money to organise race meetings and we have to rely on the commitment of our members to go racing."

Daly admits there will be a number of economic challenges for clubs next season - including the event permit fee increases and rising costs of hiring circuits - but an encouraging development for the BRSCC was the success of the Clubsport Trophy. Two 45-minute mini-enduro races were held this season, attracting an impressive 34 and 41 cars, with a full calendar of races set to take place next year.

"The Clubsport Trophy has been a great breakthrough," says Daly. "I wouldn't say we were surprised [by grid sizes] because I knew the effort put into it, but we were very pleased. It's identified areas we have to improve on - communication with our customers and finding out what the customers want. It gives competitors the opportunity to use their car in a more flexible way, sharing it with other people or doing an extra race at a weekend." The BRSCC will be looking to expand on that series' success in 2020.

Grid sizes

Note: All figures only apply to UK rounds and include series that had at least four race events.
* shared a grid with another series at one or more rounds, but figures are based on each series individually
** split over two or more different grids

750 Motor Club

The 750 Motor Club is definitely one of the standout performers. It has a high proportion of its classes averaging over 25 cars and, if you exclude a tricky first season for its Type R Trophy, its average number of entries per series would rise to 27.

And it's the club's focus on affordability that leads to Club Enduro, Locost and the Toyota MR2 Championship topping its charts.

"Overall, in terms of our performance relative to expectations, we exceeded what we were expecting," says competitions manager Giles Groombridge. "Every championship is different, but with MR2 and Locost it's affordability - they're two of the cheapest series in the UK to find a suitable car and the availability [is high]. Both have had very stable regulations for many years and we do our best to keep entry fees and membership fees as low as we can.

"Club Enduro has more exotic machinery on the grid but in the lower classes it's still a very affordable access point into proper endurance racing. Club Enduro allows people to race any production car at a higher performance point than series like the C1 Challenge and EnduroKa - the guys who won Class C have a pretty standard BMW 330."

Other series doing well include the BMW Car Club Racing category - which sensibly amalgamated with two of the club's other BMW series for this year - and the MX-5 Cup.

"We had a mega season in 2015 and 2016 with the MX-5s with grids pushing capacity on a regular basis and it really dipped in 2017," says Groombridge of the series for Mk1 models. "The calendar was probably a bit too ambitious as it had a European round at Zandvoort and people strayed away from it, and it's been hard to get the numbers back.

"We stuck with it and just at the end of 2018 we had a good influx of new drivers. We decided to give it another shot and it paid off and returned to strong competitor numbers."

But perhaps the clearest sign of the 750MC's popularity is that two long-standing categories from the British Racing and Sports Car Club have opted to join its ranks. The single-seater F1000 series did so for this year and its numbers featured a notable increase.

"It was great F1000 is off its yellow card [warning for low grids] for the first time in many years," adds Groombridge. "It was averaging 12-13, now it's 17-18 which, as a percentage increase, is quite high. Moving to our paddock has been really beneficial for them with lower entry fees and lots of synergies with other championships in the paddock, with Bikesports and RGB both being bike-engined categories."

Aside from the Type R Trophy's fledgling-year struggles, the other disappointing grid is RGB Sports 1000, but it still averaged 16 cars. Groombridge feels that reflects the changing nature of motorsport in this country.

"RGB is an unusual one because it's evolved away from its roots, which was very much in the kit car industry where there were lots of cars you could drop a bike engine in and go racing," he explains. "The gradual loss of the front-engined cars and the speed of development of the rear-engined cars did limit the grid sizes."

Grid sizes

Note: All figures only apply to UK rounds and include series that had at least four race events.
* shared a grid with another series at one or more rounds, but figures are based on each series individually

Classic Sports Car Club

There is no disputing which club has attracted the largest entries this season. That honour goes to the Classic Sports Car Club, and by some margin - its average number of entries is 31, while the next highest is the 750 Motor Club on 26.

It's worth bearing in mind the smaller Turbo Tin Tops grid was bolstered by Smart 4Two Cup and Puma Cup entries, and that the less-populous Special Saloons and Modsports only featured at three events and therefore isn't included in the averages. But, nevertheless, it's an incredibly impressive achievement.

Key to that 31-car number are consistently high entries across its categories - only two of its regular series failed to attract 25 or more cars on average.

"We've had some cracking grids - Donington Park was a CSCC record, we had 410 entries, so we're pretty chuffed with that," says club director David Smitheram. "But it has been varied - one or two rounds were lower than we anticipated."

One of those many categories averaging over 25 cars is New Millennium - and Smitheram picks that out as being a particularly notable one. "New Millennium really came into its own in its fifth year now and suddenly people have woken up to it," he says. "Three times we had sold-out grids with reserves."

When it comes to what makes the club's classes so popular, Smitheram says there are many different reasons, including the increasingly copied format of one or two-driver 40-minute pitstop races. "The difference is the staff and volunteers," he adds. "The concept has been copied over the years by three different clubs now, but what they can't replicate is the care those volunteers bring."

Grid sizes

Note: All figures only apply to UK rounds and include series that had at least four race events.
* shared a grid with another series at one or more rounds, but figures are based on each series individually
** split over two or more different grids

Castle Combe Racing Club

It is always encouraging when a club gets recognised for the work it has done to restore a series from the doldrums to having healthy grids. The Castle Combe Racing Club is one club that can testify to this after its Formula Ford 1600 championship received a boost in 2019.

Entry levels had been disappointing last season and were barely into double figures at some rounds - at several it dropped to 11 - but there were no such problems this time around as grids increased and averaged 18 cars.

"We got commended from Motorsport UK to say well done and they were pleased with the numbers going up and hopefully that will carry on," says club coordinator Jo Lewkowicz. "There's lots of different reasons [for the rise], like people wanting to do different things."

Another factor was the category celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, with a special event early in the season.

The club's other series also performed well, especially when you consider it's focused around a single circuit with a limited pool of drivers. Saloons led the way with an average of 30 cars, but Hot Hatch wasn't far behind on 25.

"All of our championships have been pretty consistent and worked well," adds Lewkowicz. "Saloons has always been pretty strong but you can't be complacent."

While it was Formula Ford that was celebrating a special birthday this year, in 2020 there's a host of other commemorations taking place. Not only will it be the Wiltshire circuit's 70th, it will also be the 25th anniversary for the Saloons and 45th for GTs. Lewkowicz says celebrations will be planned to mark all of these landmarks, while a new class for cars with non-original engines is planned to be introduced into Hot Hatch.

Grid sizes

MotorSport Vision Racing

There is a common theme among three of MotorSport Vision Racing's most popular series. If you discount Monoposto, which is spread across two different grids, the Trackday Trophy, Trackday Championship and EnduroKa are all extremely low-budget categories that are run by the club's MSVT trackdays division.

While the two Trackday categories have enjoyed successful seasons before, the new- for-2019 EnduroKa jumped on the bandwagon of the massively popular C1 Challenge with a similar format of having a cheap car to buy and featuring endurance races. And it flourished, attracting a number of top names including Le Mans winner Nick Tandy and was even the category ex-McLaren Formula 1 boss Eric Boullier chose to make his racing debut in.

There were successes elsewhere including the JCW and Cooper Pro/Am classes of the Mini Challenge - although having single-figure standalone grids at almost all events for the older Cooper S class could have been avoided. Other series to struggle include the revived Z Cars series for BMW Z3s and Z4s, and the F3 Cup again found entries hard to come by.

"MSVR has had a very strong season which very recently ended [16-17 November] with a successful final round of the hugely popular EnduroKa series at Brands Hatch," says competition secretary Joe East. "We are currently reviewing and analysing 2019 in some detail before making any final decisions on changes and evolutions for next year."

MSVR did not wish to discuss any of its series in any more detail at this point, just after the conclusion of the season.

Grid sizes

Note: All figures only apply to UK rounds and include series that had at least four race events.
* shared a grid with another series at one or more rounds, but figures are based on each series individually
** split over two or more different grids

MG Car Club

The loss of your flagship meeting through no fault of your own is always going to impact a club. And sadly any discussion of the MG Car Club's 2019 season cannot ignore the disappointment that the popular MG Live event was cancelled due to Silverstone's resurfacing work.

"We were just incredibly unlucky to be hit by the work that was done," says the club's competitions secretary John Hutchison.

Away from MG Live, the club enjoyed a pretty strong season with its BCV8 Championship leading the way in terms of entries, averaging 25. Hutchison picks MG Cup as another success. "In MG Cup we've gained quite a few Rover Tomcats - we invited them as a bit of a test to start with to see how they compared [to existing cars]," he says. "That particular vehicle can be quite tuned but we've got them to a level where they're on a par with the MG ZRs and ZSs. We've managed to attract seven, when you consider we had none a couple of years ago."

Elsewhere, the traditionally well-subscribed MG Trophy averaged only 21 cars as several drivers moved on or chose to race their ZR in other MGCC categories. But it's the Metro Cup that had the most difficult season.

"If you were to do a ratio of how many registered to how many entered, it would be about 95% on average," says Hutchison. "The numbers that we bring out are the number we've got. It's a fantastic, affordable grassroots way into tin-top racing and they're fun to drive. But the issue, especially with the Metro Turbos, is there's not many of them, and they are now becoming quite collectable in some instances, so there is less desire to convert them into race cars."

One of the initiatives the club is pleased with is its policy of offering half-price entry fees for drivers aged under 25. That scheme is set to continue next year and, with MG Live due to be back on the calendar at Silverstone, the club is optimistic for 2020.

Grid sizes

Note: All figures include series that had at least four race events.

Historic Sports Car Club

Your first season in charge of one of the major racing clubs inevitably means there's plenty to learn and think about. That's certainly what Andy Dee-Crowne found in his first year as CEO of the Historic Sports Car Club.

One thing Dee-Crowne encountered was variable grid sizes. While all of the HSCC's regular portfolio attracted average entries of 16 or more, several categories - including 70s Road Sports, Historic Touring Cars, Historic Formula 3 and Guards Trophy - had races with 10 or fewer cars.

"I think there's a budget issue there," says Dee-Crowne. "There's no doubt that some venues [are less popular] and there's also whether it's a two-day meeting. One of our least attended meetings was Brands Hatch Indy, which didn't inspire people as much as we thought it would, but these things do go round in cycles."

With that in mind, the club will offer new categories for 1980s cars next year. "We have to move forward to meet the newer people that have the disposable income that want to drive the iconic cars of their era," he adds. "The HSCC was founded in 1966 and in the inaugural race there were D-type Jaguars that were 10 years old at the time."

As for 2019, Dee-Crowne picks out Historic Formula 2 - recently recognised at the RAC's Historic Awards - and Thundersports (the new name for the Pre-'80 Endurance series) as two highlights.

Grid sizes

Note: All figures only apply to UK rounds and include series that had at least four race events.
* shared a grid with another series at one or more rounds, but figures are based on each series individually
** split over two or more different grids

Aston Martin Owners Club

There is no disguising the fact that it has been a difficult season both on and off track for the Aston Martin Owners Club this year. While entry numbers at some of its race meetings have plummeted, it has been left in the lurch in terms of the operation of its club series, and regular racer Peter Snowdon has recently been appointed to the role of club director responsible for racing.

While its historic grids have generally performed well this year, with the combined Jack Fairman and Innes Ireland Cup races averaging 26 cars, some of its other categories have really struggled. Despite Intermarque combining with the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge, it only averaged 15 cars, and the more open GT Challenge series managed an average of just nine.

"We had a great opening round at Donington Park, and Oulton Park just didn't attract people for some reason," says Snowdon, who adds it was difficult to rebuild any sort of momentum after that. To illustrate the point, there were only 36 entries across all the AMOC categories at the Oulton meeting - the third event of the season - compared to 59 for the Donington opener, with one fewer series as the Pre-War Challenge wasn't in attendance.

All of this means 2020 will very much be a "rebuilding year" for the club.

Grid sizes

* shared a grid with another series at one or more rounds, but figures are based on each series individually

Vintage Sports-Car Club

The Vintage Sports-Car Club is very different to all of the other clubs included as part of this feature. Not only does it boast far older machinery than any of the other race organisers, but it also doesn't run any series or championships and instead puts on a succession of standalone races for different types of car.

Although this means direct comparisons are harder to make, the club nevertheless had a number of key moments in its history this season, including some of its largest grids for many years at Oulton Park.

"Overall it's been our strongest race year for quite some time," says competition secretary Gemma Price. "A real highlight was getting the first Motorsport UK-sanctioned Le Mans start at Silverstone - that was a big deal for us. A huge amount of work went on behind the scenes to get permission to do it and the planning was quite an undertaking. We were really pleased with that.

"Cadwell Park was also a really brilliant meeting for us. We had an under 30s race there - a lot of our members are under the age of 30 but they don't have their own cars because of the costs. The owners put the cars up and the under 30s race them and the entry fee was only £50 for a 15-minute race. That was really nice."

Despite being 85 years old, the club also made its first ever visit to Brands Hatch in 2019 - but this wasn't received quite as well as you might think. Price says it was a "hard sell" with competitors wary of racing the vintage cars at a new venue.

"They were concerned about familiarity with the circuit so we ended up running a sprint in the morning and a race in the afternoon," says Price, who adds that the unique format of the event worked well as drivers could familiarise themselves with the track in the morning before the racing began.

But the obvious low point was the cancellation of the club's Snetterton event in September due to a lack of entries.

"Our competitors just don't like Snetterton and we can't force people to attend a circuit they don't want to," Price says. "Pre-war cars are quite fragile, and with Snetterton being near the end of the season [it didn't help]."

The club has been in extensive consultation with its competitors for 2020 and will therefore run one meeting fewer (see news) to help avoid clashing with large biennial historic events such as Monaco GP Historique and Le Mans Classic.

Others

As well as the major players, there are also several smaller clubs now organising meetings. The newest to enter the field is the Classic and Modern Motorsport Club, and this achieved some very impressive entries during the course of the season.

It secured 28 cars for its Southern Saloons category at Silverstone and 26 for one of its several visits to Brands Hatch. But it wasn't all plain sailing as smaller entries at Lydden Hill reduced the averages for the CMMC series, and the Pre-'64 category struggled to get into double figures in a very crowded marketplace.

The Historic Racing Drivers Club has been around for a little longer but also broke new territory this season as it organised its own race meeting for the first time in partnership with Lydden Hill and, although some of the grids proved a little thin, the event was well-received. At other historic meetings, the club attracted massive 30-40 car entries.

There is also a clutch of individual series not aligned to any one club, and leading the way out of these is Equipe GTS. Running at both MG and Aston Martin club events, it has attracted strong entries for several years now and that was again the case in 2019. Other good performers were Croft-based Northern Saloons & Sports Cars, while the Mini Se7en and Mini Miglia categories benefited from British Touring Car and DTM support slots.

Grid sizes

Note: All figures only apply to UK rounds and include series that had at least four race events.
* shared a grid with another series at one or more rounds, but figures are based on each series individually
** split over two or more different grids

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