Mid Week Racing for 2005?

[Amanda]

In Autosport it says that Alan Gow is considering having mid week evening races in 2005.

I think this could work well. What does everyone else think?

[Le Mans]

I think it will work well in some places like Brands Hatch or Silverstone, where there are large populations nearby. I would not be willing to take a day off work to travel to a race meeting.
The nearest track to me is over two hours away and if I left straight from work I would hit the rush hour traffic. All other tracks would be out of the question unless I took the day off.

[cos]

Interesting, maybe it would work better if the BTCC had a street race or something tough. Out of interest, have any other series raced mid-week?

[Paul Rayner]

Don't think it would work. Looking at mid-week evening races, you've got to get people out of work, back home to pick up the family, to a race circuit and finish racing before it gets dark. With most circuits being in the middle of nowhere, I doubt you'd get many fans willing/able to do it.

Because of curfews as well, you're limited to what circuits could do it - Rockingham couldn't, Brands couldn't, Oulton couldn't, Thruxton couldn't, Croft couldn't. Unless those curfews are only valid at weekends...

Maybe this is just Alan Gow saying something because he has said before he'll consider almost anything. I really can't see it happening though.

[Claw]

Same as the mid-week lottery.

Pointless.

[Claire]

Not sure how I feel about this one, seems a good idea but I thought night races were too expensive, surely those costs won't change all that much by running mid week.
It's not only the fans that will have to take time off, what about the drivers and team personnel that also hold down full time jobs and then there are the marshals and other trackside volunteers are they going to be willing to take time off to be there?
Depends on which circuits they run it at, Silverstone has no atmosphere but Rockingham in the dark could be good, and of course Snetterton is a must I guess we will have to wait and see.

[Stuart]

This has been talked about for years at various levels of the sport, but as a lot of people say here, it is a case of getting time off work to travel to a race.
Claire makes the biggest point - where will the Marshalls come from?
I personally would rather see more Saturday evening and Night races.

[McKay]

this is unlikely to work
to many set backs

[touringlegend]

Um, well good concept - think the idea would be to have Live TV and in the evening this makes the ultimate impact in the UK.

Thing is, Alan Gow referred to Football being on mid week - that only lasts 90 mins - would the idea simply be to have a BTCC race or two and that'd be it - no supports ?

[Les]

pathetic!

I agree with Claire's comments - where do you get the marshalls from?
Ok you won't need any spectator marshalls - hardly any crowd will be there.
Only manufacturers could do it - can you see the whole of Team Varta taking half a week off to get to the circuit, set up, qualify, race and then pack up.

I had heard this idea before with some clubby racing - they went one further - they wanted to race behind closed door with NO spectators.

On one hand you have this scenario which will work against the fans and then you have that excellent article about ?Flavio? somebody saying you have to cut prices to get the fans in.

[touring fan]

For me midweek races is a very bad thing. It would need two days off work, one for the actual day of the meeting and another because I'd never be in a fit state to go to work very early the next morning having got back very late from a race meeting.

[silverfox]

Perhaps this is the start of a brand new venture.The midseason silly season.

[Alan]

Sorry to buck the trend, but there must be some positives to this!

1. Less chance of a clash with other racing.

2. Different target audience - possible converts to come at the weekend?

3. BTCC standalone - less confusing for newcomers.

4. Cheaper?

5. Greater use of a circuits resources.

6. Attract families during school holidays?

This might have to be a late afternoon/evening event but there have got to be some good points. Would have to be a circuit near to a large centre of population (i.e. Brands, Donington or Croft - maybe even Knockhill)

Yes we may not all be able to get there but so what - we can't all get to all the weekend races can we? So what is the difference?

Given the right promotion in the area this could be good - but good promotion would be key to the success of this, current standards would have to be improved upon in this area.

Personally I would take a couple of half days (one pm, one am) to attend - I don't think we are talking of more than one or two events like this are we?

[Paul Rayner]

Originally posted by Alan
Personally I would take a couple of half days (one pm, one am) to attend - I don't think we are talking of more than one or two events like this are we?
You might, but are casual fans, that make up the bulk of the fans at the circuits, going to take time off work for Touring Cars? No, they're not. I don't know how Alan Gow was quoted as saying this in Autosport, but I don't think it's going to happen in the foreseeable future. The marshals problem, as Les pointed out, would be a big enough sticking problem to stop it happening. You wouldn't get a crowd in, and will a TV channel any bigger than Motors TV actually bother to show it live? I don't think so, not at the moment.

[lauz]

i don't see the point of mid-week races. they would be difficult to organise and wouldn't be practical for the fans to attend and i don't think that there would be a big crowd. could be an interesting experiment tho, just to see what happens.

[Bill]

I think it's an interesting idea, and may just work. However, any week-day evening event would need to be at a track near to a high population (Brands would be ideal)

It could work like day-night cricket: people come along after work for a couple of hours for relaxation and entertainment. It's certainly worked fairly well in cricket - day-nighters get far larger crowds than the traditional Sunday one-dayers.

I say give it a go - if it doesn't work than never mind, but I think if thought out and then promoted properly, it could just work!