ON
TRACK WITH RICK PEARSON
By Rick Pearson
Welcome to the fourth of my weekly articles about the National racing scene and my journey through it over the past few years. Those of you who read last week's column (thank you for all of your votes and e-mails) will be expecting a few more tales of the dodgy Greek. However, this week I want to talk about the UK National scene and why I believe the future of UK club racing lies with series such as the Freeparking.co.uk Super Coupe Cup.
As you will have ascertained from my second article, my experiences of running within a team had been somewhat jaundiced by my time racing a Caterham. I was therefore looking for low cost motorsport with a trustworthy team. Mark Fish Motorsport had been recommended to me by several people and a journey to Harlow revealed a quality operation, based on an old farm.
The proprietor, Mark, was a chatty and helpful individual. Most importantly however, he came across as straightforward and honest. I had decided that in order to ensure that the costs of my racing were to be sensible, I wanted to remain within a single-make environment. If I raced in a series where someone could go and buy a better car or a better engine, I knew I would never concede to myself that I was rubbish if indeed I was.
Instead, I would keep throwing money at the car ad infinitum in a brave attempt to buy my way to the front. The Super Coupe Cup allowed me to run against identical cars, but with much bigger grids (and therefore an opportunity to learn race craft) than was the norm for a single make races outside of the Touring Car package.
As I explained last week, the Super Coupe club takes in orphan race series after their manufacturers abandon them and with some gentle tweaking, matches the car's lap times to those already adopted. Under the guidance of the championship co-ordinator, Tony Liddell this provides great-value racing. A good car costs £4,000 (Tony knows where they are all hidden!) and a seasons racing can easily be completed for £6,000 giving a total outlay- including car- of £10,000. Currently, the series looks after cars from the Rover 216 GTi, Renault Clio, VW Polo, Renault 5 GT Turbo and Honda CRX championships. But the format is so successful and the racing so popular with the crowds that more series are likely to be amalgamated. Rumours that the Proton championship will join the series next year are currently circulating the paddock.
The beauty of a championship that can boast a full grid (or even two!) at each round is that the series then has power to ensure the drivers get to go to the best circuits and get on the best race cards. Because Tony looks after the ARP F3 championship as well, the series have been running together as a package, thus helping them to secure a round at Thruxton this season, always a prestigious meeting for any club series.
In my opinion, the time has come for the powers-that-be within British motorsport to recognise that this format is one that the crowds love. I know the Super Coupe Club is always looking to expand its horizons and without a doubt, there is no friendlier place to race. Surely the possibility of a new division of Super Coupe racing, existing above the current one consisting of orphans such as the Rover Tomcats, Vectra challenge cars and maybe even the Renault Spiders, needs to be considered for next year? Any race promoter will then get a package of two or three great saloon races and a very competitive single seater championship as the core of their race day.
There are too many race cards that are thin on entertainment or where the race quickly fans out according to how much money each competitor has spent. From a drivers point of view, there is nothing worse than spending your "hard-earned" to get two laps of dicing and then eight laps of driving on your own. Super Coupe racing is one great series that will go from strength to strength.
For those of you who are tempted to get involved with Super Coupes having read this article, be warned, these guys are good. I won only one race in my time in Super Coupes and I now run regularly in the top six of the Elf Clio Renaultsport UK Cup. When one of the Rover drivers, Phil Bennett left the series two years ago to run in the Spider Championship, he was rarely out of the top three. Super Coupes provide a great breeding ground for new talent, but it also allows many of the older hands to keep racing at a sensible price... prepare to be taught a few lessons!
For more information about the Super Coupe Cup, please contact Tony Liddell on 01293 536798.
Next week: Rick goes 'home' to Brands Hatch for round ten of the Elf Clio Renaultsport UK Cup...