I don't necessarily agree with these findings.
I felt the recent Pace day I went on was well organised a had very, very few stoppages.
You do have to pay for hiring of a transponder (although i used the one I already have) and the timings are available within 24 hrs on the ESS site which I didn't have to apy to join (although they are suggesting that you may need to join a club in the future).
I didn't sense any undue delays in getting out on track, if there were, this was due to staggering the field as they left to go onto the track.
As many may know, I have been critical of one of the ESS Sports Days in the past and will attend a Sports Day later this month (offered free by the ESS) to reassess this. (Tony has admitted partial blame for the shortcomings) - I will report my findings back on here of course.
But back to the Pace day - it is in fact a very well organised track day - all seven sessions were full sessions, apart from a serious accident that required the helicopter !!!- hope all's OK!! - I for one enjoy being able to get accurate track times from a website after the event. If these times were available sooner it may be better, but by noting down any changes you make either to your style or bike and in what session you tried these, you can get a feel for how well you're doing.
The ESS's intention is to create a membership card that indicates the individuals riding ability and may negate the need to attend briefings etc..
It seems that the ESS is trying a different formula to both differentiate themselves and to gain customer loyalty - I don't think they have got it all right yet, but we the consumer can provide feedback to the ESS.
I'm not saying that the ThrottleMonkey's findings were wrong, just that mine were different to those - anyone else been on a PACE day?
Tim
[Edited on 13-5-2005 by Rattler]