Just had a check of the post and I make it 8 received in so far, including yours Murray.

I am aware of at least another 7 on their way to me.

Not bad in less than a week since the forms went out and we haven't finished the 2006 season yet.

Hi Chris,
When is planned the first meeting with New Era about next season? (i.e. date for which the more commitment we'll have the best it will be...).

Yes, The question was does the club have to commit to any financial costs to get DD agreed with New Era for the next season. I've got no problem with it if it does and the current system with riders committing with a deposit seems perfectly reasonable to me.

The question was asked as I felt that if there are fees the club commits to relying upon racers to support it then its also reasonable that all DSC members should be made aware of it like they are with trackdays and it might then help racers understand why deposits are needed early and why refunds might not be possible.

Paul has partly answered it but not confirmed that there are no financial implications.

Please note this isn't a dig at DD or the MT, I'm fully aware that its a well supported part of this club, its simply trying to get an understanding of what the implications are.

Tonio,

Normally we go into see New Era towards the end of October, once they have their provisional calendar. I have already given an indication to New Era of the kind of numbers that we think we may have; we now need you lot to get your forms back so that I can confirm that to them.

Per the information you already have, all we now need to do is review dates and tracks to build our schedule arround the 1 race per month idea.

Final dates and tracks will probably be early February 2007.

Michael

The Club is carefull to ensure that we do not give any financial guarentees regarding grids on DD.

We certainly haven't or intend for 2007 to commit any Club funds in support of DD to New Era.

The side issue on this will be the Assen round, where the Club will probably purchase a grid on behalf of the riders, this makes sense from an Admin point of view. BUT WE WILL HAVE ALREADY COLLECTED THE MONEY FROM THE RIDERS

So there should be no concerns from the general membership

Thanks Chris, a nice clear concise reply exactly what was needed :)

OK Michael, There are no financial implications or commitments to the club in general apart from possibly funding some of the trophies (still under review for 2007 season with a view to getting them sponsored fully)

To answer Tonio, we've already had the first meeting with New Era re. 2007 and very positive it was too. The race dates obviously wont be finalised for a fair while as the race calendar (which we have no control over) isn't issued yet.

This is down to the circuit owners and New Era to thrash out as the circuits are obviously used for international meetings and other than bike events throughout the year so its a question of slotting that all together.

The sooner we know what people want to do the better chance we have of getting space allocated to us.

absolutely right. I personally am buying a DD race bike, which has a value far in excess of the £200, and only has much value as long as there is a DD series to race it in. that is my personal level of commitment, but I fully understand you can't take this to NE to show rider commitment for the series!
my question was, if for unforseen circumstances (smashed up bike,blown engine,broken legs, divorce :lol: ) I be unable to race in the series, would I get the £200 back in full or part?
just a thought, have had them all apart from the divorce....:lol: :lol: :lol:

The deposit only becomes payable if you pull out after we lock down the series. This is normally in early February, when in effect you commit to entering all of the rounds.

Remember that in 207 it is proposed that you will only be able to drop one race score, not two. Thus you will need to attend all rounds to have the best chance of acheiving a high position at the end of the year!

thats great - all I needed to know.

So if you send off cheque now, but have to withdraw for whatever reason between now and January 31st - you will not cash the cheque???

errr.... depends whose cheque it is I guess...

:lol: ;)

Thinking about it (I know that's dangerous), but if the cheques are not neccessary until February, then whats the rush with sending them off now?

Would it not be fairer to ask for a letter of intent now, and when the rules/dates etc are finalised in February - ask for a cheque then?

That makes sense doesn't it?

As I said before, 5 months is a long time and circumstances can change.

Also, as Chris said (I think) this is all based on trust, so therefore there is no reason to request a cheque for £200 (yet!).

Trust me, I'm a DDoctor!

:confused:

That's effectively what the cheque is - a letter of intent. Why would you not want to send a cheque in?

It seems to be what you are looking for as you can cancel it before the end of Jan next year and the RC will get a reasonable idea of numbers for next year on which to negotiate with New Era.

Tim

I want to show my interest in the 2007 series, but can't afford to lose £200 (or £2 for that matter) if I do something else.

Basically.

It's called edgeing your betts.

you boys have lost me - seems you want everything, but nothing!!! ;)

Well not really Tim.

Basically, I'll just hang on to my £200 cheque and paperwork until I know exactly what I'm doing.

That just means that the RC won't have my 'entry' to add to their list when negotiating with NE.

No skin off my nose, but just means I can't help out 5-6 months before we start racing.

Aha - now I see - same as me then !!!

After all that!!!

Bastid :frog: :lol: :lol:

Just a bit of general info from the draft rules that applies to entry eligibilty and may clarify here. Early registration will obviously help in the negotiations with New Era so you just have to consider how committed to riding in the 2007 championship you are at this stage. Some have done this already before we've even finished the 2006 series so I guess they've made their minds up and given the club a vote of confidence to run the series again next year:

Membership criteria

All entrants must be fully paid up members (not associate members) of the Ducati Sporting Club, prior to 31st December 2006 and maintain that full membership for the duration of the series.

Entry cut off date (basically the cut off date for registration, beyond which late entries need to be ratified by the RC):

Discretion may be shown by the committee towards entrants who do not meet all of these criteria, but who are entering in the spirit of the series. This is to include those applying to join the series after the 1st of January 2007; such applications to be reviewed and ratified by the Race Committee at the earliest opportunity.

Once the draft rules have been agreed they can be put up on site here for anyone who may wish to enter next year to read.

In the interim feel free to request a copy of the draft rules if you haven't already received them.

An email to desmodue@ducatisportingclub.com will do the trick :o

I fully understand the reasons why its best for those who know they will be competing next year to sign up as early as possible. But we are a full 6 months away from the new season starting and there seems to be some confusion as to the terms surrounding the deposit cheque situation.

Although some of these have been covered here, I think a definitive statement to all existing riders via email (the correct channel) would claify the situation for all.

Tim

Good idea Tim, will do !!!!

What he said ^^^^^

This does of course also raise another question regarding what we actually want from New Era............................................

Are we looking to need separate grids or a combined grid for both classes ? It obviously makes a significant difference to the amount of track time we need allocated at the race meetings.

New Era will want to know this fairly early in the discussion process as they need to know who they can accomodate at their meetings.

Not suggesting that it's going to be easy but we do have to consider it and early commitment to race next year gives us the best negotiating position.

Maybe asking people to sent a letter of intent, without a cheque would have been a better idea then???

Dunno the answer really.

I'd like to be able to commit to the full series next year, but as yet I have too many things to iron out before I can do that.

I'm hoping that it won't be too long before I'm aware what my options are (mainly financial to be honest).

With regard to the grid situation next year, I'd hate to be mixed in with Hornets and the suchlike. I'd much rather have a full grid of Ducatis. Obviously if there are enough 583's to warrant their own grid, but not enough 620's, then I understand that decision, but I think it would detract from the spectacle somewhat.

Fair comment and something that we fully understand, it isn't going to be easy to sort out to suit everybody but at least we are doing what we can.

Mixed 583/620 grids seem to have been accepted now as something we can't do much about until enough sign up for us to have two grids for our races. That effectively doubles the amount of track time needed at the race meeting which all has a cost to New Era that they have to cover by selling us grid spaces.

It will be interesting to see if interest is generated by the FB article, at long last a magazine feature, 5 full pages, with ACTUAL contact details for the club and an explanation that the series is run by DSC. The Assen article was great but not a single mention of that, in fact it looked more like DD was part of the Dutch clubs regular race programme.

Bottom line, it will be up to the riders to commit to the 2007 season ASAP to give us the best negotiating position. Its a numbers game, simple as that in the final analysis. So please all give it some serious thought and try to sign up as soon as you feel that DD is the series for you in 2007.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otei I'd hate to be mixed in with Hornets and the suchlike. I'd much rather have a full grid of Ducatis.

I respect your position Otei but from where I stand I'd be happy to be mixed in with the CB's as happened last year at Cadwell. If we get a situation when we are not able to field two grids but have more than would fit on one grid then someone will miss out on their race or have to commit to being a reserve.

Perhaps if we give the MT and New Era the option of mixing us in with another series we could all get a race.

Personally I really enjoyed watching our 620 brothers and sisters and gave me the opportunity to show my support for the series; another point is that this would also give those riders that want to ride in both classes the chance to do so.

Murray Mint

Simple situation, those that commit late to the series for 2007 are the reserves should the inevitable happen that we are all on one grid.
That way people like Murray who have done the whole season and shown great commitment get to race, Those that dither obviously are not that commited.
Stand by for a flaming....LOL
Glyn

I don't think that's very fair Glyn, lets remember that some of us may not be in a financial position to commit yet and may need things to fall into place before there would be a possibility of making it happen.

If it took me a few months to get myself in a position to commit to the series and I looked at the situation at that stage and felt I would be treated like a poor second cousin with reserves etc I wouldn't enter the series. I'm sure others would feel the same.

If the series turned into a series that riders regularly missed out on racing then it would lose part of it's value proposition and wouldn't be as attractive to new riders and therefore risk ensuring the continued success of the series. I think it would be a positive thing to think a little more long term about the implications of what we're suggesting.

It's just an indication at the moment for New Era, nothing more. Lets not get too carried away with trying to penalise people who, for many and varied reasons, can't commit just yet.

Patience, wax on wax off etc ...

Yea your right, Just the current situation raises its head again to penalise murray, how unfair is that. The RC were looking for a way to sort who races or who doesnt should the race be over subscribed, Its just a thought.
Glyn

I think Murray is a reserve because he got his entry in late, not for any other reason.

That's a New Era admin issue - and one we're all aware of.

Stop complicating things :frog:

I think the RC are just trying to get a more firm indication of numbers.

I have no issue mixing grids with anyone, hairnets, 583's, CB's etc ... a lot of us have raced in Sound of Thunder by choice and I did MRO minitwins last year on my DD bike. I don't think it would be a castrophe if we did that - also, there's a great satisfaction you get from beating bigger or more powerful bikes.

After scoring points at MRO against faster bikes I had a grin so big if I was wearing lipstick I would have had it on my ears!

But I'd run out of lipstick so sorry ... ;)

FWIW, neither of our bikes will be having entries put in for 2007 yet.
Its far too early to commit, and the rules are only draft at the moment too.
We wont be making decisions till after the end of this seasons racing, and certainly not until mid November at earliest.

There is no rush is there? After all 6 weeks (mid Nov) before the new year starts is plenty of time:)
Hell, we might have got a raise at work and be going to do Thunbderbikes/ SOT or MRO instead!:o :lol: (or going to join Brogins in Italy;) :D )

That was my understanding of the situation. On this occasion there aren't quite enough 583's to have their own grid and too many 620's to go in with another class anyway. Never going to be easy in these circumstances.

So not wanting to sound to bitter but where did all these 620's come from, is this a trackday for some of them? I know it was my fault in getting my entry in late but I cant help feel a little bit peeved by it all. Anyway I'm going to be there come rain or shine ride or not.:(

Just protest 3 of them on Saturday :lol:

Do think I hadn't thought of that :devil: :devil:

That's an expensive grid spot! £750 in protest fee's!