DD Race outside of Uk
 

This is just a little glimmer at the moment, but would many of this years racers and prosepctive ones for next year be interested in a race outside of the UK?

I have already cracked the transport issue on the Giro so that isn't a problem. We would transport the bikes, riding gear, spares etc, so the riders can fly or drive in full cars.

It would mean paying up in full, probably in January, for a race to be held in May/June

I will now duck down behind the parapet!

[Edited on 13-7-2005 by ChrisBushell]

Great idea - I'm keen!

oh yes............


i'll have valencia, mugello or catalunya pleeeeeeease!


:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Dickie,

You will have to keep your enthusiasm in check for a while, we have only just started on this one. If it comes to fruition I dont think that you will be disappointed

I might struggle with the NW region rideout to this one - 2 went to Cadwell and 3 to Castle Combe :lol:

Yes please. Laguna Seca would be good, but I'm thinking the drive might be a bit far...

Le Mans is quite close :)

Can't honestly imagine many takers on this if I am honest, the whole point of DD was cheap racing, which this doesn't sound like it will be, shipping bikes, gear, then getting yourself (and probably family, friends, mechanic) into Europe etc etc

Part of me thinks this is a great idea, but part of me also thinks that DD will end up with an "elite" (wealthy) few who can fund something like this.

DD should concentrate on growing in the UK doing more rounds, and getting more people on board IMO, walk before you can run.

Just my £0.02 worth :)

Making some assumptions here, but *most* of the racers have already paid for their bikes for this year, so next year they may have budget to either improve themselves, the bike, or do more rounds.

Something like this is no more expensive for me than going to, say, Castle Combe. Driving from home for 150 miles, I could be in France!

Ferries don't have to be expensive if you go off peak, in fact we'd be sure to get a cheaper deal as so many of us would be going.

If we can camp at the circuit then it's the same basic outlay as any other racing weekend.

I'm sure that the cost of entry wouldn't be any more expensive than a circuit here.

As for spectators? The way some people are moaning about the series I'm surprised they would even take notice!

just playing devils advocate here but for some; depending on where it is; its possibly not much more expensive than some of the uk meetings.

Must admit that I thought the same as JPM, but seeing as it doesn't concern me I thought I'd keep my nose out :)

Since when has that ever stopped you... :lol:

DD has already got a North/South divide though, Cadwell is the most Northerly circuit the series visits, and most others are far south for say some DSC folks to travel to to spectate let alone compete.

So throwing in a foreign round which is yet further away from any Northern peeps only alienates them further, how many DD racers are currently from and live in the North?

Say DD did a round at Knockhill, would you all go? what about somewhere like Mondello Park? probably fairly convenient for people in the lakes etc to get to, not so great if you sitting in the smoke though?

Expand the series in the UK and generate interest at home, which may get other DSC regions involved.

As I said, going to the northern ones is no different to heading south, so asking if I would travel to Knockhill rather than France is a bit pointless - they're both a long way away and yes I would!

You may not know but the DD places were filled before the tracks we were riding on were announced. For all we knew it could have been made up of all tracks north of Watford.

The point being that maybe it's not the fact that the tracks are all southern based that means there are no northern entries...

Calm down boys, his is all part of the melting pot for options for DD next year.

We have an idea of the tracks that we think that the series wants to use next year and depending on feedback may well run more races next year than we have ths year.

The option of a race on the Continent is an idea at the moment and not ment to divide the Club. However we need to guage feelings from the entrants and spectators to see if it is worth persuing

I may be wide of the mark here, Chris will e-slap me if I'm wrong I'm sure, but in getting this series off the ground the organisers had to rely on a lot of support from the series sponsors to get some credibility so the race clubs would take us serioulsy and host us. I believe this has led to us to the tracks we are racing on this year more than any other factor.

Now that the series has proven itself as not only a full grid for the host club but the excellent support drawcard from all of you supporters I believe there is an opportunity to exercise a bit more leverage on circuit choice.

I don't think that a foreign race would mean that the possibility of a more northern race has been ruled out. But as the other thread showed, the DD racers and others who have suggested what tracks they would like to see in and out didn't include Croft.

You do need to go where the people who are paying cash want to go ... to an extent.

[Edited on 13-7-2005 by TP]

Jon - if you look at New Era's calendar, they don't use either Croft or Knockhill. So as Lily pointed out the other day that Cadwell is further north than Oulton, DD is in fact going to the most northern circuit possible twice this year.

So maybe give this north-south divide crap a rest maybe?

And if any of you know guys who race with Bemsee, their round at Croix is the first to be oversubscribed each year.

Le Croix also costs more than the equivalent of 3 meetings here too...........
:(

yes, we'd like to do it - but the budget????? - wow, prob too mucho for us!:o

It's a nice idea but I'm sure it'd be a no-go for me on the grounds of cost.

Sorry Ant but I couldn't agree less - no way would the cost be similar to travelling to a UK round! Not even going to bother doing the sums.

Also, how many DSCers would make the pilgrimage? This is a supposed to be a club event. Or would the general membership not object to just one round overseas?

deleted bit about licencing cos it was a rubbish thing to say!

[Edited on 13-7-2005 by NBs996]

Jesus...

Can't say a thing can I? It's a very valid point

FFS!

I've always fancied travelling to this one after meeting a load of mad guys from over there last year at silverstone
http://www.erf.nu/index.asp?N=1358

I'm in.

Given the average cost of a weekend's racing the £50 odd for ferry tickets isn't going to make much difference. Would have to be a good track though. :D

Hi gang I'm new to dsc and DD seems to be very popular. But I have seen this happen in a couple of other clubs. It can all get out of control and split clubs apart. IE the have's and have not's. Please don't forget the club should benfit all.

You should, you might be surprised!

Having been touring in France every year for the last 6 years, the only extra cost I can see would be a cheap ferry.

Any additional miles are offset by the cheaper petrol costs too.

But I'll leave it at that.

Well said. why don't you wait and see the what and when and the how much.

Let's give Chris a chance eh? And if there is not enough who sign up, then fair enough. Let's not shot this down in flames before the idea has some basis of costs, location.

Could some one give me a good reason why we need to travel abroad when we have all the tracks we can handle here in Blighty. At the moment all the teams are committed to the DD series as it stands, getting up at 0200am to arrive at Stanstead for a "cheap" flight to X does'nt fill me with enthuiasum, still have to get the bikes and equipment to a base area as well or does that mean the spannermen and support crew have a few extra days off to get the kit across, while the riders get the flight ,surely the cost in time and effort will increase dramaticly or can some one convince me differantly. Dont like to **** on the fire but cost is an issue and the downside would be less support from the club members that have so gallantly supported the series so far.
4D

ok, off the top of my head... last ferry I took to france was £125, and that was on the bike in october, not a car in mid summer.

My insurance would need upgrading for European use - wouldn't want to be in europe on TPO.

Breakdown cover would need upgrading for Euro use.

Medical insurance to buy - no, your E111 doesn't cover you the same as the NHS does.

Still not surprised ant! But don't leave it at that mate, there's no hostilities from me here... just provoking argument cos I know I might be wrong.

Not really too bothered about a foreign DD race - unless its at one of the major Euro circuits, but then it'll probably be too expensive for a DD race anyway.

JPM - I diasagree with your North / South divide suggestion, as was already stated, individuals signed up before we knew the tracks.

In fact it needs more Northern entrants to compete and I don't think the reason they're not signing up is based solely on geography.

So c'mon, get yourself signed up, there's always space for you and Lil on the Rattler Estate for any Southern based races to keep costs down.

Tim

Ok

I have just been down to Spain for a weekends racing and the ferry cost me £60 for a van and two people, diesel was 83p a litre on the autoroute and what I am thinking of is probably close to London than Knockhill.

Costs will be taken into account, all we are trying to do is guage interest

Scuse me Sir - I mentioned Croft :P

Hmmm - well a bit of thought from my point of view - If I continue next year.
I'm in the midlands and Cadwell takes me 3 1/2 hours to get to. Brands takes me about the same if not a bit more. Snetterton takes 3 hours. My nearest circuit is Donington ( an hour) and Pembrey takes 3 hours for me. The fuel for transport is expensive yes but not quite as much as travelling costs to a european circuit towing a trailer/caravan or not.
However it would be nice for one of the rounds to be abroad and subject to having enough pennies then I would do it especially if kit and bikes are already dealt with.
The seires should and will continue next year I think and I also agree that it's gained some brownie points and rightly so but clubs do have limits as to where they can fit in extra races. We've been at Woodlands with the supermotos when New Era's big meet was the next 2 days at Mallory. We've been at Castle Combe in with Karters and we've been to Snetterton with KRC on their enduarnce weekend.
As far as I can see the next big meeting will be Donington when it's a superclub round so all and sundry will be there and it will be a really good showcase for the Desmo Due.
The series has the potential to really take off next year but it will need careful thought and planning.
Putting down constructive ideas on the website or in person is a good thing. It all needs to go into the pot, be stirred up and out of it will come a most excellent series ( not that it already isn't)
If the 583's get their slot then i'm in but hopefully not taking up my customary position tailending next year ;)

One further point - I fail to notice where this them and us attitude comes from. We are not elite, there's no secret agents anywhere as far as I can see and the DSC as a whole benefits with group rides to meetings, many friends made, it's own race series for gods sake and advertising. The series is open to anyone with the bottle to do it who is a DSC member with a few certain rules attached and that should remain.

Everyone - and I mean everyone has worked hard to make this series what it is thus far. 3 rounds in and even though I don't get a chance to watch the race it's always said it's good close racing. Everyone from whoever made the Tea at the inuagural meeting of this to the committee, the racers, their supporters, have put a lot of effort in.

This is Secret Squirrel signing off for now - Oops! :P

Not for me, nice idea but beyond my budget, and as a Ex member of Bemsee and originally a mechanic for a couple of mates that raced with Bemsee and dis Le Croix I have a fair idea of the extra it will add to my budget.
Give me Oulton any day or pembrey as thats about the same distance for me and they are usually 2 day meetings with a circuit practice day on the Friday so 3 days on track for one lot of travelling, would also cater for any members the other side of the Seven bridge.
And I would also be happy to do Knockhill if it was a 2 day meet, but to far to travel for one day.

Oopsh!

Coat on ...

own goal!!!


I think thats what JPM is talking about. Why is the centre of the universe London??

That apart, if the racers want it, go for it.

Ray

i'm sure it wont. we just like to have a good old natter about any issues, real, hypothetical, or downright ridiculous! :lol::lol::lol:

definitely not a question of the have and the have nots. anyone in the club who wants to race in DD can. may have to chop their road bike in or use it as some have but thats the choice.

i never really understand all this 'why cant we do more up north? north/south divide' stuff. the fact of the matter is: the vast majority of the english population live in the south east region, nearly 15% in london alone. unfortunately thats the way its is. thats why the major business is here, the major airports, the major sea ports, the major;dare i say it circuits: brands, silverstone and depending where you draw the line donington.

while its a nice plan it really doesnt make any sense to get 90% of the people to go to the 10% of the circuits that are furthest away.

this is not meant to be anti north or anything like that its just facts.

i do 3+ hours to cadwell for DD and DSC trackdays and would happilly go to oulton park or futher if i needed to.

it just doesnt make sense to go to knockhill for instance just because its there.

North/South divide
 

I'd be limited in my budget wherever we went so I'd like to see what Chris has to say on costs but the idea of racing on the continent is another world to the likes of me, I've never even done a trackday abroad!

As for this North/South debate I'm not the only racer living on the south coast, so a 10 mile trip to the ferry port (dunno what mileage would be the other end) plus ferry is possibly going to be competitive (I'll wait n see) with a 2.5 hour drive to Brands, 3 hour drive to Castle Combe, 5.5 hour drive to Snett or 6.5 hour drive to Cadwell. That's just the circuits we've had races on, are you asking me to travel further north to race so you dont have so far to come watch :puzzled:

How about Pembrey?

I cross water to get there, the locals speak a different language and hate the English - sounds like somewhere abroad to me....

Tin hat on boyo :P

Dickie,

Getting off topic. To a certain extent I agree with you. The centre of gravity of the club is below Watford gap AFAIK and it was very interesting to hear the membership numbers by region/area a few years ago at the AGM.

At the very least it helps RO's work out if the balance of active/passive membership in their region and the proportion of members they get out on regional stuff.

As for Clubby racing DD is pretty much a series with a national spread of circuits that draws a line at crossing into Scotland and Wales!!

Racers vote with their wallets, single circuit series survive if there is enough interest.

If there is support from the racers for a race abroad then off they go!!

The North South divide is maybe another thread?

Ray.

If there were to be a foreign round I doubt very much if it should be point-scoring, as there would probably be quite a number of non-attendees (on grounds of cost/time etc, all discussed here). As soon as any round is made "just for fun" you would then, no doubt, lose a load more runners and riders....and the whole thing collapses!

I personally would vote for adding Phillip Island and Laguna Seca to the callendar as I'm obsessed with these "hallowed" circuits! However, the reallity is that it all would be "in my dreams" and I'd probably struggle to muster the enthusiasm even to get to Knockhill (has anyone ever watched a BSB meeting from there where the field weren't being lashed with rain?).

No, no...I think adding, say, Oulton and one or two carefully chosen UK circuits would be the sensible thing to do for the benefit of the riders, their "hangers-on" and the DSC membership.....sorry!!!

Anyhow...this is all hyperthetical for me anyway as I feel a "marital-ban" coming on for the 2006 season!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(:(:(:(:(:(

Andy #99

I'd rather see a DSC trackday abroad and not restrict this to DD'ers.

Tim