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KenH · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 9:43 pm Post subject: TKMs at Fulbeck

After a long run with no TKMs at Fulbeck we finally got Extreme up and running with 10 of us turning up in November. For those of you who familiar with Fulbeck's airfield location you will know its no place to be in winter and we all decided to give January and February a miss and we would be back in March.

While I have not been in contact with the club it is pretty clear that most of those who raced in November now won't be turning out this month and we will struggle for a grid.

A lot of people have said to me they will go another month/when the weather gets better/if there's a decent grid but they are going to be disappointed as there won't be anyone else there.

I would be interested in any feed back as to why neither junior or senior TKM are interested in racing at Fulbeck.

It is generally acknowledged as being one of the most technical circuits that rewards good drivers so it is not a boring track.

Its location cannot be the issue as it is next door to PFI which this year has regularly had 20+ grids in both classes.

I used to think it was because being on the 4th Sunday clashed with Whilton but their grids are poor so the drivers are not going there.

Is it just because no one else is going? If so it just needs a group of like minded individuals to decide to go there one month like the Wombwell crowd did in November.

Please tell me what you think and what it would need to get you to go there.

timbo63 · Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 106

Ken, I have thought the same about many tracks.
Back in the late 90s early 00's when I last raced Tkm there was big grids at every club.obviously theres alot less people racing in Tkm nowadays and I guess some tracks don't get grids as people see there isn't a grid the month before etc.
One of the reasons I joined this forum was to share an idea I had to get a decent Tkm grid at different club tracks.
Perhaps charity meetings where the clubs could do a special test/race entry fee to attract numbers.theres loads of great tracks that don't get used by tkms anymore.
When I joined the forum the Tkm interclub was launched.maybe next year it could use a few more circuits and become a national championship rather than a midlands based one.

We live south of Bristol and are keen to try different tracks we don't mind the travelling but obviously don't want to if theres only a handful of karts to compete with.

ac1962 · Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 1064

you might tempt us IF, costs reasonable, ie race £45, test saturday £30, decent loos, burger van, spares van, somewhere half decent to camp onsite securely. AND adequate track test time on the saturday - eg at Hooton last weekend there were 10 extremes, and almopst 15 juniors - for sat practice we had 7 by 10 to 12 minute sessions and there was still loads of time left but we stopped early to save tyres...

we race on a very very tight budget so a weekend is going to cost us £15 race/test fuel, £40 fuel to get to fullbeck, £30 test, £45 race - so you see we are at £130 before we think about tyres,spares, repairs, engine wear etc - the problem is if you settle into somewhere you feel comfortable, like we do at Hooton then its very hard to take a punt on somewhere that could turn out to be an expensive unhappy weekend.

How about you get the club to put on a one off race day - sat or sunday for MSA licence holders who havent been to Fullbeck before at a subsidised offer price of say £30, have 3 quali sessions and a 15 lap final - could be done on a saturday???? gives noobs a taster of fullbeck and if they enjoy it, who knows? just a suggestion but you could count on us if it didnt clash..

TBH Ken, this is our first 'proper full year' - we want , more than anything, to enjoy it, not be smothered in big club politics and fear of having to spend a shed load of hard earned readies - if you can help get another grid going somewhere that encourages the warm welcome that makes Hooton so attractive then we will give it a go at some point.

KenH · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:54 am Post subject:

Andy, Fulbeck ticks most of your boxes?

Last year the club let us race at members rates which are still £35 for race entry and I think £30 for practice.
There are 2 loo blocks, a decent burger van, kartparts UK have a spares van there at race weekends and there is a lot of space to camp out. As it is a small club with a lot of room, last year we were all able to park up within shouting distance of each other and share bits, help and advice. There is though no security as such as the track is located in the middle of an old airfield.
Practice sessions are 10 mins and in the summer usually squueze 7 or 8 in.

LKRC are so keen to get TKM back they will really welcome us. The comp sec is an ex TKM racer and the scrutineers reckon we are the only proper kart class (being aircooled 100s).

The only area that doesn't meet your requirements is the size of the grid which is what we need to address.

I don't think there is any chance of getting a separate meeting as I think the paperwork that goes with that, and MSA stewards etc would be too prohibitive.

I am sure though I could get the club to consider a one off race weekend at a discounted all in price for practice and race entry where we would be part ofthe race programme as I believe the Midland series will be. I would be prepared to ring round and try and get some support from traders.

Before I do this though I need to know that there is a real demand for such a meeting. I think with the four round Midland series and the festival a lot of drivers have their plans in place for most of their racing this summer.

What though I am ultimately looking to achieve is a return to TKM (both junior and senior) racing on a regular basis at Fulbeck. I have spoken to so many dads who after leaving cadets have said they would have preferred to do Junior TKM because of costs but have been forced down the minimax route as there simply are no junior TKM grids up this way. That's a topic though for another day.

ac1962 · Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 1064

thanks ken, i didnthave the idea there was so much already on offer at Fullbeck, theres a clue for you.........maybe the promotion needs a boost??
Add an incentive - winner gets race fee refunded or better still from your point of view, a free entry to next round......2nd place gets a 50% voucher etc, all provided a minimum grid size is achieved of course..

I get the idea its a bit chilly over there???? so we will wait for the 2 days of british summer to come over, for fear of hypothermia...looking at diaries,calanders, we would propose the meet at the end of may for us to come over - gives you 8 weeks to garner enough competition to challenge us black country boys! ,,,,gauntlet down!

KenH · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:48 am Post subject:

Thanks Andy, that's positive thinking. Unfortunately we can't do the May meeting because of other non karting commitments. I can get there myself but not my driver. June would be better for us is that any good to you?

Nevertheless, if there genuinely is enough interest I will do what I can to make it happen even if we can't take part ourselves.

Let's see if anyone else would fancy doing it either of those two months. If I can get a dozen or so positive responses I will go the club and see what sort of deal can be done and chase up other drivers and sponsors.

Ken

ac1962 · Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 1064

timbo63 · Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 106

Ken , clay pigeon are always trying to get Tkm grids up and normally get 10ish at a club meeting,but they have a special Tkm cancer research charity event for tkms which I have been to the last 2 years and juniors get a full grid and seniors 20+.
Obviously they do get a s1 round which attracts a few more over the year .but last year they ran the charity event in march and s1 was in August and they still doubled the grid.

KenH · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:35 am Post subject:

That's good to hear. I really like Clay Pigeon but it's a 5 hour drive for us. My son doesn't live anywhere near me so he has a 2 hour drive when we get back unless we go separately and that takes away much of the enjoyment of it and adds to the expense. Excuses, excuses!
Still it's good that the grids can be increased like that. What do you think it is about a charity event that draws the drivers? As a bunch we are not that altruistic.

timbo63 · Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 106

I guess everybody feels less bad about spending there hard earned pennies if cancer research are getting something out of it.

If clubs want Tkm grids they need to do something to attract the class like we said before charity events ,prizes from sponsors,reduced fees.

Perhaps in 2013 it would be an idea to get some traders ,charities involved and some of the clubs that are struggling involved in a series of races around the country.

Travelling is a problem for some but if you were travelling 5hours to a full grid of tkms with plenty of prizes and a decent price entry I think the grids will come.

ac1962 · Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 1064

i have a golden rule at the mo in that if its costing more than £50 in fuel to get there and back then,,,,,no way, even if the grid composed of 20 page 3 girls
£25 each way gives me a driving range {hauling trailer} of around 2 hours drive time. this puts hooton, shenny, whilton rissy and kim in reach, pfi and fullbeck are just just just borderline so i really need the incentive to make the effort.
Charity support does it for sure, i bet everyone has been affected by the big C at some point??? directly or indirectly
Prize money would be nice but tbh atmosphere and good facilities and good clean racing would be preferred.

There you go ken, charity will stimulate demand.

Jinder · Joined: 04 May 2011 Posts: 479 Location: Bridport, Dorset

I chose TKM because of my budget limitations. I think I'm not alone in that, and reduced entry fees for TKMers would certainly be an incentive for shoestring racers such as myself to turn out.
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Sr. TKM #25 at Clay Pigeon.
www.jinderracing.com

KenH · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:08 pm Post subject:

Good to hear that Jinder but it would take more than 5 hours to get up to Fulbeck from Bridport and I imagine about £80 in fuel so would a lower entry fee tempt you to travel that far?

I would like to get to the bottom of what makes a driver decide where to race.
Different people have different priorities but for me as team manager (dad) rather than driver they would be

How far is it to travel?-about 2hours max as we don't stay over.
Will there be a decent grid?
Can we get parked ok?- this can be an issue at Wigan when we have been put at the far end of the car park outside the circuit. Are the reserved areas clearly marked? On the odd occasion when we have been to Shenington we have really struggled to work out what are reserved/free bays.
Do we enjoy racing there?- this covers a multitude of issues from how we rate
the officials to the crack with the other lads.

What doesn't come into it for us

Cost of entry-otherwise we would never race or test at PF - £45 mins for 5 sessions of 6 laps! The additional cost is small beer compared to the other expenses if one is realistic.
Circuit's image-some drivers wouldn't be seen dead wearing their iridium visors at some of my favourite circuits
Who else is racing (rather than how many are racing)
Facilities-we don't stay over

timbo63 · Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 106

For us I'd say size/quality of grid as we used to race Tkm in late 90s early 00s when we would have 50 entry's at a club meeting at Rissy or dunkeswell .
We look forward to the entry list being published so we can see how big the grid is. That tends to mean theres some very quick drivers.this means it makes our lives harder where as we could go to a club with a handful of drivers and get a result.we think it's good to have quick competition even if sometimes frustrating.
Price/travelling costs , we are racing on a budget and don't want to travel a long Way and then pay over the odds for a entry /test day.thats one reason we have been put off pfi (membership fees,not much track time etc although the large grids are lurring us in)
Facilities arnt a massive problem , decent loo's ,somewhere to grab a bite to eat,decent paddock area are all that matter to us.

KenH · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:30 am Post subject:

Having just said that cost of entries is not an issue for us I need to backtrack a little. If we want to race for the other reasons I have quoted it is not but if we are undecided it could tip it one way or the other. My son is not available every weekend so when he is we like to race. We can't do Fulbeck next weekend as no one else is going so we are just deliberating whether to do Wigan instead. I got quite a shock when I saw the entry fee for non members is £58 and is making us think twice.