Monoposto Racing Forum

Is anyone else surprised at the £85 increase in the cost for Cadwell this year over last year. I for one was looking forward to going to Cadwell as I hadn't been for a few years but find it difficult to justify £435 for Cadwell when Brands Hatch and Silverstone GP circuits are £450 and £445. I know where I will be spending my hard earned cash!

I agree, a crazy price for Cadwell.

Was Caldwell not a one day meeting last year with only one qualifying session ??

£40 more then oulton park which is a one day meeting

Yes you are right about that Dan. 15 minutes more for £85! We must be careful that in order to recoup losses from one year that we do not price ourselves out of the market for the following year. The entry fee is the most obvious cost to the club racer as we all tend to just 'eat' the other expenses of Accommodation, fuel food etc.

I appreciate the 'juggling act' setting race costs presents to the club, especially after the issues of last year.

Cherry picking of circuits to attend is something some of us do based on a number of personal factors. Perhaps it just that I don't favour Cadwell Park over the likes of Silverstone and Brands Hatch. Obviously, despite my reservation, I hope that the entry list is full.

Dan,

you can't really compare Cadwell with Oulton.

CH

Interesting statistics from Cadwell.

MSVT Trackday Trophy: 30 min qualifying, 45 minute race, total time 75 minutes, cost £329, £4.38 per minute.
Monoposto: 2 x 15 qualifying, 2 x 15 minute race, total time 60 minutes, cost £435, £7.25 per minute.

Draw your own conclusions!

You must remember that although Cadwell is normally a cheaper circuit to buy track time, Silverstone, Brands and Donington are very expensive and probably require a part subsidy from fees gained at other circuits such as Cadwell. Its basic economics and if anyone thinks the club is making money from us I suggest you look through the accounts as Monoposto is only just keeping its head above the water. It's a very hard balancing act and all the directors give their time for us to continue racing as cheaply as possible.
It's very important that you look at costs over a season and not just one race meeting and where would we go if Mono disappeared?

Robbie Watts

Good point Robbie. I guess knowing that Cadwell is cheap to hire (compared to the ones quoted) made the Cadwell price stand out more than the others but like you say the club will need to make a good profit on Cadwell to make it more cost effective for some of the more prestige rounds that everyone wants to race at. tough balance for the club.

Putting the price can often be a mistake and actually reduce revenue, if there are 12 potential entries at £400 that bring in £4800, if 2 drivers decide not to enter at because of the increased to £435 the take would only be £4350 a loss of £500, I used to work for company that kept putting there prices up as there customer base shrunk, they eventually went bust.

Agree Jim.. Think we need to try and make it attractive to visit by keeping it cheaper.

Jolyon Palmer had better start delivering some good results seeing as we are all helping fund his F1 career

While I'm also unhappy that the costs of race entries have gone up year-on-year, it is by far one of the best run championships run for our kinds of cars. MSVR no doubt have a stranglehold on the costs Monoposto incur for circuits, and I'm sure the board have costs foremost on their mind too, but just how far will this go before we really do lose out to other more cost effective championships and people start switching to other forms of racing perhaps?

And what message does this send to the newcomers of motorsport looking for a cost effective way in?

I must admit it is certainly more attractive financially for the newcomer to lean more towards other types of racing given their lower race entry fees (for the same MSVR circuits). But then I've always considered single seaters as proper race cars over tin-tops or similar any day, so always preferred them for this reason regardless of the cost.

It seems odd why Monoposto get charged more than the tin-tops for their circuit time though? Does anyone have any thoughts/reasons as my curiosity is starting to grow now .

I believe that when you buy track time, as well as track time you are buying mopping up time to clear dead or stricken cars before the next session starts. Compared to the Trackday Trophy referenced above, they have the same or similar track time but less sessions, so less mop up sessions to pay for as well, possibly one reason why they have a cost advantage.

Ultimately the bottom line comes into it and yes there are differences, but anyone who has been to the AGM and listen to Tony doing his financial report, the club is paying out significant sums of money before it recoups the money through race entries, so has to have a strong financial footing.

Comparing an independent club which is taking the financial risk (and the hoped for reward) is also different against one of MSVs in-house championships which have a different business model. They may not have the requirement to maintain a significant cash reserve when buying track time from circuits.