Is it not £180 per weekend? I know the British Championship classes (Iame only in 2017 I think) were £195, but that was paying a more expensive permit fee to the MSA (which they of course do not have to pay themselves), other classes were £170? From their original posting I was expecting it to be maybe £150 per weekend. It appears to be more expensive for most classes, not less.
There was a tender process last year, as there is on a regular basis, and as I understand it (not privy to all of the finer details), JKH's tender was the only one, and was for a three year period..... following which the MSA issued the permits before the 2018 series started for the first of those three years...... which begs another question.
I am still interested to know from the Lone Ranger what it was that EVERYONE (apart from started out fun) was aware of that the MSA were not already responsible for in the own MSA championship event, run by their own officials? So I will try and answer it myself.....
I understand what you have said about being really busy at some rounds SOF, and I interviewed JKH about that at the final round. I know that is something he was responsible for, and was trying to re-organise in 2019 with different classes at the different rounds to ensure a busy event for atmosphere, but not so busy it affected track time. One of the reasons this is always so difficult is having to establish calendars and venues well in advance of knowing how many entries there will actually be, and in 2018 particularly, with a declining pool of licence holders, entries were indeed higher than might have been expected. As I say, that was something that John was trying to address for 2019.
The MSA calendar suggests 6 rounds per class, over 18 events, with fewer classes per round, so more track time. On the face of it, it is a very simple way of organising events. However, the last time Super 1 organised events in this way, they saw less than 100 entries at some rounds, making a significant loss.
No need to pay for the final round up front...... There is a reason this has been the case for years..... as I suspect they will find out at the final rounds this year when entries will usually decline to such a point the cost of running the event is seriously impacted. Of course, this does not matter if you are a multi million pound organisation prepared to throw away £25,000 for each round to the local club, regardless of the income v cost benefits. This is not something any sensible business model would ever do, nor could do, out of which some other questions arise.
It has been suggested in one post I read somewhere, that they are paying £25,000 to each circuit hosting each round. I am not sure where knowledge of this has come from as I have not read it anywhere, but that would suggest the richest club will get a £75,000 windfall.... being awarded three rounds? I understand the argument that PFI, being the best karting facility, should be hosting, and has hosted two rounds of Super 1 this year, but again, this begs a question of how this really helps grass roots clubs struggling with entries for their MSA events, when their IKR events are better attended?
In all of their posts so far, the MSA appear to be suggesting they are changing things like 10s FF penalties with no appeal, chequebooks overturning decisions made on the weekend on a constant basis, the whole appeal process itself and other things that frankly, they could have changed in recent years gone by, but were reluctant or refused to do so, none of which were things Super 1 were responsible for as the organisers/promoters of the events.
"Standards" and "prestige" were the two things behind their decision to take the British Championships "in-house"..... who exactly though is going to run it on their behalf.....? Because there is one thing for sure, anyone in-house would be completely overwhelmed by the logistics of organising such a massive championship event.
So again, what standards were S1 responsible for that were so poor they needed to make such a change to rectify? As for prestige..... well..... people have been moving to the UK from the USA, Japan etc. purely so they can take part in a karting series they saw via what is now the biggest YouTube channel for the sport in the world, with world record views this year for events viewed within the same year of being filmed. The viewing figures on my YouTube channel are already massively greater than the European and World Championships combined, and getting bigger, whereas the European and World events, both of which are live streamed, are stagnating in terms of views.
I will add this...... Over the years, I have constantly within the Super 1 edits, marketed the sport, the ABkC and the MSA in a way that I have never seen anyone else do in any other programme...ever, with lower third graphics and commentary detailing on a regular basis where to find your local kart circuits and clubs throughout the UK ("You may never have heard of it.... but there will be a circuit and kart club near you"..... words I have uttered many times).
I was NEVER approached by the MSA, ABkC, or even mandated by S1 to do this..... I just do it because I want to do whatever I can to help people understand how to get involved in our sport, and will continue to do it, because it is the right thing to do. Watch any Super 1 race this year and you will see the sponsors' branding and logos appearing top right, fading in and out. Amongst those, was an MSA logo, not because I was asked to, but because I decided to, as it was the right thing to do my opinion. The ABkC logo appears for the same reason.
In the 15 years I have been producing karting content for TV, not once has anyone from the MSA thought to ask how they might use the coverage to promote MSA karting...... 15 years..... not once. Super 1 has a prestige all of its own making, and I firmly believe that will continue into 2019 and beyond. 36 years of history..... I fell a promo coming on!
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MSA British Champs, no more super-one? by 'NoGo' (31 Oct 2018 @ 12:01)
