boomer

Chris,

please don't resign

mb

carl

I can't agree I'm afraid -- it's all down to maturity and courtesy whilst on track. I've been on days with Bookatrack (in the Scoob) which were attended by some very quick Caterhams, an Ultima Can Am (or was it a GTR?), etc. As long as you keep out of the way of quicker stuff then everyone's happy -- and at somewhere like Bedford that shouldn't be a problem. They take the FPA out while the Scoobs are on the track, so I don't see that much of a difference.

dingy

Pete doesn't like Nova's as they are faster than the new Scoob :P

Really sorry mellow, but typical SIDC bollox it would seem....

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Chris don' do it mate

I've been on the track at Donny with a Formula ford, Ferrari, Tweaked evo, Dingy and a bog STD 1.6l Escort estate on the Track but all were SIDC/MLR or previous serving members Everyone was curtious and no problems and a good day was had by all
But I like many with £30K's scoob are worried that open to ALL !! might just encourage the £500'Nova' and 'PS2'm types who'll overtake wrong side in the bends bounce off the sides of a Scoob because its' no loss to him but be gains a 'Scooby' Scalp There wll be a lot of newbies out there( I class me as one) who'll be slow and make mistakes just go easy on us and lets have a good day

IMHO

TONY

CraigH

Afew people have hit the nail on the head.

Mr Unexperienced Trackdriver in his super duper plastic rocket quasi race car.......gets lapped by track day veteran in his Escort diesel Estate.

If straightline performance is an issue.....

My old Impreza would not be allowed on at the same time as a UK or std STI
Neither would Trout, Dave Wallis, Harvey, P20SD whatever, R19KET, Pat etc etc.

Is a poor excuse to stop certain cars on track days.

SIDC doesn't stand for STANDARD Impreza Drivers Club does it?

ADY 555 !

I think it stands for...Silly Idiots Drive Carefully. I think the points that Fizz made has put alot of Subaru drivers off going on track. Well done Subaru, it looks like you have shot yourself in the foot with you so called rally bred performance cars if you don't allow us to get the best out of them on track. Ady.

CraigH

Addy,

I don't think that's the issue to be honest.

Chris L

Sorry to hear about the problems Chris - not good enough really. I do agree that Subaru UK (IM) have not helped the situation at all.

Not being at the AGM last week, I don't know all the facts. What is more worrying is the financial situation and the potential losses. I don't believe the SIDC has the kind of reserves to sustain these losses. What does the treasurer have to say about this - surely this is ultimately his responsibility?

Chris

CraigH

Tony,

Like I've said in another post.

If I, or you, or Pete Croney etc decided to do a track day in a £500 Nova GTE - would it still be an issue?

If the club changes its "gentlemens club" type policy, then track attendees should be SIDC members. And if it's just as an associate member so they only get track day privelige, so what? Everyone benefits.

if it's restricted to performance saloons it's be a bad move - having something like a Vectra SRI ( a "performance" saloon) on track at same time as an STI Scoob would be 10 times worse than having an STI Scoob on track at the same time as something quick.

Not meaning to have a dig but can't see the logic behind a comment like Petes about "performance saloons" only.

Utterly ridiculous.

Fat Boy

I think we are in danger of disappearing up our own backsides again here if we're not careful .

Dingy you have had your issues with SIDC over the last year or so but why can't we look forward positively - its becoming a broken record IMHO. Craig I personally am, and have been, quite happy to be on a track with your old Sti(& Mellow at Donington), Evos of varying power outputs, Skylines etc. I have also been on the track with Full race cars, single seaters etc and it's not fun, either for them or for us. It is an accident waiting to happen, whether the fast cars driver is good or not, you're only as safe as the weakest link in the chain.

I happen to feel that the FPA is a bit stupid at Bedford as well when he did things like go around the outside of me during a fast bend (turn 7) and then swerve between me and the patent newbie in front who I was giving a lot of space to, I was having to try and watch my mirrors, which are about 2 foot too high to see him, and avoid the beginner in front whilst in a flat left bend. I'm sure he was Ok but he's a professional race driver , you're not, neither am I or probably 99% of the rest out there on a typical sidc day are not and that's just one race car on the track not several at the same time ...

This is really difficult as I hate sessions with a vengeance but what else do you do, have a power to weight limit for the day say up to 250-280 bhp per ton? Hard to police but with a bit of sense from the participants it might work. If someone keeps taking the pi55 he can have his money back and go home, Marcus at Easytrack is quite comfortable doing this to people who cause problems. If the punter doesn't like it, tough ****, go join another track day or go compete...

Fat Boy

Oh and to get back to the topic. Hope you come back Chris we need someone with your energy and track day experience to get this back on track

ADY 555 !

CraigH i think there are many issues here, and the ones that i mentioned excluding what sidc stands for (joke) has alot to do with drivers not attending track days, going off all the posts after sidc national day this year. Ady.

CraigH

Then how about the simple and adult solution.

If a certain car/driver makes others feel comfortable the stewards have a word - if he doesn't change he goes.

And agree about the FPA.

However. Tuff choice. Someone spends 100 quid for aride he doesn't wanna go round stuck behind a scoob......hard one that - cos the ride is a real real blast

With regards to other similar cars. If a 400hp EVO/Scoob is on track with a std one it will be scarily faster. If a 500hp Skyline, same thing.If it's a 600hp Skyline - whoooaaa.

But most Westies can't outdrag an STI in a straightline - is corner speed- if it's behind you it can only corner as fast as you so no prob - if it's in fron it will corner faster, so no porb.

So the problem is?

There are more tuned up EVO's/Skylines/Scoobs appearing that straightline wil be faster than most Westies or Caterhams etc.

It's a flawed point and can only hold water when there is no-one there to object.

Fatboy - you're not getting a ride in the Westie anymore

Tim Taylor

Don't forget the other side to the coin... you may have and drive a 400bhp car - it doesn't mean you drive it fast on the track!!

You could have the fasted car on the track but not be the fastest driver. The track day scene is all about having legal fun on the day without 'hopefully' any accidents. I have done many SIDC, MLR, etc days in the past and have not been the fastest driver out there but I was driving a 260bhp scoob though! What is the difference if I was driving the said scoob slowly compaired to driving a 'cheaper' track car with only 150bhp faster?

I am not having a go at any one on here nor at the SIDC (member for about 4 years) I missed the AGM this year do to other commitments on the day and I would have said my bit there as I did last year.

I for one would like to attend track days with the friendly nature of the SIDC, MLR but without the need to use my road car all the time.

Tim

Chris L

There is a very simple message behind Craig's posts and one I agree with: Change or die

The financial hit that the club has taken as a result of the confusion means that it faces a difficult future. If it continues to persist with the present stance, I think the outlook is very bleak.

Chris

CraigH

Chris

Thankyou.

Didn't think anyone would ever see where I was coming from!

Blow Dog

I really didn't want to get involved in this, I'd hate to be perceived as ungrateful towards what SIDC board members do.

But...

I mentioned in the AGM that I was opposed to the idea that the problem laid with faster cars. I even went as far as to mention that a majority of bad driving actually comes from within the club and it does. It's an age old adage, it's not the car, it's the driver.

At the AGM, we had a vote. We asked the attendees to put their hands up if they thought faster cars should NOT participate in SIDC trackdays. Of the 20 people there, 3 people put their hands up. What's changed since then?

Cem

Pete Croney

You are missing my point entirely.

I am not against EVOs, Skylines and (I think they can have hard tops) Elises. Read Fatboy's post again, he has experienced it from the wrong side, as have I and many others.

The crux of this, sorry to disappoint you Craig, is that we are the SUBARU IMPREZA Drivers Club. We are not Easytrack, Bookatrack, or whatever. Its about us organising some track days for our members.

If I had a plastic rocket, I would take it on track days where it was in the company of similar machinary, if for no other reason than to get some good laps in without being held up all the time.

I am also against the FPA being out at Bedford, for the same reasons and the last few times at Bedford we have asked them not to use it. I have been in it and cringed as it passed people on bends, on whatever side the driver decided.

Lets go back a step here.

The committee of the SIDC want to organise track days for its members. The main reason is that the safe environment allows the driver to explore the handling of the car and so improve his understanding of its (and his) abilities and limitations. Here we are now being criticised because we would prefer this was done with a track full of similar performing cars.

How much fun would you have driving your Impreza on a Puegeot 106 Track Day? Would you get frustrated that you were being held up at every bend? Would it be a satisfying day?

Would you slaughter the committee on a bbs if they decided their days may be better without you?

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Cem

I put my hand up at that vote. The reason was that when my std UK scoob was on track, I was fast but the car was slow. This meant that no matter how hard I pushed the car other quicker cars caught me and passed me. I felt that most laps I was forever pulling over to let people past (being a nice courteous chap), this became irritating as it spoiled my lines and was increasingly frustrating.

Now I paid my money and I wanted to enjoy my track time. I was not having a nice time! This lead me to stop track days and improve the car, which costs money so I couldn't afford to do track days for a while, and I ended up doing the karting days instead.

At least with the karting days I was passing everyone else and I knew it was done to me and not the vehicle. The karting is just as fun and a damn site cheaper.

Now hopefully my car will keep up, I will be doing more track days next year and I can take the lines I want but I won't worry too much about the different cars.

I do notice that Knockhill tends to have a lot of events, they seem successful at arranging events at this circuit. Is this because it only cost £50 for half a day? I'd do it if it was nearer too.

F

Adam M

Pete,

Craigs subtle point, highlighted by chris L comes to mind once again.

If you note the participation levels when it is only impreza drivers you will see it dwindling, if this continues you wont be able to provide track driving for your "members" at all.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face.

ask the members the question,

would you rather have no track days available for only imprezas or some for imprezas plus other cars?

some of something is better than all of nothing.

If you remove the track days from the sidc menu, frankly I dont think there is enough left to maintain the club at all.

The incentive for me was the track days. As far as I am concerned the community is represented here on scoobynet, effectively if scoobynet started arranging trackdays, witout these limitations, I am certain that the SIDC would become redundant entirely.

As it stands scoobynet isnt doing this, but if track days are prevented from being an option (which they will be without what is being proposed here) I only think you will be puttin ght final nail in the SIDC coffin.

It wont matter to me anyway, as my power to weight ratio is far too high for an SIDC trackday now anyway.

davyboy

Roll up, roll up jump on the "slag off the sidc" bandwagon

Nothing new is being said now, and I guess nothing new by non-members.

Blow Dog

I hope my comments don't come across as negative or destructive, I'm merely adding fuel to a current affair.

It's a good opportunity to finally resolve a very grey area.

Cem

Pete Croney

No Adam, you are also missing the point

Its not about TOTALLY excluding other marques (my personal opinion).

I am all for having track days shared with MLR, Blow Dogs gang and even the M3 boys and I see this as the only way forward, considering that these other clubs are in exactly the same position as us, with regard to raising enough interest to hold a day in the first place.

Think about my question... when your 22B is back up and running, will you look to take it on 106 track days? If not (not pressuming anything), why not?

davyboy

I brought it up and I was not reffering to you in particular, and not just on this thread either.

dingy

Fat Boy, yes i know i have had disagreements with the SIDC in the past, i aint really said much about it....

All i said that i was banned from coming on to SIDC track days, even tho i was a fully paid member, reason being (STILL LMAO AT THIS) My car was considerably faster than a scoob.

Sorry for bring it up, but that was when there used to be lots of interest in the SIDC track days as they were very good.

If your a member of the RSOC, you take on track what you like. SIMPLE. YOUR THE MEMBER, not THE CAR (take a hint out of the AA)

Pete, you are coming accross as you are the SIDC, looks like the way forward...LOL

CraigH

Pete,

You're contradicting yourself and you haven't anwsered any of the points I raised.

On one hand you say EVOs/GTRs/Elises are welcome, but not cars such as Westfields - then you state, "the crux of it is, we are the SUBARU IMPREZA DRIVERS CLUB....."if the rule is as hard and fast as that, then no other cars surely?

So, can you please explain, how you will welcome with open arms, as an example, Tony Rodiguez in his 500hp EVO 6, with cage, track suspension and slicks, but not something like a Westfield which won't even be close to matching that cars straightline performance?

Or Cem. 400hp Skyline - hugely faster than a 208hp Scoob on track.

Even your car. Much much faster than a std WRX through the bends thanks to your tyres and suspension, not to mention much improved braking - does it stop you having fun? or std cars as you're so much faster?

I'm sorry Pete but it makes no sense to me.

Like Adam said - carry on like this and the numbers will dwindle even more - and it will be only a matter of time before SIDC disappears. Is that what you want?

Phil

These matters will be put to the membership in Decembers True Grip

in the form of a questionaire

Lets see what the majority say

Then there will be no argument [yeah right]

Phil

Pete Croney

Don't get me wrong, I would love to have an XTR2 or an SR3. I was even hoping Craig may let me come to a shakedown of his, for a contribution to costs, of course. They are soooooo quick, if it was mine I wouldn't be at all interested in playing the company of Imprezas. But isn't there an owners club? Do they organise track days? or even a race series?

Ah, but I wouldn't know anyone when I first went along

As for Craig when he had his (very quick) Scooby, Cem in his Skyline, Birdy in his M3... I have been on track with all of them and it wasn't a problem. I have said this above.

I don't think I can add anymore, so that's my final post on the subject. We'll see how the vote goes and abide by what the members decide.

CraigH

Can members vote more than once?

I've been to WSCC meets already thanks - could go on their trackdays in my Scoob if I chose.....

dingy

Members LOL 20 at the AGM and you will be lucky....

LMAO