Hello everyone, while going through my 2017 Sprint-admin I came across a draft write-up of last year's event that never made it onto the forum. Better late than never! Please note the section at the bottom...
AC Owners Club – Annual Clubman’s Sprint at Goodwood on 5th November 2016
Once again the ACOC members and their fantastic driving machines descended upon Goodwood’s motor circuit along with their friends from our invited clubs for what turned out to be another fun, social event.
As always, our crew that runs the day arrived at the circuit a little before 8am, settling quickly into our respective routines: Mike Smith (Clerk of the Course) began co-ordinating things with Goodwood’s trackside team and track-side officials, Mike Berrisford (Chief Paddock Marshall) began organising the paddock team, and I started off by getting our MSA Official comfortable with all of our paperwork and setting up the driver sign-on area. Many cars and drivers were already on site, the rest arriving in a steady stream, many heading over to the onsite hospitality van to ward off the early morning chill with teas, coffees and bacon rolls.
I soon had a queue of drivers in the sign-on area in the Jackie Steward Pavilion, with friendly early morning banter punctuating the shuffle of licenses and other sign-on documents. Along with the collection of ‘usual suspects’ were a number of new faces, all eager to find fast times and all hoping that the dry weather held for the day. Over recent years we’ve had a mix of dry and damp, but today promised to be dry and clear throughout.
The collection of cars parked in the paddock spanned 9(!) decades of automotive history, with a similar spread of driver ages. Some looked a little haggard, others well polished and recently serviced, others out for the last time before disappearing indoors for the winter, but enough about the drivers... let’s get back to the cars! We had the usual mix of AC’s, with our invited guest clubs bringing with them everything from single-seater formula 3’s to sports saloons and vintage collectibles. From the ACOC we had Ace Bristols, MKIV Cobras, a 428 Fastback, Brooklands Ace’s, an AC 3000ME, plus a number of ACOC Members in non-ACs. Our guest clubs were the Aston Martin OC, VSCC, The Pre–War Austin Seven Club, BMW Historic Motor Club, 500 Owners Association, Frazer Nash Car Club, BARC and Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club.
As always, one of the best vantage points for the day’s racing is to watch the cars accelerating off the starting line... the odd tail wiggle, puffs of smoke from the tyres and the oh-so-lovely sound of engines under throttle! But then I am biased – I spend much of my time coordinating the timekeeping of the day from the pit wall. It’s also a great place to be to watch them return at full speed across the finishing line, before hitting brakes hard in order to return back to the pits via the slip road. With full access to the track and paddock, there’s no limit to the number of vantage points from which spectators can watch the action unfold. One of my highlights of the day is accompanying the Mike Smith as he leads the convoy of competitors around the track on the pre-event sighting lap, from which I’m able to enjoy the track and take a few photographs from the back seat of his Buckland (some of which you can see by looking on the club online forum).
As per usual, post sign-on formalities begin with the driver briefing, followed shortly thereafter by the parade lap mentioned above. Competitors then return to the paddock before lining up to take turns doing their official practice laps - a standing start lap followed by a flying lap. This is followed by two official timed laps, with the fastest lap deciding where they finish in their respective class. Remember that in a Sprint event there is no overtaking, the competition is against the stopwatch only. These lap times are marked on each competitors ‘driver card’, enabling the paddock team to ‘seed’ each car as they come to the start line later on in groups of 4 to begin their official timed laps.
For AC members, classes are determined by respective model of AC car. Non AC members compete within their respective “club class”, i.e. the Jaguar Owners Club is a standalone class, within which its members can compete in whatever car they choose. We do not run our event in class order, hence at any moment in time you will have a mixed grid comprising different cars and clubs lined up in each wave of 4 timed competitors. In addition to making the management of the starting grids a little more interesting for Mike Berrisford and his paddock team, it ensures that spectators are treated to a constantly changing mix of cars to watch. It also helps to make our event a little more relaxed and social – a key ingredient that has helped to make our Sprint so popular.
The first round of timed runs completed just before lunch, with proceedings halted for the obligatory ‘quiet hour’ between 12 and 1 in order to appease Goodwood’s neighbouring residents. Back we headed to the hospitality trailer for more burgers, teas and banter, with tables filled by competitors comparing stories while others tinkered with their engines. After lunch with the dry track giving everyone the same conditions after lunch that they’d enjoyed in the morning, times steadily fell with each subsequent lap as the fast try to go faster. For those with less lofty ambitions, simply being at the Goodwood circuit was enough with success measured by the width of a smile.
We reached the end of formal proceedings at around 3.30, at which time we opened up the track for ‘free runs’. Many took the opportunity to gain extra track time, whilst others began packing trailers ahead of the awards ceremony and drive home thereafter. At around 4pm we closed the track. Competitors began gathering at the Jackie Steward Pavilion ahead of the prize giving and the track staff descended upon the Clerk’s office to enjoy a final chat and grab a bottle of complementary wine - a gift from the club to thank all of the staff who make the event possible.
Once again, the Sprint lived up to its reputation – a competitive event designed to showcase both man and machine but in a fun, social atmosphere. The number of thank-you notes I’ve received from both competitors and spectators reinforces how valued this event is to everyone. A huge thank you goes out to all of those people who work so hard to make this event happen, and to all of our competitors who come back year after year.
However, it would be remiss to sign off this summary without a small request to our members...
In recent years we’ve had a slow but steady decline in AC-car entries - we need to find a way to reinvigorate participation from within our own ranks as we’ve become increasingly reliant on other clubs to provide us with sufficient numbers to sustain our event. In some instances, members have swapped their ‘competition car’ from their AC to a ‘modern’ car (but on a positive note they are still competing and enjoying themselves!). In other cases, they’ve simply stopped competing altogether. The rising value of our vehicles is one explanation, the ageing demographic of our club may be another – nobody’s getting any younger! The costs of the required safety equipment and annual fees also makes it harder for the ‘once a year competitor’ to justify the expense.
Whatever the reasons, the reality is that this slow decline in participation is starting to impact upon our ability to sustain this event. Put simply, we need more of our own membership to join us, in addition to encouraging their friends in other invited clubs to join us.
It’s worth highlighting that based on some of the emails that I’ve received there appear to be a few misconceptions out there about the Sprint that may be putting some of you off joining:
You do not need to be a regular or experienced racer – you can go as fast or slow as you like. From a licensing perspective the MSA requires a minimum of a National-B license – easily applied for through the post. Whilst the event centres around the official timed laps as described above, those who remain until the end are able to enjoy additional untimed laps. Yes, a track day for twice or three times the price may give you more track time, but without the safety of the no-overtaking control of the Sprint or the kudos of spending time on the wonderful and historic Goodwood circuit. This makes for a significantly safer event with vastly reduced risk of accident or injury. And last but not least, there is no charge to spectate! Anyone and everyone are free to come along and watch the event, with full access to all areas. Only the drivers pay to attend, hence an unaccompanied driver pays the same price as another driver accompanied by the entire entourage. As a day out for the whole clan, compare that to the cost of going to any other motor sport event!
Adding to these pressures, at the time of writing this [in late 2016] Goodwood have decided that they are no longer able to sustain the 50% discount that we’ve enjoyed to date, with fees now stepping up to close the gap. Due to the popularity (and increasingly reduced number) of 105bds days, they have a long queue of people willing to pay full price. Historically, our discount was in part due to us accepting a late date in the calendar. Some people feel this makes our event a little less attractive, however it does help us to retain our slot at this historic venue. Following various discussions over recent days, Goodwood have kindly provided us with an extended part-discounted price for 2017 and I have thankfully been able to reserve 4th November, but this will not last forever.
A number of people are working in the background to find solutions to these and other issues but if you have any practical suggestions please do let us know – you can reach me or one of the council members through the club’s online forum or ACtion magazine list of contacts. If you’ve not competed before but are keen to join, please do let me know as having a sense of possible participant numbers would help us to calculate overall economics that may arise from some of the changes currently under consideration. Suggestions on a post card please... and I hope to see lots of you at Goodwood later this year!
