MN’s columnist-at-large was impressed – in parts – with the BriSCA F1 World Final
Ilost my virginity in Ipswich recently. I’d better explain… For the first time, dates finally aligned to enable me to go to a BriSCA Formula 1 Stockcar World Final. I’d been to Semi Finals and normal events but never an F1 World Final, and it was against a backdrop of discontent among some fans that I rolled into the Foxhall Stadium car park. First, we need to cover off one of the quirks of being in Ipswich. The event was actually promoted by Buxton Raceway, which many years ago when known as the New High
Edge Raceway, featured in an episode of Coronation Street when Kevin Webster tried his hand at banger racing. It remains the Peak District track’s crowning moment.
Now, BriSCA tries to be fair to its member tracks and so each one gets its turn in rotation at hosting the World Final, which makes sense. The trouble is that Buxton doesn’t have the infrastructure for a big crowd with limited facilities and hardly any grandstand seating. The last time its turn to host the World came up, it was allowed to rent the King’s Lynn track on the basis that money raised would be invested into its own track in readiness for the next time.
Covid, one of life’s most useful excuses for not doing things, seems to have given Buxton a reason for not investing as once again it turned to another promoter to host its event. And here is where the problems started.
Matt Watson, the Buxton promoter, did a deal with Spedeworth to use Ipswich and Mildenhall for the traditional World Final eve meeting. Straight away, rent had to be paid and that, added to start money, prize money, staff wages and so on was rumoured to leave Buxton looking at a £30,000 bill before the gates opened. So, perhaps you can understand then why general admission on the day was an eye-watering £47. Yes, you read that right. In addition to that came ‘chair-gate’, as fans were told that they couldn’t bring in a deckchair and had to sit in the grandstand. That, sir, is just £15.
One fan, who came with his father in a mobility scooter, was told the device constituted a chair, wasn’t allowed in and was forced to pay the £15. And we aren’t done yet.
Parking was a further £4, when normally it is £2 at Foxhall. When grass tax was introduced I can’t tell you, nor what the price increase gave you. It looked like the same grass on which one normally parks…
Oh, and if you want a programme, a further £8 and while it was a reasonable production it seemed to be full of articles telling the BriSCA chairman how wonderful he was. The page in Dutch was a great read, too…
Sorry, but BriSCA has to take some of the blame here. Why give a track a turn at hosting an event that it isn’t equipped for? That’s like giving someone the keys to a
Ferrari when they can’t drive.
The organisation was poor, and delays abounded and with the pratting about with parade laps and gridding up, time was lost. I realise that caution periods will delay races, but there was no urgency to the night. Nor was there any show.
Spedeworth excels at presentation, but with the Buxton staff taking charge, it was a night of racing with no-frills that meant that cancelling races went down like a ton of cement on the terraces.
The main race though was a corker. It was helped by factors that no-one could influence, such as rain making the track slippery, a multicar pile-up before the green flag causing a complete restart and then Simon Traves’ engine going boom and coating a greasy track with oil. Plenty piled in and there was no choice but to halt proceedings. That Charlie Sworder held on to win on the restart was a great result and it underlined that no matter what the form book says, surprises come.
Frankly, the World Final, often regarded as the dullest race of the night with the better qualifiers at the front, saved what was a night devoid of theatre and that treated fans with an element of contempt. “We’ve got your money, mission accomplished,” seemed to be the attitude of the peripatetic promoter.
Sworder aside, the other hero of the night was John Lund. At 68 years of age, the indefatigable Lund got the biggest cheer of the parade lap and, remember, qualified on merit, not through a last chance race. Retirement from the race came early and let us hope that it wasn’t his last appearance. Lund knows how to treat the fans.
Would I go again? Yes, but to a different promoter’s hosting. An F1 grid of its star drivers is a magnificent spectacle when unleashed, but one shouldn’t have to sell body parts in order to afford to see it….