in briEF - Mundo Motorizado

Big grids are the
key for organisers
MAKING RACE
MEETINGS PAY
People complain club racing is costly, but where does the money go? PAUL LAWRENCE explains
More than ever during 2012,
race organising clubs in
the UK were walking a
knife edge to make the
books balance at meetings.
The pressure on track time at national
programmes is not a new issue, but it
has come more into focus recently as
circuit hire costs continue to rise.
In a time of great economic uncertainty,
some race classes have experienced
dwindling support and that has given
organisers a real headache.
Across the country, clubs are trying
to squeeze every last minute of track
activity out of each day, but what does it
really cost to run a meeting these days?
The biggest slice of the expense cake
is the hire of the track. The fee that
clubs pay varies massively from venue to
venue. Based on 2011 figures (prices have
gone up several percentage points since),
that ranges from around £10,000 for
Mallory Park to £12,000 for Cadwell
Park, and nudges £20,000 for Donington
Park and Silverstone National, while
at the top end the Brands Hatch Grand
Prix circuit costs a whopping £33,000.
However, the most expensive of them all
86 autosport.com January 17 2013
is the Silverstone GP track, which comes
with a daily price tag of £40,000. It has
a maximum grid of 58 cars, though, so
it does offer clubs the chance to accept
a huge number of entries for each race.
Track hire, though, is only part of the
outgoings. Clubs face as much as
another £20,000 to arrive at the
overall price for a day’s racing. In
round numbers, MSA permit fees
and insurance come to £5000; officials,
including timekeepers, scrutineers and
doctors, add up to more than £4000 and
that can easily be £5000 if a subsistence
allowance is provided for the marshals.
Printing programmes, commentators’
fees, awards and results come to £2500,
with £500 more in staff costs for race
control. Add in £1500 for ambulances,
rescue and breakdown vehicles, and
you’re heading towards £15,000.
Finally, clubs have to factor in a VAT
write-off because circuit hire comes
with VAT, but race entries are VAT
exempt, and Her Majesty’s Revenue
& Customs does not allow clubs to
simply reclaim the full amount of VAT.
This all means that even the cheapest
available venue comes at a total cost of
Accidents eat into
available track time
around £30,000 per day, and a weekend
on the Silverstone GP circuit is a
six-figure investment.
It doesn’t end there for the clubs,
either. Those with a main office,
which is just about all of them, need to
maintain those buildings, pay staff and
meet the routine bills. With circuits
generally retaining all spectator income,
the clubs have to cover all outgoings
from race entry and membership fees.
The operating hours of every venue
are tightly governed by planning
permission, but few offer more than
nine hours of track activity per day. That
gives a cost per minute of around £60
for the cheaper circuits, climbing all the