Matthew Willoughby

Yes, at our request, Blyton will be a single lapper next year. It came down to a choice between Blyton and Wiscombe as the only suitable date was the same for both. Looking at past entry numbers it seemed obvious that more people want to go to Blyton (50% more entries for Blyton than Wiscombe this year). It's a shame to lose a hill but I was trying to please the majority.

David, I agree that it's a shame, but there is no point going to venues that don't attract a decent number of competitors. Having analysed the number of entries at each venue over several years Epynt and Wiscombe consistently had the lowest numbers. I don't agree that it makes the championship less inviting though. Novices tend to do sprints rather than hills.

Please see below the provisional calendar for 2015. It is possible that dates may change but it is unlikely that there will be many alterations. 25th April Goodwood 3rd May Hethel 17th May Curborough 1 23rd/24th May Gurston 27th June Aintree 18th July Llandow 19th July Llys Y Fran 2nd August Harewood 9th August Loton Park 30th August Curborough 2 13th September Blyton 3rd/4th October Anglesey 1 & 2

Alan, yes, but in rebuilding them for racing certain modifications were allowed. Skimmed head for example.

With the new website it was not possible to set up a private forum for registered competitors hence the request to consider, before posting, what a potential novice would make of any comments.

The results are in and have been reported to LDMC. The votes were as follows: Single lap - 14 Double lap - 13 Thanks to everybody who responded to my email

The calendar is agreed (although there is always a chance it may change). It will be announced at the awards lunch next Sunday and posted on here afterwards. There will be the same number of events as there were this year.

These threads will continue until after the the lunch as I need to spend my spare time getting that organised.

As Simon suggests, it will be a mixture of votes (where a consensus is far from clear) and executive decisions (for those items that most agree on). I have no problem with publishing the draft regs but we need to be careful that we don't keep discussing things forever.

The problem we had with the stickers was fitting the logos on for 2 sponsors (plus the Club logo) and keeping it a sensible size. You have to be able to identify all the logos and I'd rather have a bigger sticker and the cash from 2 sponsors rather than a smaller sticker and half (or thereabouts) the sponsor support. That decision will not be mine for next year though.........

We do indeed. See you all there

Grahame, please discuss anyhing you want. I don't want anybody to hold back a genuine idea because they don't think it will be listened to. I have no agenda here (I will no longer be competing) so just want to leave the Championship in as healthy a state as possible, for everybody else to continue to enjoy as much as I have done over the years. My only reservation is that having announced the basis of the 2015 regs a year ago, people will have made plans and spent money on the basis that they won't significantly change. We have to bear this in mind, but the main priority has to be to maximise entry number in all classes in the future, which is never going to be easy. It's always going to be a very difficult balancing act that can never suit everybody. The rolling road issue is a nightmare as they vary so much from location to location. Classes 1, 2 and 3 have Northampton as a benchmark but 4 does not. Speed traps are a sensible way forward but they must be closely monitored and action must be taken against any car going way faster than the rest.

More thoughts on limiting to 4 runs would be appreciated. I'm certainly not averse to the idea if it's what people want.

Please note that direct to head throttle bodies will be allowed in classes 2 and 3 for Sigmas. A standard 150BHP Sigma has them so they need to be allowed for. Excluding throttle bodies for Sigmas was a error on my part.

Simon has suggested on another thread that we might want to consider merging Classes 5 and 6 at some point in the future. Why not consider it now? What do people think?

I think we need to check exactly what the MSA mean with their reverse gear rule. Your car had one fitted when new so it should be operational would be my reading of it. I'm not saying that is the correct interpretation though, you may well be correct. Can you point me to the relevant part of the Blue Book Simon?

Chris, Stuart is right, the regulation is there to stop people spinning there wheels while, at the same time, holding the car on the brakes so that it barely moves forward. The rule was brought in following excessive tyre warming at Loton Park in 2007. I'm happy to review if enough people want us to.

For 2015 the rules for 2 and 3 will be the same apart from tyres. That need not be the case in the longer term but I would suggest that is a discussion for another day.

Please see below a link to the proposed 2015 regs as drafted at the end of last year. http://www.lotus7.club/sites/default/files/images/Docs/SpeedChamp/2015%20Championship%20Regulations%20-%20Draft%202.pdf I propose that it should be in our regulations that all cars must carry the 2015 Speed Championship sticker so that our sponsors get maximum exposure for their money. Any stickers from previous seasons that show the logos of past sponsors should be removed from all cars. Edward Lewis Cup scoring – the current scoring system is not perfect. If a driver competes at a venue for the first time and the track is wet for the timed runs they will inevitably record a slow time. If that driver returns during a subsequent season and the circuit is dry, they will inevitably receive a very high Edward Lewis score due to a big improvement in time, even though this may predominantly be due to changing conditions. A large score acquired from a situation like this may be impossible for other competitors to overcome over a full season of events. We could exclude all wet events from Edward Lewis but this is not ideal and somebody would have to determine which events are “wet”. Alternatively, we could write into the rules that a driver’s best Edward Lewis event score from the year should be excluded from the final championship results calculation. This may not be perfect, as the wet track/dry track situation may happen more than once in a season, but it would get rid of the skewing effect of a single unusual event.

Please see below a link to the proposed 2015 regs as drafted at the end of last year. http://www.lotus7.club/sites/default/files/images/Docs/SpeedChamp/2015%20Championship%20Regulations%20-%20Draft%202.pdf In simplifying the rules we have removed regulations such as limiting the type of dampers allowed in certain classes. Please use this thread to discuss any ideas regarding the technical regulations that affect all, or multiple, classes.

Please see below a link to the proposed 2015 regs as drafted at the end of last year. http://www.lotus7.club/sites/default/files/images/Docs/SpeedChamp/2015%20Championship%20Regulations%20-%20Draft%202.pdf The new regulations are very simple for all 3 classes with few (if any) fundamental changes from the 2014 season. I have no proposals to amend the regs further but please feel free to discuss any ideas that you have.

Please see below a link to the proposed 2015 regs as drafted at the end of last year. http://www.lotus7.club/sites/default/files/images/Docs/SpeedChamp/2015%20Championship%20Regulations%20-%20Draft%202.pdf The main change, that I think most people are already aware of, is an increase in the power limit to 210BHP so that we include Duratec R400s. I don’t have any proposals for further changes but feel free to start a discussion if you have any ideas.

Please see below a link to the proposed 2015 regs as drafted at the end of last year. http://www.lotus7.club/sites/default/files/images/Docs/SpeedChamp/2015%20Championship%20Regulations%20-%20Draft%202.pdf Items for discussion: Increase power limit to 160BHP so that we include K Series R300s. Delete ban on direct to head throttle bodies either for just Sigmas (who probably need them to get to 155bhp) or all cars.

Please see below a link to the proposed 2015 regs as drafted at the end of last year. http://www.lotus7.club/sites/default/files/images/Docs/SpeedChamp/2015%20Championship%20Regulations%20-%20Draft%202.pdf Suggested items for discussion: Increase power limit to 130BHP – K Series cars can have this amount already so it seems unfair to limit other engine types to less. Should we add a ban on direct to head throttle bodies? This was missed in the draft regs and should have been in there. No engine derivative should need them to reach 130BHP and allowing them would enable somebody to build an extremely torquey 130BHP unit.

The votes I've received from our championship competitors are exactly 50/50. It will be interesting to see what they do.