In many respects it has been a tough year and - not a lot of smiles about particularly over the last 36 hours.

We have to put the `fun' back into F1 and after the debate of the last few days we need to resume the progress Sheffield has made over the last two years - with a difference!

To celebrate the opening weekend of Stock Cars in Yorkshire and a new track it was always planned to create a fabulous two day spectacular with Scunthorpe.

We are looking for some ideas such as a wet sponge competition [ internet stars ESPECIALLY welcome ] I'll have a tenners worth of wet sponges!

Ideas welcome but we want to include the Kidz Club members as well - and we would like a range of fun, simple to organise activities that all, drivers, mechanics and families can join in - and raise money for the BEN FUND.

It is
your meeting, your ides, we will work on incentives to ensure a 30+ attendance of F1 stock cars - we will for this event donate the £1 charge after admin costs £110 to the Dean fund - We want to work together to make this the S-F-F-S event of the year SHEFFIELD FANS FUN SUMMER spectacular!

As an incentive for fans to attend and the drivers - for every adult admission OVER 800 adults on the day - £3 will be donated onto the last race with a lump for the winner and then the best finishing White,Yellow and Blue top. If there are not 800 adults, then there will be £200 to win and £100 each to best finishing White & Yellow.

Down to your ideas - YOUR stock car meeting, your ideas -

AT 1.PM THERE WILL BE A £500 `FAN CLUB DERBY' subject to sufficient interest of 5 or more race teams in entering - I will be asking Sarah to organise this - haven't spoken to her yet - The best fun theme prepared car [ flashback to the 70's] will win the £500 and will be voted by fans.

Over to you - Make Sheffield Special this summer!

Sponsors would be more than welcome with restaurant facilites for a superb buffet available.

Not sure if a le mans type start would be allowed nowadays Wildy but heres an alternative.

1 lap running race in overalls and helmet hans device optional, and stock car rules i.e pushing and leaning on allowed, tripping up would be the eqiuvalent of a deliberate fencing and not allowed.

HI STEVEN,

What about a "Devil Take The Hindmost" race?

Don't need that many cars (perhaps 10?).

Race for 5 laps to begin with, then on every consecutive lap, the last car gets black flagged until you're left with the winner? Could prove interesting?

It's always welcomed at autograss and provides some great racing.

GED

Keep the ideas coming - both racing and non racing. Like the ten green bottles idea, we have done it before with Bangers.

With regard the next Sheffields - as mentioned on a different thread, we have to work harder and we have to rely on moral support from fans and drivers. Originally the two fixtures were solus dates which are good, however to support Scunthorpe we compromised ourselves by allowing Scunnty to go the night before which from a business persepctive is potentially suicide - and whilst you plan for an odd loss making meeting like Sunday, two more and you don't have F1's at Sheffield in the future.
The economy is now a major factor and we have to work hard on these two dates to make them of interest - I feel both will be well supported car wise however we have to work harder on spectators - and, quite frankly we do need to come together and `create' a fund day and put some smiles back on and off track which is the theme I am trying to work upon.

We would like at least, to run a 2/3rds format or the format JB suggested which will work with 27 cars plus - obviously with the characteristics of Sheffield 32 + a full format 2 heat meeting will work. We are trying to make this a little more special.

The sport needs Sheffield and it has come a long way - and if it goes, there is one certainty - it will not return.

We are quite happy to support BriSCA racing at Owlerton providing it does not lose money - Battle of Britain and Banger Racing keeps Sheffield alive - to be blunt - hence a move towards 3/4 major Banger events in 2010. However it is one of the best appointed tracks within BriSCA and it is moving forward and we need to retain the momentum, not lose it.

To be brutally honest, we whilst Sunday was a loss maker, we were pleasantly surprised particularly in the current climate, heatwave and a supposedly 'nothing' meeting at the support of hard core fans - which, as I have gone to great lengths to applaud - they are the ones who matter and their comments that should be listened to and not taken for granted. At quieter events of which the numbers of such will increase in the current climate, without them we are well and truly in trouble - they are the backbone of our sport.

Equally, many of those drivers racing are of a similar vein. I applaud FWJ for his commitment, his detractors glibly say `well it's his business' let me assure you FWJ could earn more money stopping at home, having an odd weekend off with the Kids and/or working on cars etc rather than picking up £2-£300 in prize / start money less diesel / damage/ wear and tear and consumables - FWJ could spend a day with his dad moving caravans and be better off! We are now lucky to have two drivers who have the commitment to support meetings and live to race with Danny on the scene - Drivers have every right to pick and choose, have a family and business life and should never be criticised on the appearances - at the same time do not take the Wainman team for granted as one day they may not be there week in week out.
As a final thought, in the present climate, imagine the messages it would send out, particularly at lower car count events if 515/212 were not there - how would that be interpreted. We should support all drivers especially when at all tracks around the UK even the most local drivers - who have their reasons may not always support them - in the longer term, that's how tracks are lost which rarely return - and sometimes the greater good of the sport overall should be part of the factor in determining when and which events to attend - the sport needs all it's venues supported, each is an integral `brick' in the wall, losing one,two or three to be replaced by perhaps one is an extremely neagtive prognosis for the sport overall.
We need support of all our drivers, in Sheffields case we have thanked the NMSC parents for turning out as many cars as they did following their own technical hiatus last week, several went to extraordinary and beyond the call of duty lengths to ensure their commitment was fulfilled - which will not be forgotten in next years planning when perhaps we as a promotion have not necessarily gone over board to support them. We have personally written to every F1 driver in the last 24 hours - and spoken personally to a couple - who raced to express our gratitude - we all need each other.

Me and a few others came up with quite a few ideas for this kind of thing when the Gala night was being discussed on Allstox. I guess most of them are applicable.

http://allstoxforum.niceboard.com/stockcars-f1/birmingham-gala-night-t2360.htm

Will read Carl to refresh, have printed them out and filed them for discussion re Gala Night at a latr date- what I may do is set up a little working party of interested people to assist in putting this project together - 2-3 who would like to get involved and `make aspects' happen - please pm me , we can have a meet at BV one evening.
It's great having the ideas - what we need is a small group to delegate and got in with it to make it a success.

Think I have the first two entrants for the Fan Club Derby - if this as an overall event is to `catch on' and be executed well, we as a team will require some enthusiastic help in refining the ideas into do-able achievable ones and then tasking people to organise and execute them on the day .

Quick idea

Five cars each with a balloon tied to the bumper. 5 laps. A car half a lap behind has to catch and burst the balloon on the rear bumper. As he does so, the car is 'black flagged'. The driver has to catch all the 5 cars in the five laps and burst all the balloons to win or the 5 drivers with the balloons win.