BARC Red – a new series where almost anything can enter – Thank Frankel it’s Friday

But as you’ll not need me to tell you, Goodwood is a very special case which has rarely if ever had trouble filling its grandstands, let alone its paddocks. Elsewhere the situation is rather different: even pre-COVID most club meetings at most circuits had quite small numbers of spectators once you discount friends, family and those helping people actually taking part. And while some successful series may have grids bursting with cars, others really struggle.

And one of the problems is that with so many series running at so many venues comes a commensurate quantity of rulebooks. Which means you may own a car of a type that could in theory race with a number of different clubs, but in reality is conforms to the regulations of just one. You may well want to race it far more than you do, but can’t afford or can’t be bothered to make the changes required to make it eligible for another series.

So the British Automobile Racing Club has come up with a novel idea to address such issues and it is simplicity itself: rip up those rulebooks. All of them. Create a series for sports and saloon cars that anyone can enter, almost regardless of the age, weight, power, size or state of modification of their car. And keep the playing field even by stipulating compliance with the one thing no one can fudge, duck, dodge or weave their way around: their lap time.

It works like this: at any one of these ‘BARC Red’ races there are nine classes, each one for cars capable of certain lap time and here’s the clever bit. You don’t get put in a class by the organisers according to their rules (because there are none), but choose yourself by pre-declaring the quickest lap time you think you can do. Obviously no one will over declare as no one wants to be in a class full of quicker cars. And if you understate your speed and break your stated lap time more than twice in a race or in qualifying, you get bumped up to the next class, which you definitely won’t want to do either.

What this should ensure is that cars of all shapes and sizes, some quick on the straights, others quick in the corners, all get to compete together for the same prize. You get proper variety on the grid and, as a bonus, weed out all those who might feel inclined to bend or even break the rules to their advantage because there are no rules to bend or break, and therefore no advantage to gain.

Of course the strategy runs the risk of attracting sand-baggers, people so desperate to win their class they under-declare and then treat the event like a regularity run, sticking as close to their allotted lap time as possible. But the very reason most people go racing is to drive as fast as possible from the moment the flag falls and in amongst that lot, I can’t see a lot of fun for competitors holding back for fear of breaching their lap time just to win a class at a club meet.

It is possible there is some angle here I have failed to consider. Maybe drivers will be put off by not being surrounded by similar cars, but a gaily coloured tapestry of machines from across the spectrum. And of course there will need at least to be some boundaries to ensure the disparity between the fastest and slowest cars on the grid is not too great. And it won’t work everywhere, least of all somewhere like Goodwood. But in these difficult times when we all need to have some fun and tracks and organisers have lost the vast majority of their season and still have to operate within strict limitations, I applaud this attempt to put bums back in bucket seats and back out on track where they belong.

The BARC Red series kicks off at Mallory Park on August 31^st, and continues at Pembrey on 3^rd-4^th October and Thruxton on 24^th-25^th October.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.