Very low grids recently. Any ideas anyone ?

Raise the ride height and ban independent rear suspension so they don't go round the corners on rails.
Maybe even introduce an inside weight rule.

Perhaps the fact that there have been meetings at Cowdie , Kings Lynn and Taunton all on the same night

Create a midlands base of drivers and run at Birmingham and NIR and Cov for shale

nail on head when it comes to cowdenbeath and mildenhall/kingslynn

cmon lads theres a thing called friday nights or sunday and indeed midweek!

The regional divide does play a part I feel. It's been said before, where is the nearest track on tarmac from Taunton? Arena Essex.

How many cars does Arena pull? Not enough. Then you have a big gap to Skegness on the East Coast, and then where after? Cowdenbeath!

It's ok for the East Anglian's, as they have Skegness, Mildenhall and Kings Lynn within distance. The West Country suffers with not so many drivers down there, and the occasional visitors for domestic meetings. Cowdenbeath has been getting half a dozen in recent meetings there, and only Championship meetings seem to save the formula, but for only half a dozen meetings a year.

The gap in the South is Spedeworth dominated, and Belle Vue this Sunday will see the 2 litre saloons from Spedeworth showcase for the first time on shale.

The only time you will see NIR used is on a Good Friday, and that's an Autospeed promoted meeting. Other than that, I can't see a change, or a new venue added.

Has anyone actually tried to get any dates with Coventry, as Shale racing seems to be prospering right now..........

As Dave says, rule changes are what need implimenting to make the sport more viable financially on tarmac, but then I've found the racing to be average, compared to the loose stuff this season, which has been top draw.

have to say kev you are right shale racing has been awesome this season, i speak to a lot of drivers and there opinion is why race on tarmac and be lapped when you can race over 30 times a season on the shale and be in with a chance of winning as shale is a leveller and brings up many suprises.
the only way to improve numbers on tarmac is too lose shale tracks, which i hope never happens, as the drivers enjoy the loose and say why do we need to go on tarmac.
changing the rules ie making cars higher will work to start with but then someone will find a way of getting them round on rails, just look at f1 they are governed by inside weight and go round on rails, i know we need more cars on tarmac but do not have the answer

saloons have a hot bed of east anglian drivers and since they dont race ipswich skeg nearest tarmac track and its a long way from norwich, diss, dereham,to skeg same to arena these track will suffer as you mainly got 3/4 local drivers the rest are travelers.unless you got the equipment you are always going to be the backmarkers like said before shale such a leveler gives everybody a chance even those on small budgets same as i enjoy tarmac racing but not 12 car meetings

A bit of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted here really.
For ages Saloons have been too fast, too technical and too expensive resulting too often in dull racing.
When he took over Spedeworth Deane Wood enquired about getting on board with the SSCA and had a load of ideas about addressing the issues above and it was a move that would have surely brought about a regular return of the formula to the Spedeworth circuits and an iflux of some description of drivers from that catchment area.
He was of course told he could join the SSCA when someone died and not before (His words in a written interview) and he went back and got Spedeworth Saloons off the ground which are doing quite nicely thanks very much.
That the national (Lol) saloons are struggling currently is just the governing body reaping what they sowed as regards to that short sighted decision IMO.

No idea where they go from here really. Good job the shale scene is strong as the lads above have been saying as it is propping the formula up at the moment more or less.

The problems i see are intersingly different for each of the three regions.in scotland it is the fact actually race too often on an unforgiving track where the fans arnt happy unless someone is destroying a car in the fence.
In south west its the opposite there is not enough oppurtunities to race and this is done so it will attract visitors as they will see it as a worthwhile exercise traveling for track points.As this tends to be big names it actually stifils local racers as they dont get the chance to develop and get fed up with being lapped and lose interest or they spend 6 grand to race 10 times a year?
In east anglia as stated the two shale tracks dominate and as you can be more competitive and have more fun with a old car and small budget its no wonder.
Regarding numbers at recent meetings they are not at regular tracks and as all formulas suffer a dip in numbers after world final.Also the track points gained dont count for next years world final so there is no incentive for the drivers to race.Unlike hotrods which have quailifiers and f1 have shoot out
Also as someone who has built everything himself and spent the time trying to improve things and used the same car on both surfaces i get rather annoyed about the"these arnt saloon stock cars!".I dont see anyone complaining that f1 and f2 cars should be the sheds they were in the seventies!!so why should saloons!!!Its superb engineering and making the formula more professional as new f1 and f2s are showcased but if a saloon comes out its all "its not like the old days" .it has evolved as to get cars to last they are built like that for a reason.Ask some spedeworth drivers about the way theres dont last!As a formula we have the most trouble in trying to seperate it from banger racing.
Even with the spedeworth version the drivers i have spoke to say everthing isnt rosy. I think if the drivers had the option of regular shale meetings and tarmac after 1 or 2 seasons they would be having the same discussion. Across all formulas whether f1 f2 minis or even bangers numbers are greater on shale with larger percentage of budget racers.
With what to do think rule changes are needed to even the playing field to encourage more drivers .Similar to what has been done with f2s ride height increases maximum inside weight and others to reduce costs .This wont mean the top drivers wont still be the top drivers but hopefully the racing wil be closer.

as phil has said the main problem in Scotland seems to be that wall as every time you go there you know you are going to get damage, if the football pitch was relocated elsewhere then perhaps the track could be made wider inwards which wouldnt result in not so much damage. skegness is a prime example of this you dont see cars hitting the armco very often, what you need is a track built like the new one up the road like lochgelly which looks to be wide enough and rembles skegness in size i was told.
this weekend sees 36 cars on the booking list at lynn so again it proves the eveness of shale racing, wonder how many would do it if lynn was tarmac.
national saloons are built to last there is a car racing which is 10 years old which proves once you have got the kit it lasts. paul licquorice told me when he went to spedeworth saloons he would be building a new car every year.
if spedeworth had taken on national saloons i think the tarmac scene would be far worse as numbers in east anglia would be well down because there would be more meetings and not enough drivers to do all of them in this recession. think you will se a lot more formula suffering next year, i went to yarmouth recently and there were 13 1300 saloons (and they were all local to the area) 10 hot rods and about the same bangers so it is not only a national saloon problem regarding numbers.

So back to a question I posed earlier - How about Coventry for 2010 on the shale?

Has anyone from the SSCA made a proposal for some fixtures at Brandon?

If not, why not?