North West Centre Sports / Saloon Championship 2008

The BARC NW Centre Sports Saloon Championship. Sponsored by PERFORMANCE AND ECONOMY CHIP TUNING

Drivers, are you interested in a sports and saloon championship which offers the following?

No registration fee.

Discounted entry fee for entering a minimum number of rounds.

Additional points for starting away rounds.

Double header race meetings to reduce costs.

20 minutes plus one lap races.

Good grids.

Prize money at the end of the season.

Very stable regulations developed by the drivers.

A competitive class structure.

Racing for Modified and Specials.

Close, non contact racing with a variety of cars.

A very friendly paddock atmosphere.

Of course you must be interested! The above describes the BARC North West Centre’s sports and saloon championship which has been running for 25 years! Anyone who has raced in this championship will tell you that it is one of the friendliest and most welcoming places to race. But don’t be fooled by this, it is also extremely competitive not only in the classes but amongst the classes. Any class leader can also be a championship leader!

SPORTS/SALOON CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 ROUNDS

1/2 29th March 2008 Oulton Park BARC(NW) – Double Header

3 19th April 2008 Rockingham BARC(HQ)

4 26th May 2008 Oulton Park BARC(HQ)

5 21st June 2008 Oulton Park BARC(NW) - Dave Simpson Trophy

6 20th July 2008 Mallory Park BARC(HQ)

7/8 2nd/3rd August 2008 Anglesey BARC(NW) - Double Header

9/10 30th/31st August 2008 Croft BARC(HQ) - Double Header

11/12 27th September 2008 Oulton Park BARC(NW) - Double Header

(Rd 12 - Double Points)

To see a series of reports from each 2008 Championship Round, click here.

The championship caters for Modified and Special cars with separate classes for each based on engine capacity. It has a multi class structure with any class capable of a championship win. The regulations have been carefully developed over many years and are famously stable so that cars can remain affordably competitive. (It is our championship's 25th anniversary in 2009!)All cars must be based visually (in the case of specials) or for real (in the case of modifieds) on a car which was originally built for the road.

The Sports Saloon Championship started in 1986 and has never missed a season since then and has always had a sponsor. Not many championships have been in existence for so long so there must be plenty that is good about it! It has certainly been a process of evolving stability.

We have just had 5 years with an average grid of over 20. In fact, the average grid for the last 20 years is 22!

It is only possible to run a highly modified or special car if the regulations are stable so that you can return for several seasons without your car becoming ineligible. This also encourages more creative engineering by people who build and prepare their own cars to keep them competitive without massive expense!

What have you got? A silhouette, hatchback, modified road car, Eurocar, V6 & V8, TVR Tuscan challenge car, Caterham or Westfield, Clio one make, saloon or sports car?

There must be a lot of good specials, modifieds and one make cars in garages around the country which could still be competitive if they ran in our championship and keep the spirit of creative engineering alive. If you have one, contact us and talk about it; we do have a suitable competitive class to run it in.

Previous winners (see photos) include Tony Sugden in his Skoda special saloon, Ian Hall and Iain Gorrie in their Darrians. The smallest class has produced champions with Richard Winter in his 1600 Banks Europa and Chris Griffiths in his Mini engined Davrian. Rob Pritchard won in his Caterham Vauxhall and Duncan Aukland won in his Rover 3500SE.

The championship is rarely decided before the last round so the level of competition and excitement is high with the final meeting usually a double header at Oulton Park.

We visit popular drivers’ circuits. Our home circuit is Oulton Park with several rounds there each season. We also visit Cadwell Park, Mallory Park, Anglesey, Donington and Croft.

In 2008 we are running four double header meetings to save on travel costs without reducing the number of rounds.

If you would like to start racing or you know someone else who would like to, contact us and we will help and advise. The friendly atmosphere in the championship always welcomes and supports new drivers. You can be sure that you will be as safe as possible on the circuit with experienced drivers around you who do not indulge in contact!

This friendly approach is often seen in the paddock. Help and advice will always be offered to anyone who has a problem; we all want to see the drivers and cars on the track and not struggling to make the race. Most drivers prepare their own cars so there is a lot of support for each other.

It is less expensive to enter our championship. There are financial benefits for regular drivers with discounted entries and there is no registration fee, which it is hoped will persuade new drivers to join us regularly and visitors to enter more occasional rounds.

Following much discussion with drivers, we have again fine tuned the regulations without making any changes to the overall principles. We have a very accessible championship with lots of great racing.

Paul Dobson

2007 Overall Champion Paul Dobson laps the field at Oulton Park in his Mazda RX7.

PERFORMANCE & ECONOMY CHIP TUNING SPORTS/SALOON CHAMPIONSHIP 2008

CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS AFTER ROUND 2 - OULTON PARK 29TH MARCH

2008 Points



		OVERALL

1	Paul Dobson		26
2	Alastair Chalmers		24	* - Double Point Round
	Denis Crompton		20	** - Driver started 9 or more rounds eligible for trophy
4	Rob Gough		18	# - Drivers not eligible for points
	Robert Pritchard		14	x - Practiced but did not start race
6	Kevin Cryer		14	3 - Starter points shown seperately for non Oulton Rounds
	Mark Proctor		14	Underlined scores indicate Joker round
8	Darren Smith		14	( ) - Bracketed score indicates total before dropped scores
	Brian Allen		13
	Robert Spencer		11

			Round	Round	Round		Round	Round	Round		Round		Round		Round		Round		Round	Round
		TOTAL	1	2	3		4	5	6		7		8		9		10		11	12
	Joker		Oulton	Oulton	Rockham		Oulton	Oulton	Mallory		Anglesey		Anglesey		Croft		Croft		Oulton	Oulton
	Played		29.3.08	29.3.08	20+G71.4.08	St	26.5.08	21.6.08	20.7.08	St	2.8.08	St	3.8.08	St	30.8.08	St	31.8.08	St	27.9.08	27.9.08

CLASS A

Darren Smith		14	6	5			3
James Aukland		9	0	2	4	3
Richard Wood		6	x	x			6
Mike Sidgwick		0	0	x			0


CLASS B

Alastair Chalmers		24	4	4	6	3	7
Robert Pritchard		14	7	7			0
Kevin Cryer		14	2	3	4	3	2
Peter Davies		10			4	3	3
Robert Chalmers		10	3	0	0	3	4
Cam Forbes		7	1	2	1	3
Dave Maries		6	1	1	1	3	0
Paul Woolfitt		6			2	3	1
Graham Wynn		4	x	x	1	3
Peter Wann		3	1	1			1
Anton Landon		1					1
Graham Taylor		1	1	0			x
Bob Claxton		0					x
Colin Robinson		0					x

CLASS C

Rob Gough	J	18			14	3	1
Mark Proctor		14	0	7	2	3	2
Robert Spencer		11	3	1	4	3	0
Peter Isherwood		10	4	3			3
Kevin Begley		9	7	2
Jeremy Snowden		8	1	1	3	3
Chris Allanson		8	0	x	1	3	4
Iain Gorrie		7					7
Chris Maries		7	0	4	0	3	x
Andrew Wilson	J	6	2	0	1	3
Paul Sampson		5			1	3	1
Chris Thomas		1					1
Anthonly Wilson		1	1	0
Tim Evans		0					x

Class D

Paul Dobson		26	6	6	4	3	7
Keith Gent		8			5	3
Ralph Underwood		8	2	3	0	3
Alan Collinson		8	3	2			3
Duncan Aukland		4					4
Jon Rotheram		3					3
David Robinson		1					1
Tony Glover		1					1

CLASS E

Dennis Crompton		20	6	0	5	3	6
Brian Allen		13	3	3	2	3	2
John Garnett		6	0	6
Steven Hibbert		3					3
Graham Brindly		0			x	0

CLASS F

Phil Hall		14	4	5			5
Paul Ingram		5	3	0			2
Anthony Hayes		0					x

Total Starters			30	30	23		37

Pseudo Championships

		Round	Round	Round		Round	Round	Round		Round		Round		Round		Round		Round	Round
	TOTAL	1	2	3		4	5	6		7		8		9		10		11	12
		Oulton	Oulton	Rockham		Oulton	Oulton	Mallory		Anglesey		Anglesey		Croft		Croft		Oulton	Oulton
		29.3.08	29.3.08	19.4.08	St	26.5.08	21.6.08	20.7.08	St	2.8.08	St	3.8.08	St	30.8.08	St	31.8.08	St	27.9.08	27.9.08

Banks Europa Challenge

Phil Hall	9	3	3			3


Z Cars Mini Challenge

Robert Spencer	13	6	3	4
Mark Proctor	11	0	5	2		4
Jeremy Snowden	9	4	2	3
Rob Gough	7			6		1
Chris Allanson	7	0	x	1		6
Chris Thomas	3					3
Paul Woolfitt	2					2
Graham Wynn	1	x	x	1