Well, you asked for it!

Dale, what you have been trying to establish is honourable and you have found out (as we all have) that getting interest is not too difficult. Certainly you have had the best publicity possible, with Steve's articles, plus the support of Tony, Crunch and probably all of the H & C Commission as you are promoting exactly THEY/YOU want.

Getting registrations of interest (ie a registration fee or other commitment) and even a valid car is less easy.

Having then got that sort of support, converting that to cars on the track for a number of meetings is the really tough part, as we are all subjected to limitations of time, finance, health, work and family commitments and for some, overseas demands.

If you adopt a very restrictive set of rules and requirements, then out of the theoretical pool of cars, some will indeed play with you, some will play with a series with less restrictive rules and some are happy enough to merely own or show those cars. Geographic considerations are also valid.

We have 35 cars at the last count for this weekend out of a potential 100 drivers so a 1 in three turn out is pretty good. For your grid to be valid that probably means at least 45 complete and available cars, to get between 15 and 20. How many completed HMC cars are there?

We also try to have a series of 6 or 7 rounds with the best 5 top scores to count and yes, it is still chocolate fish racing but may I suggest that by offering just 4 rounds a season, there may be some who would like more racing? Why go to all the trouble of getting a 100% perfect car for just 4 runs a year - and even then, Murphy's law will dictate that you'll miss at least one anyway!

Every series has its strengths and weaknesses and I have accepted the flack for a pragmatic approach to the cars simply, because I really don't think we have a big enough pool of 'pure cars' (or drivers who are keen to run 'pure' cars), to have a viable series - and we have spread our net much wider than you, on capacity, body style and most of all, make and country of origin.

Had we stuck to the original BMC 4 cylinder series, we would have fallen over at least 16 years ago.

To preserve your integrity, just incorporate not just U3L cars, but all cars with a Schedule K/Appendix K certification or running to the same rules as you run now. (Strict period mods.) However, you can't possibly expect to list all the allowable bits and pieces the way you do for the current HMC, as you just make work for yourself and when that happens, you get into all sorts of strife! There were cars excluded from the U3L group at the Festival for whatever reason, and each driver turned away is going to go elsewhere.

I don't run a muscle car, I don't know how many are around and I certainly have no idea how many cars you have 'in preparation', so the only way I see it progressing is by having classes within a larger group and then maybe you have to look at the race formats that appeal to the drivers.

If the group eventually gets to the stage where you have full grids, then is the time to sub-divide again. Don't give in though as you do have theoretical support both for the series and the philosophy. As you say yourself, talk is cheap, very cheap, but it doesn't make a profit for race promoters.