Thoroughbred
Sports Car Club
of
Northern Ireland
-
- History
- The Thoroughbred Sports Car Club of Northern Ireland was
set up in 1982 to cater for the owners, restorers and
maintainers of classic sports cars and, since 1989,
saloon cars in manufacture before 1975, all of which
qualify for the Club Championship. In 1990, the Club took
over the running of Croft Hillclimb in Holywood, County
Down, part of the Association of Northern Ireland Car
Clubs (ANICC) Championship. Membership has consistently
totalled over 100 enthusiasts for many years.
- Events
- Refer to events link for
programme.
-
- Organisation
- The Club is headed by the Club President and two Vice
Presidents, together with a Committee. An Annual General
Meeting (AGM) is held every November, when reports on the
year's activities are received and the Committee is
elected. Prizes are awarded at the Annual Dinner and
Dance, held in about February of each year.
- Applications for membership, subject to an annual
subscription set at the AGM and valid from January to
December of the current year, may be accepted by the
Committee from anybody owning or interested in
thoroughbred sports or classic saloon cars - or indeed,
in the essential job of helping to organise events.
- Nobody is coerced into taking part in any event though
every encouragement is given, to the extent that (depending
on finances) there may be various subsidies offered to,
particularly, younger Club members.
- The Committee meets every so often to organise and
arrange the events and to send out the Newsletter about
once a month or whenever necessary - there is no set time.
- Officers of the Committee are the Chairman (who is
elected by the Committee and who keeps order), the
Secretary (who keeps the records), the Treasurer (who
keeps the money - as long as possible!), the Competitions
Secretary - one of the most demanding jobs involving
arranging venues, applying for licences and insurances,
finding Track Marshalls, issuing Regulations, working out
handicaps and a lot more besides - and the Social
Secretary, whose job it is to organise the fun things and
the AGM. There are six or so other members elected at the
AGM, as well as the Croft Hillclimb Secretary, who is a
co-opted member.
- At the beginning of the year (or sooner), the programme
for the coming season is decided by the Committee, taking
into account the support that events have had - or not! -
the ability to break even financially and also requests
and suggestions made by members. Some events, such as the
Croft Hillclimb and the Multi-Venue Autotest, are annual
and decided years in advance, the dates being booked
through the Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs (ANICC).
The TSCC is represented at all meetings of ANICC.
- The programme is not written on stone as there may be
other factors interfering, but any changes are notified
to members through the Newsletter.
- The Club is therefore quite democratic, preferring to run
what proves to be popular with the majority of members,
not just to cater for one or two specialist categories.
Should it be necessary to change (not bend!) the rules,
then this is done wherever possible. There is also a
policy of encouragement, especially for younger members
who would like to take part in some form of motor sport
but who can't afford the high costs involved. This may
take the form of financial assistance or grants made by
the Committee, as funds allow.
- The Club carries its own insurance policy, which covers
the Committee and organisers against claims (Public
Liability), but not members taking part in events. Where
required by the Motor Sports Association (MSA, previously
RACMSA), insurance is taken out by the Club as a separate
issue and is charged as part of any entry fee paid by
participants.
- N.B., no vehicles are covered by any of the insurances.
In addition, any vehicle taking part in any road event
must be fully roadworthy, have a current MOT Certificate,
display a current Tax Disc and the driver legally insured
under a normal, road-going policy - no racing or timed
trials take part on public roads.
- Sporting Events
- Autotests
- Anybody can take part in an Autotest, in just about any
four-wheeled car. At least, it should have four wheels
touching the ground at the start!
- There are seven classes, ranging from modern saloon to
vintage, so drivers are competing against other cars of
comparable speed and ability. The tests take place on
private or enclosed premises, non-road-going cars may be
trailered to the event, there is no age limit and no
special equipment is required - you don't even have to
wear a helmet.
- Courses are laid out to give the most awkward route
possible, which has to be memorised. Two runs (and a lot
of burnt rubber) later, the course is reversed and you
have to learn it all over again! It usually takes less
than a minute to do the course, so agility wins over
stamina. From a standing start, the timing starts when
the front wheels cross the line. Five points (seconds)
are added to the time for every cone disturbed and,
should the driver take the wrong route, maximum points (slowest
plus 20 seconds) are awarded. Timing stops when the car
finally comes to rest with the wheels straddling the stop
line.
- Autotests qualify for Club Championship points.
- Multi-venue Autotest
- An annual all-day event of up to eight Different tests at
six to eight different venues - a night- mare to organise.
They may be on tarmac, concrete or scree, but the
journeys between tests are not timed - clear directions
are given - they are strictly at your leisure, so that
you can take the family with you. Half the fun is
watching the other competitors! Then it's back to the
start, and soup and sandwiches whilst the marks are
totted up.
- Hillclimbs
- For the more serious competitor there is the hillclimb,
one of which (Croft) is organised by the TSCC, plus two
others as part of the Championship - the best two out of
three counting. Croft is a serious and prestigious event,
attracting entries from both GB and the South and
involving 15 classes of vehicle, from the nostalgic
vintage cars to the gut- wrenching single seat racing
cars.
- It takes months of planning to prepare, involving almost
every member of the Committee but there are never enough
bodies to do all the jobs. Marshalls and other helpers
are always in short supply, so members shouldn't be
surprised if they are asked to take part. It is a good
way to become involved in Club activities.
- As with most other events, Croft usually manages to
balance it's books, but any shortfall has to be made up
with income from advertisers in the free programme handed
out to spectators and crews.
- A sponsor is badly needed to expand activities, including
guaranteed television coverage.
- Sprints and racing
- Again for the serious enthusiast, this involves a
specialised vehicle, equipment and qualifying. The Club
tries to assist new drivers by subsidising participation
in a small way - when finances permit - both in the
gaining of a racing licence and taking part in races.
- These are held usually at Kirkistown as part of the 500
MRCI (Motor Racing Club of Ireland) series.
- Fun Events
- Tulip Runs and Treasure
Hunts
- So the story goes, Tulip Runs were invented in Holland,
where there is not much opportunity there for Hillclimbs,
but we don't really believe that. Far more likely, they
are named after the type of route direction given to
navigate round the course - some of them look like Lowry-drawn
tulips.
- The course is on public roads, so is untimed and needs no
special insurance, with the route marked out in distances
and directions at junctions. Inexperienced drivers
usually set off with the family on board, the spouse
reading the map. Those who have done it before borrow
somebody else's family and survive the day!
- After each leg there may be a little test - blindfold
driving, perhaps, or throwing the old boot (wellington
variety!) - or maybe a cryptic clue for a landmark or a
question on the local topography to be answered en route,
with which the family can help. Or not, as the case may
be. Whatever, the course sets out to be interesting, and
those with the least mileage and the most answers right
win the prize at the barbecue at the end.
- Karting
- Resulting from a member's suggestion and now an annual
event, Kart Valley is taken over for the evening of sheer
perversity, being able to take the tyres to the limit on
somebody else's vehicle!
- An opportunity for needle, or to experience the hardest
of suspension with your derriere a hairsbreadth off the
track, it raises the pulse rate as much as a full-blown
racing car can!
- Track Days
- Held up to three times a year at Kirkistown Race Track,
these days out have proved to be highly popular - it is
an opportunity to to take a normal road-going or any
other car and sink the wellie under very tightly
controlled and safe conditions. It is NOT head-to-head
racing - in fact, both overtaking and lap-timing are
forbidden.
- Anyone who is a member (it is possible to join on the day)
and is able to control the car is eligible to drive - you
don't even have to be old enough to hold a licence - and
your motor insurance policy is void, so any damage is
down to the driver.
- Safety is of prime importance. Helmets, long sleeves and
seat belts must be worn by both driver and passenger, and
windows wound up. An ambulance is in attendance, as is a
rescue vehicle with qualified Marshalls, but the most
damage to date has been caused through over-enthusiastic
use of the gearbox and the odd case of terminally
slipping clutch. Grids of four cars with similar
capability are set up and started at safe intervals.
There are various techniques used to gain space, so it
means that you are able to take all parts of the circuit
to the limit, sooner or later. Three laps, then a slowing
down lap, then it's back to the pits or the queue to wait
for the next run.
- Normally, you should get at least five or six circuits
during the afternoon's event, so it is a very reasonable
cost-per-run for a crack at a real racing circuit and an
opportunity to develop driving and control skills.
- Social
- The Annual Dinner and Dance incorporates the Annual Prize-giving,
when the fruits of the previous season's labours are
enjoyed - in between arm-twisting the DJ to turn the wick
down to allow social intercourse.
- In addition, there will be the occasional primitive
incineration of raw foodstuffs known as a barbecue held
after various events - usually, when there are sufficient
people left over to organise the equipment and light the
fire.
In all, the Thoroughbred Sports Car Club of Northern Ireland
is a bunch of quite normal people, bonded by a common interest in
the maintenance of part of our heritage - the motor car which
retains some of the character lost by today's mass production
techniques.
Electronic mail address
terry@tscc.fsnet.co.uk
Web address
http://www.tscc.fsnet.co.uk
Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs (ANICC)
www.motorsport.net/anicc
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Last revised: September 25, 1999.