Business Plan and Operating Manual

2007 New England Challenge (NEC) for Formula Ford

 

VISION: Large fields of Formula Fords (20 to 30 or more) at different tracks throughout NEDiv, offering close competition, maximum track time and bragging rights to regional supremacy.

 

BACKGROUND: The New England Challenge (NEC) was a success in the previous four years with an average of 16 entries for the series each year and contingency awards from race sponsors ranging from $5000 to $14,000. The NEC got many Formula Ford drivers from New England and the rest of NEDiv together for the first time. The competition raised the level of driving and the opportunity for social interactions was praised by the drivers.

 

SERIES COORDINATORS: Bob Lutz (newenglandchallenge@yahoo.com) and Steve Roux (Steve.Roux@charter.net). Welcome to Steve Roux as a coordinator this year in place of John Merriman who moved to Wyoming.

 

SERIES POINTS KEEPER: Bob Lutz (newenglandchallenge@yahoo.com)

 

PROPOSED VENUE: The 2007 series will consist of nine race events, using 6 race weekends and visiting each NEDiv track (except BeaveRun) at least once. These NEC events will be run in conjunction with scheduled NEDiv Regional dates. The schedule will be approximately one event per month from May through September, with no back-to-back weekends, and will avoid conflicting with existing "special events", such as the NARRC Run-Offs.

 

The proposed schedule (pending final schedules and buy-in from the regions sponsoring the events) is:

 

Date

Track

Region

Event

April 28/29

Summit Point

WDC

Regional

May 12/13

Pocono

NNJ

Double Regional

July 14/15

NHIS

NER

Double Regional

July 28/29

Watkins Glen

Glen

Regional

August 10/11

Lime Rock Park

NNJ

Regional

September 15/16

Watkins Glen

FLR

Double Regional

 

FORMAT: Classes recognized in the series will be FF and Club Ford (CF) using the NARRC / MARRS spec tire rule; the sponsoring region for any race is requested to recognize those classes in presenting trophies, etc.

 

The host region will be requested to group Club Ford and Formula Ford in the same race group. If sufficient entries are obtained for an event, an attempt will be made to have the sponsoring region use a split start for Formula Ford. Also grouping with FV and F500 should be considered to permit the Formula Ford drivers to get the full scheduled race laps. The sponsoring region will also be requested to schedule the race group as an early race group (Group 2 or 3) to facilitate travel.

 

ENTRIES: Formula Ford drivers from any region in SCCA are welcome. Each series participant will be required to register for the series each year at a cost of $10; this will include a set (2) of NEC decals that must be displayed on the racecar. The events are open to all regional and national level SCCA licensed drivers. Entries for each event are expected to be primarily from NEDiv drivers, but entries from other regions are also welcome. The goal in 2007 is to draw an average of 20 cars per event.

 

DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIPS: A points system to encourage series importance will be used. The  MARRS points system will be used (see below). An additional 10 points will be awarded for the fastest qualifier and an additional 10 points for fastest race lap in each of the FF and CF classes. There will be individual drivers championships for each of the Formula Ford classes (i.e., separate drivers championship for FF and CF). Drivers will only be allowed to count points for the actual class in which they race at each event (i.e., if a driver runs events in both FF and CF, they cannot combine points for the drivers championship).

 

NEC Points: 1st - 300; 2nd - 250; 3rd - 220; 4th - 200; 5th - 180; 6th -160; 7th - 140; 8th - 130; 9th - 120; 10th - 110; 11th - 105; 12th - 100; 13th - 95; 14th - 90; 15th - 85; 16th - 80; 17th - 75; 18th - 70; 19th - 65; 20th - 60; etc.

 

For the Double Regional, points will be awarded for each race. In the event of a tie, the points of the higher place will be awarded to both drivers involved in the tie.

 

There is no minimum participation level for 2007 for series award eligibility. Drivers may only count their best 6 events as the basis for the final series points.

 

SPONSORSHIP AND AWARDS: A target has been established for a $10,000 total series award fund in the form of merchandise and services from the sponsoring organizations, similar to the 2003 thru 2005 NEC awards. The merchandise/services awards will be equally available to FF and CF entrants. The awards will be given to the race winners with the remainder distributed by a lottery of drivers at each event. The goal is to assure that all entries have an opportunity to share in the awards. The breakdown of race event and series awards will be set before the series begins.

 

REQUESTS FOR REGION SPONSORING A RACE WEEKEND DESIGNATED AS A NEC EVENT:

 

The Region will be requested to recognize the two FF classes: Formula Ford according to the GCR; and CF according to the NARRC and MARRS Club Ford Rules (with a spec tire). For Regional races that normally do not enforce a tire rule for Club Ford, the host Region will be requested to recognize the restricted tire Club Fords as a separate class (designate the restricted tire CFs as NCF).

 

The Region will be requested to accommodate long travel distances for some competitors by scheduling the FF race as an early race group (e.g. Group 2 or 3).

The Region will be requested recognize the purpose of NEC and thereby try to make provisions to keep both classes (FF and CF) in the same race group and to consider a split start if the race grouping includes other winged formula cars. A grouping with FV and F500 cars is preferred.

 

The Region will be requested to provide trophies for all Formula Ford classes recognized that weekend according to their normal trophy presentation for other SCCA classes. If Club Ford is run as a class without spec tire (i.e., NYSRRC rules), the Region is requested to also recognize the Club Ford with a spec tire as a class for trophies.

The NEC coordinators will take care of everything else.

 

REQUESTS FOR NEDiv FF DRIVERS

 

Support the NEC race events. The success of this initiative for future years depends on the driver support.

 

Get fellow FF drivers to support the NEC race events. The drivers can exert peer influence on other drivers to increase the fields at NEC events.

 

Support the series sponsors. Without some benefit, sponsorship will be harder to get in the future.

 

Provide feedback. We are trying a format that we believe is appealing to the entire NEDiv FF community, based on feedback and participation in 2006. We are flexible and willing to entertain any input from the NEDiv FF drivers.

 

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