The Christmas songs have already been heard for at least a month, the weather has turned cold and frosty, and another club racing season has drawn to a close. That can only mean one thing: Autosport has got its calculator out once again and produced our annual feature looking at club racing entries over the past year!
After poring over the data, the headline for 2024 has to be that it was a very mixed picture. Of the 128 English and Welsh series (we do not include Scottish, Irish or Northern Irish categories in this comparison since they have a far more limited pool of competitors to draw from), exactly half suffered a drop in their average grid size this season. And that is a clear sign of the challenges many organisers faced in drumming up support this year. Of the other half, only 31% of series grew during 2024, while the remaining 19% stayed exactly the same.
Set against that backdrop, it is perhaps not surprising that the number of grids with an average of 10 cars or below increased from three to five this season. But it was far from all doom and gloom, and nine categories still enjoyed an incredible average of over 35 – that’s down by only one on the 2023 total.
Here we examine the numbers in more detail and take a look at some of the best performers at each club as well as those that struggled a little more.
750 Motor Club
Largest average grid: 41 (116 Trophy)
Smallest average grid: 13 (Alfa Romeo)
Biggest increase from 2023: Historic 750 Formula (+28%)
Biggest decline from 2023: Alfa Romeo (-28%)
Club average grid size: 25 (-4%)
The 750 Motor Club’s self-styled status as the ‘home of affordable motorsport’ has served it well during the years of turbulent financial fortunes recently endured in the UK. It has enjoyed the largest average grid size of all the major clubs in the past three seasons, but has technically been knocked off top spot this time.
Why technically? Well, the Classic Sports Car Club’s average is greater, but it opted to amalgamate a swathe of categories so its figure is, arguably, artificially higher. Among the organisers not introducing widespread grid sharing, the 750MC still leads the way.
"Having three races over the course of a weekend doesn’t seem to trouble people, even those that are self-run, which bodes well for next year"
Giles Groombridge
“We were quite satisfied with our season,” states managing director Giles Groombridge. “Taking a holistic view of the club, it was slightly better than anticipated, which was pleasing. Some championships did better than expected and others didn’t do quite as well. It was interesting the total number of registered drivers was ever so slightly down on 2023 but that didn’t necessarily translate into lower grid numbers.”
Again sitting at the top of the 750MC tree is the 116 Trophy, which continued to average over 40 cars, even if its number did drop slightly compared to last year. The sister 116 Sprint Trophy also enjoyed a strong season and the low-cost, one-make endurance format is clearly still appealing.
“With the Sprint series becoming a championship, that galvanised people to take part in both,” says Groombridge. “The cars are incredibly reliable and having three races over the course of a weekend doesn’t seem to trouble people, even those that are self-run, which bodes well for next year.”
The 750MC category to enjoy the largest percentage increase was Historic 750 Formula, which was somewhat surprising to Groombridge.
“Over time, since we’ve made more effort to ensure period correctness in terms of tyres and specifications of cars, it’s now being viewed more as an entry-level historic formula, and that’s led to cars being resurrected that have not been on circuit for 10-20-plus years,” he explains. “We’re seeing more cars emerging from the woodwork.”
Others with a boost by more than 20% include Formula Vee and the MX-5 Cup, two championships whose fortunes have yo-yoed around in recent years.
“Formula Vee, by its high standards, 2023 was quite a poor year in terms of entry numbers and 2024 the commitment level of drivers was much, much greater, but there was no obvious explanation for that,” Groombridge admits.
“The MX-5 Cup promoter Alyn Robson retired and a couple of guys, Ben Hancy and Adrian Johnson, took it on. The only change they made was a switch of tyres with Avon exiting motorsport and I don’t know if that was a factor.
“The [Massimo] tyre they picked was cheap and seemed to perform very well. They had a strong year. You do worry as the cars are getting older and the cost of donor cars and spares is rising as the Mk1 officially enters classic status. But the appetite for racing them still seems to be there.”
But as Groombridge has alluded, it was far from a universally successful picture. Eleven series suffered a decline in numbers and sharpest among these was the Alfa Romeo Championship. Groombridge says plans are afoot to open this up to a wider range of Italian cars next year in an attempt to boost entries. “There’s things like Fiat 500 Abarths out there that might want to join in,” he says.
Also struggling a little was Clio Sport, which fell by a similar percentage to the Alfas. Groombridge says the club will aim to help find new homes for cars that have not been racing after drivers have graduated to other series, all in a bid to continue its position as being an organiser with some of the most bountiful grids in the country.
British Racing & Sports Car Club
Largest average grid: 41 (C1 Endurance Series)
Smallest average grid: 11 (Ginetta GT)
Biggest increase from 2023: Audi TT Cup Racing (+65%)
Biggest decline from 2023: MX-5 Supercup (-35%)
Club average grid size: 24 (-4%)
The British Racing & Sports Car Club continues to be one of the best performing organisers when it comes to attracting large grids. In fact, it is the only club to boast six categories in its portfolio (C1 Endurance Series, Clubsport Trophy, Modified Fords, British GT, CityCar Cup and Supersport Endurance Cup) that enjoyed an average number of entries of 30 or above this year.
Furthermore, all six of these top performers either enjoyed an increase compared to 2023 or stayed the same, underlining their genuine health. And the return of the C1 24 Hours at Silverstone next year is set to provide an additional boost.
The club was still able to produce a surplus despite some individual struggles for particular series. Most notable among these is the Mazda MX-5 Supercup for Mk3 models
But for all the success of these series, BRSCC chairman Peter Daly admits the overall picture is mixed after another year battling a “tough” climate. “We’ve benefited from some championships being more popular than we expected, but it’s been swings and roundabouts,” he acknowledges.
Overall, the club was still able to produce a surplus despite some individual struggles for particular series. Most notable among these is the Mazda MX-5 Supercup for Mk3 models of the sportscar. This was once one of the BRSCC’s most bountiful championships but declined by 35% this year, after dropping 6% in 2023.
“I think the biggest disappointment has been our Mazdas,” admits Daly, who says MotorSport Vision Racing’s decision to launch a rival Miata Trophy last year continues to have an impact. “A lot of our regular drivers were attracted to race with MSVR. We’re looking at what we want to do with the Mazdas [moving forward].”
It must be noted that Miata Trophy numbers also fell this year, so clearly other factors are also at play, including drivers/teams joining the BRSCC’s Audi TT Cup Racing category.
Daly describes the Audi situation as a “strange one”. On the surface, a huge 65% increase for its sophomore season (admittedly from a modest base) to an average grid of 28 cars sounds like a great success story. But the BRSCC was actually hoping for an even larger rise.
“We’ve got a cracking car and we’ve sold many more cars than are appearing on the grid,” explains Daly. “There’s a lot of cars being used as trackday cars – that’s what we’ve discovered now.”
Another category to enjoy a sizeable increase this year is the Fiesta ST150 Challenge. “I think it’s the management of it and the platform we’re building for them,” says Daly. “There’s a good availability of low-cost cars and it’s not as aggressive as it used to be. It’s more of a clubbie-style than the big pro teams turning up.”
Meanwhile, the club is not standing still and continues to introduce new series. The Production Cup will essentially replicate the Clubsport Trophy in a shorter sprint race format, while ProSport Sprint will offer contests for more powerful sports/saloons. It has also developed the new DS3 Cup, the latest example of the BRSCC working alongside partner organisations to create a one-make racer.
“When I took over as chairman, the club didn’t own a racing car, and we’ve now worked hard to develop these,” says Daly of the likes of the DS3, Audi TT and BMW 1 Series Supercup. “We’ve got an enthusiastic team of competitive people who are always looking at what we can offer.”
British Automobile Racing Club
Largest average grid: 35 (Caterham Roadsport)
Smallest average grid: 12 (Classic Touring Cars: Pre-’83)
Biggest increase from 2023: Caterham Seven 270R (+35%)
Biggest decline from 2023: Caterham Seven 310R (-33%)
Club average grid size: 22 (-4%)
All of the clubs included in this feature are different. They all have varying structures and specialities. For example, some also operate tracks and, for others, circuit racing is just a small element of their offering. Therefore, their business models are also different and that is an important factor to remember when comparing their relative performances.
The British Automobile Racing Club is a good example of this. Unlike many organisers, it only owns a couple of the championships that appear in its portfolio after taking a fresh approach for 2020.
“In the past, the risk was all on the BARC,” says group CEO Ben Taylor. “We shelled out £1million a year and were then waiting and hoping that enough people would enter those events that entry fees would cover our outlay. And they didn’t.
“We then moved to a model which said to championships, ‘You’re in control, you know your competitors and it’s right that it should be in your interests to get more people on the grid.’ What we said was we will sell track time to you on a wholesale basis.
“If it’s £5000 for this race meeting, if you take in £4500 in entry fees, you need to make up the £500. But, conversely, if you take in £6500, then £1500 is yours. That’s good for us because I now know with a degree of certainty what’s coming into the BARC and people running strong championships see the rewards of their hard work.”
This shift in model has enabled the BARC to invest far more in the service it provides, including ensuring paddock and event managers look after the finer details and by offering livestreaming.
The differing approach is also important to consider when looking at entry numbers. Although it is in the BARC’s interests to have large grids to attract volunteers, it does not ultimately make a difference to the bottom line. Instead, the onus is on individual series to maximise their entries.
In terms of those sitting under the BARC’s umbrella, it was another strong season for the Classic Touring Car Racing Club, which celebrated its 50th birthday with a special event and barbecue at Thruxton.
“They’re a really good example of giving your customers what they want,” says Taylor. “They don’t want frills and whistles, they want a nice atmosphere in the paddock and to be with like-minded people with cars that don’t get damaged too badly and to just enjoy it. Stuart Caie [CTCRC chairman] does a great job on that.”
But there have been some less successful stories. For example, Truck grids were down significantly on last year, but Taylor says some of that is due to an increase in entry fees.
“That’s more to do with realigning what we want the Truck Championship to be and I’m confident for next year we will be back at a capacity 20 grid,” adds Taylor. “Some people have gone off and had a look at Europe or not raced this year, and there were a couple of trucks trashed at the end of 2023 that weren’t going to be out this year.”
Also towards the bottom of the BARC table, are the two Britcar-operated categories, which are going to merge into the Britcar Endurance Championship for 2025. Taylor is optimistic of a strong season next year and describes Britcar boss Claire Hedley as being “inundated with enquiries” since the plans were revealed. An encouraging sign as the BARC seeks to continue supporting its hard-working series coordinators.
MotorSport Vision Racing
Largest average grid: 32 (Trackday Trophy)
Smallest average grid: 6 (Clio Cup GB)
Biggest increase from 2023: Porsche Boxster Cup (+57%)
Biggest decline from 2023: Ferrari Challenge UK (-35%)
Club average grid size: 21 (0%)
There is certainly a recurring theme among clubs this year of trying to do their best against a more challenging landscape than was predicted. And MotorSport Vision Racing is another good example of this. Its overall average grid size remained the same despite some notable increases and reductions among individual categories.
“I think all organisers found 2024 to be a slightly more challenging year than they expected, with a difficult financial climate,” says MSVR commercial and competitions manager Joe East. “This wasn’t helped by the dreadful weather in the first half of the year and all the uncertainty around the general election and autumn budget.”
"They focus on getting the small details right, working hard to make sure everyone feels welcome and to make each round a social event, with food and evening entertainment"
Joe East
One of the undoubted success stories continues to be the Bernie’s V8s category. The main series goes from strength to strength and, after last year’s special Corvette 70th anniversary contests, it introduced a Ford vs Chevy competition at American SpeedFest this season.
“We’ve worked closely with Bernie’s sons, Adam and Simeon Chodosh, who have essentially relaunched the championship over the past three years,” explains East. “They focus on getting the small details right, working hard to make sure everyone feels welcome and to make each round a social event, with food and evening entertainment.”
The decision to offer standalone grids for the Porsche Boxster Cup is also now reaping rewards, with this developing into a strong series in its own right.
“This has been fantastic to see as Mandy Sear and Chris Pruden have listened closely to competitors’ feedback and decided to split the Porsche Club Championship grid to open capacity,” says East. “Doing this is always a risk, but it’s great to see it paying dividends.”
But, at the other end of the spectrum, there were six categories that averaged below 16 cars. The GT Cup was another sportscar series to really struggle, a 29% decline this year following a 28% drop in 2023.
“I have no doubt GT Cup will turn its fortunes around – they are, unfortunately, a victim of the current financial climate,” says East, who adds organisers are working on “interesting plans” to boost grids next year. He is also optimistic that the introduction of the new 296 Challenge car will give Ferrari Challenge UK a lift, while Production GTI is set to be aided by the return of Mk2 models.
At the bottom of the pile is the new Clio Cup GB series that battled the late arrival of new cars from Europe as it got off to a faltering start. “We know the number of cars in the UK has doubled already, and we’re quietly confident for a much stronger season in 2025,” says East.
With new GB3 and GB4 machines generating a buzz around those categories and the introduction of Pickups to the MSVR portfolio, East is optimistic for a busy campaign as the club aims to fundamentally improve its weakest offerings.
Classic Sports Car Club
Largest average grid: 47 (Swinging Sixties)
Smallest average grid: 16 (Slicks Series)
Biggest increase from 2023: Midget & Sprite Challenge (+20%)
Biggest decline from 2023: Slicks Series (-27%)
Club average grid size: 28 (+17%)
This was a momentous season for the Classic Sports Car Club. Having spent its first 20 years exclusively running series, it decided to expand into the world of championships for 2024 with a swathe of existing contests joining from other organisers.
“It was a worry because we’ve never done it before – for good reason, series have worked well for us,” admits club director David Smitheram.
After a 2023 campaign that caused a sizeable black hole in the club’s finances, it opted for a more cautious approach this year and amalgamated many of its existing series
Yet he need not have been concerned – it turned out be a successful new frontier for the club. The Midget & Sprite Challenge was a particularly good fit as several existing CSCC drivers with eligible cars were able to join the fray, and the championship enjoyed its largest grid in over a decade at Anglesey when 32 cars took part. “Before his passing, Mike [Parker, former coordinator] said how pleased he was,” says Smitheram.
The Ramair BMW Championship is also now being given standalone grids next year after an encouraging first term.
“The one that pleasantly surprised me most and has been a real crowd-pleaser and commentators have liked has been the Jaguars and MG Trophy,” adds Smitheram. “The racing has been really good. We had a couple of occasions where we had to take action with driving standards, but they were pretty isolated and the two championships have come together and worked well. It’s a symbiotic relationship.”
After a 2023 campaign that caused a sizeable black hole in the club’s finances, it opted for a more cautious approach this year and amalgamated many of its existing series. This worked well from an economic viewpoint, and the CSCC is set to return to having a substantial surplus it can invest back into the club, but it does make year-on-year comparisons tricky.
Inevitably, the combining of grids also sent the overall average rocketing upwards and that must be considered when contrasting it with other organisers that did not pair up categories. Now, as the club opts to book more dates than ever before in 2025, the challenge will be to keep those averages as high as possible.
Castle Combe Racing Club
Largest average grid: 29 (Combe Hot Hatch)
Smallest average grid: 12 (Combe GT)
Biggest increase from 2023: Super & Mighty Minis (+24%)
Biggest decline from 2023: Combe Saloons (-23%)
Club average grid size: 19 (-5%)
“A single-venue category is always difficult to keep fresh,” says Ken Davies, chairman of the Castle Combe Racing Club, which administers a suite of series based at the Wiltshire venue. Yet there was a fairly significant change for its Hot Hatch division this year – feedback from competitors resulted in it becoming a championship.
“I think it went very well,” adds Davies after entries rose to an impressive average of 29, having dipped a little the previous year. But there are further tweaks on the way. “For next season, we’ve dropped Class F, the Libre class with non-standard engines,” explains Davies, the move affecting the likes of regular frontrunner Shaun Goverd’s Citroen AX.
“We’ve created a home for them in Saloons and they will drop in and don’t have to tweak the cars. With Hot Hatch, the intention is to get it into a more production-based championship, and people with more modified cars can go into Saloons.”
Overall, Davies describes it as being “quite a successful year”, especially the popular two-day expansion of the Autumn Classic event. But numbers were down a little in the Formula Ford, Saloons and GT championships – the latter slipping to just 12 cars on average.
“GTs were a bit thin but the quality was good,” he says. “Dylan Popovic with his super V8 Ginetta, Doug Watson in his Ferrari – we didn’t have quantity, but we certainly had quality. But nothing goes on forever and we’ve got to keep working to keep people’s interest.”
And Davies is certainly keen to attract as many drivers as possible next year, when Combe’s milestone 75th birthday is commemorated. “We will try to put some bells and whistles on to celebrate the anniversary,” he says, with details to be announced in due course.
Historic Sports Car Club
Largest average grid: 33 (Historic Formula Junior)
Smallest average grid: 17 (Guards Trophy)
Biggest increase from 2023: Derek Bell Trophy (+22%)
Biggest decline from 2023: Historic Formula Ford 1600 (-25%)
Club average grid size: 24 (+20%)
The Historic Sports Car Club is another organiser that has amalgamated grids this year, which has helped boost its overall average and the bottom line of its accounts. Historic and 70s Road Sports have regularly paired up, sometimes also with a smattering of Historic Touring Cars, to enable the HSCC to then sell track time to guesting categories. While the individual championships have suffered in recent years, putting them on one grid has worked well.
“We’ve combined them at some events because you’ve got to have full grids,” says HSCC CEO Andy Dee-Crowne. “That’s what pays the bills. The club is well and we’re actually expanding and achieving our goals. We’ve had to revamp our offering, which has resulted in a positive break-even result.”
The poorly supported Aurora Trophy was revamped into the Derek Bell Trophy this year and enticed back some Antipodean Formula 5000 racers who had been absent since the pandemic
As for the fortunes of the Road Sports categories specifically, Dee-Crowne adds: “There’s so much competition in that arena. The championships have their own identities but, when we go to the more expensive circuits, you don’t want to have two grids of 15; you want a grid of 30.”
Elsewhere, there are other attempts to rejuvenate struggling areas of the club. The poorly supported Aurora Trophy was revamped into the Derek Bell Trophy this year and enticed back some Antipodean Formula 5000 racers who had been absent since the pandemic.
“We have to praise Mike Bainbridge and Frank Lyons, the championship chairs, for regenerating Derek Bell Trophy into what it should be,” says Dee-Crowne. “It’s really exciting and we’ve got more to come.”
Classic Formula Ford 1600 has also been faring well, with sponsor SDC helping subsidise entry fees, although the Historic division has been more disappointing.
“We’ve got a new championship chair, Chris Sharples, who has been working tirelessly to boost Historic FF1600,” explains Dee-Crowne. “We’re going to be looking at pricing and try to build forward with that.”
Equipe Classic Racing
Largest average grid: 30 (Equipe Libre)
Smallest average grid: 8 (Equipe F2 Atlantic)
Biggest increase from 2023: Equipe MG Cup (+16%)
Biggest decline from 2023: Equipe BCV8 (-29%)
Club average grid size: 19 (N/A)
Equipe Classic Racing had a year of two distinctly different halves in 2024. “If I had to encapsulate this year, I would say tricky start, strong finish,” says Equipe partner Rob Cull.
The organiser started on the back foot after Race Retro, an important event to launch its season, was cancelled amid flooding. Equipe then had modest grids at its March Brands Hatch opener before its Cadwell Park event had to be slimmed from two days to one because it could not fill the meeting, causing financial headaches.
But its fortunes picked up with packed Equipe Libre grids at the GT World Challenge meeting on the Brands Grand Prix circuit. “That rejuvenated everybody – it was like the reboot the season needed,” says Cull.
From there, the Libre and GTS grids continued to be strong, and one of the highlights was the special Elan 26R 60th anniversary race at Silverstone. Another notable performer was the MG Cup. This transferred to Equipe during the off-season, after the MG Car Club exited the scene, and peaked at 26 cars. And that upward trajectory is set to continue in 2025 with Cull saying 50 drivers have already pre-registered.
A fellow former MGCC championship did not fare so well. BCV8 numbers continued to fall and these cars will become part of the 70s grid next year. Equipe’s first single-seater venture also got off to a shaky start with the F2 Atlantic offering now being expanded to a wider range of machinery.
Equipe has other bold plans for next year, including launching a six-hour historic race and moving into the prototype world by uniting the Zeo and Sports Prototype Cup series.
“We’ve got some big ambitions and we’ve got to keep evolving, such as by adding the prototypes,” Cull says. “We’re also dropping our prices as we think next year is going to be tough for people.”
Vintage Sports-Car Club
This year was a hectic one for the Vintage Sports-Car Club as the organiser celebrated its landmark 90th birthday. A host of special events were held in August to ensure the moment was celebrated in style.
“We had 12 permitted events in eight days, including a pop-up event at the old home of Chateau Impney,” says club secretary Tania Brown. “On the Wednesday, it looked as it has done since the hotel closed – by Thursday night we had a hillclimb set up. We had something for everyone and have just got club of the year at the Historic Motoring Awards. It’s been a mad year, but it’s been a fantastic year and that was really the cherry on top.”
As part of the anniversary commemorations, its traditional Silverstone racing season-opener was held over two days instead of the usual one and there were plenty of well-supported grids. The VSCC does not run racing championships or series per se, making comparisons more challenging; instead it has a collection of one-off contests catering for a range of veteran machines.
The VSCC is going to put a renewed focus on its championing of sustainable fuels – and other oils – in 2025
“It was a great start to our 90th year with two days,” Brown says of Silverstone. “We had a Hesketh there as well – you can’t complain when you rock up to Silverstone and get greeted by the noise of a Hesketh running round to commemorate 50 years since James Hunt won in it.”
Another special feature of this year was the Eldridge Cup race at Donington Park, which was for cars built before 1925, ensuring each was over 100 years old. “That was amazing and a really good race,” says Brown. “A lot of Edwardian cars turned up and some post-Edwardian cars as well.”
She says it is due to be repeated at Donington next year, while Brown adds that the VSCC is going to put a renewed focus on its championing of sustainable fuels – and other oils – in 2025.
“It’s a nice juxtaposition with the oldest cars,” she notes. “The most sustainable thing you can do is keep old stuff going.” And, after celebrating its 90th in style, the VSCC is now looking forward to many more successful years to come.
Others
Largest average grid: 38 (Monoposto)
Smallest average grid: 10 (Welsh Sports & Saloons)
Biggest increase from 2023: Racing Hondas (+175%)
Biggest decline from 2023: CMMCS Intermarque Silhouettes (-24%)
Alongside the main players, there were – as ever – a host of smaller organisers that ran series during 2024. And many of these continued to enjoy some very strong grids.
The Historic Racing Drivers Club attracts some of the largest entries in historic motorsport with its friendly paddocks for its series and, although numbers in its Jack Sears Trophy and Gerry Marshall Trophy tin-top contests dipped slightly, they were still a very strong 30 and 29 on average, respectively.
The Mini 7 Racing Club is another organiser that performed well this season, even if its Miglia and Se7en grids swapped in terms of which was largest. Elsewhere, Monoposto continued to attract a healthy mix of single-seaters, while the Darlington & District Motor Club-operated Northern Saloon & Sports Car Championship maintained a strong average of 30 cars and ran two separate grids at some of its most popular events.
In contrast, numbers dipped a little for the Cockshoot Cup as, unlike other MG Car Club categories, it did not immediately align itself with another organising club. But it will be teaming up with the British Racing & Sports Car Club for next year, although drivers will still need to also be members of the MGCC.
The one category in this section that did enjoy a substantial change compared to 2023 is Club Time Attack’s Racing Hondas. Even so, there are two very big caveats that must be noted against its whopping 175% increase.
First is the very low base from which it started: grids averaged just 12 cars during its inaugural campaign. And it must be considered that sponsor Tegiwa invested heavily in the series to enable all drivers to have their race entry fees for the year paid for. Given such a financial incentive, anything much less than its improved 33-car average would be considered a disappointment.
