Modifieds - How many are there??! (Read 1,867 times)

[drew]

Trying to get an acurate count on how many Modifieds are scattered around the country.

Granted there are probably many tucked away in sheds and workshops in various states, but I am looking for a reasonably correct number of Mods that have raced in the last couple of seasons.

Working off the entry list from the NZ champs I have the following so far:

Stratford - 8
Greymouth - 1 (there used to be at least 3?)
Christchurch - 2 (bound to be more?)
Wellington - 2
Auckland - 7
Hunty - 2
Blenhiem - 1

Also, can anyone supply a list of the tracks that run Modifieds regularly or tracks that dont run Mods?

With only 21 entered in the NZ championship its hard not to be concerned at the low numbers....

Thanks
Drew
(trying to learn more about my favourite class)

[HIGHWAY45]

numbers for nz were slightly larger then you state drew

stratty had 9 cars

Rotorua had a car 18r

Think we had one group of 12 and one of 13 so thats 25

[Devilracer]

Rotorua has 15r 16r 17r 18r 666r and last season had 19r
There is also the ex 2nz of Alan Haigh and the 58r sitting.

As for Huntly i only know of 4h 8h 7h 97h 78h There is an ex rotorua car sitting in Ngaruawahia.

There is defiantly a few around, its just getting them to the track.

[mod46c]

I believe there where 65 registered competitors in the Modified division last season.

[Jamo]

Cars raced this year
Auckland: 6a, 7a, 11a, 15a, 18a, 19a, 21a, 29a, 36a, 41a, 56a, 64a, 99a.
Huntly: 4h, 7h, 8h, 78h, 97h
Rotorua: 17r, 18r, 666r
Stratford: 1nz, 3nz, 4s, 5s, 10s, 11s, 12s, 55s, 121s
Wellington: 5w, 9w
Christchurch: 4c, 13c, 14c, 15c, 16c, 46c, 67c, 84c, 94c, 871c
Greymouth: 6gm,
Blenheim: 2nz

This makes 44 cars that have hit the track sometime this season.

[greg]

Feb 2, 2009 15:42:05 GMT 12 Jamo said:

Cars raced this year
Auckland: 6a, 7a, 11a, 15a, 18a, 19a, 21a, 29a, 36a, 41a, 56a, 64a, 99a.
Huntly: 4h, 7h, 8h, 78h, 97h
Rotorua: 17r, 18r, 666r
Stratford: 1nz, 3nz, 4s, 5s, 10s, 11s, 12s, 55s, 121s
Wellington: 5w, 9w
Christchurch: 4c, 13c, 14c, 15c, 16c, 46c, 67c, 84c, 94c, 871c
Greymouth: 6gm,
Blenheim: 2nz

This makes 44 cars that have hit the track sometime this season.

Add in 57W, 94GM and 72E. I believe the ex Des Boyce 18'K'H car will be on track this month.

Will post some stats later in the month when I actually have time but a very sharp decline this season both in the number of mods racing and the average number of meetings drivers are racing at.

[Jamo]

Feb 2, 2009 16:19:34 GMT 12 greg said:

Feb 2, 2009 15:42:05 GMT 12 Jamo said:

Cars raced this year
Auckland: 6a, 7a, 11a, 15a, 18a, 19a, 21a, 29a, 36a, 41a, 56a, 64a, 99a.
Huntly: 4h, 7h, 8h, 78h, 97h
Rotorua: 17r, 18r, 666r
Stratford: 1nz, 3nz, 4s, 5s, 10s, 11s, 12s, 55s, 121s
Wellington: 5w, 9w
Christchurch: 4c, 13c, 14c, 15c, 16c, 46c, 67c, 84c, 94c, 871c
Greymouth: 6gm,
Blenheim: 2nz

This makes 44 cars that have hit the track sometime this season.

Add in 57W, 94GM and 72E. I believe the ex Des Boyce 18'K'H car will be on track this month.

Will post some stats later in the month when I actually have time but a very sharp decline this season both in the number of mods racing and the average number of meetings drivers are racing at.

Will be interesting to see if you are right. I think you may be wrong as both Christchurch and Stratty have more guys running this year than last year. Numbers in Auckland and Rotorua are pretty much the same and Huntly actually has a few cars now as well. Only track down would be Wellington but they had bugger all last year anyway.
33a is close to running as well I believe.

The chestnut about the class being in decline is not correct I believe. Going back as long as I can remember there have only been 25-30 cars front for the NZ title. This will not change in the future either I believe with the same sort of number turning up in Chch next year in my opinion. Unless the guys think they have a realistic change of doing well they just won't travel big distances. I expect less than 1/2 of the mods running in the NI next season will travel to the SI for the title, just to expensive.

[BarryB]

A tad over 50 licences issued this season to date I believe, which means 50% of those turned up at the NZ title. Imagine if 50% of the Stockcars turned up!!!!!!!

[mod46c]

Feb 2, 2009 16:39:17 GMT 12 Jamo said:

Feb 2, 2009 16:19:34 GMT 12 greg said:

Add in 57W, 94GM and 72E. I believe the ex Des Boyce 18'K'H car will be on track this month.

Will post some stats later in the month when I actually have time but a very sharp decline this season both in the number of mods racing and the average number of meetings drivers are racing at.

Will be interesting to see if you are right. I think you may be wrong as both Christchurch and Stratty have more guys running this year than last year. Numbers in Auckland and Rotorua are pretty much the same and Huntly actually has a few cars now as well. Only track down would be Wellington but they had bugger all last year anyway.
33a is close to running as well I believe.

The chestnut about the class being in decline is not correct I believe. Going back as long as I can remember there have only been 25-30 cars front for the NZ title. This will not change in the future either I believe with the same sort of number turning up in Chch next year in my opinion. Unless the guys think they have a realistic change of doing well they just won't travel big distances. I expect less than 1/2 of the mods running in the NI next season will travel to the SI for the title, just to expensive.

Add in the lone Invercargill car 7I, seen some photos somewhere back before xmas.

[drew]

Cool ;D Thanks for the replies guys.

50+ Mods dotted the length of the long white cloud....

Next question... how can I help promote the Mods??
I am a big fan of the class and I would like to help if I can.

Drew

[export gold]

As with most things these days Drew money talks !!!!!!!!! Maybe they could have a series like the superstocks and ltd saloons have ? But then you need to get sponsorship, clubs to host it and most of all the drivers to compete in it...I to am a huge fan of the mods and love watching them go at it , if i was a rich man i would even put the money up my self to see it....

[BarryB]

They did have, a few season's back if my memory serves correct, but I guess both promotions and competitors tired of it.......

[torque]

i think if accomodation could be sorted for the competitors at each track may make it viable i know the leisurelite series cost one camp 10g. More sponsership/prize money may make it more attractive like a dangling carrot..........food for thought

[epmurc]

I ran the Leisurerite series in my first season of racing, and throughly enjoyed it. The only round I missed was Wellington. The next year it became something of a "Northern Tracks" only deal as some of the other tracks didn't want to support it.

Maybe they had visions of heaps of Mods coming to their track equating to big $$$$ through the gates and when that didn't happen they lost interest.........or maybe not, you'd have to ask them I suppose.

So far this season we've been to Whangarei, Huntly, Rotorua twice and Stratty so not particularly bothered about the travel myself, others aren't necessarily of that opinion though. If there was such a series we know that the thick end of any prizemoney would go to a few superior drivers so for the rest the incentive would have to be some recopense to cover travel expenses, fuel and accomodation mainly.

As an example, a trip to Rotorua costs me about $80 - $100 in fuel plus another $100 for accomodation if we stay the night and I don't have a fuel hungry tow wagon and a cast of thousands in my pit crew. So say everyone got offered $150 travel money and 10 cars came along, well there's $1500 required before you even start thinking about prizemoney (which would need to be at least another $1500). Then again, $3000 isn't all that much if you can pull a crowd like Stratty had on Saturday night...............big "if" though.

[tq59]

Next question... how can I help promote the Mods??
I am a big fan of the class and I would like to help if I can.

I too would like to help, as I grew up around them and would hate to see them decline anymore.

If anyone has ideas on where I could help, please PM me.

I know Jamo & Paul B have done alot for the class

[Jamo]

The Leasurerite series was initiated to try and build the image of the class and encourage guys to travel so they could run in bigger fields. The problem with it was that once guys fell out of contention they dropped away from supporting the later rounds.... their own worst enemies!

I would love to see the series return as Foxy won the thing in both years it was going ;D ;D

The format used was not far off the mark. For it to be successful it needs first and foremost to have the drivers support and by that I mean they need to be willing to do all rounds as long as they are mobile.... EVEN IF THEY ARE OUT OF CONTENTION FOR THE TITLE!

To make it worthwhile it needs 16-18 cars minimum at each meeting. 5 nights spread over the season but not starting to early as rainouts come in to play. Maybe have a run of 2-3 of the meets over the space of 7-10 days while holidays are on. Run at Auckland, Huntly, Rotorua, Stratford and maybe Wellington if they intend to run and support the class there now they are going down the path of sprintcars. If Wellington no go maybe somewhere like Kihikihi might like to give it a go.

Travel and prizepool needs to be in the region of $20-$30k. When Auckland run the locals get no travel but travel needs to be paid to all visiting cars and when Stratty run visa versa. $10k of the amount indicated above would just cover the travelmoney. Nightly prizemoney should be in the realms of $2.5-$3k so all up we are talking $4.5-$5k a night in total. Series top 3 should get paid out on top of this after last round.

Now the tricky part. Clubs don't want to / can't afford to stump up with $5k for a night of mod racing. Sponsors would need to be found to cover costs and I firmly believe that this should be raised by the promoters at each individual track. Maybe a series sponsor could be found who is willing to stump up with $10-$15k to share around the 5 tracks but the rest should be put up by each venue.... not sure any of the tracks / promoters are interested or capable of fronting up (Rotorua excluded as I am pretty sure Sonja would love to see it back).

Anyone know of a company willing to fork over the $10-15k to get series naming rights? Get that and you have a starting point

[Blakeo]

Feb 2, 2009 21:40:21 GMT 12 epmurc said:

I ran the Leisurerite series in my first season of racing, and throughly enjoyed it. The only round I missed was Wellington. The next year it became something of a "Northern Tracks" only deal as some of the other tracks didn't want to support it.

Maybe they had visions of heaps of Mods coming to their track equating to big $$$$ through the gates and when that didn't happen they lost interest.........or maybe not, you'd have to ask them I suppose.

So far this season we've been to Whangarei, Huntly, Rotorua twice and Stratty so not particularly bothered about the travel myself, others aren't necessarily of that opinion though. If there was such a series we know that the thick end of any prizemoney would go to a few superior drivers so for the rest the incentive would have to be some recopense to cover travel expenses, fuel and accomodation mainly.

As an example, a trip to Rotorua costs me about $80 - $100 in fuel plus another $100 for accomodation if we stay the night and I don't have a fuel hungry tow wagon and a cast of thousands in my pit crew. So say everyone got offered $150 travel money and 10 cars came along, well there's $1500 required before you even start thinking about prizemoney (which would need to be at least another $1500). Then again, $3000 isn't all that much if you can pull a crowd like Stratty had on Saturday night...............big "if" though.

[Blakeo]

I also enjoyed the series which to me showed consistancy of all the drivers over the six meetings. I think if we all get together like we have for the dirt cup we can make it happen again. i personally believe that the class and the people are a fantastic and we all get on but when it comes to racing we respect each other and do the job and try to win. I think if we start planning for next year now we can put a format together which will encourage every driver and help cost wise to put on a great show at every track we attend but we will need each club to put something forward, if they promote the series properly it will work.

[johnf]

Jamo you said the format is is not far off the mark for the Leasurerite series so,
Why not run it as a NZ Championship similar to F1 and NASCAR over a season.
The nothing that says a championship has to be a one/two night affair.
Yes the old cost thing will rear its ugly head but that maybe offset by good crowds at the meetings.
Anyway thinking outside the square doesn't hurt I think.

[Autopete55]

Back in the early 90s,Chris and John Lovelady ran the ICI Autocolour Modified Series with a core of hand picked 12 drivers,(Myself included)

This series paid travel money to each and every round (of 6) and you got the same amount if you were home or away.

The prize money rewarded consistancy and if you were consistantly fast and finished races,then you came out on top as did Tony Frost on the first year the series ran.

I had a terrible first 3 rounds but still ended up 10th overall and made enough money to keep the car going and pay for some go fast bits towards the end of the season.

It got all the guys racing in the SI reading off the same page and John set the deal up to let 'wildcard' entries in on a particular night.
Even guys who went part of the series got prize money should they beat the contenders but no points.

Was a great event to be part of and certainly did wonders for the class at all 3 tracks the series ran at.

As mentioned before,the sponsership to get the deal off the ground is the biggest thing and the class is now struggling to get the recognition it so richly deserves.

Still a class that is close to my heart and its now been along time since Ive seen good modified racing(last years Dirt Cup at WP in fact) and boy do I miss it!!!

If that flippn Lotto win comes I promise to fund a new series Blakeo!!!