The grading system is a mess.
No offence intended - the grading system is the biggest single turn off for me. The rules are fuzzy, complicated and not explained particularly well. Also, I don't want to be pigeon-holed into a particular class of car based on my estimated speed. Who's to say a "fast" guy shouldn't get to drive something in Group N one season? Or that a "slow" guy might feel more comfortable in the latest WRCs?
Not everyone's a winner, despite society trying to convince you otherwise!
I would propose you do away with gradings altogether. Competitors may not want to play the progression unlock game. The system penalises drivers who don't drive consecutive seasons.
In it's place, open up 6 or 7 classes. You "carefully" choose your ride at the start of the season and that's it. You can't change - you drive what you choose.
For example; new WRCs, older WRCs, S2000, Group N/A, Group B, 2WD.
Competitors fight in an overall championship and a sub-championship for their class. It's clear and straightforward and not muddied with gradings. Did anyone actually care where they came in the Grade 3 points table?
Before everyone gets carried away with these ideas, I feel compelled to try to explain the reasons behind the previous use of Gradings.
Whilst I haven't been a great supporter of the Grade Championships ( I don't believe we need these additional "results" in the RDRC either), I do support the need for a Grading system.
They (Gradings) were not introduced simply to make everything more complex, they had a very important purpose. That purpose was to try to have competitve racing for drivers of similar skill / speed / experience. That was meant to have newer drivers or less skilled drivers competing with those more equal to themselves, so they had some incentive to participate and have a chance of featuring in some results. Quite simply, to give other drivers something to compete for in a
fairer environment.
It tries to prevent the top drivers simply dominating a class by avoiding competing with the "better" drivers in a higher class. So, for example, a driver in, say, Group N Class could feel that he driving against others of similar standard.
So, by removing the Gradings completely, anyone is free to choose any Class. Would drivers be happy to see Experienced / Proven Fast drivers dropping back to "lower" Classes? Group N Class drivers would be happy to compete with some of our top drivers in that Class? Similarly other Classes? We received quite a few "comments" in S3 about Magnar, Simone, and myself competing in Production Class.
Please don't say that top drivers won't sandbag in lower classes if allowed, with only one or two drivers totally dominating the Open Championship, I could foresee many drivers preferring to forego the Open Class in favour of dropping into lower classes.
So, in summary, I agree with the need to review the Gradings system, including dropping the Grade Championship results, I don't support dropping gradings totally. We may need to keep improving the methodology for setting Grades, and I believe this has been looked at.
However, if the majority of drivers are happy to compete openly in each class with whoever chooses that class, including proven top drivers, then maybe it might be considered.
However, we should listen to current RDRC drivers who have been competing in the "lower" Classes. What do they think? These are the people the Grading system was designed to help.