IS THIS THE END OF BRAKEHORSEPOWER ? – Comments Please

[Andy Downes]

The Future of Brakehorsepower

The brakehorsepower.net Forums and the original Morgan Racing website mogsport.net were established many years ago by stalwart Morgan racer Chris Acklam and have proved a very useful and interesting resource for the competition minded fraternity. Many of the topics have generated fascinating historical details and photographs creating a valuable ‘archive’ with details not easily found elsewhere as well as providing space for the current Morgan Only Racing. As a minimum these should be preserved, the contents are an amalgam of contributions from many different sources and would be almost impossible to recreate. I am researching how they may be saved and archived.

However, the usage and number of contributions have dwindled to the point that the Forums are almost dormant and a decision needs to be taken regarding its future.

Chris Administered and paid for the system for most of its life. When he expressed a desire to stand down I volunteered to take up the reins and with it the costs! My own financial contribution runs into hundreds of pounds which I’m now reluctant to continue.

Hence the time has come to decide what’s next – I would welcome your thoughts and comments showing how you feel to help determine the way forward. Whilst I don’t feel I ’own’ the Forums I do feel somewhat responsible for them.

Andy Downes
Administrator

[machiel kalf]

OK now it's clear to me. I can understand your and Chris his position. I think we must be very crateful for all the afford both of you did for this forum. I leave it to you.

Machiel.

[Barry Sumner]

Its a great shame that people don't use Brake Horse Power, a far better forum than the Whats App group, so why don't people use it.
is it because its 'software' of what ever controls the pages is old hat?
come on tell us why you don't use

Barry

[machiel kalf]

Dear autosport friends,

Please, let us know why the interest in Brakehorse power went down. Machiel.

[Andy Downes]

OK now it's clear to me. I can understand your and Chris his position. I think we must be very crateful for all the afford both of you did for this forum. I leave it to you.
Machiel.

Thank you for your comments Machiel, we will see how many others respond to this topic - that number will probably tell us the answer!

The real credit should go to Chris Acklam for starting it and then supporting it for so many years long after he stopped racing.

The Forums can carry on, I am happy to administer them if they are funded - but what's the point if they are simply not being used.

Andy

[machiel kalf]

i Andy, thanks for your reply. It's all clear to me.

All the very best, Machiel.

[peter rafter]

greetings Andy
You rightly raise the pertinent questions and clearly the current usage may not warrant its continuance however regrettable.
Nevertheless what exactly are the base costs?
Should members, existing and future, wish it to continue would or should they contribute? A subscription? If there is interest then ergo there should be a cost sharing key which could also address utilisation rates.
I am not a whats ap user, but If the current drivers prefer this to the forum then it would be difficult to avoid the inevitable., and then as you point out would be how to retain and archive.
On first analysis we have to establish a concerted desire for it to be retained. Is Chris Thompson aware of this. Could it be raised at the drivers dinner?
regards

[Andy Downes]

Nevertheless what exactly are the base costs?

On first analysis we have to establish a concerted desire for it to be retained. Is Chris Thompson aware of this.

Hello Peter and Thank You for your thoughts.

I agree we need a desire to continue it and some sort of consensus - I have a separate note to send to Chris T to post on the Challenge website.

The base costs are around £200 per annum - which in my mind isn't warranted given the extremely low usage over the last couple of years.

Best Wishes
Andy

[Mark Shears]

Hi all,

I agree it is a great shame that interest in brakehorsepower has wained over the last couple of years.

I guess there are other platforms (WhatsApp, Facebook etc) that people now use but I for one still regularly view brakehorsepower.

It does seem as if many people like me still do view it - but don't contribute to it.

I suppose I am as guilty of that as anyone but even so it would be a pity to lose it.

Especially as Andy says there is a great resource within it which would be a shame to lose... I of course am particularly interested in the older cars and their stories and histories. Also the For Sale and Wanted section is particularly valuable - both commercially and historically as a resource.

Talking of which could brakehorsepower become an online extension of the Morgan Historic Register...?

There's a thought Machiel...

Cheers,

Mark

[Andy Downes]

Hello Mark, good to hear from you.

No need to be guilty, I look at those very same Topics most days, much more than I post and you have made significant contributions.

But new activity is very low here, the newer platforms I guess are lively but to me the information is much more transient and less structured.

Perhaps things have simply moved on (including the demographic).

Best Wishes
Andy

[peter rafter]

Greetings from the frozen North as opposed to sunny Staverton or balmy Banbury.
Distilling this and taking a wider canvass I presume that funding could be addressed. There may be limited enthusiasm for continuance,(see below) but usage is the imponderable. Indeed does it warrant an adapted platform to match a reduced usage
Moreover, first step secure archive.
In days of yore amongst the notable worthies Blessed Mary, Mark, Bob, Machiel, Simon, Jack, the two Andes, the pages filled and multiplied, read and reread, browsed, ignored, invaluable.
Perhaps Marksis spot on with demographics
Pass the red wine

[Mary Lindsay]

We are immensely grateful to Chris Acklam who set up and hosted BHP as well as the first and original Morgan Challenge website "Mogsport"
https://mogsport.net/, that is still up on Chris's own server. You can see for yourselves how much work and effort was involved in this.

Chris also created and produced a regular newsletter during the racing season. All of this was just because Chris loved Morgan racing and enjoyed the comradeship.

Chris was a regular competitor and ran a very quick Plus 8 that always carried his number 13.He now lives in France with his family and, some years ago, gave up Morgan racing for cycling, his other favourite sport.

Andy Downes, the current administrator of BHP, took it on because he values the current and historical information on it. He has invested his own money to keep it going. Andy is another stalwart of the Morgan racing fraternity. He became part of the racing "family" back in the 1970s and has been a loyal and active participant in supporting it. He has managed countless six-hour relay teams and several of our 24 hour teams both in Morgans and 2CVs.

It is a great shame that so few of the current Morgan racers visit or contribute to BHP. As Peter says, some people do not use Facebook or WhatsApp and therefore find BHP a good place to chat with like-minded folk and exchange valuable information and sell Morgan items.

[Andrew Thompson]

Can someone tell me how it is hosted today ? Which system it's based on? I have a friendly online expert who might be able to help but want to know the IT start point .

[larry emrick]

Dear Friends:
I am saddened to read of the possible demise of the website. I am a non-competitor newcomer and located in Canada, so I am out of the loop, but I have found the site to be the most informative, intelligent and civilized of all the sites that I frequent. I have managed to read most of the archived posts and discovered a wealth of fascinating material.
I am wondering if one way of keeping it alive would be to broaden the scope to include more non-competiition posts, not to diminish the competition aspect because that is the heart and soul of the site, but to bring it to a wider audience. I stumbled on the site by accident and am most interested in its historic aspects. I am sure there are hundreds of us in the greater Morgan family who are of a similar mind.
Larry Emrick
Vancouver.

[Philip Tisdall]

Firstly, A big thank you must go to Chris for starting, and running BHP for many years and to Andy for talking on the reins running and funding BHP for a good number of years.
However, I do think there is no harm with an updated and new presentation website. Things move on and need refreshing in this day and age. A lot of hours and hard work by a number of people went into the new updated web site which include a lot of new functions.
So I think It is the way forward