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“It is hard to sell tickets for an enduro race I imagne judging by the amounts of people you see at them, but maybe that is just enduro racing isnt that popular …”
Well … how many serious endurance races can most fans see? It isn’t like a lot of areas have multiple top-tier endures in traveling distance. Maybe some folks in Europe, but even then, how many people can get to more than one WEC race?
As for being too long for people trackside, I cannot think of a day I went to a track for just a race. When I go to a race I am there as early as I can get there and want to see racing all day at least. I cannot imagine someone taking a trip to see a race and only spending four hours at the track after a four-hour flight or drive. (I guess some American oval-racing fans do that, but I can’t understand it.)
Further, it depends in which country the event is held. In Europe, not so sure how the economy has rebounded but reading about all the financial uncertainty makes me think maybe a long weekend at the track is not an option for some potential fans.
As for TV, I don’t know what kind of ratings the races get, but I understand the problem of devoting a six-hopur block of time to one event. TV-web combined coverage seems like a better option in this case.
As for “a shorter srint type race where guys can go flat out all the time,” that sounds like Le Mans and all the shorter events. What “endurance” races are run slowly any more, except one Middle Eastern event that uses a target lap time?
“…one key area would be investing in the production of a solid highlights package…”
This. If you have to cut up a race, take a little time and tell a story. Since you know the outcome, you can choose which action to spend more time with and which to downplay.
Snippets of cars interspersed with snippets of passes and crashes leaves viewers not knowing if they watched one race or highlights from several. If the race isn’t live, take an extra couple hours and make the highlight show have a little continuity.
I’d say endurance racing is not a tremendously and widely popular sport, but it has a solid core of fans and the potential to grow with a little promotion.
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