Another good ideas thread!

[johnw]

More help required please.

A number of us have discussed how we might promote our own meetings in order to increase spectator numbers, in return for a share of the gate, which could then offest the entry fee.

I have corresponded with Jonathan Palmer on this subject and have the opportunity to follow up in a couple of months.
So what I need is any ideas you have which would attract and keep spectators. I hope that this can be a virtual brainstorm, so please try not to respond at this stage with reasons why the ideas will not work. Let's get all the ideas, select the best and then determine how to progress.

Here are some ideas, some without solutions as yet.

Although I consider myself a purist in motor sport terms, I believe that we need to consider “devices” to increase the entertainment.
This could be by pace cars (difficult in a sprint race), full course yellows (if we can get them sanctioned by the MSA) or handicapping (needs careful explanation to an uninformed spectator.)
Whatever the method, we need to provide close racing if we are to retain spectators and clean racing to retain the competitors.

Given that for most club racers, it’s just a very expensive game, Let's have some fun whilst playing, rather than taking part in a procession, which I can do more cheaply on the M25.

We need to communicate with the spectators via radio not antiquated and indistinct PA systems. Cheap earpiece radios could be giveaways with the tickets.

We need to speed up the on track action and reduce dead time between sessions.

Ticket prices must be low enough to make bringing a family an option. We then need to give the family a reason other than racing to stay there and keep returning.

Bands are working well at Rockingham, but there must be other things, like boot sales, autojumbles and the like.

Over to you.
John

[Sheila M]

What do the Americans do? Air displays, track walks, celebrities murdering (sorry singing) their National Anthem, a celebrity flag waver etc etc etc.

Their Nascar races produce massive numbers of spectators.

Sheila

[Stephen Green]

John,

I have already written to JP with some ideas but will repeat some of them here to add to the discussion:

Family tickets at reasonable prices.
Creche so that Mum can come and watch without the hassles of looking after baby all day.
Fun Fairs
Reasonably priced and good quality food
Mother and baby changing rooms
Entertainment during lunch breaks (pits walkabouts, stunt riders, displays etc)
Shelter from the weather on those rainy and windy days
Fun race days like the old Radio 1 Day Out or the Sun Free Race Day...

Back to you

[Sheila M]

Originally posted by Stephen Green
Mother and baby changing rooms
Entertainment during lunch breaks (pits walkabouts, stunt riders, displays etc)
Shelter from the weather on those rainy and windy days

Mother and baby rooms/creche - These three would also come in useful for marshals too. I know several couples who would like to marshal together but someone has to either stay at home or spectate with the kids.

You think pits walkabouts are entertaining? Well, apart from the fact that they use up my lunchbreak, they can be wonderful for indulging in a sport of people watching.

[MikeM]

I think that a variety of options are needed as any one will get boring. Stephen's list looks good to me, I would suggest more specifically:-

Car club displays with lunch time circuit drives (with passengers if possible, insurance etc? Raffle to win?)

Pitlane displays - cars, drivers, marshals, rescue vehicles etc at lunchtime (Meet the drivers, see the cars, recruit for marshals)

Lunchtime entertainment directed mainly at kids. Reasonable quality and safe

Various stalls/displays within the circuit

[graeme]

Passenger laps of the circuit for spectators - in race cars (maybe for raffle winners), or even by coach with commentary from drivers (I went on one of these at a F3/GT meeting a few years ago to figure out how much the circuit was drying out!)

Courting local car clubs - we've invited along the local Lotus 7 Club section on a few occassions and produced a good turnout - but what do we get out of it at the moment???

Cheap ticket prices again - I don't think I'd pay a tenner to watch a clubbie - at a fiver I might. And decent food/choice - why are they four burger vans at a meeting - give me a roast pig, noodle, etc. van...

Information on the cars in the paddock - I love reading the TBGP stands about the cars. Okay, most of our cars aren't that interesting but a stand for each series would be good.

Nominal entry to the circuit for the Sunday market crowd (Donington, Snett) - a quid after midday, once the market has finished???

[Ron Doe]

One thing no one has mentioned yet.....characters

John Cleland, Barry Lee, Gerry Marshall, Frank Sytner, Ian Flux etc

You need drivers to be entertaining to watch and to listen to over the tannoy. Imagine a Mini Se7en race featuring some of the sports major personalities. I'd drive a long way to see that!

[ss_collins]

car clubs could display but they charge use - SDMC may well exhibit at Brand in 2004 if the price is right.

Hey the vee series is pure characters...

How about a multiclub - promoted meeting of the year - featuring the best clubbie series...

Vee
Stock Hatch
Minis
FF1600
FSaloons etc....

[Stephen Green]

Brands used to have celebrity races but it became very expensive as they used the racing school cars and often they ended up rather bent.

[neil_davidson2]

One of the things that I think has been missing over recent years is just basic advertising of meetings in anything other than the motor racing mags. I think all of the ideas mentioned already have a lot of merit but only once the general public know that there is something happening at all.

[Stephen Green]

It has been suggested to JP that he give free tickets to all the local radio stations to use as competition prizes. Thereby giving the meetings free advertising (of a sort).

[Tim Falce]

It has been suggested to JP that he give free tickets to all the local radio stations to use as competition prizes. Thereby giving the meetings free advertising (of a sort).

Does that not already happen? My bro-in-law is a DJ/Presenter on local radio and he seems to blag tickets and prizes for most things.

[neil_davidson2]

I'm not sure if it's happening or not but definitely think it's a good idea. I remember the combination of the local radio station giving away tickets and a couple of bands playing resulted in a huge crowd at a Summerfest F3/GT meeting a few years back.

Sadly it hacked down with rain all day, so if JP could get that sorted too it'd help

[ActiveMS]

Combine non motorsport events at the same time on the vast amount of space most tracks have sitting idle..

Eg. Car boot sales on additional space brands and snetterton both have, as do others, this way people are already through the door and will probably come back on a regular basis once bitten by the bug.


Good ideas above especially on the cheaper tickets, I wouldnt pay a tenner to watch myself race let alone anyone else. Also spectator rides, kiddies entertainment and care facilities.

[Ian Sowman]

Better raceday programmes... This is one of the areas where the clubs do make some money I think, but at £2-£5 a throw you don't often get a lot for your money. Better quality editorial, nicer pics and clearer layout would make people feel as if they were getting value for money.

[mattray]

I think the main way to get people through the gates is promotion, people just dont know about race meetings, the amount of people in the crowds that have those black and red/yellow/blue etc jackets on (you know the ones with the colour over the top and down the arms) just shows that they are friends or teams members. I remember specatating at Brands in the early 90's loads of people, cars all over the banking oposite the pits, loads of atmosphere, freebees for the kids (of which I was one) still got stickers and badges I collected back then!!

So
1/ Promotion
2/ Freebees
3/ Promotion
4/ Cheaper entry
5/ Promotion

Also the more people turn up the more companies are going to want to use the day as a promotional activity for launching new products etc, which means more pazzaz more freebies (I really liked them freebies!!) and more money for the circuit, which MIGHT bring the costs down.

[racingdad]

All the obvious (not meant to be critical) good ideas - except car boot sales which don't attract a single additional spectator over the fence but simply add to the congestion when trying to get out - Donnington can be a nightmare - however you could use the circuit for these idiotic events on non-racing week-ends to help subsidise the running costs.

A major problem for the uninitiated (and even hard core fans) are the mind numbing endless delays without explanation... especially between support races and the main event when the BTCC prima donnas seem to need 1/2 hr to get the grid sorted. In this day and age people expect a fast paced slick show with no great gaps in the entertainment. Many's the time I've escaped the paddock to wtch the start of the BTCC event only to be left hanging around for what seems to be hours with nothing apparently happening and no real information as to why - and I am supposed to be one of the people in the know!

[Tim Falce]

I think mattray has it about right. £10-£15 is too dear to watch me go round a track.
The facilities are improving so that shouldn't be a problem. One thing that is too expensive is the food.
£7 at Brands for a plate of soggy cod and chips is too much.

[johnw]

Racingdad
Maybe I wasn't clear enough.
This thread is for ideas which would bring in spectators to club races and from which we (the club racer) might benefit.
I'm not a boot sale afficionado, but from your observation thare are many that are. If we could benefit from them being on site when there is a race meeting, and all circuits have the space for them, I think that the consequential congestion will be an acceptable compromise.

Running anything on non-race weekends would not help our cause, the circuits will be doing this to increase their income anyway.

Agree totally about delays in general. I have suggested better comms but that only confirms that there is dead time, so what changes are you proposing to reduce the delays?

[Slowcoach]

The CSMA day at Brands attracted over 30,000 for the last 2 years , for a number of reasons.....
1/The Civil Service is a huge organisation and they advertise the day early, internally, selling tickets at almost half price in advance.
2/It is a family day with many attractions for those not quite so interested in just the racing.
e.g funfair,car club displays,Red Arrows,etc etc
3/The weather is normally good !!!!!!

So my points are 1/ try targetting certain organisations where people might encourage work colleagues to go aswell 2/ give worthwhile discounts for advance sales 3/have other attractions on site 4/organise good weather.

Another general point that Idon't think is ever made enough of is that kids under 16 go free - this makes it a bargain basement day out for your average family of 4, 2 adults at say £10 each + programme = £25 max. compare that with say £40 ish for the Zoo, £60+ for Legoland,Chessington,Thorpe Park, £100+ for a premiership footie match - etc etc.

Handicap Races are very exciting for the crowd - and fun for the competitors.

[racingdad]

Originally posted by johnw
Racingdad


Running anything on non-race weekends would not help our cause, the circuits will be doing this to increase their income anyway.

I can assure you that anything that directly impacts on the fixed overheads would benefit the sport - instead of having to attribute all costs to, say 25 week ends activity (racing), they can be spread over, say 45 weekends, this in turn will either help keep the circuit hire costs down (great for clubs and competitors) or, more likely, increase the income nad hence profit for the circuit owner, which will in turn ensure their continued survival, which is what we all want in the long run.

I personaly believe that the Rockingham style entertainment with recognised pop groups included in the price is a more positive way forward that the bootsale - even if only 1 in 10 of the pop fans decides to come and watch the racing again.

Originally posted by johnw

Agree totally about delays in general. I have suggested better comms but that only confirms that there is dead time, so what changes are you proposing to reduce the delays?

Its a straighforward management issue, really. Ithere has been some debate on another thread regarding the possible introduction of US style 'snatch squads' which some of the marshalls have viewed as a threat; not so - the marshalls do a great job, but having a dedicated team to support them clean things up, especially in betweeen races would speed things up - similarly, we've all been there waiting while the old tractor completes half a lap or seen the painfully slow response to barrier repairs - both need to get slicker and both are carried out by the circuit. Then again, if there is a delay due to a major incident, your better comms idea will ensure that the spectators away from the scene are kept up to date on progress, and then make sure that some of the other god suggestions for entertainment, quality facilities, etc., are there so that the public is kept happy.

I think that we do have a lot to learn from the US in this area

[OLD DOG]

I seem to remember Radio Stoke packed in the crowds at Oulton Park,With fun fairs and various displays.
It was also well promoted.

[Alan Green]

Racingdad - A lot of the circuit delays when dealing with clear-ups are becaue we're waiting for circuit staff to arrive. The marshals can very quickly clear up a wreck, but (for obvious safety reasons) the barriers / tyre walls need to be repaired correctly, and as it is the circuit that is responsible for safety you usually end up with their crews, plus the circuit manager, as well as the clerks on scene checking that everything is done correctly (if the barrier has been clouted once, odds are that it will happen there again at some point).

Keeping spectators away from a major incident is a nice idea, but human nature doesnt work that way.

As for promotions, the car clubs / owners + enthusiasts clubs are always a good market to appeal to. Put in a make of car on a internet search engine and you'll get no end of enthusiasts clubs.

Al.

[racingdad]

Alan,

I wasn't making a negative comment on the job that the marshalls and track staff do today - only saying that if specifically trained and dedicated teams were on hand ,in suitably equiped fast intervention vehicles, it could speed things up, and would assist tha marshalls by allowing them to concentrate on safety.

[diz]

Originally posted by Stephen Green
Creche so that Mum can come and watch without the hassles of looking after baby all day.

Would come in handy for the T Car and FBMW drivers as well

Back to the thread. A while ago, I posted a thread called FF1600 Relay Races etc It was just a few ideas to spice up FF1600, but would work for all classes.
However, I think we need to improve the show before we try getting more people through the gates. With all the delays and 'pomp' we endure now, they might come once, but not return.