Oh man...the stands in Rockingham are empty!

[Ben 93 325is]

The race is about to start and it looks like the stands are much less than half full! I hope a LOT of people are running late!

[Lee Janotta]

Sadly no... And they missed a pretty good race.

Well, I always said that the Brits by and large wouldn't take to oval racing. I think this pretty much proves me right.

Mr. Pook, about that proposed Brands Hatch race....

[Jay]

That was a very dissapointing crowd. Although we should wait and hear what the paid attendance was...

Still, to the guys that were there, how was it?

[Jordi]

Y'all sound disappointed... For a what seemed a cold and cloudy day, I think there was some crowd. At least half-full. For sure there were more people at Rockingham than for the IRL race at Fontana!

[Ben 93 325is]

And once again...short oval = very little on track passing! PLEASE Mr. Pook, bring the road course wings to short ovals!!!

[Down F0rce]

if i was at the race, i would have bought 3 tickets so i could strech out

but what a race, DARIO IS THE MAN!!!!!!!! decent drive by Manning too, im sorry i doubted him

[Sato san]

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
[B]Well, I always said that the Brits by and large wouldn't take to oval racing. I think this pretty much proves me right.

B]

not at all Lee .

since last year's race , they have put 2 other grandstands up in turn 3 and turn 2....i think the crowd was pretty much simular to last year , it just looks weaker because they are spread out more.

Oval racing will grow in the UK , it just needs the time and the right weather .

but ,as for the Brands idea...im all for having a circuit race as Brands hatch as well...maybe a double header in the UK .....i wish !

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

Originally posted by Lee Janotta


Well, I always said that the Brits by and large wouldn't take to oval racing. I think this pretty much proves me right.

...perhaps they need a British outfit to promote it run by BC Ecclestone then rather than Chris Pook (who?).

Ignoring your ridiculous generalisation, and ignoring the fact that the Brits started oval racing by building the world's first at Brooklands in 1908....

You are seriously out of order here ("way off line" if you are wondering). I think there were at least 35k there today. That is a huge success for an event charging £100-150 for the majority of tickets, that's over $200 in some cases. I don't think a single American would turn up to a CART race back home for that price.

Additionally, as someone else pointed out the crowd was bigger than that you see on TV for most IRL races.
Also, Rockingham just don't have the money to promote the event widely enough nationally. CART haven't done a great job to be honest so it is their fault, not that of the British public. It is generally people "in the know" who are hardcore racing fans that go along.

It was a spectacular race today even if the majority of overtaking was performed in the pits. I thought it was fantastic, and a better organised event all round than last year.

But DON'T do it at a road circuit in Europe. It will be much slower than F1, and the public at large will go "so what?". CART needs to play to its strengths by running on ovals in Europe. It wowed the crowd today including me, as it did last year.

Sorry to launch off on one here Lee but I HATE generalisations like that in your quote. The attentoin span is a little longer here than in the US and if you think you can wipe out something like F1 and immediately get huge crowds then you are mistaken. People like Ferrari and Mercedes and Williams and McLaren and Ecclestone and all the rest have been around racing and building up F1 for DECADES. It won't happen overnight.

[Speedworx]

No grandstands have been put up since last year. I thought the crowds looked ok, considering the cold weather.

[Jay]

Originally posted by I Ate Yoko Ono
CART haven't done a great job to be honest so it is their fault, not that of the British public. It is generally people "in the know" who are hardcore racing fans that go along.

Why is it Cart's responsibility to promote its event in the UK? At the North American venues each race does their own promotion(without Cart's help), and can attract crowds anywhere between 40 and 70 thousand. (even more for Mexico)

I don't think it's that the Brits can't enjoy an oval race (especially at these speeds), but I don't think a race at a road course would be such a bad idea either. The idea that Cart being slightly slower than F1 (you wouldn't notice it sitting by the track, believe me) makes it unmarketable is rubbish. It would provide a much better show for TV and especially for the people who decide to come to the race.

btw, Chris Pook is in fact English.

Cart is not trying to compete head-to-head with F1, which is why this race was on Saturday and not Sunday. What is trying to do, is provide a different product that has different cars(turbos, fewer drivers aids), caters to a different crowd (nicer people, more accessible, less snotty) and gives the fan a different product (hopefully more exciting racing).

[rlinter]

There was a crowd by anything other than BGP standards (and those of a Bike Meet) however it was cold and the problems of last year have put people off..

There was an atmosphere of sorts and all the expensive hospitality boxes were full!

But even the media centre's were reasonably empty as was the press conference room.

[wallbanger]

AP says the official attendance was just over 30,000. The place seats 52,000.

[Peter Scillitoe]

Well as one who attended both last year's and this years' meetings as part of the CART team, a few comments:

1. The comment of everybody I spoke to was that it was a poor crowd, possibly worse than last year.

2. The weather on Friday was very good (I got sun burnt); given that people tend to travel from a wide distance for a meeting of this type and therefore start at an early hour and the weather forecast for the area had been good for Saturday I doubt the the dull, windy and cold weather that actually occurred had very much to do with the low turn out of supporters.

3. "I don't think a single American would turn up to a CART race back home for that price." Well, a number came from the States for the event; I had dinner with some of them on Friday evening. The price of the tickets was never mentioned. However, a member of the CART team did complain about the cost of candy at the circuit.

4. Unlike last year when it took me over 3 hours just to get out of the circuit, we drove straight out shortly after the end of the race. Even giving Rockingham credit for improving the traffic flow from the car parks, the speed of exit makes me think the crowd was very small.

5. The most common remark during the build up to the race was "if those stands are not full by the time the race starts, Rockingham and the future of the race will be in trouble".

[Peter Scillitoe]

Sorry about the double post.

[al humphries]

Originally posted by Ben 93 325is
The race is about to start and it looks like the stands are much less than half full! I hope a LOT of people are running late!

The official attendance was quoted at 30,000, i was there with my son and it was an absolutley fabulous race, had it all! It was a bit of a disapoitment to see so many empty seats. It needs to be marketed better and have an english driver for the english fans to accept it. You wouldn't of been able to get a seat if bi Nige was still driving. Let's hope after todays result the much talented Darren Manning gets a contract!

[Liz]

The prices appear to be lower than last year's prices, but maybe some people didn't get the word. Anyway, the British have a great many choices as to racing on each weekend, and it's a small country so easy to get from one place to another for the races.

I didn't see it on TV (mine's not hooked up yet) but I did "see" it on Cart.com and I have to say it was one of the more bizarre races I have eavesdropped upon. I'm glad there were few accidents and nobody was hurt.

[Jordi]

I see pessimism. I liked the crowds. I think it was OK. And the race was fun.

[alchemy]

In fairness I didn’t see too much of the race on TV. Frankly I found too boring! I’m pleased however I saw what I did - it made me appreciate just how superior F1 is. I really dont think this type of racing will ever catch on in the UK.

[Jay]

Well alchemy, if you represent the majority of Brits (although I really don't think you do), we'll be sure to lobby Cart to forget about spending millions to fly these machines across the Atlantic ocean for an event that can barely produce 30,000 people.

Cart is still in the process of ensuring a strong future for the series, and that involves keeping costs down. They are willing to spend the money to go to Australia because there is a guaranteed enthusiastic crowd. Rockingham is on the 2003 schedule, but that is very changable if it does not apear to be worth the trip or Rockingham goes under.

Personally, I don't think Cart should have to go to any venues in North Ameria or around the world where it is not supported enthusiastically.

[macdaddy]

Whad'ya mean, "how superior F1 is"? How superior the technology is? Or how superior the racing is? The CART championship wasn't decided four races into the schedule.

[Ben 93 325is]

F1 - Superior technology and (hate to admit it) drivers...TERRIBLE racing!!

CART - little less technological (yes, the driver's actually DRIVE the car...not some computer!)....OUTSTANDING racing!!

I have never witnessed more boring racing than this years F1 season. I used to be a die-hard F1 fan, and CART was secondary for me...now, things couldn't be more opposite.

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

Originally posted by Jay
Why is it Cart's responsibility to promote its event in the UK?

Jay, how well you have encapsulated CART's failure to establish a big crowd in one sentence! Oh dear oh dear oh dear!

[i]

btw, Chris Pook is in fact English.

[/B]

Please point out exactly where in my quote I said he wasn't.

[i]
Cart caters to a different crowd (nicer people, more accessible, less snotty) and gives the fan a different product (hopefully more exciting racing). [/B]

Your defensive attitude belies an inferiority complex. According to you a Brit who attends the grand prix is a snob, an the same Brit who goes to a CART race is some kind of working class hero.

The fact is a true racing fan is a fan of both series. There are people on this forum who have been to both so the statement clearly doesn't work.

[Jay]

Again, all of the other Cart events do their own promotion without Cart's help and most of them are doing fine. Just look at the last races in Denver, Montreal and Elkhart Lake. All of those races do their own promotion and can draw fans without Cart doing its dirty work, I don't see why Rockingham should be any different.

Originally posted by I Ate Yoko Ono
Your defensive attitude belies an inferiority complex. According to you a Brit who attends the grand prix is a snob, an the same Brit who goes to a CART race is some kind of working class hero.

I was referring to the people you find in the paddocks of the respective series. The Cart paddock is a very friendly place where (in general) the drivers are friends with each other, the media, the Cart officials and management (believe it!). In Formula One, and most European racing, OTOH, as a young scottish driver who recently came over to race in North America put it, "everyone hates each other".

As for the people who attend the races, I'd expect a lot of the same people who go to the Grand Prix to go to the Cart races. I go to both F1 and Cart events. They're both racing, just different products.

[Flatspot]

I had to laugh at this:

I ATE YOKO ONO: "I hate generalizations"...next sentence: "The attention span is a little longer here than in the US"...

Isn't the pot calling the kettle black here?

[Mr V]

Originally posted by Liz
Anyway, the British have a great many choices as to racing on each weekend, and it's a small country so easy to get from one place to another for the races.

Living in a country as big as yours Liz, i can see where your coming from, a thousand mile trip seems (to me) to be nothing for the Americans and Canadians, as your used to it, it's different in this country (i believe), 100 miles is a long trip, and that distance does put people off!

To give you an example, i live no further than 150 miles from Silverstone, but when i goto the British Grand Prix (every year) i treat it as a "holiday" as i don't usually go that far! I should imagine that 150 miles you seem like "commuting" in a country as large as USA or Canada!