Rallycross promotion. Who's responsability? (split from Superprix thread)

[Mad Mark Watson]

Its been eating me for two days now.
I, like many others who i have spoken with are very annoyed with the press coverage the Super prix has got. This is our sports biggest Uk event and and an excellent meeting that show cases our sport and shows all other competitors, spectators and the governing body what we are capable of.

Not withstanding i sponsored the meeting and raced as well. There were many other drivers who attended the meeting and raced and were never mentioned in the reports as well as all that happened through two days of top class racing. I looked forward to a comprehensive report on the meeting that frankly did nothing to reflect the event.

And as for saturday i raced all year in the open championship which is a recognised championship. To over come all sorts of problems to lift my first title in 10 years just to get one line of text. This is not a selfish rant because persons who know me will know it isnt about me its about raising the profile and moving forward the best spectator sport in the UK. Something must be done to market our sport better than it is at the moment. Rallycross has to move forward and raise its profile and will not happen if those who dont know of the sport are not told!

[bardy]

Originally Posted by CS1

I cant believe how Tim has the audicity to air his personal vendetta against the Rallycross Open Series so publicly. If he is so passionate about rallycross why was there no preview in Motorpsort News to the best event in the UK which is on his own doorstep and then produce a report of the weekend which is dreadful at best. A one line statement on the Open championship - I ask you!!

Come on Tim isnt it time to swallow your pride?

totally agree .

[BertMk2]

The trouble is that rallycross is still seen as a minority interest area - and therefore gets a limited amount of space within MN, Autosport etc. If the ROC round and the super prix had been held in different weeks then they would each have received a full report. As it was they're back to back and the amount of space available was the same - so something had to give and in this instance they chose to cover the GP in more depth than the ROC round. We've seen it already throughout the year that the rallycross reports generally are made up of the supercar/div1 report in detail with a single line for the other categories.

If the profile of rallycross increases then it'll get more space in MN and Autosport (bit of a catch 22 really - how do you raise the profile if you can't get the coverage?). Maybe you should write to MN and Autosport to express your disappointment - if everyone does it then maybe rallycross will get more coverage next year? Who knows. Certainly drivers can help by sending in updates and details of plans or new cars etc etc - just keeping regular rallycross news items trickling in between events may help.

(and I'm not suggesting that holding the ROC meeting and superprix back to back is a bad thing by the way )

[Mad Mark Watson]

If the profile of rallycross increases then it'll get more space in MN and Autosport (bit of a catch 22 really - how do you raise the profile if you can't get the coverage?). Maybe you should write to MN and Autosport to express your disappointment - if everyone does it then maybe rallycross will get more coverage next year? Who knows. Certainly drivers can help by sending in updates and details of plans or new cars etc etc - just keeping regular rallycross news items trickling in between events may help.

i have emailed editor of motroing news and autosport today (no reply)
and i know of several other drivers and officials have done same and quite voiciferous as well.

I cant see why we cant have more space when the F1 season is finished so has touring cars no major rally so we must appear quite high up on the pecking order by now. if not!
why is there £1million worth of racing car sat on our final grid!

[BertMk2]

I totally agree with you Mark, good to hear that you and others are on the case and harrassing MN and Autosport. Maybe you could get a profile done of your car? I know they've done whole page profiles of drivers + cars before for circuit racers so why not rallycrossers? Maybe they could do a feature on GT and his vast array of hardware? The F1 off season is the ideal time to hit them with this stuff - there's only so many times I can read about who's going to McLaren before I zzzzzzzzzzzz

[madcowie2007]

I for one want to see this sport grow back to what it was in the 80s and 90s. God do I remember as a kid watching the Brands Hatch rallycross gp. Back then I was a kid and I would tape grandstands coverage and watch it over and over again. Infact almost to the point where I knew each line of the commentary. Yes these days dont exsist anymore and maybe thats related to the costs envolved in running a supercar. Back then we had Mk2 escorts which in todays terms cant of cost alot of money to run.

But lets go back 10 years or more. Rallying was pretty much unheard of and the world rally championship didnt get a look in on terrestial television. And then Colin McRae came along. Now this wasnt the start of rallying becoming more popular. Colin McRae became a legend all over the world due to his computer games. Not too long ago Nicky Grist said that most people in america didnt even know who Colin McRae was. Most americans thought he was some fictional character made up for a computer game. But the facts are that Colin McRae and Richard Burns made rallying big in this country for a while just a few years ago.

So not trying to send crazy here or anything but hopefully our new rallycross game could introduce a new crowd to rallycross. My previous game ORR 2 has converted many fans across the world to watch Championship Off Road Racing (CORR). Alot of these guys including myself hadnt even heard of CORR a couple of years ago.

So heres my previous game
http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=ORR%202

and heres the link to my WIP on Group B rallycross.
http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail...ss%20Group%20B

Yes I know its group B at the moment but I do intend to do other classes after we have finished with this part. Last count I had 9 tracks made for rallycross and these include Croft, Brands Hatch, Lydden, Blyton and more real tracks. Im also aiming to introduce the american crowd to our sport and have made a rallycross track in Mid Ohio.

For those that dont know Group B Rallycross can support up to 43 cars online in the same race. LOL Can you imagine that? But taking this into account I do intend to run a Superprix at Croft online in the near future using a similar format to the real event.

So who knows maybe we might get a few newcomers heading over here and also to some real action next year. Would love to make the track for the London show, cant afford to get there myself but hopefully you guys will be able to provide me with lots of photos and details of the track.

Thanks
Madcowie

[SRH]

Certainly not national press or indeed a specialist motoring / motorsport related publication, but the rallycross at Croft has received good coverage (within available space constraints) in the Teesside local press - I have provided pictures for all of the rallycross events held at Croft this year, including the Superprix. The Superprix for example was previewed and then had over half a page write up given to it. The sports editor even made space for the write up as the press releases were not issued in time for the normal Tuesday night motorsport slot.

We in Teesside are fortunate in that there were a number of drivers local to the greater Teesside area who were competing (Bellerby, Proctor, Martin Peters, the Maynards, Ian Horn etc) and that generates a lot of local interest. The drivers themselves as well as the press officer can help with this by contacting the local sport desk with information about themselves and events.

I was also talking to another photographer and journalist on Sunday who was covering the event for an article called "the most exciting motorsport you've never heard of" or something similar. He wouldn't tell me which magazine, but does anyone know anything about this?

Cheers,

Simon.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by SRH

I was also talking to another photographer and journalist on Sunday who was covering the event for an article called "the most exciting motorsport you've never heard of" or something similar.

There was an article in the Telegraph by that title a while back, I believe Channel 4 also had something similar on their website for a while (and it wasn't that long ago that Channel 4 aired the rallycross grand prix).

Specialist magazines such as "Performance Ford" are another possible source of exposure - get the car featured (assuming you've got a Ford ) and send regular updates.

[Mad Mark Watson]

Specialist magazines such as "Performance Ford" are another possible source of exposure - get the car featured (assuming you've got a Ford ) and send regular updates.[/QUOTE]

I have written to all performance magazines especially french orientated car magazines and not received any replies back so not as easy as you think.
It is very difficult as a one man team i do all my own press and entries and organise car etc as well as running my own business no time to .........

What i would like to see is a neutral person employed by the drivers (BRDA) to act on our behalf promoting events and the sport in press before meetings and after. Organising posters and promotion of events trying tirelessly to get into magazines and on tv. This person wouldnt have any affliation with any team so no bias. As for the moneyto pay for such person the added sponsorship of the championship as thye profile rises will pay for this.

Finally I have made it my goal to get Rallycross on Top Gear very nearly was there in 2007 but will continually strive to get it in 2008

[M.Lowe]

Years ago in MN the Rallycross reports where a lot bigger

Even the RX Grandprix so I cant see why now the write ups and reports have to be smaller.

I'm not having a go at Tim as I do not know him personally but hes lnown to MN for a lot of years so surely they should of giving him a fair bigger space but then again I dont know what his original write up for the events where like.

[madcowie2007]

Whilst at croft last weekend I asked the camera man who he was filiming for. He told me Motors TV and Channel 5. He didnt know when it was going to be showed. Do we now know?

For me the BBC is going downhill fast and maybe they should start signing up some of the lesser sports like rallycross. They dont seem to show anything anymore. Infact apart from MotoGP what other motorsports do we find on the license paying channel?

Come on channel 5, if you can show us all the other minority sports how about showing us the ERC?

From an outsider point of view (as in non driver) I couldnt see stock hatch appealing to a program like top gear. But bloody hell surely they could get excited by an S40 or a supercar!!

Madcowie

[B Friendly]

Originally Posted by madcowie2007

From an outsider point of view (as in non driver) I couldnt see stock hatch appealing to a program like top gear. But bloody hell surely they could get excited by an S40 or a supercar!!

Madcowie

It worked for Fifth Gear! However i do realise that Top Gear and Fifth Gear are different types of automotive program, i.e. the way they are presented/produced.

[zac510]

One thing for sure is that there are a LOT of racing series on in the country. A LOT, and almost all of them want to be big. This is even excluding all of the international series that capture the public attention too (A1GP, DTM, WTCC, etc), there are 3 historic/vintage series, hilllclimb, sprints, every dinky little spec open wheeler series full of pimply 16 year olds with a press officer too, etc etc. Arguably, even british rally struggles against this too and that's bigger than BRX.

[zac510]

They've gotta be in a flame throwing anti-lagging Supercar if you want rallycross virgins to pay attention!

[B Friendly]

Originally Posted by zac510

They've gotta be in a flame throwing anti-lagging Supercar if you want rallycross virgins to pay attention!

But they could do a feature on rallycross, then watch them having a go in stock hatch / procar's. Possibly one of them having a passenger ride in one!

[BertMk2]

Supercar driven by "The Stig" around the Top Gear track

[B Friendly]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Supercar driven by "The Stig" around the Top Gear track

I'd thought of that one too!

[Martin C]

Maybe one way forward would be to sponser a report? Thus guaranteing a report and pics from an event. Basically then MN would give a page or two to rallycross all under a title sponser. I know a report writer for MN and he once had 700 word for a clubman rally, last time I spoke to him he was down to 300. Having also myself done rallying write ups and photography for four differnet mag/papers its not plain sailing.
The reporter wants paying by the paper/mag for the work thats used but when the report isnt guarenteed to be printed why would they bother sending one in, thus the paper saves money by simply having a one line report of Fred Blokes won the bla bla bla at such and such at the weekend, add in a picture sent in by a speccy thats not asked for any payment and hey presto easy cheap report.
But then who actually buys MN anymore?
I stopped years ago as most Motorsport news is freely available on the Net daily. Rallycross being the exception.
There is one certain web site that covers everything and quite well but the one thing that is missing is errr rallycross! Perhaps its time a foot in the door there was made.
Just a quick search of the word "Rallycross" and 8 years of web site that dedicated motorsport produced the following

Brit GT » Eurotech GT racers set for rallycross debut. 02/08/05 WRC » Rally reactions: Rally Italia Sardinia - Leg 1. 01/10/04 Rally UK » BRC build-up starts with new track opening. 09/03/04 F1 » Carnegie gets win as rallycross hits halfway. 27/05/03 BTCC » Points for Leslie, podium for Bennett. 22/04/03 MOTOGP » McWilliams 'excited' about rallycross debut. 06/02/03 WRC » Tyres to the fore. 09/03/01

So the last rallycross report was in 04!

As for TV well you would of though at this time of year when most championships have finished the terestial TV companys would be happy to fill a hour slot on a saturday or sunday, after all we get superbikes and BTCC every other weekend and LIVE at times. The superprix would make a good program for that hour surely.

[chunder]

Very well said Martin C, I used to contribute to MN aswell and the stuff I wrote about was chopped to the point that it wasnt worthy writing anymore.

The problem was that I expected at least to be able to break even with my costs of getting to a venue. There are often squabbles about getting in for free and when you think of it its just not worth the hassle for a few words that hardly explain what happened let alone anything else.

Im afraid being bought by Hayshed has been their downfall, Im not saying that staying indie would help but at least you could maybe be a little more expansive, right now accountants run every paper in the world and ads mean more than editorial.

Thats why no one buys it anymore, and Autosport for that matter whose circulation has dropped recently.

[Ian Sowman]

In a decade of writing regularly for MN I've never had anything substantially cut. The only way I can see it happening is due to something happening very late on that impacts the pages (this hasn't happened to me yet) or if you exceed the word count you're given. I can't speak for rallycross, but word counts for racing are as high (on average) now as they have been at any time in the last ten years.

[bucko]

the rallycross world mag was a good mag just a pity you get it only on line , as of now i do not get a copy of it any more .it was far better in a magazine i would pass it around friends and family and then take it too work you be surprised how many people picked it up and read it ! why oh why did it had to go on line it made it very selective !
i would pay for it ,if it was printed then you get advertising and then the p/r would come from that start from there ,if you attached it to some other motor sport magazine or even m/n

[Martin C]

Trouble with putting rallycross on Top Gear, if the car say supercar was put on the track it woldnt set the world on fire. That board times are all done by road/track cars with the main thing about those cars being speed ie outright speed. Rallycross cars would run out of gears rev/s down those straights. Be better used in one of the wacky challenges like the old toboggan run versus rallycar. But personally the program isnt about promoting a sport is just quick entertainment now aimed at mass market.
Your average sunday night audiance already knows about motorsport etc and those that watch that dont probably would never venture to a track to watch. Best way forward is TV but thats hard and expensive to get.

[chunder]

I think Ian you are hitting the nail on the head, MN is run largely now by national racing enthusiasts, hence the over the top propensity for meeting reports and news in the mag. They ahve always been a great location fo national racing but the emphasis is now SO much on that, everything else has suffered. There must be a reason...

If you look at numbers there are just as many speccies at other kind of events, indeed circuit racing must surely have the lowest attendance.

Problem is that people that go are largely more wealthy, certainly the people that compete are, hence the focus on that area.

People who watch rallycross or rally, or short oval etc are not gonna boethr buying a paper with two articles in it. When they started doing karting their readership went up coz all the kids wanted to see their name in print and didnt have to pay 3 quid to buy Autosport, it worled a treat!

As for a person doing PR for championships I would gladly have a go at something like this, but sadly havent got the experience or clout to get my foot in the door. Its been a while since I contributed anything and MN usually mess up payment etc anyway so why would I bother! I am currently getting the qualifications in journalism to try and get into this kind of thing though so hopefully may be able to help in future?


I have the same problem in short oval stuff, no central person to send out releases etc, its stupid! We are hoping to get there at the NEC.

[JAG]

As a very casual rallycross fan I would say until there is a united series and British round of the Euro Championship, rallycross will never get the coverage it deserves.

At the moment it can be confusing with two championships and so many rounds, to the point were I only make a point of watching the Euro series on World Motorsport (Sky Sports), the Superprix, and the early Bank Holiday Lyden meeting.

The rest become a blur with no identity of their own.

[BOY BLUNDER]

Hi jag are you one of the many evo's that line up side by side in the middle of the feild at the bank holiday meets at lydden?.

BB....