Should the BRSCC be doing more.....

[Walshy]

I know your going to have something to say about this Diz, but I feel the BRSCC should be doing more to promote these Championships.

Being involved in the Champion of Oulton since 1995, I have noticed less and less people attending the meetings and it isn't down to the racing. There has been some excellent racing their this year, but people just don't know it's happening. Now the arguement of the Club, is that they don't get gate revenue, so it's not up to them to advertise meetings. The circuit won't advertise because irrespective of how many people come through the gate, they gat there circuit fee whatever. My arguement is that if the Club did some kind of promotion, then the more revenue the circuit get from the gate, that could be passed to the club in reduced circuit hire fees.

Now this is where Diz steps in and says that "For £500 spent on advertising, you reap £500 in gate fees" etc etc. But as the people come through, the gate, they tell other people about what's going on and so on and so on. Maybe it's idealistic, but we need to try.

Local radio.... Make a local radio station an associate sponsor. No charge, but free radio advertising.

I know some of these approaches may have been tried before, but not for the last ten years at least and maybe it's time to start trying again.

This is in all of our interests. Lower circuit fees mean lower entry fees. I work in Manchester City Centre in a building of over 5000 people. I can honestly say through my own promotions at work that less than 10% know of the existance of Oulton Park.

Nothing ventured..............

[bella]

i'm moving this to the national racing forum since i think it's going to get a wider audience over there

[MikeM]

Hi Chris, I agree about the club/circuit situation. I have wondered if part of the answer might be for the club to offer to promote on the basis of sharing any increased gate money 50/50 with the circuit. Every body benefits. Perhaps the other side is for someone to target Autosport and Motorsport News? (where Matt James seems very keen on club racing and FF)

[ss_collins]

I've been banging my head against this wall for ages - motorsport need to be promoted better

[chezza]

I see we've got back to this age old problem again!

The public needs to be better informed! I've heard many stories of not even the locals to circuits know that meetings go on. One such story was when a marshal moved to Silverstone village because he was fed up of the long drive to the circuit he'd had. His nextdoor neighbour was shocked that he'd moved to the area for one race a year! He'd no idea that silverstone was used for more than just the grand prix!

[terje]

I think a lot of our Motor racing clubs in this country are guilty of under promotion not just of our sport but also of our championships individually. I've been a member of the BRSCC, BARC and 750MC, so I've had a feel for more than one organisation. The best turnouts tend to be at circuits such as Pembrey (a BARC circuit), at a guess this is to do with the lower than average UK income in that area, and hence the circuit is a local and cheap form of entertainment?

FAO Chezza: Money is the root of all evil, more like Money is the root of all Motorsport!

[RMR]

I agree with you there walshy. I find out most on this web site, for example the WHT recently i would never of know about, when i read about it on the forum i entered. I feel most of the publicity is word of mouth. needs professional media attention. People want to spectate too but dont know whats going on unless there local to the circuits. all well and good putting a whats on guide in the magazines but does someone who fancies watching motorsport know whats on with such a brief guide ie ff1600, monoposto, ARPf3 formula vee etc etc. if there was a page with pictures, mentioning drivers and what the cars are this would interest people more??

[ss_collins]

Well I work in the motorsport industry, and i struggled to find out if there was a meeting taking place on a certain weekend or not.

The best promoted circuit in the UK is Rockingham, as you drive round the area look at all the little adverts gving the date of the next ascar race meeting. How many ads for brands do you see in sevenoaks or Bromley?

[MikeM]

RMR, I think most people really interested in racing will find out most of what they want, at least know where to start looking. You're right that the real problem is getting people who would like to see racing if they knew about it. Walshy knows how many more spectators we see at Oulton when Radio Stoke support a meeting. I guess local radio and papers would be worth targeting, finding a good contact and then keeping them updated for regular reports/articles. To answer the original question, I guess clubs won't do much more so if we want it to happen we need to "drive it" ourselves? (Also - it's still Champion of Oulton isn't it??)

[MikeM]

RMR, I think most people really interested in racing will find out most of what they want, at least know where to start looking

Re sscollins - perhaps I'm not right on that one!!

[jminsh]

There was a meeting at Oulton this year which was sponsored by BBC local radio and it was amazing how man people turned up with just a little publicity on the radio .
I would imagine this was probably done in association with the circuit as the BRSCC at head office just seem to be take take take.

[ss_collins]

The anoraks will find out, but the casual man in the pub won't - he'll watch racing on TV but wont go to the track thats 20 minutes down the road. It needs to be a casual day out sort of thing - like going to the dogs at Catford, bangers at Wimbledon, 3rd Division football, Just one of those thing that you can go and do for a bit of fun. - Also circuit gate fees should only be fiver for a clubbie meeting

[Williamp]

Agree totally.

I live near Brands, and it would be very easy to promote the venue as a family day out- children get in free, afterall.

When you think that the lcoal football team (Gillingham) gets attendances of 8,000, and promotes free children this makes the local news.

If Brands, and other circuits can get 8,000 people through regularly we would all benefit.

This year, I have only seen two events advertised in the locla press (the KM)- the CART race, and the CSMA festival.

All it would need is one small advert saying what's on (with pictures), times and prices.

Remember, for the paying public MOTORSPORT IS VERY GOOD VALUE FOR MONEY- 8 hours plus for £10, Children free

Football is 90 minutes for £40. Hmmm...

[Dave Brand]

This has been discussed before - take a look at:

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=24021

Whoever is responsible, I do agree that promotion of meetings leaves a lot to be desired. The Radio Stoke/GMR 'Fun Days' at Oulton show that, properly publicised, club meetings can draw reasonable crowds. I listen to GMR regularly - the only time Oulton gets a mention is in connection with the GMR 'Fun Day'. I don't think the Manchester Evening News even knows where Oulton is!

[steve27]

Publicity works and thats a fact WE all seem to appreciate.Look at what Colin Pratt acheived with speedway, five years ago it was on it's a-- and looking bleak.He along with others got Sky TV involved and this year at Cardiff stadium 80,000 spectators.You can argue that 70mph with no brakes is exciting and that the riders are visible at all times but hey FF gives closer racing than ANY other format I'm aware of. Get someone like James Beckett involved in the same sort of thing and who knows ????

[DSM]

At Combe earlier this year there was a crowd for our Club meeting which was several times greater than at any other circuit. We found that this was attributed to the Circuit doing a lot of local publicity stuff so it appears that efforts can be rewarded and it should be up to all parties to get involved in that.
Unfortunately, it seems that neither the Clubs (Particularly the BRSCC) nor the ciruits, generally, want to bother putting effort into anything that won't bring a quick, direct return to them.
Presumably most of the Ciruits make enough from other activities and race meetings to live with low gates and the Clubs can't be bothered because they don't directly benefit, so they cross their fingers and keep trying to charge more for less and blaming the competitors when they have had enough and quit, leaving low grids, less income for the clubs and so they charge more and then etc.etc......

[james tucker]

Promoteing the circuits has not done because the circuits
cad/oul/brands&snett have had no money and no budget...tommorrow that MAY change with the change of ownership, we at the EERC want the promotions, so in turn we can get sponsors. Which comes first egg or??? Sponsors bring in teams/more teams improves the racing/better racing better crowds......sportingly]
james

[diz]

James,
I've not witnessed EERC, but have heard a lot of good reports.
Am I correct in thinking that you want to go down the organising route, putting on a total package type of thing?
If so, why not consider FF1600 as a support class. I am sure that you would get local driver support at wherever you happened to be. A single seater class would help the spectators by having a different type of car to watch and if you were to run it as 2 or 3 shortish races on the day, it would break up the effect of all endurance type racing. This would appeal to the FF1600 drivers, who , at present, tend to only get a 15 minute qualifying and 12 mile race
Just a thought.

[dogsbody]

BRSCC should and could do more, however in the contracts it signs with circuits (BHL especially) it is banned from advertising the meeting by virtue of the fact that the Club is the organiser but the circuit is the promotor. The number of discussions we have had in a Centre Committee meeting of how to get around this are considerable but no real solution has been found.

On another note, now the EGM is over what more do you the members want from the "rejuvenated" club? It has gone very quiet, get your complaints in now so that the newly energised Centres can bang on HQ's door and CHANGE things!

[swift]

Perhaps if the circuit owners did more to encourage the organising clubs with regards to promotion, perhaps they feel more inclined to do something. Maybe if the new owners of the circuits (whoever that's going to be) came up with some arrangement whereby the gate money was to be split between the two parties.....

Radical I know but call me a cynic but I think the bottom line here is money.

[JohnMiller]

The circuit owners don't want to promote to spectators for 'club' events as they believe that most casuals will only go so many times a year and they should be attracted to TOCA etc. for more ££. I believe this may be contractual with TOCA, F3/GT etc.

[steve27]

Hi Swft...you got it right there it's allways about money but I really beleive the only change will be brought about by the drivers we can at least vote with our feet.We have all witnessed the vast differences in entry fees and should the present organiser not be prepared to listen then form a drivers club and negotiate with BARC or the like.Could the BRSCC run as many full meetings without the FF1600 revenue????

[Walshy]

Your right there Steve. Back in 1996, the entry fee for a round of the Champion of Oulton was £103. It's now up to £165 7 years later. That's a fair hike.
Going back to the advertising though, it needs to be presented right. The Radio Stoke day at Oulton was a great success because it was presented as a family day. My only concern was where were all those people at the next meeting. Missed opportunity to capitalise. I remember going to Oulton every other week as a spectator and they had traders selling merchandise and Karts out for the kids. This should be done at every meeting. They have Hot Lap cars there for School days. When the track is doing nothing for over an hour at Lunch on a race day, why not take spectators out. More revenue. It isn't really a case of one side or the other, but all parties need to come together to sort this one out. Unfortunately, the current circuit owners are happy to just take their money. I know the new garages have gone in at Oulton and the track has been altered, but that won't get spectators in and we will end up paying for the improvements anyway.
What is also required, and the BRSCC are making motions to this, is better racing. £10 for a full day of racing is good value in anyones book, but when you have 6 T-Cars at a meeting getting a practice, a qualifying and a longer race than most, people don't want to see that. Let's be honest, some categories really need shaking up. I may be biased, but Formula Ford 1600 has got to be some of the best racing around, if not 'the' best. In the NW Championship, you only have to look at some of the close finishes this year to see how good it is and that's what people want.
If anyone remembers, Granada Men & Motors did a Documentary on the UCLAN team at Oulton and focused a little on the Championship. That to me was another missed opportunity by the BRSCC to capitalise on some great publicity. When you look at some of the garb that is shown on there. "Swamp Plugging" or "Canyon Leaping from Lockjaw, Alabama", we could quite easily supply them with good value programming.
This is an issue that won't go away and it appears by the Thread, that we all feel quite strongly about it. Maybe, with the impending shake up at the BRSCC HQ, they could appoint a worthy Promotions manager to step this up a gear. Just a thought..........

I don't care what anyone says, ADVERTISING DOES WORK!!!!

[R59]

Ahh the old chestnut of promoting meetings.

I agree with the comments laid to the forum by James Tucker.

Back in the early 90's I raced at a couple of meetings run at Brands which were sponsored by the likes of the Daily Star, and Capital Radio.

The gate fee was a quid, and on one of those days, there were 34000 people through the gate. Johnny Herbert was there in the Lotus 103 F1 car doing demo laps, and set out to break the outright lap record on the Indy Circuit. There was a fair for the kids, craft stalls for the non-motorsport interested wifey's, and much much more.

Just goes to show what a little bit of promotion, and showmanship can do.

As for Rockingham, that just goes to show what a bit of promotion does. And the knock on effect is the success of the Johnny Herbert Experience at the Rock. The saloon experience is booked up for the next 12 months. Give Silverstone/Brands/Oulton etc a call, they are twiddling their thumbs!

I look forward to seeing who wins the bidding for BHCL.

I'd like to see it run in the same way as Rockingham. If they get their act together, we could see a resurgence in motorsport as a spectator sport for the masses, and on prime-time TV, not 4am!

What you have to remember is that in the US, NASCAR is the 2nd biggest spectator sport behind Baseball! That's promotion. OK so the cars are agricultural, but it sells everything from cornflakes to car parts.

Lets see what happens.

Rob.

[Dave Brand]

Originally posted by Walshy
When the track is doing nothing for over an hour at Lunch on a race day, why not take spectators out.

An hour for lunch? If only......40 minutes if we're lucky!

As for the track 'doing nothing', the marshals at many posts need access to the track to get back to the paddock to buy food & drink, go to the toilet, etc. One of the biggest gripes marshals have is lack, or curtailment, of the lunch break; 'hot laps', demonstrations, etc., are a pain in the

What is also required, and the BRSCC are making motions to this, is better racing. £10 for a full day of racing is good value in anyones book, but when you have 6 T-Cars at a meeting getting a practice, a qualifying and a longer race than most, people don't want to see that.

I think this year's been better; I can't remember a meeting this year where we've got to race six or so & I've been wondering if we were going to get one decent race! There's more chance of a good race if the grid is full.

I may be biased, but Formula Ford 1600 has got to be some of the best racing around, if not 'the' best. In the NW Championship, you only have to look at some of the close finishes this year to see how good it is and that's what people want.

My bias is slightly different - I'm not a great fan of single-seaters, but I have to (grudgingly ) admit that the NW FF Championship is one of my favourites!

I don't care what anyone says, ADVERTISING DOES WORK!!!!

Club racing seems to be one of motor sport's best kept secrets!