Call for Ideas to Revive Road Racing in NZ

[Motu]

Money an obstical?....doubt it - a lot of the racers of yesteryear were working as apprentices (like Croz for ex) the money they were on would be well below the minimum wage if todays standard applied.No,you've got to want to do it,these days play station is so much more fun...and you don't get hurt!

[Marmoot]

Idealism don't make progress, especially what if they DON'T want it?
I suppose trying to attract people into something requires some kind of promises of incentives.

If there is no incentive, and couple that with unsupporting (well, mostly) environment (e.g., families, society, etc in general), then no one would be interested except for die hards...and die hards are only a handful.

But that's a marketing point of view, tho'.

[Motu]

Huh? what planet are you from - I need no incentive to ride a bike,and none to race either...shit man,don't you get it?

[Marmoot]

Thank you for the wonderful suggestion.

[Motu]

It's this very marketing approach that is taking youth away from motorcycles - thrills without skills,getting the biggest buzz without working for it.Who wants to work hard for years to afford a bike,then strip it down and poor more money into making a race bike out of it...then the hard,often painful grind to achieve the skills required to only be a midfield runner.A social life and girls don't excist,you work for the bike,every spare hour spent keeping it only running.

Nah...lets go and do a bungy jump eh?

[Marmoot]

wow........

[Motoracer]

I think Marmoot had a good point the 1st time. What do kids (yes the playstation freaks as well) want? Do they really want to do all of what you said Motu. Heck no!! But if there was a decent enough prize money in there or... forget the prize money. If only we had more media coverage, we'd get the attention of more people, thus more crowds might turn up on the day to see what all the fuss is all about. More wnnabe racers would want to do what they see on TV. Current and existing racers would actually get some decent sponcers.

I reckon to get the ball rolling we need to expose motorcycle racing more to New Zealand. Heck, I wouldn't have known there were such things as F3, sports production, superbikes in NZ if I hadn't wanted to find out about it. Its not really that well known to be as popular as things like the 2.0 liter touring car races or Formula fords or of course the V8 supercars.

To my original point... yes, what is every kids (kid into motorsports) dream? They want to be the world champion. If they can see that they have a shot at being famous and well known they would get into that just for living that dream. And, yes sponcership would give them a more realistic oppertunity to get up there and the prize money wouldn't be so bad either. All they really have to do is get a major company/organisation to sponcer the race and bingo, they could chuck in a few thousands as prize money.

But right now, its almost an underground thing that no one really knows about so why the heck would any one give a toss about spending mega bucks to sponcer some silly little races.

Its just a thought and I know there are millions of problems behind it but if only we could slot some races into the Sunday afternoons of shell helux motorsports on channel one, I belive things could really happen...

[merv]

.... and who remembers the January 1997 Wellington street races? Spot Len Perry and then there was Darren Heeman on his Softail, plus the usual racers Haldane, Hepburn, Rees, Stroud (on the Fireblade - that was back when he was USA Formual Extreme Champ) and was it McEwan on the Britten that day or someone else? This is the problem all these high profile circuits lost to the masses. Though I doubt Wellington was much fun for the riders with all its armco, haybales aside.

[Motu]

We had a couple of street races in down town Auckland in...um...87,88 maybe? Going back further we had street races in New Lynn,imagine that Westies! Street races get spectators right in there - but does it make racers? a handfull maybe...but that's all we need eh? Off road riding is the only bike sport where I see young guys getting involved - kids on the shirt tails of Dads disposable income and lesure time perhaps.More extreme off road like trials and speedway?....one or two new comers,that speedway is a dying sport is a shame,we were top in the world in speedway for years - who here goes to motorcycle speedway events?

[merv]

I watched speedway as a kid in the 60s. Then when I started riding we all got into trials in the 70s, but then we used the same bike for trials, Scott trials and scrambles and mini-TTs as well. Trials got quite big and all the Jap manufacturers leapt on the bandwagon and built trials bikes. Remember TL Hondas, TY Yamahas, RL Suzukis as well as the Bultacos, Montessas and Ossas. Motorcross was coming on too and then it was enduros so we had a crack at that in the 80s. Now it seems motorcross is on a high - having Coppins, Townley and the Kings helps the profile and as Motu says the dads can get their kids started on a small motorcrosser and there is no need for a road licence just plenty of money. The other dirt bike forms have dropped away a bit as far as numbers competing goes. Whether it goes in cycles I guess we'll see. Us old guys have moved on to the more leisurely adventure rides. I said earlier I can't see a clear answer to get guys road racing as you somehow have to get them interested in bikes first and now there are too many distractions for the young guys dollar.

[jrandom]

I can't see a clear answer to get guys road racing as you somehow have to get them interested in bikes first and now there are too many distractions for the young guys dollar.

Probably true. Mebbe it's all that contraceptive-pill estrogen runoff in the groundwater. Seems that many young guys these days are spending all their time nancing around in baggy pants drinking pink alcoholic sugarwater and not paying attention to proper testosterone-driven pursuits, motorcycle roadracing being right up there on the list of Things That Can Kill You But Are Fun.

TBH roadracing is where it'd be at for me, even if it was buckets... you bucket racer types out there - is the FXR150 a legal competitor, or is the class restricted to 125ccs? I'd be tempted to hang onto it after upgrading, it's slow as a wet week but I'm pretty sure with a bit of twiddling it'd be very competitive against GNs, CGs and the like... and of course there's the factor that every time I diet and lose a couple of kilos the power-to-weight ratio changes noticeably

[Kickaha]

Buckets have a 140cc four stroke limit,although I think the Auckland club tried a 150cc class might be worth checking to see if they do although I'd be willing to bet I could still smoke you on a GN125 anyway lol,

I have been to speedway a few times over the last year,last time to check the track for a proposed bucket speedway event and I think the buckets could put on a better show than some speedways do.

They ran street races in Sydenham Chch,where Robert Holden fell off and broke something about 1984 I think and at New Brighton in the early ninetys for two years,Joey Dunlop raced at one of them, I recently raced at the 15th Greymouth street race and on the 28th Dec will race at the Port of Nelson street race,so streetracing is alive and well,and the C.a.m.s club intend to try running one at Southbridge next year.

[750Y]

my 02..
It's very much about society today(instant gratification with no risk), the choices(other options) available, the costs(comparitively) involved, the support at grass roots level(eh?), the general lack of conviction and working hard 'getting your hands dirty' attitude which is slowly disappearing as the new generation New Zealand emerges with different values from 30 years ago.
How many of You guys have lifted a shovel lately? As Motu mentioned, playstation (oops i mean ps2), which is better with no risks and you can be seen as 'the man' by your peers (that's pathetic). even $500-$800 is out of the question for young people who must stay at school till 18 and then the cost of maintenance, repairs, running, transportation etc. I believe that until road racing can get the families involved & get mum onside that support will continue to dwindle. Go to any track in NZ at a race meet & where/how are the kids/family catered for? even if it's just a tent/area with a few 2nd hand kid's 4 wheelers supplied by the local bike shops for $2 a go etc. Where's the ladies'(mum's) tea/coffee/biscuit tent (no offense ladies), where's the 'controlled pillion rides' at half time for people wishing to take a safe look at what it's all about. This stuff isn't expensive by any means but it can make the day one to be enjoyed for the whole family instead of Dad taking off leaving mum & kids behind so he can enjoy a selfish day at the family's expense. The off road scene is growing & that's because the whole family is ENCOURAGED to participate & catered for accordingly. MNZ is far too introspective in my opinion. But at least they are trying to piggy back on the car scene to raise the profile which is a huge step, but i don't think they are targetting the correct demographic. anyways, what would I know, I don't even own a bike. 8-(

[James Deuce]

750Y I think that's the first workable suggestion I've seen (no disrespect to anyone else). My godfather worked for Firestone in the 70s and always got me tickets to the F5000 GPs in the early/mid 70s, and they always had go-karts, minibikes, and a couple of carnival rides for the kids who got bored at Pukekohe (not me - nothing like the sound of an F5000 car on full chat).

I know where Motu is coming from Marmoot. It's difficult to hit the International scene unless you're already a marketable product, and have proven that your worth to your sponsors will equal or exceed their investment (a la Scott Dixon). MNZ and MANZ both continue to push classes that have no International relevance and fail to promote grass roots stuff like buckets or auto cross.

It is good to see motocross getting some coverage in the mainstream press but again if there wasn't an International presence (the King bros, Coppins) they wouldn't bother promoting the local scene. Which is where people get their information about entertainment largely and develop an interest in maybe participating.

I'd like to see see MNZ push the 2 Superstock classes, 1000cc and 600cc. The 1000cc class could feed into the Superbikes as well and both these classes have huge support Internationally. Specialist "homebuilt" classes like F3 can cost as much as an new 600cc Superstock bike. I think the demise of the 250cc proddie class has added to the decline in interest too, because learners (rightly or wrongly) could go and watch these things raced on Sunday and buy them on Monday. One trend I've noticed on this site is the "Today's birthday" header tends to display ages from the mid-late 30s to 50 or so. That would indicate an aging bike buying population (in the sample that uses these forums at least) who have either always ridden or have enough spare cash after buying a house and establishing a family to indulge in their favourite hobby again.

Identifiable local personalities (we used to have heaps of those - Croz, Freeth, Holden, Pavelitic etc) on identifiable bikes like those in the shop down the road would help tremendously with the profile of motorcycle sport even within the motorcycling fraternity (apologies to those who are a member of the sorority).

Maybe we just need someone with marketing and communication skills working for MNZ.

Jim2

[Indiana_Jones]

Well an idea is to hold races where learners and restricted riders without racing lisences to enter races on street stock
But it's just an idea

-Indy