How do you all feel about publicity?

[chrisc]

Whilst I think a DJ and all that BS would seriously detract from the sports awesome atmosphere, I have to agree with comments made regarding calling them buckets versus F4. Yeah a few of the bikes are still buckets of shit but in no way does it attract riders nor promote the class. A few younger riders coming through would really add another level to the class I think. What does suck is the lack of officials and flaggies etc but it does get done eventually. Maybe the parents that come with the younger riders would marshal?

I think anything that could turn F4/5 buckets into something that resembles karting or other classes where fun and helping out another racer gets put second to winning, can get bent. I have never met a bunch of good bastards willing to help others out and race knee to knee.

In saying all that rambling, I would very much like to do some more short videos of racers and their bikes. The personalities in this class are great! old bastards and all

[Shorty_925]

Be good to drag some younger riders off their dirt bikes for a go at our sport.

Are you saying 85cc motocross bikes at bucket meetings?..

[cotswold]

]old bastards and all


Here's one and he is also a miserable old c#$t to boot.

Not too sure where or how a band or DJ pumping out the sounds would fit in with a days racing? I have an opinion and it's what you would expect from one of the above.
I do like a nice strong coffee though and have been known to have the very occasional pie, so have no issue with either of those.

I object to one of the other good folk saying something about proper racing, WTF, I raced bikes in UK for years on most of the circuits up there and the racing I do here is as proper as it gets. What other class in NZ can get a full grid and have to split the races into A,B&C grade as they have too many entries.?

Buckets are a proper race class.

[Gigglebutton]

I love music and bikes. Country to Dub-step. Dirt bikes to Super bikes.
Most racing events or shows you go to have music playing in the back ground to set the tone of the event. Kids walk around with head phones all the time & expect their whole lives to have a f#^king theme tune.
How many of you have a tune you play on the way to a meeting, to psyche you up for the day. Mine are Iggy Pops "Search & Destroy" and Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name".
I'm ok with music at racing as long as it not to distracting for participants.
Getting the public along may give a bigger pool of new riders, not just the ex & current racers, road riders and the kids of both.
Any national points racer will tell you how the sport needs way more financial support not just every cent they earn. This has a direct relationship with, size of crowd, sponsors and promotion of events.
Maybe with a bit of self promotion we could be a feeder class not only for road racers but also their fans.
I agree the sport may benefit from some promotion Haz, but as with most sports, a few people carry most of the work load on their shoulders. This is something that would need to be run by some new blood with the approval of the current regime.

[Henk]

I wear earplugs from the time the first bike fires up til the last one shuts down. So less noise is good.
I can't see us ever being a spectator sport and to be honest like it that way. It's about the racing and any peripheral bullshit would probably just piss me off. Do like it when the coffee van show up though I must admit.

No matter what we do do the majority of the "real bike" racers are never going to take us seriously and I don't see that as a bad thing.

[NSR143]

Are you saying 85cc motocross bikes at bucket meetings?..

Drag off... not change the wheels..

[F5 Dave]

I
How many of you have a tune you play on the way to a meeting, to psyche you up for the day. Mine are Iggy Pops "Search & Destroy" and Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name".
. . ..

Nope, don't know what you're talking about

[Hardstyle-haz]

I love music and bikes. Country to Dub-step. Dirt bikes to Super bikes.
Most racing events or shows you go to have music playing in the back ground to set the tone of the event. Kids walk around with head phones all the time & expect their whole lives to have a f#^king theme tune.
How many of you have a tune you play on the way to a meeting, to psyche you up for the day. Mine are Iggy Pops "Search & Destroy" and Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name".
I'm ok with music at racing as long as it not to distracting for participants.
Getting the public along may give a bigger pool of new riders, not just the ex & current racers, road riders and the kids of both.
Any national points racer will tell you how the sport needs way more financial support not just every cent they earn. This has a direct relationship with, size of crowd, sponsors and promotion of events.
Maybe with a bit of self promotion we could be a feeder class not only for road racers but also their fans.
I agree the sport may benefit from some promotion Haz, but as with most sports, a few people carry most of the work load on their shoulders. This is something that would need to be run by some new blood with the approval of the current regime.

Agreed! The chances of us growing this sport and getting more people into riding these bikes is incredibly high when a public event vibe is set to it...
If we can get the public to come and watch these events like they do the superbikes (a huge part of that crowd do NOT ride motorcycles) we can get more people eager to try it, more people = more development and more money into the sport. More public attendance will also give us the ability to make our track days or GP days bigger, better, safer, and most of all, a view change on the sport...

If we had public attendance and made this a more commonly watched sport, maybe track owners will re-think disallowing us race on their tracks?
If the crowd grows, the sport grows, if the sport grows, the energy grows, if the energy grows, the hype over the sport grows, if the hype grows, the rider database grows, if the rider database grows, the kids have more people to look up to, which grows the crowd yet again.... Best cycle ever!

Thanks Gigglebutton!

[Hardstyle-haz]

I appreciate all of your comments, and while some, I disagree with, I am trying to get a feel for how much of this sport needs/wants promotion and at what level.

I am not in any way trying to destroy this sport, because just like most of you, I love it to death the way it is...
I will say that those who are making comments mostly about the music, that is the most minor thing i am trying to bring up. this is MOSTLY about publicity... food stands, music, gimics, la dee dah, they are all just ways to add publicity.

Please think MAINLY about the addition of spectators and growing this sport. (eg. getting the kids in to it and adding more all round respect for it).


If I were to be given the thumbs up from most of the riders to go ahead and start promoting the sport, (carefully of course) I would be happy to bare the burden all on my own shoulders!

[TALLIS]

when I started buckets I thought the same in the sense that it should be more popular/publicized. But after awhile you realize that buckets is about people with different backgrounds, skills, money... Talents haha, all with a love of bikes and racing hard. Without the pressure or judgement of on lookers who judge on the most expensive or prettiest bike. so buckets is fine how it is. What you need to do is create or run a sub event or classes for development of younger or more competitive riders...

[Hardstyle-haz]

when I started buckets I thought the same in the sense that it should be more popular/publicized. But after awhile you realize that buckets is about people with different backgrounds, skills, money... Talents haha, all with a love of bikes and racing hard. Without the pressure or judgement of on lookers who judge on the most expensive or prettiest bike. so buckets is fine how it is. What you need to do is create or run a sub event or classes for development of younger or more competitive riders...

Sure, we all have the same interest, we all love racing bikes and have a similar addiction... However, I feel that is implying that bucket racing is destined to die with the current bucket racers... If this sport isn't promoted, the numbers are only going to thin over time. I know we can always be into it and so can our kids... but no one else??? why would we condemn our own sport?

If a new sub class were to be created it would either kill the other one or divide the numbers. Neither are good.

Is there no option to build and develop this sport further without destroying its attractive features?

[jasonu]

I appreciate all of your comments, and while some, I disagree with, I am trying to get a feel for how much of this sport needs/wants promotion and at what level.

I am not in any way trying to destroy this sport, because just like most of you, I love it to death the way it is...
I will say that those who are making comments mostly about the music, that is the most minor thing i am trying to bring up. this is MOSTLY about publicity... food stands, music, gimics, la dee dah, they are all just ways to add publicity.

Please think MAINLY about the addition of spectators and growing this sport. (eg. getting the kids in to it and adding more all round respect for it).


If I were to be given the thumbs up from most of the riders to go ahead and start promoting the sport, (carefully of course) I would be happy to bare the burden all on my own shoulders!

You are not listening. As can be seen from most of the reply's in this thread, people are happy with the meetings the way they are and don't want you or anyone else to balls it up.
Maybe a poll is in order.

[Hardstyle-haz]

You are not listening. As can be seen from most of the reply's in this thread, people are happy with the meetings the way they are and don't want you or anyone else to balls it up.
Maybe a poll is in order.

A poll suggests that action is going to be taken, this is JUST to get an idea of what demographic is more likely to make this sport develop further, etc...

I'm starting to ignite shit here and don't want to be 'that dickhead who's trying ruin the sport' - that's not me... I'm just getting a feel for WHY it is so underdeveloped, yet the effort that goes into the bikes can range up to thousands of hours.

I'm just surprised that people don't want a little more out of the sport they work SO hard to develop bikes for...

please do not assume that i'm here to do anything about it, nor actually care about anyones opinion... It's just a conversation that i wanted to have with the F4 racers of New Zealand.

[Yow Ling]

.. I'm just getting a feel for WHY it is so underdeveloped, yet the effort that goes into the bikes can range up to thousands of hours.

I'm just surprised that people don't want a little more out of the sport they work SO hard to develop bikes for...

.

Maybe buckets isnt underdeveloped, in fact it is the most popular form of Roadracing in NZ. The people who developed it are clever talented people, just happens they dont have huge ego's and need admiration from the public, seems they just like racing.

There are two main breeds of bucket, them up norf and dem down sarf, down south they are mixed with the general racing population, superbikes , 600's buckets, F3 just another class, still dont have Bands, strippers, do have food, organisation and plenty of racing, I disagree that its the track owners preventing buckets mingling with the other racing classes, maybe the problem is the other racing classes. We have plenty of flash buggers racing buckets here, Scout Fletcher #2 125 GP, Al Hoogie Cube Racing 1000cc ASBK, some of the 250 proddie boys, me haha.

I dont think its much of a spectator sport, might be if its got your mates racing. If Im not racing I dont go to the track, and a band wouldnt help, strippers might

[speedpro]

Buckets come and go over the years. Bikes like the FXR come along and the class picks up. I don't think it'll die out for lack of promotion, it hasn't so far. Remember street magics, we ran them in a separate class, but only on the kart track. We have out little "fads". Up norf we are separated from the real racing but that's just the way it is. In Auckland the real bikes used to only run at Pukekohe and a bucket was a bit challenged on that track. One thing that could be done would be to enter a group of top buckets at Wanganui and group them together in the pits and have some sort of on-track identification so the crowd could pick them out. Wanganui has a very diverse crowd and group of racers. Promotion never hurt any class. It would even be a bit of a slap in the face for the "real" racing crowd if something starts happening and works. Maybe even a static display at a real bike, or car, or kart, meeting, or even school fairs. Perhaps even an inter-school challenge. It could start with just the young guys currently racing with trophies being presented at a school assembly.