What would bring YOU to watch a race meeting?

[Paul in NZ]

Get these guys to play the gig - I'd come for SURE!

http://www.bigjohnbates.com/

As for the classes thing - not required if you can get dealers etc to enter big teams - you need big fields - night / day all the drama

[DEATH_INC.]

Rangi bikes - slow ones with lots of rattles and broken bits.

I guess I could enter......

[Mr Merde]

Frosty,

Its a big ask and has set my mind working ( no mean feat).

I have been to the Le Mans race on 6 occasions.

Firstly I went for the racing but 24 hours is a long time to concentrate on the one thing.

6 hours are less but for a spectator you are probably talking about 8-10 hours of being there and entertainment.

Food is important. As are toilet facilities. A bike show, stunt show, merchants display, kids entertainment etc. Somewhere to chill. Decent live reporting of the race.

Its a lot to ask of 5000 people in NZ to attend anything apart from rugby etc.

In my opinion you need to advertise on a larger scale than this forum. Really push it.

Hope this helps.


Merde

[DEATH_INC.]

Make into a festival - how many people go to the cold kiwi etc

Yep, the gp and sbk in aussie are like this, you camp there all weekend, big marqee and bands etc on the sat night.
Good food is a necessity as is some bloody shade......
pretty much what has been covered, trade stands and entertainment ( stunt riders etc), entry needn't be cheap, it's just gotta be worth it.

[DEATH_INC.]

I think one of the major attractions of the Castrol 6 Hour for 'normal' folk was that they could turn up on their bike and see virtually the exact same bike competing in the race - and immense satisfaction was gained if 'your' bike won the event. (See where I'm coming from). The manufacturers were behind the event largely because "what wins on Sunday, sells on Monday".

Mmmm yeh..... but...... wot about the likes of trashie (and most others) who only has one bike to use for racing, it would be a huge ask to convert it back to stockish for one race.....NZ is small, this would need to allow ALL types of bike....

[Tony.OK]

I'd prefer to watch longer seperate races than a 6 hr,more like a sbk round,6-8 laps goes too quick.Promotion is what is sadly lacking in bike racing in NZ,no tv coverage to speak of.Local rags never tell me theres a race on anywhere.
Wanganui works for me because if theres a class that doesnt interest me theres time to check out the pits or stalls etc.......Girls are always nice to admire (drool over).
Good luck with it............if its in Taupo I'll be there regardless.

[What?]

The Castrol 6 hour was Mecca to me. The five hour ride to get there was part of the fun, and I always watched as much of the race as I possibly could - just a quick break or two to attend to the whims of my guts and bladder.
BUT - many of my friends were not so keen on getting home at midnight when they had to go to work at 7 the next morning, thus did not go, so perhaps running the event in the middle of a long weekend might help attendance? Or maybe it would do the opposite - bit of a gamble.

Funny thing with the 6 hour - in the early days, Manfeild was PACKED. The fields were also large. By 1985 it was going into decline, and by 1988 (the final event), the field was tiny and the number of spectators was not much better. The entries dropped off, by and large, due to cost, combined with a general decline in bike sales making the scene even worse for dealers and distributors. I guess the decline in spectator attendance was directly related to the decline in bike sales (due to cheap Jap import cars + over-protective PC parents).
Motorcycling is having a small revival at the moment, so an event like this could be viable as long as it offers plenty of attractions (as noted repeatedly in other posts), and has the support of dealers everywhere to help promote it. It would also be necessary to keep the racer's costs as low as possible - an Open Production event is doomed to failure, but something that would allow entries in 2 or 3 existing classes might just do the trick.

[PeteJ]

Tony, big praise to you for asking us all to tell you what we want.

NZACU/MNZ and the affiliated clubs have been grappling with all these issues for about 90 years now.

Every problem can be fixed with money and population bases which NZ does not have. So there needs to be some other solution.

Production racing or mod/prod is the only area where there could be substantial manufacturer support; if they cannot see sales for them, there is nothing in it.

WSB started here, failed here not just because of Flammini but also because of insufficient local money.

We are competing for spectators not just with other motorcycle codes, but also with an ever-increasing number of other participatory and spectator events. And, as we found with NZCMRR, after a shockingly short period, the spectator support dwindles to just a few hard core people compared with the first few years of comparative novelty when you get lots in through the gates.

We are all praying that you can crack on to the right formula.

[FROSTY:Me]

keep it coming folks--EVERYONES opinion is welcolm--AND has equal validity
-bsicly I need to know what would attract YOU
now not name dropping but I had a chat with MNZ --one point they raised was that at the 3 hour there were basicly only 3 or 4 teams who could win the thing right from the getgo-- I think that would be --well BORING -worse if the top guys combined resources and reduced the number still further.
To me a "freight train" (LINE OF BIKES FIGHTING IT OUT) would be exciting

[Mr Merde]

I note there is talk about running classes.

Take a leaf out of the le mans 24 hour.

They run multiple classes in the same race.

There is an over all winner but there are also class winners.

Variety.

Enthusiasts can watch the exotics and the run of the mill rider can follow a bike similar to their own ( and dream).

Thats what you are promoting. Not a race but an avenue for people to dream.


Merde

[FROSTY:Me]

NZACU/MNZ and the affiliated clubs have been grappling with all these issues for about 90 years now.

Every problem can be fixed with money and population bases which NZ does not have. So there needs to be some other solution.

We are all praying that you can crack on to the right formula.

Mate you have it on the head there -- if the old formulas dont work we need to find formulas that do
I know this sounds like ego at work but I swear it isn't -If someone can get a formula that will attract say 5000-7000 people to a race meeting
and we can repeat the formula it will have a trickle down effect to grass roots racing and to the general bike riding population
We just need to capture the imagination of mr joe average --even mr joe average petrol head would be a big start

[PeteJ]

Something else that MNZ would have no objection to in principle (I have discussed this, too): a closed-roads gravel and seal speed event like a car rally on 2 wheels.

Advantages:

1. No circuit hire;

2. Manufacturers each have several models that could be in with chances to win, and lots of promotion for accessory and clothing sellers;

3. You take the event to the spectators, but it is still An Event;

4. Still relatively easy to record/televise, because everything is action;

5. It would be a shitload of fun for everyone.

Disadvantages:

1. Lots of coordination needed with local authorities and Transit NZ and local inhabitants;

2. You need lotsa helpers.

Our shop would probably enter 2 or 3 machines for a 2 or 3-day closed-road rally, where we just could not be bothered any more for a 6-hour. (Did that all those years ago, do not need to do it now...)

[enigma51]

Its a great idea as long as it becomes a hole weekend thing IE camp there and have lots of entertainment. Bands stunting etc.

So you rock up on saturday see a couple of minor classes do a bit of racing. Do a qualify session for sunday then have a late afternoon stunting exersize and later the evenng a big party and then sunday stalls and smaller things.

Make it like a rally event

I think $10 for the race and $50 for the weekend is not to much to ask

[enigma51]

Mate you have it on the head there -- if the old formulas dont work we need to find formulas that do
I know this sounds like ego at work but I swear it isn't -If someone can get a formula that will attract say 5000-7000 people to a race meeting
and we can repeat the formula it will have a trickle down effect to grass roots racing and to the general bike riding population
We just need to capture the imagination of mr joe average --even mr joe average petrol head would be a big start

I think is not the racing its the fact that the guys winning are always the same people and the reason they are winning all the time is because they have the factory backing and the talent. We should have a stock class ie No engine mods and no carbon fibre Suspension fine tyres fine but everything else should stay the same.

I mean look at jimmy. In my opinion one of the fastest guys out there but his down about +20Hp on the likes of Andrew Strout etc. Also its realy fun to see jimmy racing. Its the same idea around Rossi etc. Its not just the fact that he is fast its his style. Same reason Keven Swantz is one my all time favorites.

I do like watching the top NZ guys but they are just boring (well most of them)

Also then there is the media coverage when they do show it its about 4 months old. NOOOO lets rather watch american baseball cause thats what we like

jimmy im not comparing you to rossi or kevin

[Pancakes]

Need to get lots of "buy in" to get crowds. ie. good classes but also and stock 250 couple of laps etc. the more racers there that it is new or a big buzz for the more of their mates they will drag along. As for getting petrolheads in general you could do car v.s bike drags as a between rounds showcase. Just an idea but seminars too? ie RT going through suspention (would be a tease really, don't want to give tricks away and can't cover much in 40 mins) but people get to feel involved and like they are learning and shops can showcase their stuff.

Newcomers shootout? maybe 3 groups of 4 with the winner of each one progessing to the next round? Street bikes again, shops would probably cover a days costs for one of their good customers on a nice roadbike? can be staggered thru the day too with people wanting to see the next race. You want punters to stay all day I bet youd rather have 5000 people ALL DAY than 7000 for a little bit. if it's a great day the longer they stay the more likely thay'll be to return with friends