NZ road racing in serious trouble

[Shaun]

PLAN made and Posted out in 2004,and look where we have gotten to already, perhaps I should have tried to do this 10 years ago.





Road racing coordinator/Promoter- This is a copy of a letter that I wrote and forwarded out to ALL registered Road Race License holders in 2004 the MNZ had a postal address for


I ONLY RECEIVED about 40 replies from over 150 letters!!!

Please take the time to read and respond. Your comments are extremely important and with out your feed back it makes it hard to make changes that will benefit our racing and enhance the future of our sport.

I am proposing that the motorcycle fraternity Employ our OWN full time promoter/coordinator, until all responses are returned and sifted through the full time job description is not possible to out line here but I will include what I would like this person to be doing.

Job Description

Co-ordination of all clubs for the race format, and information for riders, and communication with MNZ.
Promotional work with the media,series sponsors, importers,clubs,MNZ etc.
Group purchasing of race products making our purchase price “lower”
already giving us a return on our investment!

Who to employ

I suggest that we nominate 2 riders reps from each class and let this group go through all the resumes and make a choice.

How to pay this person

This is where I need you to all think long and hard about OUR racing and OUR sport and what it means to YOU?

I propose that all MNZ Road racing license holders invest $250-00 each .69 cents per day per year!!!!!

145 people x $250-00 = $ 36-250, I had a company that was prepared to invest $5000 as well- Total $ 41-250

$41-250 paid to a promoter as a base salary with an agreed percentage of additional funds collected by this person on OUR behalf.

This system will allow this person sell sell sell and make more income for them self, as well as promoting our sport professionaly and encouraging sponsors to invest there money in OUR sport

I realise this may seem to simple, but some of the best things in life are simple!!

90% of replies AGREED with it.


So how do we MAKE THIS happen?

The only way I can see racing going forward, is for the planning/coorination of it all coming into the 21st centenary and very very quickly

[GIXser]

sorry to say this shaun, but if ya want a good promoter, $41 k aint gonna cut it, after all you want people with connections, not people that need to "make connections" you pay for what you get....now dont get me wrong the concept is good, but where im from the numbers dont stack up.

ps on top of that you have car, petrol , travel, accomodation etc, my guess is a package of $120 k and you will get someone that can make a difference,,

my two cents..

[Shaun]

sorry to say this shaun, but if ya want a good promoter, $41 k aint gonna cut it, after all you want people with connections, not people that need to "make connections" you pay for what you get....now dont get me wrong the concept is good, but where im from the numbers dont stack up.

ps on top of that you have car, petrol , travel, accomodation etc, my guess is a package of $120 k and you will get someone that can make a difference,,

my two cents..

Fair point man

The main reason I posted this on here is show one and all that RIDERS really are the main problem! Only 40 replies to the above WOW

[Tony.OK]

I can certainly understand that someone is needed to take on that role..................but as an already struggling rider asking for more money in the current financial climate may as well be the final nail in the coffin.

I would be more comfortable in, say having a levy ($10 maybe) put into a race entry fee or something along those lines.

[scrivy]

I would be more comfortable in, say having a levy ($10 maybe) put into a race entry fee or something along those lines.

Why can't we charge more on the gates?? $5 here and there to support the racers?? Would you be gutted to think that for another $25 a year, you won't get to see the Nationals? If there were a 1000 spectators at each National event, then that would be $5000 x 5 = $25000 more $$$ to pay some one to do a good job.
Increasing riders entry fees would only bring in about $7500 if there were 150 riders (which sadly there aren't).

But I do agree, we MUST do something NOW!!

[Tony.OK]

Why can't we charge more on the gates?? $5 here and there to support the racers?? Would you be gutted to think that for another $25 a year, you won't get to see the Nationals? If there were a 1000 spectators at each National event, then that would be $5000 x 5 = $25000 more $$$ to pay some one to do a good job.
Increasing riders entry fees would only bring in about $7500 if there were 150 riders (which sadly there aren't).

But I do agree, we MUST do something NOW!!

I was thinking at club races too, spread over a club series it'd bring in quite a few extra dollars easily spread over however many months. That way its not just National level riders covering the cost, but everyone for the greater good.

[scrivy]

Imagine if we all watched the racing dwindle and dissapear and we didn't spend an extra $50-100 each a year to save it!!!
Pretty sad really!!

[Shaun]

Imagine if we all watched the racing dwindle and dissapear and we didn't spend an extra $50-100 each a year to save it!!!
Pretty sad really!!

Your reply here, is Exactually why I wrote the letter in the first place 5 years ago! I could see the trouble coming then

[GIXser]

Fair point man

The main reason I posted this on here is show one and all that RIDERS really are the main problem! Only 40 replies to the above WOW

ps im all for a riders fee that is compulsory, after all it is for the sponsors benefit!! either way Shaun you are definately on the right track !!

[PeteJ]

Shaun and Scrivy, I absolutely agree with what you say (and yes, Shaun, I was one who did not reply to your letter of 5 years ago...).

The problem is that we need the majority of riders to shell out more than they are capable of doing (either because they don't have the money, or they are too stingy to pay it). See, for example, the "expense" comments in the current thread on Rd 5 National Champs.

At the club level, which is the majority of competitors, our sport does not draw from well-heeled people. And those few who do have money are not likely to pay lumps unless they can see financial return or some other deeply personal gratification.

My pessimism at all this is born of the sport's decades of past failure to raise the big lumps of money to gain the interest and support we need. It is, as Scrivy hints, a waste of money to get an underpaid promoter. MNZ (or, more accurately, NZACU in earlier days) discovered that repeatedly.

Then you get a great idea and involve an international promoter, and get done over as happened with WSB.

[quallman1234]

This would work for Nationals. Not so much club meetings.

We need more events like the TRRS on the Club Scale.

[Racin Jason]

I didnt get that letter in 04 but i would have given it a thumbs up.

Whats $250 on top of an average racers budget? or a few extra bucks per meeting? By the end of a racing season it would hardly make a difference on the total budget. Money well spent i think.

[Brian d marge]

Well I would be up for that ....Remember if its community orientated you could apply for lotteries funding or task force green or something along those lines ,

A retired person maybe??

But you ( I would look long and hard at the ( cant think of the word ) but the way racing is /has been funded ..its outmoded and just doesnt work ..

a sponsor wants clear return on investment , and I cant think of ANY situation that would give a NZ sponsor a clear ROI . Not even at wsbk. ( except for shifting bike of the show room floor ...then a manufacture would lose this is the murky area of advertising ....)
As entertainment , Paeroa works .. still only 20 000 people max ... As a trade show with business offering / showing product ..

One thing is for sure . the costs need to be scaled back . In this climate 10 000 dollars for a track ( In New Zealand ) is plain robbery .. A percentage of the overall take maybe, but not a up front fee.

New Zealand is not a wealthy country , and because of this it has/,,,had???? 2 surprising spin offs IMHO, can do ( just do it ) and as much as I hate to say it ,,the No 8 fencing wire . attitude ...( not all of it was bad ,,) ..Buckets are a perfect example of the talent s ...look at what a fella on KB is doing ....( it could produce skilled engineers , and riders if the skills of a professional racer/engineer were available to be learnt.and used .)

So Racing in Nz . Scaled back , aimed at producing riders that can cut it over seas ,, look at Australia ,,for talent ... We are better than them ,,,by a long shot ! )

Over haul of MNZ. What are they there for and are they needed ... if they cannot be justified , ( if it is just for insurance ,,, why do we need all the other paraphernalia ...

With Motocross in NZ , I pay 35 dollars , for a day licence , race my heart out ,,, go home ...tyres , fuel , etc total ....200 dollars even if I bought a new set of tyres ...Usually 50 bucks including the day licence ......

Look how popular mx is ..and where we are on the world stage,,,,,,,,,

Heres an Idea

Buckets. The presentation is getting better , but this is an Ideal training ground for ..A ; Engineers , B riders

add a touch of professionalism , a bit more colour and razzmatazz ( easy to do on the smaller tracks ....)

The premier class being , 600 super sport ( using the same rules as world super sport , ( that means you can at least enter you bike ,in a world event ,,,, see side-cars ..)

Sorry for the drifting of ideas , but I think the fundamentals Must be changed , with clear aims and goals ,, otherwise its dead in the water ...

Stephen

[PeteJ]

One thing is for sure . the costs need to be scaled back . In this climate 10 000 dollars for a track ( In New Zealand ) is plain robbery .. A percentage of the overall take maybe, but not a up front fee.

Stephen

If I had paid the necessary millions of dollars on land and developing a road race track, I'd be seriously worried at getting enough even to maintain it at the annual return NZ track owners get.

Seriously, say $10K an average week x 52 weeks = $520K. Chickenfeed. Resurfacing alone is expenditure that is near impossible to meet from this.

[sidecar bob]

I imagine all the many MNZ staff are fairly well paid, so why isint the job already being done.
Its a bit like having a public health system & paying for medical insurance because the health system sucks arse.
I would however be happy to pay for it.