NZ road racing in serious trouble

[svs]

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 ..)

Try same rules as world superstock. That's pretty much our 600 Sport production Rules and true supersport bikes would be way too expensive for this country.

Apart from that, maybe a good idea - bring back the rider levy, but instead of going to insurance it could go towards promotion. If it added $25 to a event entry fee would that kill off the entry numbers? I Dunno? I'd still enter

If the promoter did a decent enough job then you might be able to start charging gate fees, but i think that should be part of the incentive for the job - a cut on gate takings.

[Brian d marge]

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.

Some places can do it ...on the other thread , it was said that club days were considerably cheaper..and it really doesn't matter what the excuses are, if you price yourself out of the market ( see round 5) ...the show doesn't go on..

So are there cheaper tracks available ?


Stephen

[White trash]

I remember reading your original letter in 04 when Johann asked for my thoughts on it then. As I wasn't a racer it wasn't my place to respond but I must say I thought it a fantastic idea back then.

It still is now in fact. Shame KB wasn't such an awesome resource then as it is now.

[FROSTY:Me]

Heres a question Ive never heard a decent answer to.
Where does the $100 odd a year that we pay for race licences ACTUALLY go??
It woulds be really sad to find that for example ROAD race licence holders are actually paying to send a MX rider to japan to compete.
Im not shit stirring here but its following on from what Shaun is saying
400 road licence holders x 100 a year means a lot of moolah.

[Clivoris]

I attended the NZGP and V8's at Manfield last weekend. The amount of money involved on the day was phenomenal. Virtually every team in every class had uniforms, promotional material. Some had grid girls etc. The atmosphere was electric and the public lapped it up. Kids hunting posters and autographs. They knew the driver's names and had their favorites. The racing was even pretty good. Nowhere near the excitement of the nationals, but pretty good, and I had a great day.
It's obvious that the public more readily identify with car racing, "driving's in the blood", but a lot of the excitement and atmosphere seemed to be pure hype. All paid for by sponsorship I assume, which is available because of the hype, which draws the sponsorship.......
We have a few teams at the pointy end of road racing in NZ that are doing this level of professionalism. The efforts of LG, as a non-motorcycling business, are outstanding and noticeable.
What would it take to get motorcycling up there at the same level as the cars?
Money, and then some more money. I suspect that it would take 3-5 years of sustained effort to increase the profile of our sport before we could start hooking some of the big sponsors in. Making connections in the mainstream media, getting some of the names and stories out there. Paying for the TV coverage so people can see how bloody cool it is. Finding ways to generate hype at the track, trade displays, chicks in lycra, bronzed male vikings in fur briefs holding a brolly for Flame. Whatever it takes. Then promote. This would cost mega I imagine, and the well is pretty dry. One of you young racers out there needs to marry Madonna and bring her money back to New Zealand.
Can a positive cycle be started without pingers?

[GIXser]

I attended the NZGP and V8's at Manfield last weekend. The amount of money involved on the day was phenomenal. Virtually every team in every class had uniforms, promotional material. Some had grid girls etc. The atmosphere was electric and the public lapped it up. Kids hunting posters and autographs. They knew the driver's names and had their favorites. The racing was even pretty good. Nowhere near the excitement of the nationals, but pretty good, and I had a great day.
It's obvious that the public more readily identify with car racing, "driving's in the blood", but a lot of the excitement and atmosphere seemed to be pure hype. All paid for by sponsorship I assume, which is available because of the hype, which draws the sponsorship.......
We have a few teams at the pointy end of road racing in NZ that are doing this level of professionalism. The efforts of LG, as a non-motorcycling business, are outstanding and noticeable.
What would it take to get motorcycling up there at the same level as the cars?
Money, and then some more money. I suspect that it would take 3-5 years of sustained effort to increase the profile of our sport before we could start hooking some of the big sponsors in. Making connections in the mainstream media, getting some of the names and stories out there. Paying for the TV coverage so people can see how bloody cool it is. Finding ways to generate hype at the track, trade displays, chicks in lycra, bronzed male vikings in fur briefs holding a brolly for Flame. Whatever it takes. Then promote. This would cost mega I imagine, and the well is pretty dry. One of you young racers out there needs to marry Madonna and bring her money back to New Zealand.
Can a positive cycle be started without pingers?

Youre right on the money...but this is where the diference lies...
car followers are a different breed of people, motorbike followers as a whole have a different mentality (my belief anyway), i remember when i first got LG on board, and tried to jazz it up a bit and make a bit of a song and dance.. all i got was ..why did he get it he's no good..and shit like that.! not from everyone but a few people,, what these people/boguns dont get... is that being fast is one thing, but making the whole thing somewhat entertaining is even better...even if you are not the fastest out there !!after all youre there for the sponsor..which in turn means you are there for the public... yes its wanky having posters etc... but that is what the public wants..well little kids anyway.. i think people need to be more profesional in the sport as a whole,, it doesnt have to cost a fortune either.. the sport needs a big lift..from everyone

[koba]

the sport needs a big lift..from everyone

Thast the key bit aye, all you guys posting in here do alot for the sport.
I think getting more people putting in positivley is the place to start.

Even just having good, brief, exciting clips on you tube and silly wee things like that are what is going to make it work.

[Clivoris]

Youre right on the money...but this is where the diference lies...
car followers are a different breed of people, motorbike followers as a whole have a different mentality (my belief anyway), i remember when i first got LG on board, and tried to jazz it up a bit and make a bit of a song and dance.. all i got was ..why did he get it he's no good..and shit like that.! not from everyone but a few people,, what these people/boguns dont get... is that being fast is one thing, but making the whole thing somewhat entertaining is even better...even if you are not the fastest out there !!after all youre there for the sponsor..which in turn means you are there for the public... yes its wanky having posters etc... but that is what the public wants..well little kids anyway.. i think people need to be more profesional in the sport as a whole,, it doesnt have to cost a fortune either.. the sport needs a big lift..from everyone

I think the bike crew are different, but it wasn't "car people" that stuck out for me at the V8s. They were people out for an experience. A parallel with the street races is relevant here I think. As a "watch of a race" the street meetings are pretty average, but people go for the "buzz", and I bet that a large proportion of the audience aren't bikers. The trans-tasman burglars angle would go very well as a promotional tool too, I think.
I absolutely agree with you as well about "being fast is one thing". They were all giving their sponsors value for money by putting the image out there (I would love to know how the budgets pan oout). The top finishers got more exposure and fans, but all the garages were humming. I had a wee chat to Angus Fogg as I felt some bizzare brand loyalty to LG. He had some bad luck in the early race but did well in the last. Funnily enough, my son didn't want one of his posters because of the girls on it spoiling it. Dad got that one.
The solution will definitely involve more than MNZ. Their resources are not great. Somehow, we as riders need to find a way to build a critical mass of interest that draws others in.

[Brian d marge]

I attended the NZGP and V8's at Manfield last weekend. The amount of money involved on the day was phenomenal. Virtually every team in every class had uniforms, promotional material. Some had grid girls etc. The atmosphere was electric and the public lapped it up. Kids hunting posters and autographs. They knew the driver's names and had their favorites. The racing was even pretty good. Nowhere near the excitement of the nationals, but pretty good, and I had a great day.
It's obvious that the public more readily identify with car racing, "driving's in the blood", but a lot of the excitement and atmosphere seemed to be pure hype. All paid for by sponsorship I assume, which is available because of the hype, which draws the sponsorship.......
We have a few teams at the pointy end of road racing in NZ that are doing this level of professionalism. The efforts of LG, as a non-motorcycling business, are outstanding and noticeable.
What would it take to get motorcycling up there at the same level as the cars?
Money, and then some more money. I suspect that it would take 3-5 years of sustained effort to increase the profile of our sport before we could start hooking some of the big sponsors in. Making connections in the mainstream media, getting some of the names and stories out there. Paying for the TV coverage so people can see how bloody cool it is. Finding ways to generate hype at the track, trade displays, chicks in lycra, bronzed male vikings in fur briefs holding a brolly for Flame. Whatever it takes. Then promote. This would cost mega I imagine, and the well is pretty dry. One of you young racers out there needs to marry Madonna and bring her money back to New Zealand.
Can a positive cycle be started without pingers?

The uniforms and paraphernalia is easy to do , its all image , but in this climate , a company ( should be wanting cold hard cash back ,,,or away to get virtually free advertising )

I think it can be done .

Set out a clear plan , for example as I stated before , a clear road map from fun days out to the premier class. ( can be done )

Enforce the professional attitude/ appearance . ( again this is surprisingly cheap to do .) ... Have a look at Moto gp , its interlocking plastic ( that cheap plastic cardboard stuff ............ printed/painted ) ............

Have , a training scheme ( sort of like the mentor system , here on KB ) where riders AND pit crew can learn ...I am sorry but getting the family to help set up a bike ,,,( unless he or she is good at it ..................and I work with some good women engineers , so thats no excuse )

EVERYONE must get something out of it , wether its the chance to set up forks under the watchful eye of say a well know specialist ) or learn about promotion from ..someone who has / is in that field ..right down to the rider who , gets value for money.( percieved )

It doesnt have to be big to start with. It could be Street stocks, on Kart tracks,

Me I would work back from the average disposable cash in the average YOUNGSTERS pocket , and work up from there ending up with say 600cc superstocks , with sponsorship. ( for travel expenses on????) or 600cc and a separate company looking after travel and advertising ( setting up the pits etc for nominal sum ??)


but if its kept simple and with in the average kiwis budget , it would work.

I have 2 kids , and every dollar counts , but here in Japan I can do a series . I can crate a bike and get it sent to the other end of the island ( 16000 yen , hire a truck 6000 yen a day and hotel 8000 yen a night tyres 6000 each entry fee 10000 yen approx ) 80 000 yen ( well 100 000 if you include other stuff such as toll fees ) thats affordable ( just , even more so if I got off arse and earned some extra money )

split between 4 people ? ...........................( they have clubs here who split the costs between each member ...so they purchase a bike , work on it and ride as a club ,, beats bingo night ) ????????????

it can be done

Sorry if I get steamed up, but I get pissed off when people say cant be done , and I am doing it , and it seems to me that the only thing stopping it from happening are the same olds , same olds ....which we have discussed ad infinitium ...

So ...
..had a whole raft of blah blah to add but theres no point . In the gaps in my day I will put together something to illustrate the point . it wont be accurate as I am not party to good info , but someone else will be..... may help?


Stephen imho

[sinfull]

I think the bike crew are different, but it wasn't "car people" that stuck out for me at the V8s. They were people out for an experience. A parallel with the street races is relevant here I think. As a "watch of a race" the street meetings are pretty average, but people go for the "buzz", and I bet that a large proportion of the audience aren't bikers. The trans-tasman burglars angle would go very well as a promotional tool too, I think.
I absolutely agree with you as well about "being fast is one thing". They were all giving their sponsors value for money by putting the image out there (I would love to know how the budgets pan oout). The top finishers got more exposure and fans, but all the garages were humming. I had a wee chat to Angus Fogg as I felt some bizzare brand loyalty to LG. He had some bad luck in the early race but did well in the last. Funnily enough, my son didn't want one of his posters because of the girls on it spoiling it. Dad got that one.
The solution will definitely involve more than MNZ. Their resources are not great. Somehow, we as riders need to find a way to build a critical mass of interest that draws others in.

I'd be interested to see what draw a well advertised stunt show could bring to a vic series round ! Has anyone tried it ?

[GIXser]

there is one way to make a start.. that is.. to set up our own club, like amcc or vmcc.. but its focus is on promotion etc...

[roadracingoldfart]

I'd be interested to see what draw a well advertised stunt show could bring to a vic series round ! Has anyone tried it ?

Yeah ..... Get Frenchy to do a lunch session .

In the 80s there was a young guy (Steffan Merryman or Something) doing a show on a Trials bike and he was the talking point of the meeting , up in the crowd , riding the pit wall and then over the marshals car to the cheer of the crowd.
Thats the thing needed , specticle and excitment.

Anything promoting motorcycle racing is going to get my vote.

Paul.

[Tony.OK]

Youre right on the money...but this is where the diference lies...
car followers are a different breed of people, motorbike followers as a whole have a different mentality (my belief anyway), i remember when i first got LG on board, and tried to jazz it up a bit and make a bit of a song and dance.. all i got was ..why did he get it he's no good..and shit like that.! not from everyone but a few people,, what these people/boguns dont get... is that being fast is one thing, but making the whole thing somewhat entertaining is even better...even if you are not the fastest out there !!after all youre there for the sponsor..which in turn means you are there for the public... yes its wanky having posters etc... but that is what the public wants..well little kids anyway.. i think people need to be more profesional in the sport as a whole,, it doesnt have to cost a fortune either.. the sport needs a big lift..from everyone

Mate you and Chopper are doing an exceptional job getting LG's name out there..................there will always be people trying to put others down.

From what I saw at Paeroa every kid and second adult had something with an LG logo.......................the pit setup was never empty either. I came home with nothing though

I'm hoping other businesses might start to take note of what you and LG are doing and get drawn into the scene. Then I might not have to make up my own cheesey T shirts lol.

[KS34]

Dear lord I do believe people on this thread are getting excited! Entertainment is the key, all these ideas are great but as Gixser has already said we need a group of people to put all this excitement together as an event/series. My idea of a great idea is several people with drive /ideas/contacts get together and have a brainstorming day/weekend, get all the ideas out there see what is possible and act, as a group and with this network of people on kiwibiker with all their strengths and abilities this can take off, it's just a case of can we all be bothered? I will put my hand up.

[piston broke]

well i was surprised 2 days ago,
there was an ad on tv about the puke round.
thats the first i remember ever of any nz bike racing.
i've been watchin tv since it was b and w