Rockingham main entrance adverts

[Tiesse]

The local freebie newspaper in Wellingborough had coverage of the BTCC races with Nick Leeson doing a regular column in the sports section, however at no point was there (or since) any mention of the new BRSCC series starting the week later. Wellingborough should be a good catchment area for Rockingham as it is around a 30 min car ride away. A missed opportunity IMHO.

The local radio station (Connect FM) was promoting the Truckfest event at Peterborough the other week, running competitions to win tickets etc. That event wasn't even in Northamptonshire! Another missed opportunity!

I have every intention this week to email them both asking why the BRSCC events get no coverage whatsoever. If everybody does the same, maybe someone shall start to take notice (it's all very well us all moaning about it on here, but as fans we need to do our bit as well & be a little pro-active).

BTW Speedworx, well done for posting your pics on the Canon Photography on the Net Motorsport Forum. As I said before, the more images posted on that site following each meeting, the better (free publicity to petrol heads that are also keen photographers who may on the off chance be encouraged to come along).

[chrisn]

Things are no longer the same as they were a few years ago but you are now comparing apples and oranges - both are fruit but they are very different.
Before Rockingham were acting as the promoter and they spent a lot of money promoting the series - pop music, newspaper ads, ads in fields, a marketing team and a Jeff Carter all cost money. The aim is to recover that money spent through gate returns. That proved difficult.
Now I guess that Rockingham are not spending this money. BRSCC are primarily a race organizer who will fund their operation through entry fees. They may have done a deal on gate receipts and be acting as a promoter - I don't know. However their main income source, like club level racing, will be from entry fees and they will probably not have anywhere close to the sort of income to match the sort of money spent on promotion previously.
There are some things that can be done locally quite cheaply as has been highlighted. However you still need a locally based team to physically do it and that costs money - will the retun on extra gate receipts cover the cost?

I face the same concern here from local national racers - why do we not spend more money promoting them. Truth is the returns on that money spent will be limited and the money would be better spent promoting other events which will give a greater return on the money being spent.

Sorry, but it is a sad face of economic reality I am afraid.

Chris N

[kate16draft]

Finally...a post i can stick my teeth into!!

I agree with lots of your comments, not enough is being done.
So why rant and rave about it when you could put the time to doing something about it!
Thats what i have done and have now been named on the Pickup Truck website as Draft Racings Promotions Director see link http://www.pickuptruckracing.com/ind...32,553,0,0,1,0

I decided to do something about the measly crowds, its a big task but i am finally getting answers after 8 months of trying!!

I contacted all Pickup Truck drivers at the end of last season wanting their Newspaper and Radio details thereafter i contacted the ones who replied and now have 6 papers and 2 radio stations on board. This may not be alot but its a good start.

I asked about having the Trucks on display in 5 Town Centres including Northampton, guess what...they all wanted £1000's of pounds for one day. With no funding this was an out right noway!! But i kept on asking and i finally found a Shopping Centre close to me in Baskingstoke who are having a Fathers Day weekend with a Formula 1 car on display. I e-mailled them about our 2 Draft Racing Trucks being on display too and they agreed and it is FREE! This was part of their promotional weekend. The event is going to be fantastic with Newspaper AND radio coverage, competitions, huge plasma screen showing the racing, candyfloss and hotdog stalls, it is going to be set out like a race day would be, flags, tyres, all the Pit Crew, the list goes on.

The car on a trailer is a great FREE way to advertise. Draft Racing will be doing this during the Summer months around the tracks in which the Pickups are racing to drum up some followers.

Speak to YOUR local Paper/Radio and tell them about your interests. If you dont ask you dont get! Most of them cry out for local talent but they dont look around so it up to you to do the chasing!

You will not get any money out of anyone. The best thing to do is the good old saying 'DIY'... leaflets drops, organising coach trips to the Thunder Sundays, putting posters up and talking to people about the events are all FREE ways of drumming up extra bums on seats!

I have thousands of Pickup Truck posters and leaflets. Admitidely they may not be what you want BUT they do advertise all Rockingham events and they are FREE to use. Do the SCSA have any? If yes i would love some to use in my promotion work, use each others material and work together, both series want the same thing - followers!

Lastly, you will hit brick walls with any type of promotion work, HARD! But my advice is keep on keeping on at them! They will get sick and tired of you asking and by then they will more than likely give you a shot just to shut you up!

If we all do our bit (because, lets face it, if we dont there will be no series and we will all be very bored on Sundays) and work together i am sure we will get those stands heaving again!

[MrkyMrk]

Ideally, we need a national paper behind it. Even if it's The Sport!

Maybe would have worked a couple of years back with the lapdance clubs sponsoring cars, eh!

[Dave17]

A perfect reply Chris and I would think accurate. I seem to recall that the BRSCC made a loss last year and so do not have a budget for promotion of Rockingham.
It is usually the circuits that do all the promotion and actually charge the clubs for use of their circuits which they recoup from race entries, not from gate money.

[racing59]

In this instance, the BRSCC IS the promotor. and they DO get the gate. It's a whole new world for them. Something they have never had to do before, and sadly, they lost their best marketing person (Vicky Squirrell) some time back.

It's chicken and egg situation. They need the gate money to fund the promotion. They need to promote the meetings to get the people through the gate.

It's therefore in our interests (as the teams), to help the BRSCC promote the meeting. A bit like "Care in the community"!!!!!

The BRSCC made a paper loss last year, though much of that was due to restructuring, and creative accountancy to get rid of millstones that have hung around their neck for many years.

This time last year, I would have been standing at BRSCC towers selling rocks for a stoning! Then they had a big change at the top, Iain Brown has come in and is moving and shaking things. The club is coming back from the brink of what can only be described as oblivion!

Today, I'm happy to say that the BRSCC is on the way back to being a club well worth being involved with.

The regular situation where the circuits charge the clubs ten(s) of thousands of pounds for the pleasure of using their tarmac, then the circuit takes all of the gate money, in my opinion stinks.

The situation where the circuits like Castle Combe, and Motorsport Vision, run their own meetings is where they can run fully promoted meetings and be in control of what is racing. They put on races that are what people want to see, and then the place fills up, and they win.

Some clubs are offering reduced entry fees if the grids are filled via a rebate system. I guess it's a start.

That's all by the by.

I'm getting some banner made up to hang on the trailer, and going to have a ride around the towns.

After all, in my area I have two new campaigns for new Air Ambulance's - Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Lots of funds to raise!

Rob.

[Tiesse]

As I know from a post I made here last year, there are a few ice hockey fans who are also into the racing at Rockingham. There is a similar thread going on at the moment on Milton Keynes Lightning's forum allong the same lines as this thread.

http://mkihforums.com/showthread.php...d=1#post103781

I have just posted the following on the thread as it would likely to be free promotion on both sides.

"I go to the oval racing at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby & there is a similar discussion going on their forum at the moment of how to increase the numbers of spectators at each event. Maybe an idea for some cross promotion? Could have an area set up with a goal & have a shooting competition for kids etc. at a race meeting (doesn't necessarily have to be on ice!).

In return have a couple of the cars on display on the way into the rink with maybe a combined ticket promotion (I am now off the their forum to post the same!)"

http://dot.motorsportforum.com/forum...d.php?t=117506

[Speedworx]

BTW Speedworx, well done for posting your pics on the Canon Photography on the Net Motorsport Forum. As I said before, the more images posted on that site following each meeting, the better (free publicity to petrol heads that are also keen photographers who may on the off chance be encouraged to come along).

No worries. More will be added as the season goes on.

[racing59]

I've been trying to talk a former British GT driver into doing the rookie training on Pistonheads..... I think I might have done enough.....

Rob.

[chrisn]

Couple of observations on your response Rob;
1. I hope that BRSCC have the commitment. I know Ian Brown has a marketing background but a lot of work will have to be done to get the gate receipts to snowball the promotion.
2. The previous managements at Rockingham have tried throwing a lot of money at it. They even had the opportunity to run their own Club operation but were too short sighted to see the value of that in the medium to long term.
3. Clubs having to hire the venue to put races on it is I am afraid a cold economic reality. The clever thing is to get the level right. I have been on the Club and Circuit side of this equation and while Circuits cost many tens of millions of pounds to build/buy, millions of pounds to operate and maintain a year then organisations bringing races that attract few at the gate will have to pay tens of thousands of pounds to run races at them. I spent many years doing this at UK circuits for high profile Championships. The aim is to get to the position of those like BTCC who can bring the crowd and then demand fees to run. But first you have to show that people will come to your event and pay to watch.

Not pleasant I know, but that is the way the world works I am afraid.

Chris N