Rockingham anyone ?
Discussion
Rockingham anyone ? Word from the circuit that there are more Americans there than Brits, and likely to be a disappointing turnout on the day. Pity, after all the effort that has gone into it.
Not many people have seen Champ cars on an oval, but those who have absolutely rave about it. Surely a ''must'' for any red-blooded enthusiast !
I have to say the prime reason I'm not going is the price, and I joined the supporters club with the thought of getting a decent discount.
I fear it's going to be too expensive to attract people on the offchance of seeing some decent racing. A more sensible approach might have been to heavily discount the tickets in order to get people through the door in the hope that they'd return again for other events.
I just looked at the prices ... wow.
I know they have to recoup their costs for this excellent facility, but they won't attract many spectators with those prices. They need to drop them by 50% before I'd consider going. The current prices are equivalent to 2 tanks of petrol in the TVR!
Back to their website to look for a 'comments/suggestions' email address ...
T/.
Edited by trefor on Thursday 20th September 14:50
Those prices are ridiculous.
If British motor racing wants to compete with the likes of football and other sports they've got to make it attractive for families to go - the spectators of tomorrow.
Rarely do you see British race tracks heaving with people except for a few choice meetings in the season.
Casual punters aren't going to 'pop along' and take a look at those prices.
Anything with a big V8 is great ... Americans know how to make a muscle car (OK, not a pure sportscar, but you get the idea).
I just sent them an email asking them what they are thinking and why they can't drop the prices, get the people in, then maybe put them up a bit when it catches on. I can't see a bank manager/investor reading the business plan for this place and thinking, £150 a ticket, that'll get the place filled up and get hot dog sales going nicely.
T/.
I just checked out the site, and the prices for the ASCAR series and superbikes are a very reasonable £10(ish) per adult - might just go along to that, read about it in EVO, sounds worth a look - but as for the champ cars - that's just daft, they're never going to fill the stadium at that price, the place is doomed!
...and just think, having seen the newspaper report this morning, you could have spent God knows how much on practise tickets just to watch two vans with massive hair dryers on the back trying to dry the track out. The Champ cars can't even race on a damp circuit let alone a wet one! What are the chances of not having ANY rain this time of year? I think they need to rethink this whole thing if they want anyone to turn up at all.
I went on Saturday and I was impressed by the racing but not by the organisation - I could live with the ticket price if they didn't hike everything else with it - over £3 for 2 coffee's
Delayed start times and a shortened race (they cars had more practice time than race time on Saturday) plus a 2hr queue to leave the car park.
I'm glad I didn't go. What I saw on the TV was dull, but then I have never seen the point of oval racing. I appreciate the skill in high-speed slipstreaming, but I don't find it very entertaining to watch.
David Grace admitted that they still hadn't got the traffic sorted out.
IMHO better to spend £15 for a day watching GTs, Tuscans, F3, Porkers, Minis, etc.
Roy
Edited by Roy C on Monday 24th September 09:42
In the run-up I heard that BBC were intending to televise this and was going to watch, but on Saturday I couldn't find the time - perhaps this was because of the delays on the day?
Also what was the problem that caused the race to slip back throught the day (it didn't rain) and then be shortnened by approx. half the laps? In the end the race duration was only 1 hour 20 mins which is less than an F1 GP. Doesn't seem like good value to me?
From what I saw of the highlights on Grandstand, it was 138 laps of tedium followed by 2 manic laps where the leaders diced to the finish.
Not sure what they can do to improve the racing, although David Grace did suggest they might be using aero tweeks to make overtaking easier.
If I'd shelled out that much money for a ticket I think I'd be feeling a little hard done by at the moment ! What I don't understand is why they can't (or don't) allow spectators onto the grass banks all the way round the track - seems like an opportunity to get some people who baulked at the idea of paying that much for a ticket through the doors in the hope of getting them to return.
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