Quote:
Originally Posted by E36ST
Discounting ticket prices isn't the answer in my opinion. If the ST's are putting on a quality show then people will be prepared to pay a reasonable entry price. Last I heard was that they were thinking of a $30 weekend pass which seems ridiculously low & on a par with the previous Tier 1 meetings. Even with these previous rounds the drivers were managing to obtain and sell on weekend entry passes for as little as $15.
Makes it fairly difficult for the circuit owners to use income from the gate takings to invest in new infrastructure and upgrading facilities.
Personally I'm not all that impressed with the underhandedness (is that a word?) that has gone on with the creation of this ST class but if what I hear is correct that one of their meetings next year (October) will be an endurance race featuring big name international drivers (Dixon, Franchitti, Whincup... etc) then that can only be a good thing for motorsport in NZ.
I just hope they don't f... I mean screw it up by cutting the bones out of ticket pricing, or in any other way for that matter. Hopefully now that it's here (well, almost) it will be rolled out in a professional manner.
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It's not really the discounting thing I was getting at - it's more making it easy for a huge number of people to buy (or at least think about buying) tickets - even if it gets discounted just the once (even 25%), and twice as many people go, hopefully if the racing is good enough and the entertainment is of a high standard, then a portion of the "newbies" who haven't been before will feel compelled to go again.
I still don't see why we can't put on a show almost as big as the V8 Supercars, just using a little more ingenuity to try and get the word out to as many potetial fans as possible.
Here's another idea (that I had some years ago) - how about getting the V8 drivers into local schools - bet the kids would be pressuring their parents to buy tickets then! Or have a race car in a shopping mall, and have a ticket stand there next to it with someone like Boothy or Johnny Mac or Kayne there bigging it up. Have a big screen TV there showing tight racing, burnouts and spins - you'll pull the punters every time!
Mobile phones! There's another avenue! How about a V8 app for iPhones? you can follow a driver and get news updates on their progress. Or a basic game? There are just so many ways to get the word out there!
Why not a V8 Roadshow? Put a car or two and a bunch of drivers into a big flash transporter and visit the hosting town a week or two before the event? Drivers and teams can take it in turns to do the appearances. Get the radio stations to track where the show will be and point the kids to it (it's all about the kids). As above, visit schools, malls, town centres, wherever there are people.
These are the sorts of things we wanted TMC to adopt years ago, but no avail...
I just want to see motorsport flourish in this country!