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I may be wrong, but I thought Easter weekend 750MC at Snetterton was three tickets only (I recall it highlighted in Final Instructions).
I can see the logic in believing it might generate extra revenue (as previously mentioned, there's no cost saving, as the print costs will be about a penny a ticket, they are bulk printed, then overprinted with event details), and I can see that it might appear worth the inevitable p'ing off of competitors. Certainly it's not going to put off competitors.
But,
This increases the value of entrant tickets. People who treated spares as scrap are more likely to donate/trade them. They are more likely to see MSV as attempting to fleece them, and are more likely to take greater liberties in other areas. But of coourse, none of that shows up in the Profit & Loss.
What it might mean is that the 'large teams' Cynic refers to will come one time less every season. What you'll find is that what MSV think they have gained by getting one extra person to fork out a tenner is matched by a reduction in the gate.
Also, Cynic, you should remember that all those people 'not contributing' are spending cash on food & drink ("Can of warm pop? That'll be a quid to you, sir"), and whatever else is on offer. whether services are owned or franchised, some of that is going back to the circuit owners, and there are rumours that one Interpublic circuit was funded by burger sales. A trip to Days Of Thunder, and you would be staggered by the customer spend.
Also these hangers-on are telling other people about the event (free marketing).
I can understand the reasons for the action, but disturbs me that (as in so many other areas of this sport) the thinking and actions are all about cutting and reducing. Taken to its extreme, we'll have Rod Birley alone alone at Cadwell (the last circuit that hasn't become a superstore), wondering where everyone else went. We need to be thinking expansion. Follow this route, and we reach a point where every circuit has racing every weekend, and every gridspace is full. I know which option I prefer.
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