has a1gp reached its ambitions?

[madmed]

has a1gp reached its ambitions?
i think it is a good success for the inaugural year

[madmed]

we still have two rounds
and i think we will have big crowds
a1 gp popularity is rising all over the world but not in europe
Why?

[Bluewolf]

Hard to say if this year is a success or not -- As far as the racing -- having the same car/engine/tires is good on paper but then having one team pretty much dominate {France} can't possibly be good if you want to grow the fanbase, and some people will surely feel that France has found or created something that gives them an advantage. This year does create a baseline though and it will be interesting to see if the T V ratings and fan support at the tracks grows next year or not -- Personally, I believe this concept of country versus country is such a great idea that I can't see how it won't succeed.

[madmed]

France is dominating
But french people are not very interested by a1gp

[Kebab]

Next year will probably be a lot closer as more teams gain knowledge about the cars' behaviour at the various circuits. I am sure it'll be bigger and better in late 2006/07.

Don't forget that the 'emerging markets' like Africa, India, China, etc. are probably far more important to the founders than Europe.

Will be interesting to see how many people turn up to watch in the US!

[Asp]

Originally Posted by Bluewolf

but then having one team pretty much dominate {France} can't possibly be good if you want to grow the fanbase,

I accept it's not good for the fan base, but providing the races continue to provide all round excitement, with overtaking all the way down the field, it's not exactly a bad thing.
People who watch A1GP are generally saying what a good thing and how exciting it is, inspite of the dominance by France (notably because they're never guaranteed to win), and this positive word of mouth is a great thing for the series.

Originally Posted by madmed

But french people are not very interested by a1gp

This is one of current annoyances. There is next to no coverage over here in France. The TV coverage is next to non-existant, and general media coverage is poor. It normally gets a mention in the weekly Cars/bikes/motorsport round up on the main channel over here on a Sunday morning, but that's it. The reason the French aren't interested is simply because they don't know about it. I'm sure if everyone knew how well the country was doing, they'd be a new wave of interest. Potentially even a new interest in motorsport in general - with Renault winning the F1 last year there has been a promotion from that, it's more than possible. But, the distinct lack of media interest is stopping this from happening.

[ensign14]

How on earth does a thread like this get a linked advert for Shirley Bassey?

[C.U.Motorsport]

Im sure if we set our minds to it we can get from "the success of A1GP" to "Shirley Bassey" it 3 steps.

After having the market director of Team GBR Brian Sims come to my uni to give a guest lecture last week, it is in my belief that everyone involved with A1 thinks that it has superseeded their expectations.

Brian was very down heartened at the GBR performance but was quick to mention that.

1. Most teams have many english mechanics
2. The company which operates the french team also operates 3 others, gibing them more data logging and testing

Of course this might not make a difference but i like to think it does.

Matthew

[strider]

Originally Posted by ensign14

How on earth does a thread like this get a linked advert for Shirley Bassey?

Good question. I've switched to the Liquid Testing skin, which gets rid of Ms Bassey for the time being, but no doubt the powers that be will find a way of re-instating the plethora of advertising.

[ss_collins]

I suspect the dominance of France is something to do with tyre optimisation.

[JAG]

A winter series is a nice novelty, unfortunately A1GP seem intent on muscling into the regular motorsport season, i.e. Brands in August!

Lets admit it, the excitement of that Brands opener has dwindled away.

[Paddockman]

Originally Posted by JAG

A winter series is a nice novelty, unfortunately A1GP seem intent on muscling into the regular motorsport season, i.e. Brands in August!

Lets admit it, the excitement of that Brands opener has dwindled away.

For you maybe! But not for everyone!

[SALEEN S7R]

I second that Paddockman, A1 has close and exciting racing most of the time up and down the field and you never know for sure who is going to win going into the races. Sure you know that there are certain nations that are much more likely to win than others but there are at least 3 or 4 nations out there at the moment capable of winning on a regular basis.

[Kebab]

I still love it too - surprised myself by how disappointed i was when i thought Laguna Seca was cancelled ... bit sad, but that's the truth! Nearly forgot there's an F1 race on too!

[Kiwi3]

Overall I have been thrilled with it - fantastic racing, I love the concept and I have a NZL team to support. Plus the Durban and Indonesia rounds received great support with sellout crowds and attendance from those countries political leaders (opportunity to network is great for sponsors).

Disappointments would have to be:

a) The rumours of financial trouble. The danger is that potential sponsors will be put off by the rumours, regardless of whether they are true or not (and we can only speculate - the Sheik has no obligation to release financial information, what private company would?)

b) The German and Portugal rounds at the beginning of the season seemed to hastily put together and without promotion, disappointing considering the series was 18 months in preparation. Hopefully next season the series only visits circuits where there is going to be reasonable crowd support, e.g. Zandvoort where you would no doubt get an army of Jos fans.

c) TV coverage & lack of sponsorship in some European countries. However Europe is a crowded sports market, and I don't think A1 is wrong in concentrating on Asia & South Africa.

I am as nervous as hell about the China round, as an enormous amount of promotion has been done, however Chinese fans are new to motorsport and F1 awareness is much higher. Ticket prices are high and perhaps local fans will already have been to enough motorsport events (F1, MotoGP, V8 Supercars have already been). There are enormous grandstands to fill but A1 is fourth cab off the rank. Hope it works out.

[Raymondo]

I've heard from an insider that they have sold 150,000 tickets to the Chinese event. The Californian race is expected to be less well attended though, its in the middle of nowhere and the F1 disaster of last year is still weighing heavily on the minds of many motorsport fans in the USx

[Kiwi3]

That is good news Raymondo.

Hang on, no it isn't. I am one of the 150,000 but I have not figured out how I am going to get out to the circuit!

[madmed]

Originally Posted by Raymondo

I've heard from an insider that they have sold 150,000 tickets to the Chinese event. The Californian race is expected to be less well attended though, its in the middle of nowhere and the F1 disaster of last year is still weighing heavily on the minds of many motorsport fans in the USx

From where you got these numbers. I dont think that there is as many fans in china as this. Motorsport is new fo them.

[safc_fan89]

I think the series is great, although it would probably be more popular over here and get better media coverage if it weas on terrestrial TV. On terrestrial news channels, I bet it would only get a mention if GB won some races.

But then, the last World Superbikes was only reported on the BBC because one of the riders (whose name I can't remember) fell off his bike and was driven into by another rider...

[Raymondo]

i heard it from one of the team owners. i have no reason to doubt him

[Kiwi3]

Well promotion for the Shanghai round has been huge, TV advertising and billboards at every second bus stop. However many people here are only aware of F1.

Half an hour ago I was offered a free ticket to "tomorrow's F1 race". A bit odd I thought considering they are in Bahrain this weekend...Curious I went to pick it up (thinking it would be for A1 in a couple of weeks), turns out it is for the Chinese National Road Racing Championship...

V8's here was also promoted quite heavily, one person there suggested to me they got 20-30k, although officical figure was 50k. Perhaps the official figure is across the whole weekend (which is what the 150k for A1 might be), with the huge grandstands a crowd could look smaller than it is.

[xman_wolve]

150,000 tickets sold was a PR thing done by the organiser about month and a half. They didn't exactly say 150,000 were sold but instead they said they have a contract with a Hong Kong travel agency to sell 150,000 tickets.....yea right, shipping 150,000 people from Hong Kong to see the A1 race!!

Anyway, anybody who have a sense KNEW that's not possible. It's only a rumor that trying to get more track side business/sponsorship that sort of things. come on....they didn't even sell 150,000 tickets for F1 and they get 150,000 for A1? the latest word I heard from them is that they have sold 35,000 so far....hope that's true...

[Kiwi3]

I could believe 35,000

[MickAU]

Originally Posted by foxy mole

Good question. I've switched to the Liquid Testing skin, which gets rid of Ms Bassey for the time being, but no doubt the powers that be will find a way of re-instating the plethora of advertising.

Hey Big Spender, possibly? Maybe A1 needs a big spender to spend a little time with them!

[Kiwi3]

Negative stories tend to get told pretty quickly, but I think positive ones deserve to be told as well.

I have booked my Shanghai race ticket on the official web site, but on the first two attempts got an error message rather than a confirmation. Assuming that the transactions had not gone through I tried a third time and succeeded.

Before I even noticed anything amiss, the A1GP ticket office emailed me, to check whether the three transactions were what I wanted. Pretty rare I think to get this kind of proactive communication. Upon replying that in fact they were not, the next day I got a note back apologising for any difficulties with the web site and that two of the transactions would be credited back.

Makes a pleasant change to get this positive and proactive service, if this is how A1 treats it's customers then it really deserves to succeed.

BTW - I think the problem was with my credit card not with the web site, so they were not to blame in the first place.

Sorry if this post is getting a bit off topic, but I think it reflects very positively on the behind the scenes operation of A1GP. To have this kind of efficiency in the first season suggests there are a lot of things they are doing right.