2015 NERRC schedule

[Dano77]

BUT since we are on the subject.

This is a good discussion that shouldn't get brushed under the rug. What is the actual price point that creates a barrier to entry. If the general consensus is that most racers only do 2 weekends a year due to cost, what would make them do 3 or 4 in terms of cost.

And yes, I know the costs are fixed. This is a perfect world discussion in regards to the question at hand. We are wondering why the club is graying, is the cost a reason or are we all just rich old guys and the club will disappear when we die.

[Greg Amy]

As you know, that requires marketing studies, ones that the club/region is not prepared to make. Hell, instead of "30 cars at 200.00 = 6000", how do we know it might not be better to raise the entry fee to $1000 and we'll get eight entrants? More revenue, fewer workers needed, less collateral (food, beer, etc) expense?

Answer is, we don't know, and we don't possess the tools and knowledge to figure it out. So we rely on the leadership to WAG/POOMA what they think the market will bear, given known costs thus necessary revenue to break even. If someone does have that expertise and could bring it to bear, I think we'd find very little resistance toward adjusting the price to either maximize the revenue or maximize entries (which aren't the same).

Casually speaking, if we sense there is a large latent number of people out there waiting for a $50 (or whatever) decrease in entry fees, then we should answer to that. But I'd be kinda surprised if that was the case. - GA

[StephenB]

I do think we should make every effort to try some NEW ideas. For example last year we had some big money maker weekends and a weekend that we lost a bunch of money on. Historically we have the data so with little effort we can tell the trends on where we lose money. (Autocross... Haha jk) anyway here is an idea...

Let's say entries are fixed at $375 (terrible new trend we have the last few years) then the double dippers save about 1/2 of that at $200 I think. Why don't we open up the double dip to another NER weekend that had low attendance so everyone can take advantage of it? The double dippers may still double dip and the other drivers that only come to one or two weekends may double dip on another weekend. Kinda like how cranmore mt sells ski tickets... get your lift ticket 1/2 price for the second day every day but Saturday. Maybe we open this up to participants at a highly attended event?

How about if we rent our cars to people from other sanctioning bodies for the CRE we provide a discount?

Our how about like the pro guys do with a "season" pass?

Stephen

I assume we all race for free at Palmer anyway this year :-)

[StephenB]

I also think we need to focus on more entries not more money because bigger entries breed more entries... for example see Dave grand post...

Long term we will continue to shrink if we don't have more "racing" and more competition.

Stephen

[ner88]

ITEZ, barriers to entry (what ever it was called??) , Chump cars or Lemonds are not the answer.
Because the costs to continue are too high!
As Stephen said, lower entry fees will bring cars.
We need to make a bigger deal of our events.
Promote our, one of a kind, series NERRC.
make racers want to attend!

Sebring's Turkey Trot (regional) had 340+ entries @ $230.

[StephenB]

I think lower entries that encourage participation are key to drawing more cars, that's why I like the multi race discount approach. I also still think that anyone that travels more than 500 miles to race in our region should get to race for free. And before we think that is all complicated I think it's easy. Whatever your home address is that you used to register with SCCA is what we use for our Google maps start and the track we are racing at is our destination. I don't think we will lose money on this at all... all we are doing is inviting people from far away to see how fun it is to race with us. And that increases our participation which increases the want to attend for the locals when we have bigger fields...

Stephen

[Dano77]

Because the costs to continue are too high!
As Stephen said, lower entry fees will bring cars.
We need to make a bigger deal of our events.
Promote our, one of a kind, series NERRC.
make racers want to attend!

Sebring's Turkey Trot (regional) had 340+ entries @ $230.

What a great idea!!!!! Lower entry fees will bring more cars. Glad someone smarter than me was thinking about it.

[Dano77]

As Stephen said, lower entry fees will bring cars.
We need to make a bigger deal of our events.
Promote our, one of a kind, series NERRC.
make racers want to attend!

Sebring's Turkey Trot (regional) had 340+ entries @ $230.

We have gone from trying to get more entries to discussing a fix for something that isnt broken. Points structure isnt going to draw entries.

Now 3 tracks south of NH might draw some guys from NY/NJ/CT Lime Rock only guys. How doi we attratct them to the series and get them excited about running with us. Like it says, more entries lower costs. Lime Rock draws cars, Palmer is going to attract some as well. Thompson is still fresh. NHMS is long in the tooth and has issues that dont need to be discussed. We know that already. BUT the road to the Championship goes through NH.

This does not need to be a big long disertation on costs and structure. Just Ideas as simple as Challange guys in your class to a race, North VS South who knows. Call the NJRRS guys out and see if they show up. We did to the Canadians and they showed up for years. Maybe event tee shirts to draw attention to a race or series. Its going to be tough to attract a Large sponsor to do every class. BUT Maybe the NERRC SM Championship by Flatout, The NERRC IT7 Championship by it7racing.com, The NERRC F2000 Championship by Widgets INC.

The worst any one can say is no, every no is one step closer to a yes. Try asking for a little support for your class. Promote our series and MAKE racers want to attend.

Any Ideas??????

[StephenB]

Dan, Got your VM, Will call a little later...

I think sometimes we can look within aka points. What if the points battle was super close in your class heading into the last race at Thompson, could you convince that buddy to show up?

How about if you knew you could earn just enough points to make you overall champion in nerrc but you need to beat 5guys in that last race? Would you try super hard to get 5 guys to show up? Again just an idea to toss around, most people are not going after the championship and don't attend a majority of the races.

I am working on an awesome sponser for every champion... more to come on that soon, @ the banquet... :-)

[Dano77]

I agree a close points battle is a sure way to get entries. Look at IT7 last season, second and third were up for grabs and I know some showed up just to try and get the next position. Jason entered purly due to trying to bet Gregs big Dick.

But the points system used is not the reason cars dont go to NHMS, lets leave it alone until its an issue. Lets work on attracting teams and cars to the series.

Talk to you later

[team-gpracing]

We are wondering why the club is graying, is the cost a reason or are we all just rich old guys and the club will disappear when we die.

I haven't been at this as long as some of you, and I'm sure there are stats to determine the truth of this statement, but if you ask me, the club has always been gray. Is it really getting grayer? I know this seems to be the case with workers. But drivers? I don't know.

As far as decreasing entry fees goes, the only realistic way to do so is to find more entries. I agree with Stephen that we need publicity in order to do so. (IMO) The only people that know about the SCCA are already racers and family/friends of those racers. Those people already know what we're about and either race with us, or don't (whether that's because they can't afford it or don't like us). If we get more people to the track, we get more exposure. With more exposure, we get more interest. With more interest, we get more participants.

Now who wants to make some flyers and put them up at Autozone?

[gran racing]

they have chosen to not enter an event because of the price?

For me, anything over $300 makes me take a much closer look at what product I'll be getting. The near $400 LRP entry fees (and I'm a "LRP fanboy") makes me gasp, think how my wife is going to kick my butt for that stupid expenditure, and I question it too. If there were more than two events there, no way I'd be going there for more.

Now who wants to make some flyers and put them up at Autozone?

That's actually a great idea! But instead of wondering who else will do it, time to step up to the plate. Hell, I've put my money where my mouth was time for more people to do it and be a bigger part of the solution.

[StephenB]

I think we need to continue to make efforts to be inclusive of cars built to other sanctioning bodies. Those cars and people exist. Chump, lemons, nasa, bmw club, Porsche club. Heck Will Turner who has a huge customer base races in BMW club, grand am, now WC, and even the lemons race all at our tracks, but has he ever raced with us? How can we get companies like his involved with us? Why doesn't he race with us! We need to partner with people like him. Heck I would be 100% supportive of letting him race with us for free if he advertised our organization... but I bet others here and in our region wouldn't support that free advertising...

Stephen

[Greg Amy]

I think we need to continue to make efforts to be inclusive of cars built to other sanctioning bodies. Those cars and people exist. Chump, lemons...

ITEZ

...nasa, bmw club, Porsche club.

ITE.

Heck Will Turner who has a huge customer base...

STU has invited his recently-created Spec E46 to race in STU.

Any others?

[StephenB]

We invited him? Or we have a ruleset that allows him to race? BIG difference...

[Greg Amy]

We invited him? Or we have a ruleset that allows him to race? BIG difference...

We specifically list the Spec E46 cars as eligible for STU, because the class has deviations that make them ineligible to the basic STU ruleset (weight, I think?). We added the class a couple of months ago on his request (and Eric Heinrich's lobbying).

You can do this, too, but "it's never been done" in IT. In fact, the idea has been explicitly rejected (see: Spec Miatas in ITA).

GA