Vlocity

Hi,

I am the treasurer for an Autocross series in Ohio and we have our planning meeting set for this Saturday.

Our series is run in Ohio and is called IRAC - Inter Regional Auto Cross Championship series. The premise is that each region in Ohio hosts at least one event and sometimes two at different locations across the state.

As with the economic pressure we have seen in DE events, there has been some decline over the past couple of years.

So.....I am just asking for some general input with regard to what some other regions have done to boost attendance and retain those who show up the first time. Tell me what makes your event or the event you attended special so that you would likely return.

I would say from the inside that our strength is as a friendly, helpful group. We are safe and low key.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Ken

racer

Somethings I like about the events I attend:

1) Common location. All but 1 local PCA AX is held at the same location. The one event not at the common location has the lowest draw.

2) Little things can help - like a season trophy, or even same day event trophies. I think knowing the event structure helps. Our region limits the number of participants and guarantees a minimum number of runs. We also schedule "fun runs" for the real crazies who can't get enough seat time

3) The people. If the people (all) are outgoing and friendly it is a huge help. Sitting/standing around in the heat of summer is a killer for some. Its much more enjoyable if the folks are friendly.

4) My local PCA region offers folks who attend our "autocross school" a voucher good for 1 regular season event entrance fee.. which is a nice way to get folks to come back and try it all again.

For me, I can run with SCCA, PCA, BMW, MB and CDC. SCCA runs at Fed Ex field (ie a huge lot) and can have a large participant number, plus great competition. CDC, PCA and BMW often use another common site with crowds from 30 people to 100 people.

It seems to me Ohio is a pretty big state. Only folks who already are AX junkies would spend say, 2hrs in their car driving to an event for 6-8 minutes of run time. That could be the hardest thing to overcome. Folks near me think of AX as a nice diversion for a few hours. They don't have to spend the "whole day".. but maybe just 4-6hours and be back home to be with their families.

Mussl Kar

Do what it takes to increase seat time. Also as racer said, daily trophies for as many classes as you can afford, and season trophies also help because they will need to participate in a minimum number of events to qualify. One of the clubs that I run with did away with walking the course. Put 2 people in a car and drive it at 5-10 mph. Just make sure that novices are in a passengers seat. That club usually gets 10 runs in on an almost 2 min course, and breakes 1/2 hour for lunch to boot, pizza provided. They cap it at about 50 cars too.
Another thing to check is the insurance. Hopefully you get the policy that allows ride alongs. One of our local clubs not only allows ride alongs, they also allow you to let someone else drive your car if you want.
Autocross is as much of a social event as it is a competition, play up the social part. We all enjoy car GTGs, autocross is like a car GTG with legal and safe crazy driving.

MechanicalEng

I think good organization, donuts and orange juice, as many runs as possible, and friendly people are the key to making this kind of events work..

Driver8

Our region holds a beginner day for Auto-X'ers. We start the day by walking them through what to expect at a typical autocross. (prepping their car for tech, driver's meeting, how timing and scoring works, work assignments, etc) We set up a a few different obstacles and walk them through one at a time. Then they get to drive through each one with an instructor learning the best way to navigate the obstacle. Then after lunch we let them try each one on their own. Then we link them together to form a full course, and they get to play in that for a while. There is no timing of runs and they can request an instructor to go with them any time they want. Then the last thing we do is let the instructors take people for rides.

Most importantly, we do not charge them to participate.

Vlocity

Gentlemen,

Thank you for the replies. I appreciate the input.

Based upon your comments so far, it looks like we are already doing a lot of things right.

OJ - Coffee and Donuts.

As many runs as possible with fun runs after the main event.

We have instructors available and offer at least one "school" early in the season often the day before a scheduled event.

We offer trophies the day of the event as well as points toward a class win for end of the season. We have a regular series plus a novice group where those with less than a years experience compete against each other using a parade style "handicap". We also have a FTD and a year end trophies for each class winner.
Additionally, we also have a Region award, with an award to the region that has the most class wins over the course of the year.

As for the rest of the social side we try to organize a dinner the night before if anyone is coming in and staying over night as well as a get together after the event before people head home.

Probably the biggest hurdle as noted is that the entire premise of our event requires travel across the state to engage in the competition.

Last year we gave away a set of tires, with each entrant getting a ticket for the end of year drawing with each event that they participated in.


Thanks for all of the response. If anyone else out there has any input, don't be shy.


Ken

kpl

Things I consider important:
* Starting and finishing the event relatively on time.
* Give lots of runs.
* Allow passengers (which PCA doesn't allow in non-instructor cars :-()
* Have a novice class, and/or some type of award for newbie's.
* Provide mentor for each newbie to show the how to work the course, etc. at least for their first event.
* A clinic/practice event at the beginning of each season (non competition/points event).

I can't tell you how many people I've gotten into the sport by giving rides

Grantsfo

Cash prizes

HarryD

My PCA Club (Oregon Region) has a growing program. I think it boils down to these things that make the event attractive to the casual AX'er (in no particular order):

We stop no later than 2 pm.

Limit total participants to about 65.

Try to get in at least 6 runs

Provide instruction to all who want it

Provide loaner helmets

Seek out the ones having trouble and volunteer to help them out

Vlocity

We are 100% on this list as well.

Again, thanks for the reply. It appears we are doing a lot of things right, which is good to know.

Best regards,

Ken

Driver8

I am wondering if we will see an increase in autocross attendance as the economy continues to slump and the cost of track time increases. As we all know it is a cheap way to have fun!

Vlocity

Driver 8,

I don't know, that is a possibility. I am co-chair on one of our DE events at MidOhio. I can tell you that we are hopeful, but a little nervous when signing contracts for track time. It is such a big responsibility to the club to make sure that our events are in the black. Time will tell.

Ken

analogmike

#1 : courses that don't suck.

No hairpin turns. No seas of cones that get novices lost. No crazy tight slaloms.
Keep the course open, using the minimum amount of cones with easy to see course sections.

I did one autocross last year and it was the opposite of the above

Good luck!

00r101

Another possibilty is always have it the same relative day each month. Example Autox the 3rd Sunday of the month from May -September. If people know the schedule they will be more likely to come.

TAI2

All the above + run the event on a road course. This gets people excited about being on a track but in the controlled low risk AutoX style.