Why are numbers for racing LOWER??
 

I have my own thoughts on this, but wanted to start a conversation about WHY we collectively think numbers are down in most clubs with racing wheel to wheel. This last weekend with PCA at VIR was an eye opener.

Mike

1) Cost
2) What I've seen in bicycle racing (as a Boomer) where numbers are way down. We're more competitive and like racing. Younger generations are more participatory but less competitive. No value judgment, just an observation.

Huge inflationary pressures everywhere make daily life and household financial survival a lot less affordable for many people, so other huge discretionary cost centers, such as racing, often get sidelined.

Racers and cars are "aging out"

- Racers retire from the sport and are not replaced by newcomers from the DE programs
- Modern Porsches are not very suitable for conversion into race cars so you are either "stuck" with older race car conversions or Porsche factory-built race cars

The GT classes are dying off.

NO one from TT ranks takes a modern car into W2W racing like what occurred in the past with the G body cars.

Boxster spec is the lower cost option, 40 car fields are the new norm.

When I started racing with PCA ten years ago the main choices were PCA, NASA and SCCA. Now there are a ton of different series competing for the same number of drivers. I think we are down in PCA because people are driving in different series for a variety of reason, including cost, when you consider series like AER and Champ.

It is the same thing with HPDE events. I feel like 15 years ago there were a much smaller group of HPDE providers and now there are a ton. People have choices.

SVRA and VSCCA are both geezer-fests with no young blood coming in.

PCA, IGT and similar series most drivers are 50 years old and older.

AER and Champ skew younger because of the cost.

I am a 1/4 owner of a Spec Boxster for AER and Champ and my share of the car cost $3k. All in on a race weekend, including tires, consumables, food, gas, hotel, etc. (everything) is generally about $1,500, which is less than a set of tires for a PCA weekend. Most AER and Champ races the driver skills have been on par with PCA, and if the car lasts, I get a tremendous amount of racing for my money. It is hard to argue with the value.

PCA, IGT, SVRA and VSCCA have the cool cars and good racing, but the cost is so incredibly high.

Bottom line - I think there are just more events competing for the same amount of drivers.

100%! Political failure of Covid upended the cost/income balance. Costs have risen 3-4x income increases. Not taking sides because AFAIC both sides contributed.

Yes, which begs the question why? See above, plus cultural shift away from cars, as well as the continued widening of the cost delta of DE vs racing. I see an increasing number of guys buying Cups solely for non-competitive track days.

Agreed, and yet there are eight 992 Cups registered for LRP race, which has to be one of the largest fields of latest model Cups at that race. Wait until WGI.

All the above. Discretionary spending post Covid has been substantially reduced.

Similar here.

Not just shared expenses, but shared prep work or a reasonable arrive and drive options in the endurance series.

The last few years our Champ team would split the driving chores and road trip across the USA, while PCA had lonely 8-10+ hour hauls. We stayed together in airbnbs and split car chores and cooking duties and geeked out on data and telemetry.

twice as much seat time, far less stress

I stilI enjoy PCA but given the choice I’m doing the team events.

It's hard to move from winning your DE in one of these very capable modern Porsches with PDK to an SP2, 911CUP, SPB or SPC.

I think this sort of proves Frank's point - who we are missing are the middle to lower end of the field.

Not sure about the racing side, but the regions and private orgs I’m involved with (with Chin and DMTD being the exception as far as I can see) for HPDE are suffering from HUGE track rental
fee increases post pandemic. Something is gonna have to give, maybe sooner than later or visa versa, but the model as track fees incur these huge increases just doesn’t seem sustainable on either the DE or CR side.
Higher costs and less disposable income are affecting all track events, with the only exceptions I’m seeing are Chin and DMTD who limit car counts and can get away with the higher registration fees.
Other than that, somethings gonna give or somethings gonna die.
Hoping it’s the first one…..

I think a lot of it comes down to a distinct lack of (1) marketing message and (2) pipeline.

There seems to be an odd assumption that historical numbers are sufficient to guarantee future numbers. But that's clearly not panning out. And we're not changing our approach at all! I haven't seen a single example in the last few years of a PCA race trying to actively bring in racers by providing more value ...

From a marketing perspective, PCA should be self-aware that they're up against these newer endurance series. But the reality is that endurance racing and sprint racing are NOT the same! (I say this as someone with 3k+ laps in AER and WRL).

If I was running marketing for PCA National, I would focus on the idea that PCA offers more racing than any other sprint series - and better, closer racing than any any endurance series.!

The other side of the equation is the pipeline. I can't remember the last time I met a genuinely "new" racer. It's not simply an age issue - or a platform age issue. (I'm a 40 year old driving a 46 year old car).

PCA has a terrific potential feeder system - but there's no real connection/path between DE and Club Racing. In my opinion, there should be an advanced DE at EVERY race - and we should actively try to make connection between a those Advanced drivers and Racers (think "mentors"). Make them a part of the show; make them feel like they belong here! And offer a half step toward racing in the form of Time Trials. Get them hooked through an option that doesn't require as big a commitment as a log booked race car!

(I also think the class structure needs a revision, but that's a lot to talk about in one post).

Another thing is the cost of P-Cars. My first Porsche track car was $25k. My most recent one was closer to 10x that. The number of SM drivers are not decreasing at all.

We'll have more 40 year old CUPs racing at LRP as these 992s - so I'm not convinced that the platform age is really an issue. We need emotion, we need cars that speaks to their owners - whether that's a new, super fast factory built race car or a totally analog driver's car ...