2012 John Mullis Memorial HPDE - VIR-F - September 7-9, 2012

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 9:31 am

I have some ideas, but it would require re-structuring the way we run an event. The question would have to be, how much change are we willing to tolerate?

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 9:42 am

Scott Johnson wrote:

Bernie Baake wrote:

Once again for your Budwiser primed brain, O.K. I get it you don't care about saving money. almost half of what Vir charges-----Cool, just forget I said anything and keep trying to figure out how to increase attendance. nothing else matters

We all agree with you Bernie. We could save $200 by catering the event ourselves. That's 1/2 of one student's entry fee. Plus or minus $200 is breaking even on a track event. What we really want are 10-20 more students per event. That's $4000-8000, not $200. How do we get 10-20 people to choose our event over the BMW event that was just run, or the Porsche event right after ours, or any in between.

Much like pulling weight off our cars, you only have a few things that make significant changes. At some point it's the .25# here, .5# there that adds up to 10-20#s saved. A handful of $2-500 ideas will make up a decent chunk of that $4000.

e:
Forgot VIR charges us a fixed rate, not variable per student. I suppose if we could break even with fewer students we would need less instructors potentially turning some instructors from 2 students to 1 students, or making them red group "students" (although I'm not sure if most instructors would actually pay to go to a DE as a student)

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:20 am

Let me just say, having briefly being involved with the track program, we got some smart, hard working folks running the show. Lots of the ideas proposed here aren't anything new that I am sure they haven't thought of. Lets trust the folks who have brought us this far and the fact they probably don't want get second guessed to death on the forums.

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:24 am

Since we seem to be a jumping point for lemons/chump, why not offer a test & tune session for those teams to play with their cars. They might be willing to pay for that time on track without students in their way.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:29 am

Jason Mauldin wrote:

Since we seem to be a jumping point for lemons/chump, why not offer a test & tune session for those teams to play with their cars. They might be willing to pay for that time on track without students in their way.

We tried that last year and didn't get any bites. The problem is entire "teams" need to test their cars/drivers, and we charge per driver, not per car. Most teams simply can't afford that. If we were to allow a "team" to enter under one cost we may see some revenue from it, but we'd need a dedicated session most likely.

It's worth exploring the idea IMO though.

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:30 am

Vincent Keene wrote:

Jason Mauldin wrote:

Since we seem to be a jumping point for lemons/chump, why not offer a test & tune session for those teams to play with their cars. They might be willing to pay for that time on track without students in their way.

We tried that last year and didn't get any bites. The problem is entire "teams" need to test their cars/drivers, and we charge per driver, not per car. Most teams simply can't afford that. If we were to allow a "team" to enter under one cost we may see some revenue from it, but we'd need a dedicated session most likely.

It's worth exploring the idea IMO though.

What about training programs for the teams?

JohnByers · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:44 am

Vincent Keene wrote:

Jason Mauldin wrote:

Since we seem to be a jumping point for lemons/chump, why not offer a test & tune session for those teams to play with their cars. They might be willing to pay for that time on track without students in their way.

We tried that last year and didn't get any bites. The problem is entire "teams" need to test their cars/drivers, and we charge per driver, not per car. Most teams simply can't afford that. If we were to allow a "team" to enter under one cost we may see some revenue from it, but we'd need a dedicated session most likely.

It's worth exploring the idea IMO though.

If there was one of these offered in the spring I am pretty sure our Chump team would take advantage of it.

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:47 am

If they have their dedicated session, it makes more sense to charge per car, then it does per person.

Maybe offer it again, but require a minimum number of teams in order for the session to happen. The ones that wanted it would do all the advertising for you.

jeremy gast · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:53 am

This is def something to look at. WE have ALOT of chump/lemons teams in the area that could and would use the time.

Vincent Keene wrote:

Jason Mauldin wrote:

Since we seem to be a jumping point for lemons/chump, why not offer a test & tune session for those teams to play with their cars. They might be willing to pay for that time on track without students in their way.

We tried that last year and didn't get any bites. The problem is entire "teams" need to test their cars/drivers, and we charge per driver, not per car. Most teams simply can't afford that. If we were to allow a "team" to enter under one cost we may see some revenue from it, but we'd need a dedicated session most likely.

It's worth exploring the idea IMO though.

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 5:09 pm

Great event with awesome weather. Even though I only ran 2 1/2 sessions and one full session Saturday and one yellow lap on Sunday. Now to figure out what is wrong so I can drive my car at NCAC.

Zach Hill · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:44 pm

Sorry about your car, James. :thumbsdown:

Hope you get it fixed without too much hassle.

I was luckier, I only had an exhaust leak which was able to be fixed trackside. And I set personal best both days, woohoo! It was a fun event, and it was great seeing a lot of familiar faces there. And I think Carlton might've enjoyed himself a bit too for his first track weekend.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:19 am

An excellent and well run event! Hats off to everyone that made this event run as smooth as it did. Great job!!! As for myself, I had a blast on course. I was surprised the mustang behaved as well as it did, very predictable, decent braking w/ the Hawk pads and as hard as I tried, I couldn't kill the tires. I have to say the up hill esses where my favorite, that car just danced up the hills :mrgreen:

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Sep 10, 2012 9:04 am

Special thanks to Rodney for trusting me to dirve his baby on a race track. His Bullitt has 3.73's vs. my 3.55's and I wanted to see if changing mine would be worth it. As it turned out my shorter sidewalls on the NT-01's made mine feel pretty much the same gearing wise so I think I will leave mine as it is.

The two cars handled pretty much the same with the exception being mine having the advantage of race rubber.

Oh yeah, there were two more things that Rodney's car has that mine doesn't...they are called mufflers. :mrgreen:

Edit: My favorite quote of the weekend was from my student (he drives a S/C Cobra) regarding employment. "I'm a BMW mechanic, but I'd never buy one".

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:25 am

Vincent Keene wrote:

Special thanks to Rodney for trusting me to dirve his baby on a race track. His Bullitt has 3.73's vs. my 3.55's and I wanted to see if changing mine would be worth it. As it turned out my shorter sidewalls on the NT-01's made mine feel pretty much the same gearing wise so I think I will leave mine as it is.

The two cars handled pretty much the same with the exception being mine having the advantage of race rubber.

Oh yeah, there were two more things that Rodney's car has that mine doesn't...they are called mufflers. :mrgreen:

Edit: My favorite quote of the weekend was from my student (he drives a S/C Cobra) regarding employment. "I'm a BMW mechanic, but I'd never buy one".

Ditto VK, thanks for letting me drive your mustang. That's a well sorted car, a little loud though

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

Sunday's weather was sublime. Good event, and I think I just increased our membership for next year!

As much fun as the 2 is, I really cannot wait to get the Miata back on the track.

THSCC Forums

2012 John Mullis Memorial HPDE - VIR-F - September 7-9, 2012

Who is online