Help me make my events better.

I just received word that this year a friend and I will be moving our OUTBRAKE time attack/drift events to a new track. We used to hold the events at G&J Kartway in Camden OH, and while we both loved it, it was a little pricey. This year our events will be held at Circleville raceway park which is also a go kart track. We are able to cut the entrance fee in half, and hold the events at a longer, and in our eyes, more exciting track.

Last year, classes were split into three groups, FWD, RWD and AWD. In an effort to promote healthier competition, we were thinking of creating subgroups beneath each drivetrain class based on tires (street/race).

I am hoping some more people on the forums here can make it out to our events this summer. We try and stress maximum amount of runs for the money. Last year, entrance fees were high ($100) and this year I think we'll be able to have a run/dollar ratio that is more appealing. (I believe we averaged 15+ runs per person at the last event) The greatest part is there is no working for those that come and compete. No working cones, no timing work.

What I want to know is what your average guy wants out of an autocross.

What would you change?

We will be mandating a driver cap, probably somewhere around 25 or 30 in order to keep runs high (though we never seem to get that many)...

Just throw ideas in, all are welcome.

Number of runs is always a big factor in folks enjoyment.

Publish a schedule, and do your best to adhere to it.

Pictures. Make sure someone from the organization takes an action picture/video of every car at the event. People love to see their cars in action to share with friends.....or at the very least make a central place where folks can post the pictures they took.

Times, make times accessible, and do it a way that doesn't disrupt the people at the timing table. A time display works well, as well as PA to announce the times.

Shade, make sure you have places out of the son for folks to spectate...makes a huge difference.

The other thing we started doing was having an after event stop at a local watering hole. If you have time to stop and BS/bench race, if not no biggie. Helps folks become a little better friends.

Two words: free food.

sachilles wrote: Number of runs is always a big factor in folks enjoyment. Publish a schedule, and do your best to adhere to it. Pictures. Make sure someone from the organization takes an action picture/video of every car at the event. People love to see their cars in action to share with friends.....or at the very least make a central place where folks can post the pictures they took. Times, make times accessible, and do it a way that doesn't disrupt the people at the timing table. A time display works well, as well as PA to announce the times. Shade, make sure you have places out of the son for folks to spectate...makes a huge difference. The other thing we started doing was having an after event stop at a local watering hole. If you have time to stop and BS/bench race, if not no biggie. Helps folks become a little better friends.

Thats awesome, I love everything here. As far as timing goes, the other event organizer has met with the track owner and he says that the track has a timing system set up already and we are free to use it which thrills us because before we were using a stopwatch

Pictures/video are definitely two things we need and want to work on. I posted up a lot of pictures and video of one of our events last year and it seemed to make people happy. We'll try and get more of that involved this year.

The track I was told does have an area thats shaded (thank god).

Oh and in reply to Triumph5; The free food is actually something we were trying to get this year

Keep em comin!

sachilles wrote: Publish a schedule, and do your best to adhere to it.

The other suggestions here are good, but this one's critical to me. We had a local group that was trying to put on events, but they would announce them two weeks in advance and were often canceled the day before. Not surprisingly, this didn't last long. When I decided to run my own events in the aftermath of their meltdown, the first thing I did was publish a full year's schedule of autocrosses and stick to it. Even the time of the driver's meeting and the first car on track. Once people realized that we would do exactly what we said we'd do, we quickly gathered a group of regulars. After a couple of years, I moved into track days and it kept going from there.

Lots of runs and no working. It's why I haven't bothered to AutoX my car.

Paying $50+ for 8 runs, then spending hours sweating my ass off in a parking lot does not sound enticing.

We are fortunate in that we have Hallett 30 mins away, with lots of CHEAP track days, 5-6 20 min sessions and no working. Also has a cafe, shade, etc.

Keith wrote:

sachilles wrote: Publish a schedule, and do your best to adhere to it.

The other suggestions here are good, but this one's critical to me. We had a local group that was trying to put on events, but they would announce them two weeks in advance and were often canceled the day before. Not surprisingly, this didn't last long. When I decided to run my own events in the aftermath of their meltdown, the first thing I did was publish a full year's schedule of autocrosses and stick to it. Even the time of the driver's meeting and the first car on track. Once people realized that we would do exactly what we said we'd do, we quickly gathered a group of regulars. After a couple of years, I moved into track days and it kept going from there.

We've been really good about this, we just cant seem to get the word out to the right people. Thats why we aren't stressing over the drift crowd too much this year. They either come in HUGE crowds, or barely come at all. The grip guys tend to come out for the event when they say they will. How do you guys feel about myautoevents.com?

Aww man they aren't going to be at G&J? I had a lot of fun there, and I've been talking it up to my friends.

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/63020_103282349736564_100001643970146_23857_4823588_n.jpg

Thats my white coupe from the event in september. Fun stuff.

I always have a blast at G&J. The only thing to improve the events would probably just be to keep people moving and on track. There isn't much to improve on, I always have fun and get a good amount of track time.

~Alex

I had fun at G&J in September, also, but I realize the desire to change. Circleville may be too far for me to travel (I've moved since the Sept event).

Getting payment in advance (charge less in advance, more on day of event) would help ensure a full field. Then you could concentrate on starting on time. Running on schedule throughout the day makes it more enjoyable for the participants.

Pictures trump free food. I can bring my own food-I can't take my own pictures while driving.

Maybe a more competitive type of "race" format. "Seed" a bracket with earlier times, then do a tournament style competition. Maybe double-elimination or something. Handicap the slower cars to make them competitive. This may require a person or two who do nothing other than keep score, though.

Or keep doing what you're doing, and offer a day full of inexpensive track time.

cxhb wrote: We've been really good about this, we just cant seem to get the word out to the right people. Thats why we aren't stressing over the drift crowd too much this year. They either come in HUGE crowds, or barely come at all. The grip guys tend to come out for the event when they say they will. How do you guys feel about myautoevents.com?

Yes, the drift guys travel in packs. So do Subaru owners - we have the Subaru Army that shows up to spectate and work on stricken Subarus, even if they're not going to race. It's cool to see them all descend on a car that comes limping into the pits.

To get that, you need to snag one or two influential leaders in the pack. If you know who they are, contact them and ask what would make the event work for them. Once they're a little more involved, you might find they start to encourage the other drifters to come to the events.

We don't run drift events. Too much damage to the track - they'd drop a wheel off, keep in it and dig a hole. Took nearly a week to put the track back together again. The screaming tires tended to trip the sound meter as well.

We started something new last year. I had too many days that weren't breaking even and people weren't showing up, so we went to exclusive pre-registration. If we got 20 people, we'd share the track with another group and limit attendance to 20 to make sure everyone got enough track time. If we could get 32 or more, we'd rent the track exclusively. Everyone had to register in advance (or be someone who was known to keep their word) and if we only got 25, the first 20 got to play and we'd refund numbers 21-25. It's worked out well.

seem like you are going right with the ideas posted.

In reply to Kramer and Alex:

Thank you both for the kind words! Kramer, I like the seed/bracket idea a lot. This could be as easy as using a dry erase board. Or we could list times Top-Gear style? Hmm...

Our schedule will be finalized within the next two weeks and we will do everything in our power to stay true to this schedule. We haven't given up on G&J, in fact we would still like to hold maybe 1 or 2 events there in between the Circleville events if possible. We just haven't heard from the track owner in a while.

Post the pictures and the results promptly. Nothing like waiting 2 weeks to find out what happened because the club didn't post results at the event, and couldn't get them up on the web. Our club broadcasts on an FM transmitter, and one of the members wrote a smart phone ap to display class and individual results on your phone. Be prepared. I love standing around for 2 hours while people scramble to fix faulty equipment. Have spare batteries

In reply to car39:

Noted. Unfortunately we no longer have a website, but that is something we should definitely look into. How about a blog? Posting pictures/video, schedule, and event results would be a breeze.

Keith wrote:

cxhb wrote: We've been really good about this, we just cant seem to get the word out to the right people. Thats why we aren't stressing over the drift crowd too much this year. They either come in HUGE crowds, or barely come at all. The grip guys tend to come out for the event when they say they will. How do you guys feel about myautoevents.com?

Yes, the drift guys travel in packs. So do Subaru owners - we have the Subaru Army that shows up to spectate and work on stricken Subarus, even if they're not going to race. It's cool to see them all descend on a car that comes limping into the pits. To get that, you need to snag one or two influential leaders in the pack. If you know who they are, contact them and ask what would make the event work for them. Once they're a little more involved, you might find they start to encourage the other drifters to come to the events. We don't run drift events. Too much damage to the track - they'd drop a wheel off, keep in it and dig a hole. Took nearly a week to put the track back together again. The screaming tires tended to trip the sound meter as well. We started something new last year. I had too many days that weren't breaking even and people weren't showing up, so we went to exclusive pre-registration. If we got 20 people, we'd share the track with another group and limit attendance to 20 to make sure everyone got enough track time. If we could get 32 or more, we'd rent the track exclusively. Everyone had to register in advance (or be someone who was known to keep their word) and if we only got 25, the first 20 got to play and we'd refund numbers 21-25. It's worked out well.

haha drift and subaru guys really do travel in packs. I've noticed that more and more lately..

I would definitely come if the price was lower, that was the only thing stopping me last year.

Pictures are also a good idea.

EvanB wrote: I would definitely come if the price was lower, that was the only thing stopping me last year. Pictures are also a good idea.

We would love to have more GRMers out there! Price point this year is LOOKING like $50... Saturday the other organizer is meeting with the track owner again to finalize a schedule and price. I realize that our prices up to this point have been awfully steep, something we aren't too proud of. But for the amount of runs, and no working, its awesome.

For $50 and a full(ish) track with no working I would defnitely come.

Few things:

Web site : People need to be able to find you and some kind of a gallery for pics

On line Forum : People like to chit chat and ask questions

On line registration/payment : Let people get in early and lets you know how many people you may have at the event

Class : Maybe some thing like this

FWD Stock

FWD stock A / bolt on items

FWD stock B / plus all bolt on items and race tire

FWD unlimited / Wide open everything and anything

You could use this for FWD,RWD and AWD , also maybe a car X only class say WRX and group them all together and offer some kind of tacky trophies ( torn up cone with a care bear mounted on it ) this may give them a reason to come back.

Just some thoughts

Paul B

An organized/ well run event is the key and a well kept schedule/website is great bonus. We have some very well run and organized events up here in Cleveland but I'm pretty tired of paying $45ish dollars for usually 6 -8 runs on a coned course and then having to work it. If you can find a way to do it on a mini circuit without having to work it that would be great. I'm 2 hrs+ away and would love to make it just as long as its organized and run professionally. I do believe I ran an Outbrake event at Kilcare? speedway and It was well run event as I recall.

westsidetalon wrote: An organized/ well run event is the key and a well kept schedule/website is great bonus. We have some very well run and organized events up here in Cleveland but I'm pretty tired of paying $45ish dollars for usually 6 -8 runs on a coned course and then having to work it. If you can find a way to do it on a mini circuit without having to work it that would be great. I'm 2 hrs+ away and would love to make it just as long as its organized and run professionally. I do believe I ran an Outbrake event at Kilcare? speedway and It was well run event as I recall.

Before I got involved there were events ran at Kilkare. A lot of them in fact. This was before drifting went huge. If your paying $45 and only getting 6-8 runs +working... You would love our events. You should definitely come check them out.

In reply to Donebrokeit:

Our trophies are already kind of tacky lol. BUT... since it is all in fun, even tackier may be better. I like the way you think.

The only reason we haven't gone THAT in depth with the classing is because we haven't had enough people to warrant splitting things up even more. But if this season picks up, I'll be more than happy to let people know about it, and change things up quickly.

I lived in Circleville for my first 7 years. Looks like some good advice. Nothing useful to add.

Well... I like boobs and I like beer...

Nothing more to add as the rest have pretty much nailed it.