EMRA could use some of this....

[fast316]

So this Sunday was DMCC Round 2 at Stratotech, if you don't know what that is it's western Canadian Championship drifting. I think about 20-24 'PRO' drivers showed up to compete, the level and skill of the drivers is, ummm, hit and miss at best. But you would not believe the turn out. Soo many people came out to watch a bunch of beat up cars slide around 1/3 of the track, mostly do a lot of sucking, lay down a bunch of cheap rubber, and tear up the grass. It cost $20 per person to watch this. The event was sort of organized, filled with down time and no action on the track.

I spoke to Dan for a bit, even he couldn't believe the turn out, all kinds of people came out to watch, old people, young people, kids, parents, street punks, gangsters, scantly clad girls, douche bags, snooki wannabes, etc . I wish the bike racing would draw this big of a crowd. The motorcycle racing is certainly more organized, more entertaining and cheaper. They are both niche sort of markets. Don't get me wrong I like the drifting, it's sort of a second expensive hobby for me, I had a good time, but nothing compared to the good times I have at a EMRA race weekend. I don't get it, anyone have any ideas? Here's some pics to give you an idea of the turn out...

 

[Spooner]

It's all about marketing... I've never ever, ever heard an ad on the radio, for superbikes. I have however heard many times heards an add for drifting.

~S

 

[Planepower]

^^
I was in Alberta Cycle the other day and noticed they have a poster for CMRA, but couldn't find one for EMRA. Hard to draw crowds 'outside' of our community if not too many know about us.

 

[oldskool]

More people are into cars than bikes, pretty hard to ever change that.

BTW drifting cars with engines bouncing off the limiter and white smoke peeling from the tires will most certainly be greater eye candy for a crowd than motorcycles that 'seem' to be in perfect control.

 

[Jason Henton]

It's all about marketing... I've never ever, ever heard an ad on the radio, for superbikes. I have however heard many times heards an add for drifting.

~S

Yup, and add in the few movies in the last while that really play up the "drama" of it (fast and furious ect.) and its a given that it would be alot more popular. I personally, hadnt really heard of any superbike racing in Canada, until at least 3 years ago.

 

[fast316]

More people are into cars than bikes, pretty hard to ever change that.

BTW drifting cars with engines bouncing off the limiter and white smoke peeling from the tires will most certainly be greater eye candy for a crowd than motorcycles that 'seem' to be in perfect control.

True, but drifting and racing are both niche markets in the worlds of cars and bikes.

As for eye candy, the local level of skill and competition is much higher for motorcycle racing IMO, the drifting was pretty weak, didn't get good until the top 4. Instead of deciding who did the best you were usually deciding who sucked the least.

 

[madmax]

lets all go buy long swing arms and get crazy with bike drifting

 

[oldskool]

lets all go buy long swing arms and get crazy with bike drifting

ummmmmm.......yes

 

[eric92]

^^
I was in Alberta Cycle the other day and noticed they have a poster for CMRA, but couldn't find one for EMRA. Hard to draw crowds 'outside' of our community if not too many know about us.

I dropped off the EMRA poster's at Alberta Cycle LONG ago, and the last time i was in there I saw both CMRA and EMRA posters up in their store.

 

[lonesoldier84]

TrackAttack coupons given out with the purchase of every sportbike sold in the Edmonton area?

Keep a Kijiji ad running in the used bikes section for trackdays and race weekend? Not a listing, but a banner ad. Web ads are cheaper than newspaper/magazine ads.

Big high quality glossy prints of some epic local racing photography along with the schedule of races for that year printed on the picture donated to dealerships around town (or included in their sponsorship arrangement?) Generate some "holy shit that's awesome!" reactions.

Or call in the big guns and put up a map to Stratotech at the top of Groat road.

 

[YZF1000jon]

Big high quality glossy prints of some epic local racing photography along with the schedule of races for that year printed on the picture donated to dealerships around town

Hmm, that sounds like a great idea!
wait, that's what our posters are!

We've tried a lot, but more suggestions are always welcome.

We've tried to get dealers to come out in group/customer rides. We've offered discounts at the gate for Clubs and certain forum's (Yes ESR I'm talkin to you). And we always get the same response at the bike show "You guys race at Castrol, right?" or "How long have you been around, you must be new..."

Please let us know what you guys think would work.

 

[sand.man]

I had dinner in fort Saskatchewan at original joe's on Sunday after the races, the waitress didn't even know there was a track over there.

 

[simonw]

Visibility

perhaps not my place to speak since i dont race anymore but I will anyway.
Drift cars, sprints cars demo derby cars or whatever are more visible, they are sitting in a trailer in someone driveways, canadian tire parking lots, hotel parking lots etc. people tends to stop and look and maybe even inquire about where to race, how to get started etc.
Most track bikes sit in the garage or enclose trailers where no one can see.
back to you...

 

[Cormier]

I was involved with Drift West, D-sport and DMCC for a long time and this turnout is the result of 10 years of hard work and almost non-stop promotion. That being said, I prefer the EMRA as bike guys have been much easier to deal with than car guys.

 

[Jason Henton]

I dropped off the EMRA poster's at Alberta Cycle LONG ago, and the last time i was in there I saw both CMRA and EMRA posters up in their store.

I had to buy a helmet to pass tech, Not sure the stores name, but I saw a CMRA poster, but no EMRA one. Not saying EMRA's wasnt there, but it was the only one I noticed. Thought it was strange, since we were in Edmonton, not Calgary! As a side thought, You could try getting the local stores to give out a free gate pass with every purchase, or on race days, or purchases over $100 or something, it would help fill up the stands and word of mouth goes alot farther than anything.

 

[YZF1000jon]

We give all the shops our posters, where they put them is up to them. They also recieve gate passes depending upon the advertising package they choose from us, and once again it is up to them to do with those as they see fit.

We aren't really at liberty to just give them away, as part of the gate fees are Dan's and not just the clubs.

So the long and short of it is, talk to the dealers, some of these concerns are with them. The more people talk with them, the more advertising they can do with us giving us a boost in income and the possibility of covering other advertising costs that we currently don't use.

We will do what we can and are open to ideas, so please keep them coming.

 

[Ryno]

Im fairly new to the club (first season) thus haven't been able to attend any club meetings or AGM's for the club to know our clubs financials. Do we have a advertising budget? If so is it soley assigned to programs(which are awesome) and posters. Would it be possible for the club too start doing things like casino nights, bingo nights etc to raise money for the club as well as for advertising?

I guess to a further degree is there someone in the club currently who is in the position of being a media liason? For example is there anyone who lets media outlets know when our events are being held? Has the club ever considered trying to get global news out or ctv, for one of thier on location spots on there weekend morning news? These are just some ideas

 

[YZF1000jon]

Hmm, I see an addition to your workload comin!
Not really, we basically run on a skeleton crew and if one of us (cough Ian cough) has enough time we have submitted write ups to the paper about the races and they have been printed. Telus TV did a short spot last year(correct me if I'm wrong) but who watches Telus TV? Getting a radio show out to broadcast from our event costs a couple grand. We would love to have more publicity as that really is part of our mandate, but most of us have our hands pretty full with just organizing the races and our own lives. There's only so much time to go around. As you may have noticed, we have trouble getting volunteers out for the actual events, getting people to commit to organize them is more difficult. We love your enthusiasm, and new ideas and a new take on things is what we need to keep moving forward so make sure you come out to the AGM at the very least! And keep firing them at us here.

 

[Ryno]

When is the AGM? I would be more than interested in spear heading this project for the club for next year

 

[YZF1000jon]

The AGM is ususally booked for the first part of December, but we haven't done that yet. Make sure you come out to the Banquet and certainly bring some more ideas.