I'm very interested in this thread, having contributed to it originally,
particularly as I do tend to fall into the promoters class (i.e. being in
favour of more rather than less).
However, there are obviously events which are major league clubbies and
ought, as Roger Garnett has suggested, stay that way.
Of course, we were originally discussing with regard to Australia which has
very strong organisation but little or no promotion. Having said that,
events such as the fabulous Monaco Historic Grand Prix received little or no
promotion as such and this ought to have been a mega-marketing effort
(although my Monegasque contacts reckon there will be more promotion next
time round in 1999 as a lot of their statistics rather intrigued them when
they saw the tourist/entrant data etc.).
For me, the thing to be pushed in promoting historic car racing is surely
the uniqueness of the event. This is not modern balls out Oz. Group
A/Winston Cup/Indy Car or - God forbid - Formula One. However, the folk who
actually go historic racing and those who tend to be interested in it, are
rather an advertisers dream ticket (as a general rule, we all know there are
some significant exceptions, as with all pursuits!) and to that end, some
light promotion - in a sympathetic fashion - can in my view be achieved in
historic racing, without resulting in:
a> win at all costs (in fact win at any costs, in fact win at all - as in
the old joke: what do you call the winner of an historic race? The man with
the car closest to the cut-off date ...well it's true in in many cases... :-)
b> Accidents: Hoons (if you'll pardon some ethnic Australian) may well go to
races to watch megashunts but people who go to the ballet are not there to
see ballerinas break their legs, if that's not too mixed a metaphor (please
it is New Year's Day!).
Historic motor racing is the preserve of more sophisticated folk and while
some categories may benefit from a degree of lightweight banter (for 1960s
saloons - the old "Minis versus Cortinas versus Jaguars versus Detroit iron"
is as true now as it always was then I would contend... Historic racing folk
tend to be more sophisticated, discerning folk and therefore will come to
see purist racing - especially as the drivers may be seen in many cars
rather than cocooned in safety equipment, especially if there is a liberal
sprinkling of famous old names in the grids reappearing much as they were in
their heyday.
For those in the no, no, never camp, and those who will go to some
expletives to avoid any evidence of capitalist motive appearing in historic
racing, I think this is unlikely to lead to a sound future framework for our
beloved sport.
Equally, to those who believe that the historic motorsport business can all
be razamatazzy promoted Winston Cup/Speedway stuff then this too I feel is a
tad unrealistic. There is a happy medium and I would have thought in
America, the bedrock of capitalism, that this can be achieved. Oh, and
please don't forget that this thread originally started discussing more out
of the way places such as Australia where promotion of historic racing is
all but non-existent. Like him or loathe him, America has the Steve Earle's
of this world who do promote big commercial meetings (and of course we have
discussed at length various listers feelings on his events). Australia and a
lot of Europe have no such commercially promoted events at all - and this
was where the discussion started.
Oh, and a Peaceful, Happy and Prosperous (not to mention rev-laden) New Year
to you all.
Regards,
Patrick
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