STM: Disney World to Run MotoGP?

Single Track Mind - A Different Form of Entertainment - Disney World to Run MotoGP?

I would like to begin this month’s STM by thanking all those readers who took the time and trouble and to add comments to my last column. If nothing else, they show mcusa.com is blessed with one of the most knowledgeable audiences in the bike world. I cannot say that I agree with all the views expressed but they were, nevertheless, fascinating.

However, fascinating is not a word which could be applied to the first round of MotoGP at Doha. Ben Spies was spectacular and yes, I think that with a decent grid position he would have been a credible challenger for third place position. But, Spies aside, there remains the overwhelming problem of a tiny entry and a largely processional race.

The end result was a spectacularly low physical attendance at Doha – something slightly in excess of 7,000 spectators. With an annual GDP of $30 billion no doubt Qatar’s government can well afford to subsidise MotoGP - but that’s not real world economics.

By contrast, Valencia’s World Superbike event was absolutely routed in the economic present and it must have been a bad dream weekend for the promoters. A shade over 20,000 fans paid to watch some superb racing at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo - and this was in an arena which can seat 60,000 and take the same number again standing. To be blunt, the magnificent stadium was using just 16% of its capacity.

Worse still, this race was held in the heart of bike mad Spain and with a very credible potential Spanish winner in the form of Carlos Checa. Despite all these attractions, crowds were still pitifully small.

So this brings us to a very interesting conundrum. It is this. In my other life, away from writing for MCUSA, my wife and I own, and organize, a huge motorcycling street party which is held in the town of Northwich, in the North West of England. You can get an idea of what we do if you follow the Thundersprint link.

It is one thing to think that you have a great idea for a motorcycle event but it is rather different when you do what we did. First, I gave up a rather well paid job - along with a PA, swish car and briefcase: I kept only the briefcase to remind me of my past life!

Then my wife resigned from her job so that we had no income whatsoever. Finally, we re-mortgaged our house so that if my idea of a bike event which would appeal to the general public was wrong we would be homeless and heading for in an inner city tenement - along with our four-year-old daughter. It was, by any standards, a somewhat serious bet.

That was 13 years ago and it seems that our original idea was sound because an awful lot of people come to the Thundersprint every year. Because the event is held in a town centre, and has free admission, no-one accurately knows how many people attend. The various experts we meet quote all sorts of figures from 75,000 to 150,000 spectators and one estimate is probably as good as another. Certainly, we would never make claims we can’t prove so we give the honest answer that we truthfully don’t know how many fans visit the Thundersprint each year.

What we do know for sure is that we have just under a mile of vendor stands and every part of the show is a sell out. And by sell out I mean absolutely 100% totally sold out - not sales talk, “look at the length of my manly parts…” sell out.

At the heart of the Thundersprint is a 447 yard long sprint laid out in Northwich’s main parking lot which is about 100 yards from the absolute center of the town. English sprints are like drag races but with corners and only a single rider on the track at any one time.

The first straight passes the town’s main supermarket and the last corner threads its way through some enormous trees. All very quirky but, lined with grandstands just a few feet from the racing, the amphitheater feel is extremely popular with riders and spectators.

A key attraction, so our customer surveys tell us, is that the bikes - mainly classic with a few modern Superbikes - are just a few feet from spectators on the other side of the safety fence. This means that the fans are really intimately involved with the racing, even though we have such a tiny circuit.

The other big attraction is that everything in the whole show - except the actual track - is completely open to spectators. There are no VIP areas or “Keep Out” signs - and a complete absence of shaven headed Security Guards with mirror sunglasses keeping fans away from the celebrities.

Regardless of whether it is 15 times World Champion Giacomo Agostini, or current star James Toseland, our guest riders have to be available to fans all the time at the Thundersprint. That’s an absolutely inviolable rule: make yourself 100% accessible to fans or you won’t be invited.

Now at this point I must stress, and then stress some more, that there is no way that the Thundersprint is comparable with MotoGP or World Superbike. Our “GP in a Parking Lot” should not even be considered in the same breath as any of the great motorcycle races.

However, we do have some very clear lessons to teach the Premier motorcycling races and our attendances, year after year, prove this. For whatever reasons, an awful lot of people come to the Thundersprint each year - and that is fact.

Critically, because the success of the Thundersprint depends on the support of the local government, we have a major impact on our region’s economy and this explains, so very clearly, why we are welcome in a small town in the heart of rural Cheshire.

A formal economic impact survey carried out by the North-West Development Agency, at last year’s event indicated that the Thundersprint brought a shade under $6.5 million into Northwich and the surrounding area during the long weekend, and these sorts of figures tend to make motorcycling rather popular with local politicians.

So what can a quirky event held in a small, quiet town teach the great and the good of motorcycle racing? First - and probably last and middle too - is that bikes are far more entertainment than sport. Racing enthusiasts know, understand and respect the minutiae of racing but the general public demand entertainment. This means that they want to get close to the action and feel part of it. Would you enjoy Disneyworld if you couldn’t get within half a mile of the Magic Kingdom?

Next, the concept of VIPs is out of date. Let’s go back to Disney again. You want a hug from Mickey Mouse or Cinderella and you get one. The key criterion is that you pay your money and then you have open access. Forget this utterly stupid concept of paying a lot of money to enter the Magic MotoGP Kingdom - and then being told that you are unworthy to meet the cast.

Finally, broaden the appeal of the event. 39% of our customers are female. If one in every hundred people on the planet was female then, at least in a rigid business sense, event organisers could afford to ignore this sector of the market place. But when every second potential customer is female then a promoter would be stark raving mad not to ensure that they become visitors.

To make the Thundersprint attractive for female visitors we have areas for nursing Mums, chill out places for young kids where the family can relax and nothing which is going to irritate female customers.

You won’t see Umbrella girls at the Thundersprint nor will you find anything which is going to make women start to get fidgety and embarrassed. Keep the woman happy and the man stays on site too. Get the girl looking at her watch and asking if it’s time to go and, for sure, the bloke will be following soon.

Add a few other bits and pieces such as making it difficult - but not actually impossible - to buy alcohol and then ensure that the whole site is rigidly pedestrianised and you have a relaxed, peaceful day out which appeals to everyone from hard core bike nuts to Mum and Dad enjoying themselves with the kids and Grandparents.

Critics of the Thundersprint - and there are a fair number - pour scorn on our non-motorcycling visitors but I don’t notice our vendors complaining when families spend their money or the hotels bitching that the room is occupied by Mum, Dad and a couple of kids rather than by two young men riding Fireblades.

At this point, let me reiterate that I am not, absolutely NOT, suggesting that the Thundersprint is a substitute for MotoGP, WSBK - or even good club racing. Equally, it is wrong to dismiss the event as an aberration. Now in our 13th year, we have record numbers of vendors who return year after year and make money. You can get lucky once or twice but you can’t persuade vendors and sponsors to come to your event for thirteen years in a row unless they see a very clear commercial benefit.

The same goes for riders. The entry list is full four months before the event and we are now processing requests to ride in 2011.

In short, by any standards the event is a success and therefore ought to be a case study for our Premier League race events where attendances are falling dramatically. Please do have a look at our website and then I look forward to reading your comments.

Alternatively, the great and the good from the bike racing world should make an appointment with the Disney Corporation and learn how to really market mass entertainment.