JRA
New Member
Here is how track days are scheduled.
We tell tracks what our preferences and preferred dates are. For instance, we really don't want Barber in late winter, we want it in the spring. Or we'd like to a have weekend date on North that is in the spring or fall.
We see what dates we are offered by all of the tracks
We look for any conflicts and then make a decision on what to do based on past history.
We try to book the dates that make the most sense based on the above.
This isn't necessarily about scaling back one venue vs. another, it's about a schedule that includes events at Barber, NC Bike, and Road Atlanta too. We can't be a VIR based organization, and if something offered by VIR conflicts with something offered by another track then we have to choose.
There is always a good chance we can add additional dates at VIR. Based on past history of VIR calling NESBA and asking us to take the dates of other organizations who are cancelling I have no doubt that is likely to happen again. Also, for reasons known only to them, they have a history of shuffling their bookings around and then asking us to take a weekend that has opened up. One thing that is certain is that nothing is ever certain. Cryptic yes, but I'll just leave it at that. It is just February 2nd after all. In the past this schedule wouldn't even be out yet, but because of so many people getting so upset about knowing what the schedule is going to be, public pressure forces things to become public too early, and often that means events get added as the start to the season approaches.
Almost all of you guys are too new to remember the good old days when trackdays were like a filed of dreams. All NESBA had to do was book an event, any event, and large numbers of people would show up. Well those days are long gone. The number of people participating in trackdays has shrunk significantly due to the economic conditions. It isn't just NESBA either, it's across the board, and it obviously includes racing as well.
As mentioned above, last year we tried a different tact to attract new riders. We had aggressive pricing, great packages, and plenty of dates. From what I could see that didn't translate into any measurable increase in attendance. It's hard to know for sure because it was such a wet year. What I could see is that many people just don't care about elite memberships, package deals, or crazy pricing. Yes, we had quite a few who took advantage, but the majority of riders are still made up of basic membership and non membership riders.
We also literally had hundreds of cancellations because of the possibility of rain. Yes, I say because of the possibility of rain. In the South we only had maybe three wet days out of close to forty trackdays. We had dozens of people cancelling out of every weekend because there was a 50% chance that it would rain. Some would cancel the morning of the event, only to sit in the paddock and watch everyone else ride on a perfectly dry track. It really got to the point where it was ridiculous. We had one three day weekend event where it only rained one day (and actually didn't rain all day on the wet day), but we had over fifty riders cancel out of the weekend. Not just for one day, they cancelled completely and didn't make the trip. The we had others that made the trip and canceled one or more days at the track. The track doesn't give NESBA a break if it rains, just so you know. Every cancellation goes into the system as a credit and it affects revenue at a future event because credits are used and not money. Think about how fifty cancellations that cover two, or possibly three days could affect future revenue.
When I started riding with NESBA over ten years ago, you either rode or you didn't, the choice was up to the rider, but there was no credit given if you sat it out. The ability to cancel is a nice perk, but based on how significantly the cancellation policy hurt us last year I think policy needs to be revisited in the future. Its tough to take something away that people like, but at some point tough choices have to be made assuming everyone agrees that having trackdays offered by NESBA is a good thing, and they would like for NESBA to be here in another ten years.
The bottom line is we'll do what we can to enhance the schedule and base those decisions on what makes sense for the organization. As members, you'll make you own decisions as to what works for you, that's what almost everyone does anyway. I hope that everyone who values NESBA and the quality of our events, will support the organization as often as possible, and that even though this schedule might not be what works best personally for you, you'll understand we are trying to navigate through a difficult economic period, and hopefully you'll do what you can to help us do that.
We tell tracks what our preferences and preferred dates are. For instance, we really don't want Barber in late winter, we want it in the spring. Or we'd like to a have weekend date on North that is in the spring or fall.
We see what dates we are offered by all of the tracks
We look for any conflicts and then make a decision on what to do based on past history.
We try to book the dates that make the most sense based on the above.
This isn't necessarily about scaling back one venue vs. another, it's about a schedule that includes events at Barber, NC Bike, and Road Atlanta too. We can't be a VIR based organization, and if something offered by VIR conflicts with something offered by another track then we have to choose.
There is always a good chance we can add additional dates at VIR. Based on past history of VIR calling NESBA and asking us to take the dates of other organizations who are cancelling I have no doubt that is likely to happen again. Also, for reasons known only to them, they have a history of shuffling their bookings around and then asking us to take a weekend that has opened up. One thing that is certain is that nothing is ever certain. Cryptic yes, but I'll just leave it at that. It is just February 2nd after all. In the past this schedule wouldn't even be out yet, but because of so many people getting so upset about knowing what the schedule is going to be, public pressure forces things to become public too early, and often that means events get added as the start to the season approaches.
Almost all of you guys are too new to remember the good old days when trackdays were like a filed of dreams. All NESBA had to do was book an event, any event, and large numbers of people would show up. Well those days are long gone. The number of people participating in trackdays has shrunk significantly due to the economic conditions. It isn't just NESBA either, it's across the board, and it obviously includes racing as well.
As mentioned above, last year we tried a different tact to attract new riders. We had aggressive pricing, great packages, and plenty of dates. From what I could see that didn't translate into any measurable increase in attendance. It's hard to know for sure because it was such a wet year. What I could see is that many people just don't care about elite memberships, package deals, or crazy pricing. Yes, we had quite a few who took advantage, but the majority of riders are still made up of basic membership and non membership riders.
We also literally had hundreds of cancellations because of the possibility of rain. Yes, I say because of the possibility of rain. In the South we only had maybe three wet days out of close to forty trackdays. We had dozens of people cancelling out of every weekend because there was a 50% chance that it would rain. Some would cancel the morning of the event, only to sit in the paddock and watch everyone else ride on a perfectly dry track. It really got to the point where it was ridiculous. We had one three day weekend event where it only rained one day (and actually didn't rain all day on the wet day), but we had over fifty riders cancel out of the weekend. Not just for one day, they cancelled completely and didn't make the trip. The we had others that made the trip and canceled one or more days at the track. The track doesn't give NESBA a break if it rains, just so you know. Every cancellation goes into the system as a credit and it affects revenue at a future event because credits are used and not money. Think about how fifty cancellations that cover two, or possibly three days could affect future revenue.
When I started riding with NESBA over ten years ago, you either rode or you didn't, the choice was up to the rider, but there was no credit given if you sat it out. The ability to cancel is a nice perk, but based on how significantly the cancellation policy hurt us last year I think policy needs to be revisited in the future. Its tough to take something away that people like, but at some point tough choices have to be made assuming everyone agrees that having trackdays offered by NESBA is a good thing, and they would like for NESBA to be here in another ten years.
The bottom line is we'll do what we can to enhance the schedule and base those decisions on what makes sense for the organization. As members, you'll make you own decisions as to what works for you, that's what almost everyone does anyway. I hope that everyone who values NESBA and the quality of our events, will support the organization as often as possible, and that even though this schedule might not be what works best personally for you, you'll understand we are trying to navigate through a difficult economic period, and hopefully you'll do what you can to help us do that.
. . . but if I did have kids and a wife - I'd be all over the 1500.00 10 day because it's still less expensive than all the other orgs. . .). I'm fairly confident that if a poll was conducted of all those that committed to those packages, the percentages would be very low for those who just had 1500-2000 lying around that couldn't be repurposed for something else.
