Snett attendance?

[mark]

Any idea in size of snett attendance. Looked a few on TV and what with the weather and evening racing, I would expect it too have been a big un? :confused: :)

[Alan]

It didn't look very big from the ground, but it is difficult to judge. More telling was the fact that RW was not very impressed, but he mentioned no figures and I don't know what his expectations were.
Apparently alot of people headed for the coast where it was slightly cooler.

[Les]

and as they headed up the A11 they would have been inundated with adverts for the race wouldn't they :(.

Just seems that Octagon do not advertise - very short sighted.

[Sarah]

I think the weather had a lot to do with it but I agree it needs more promotion.

I got the local paper on Thursday as there is a motorsport page that day and it was about BTCC and supports. Also listed about six winners of tickets so there had been a competition. Again a small mention in Saturday morning's paper. Friday evening Anglia TV only mentioned it was happening and BBC did nothing.

[Kelvin]

First two weeks of August and half the cuntry go on holiday..
Now if you went to snett you mave have seen the MG Zs owned by race face parked up near MG merchadise etc. I think there were 11 cars. Normally there are 20 - 30 cars from one particular MG specific forum. So with 11 cars, numbers were down 50% all due to the fact that that nearly all the regulars were away on holiday. It the same runs true with all other BTCC regulars you go someway explaining a low turnout.

Did u see the bit on TV about high street stores complaining of poor trade this weekend.

[Paul Rayner]

Originally posted by Les
and as they headed up the A11 they would have been inundated with adverts for the race wouldn't they :(.

Just seems that Octagon do not advertise - very short sighted.
When I went to Rockingham last week, when approaching the A43 turn off of the A1, I said to the other people in my car that you'd see more directional signs to the event at Rockingham than every TOCA meeting of the year put together. Sure enough, there were loads of them. Hell, at Croft BTCC the only sign I saw was one telling me the circuit was straight ahead, when I'd just had to turn right to get there.

Alan Gow says that it was the circuit's fault that attendance was low and the marketing wasn't good enough. You know what? Who gives a damn whose fault it was. It wasn't good enough, someone should have done it better, and it affected both TOCA and Snetterton badly.

The weather can't have helped though - who'd want to sit on a grassy banking and fry themselves when they could go to a beach? Racing crowds are very weather dependent.

[thommo_fan]

i reckon there was about 15000 people there on saturday, which is very disappointing.
the event needed to be advertised alot more in the local press.

i don't agree that people would rather be at the beach, not the proper btcc supporters anyway.
the more casual btcc supporter would probably rather be at the beach though. which might not happen if the event had better advertising.

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

To be fair to Octagon or whatever they call themselves now, I did get a postcard from them a while back advertising the 3 remaining Octagon rounds of the BTCC, but I agree that local promotion and promotion is autosport etc was very poor. Then again, I think this would of been down to BMP?

It was a good day, but the organisation could of been improved, making it a whole lot better.

[Paul Rayner]

Originally posted by thommo_fan
i don't agree that people would rather be at the beach, not the proper btcc supporters anyway.
the more casual btcc supporter would probably rather be at the beach though. which might not happen if the event had better advertising.
And it's the casual fans that make up the majority of the numbers. If it was only die-hard fans that went, you'd never get more than a few thousand through the gates. You've got to start marketing it catering to what they want, and just putting on a few races and saying "Please watch this!" isn't enough.

[Les]

it's daft really that Snetterton doesn't have a couple of permanent boards out on the A14.

Quite often we travel past and if there was to be 'next week Super Coupes, Formula whatever all for £5' then we might just pop in and who know how many others might just be tempted.

[cos]

Originally posted by Sim_Da_BTCC_Man
To be fair to Octagon or whatever they call themselves now, I did get a postcard from them a while back advertising the 3 remaining Octagon rounds of the BTCC...

I got that today - bit late to remind me to go to Snetterton though :rolleyes:

[Peter]

Holding the race on a Saturday didn't help either. That may well have confused quite a few fans.

Like Alan Gow said in the other forum, the promotion from Brands Hatch Circuits (or whatever Octagon change their name to next;) ) did a very poor job in promoting the event.

I do think the heat would have had the final say. I felt I was taking a risk in spending what could have been the hottest day of the year miles away from any shade. I'd be interested to know if any other sporting events suffered low turnouts.....

[MattW]

I didn't go last year so i can only go by what the guys with me said, but the general feeling was that it was well down.

I think it Seemed to be a combination of things, a) people didn't know it was all day saturday - guy i was with had someone ring him on his mobile just before Race 2 was starting to see "if he was going to the touring cars TOMORROW" b) it was really really hot c) some people that did know it was all day actually have to work on a Saturday.

That said it was good not to have to push to get good viewing!

[DavidRose]

Originally posted by Les
and as they headed up the A11 they would have been inundated with adverts for the race wouldn't they :(.

Just seems that Octagon do not advertise - very short sighted.

Les I couldn't agree more. The only advert which I saw for the event was printed in the Eastern Daily Press. It was so small I almost overlooked it.
I spend most of my time working within the city of Norwich and didn't see one advert.

If the powers that be thought the attendance was down ,then they only have themselves to blame.
Most of my motorsport friends who live locally were working on the Friday, and likewise most said that they would have been in attendance if the event took place Sat/ Sun':confused: