Quick 2011 season-related Qs

[Elbee]

[mdabyo]

ya i am shocked Friday prices went up too.. i may not be able to afford to race this year.

-J

[ttc]

ya i think alot of people will feel the pinch.. from the new prices. the cheap track time on wednesday nights is one of the things that was very interesting last year if we had been able to take advantage. we may not be taking much extras this year for sure as just race weekends will be alot. My big hope is they don't continue raise prices and try to run a season off the backs of the racers. When ever i was in the bleachers which was almost every round but the first 2 i think. there was no one there. I really don't see what buisness model one would try to run any other large entertainment even if you have only a handful of people paying at the gate to watch. As i have said before i lived only 5 mins from the track for over a year when i moved to ns and i never even knew there was a track. Hopefully the ARL boys can do more to get the word out about the track and events that go on out there. Maybe it could be a joint effort between the bike and car crowd. I hope this year to go see some of the car racing at the track. My first time at the track was superbike weekend just for the sunday 4 or 5 years ago and i was amazed at all the paddock with all the manufactures there with their riders. I think having the paddock set up that all the riders have an area and when you walk threw its a bit more impressive on a regular race weekend. But don't they rent spots in the paddock? i am sure for some it is one more added expense that some can't afford. so everyone is spread out all over the place out on the gravel or over on the grass. It has been mentioned that less people are volunteering and that is true for many organizations. I did think about Marshalling last year but i work every day of the week and to be out in a marshal stand for all of saturday and most of sunday really would not be down time on the weekend from work for me. And a credit for a track day after working a couple events that only you can use is really not much of an incentive for a full weekend of work when i am not the one on the track yet in my house.. I hope not to offend anyone with my comments but its just a small caption of the track from my end of the spectrum.

Will there be an actual area on the form for suggestions? that people can hash out some ideas for you guys to mull over!

Here is a few for track days

on a wednesday night invite any and all street riders to come out and ride around on the track. not a all out track event but a controlled speed ride around the track being led by someone from arl in small groups. give street riders a look at the track and maybe help some people overcome the fear of the track. after its all done or while it is going have a street bike set up in tech and have someone showing street riders how easy it is to prep a bike to take to a track day event.

the track days have been getting better and better but have you considered a jersey red/yellow/green system for new people at the track so people on the track have a visual cue to how much experience the other riders have. red could be for a first time track rider, yellow for your second time out and green for third after that no jersey.

every new rider has to start in beginner group untill your riding ability can be determined by the people running the even. if you make it a rule then you then egos can be bruised.

bikers congregate in key areas around hrm and in other places in NS why not get out there and get some info out there for people so they know about the track.

hope no one feels anything i say is an attack against anyone as that is not my intent. I just want to see things continue to improve and that there will be a track there in the future for new riders and everyone that is riding now

[Caleb 6R]

I'll be in AM sportbike too!!

[AMurray]

Hi Everyone,

First we want to be clear, we REALLY appreciate any suggestions or ideas people have and we encourage them from all our customers. We look at them all. We are often told that people are not willing to talk to us about their complaints or ideas so whenever we get them we certainly appreciate it.

Just some information of clarification for those of you who were not able to attend the ARL State Of The Union meeting last month. There are a few increases in fees which are going to be required to try and cover at least some of the huge expenses which we will have for the 2011 season. Here are a few points from the meeting which might help sort things out.

• Our increases in rates will not involve race fees, our hope is to make a minimal impact on racers expenses.
• For 2011 Memberships we did offer early bird pricing which not many people took advantage of
• For 2011 we will continue to offer discounts for Season passes, and team / family passes to the events those savings only make sense if purchase before round one
• For safety reasons we feel we must have a staff member (or members) on site during all Test and Tune event in order to act as a spotter(s) during the event.
• The Wednesday evening test and tunes had minimal success in 2010 with only a handful of people taking advantage of this service. If there is a demand for larger groups to take advantage of the Wednesday evening test and tunes we can look at a group discount as required.
Our timing system is very old, it was purchased used by us in 2008 and we must invest in a new system very soon, by the end of this season at the very latest.

AMP has given us some significant increases in our track rentals (increase of 50%) and AMP Radio Rental (increase of 100%).
The economic conditions along with other outside forces have made it very difficult to obtain sponsorship for 2010, and possibly 2011. Our long term goals would include having sponsorship contracts for multiple years which would help absorb some of these extra costs. We will continue to work towards this end in 2011.

In our three years of business we have managed not to increase our fees even when there were increases to our expenses that were beyond our control, ie Insurance increases, HST increases, rental increases, etc. We would love to keep prices as they are but in order to provide the best possible service we need to obtain a new timing system, need to invest in air barriers and other safety measures.

Her are some of our Marketing efforts for 2010 – There are several things we are working on for the 2011 season.
• We will certainly continue our grass roots marketing approach, hauling the trailer and bikes to the motorcyclist gatherings through HRM and beyond.
• We are discussing advertising in the Motorcycle Fever section of the Chronicle Herald,
• Radio advertising for the National event,
• Social Media Advertising to begin in the next 60 days,
• Targeted Mail Walk program to specific areas in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Thanks,
Andrew

[mademiriam]

[whiPPet]

I am grateful that you guys are talking with us too!

So many of us want to progress into racing until we tally up costs AND attempt to cover all the bases required.
In regards to some of these areas, I would suggest a free or cheap workshop or two. A workshop to introduce people to AMP and advise them what is needed and what is recommended for their bikes, bodies and bank accounts and in what order to proceed with upgrades, fitness and finances etc. Where to shop, what order, what to upgrade, who to see, what to plan for etc. I have had so many contradicting opinions, it can be confusing to say the least. Maybe a workshop for basic bike setup for AMP. Maybe a day where a newcomer can show their bike to someone and get a free, frank, flat out assessment of what they need. Maybe rideshare help and hookup setup to help get people out for their first shot at it.

I cannot say enough about what marshaling teaches a person aiming to race. I am always trying to recruit people for marshaling.

Definitely getting people out to the track is important. I brought my laptop to a couple of bike nights at Perks, showed people slow and fast laps and I saw excited, fantastic reactions but I also sensed misconceptions and intimidation from the street riders. I still had a hard sell to convince them to try. I really think ttc's idea of a free, guided, slow going tour for street riders might be a great idea. A brochure or a card with a info link and a ride date.. free hotdogs or something too. Today I was encouraging a young rider to bring his sportbike to the track this summer but he was obviously concerned that he would have to race or that he would not be good enough. His interest perked when I explained how easy, and easy going, it is to do a Fri. trackday.

Making people feel welcome is pretty important. A bunch of busy pros isnt going to make a noob feel like trying it out.. I know, I was there a couple of years ago! Some of us are lucky to have expert help but many need some basic technical and mechanical help to get going. Not that people at AMP aren't amazingly friendly or generously helpful but the track, the bike, the racing are all very intimidating to newcomers. All that seems to fade quickly after a few laps in blue group!

So, getting people out there seems to be pretty important for everyone's future.

[AMurray]

A couple more comments on some things for the 2011 Season mentioned above:

Regarding the Wednesday night track rental: I would suggest getting a number of people to 'pre-register' for a Wednesday evening Test and Tune and we can look at some special 'group' rates which will reduce the fees for everyone for those events.

Regarding the workshops: I really like that idea. In fact we saw something very similar to this in Calabogie last year where street riders could just show up at lunch and they would be paraded around the track for a few (slow and easy) laps. Building on this idea could be a small workshop we could put together for street riders. The biggest hurdle we have with this type of thing is insurance requirements. In order to be on the track without an ARL membership we need to have Medical Rescue on site, this is obviously quite an expense to cover. Street riders who have an ARL membership (or single event membership) can fall into our Test and Tune insurance policy which would not require medical rescue on site.

Let us work out some details on this workshop idea and see what we can do.

Regarding handouts: I design all the creative marketing for the season, including post cards, handouts, passes, etc. Last year we printed over 8000 post cards which got mailed to specific areas throughout NS, dropped off at local dealers, and handed out at trade shows.

The problem of people not knowing about the track is not a new one. This has been a challenge since I've been involved (about 10 years) and prior to that I know it was also a problem. We are currently looking at some creative advertising ideas for the highway which may help. Advertising is all about impressions and the more impressions we can make the more likely people will be to remember (or learn) the track exists. Its a bit of a catch 22 because with a limited advertising budget due to the economic climate its hard to pay big $$ for advertising so we need to use our Grass Roots approach which will make direct impact, but does not give us the large numbers of impressions to the non-motorcyclist community.

As an example... I advertise on Facebook for real estate. Over the course of 2 weeks I might have 200,000+ impressions (how many times my ad was displayed) and I might have 20 "clicks" to the website from the Facebook ad. Its these impressions that we need to build on and if we get 20 new people aware of the track than its worth it.

Again, thanks for the ideas... we appreciate them and are open to discuss new ideas all the time. We also have a competition committee who are available to run ideas by if anyone is not comfortable bring ideas directly to us.

Thanks again,
Andrew

[Elbee]

[SMman]

I'm happy to see ARL offering track days and I attended 3 last year and 1 the year before. I hadn't been on the track since 2006 and forgot how much fun it was. In 2006, I had to have a fully prepped bike which wasn't the big issue everyone thinks it is. I enjoyed being able to stay out as long as I wanted during a Friday test and tune. The track days from the past 2 years were good but always left me wanting more track time. I get up at 5:30am to leave PEI and be on time for tech and the rider's meeting. I experienced delays getting things started and found it frustrating sitting there looking at an empty track. I say keep up the good work for track days but try to offer more track time. I'll be lucky to get 2 track days in this summer with my work schedule so want to get as much time as possible. Thank you for reading my ramblings and considering all advice offered. Oh yeah, does my $150 track day gift certificate still count? My wife ordered one and some shirts for me for Christmas but we haven't received anything yet.

Chad