Motorsport in SA lacks purpose and marketing. If there is a formula or a class, it simply means there is someone doing a lot of work and often putting in a lot of time, soul and often money to make it happen. Changing, fixing or creating a new one will do nothing for the sport!!!!! Taking what we have and giving it purpose and marketing, you will perhaps have a chance of a revival. All sports have an ultimate level or title and a ranking to get to that top level. Once you reach the top level you become a professional sportsman and get paid to do your job. This is lacking in Motorsport. There is no precise path where to start and what progress to follow. Furthermore the lack of structure fails to provide funding for drivers to create a career and to achieve a profession from their talents. Motorsport should act like a funnel that starts off cheap and allows thousands of hopefuls to try and achieve the ultimate goal which is what most young boys and many young girls dream about........ becoming a professional racing driver. The dream only exists for a select few in this country. After many hopefuls dedicate a lifetime to their sport, it simply costs them lots money and find it is with no return on there investment. This has been happening for decades and no one will by into a dead career anymore. The youngsters start in karting and then move up to various single seater formulas or saloon car classes and spend hundreds of thousands of rand to realize that it is a farce and there is no career path but an endless road of spending. The tennis ball and tennis racket is not the sport, the sports men and woman are the sport. The tennis ball, racket, shoe or clothing manufacturer endorses the athlete and it is the athlete who has the persona to promote the product. NASCAR, Australian V8 Supercars are prime examples of that, Race on the weekend and let the champion sell your product on the Monday. The cars and rules change over time but the protagonists are always the constant. Fans and spectators have watched many formulas and classes change in all different directions without losing interest in the sport or its heroes. A formula can even disappear, the fan will still follow the sportsman. Loeb is a good example..........you follow him and watch him no matter what rule change is implemented in rally or which ever formula he drives. Drivers are icons, cars are icons, race tracks are icons, not rules, not formulas. Production cars fails to create an even platform, hence the constant change in rules or moving of goal posts, or differentiation of rules for each individual model of car to help it be more or less competitive. This was the same as Group N back in the day, hence its demise. The true purpose of production cars or the old Group N, would be for std production cars to go head to head and prove which one is the best! This is a lot harder process to create and to police in our modern tech cars of today due to the role that electronics and turbo charges have in enhancing the performance of the modern car. Long gone are the simple days of carburetors and a coil to create the spark..............After that statement we should ask ourselves why Polo Cup is so successful over a long period of time, my view is the following, it has purpose (feeder to any tin top category in the world - a great stepping stone), has the support of a manufacturer (subsidized, controlled and marketed by VW), has great TV coverage(VW promoting their own formula), due to the large fields and many novices it creates great close racing up front and spectacular mishaps deeper into the field(awesome to watch), great ideas like the top six having to draw grid positions from a hat (eliminates the boring processions modern race cars are known for). The marketing is extended far beyond the category itself. As I said above, the athlete is then the key to giving the Polo Cup category status and purpose, Kelvin and Jordan are what young kids look up to as our modern heroes and the stars of today whom ignite the dream and reality that it is possible to go further and to maybe become a professional racing driver. The investment that VW has put into these youngsters is what has promoted and boosted Polo Cup. Invest in the athlete and by creating a sustainable path and career for the talented youngsters that do have what it takes to win races you will then have a revival of the sport............Changing the engine in a GTC will not make a difference to Motorsport, it will only change the dynamics of the people who are directly involved in that particular category!!!!!!!!!! I feel that Formula Ford should be on the same level as Polo Cup but for single seaters and FVW should be promoted and valued in the same light as GTC but on the single seater side. The cream should rise to the top and both GTC and FVW should have the most talented drivers in the country earning money to be the countries best motor racing athletes. Ironic that the feeder formula in both categories is the opposite of the pinnacle formula. Single seaters - Ford, VW and in tin tops - VW, Ford. This tells me that there is only two manufacturers that have invested in the platform and future of the sport. Rather sad revelation, thinking about it.............Michele, I wish you luck!!! The more I think about it and put pen to paper, the more I realize that the sport has to have more investors like VW whom invest both at grass roets level and at the pinnacle level. You also will need a more independent promoter like the Off-Road commission to create the platform to grow circuit racing and to have sustainability. Your biggest problem is, there are a 1000 ways to skin a cat..........
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 20:10:56 +0000
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