Falken Tire Discussion and Q&A

[porman]

My apologies for hijacking your thread Falken.

[FalkenALMS]

Originally Posted by porman

My apologies for hijacking your thread Falken.

No worries, we love Porsches!

[FalkenALMS]

Originally Posted by porman

I will pose a question.

Let's say that Porsche releases the new 991 RSR for customers next year. Have you discussed running one or would you stick with your current 997 for 2013. I can see monetarily why this may be hard to justify seeing as how you just purchased a new car and also understand that there are a lot of what ifs with this question. Just curious if there is a budget that you are aware of for the new model come next year.

Thanks!

Wow, yeah, lots of ifs. If the car were to be released during the competition season, we would owe it to ourselves to discuss the option of utilizing the 991 chassis for the remainder of that season.

[jasonjessica09]

Question to Falken team:

Can you petition ALMS to:

1. Slow down the LMPC cars
and/or
2. Increase the fuel of the GT cars

Its simple really. I want to see GT cars higher up the OVERALL grid. They should be. This class is best that the series has to offer.

[aneesh99]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

Question to Falken team:

Can you petition ALMS to:

1. Slow down the LMPC cars
and/or
2. Increase the fuel of the GT cars

Its simple really. I want to see GT cars higher up the OVERALL grid. They should be. This class is best that the series has to offer.

Not sure you want to do that, they already match each other on the straights, so they all go into the corner at the same time if they're packed up (looked great at Sebring for example but no shortage of incidents.) You start to slow the PC's up any more and they'll be trading paint...

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by aneesh99

Not sure you want to do that, they already match each other on the straights, so they all go into the corner at the same time if they're packed up (looked great at Sebring for example but no shortage of incidents.) You start to slow the PC's up any more and they'll be trading paint...

Agreed. With the downforce levels PC cars have they would still be far quicker than the GT cars in medium and high speed corners which would make traffic rather more precarious.

Chris

[porman]

Originally Posted by FalkenALMS

Wow, yeah, lots of ifs. If the car were to be released during the competition season, we would owe it to ourselves to discuss the option of utilizing the 991 chassis for the remainder of that season.

Thank you for the honest answer. Everything you do and say speaks volumes to where Falken can and will go.

[FalkenALMS]

I've gotten a few message here, on other forums and on our twitter as to when the Porsche part II blog will be coming out. We're still working on it and getting approval from everyone necessary, but we hope to have it out soon. In the meantime, here's a look into the relationship between Falken co-drivers Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler. These two are an absolute blast to work with and are also incredibly professional. They make a great team racing for Falken and hopefully this year, they'll be able to bring home a few more wins!

http://bit.ly/KY8xj0

[I Rosputnik]

Alas, I have few more:

One of the things that has always interested me about the Falken cars from a graphic design perspective is the blue and green livery that define them. Where did this come from and could it be possible to have some insight into the design process? (Brings back fond memories of the Nissan R34 that went around the Nurb.)

Plus where did the Falken name come from?

[FalkenALMS]

Originally Posted by I Rosputnik

Alas, I have few more:

One of the things that has always interested me about the Falken cars from a graphic design perspective is the blue and green livery that define them. Where did this come from and could it be possible to have some insight into the design process? (Brings back fond memories of the Nissan R34 that went around the Nurb.)

Plus where did the Falken name come from?

Where the teal and blue meet (we call those lines the scallops) represents the wings/feathers of a bird. Falken is the German spelling of the word "Falcon." This design originated with our motorsports programs in Japan and has become the identifiable livery for all Falken Tire competition vehicles.

[Matt]

You guys should switch up the scheme to be more like that D1 car that ran one year...with the more natural looking "wing" sections.


the blue one some of the later cars was a blue chrome vinyl, I think that'd look awesome.

[pach233]

I actually have a question specifically for you Ms. FalkenALMSPR.

Obvious fan interaction here on ten-tenths is geared especially to interact with the already hard core fans of the sports car racing world. Even your extremely active twitter account would be difficult to find unless you are already somewhat aware of the ALMS and its teams.

My question is whats kinds of strategies do you use to try to build awareness and a following for Falken, the ALMS, and especially your team Walker Falken ALMS among "outsiders" or even "casual" fans who may not follow the series on a regular basis or even be aware of its existence?

[FalkenALMS]

Originally Posted by pach233

I actually have a question specifically for you Ms. FalkenALMSPR.

Obvious fan interaction here on ten-tenths is geared especially to interact with the already hard core fans of the sports car racing world. Even your extremely active twitter account would be difficult to find unless you are already somewhat aware of the ALMS and its teams.

My question is whats kinds of strategies do you use to try to build awareness and a following for Falken, the ALMS, and especially your team Walker Falken ALMS among "outsiders" or even "casual" fans who may not follow the series on a regular basis or even be aware of its existence?

Without giving too much our strategy away (Can't let the other teams know what's up! ), here's a general idea.

Twitter is a very easy tool to increase your exposure outside your own bubble (in our case, ALMS fans). A simple retweet puts your message in front of a whole new audience--and instantly. Our partners (I'll use that term loosely since some aren't official) like Eibach Springs, Muc-Off, Discount Tire, Porsche, RACER etc, are some of our most frequent re-tweeters. Each time one of these companies shares our message, we notice a spike in new followers. We do extensive social media tracking, especially with twitter, making sure our message is reaching new audience members. With a new twitter of only 1,062 followers, when someone like Discount Tire (with 13,700 followers) shares our link, video or press release, it's reaching people who already have an interest in tires, and possibly automotive related news. We actively communicate with numerous sources on twitter who have followers that share the same interests as an ALMS fan. I'll stop there before going into too much detail. But you get the idea.

As for other non-twitter ways to expand our reach, there are plenty of things going on. Team specific: We do appearances at Porsche dealerships, work with partners like Discount Tire at events, stores or social media, work with local media at each race, educating them on the series and offer exclusive interviews, we do school and hospital visits, radio interviews, and actively search out reporters looking to talk about items similar to our sport/team (For example, the diet routine of a professional athlete). The corporation itself also advertises in numerous outlets including, but not limited to, print and television (our #17 Porsche was featured in one of their latest commercials).

That's a small glimpse, but hopefully gives you an idea of what else we do in addition interaction with our diehard fans.

[pach233]

Thank you for the thoughtful and thorough response. I was not looking for industry secrets so your response was more than sufficient! The reason I asked was because as a lifelong sportscar racing fan, I've always felt sportscar racing was the best kept secret in sports. Not enough people know this type of racing exists. I've always been of the opinion that sanctioning bodies, series and teams have done a poor job of promoting themselves and by consequence the sport. I've been interested to see what would happen if a team did it the "right way" and made a big effort in promotion and FalkenALMS is one of the teams doing the sorts of things which can eventual lead to a larger fan-base.

[arakis]

A nice way to get instant twitter exposure, is to make a twitter based contest...

like giveaway a set of tires to 10 people who re-tweet the giveaway tweet... chose the winners at random...

for people to enter the contest: they just have to retweet your contest tweet...

[FalkenALMS]

Originally Posted by pach233

Thank you for the thoughtful and thorough response. I was not looking for industry secrets so your response was more than sufficient! The reason I asked was because as a lifelong sportscar racing fan, I've always felt sportscar racing was the best kept secret in sports. Not enough people know this type of racing exists. I've always been of the opinion that sanctioning bodies, series and teams have done a poor job of promoting themselves and by consequence the sport. I've been interested to see what would happen if a team did it the "right way" and made a big effort in promotion and FalkenALMS is one of the teams doing the sorts of things which can eventual lead to a larger fan-base.

Sometimes that's the interesting thing about sports: You never realize how great each one is until you immerse yourself in it. Motorsports itself is very hard to get outsiders interested, especially sports car racing, because most people instantly associate it with, for example NASCAR. There's that stereotype that it's "just a bunch of cars going in a circle." As for ALMS, they're very open to fan feedback and of course are always looking to bring in new fans as well as please the existing ones. One thing they do that Porsche is now doing as well is at certain automotive dealerships, if you make a big purchase, they'll give the buyer race tickets and access to ALMS hospitality. Granted, we all can't make that big purchase, but that's one small, easy way to extend out to a new audience.

One great thing about our Program Manager, Derrick Walker is he was basically ALL open wheel racing before he joined Falken Tire in 2011. He definitely had a lot to learn, but he could also see the team through fresh, "outsider" eyes. On a personal note, he snatched a PR rep (yours truely) out of open wheel racing as well. A few of the crew members working on the #17 Porsche have been with Walker for many years in his open wheel ventures before joining the sports car team. This makes our perspective somewhat unique when we try to think of ways to market to "outsiders" who have little awareness of sports car racing--we used to be them! Combine that when Falken Tire's existing experience and knowledge in the sport, and it's incredible all the different view points and ideas that come to light.

One big challenge with Sports Car racing can be to simply educate the outsider on all the different classes of cars. It can be pretty confusing at first, especially when you're used to the same chassis, engine and tires competing in only a two hour race! Thankfully, ALMS has resources on their site as well as their YouTube page that help break it down for newcomers. In fact, when we get outside media interested in the team, that's the first place we send them!

[FalkenALMS]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

When can we expect to see Team Falken Tire and Porsche Part II on your blog?

Here it is! Team Falken Tire and Porsche Part II: Fans Ask The Questions" http://bit.ly/P204LA

[arakis]

Originally Posted by FalkenALMS

Here it is! Team Falken Tire and Porsche Part II: Fans Ask The Questions" http://bit.ly/P204LA

hmmm so no news about the 991 were OK-ed by porsche...

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by FalkenALMS

Where the teal and blue meet (we call those lines the scallops) represents the wings/feathers of a bird. Falken is the German spelling of the word "Falcon." This design originated with our motorsports programs in Japan and has become the identifiable livery for all Falken Tire competition vehicles.

The interior of the Porsche used to be painted a Porsche racing orange. Why did ya stop? I always thought that contrast, while a little odd, was very cool.

[Mac K]

I noticed a link in another thread on here about a twitter contest and the winner of said contest got to eat lunch with Brian and Wolf at the upcoming ALMS races, I'm just curious if you need twitter to be eligible? I'll be at Mosport in a few weekends when ALMS comes into town and I'd love the opportunity to enter the contest as I'd love to meet both Brian and Wolf, that would be a great experience. Sorry if it isn't appropriate to ask this sort of question in here..

[NightStalk3r]

They ask a question on twitter and you reply on twitter, so yeah id say its pretty important to have a twitter account.

[FalkenALMS]

Originally Posted by Mac K

I noticed a link in another thread on here about a twitter contest and the winner of said contest got to eat lunch with Brian and Wolf at the upcoming ALMS races, I'm just curious if you need twitter to be eligible? I'll be at Mosport in a few weekends when ALMS comes into town and I'd love the opportunity to enter the contest as I'd love to meet both Brian and Wolf, that would be a great experience. Sorry if it isn't appropriate to ask this sort of question in here..

Hi Mac,

Yes, you definitely need twitter to win. Twitter allows us to reach out to as many of our fans as possible and interact with the live. We give updates non stop throughout the weekend and answer questions back as quickly as possible. Fans know where we are and what's going on. Twitter allows us to throw a contest up and quickly get high interaction and pick a winner. Come by and Mosport, and I'd be happy to help you get familiar with twitter.

[FalkenALMS]

Hey everyone,

Sorry we couldn't check in sooner. The internet at all of the team rigs is barely working and trying to get on through a non AT&T phone is impossible.

As most of you saw, we qualified 8th, but a disqualification further up in the field has moved us up to 7th. The team is a bit disappointed in where we are this weekend. However, as Bryan Sellers pointed out last night, last year, the Falken Porsche wasn't doing so well before the race, and ended almost getting a podium finish, if it weren't for a 90 second penalty.

You don't have to have a twitter to watch our feed on twitter.com/falkenalms. I'll be sending updates as much as I can!

I'll do a full update once we return to Indy after the race. Time to head to the track!

[FalkenALMS]

Hi all,

After a difficult week at Lime Rock, we're back at the shop here in Indy. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the paddock to say hello and who sent messages of support to the team. We're in full prep-mode for Mosport and look forward to meeting more of our fans. Currently in the works is a post-Lime Rock recap blog from Wolf Henzler, so stay tuned!

[pach233]

I have a question regarding the addition of the GTE-AM class in the ALMS. Obviously most of the fans have been asking for a 2nd car to go along with the 17, but I was wondering if this class may provide Falken the opportunity to have customer programs. It may help with the revenue related to racing as well as provide additional exposure by adding Falken shod cars in class geared toward amateurs.