Mildura working on a track

[Tourer]

Mildura council is wanting to expand on the existing drag strip and go to a motor sports park: Mildura meeting

There is a kart track at Mildura too but I'm not sure where it is in relation to the drag strip or proposed park area.

Info from CAMS here: linky

[GTRMagic]

With the Kellys & Mr Waters from that part of the world, the need for speed shines brightly in Mildura

[coln72]

Nice to see a council supporting Motorsport. Unlike some

[Trevor]

I can't see John Kelly reaching too deep into his pockets for anything less than a 10000% return on investment

[275 GTB-4]

Airport Café looks OK...

http://milduraairport.com.au/mildura-airport-cafe/

[Trevor]

Sitting in a 'motel' in Mildura as I type this - LOL

[GTRMagic]

Looking for a patron....

$22m down, $8m back of the $22m, if you can wait up to 30 years

[Mixer]

Can't imagine Winton would be loving that idea?

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Can't imagine Winton would be loving that idea?

Bathurst is about the same distance to Winton, than what Winton is to Mildura.

[Trevor]

Let's see if it happens first - gonna need more than the figure they are quoting - just look at the $110m spent at Tailem Bend

[bludvl_x19]

Originally Posted by chavez

Bathurst is about the same distance to Winton, than what Winton is to Mildura.

Wheres as Tailem Bend is 3.5hrs down the road from Mildura.

[spook]

Originally Posted by Trevor

Let's see if it happens first - gonna need more than the figure they are quoting - just look at the $110m spent at Tailem Bend

A big chunk of that $110M would have gone into the 100 bed hotel - not something that Mildura have in mind as far as I am aware.

Before TB the last circuit built was QR - it cost $9.3M in 1999, which in todays dollars is around $22M, so to build a 3.2km track with equivalent facilities would cost the same (excluding land cost) as a ball park estimate.

What the EOI will do is tell the council how much of the building cost they will have to wear to get an investor on board. A very necessary step.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by spook

A big chunk of that $110M would have gone into the 100 bed hotel - not something that Mildura have in mind as far as I am aware.

Before TB the last circuit built was QR - it cost $9.3M in 1999, which in todays dollars is around $22M, so to build a 3.2km track with equivalent facilities would cost the same (excluding land cost) as a ball park estimate.

What the EOI will do is tell the council how much of the building cost they will have to wear to get an investor on board. A very necessary step.

And yet QR still doesn’t have pit garages....

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

And yet QR still doesn’t have pit garages....

Although it DOES have garages, so the money or the contra deal was there to get them built - they just didn't build them in the right place.

[spook]

The carports in QR Pit Lane built by the current leaseholder provide more than adequate facilities for 50 weeks of the year. Why would you spend millions to provide facilities for only 2 weekends of the year.

Back in 1999, there was no requirement from CAMS or Supercars to have Pit Lane Garages - they were happy with the decision to build the garages in the paddock at the time.

Not that this has anything to do with the proposed Mildura Motorsport Precinct.

[Umai Naa]

It shows that we have a pretty low standard at times, for what constitutes a state of the art facility.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

It shows that we have a pretty low standard at times, for what constitutes a state of the art facility.

Australian tracks with no exceptions apart from the F1 track can all be described with 4 letters CR*P. I cannot understand the thinking that goes on before construction starts because the track will only prosper if the spectators find the place nice to be at.

[spook]

No track in Australia can be sustained with spectators as a primary revenue source - that business model peaked in the 1960's and died in the late 80's. Permanent circuits now rely on user pays business models in various forms.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by spook

No track in Australia can be sustained with spectators as a primary revenue source - that business model peaked in the 1960's and died in the late 80's. Permanent circuits now rely on user pays business models in various forms.

I have been to most tracks in Oz as both a competitor and spectator and they are all CR*P. No one has tried to attract spectators with good modern facilities to test the concept and when we lined the track at OP in the thousands our expectations of what to expect except good racing were pretty damned low in every respect. These days if you want to attract good crowds provide more than dirt and no trees and people might come. I understand what you are saying but it does not change the treatment of spectators.

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by Casper

I have been to most tracks in Oz as both a competitor and spectator and they are all CR*P. No one has tried to attract spectators with good modern facilities to test the concept and when we lined the track at OP in the thousands our expectations of what to expect except good racing were pretty damned low in every respect. These days if you want to attract good crowds provide more than dirt and no trees and people might come. I understand what you are saying but it does not change the treatment of spectators.

who pays mate? - Have you heard of the concept of "return of investment"

The ONLY event that attracts crowd are Supercars and maybe that idiotic 'burnout' competition. The level of series below Supercars is non-existent - you can't attract honey with dog-****

Spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for one event per year, the waning Supercars series - get real will ya

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by spook

No track in Australia can be sustained with spectators as a primary revenue source .......... Permanent circuits now rely on user pays business models in various forms.

100% correct

All the levels below Supercars and some support series of Supercars are 'hobby' racers, they do it for a hobby, a bloody expensive hobby - there is no financially viable series below Supercars that a number of people can get an income from - hence the lack of competition for Supercars

People expect ALL series of motorsport to put on a show like Supercars - won't happen

They are HOBBY racers, with real jobs to support their hobby

I am constantly amazed at the level of discussion by some who post here and call themselves 'motorsport enthusiasts' - many have no idea of the inner workings or of reality

[Casper]

Originally Posted by Trevor

100% correct

All the levels below Supercars and some support series of Supercars are 'hobby' racers, they do it for a hobby, a bloody expensive hobby - there is no financially viable series below Supercars that a number of people can get an income from - hence the lack of competition for Supercars

People expect ALL series of motorsport to put on a show like Supercars - won't happen

They are HOBBY racers, with real jobs to support their hobby

I am constantly amazed at the level of discussion by some who post here and call themselves 'motorsport enthusiasts' - many have no idea of the inner workings or of reality

I am sorry to question your obvious superior business skills. As someone who has been a decades long competitor and owned more than one business in my life it is called developing the market not building to the existing market which is exactly what Supercars did initially. Every track is being built to a damned low standard with no intent to expand the spectator numbers which seems to be a defeatist attitude before they even start. Have a good day.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by Trevor

who pays mate? - Have you heard of the concept of "return of investment"

The ONLY event that attracts crowd are Supercars and maybe that idiotic 'burnout' competition. The level of series below Supercars is non-existent - you can't attract honey with dog-****

Spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for one event per year, the waning Supercars series - get real will ya

Typical dead end thinking, why do you think the numbers have dropped so far, because the tracks are CR*P and people do not want to go there to experience the lack of facilities.

[spook]

With your extensive motorsport and business experience, can you tell us what is the average cost per spectator to cover setup costs - catering, security, parking, Police, toilets, garbage collection and disposal & ticketing ?. Just a ballpark figure will do for this discussion.

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by Casper

I am sorry to question your obvious superior business skills. As someone who has been a decades long competitor and owned more than one business in my life it is called developing the market not building to the existing market which is exactly what Supercars did initially. Every track is being built to a damned low standard with no intent to expand the spectator numbers which seems to be a defeatist attitude before they even start. Have a good day.

As a racer you don't appear to know much. Is it up to the track to canvas numbers or does that sit with the category manager? - just curiois, coz you would know coz you are a racer

If you want to talk small stuff like club meets then it is up to the track to try to attract numbers, but if you want to attract National or State categories then tracks need to negotiate with category managers. I have seen plenty of times first hand where category mangers have promised BIG numbers and on the day (weekend) either failed to attend at all (yes at all) or with significantly reduced numbers from what was promised. Even the 'god' of motorsport CAMS fail to attract numbers at times - tell me why the numbers aren't appearing? I can tell you first hand it nothing to do with the 'race track' although I will grant that some tracks will attract more numbers than others due to their proximity to large populations or they are seen as a significant 'international' or 'national' track they peoples ego dictate that they must race on (Tailem Bend will be one of those for a while)



and for the record I have been an active participant in the running of a track and have been a club level competitor as well as volunteering my time to be an official