MG Man the point of these discussions is to kick around new ideas to promote development of the club. I do see your point in some respect but just because no one is complaining does not mean it can't be improved. Granted we do have to be cautious not to undo an already good format.
With that said I would like to throw out a few other ideas,
1) the novice classes could be further subdivided into four categories so as not to discourage a novice with a GS or HS car who has to compete with someone in an ESP car.
2) reduce the novice period from six events to a three event period before moving to regular competition classes.
3) this one might seem harsh, but it should be mandatory for the novices to walk the course at least twice during the stipulated course walk time period in order to qualify to compete on that day.
4) Random breathalyzer testing

Now let the beating begin

i have two ideas stemming from the two main reasons why my friends and I like solodex.

1. I want to learn to be a better driver, so more emphasis on driving school would attract ppl like me, particularly if there were benefits to participating in the driving school similar to that of doing the defensive driving course (car insurance discounts). Maybe a driving school run by the club, that is separate from competing in solodex, encourages the competing in solodex, but its not mandatory.

2. Some people just want to compete, they want a legal opportunity to drive their cars hard, i see this as a promotional issue, promoting BYCC would inform those who are interested in competing of an opportunity to do just that in a safe and legal environment. I don't have the statistics to support this claim but i think many who participate in BYCC eventually become members, because they like it and want more (please correct me if i'm wrong)

what do you think?
1. have more driving schools, with emphasis on teaching ppl how to drive, and create a financial incentive for participants
2. promote BYCC more, its the bait that attracts the competitive fish

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whizpig, a practical class alone would not swing the insurance companies
In all honesty, defensive driving teaches you the lessons needed to avoid getting into a situation where dex skills would even be needed.
If you like, I can put you on to someone who does practical driver assessments, which will make you an improved driver on public roads.

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Now My suggestion is advertising. solodex isnt really drawing the attention of people because in my opinion not much is being done to entice the view who might be interested. how bout making videos with the events to show the event gone by or a advertising preview. not outside the car only but the fun parts like inside the car, a camera on the car and all types of views probably of the driver while in the race. ad in some sound ( techno *techno beat* "its its its" ) and place in the ad



Not as dramatic but you get the point. have have the photographers who prob have the equipment to make video with gd quality for once a yr

just a suggestion

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Wise man once told me.fast car cld go fast in straight, fast driver cld take car through hard corners and not end up in tree

if anyone is willing to volunteer, I'm sure the committee will welcome it
Pretty sure CARS does not have the budget to hire a pro to produce vids
BTW, the biggest influx of new drivers into dex coincided with the shift of CARS forum to www.trinituner.com
This has never been properly recognized / credited imo, and as a result, never truly capitalized, and now has died down.....

In terms of followup, I think a lot can be done with the email contacts gathered at every event. When a new season begins, it might be worth the effort to contact all the previous year's nOObs who are not at SD1, and find out why they are not returning. Simple email might suffice.
Rather than speculate as to why people do not come back after 2 or 3 events, why not ask them? We have the database. Create a 'roll call' spreadsheet and track attendance.
Maybe offer one free event to someone who came 4 times last year and never came back, or a discount or summ
How about a referral program? Bring 3 novices for the year and get a discount on membershio for the next year, a free BYCC, maybe a hamper from VALVOLINE (who still waiting on CARS to respond to their offer of special prices on oil to Club members) etc

And that point underscores adriano's point about markeitng
You have a company with an albeit small A&P budget, who is willing to offer something to your members, and nobody has gotten back to the company to say yea, nay, we are exploring options or rock so wid yuh cheap mudass self etc. I am pretty sure CARS is not inundated with sponsors, and this is something that ALL members can benefit from, not just the 1st adn 2nd place competitors.......ball is in your court guys, but I......ah mean VALVOLINE not beggin

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I like the suggestions so far. Loving it in fact. Any body has footage they're willing to share???

Where is the CARS head of marketing when yuh need him

ask Gen

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This is exactly what the club needs....but part of the problem is that we just don't have enough hands on deck...on a typical event the executive/some of the hardcore competitors are usually the ones setting up/scrutineering/competing/marshalling/packing up - that barely leaves any time for meeting with novices, etc. The club depends on volunteers to get the job done and most of the time the 'regular' volunteers are the ones who report for duty.

RJ what I said there has nothing to do with events on the day
All of that can be done between events...u sure u understand what I said there?

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Whizpig you take a look at the layout for the year yet? There are quite a few driving schools carded for this year. Also I don't think this has ever been an issue....we had like atleast 3 bycc this year gone...many of which were under attended. Recall also we have to get the championship in and also share with the now very attractive drag and wind.

With regard to promoting dex, we need to better market it. Look at how drag and wind has gotten so many sponsors on board and were able to do so much to "hype" the event up in such a short space of time.

^^^before u jump the gun, D&W had massive competitor participation
CARS needs to figure out how it went from zero new competitors to a regular round of 20+ novices per event, and now back to dwindling newcomers.....you can't attract cash sponsors with 25 cars per event, but you can't grow the sport again until you figure out how it grew in the first place

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Hey chris, i think MG answered my last post pretty well wrt more school in driving school, as for BYCC i didn't mean have more events, just promote them more/better.

i think there was an influx of noobs when CARS joined trinituner because of the exposure to a community of car enthusiasts

with respect to increasing membership, you can't go wrong with promotion and incentives. There are ways to get free-to-cheap promotion (exploiting trinituner forums and facebook). Stuff like the earlier mentioned discount on Valvoline oil for members, is an excellent incentive and should be pursued (it would be real nice if other sponsors could be arranged, tires, brakes pads, etc.)

forgive me for not looking for it and quoting, but it was mentioned earlier that CARS should contact past members/competitors that have not returned to inquire why, such feedback an be invaluable in making the club more successful at attracting and keeping members.

Hey everyone,

Thanks for your valuable feedback and recommendations thus far, regarding possible rule changes for the 2012 Solodex competition year.

We welcome all members to join us Wednesday 29 February 2012 from 7.00 p.m. at the Valpark Shopping Plaza food court, where the final discussion will take place. Your input on this day is important to ensure that all issues and possible solutions are considered before the first competition day.

See you then!

sounds good

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Listening.

or hor, so yuh go listen to he but not to me eh
doh play yuh passin by me in yuh rollup jeans again eh
*sharpens gilpin*

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Any post event follow up should stem from face to face interaction at the events...it is on this basis that I made my comments.

Personally if someone emails me I would be more compelled to respond if I knew said individual...and this way it wouldn't be a generic email being sent to a mailing list (which imo is not as effective). Just think it would be more effective.

so basically you saying it is pointless to email members who were at dex4 but not at dex 5 because nobody would have talked to them at dex 4?
that makes no sense

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i agree with MG wrt emailing un-returned participants, i think the real lack of feedback would come from the CARS email ending up in trash or spam and the recipient never sees it, or they see it read it or not, and never respond; which i think is rjaggs point people not responding to some seemingly random email. But i think if the email comes from CARS and has solodex in the subject a past participant might be inclined to recognize it, read it and responded (depending on what the email is asking them to do and how much effort that requires from them)

How about a survey? it can be done right on trinituner, will reach a wider group of enthusiasts, can ask moe questions and possibly get feed back from people other than those that competed in the past

yup
exactly
nobody who's been a competitor at dex will ignore an email from CARS

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Did i use the word pointless??? I said it would be more effective in my opinion....

well, having recognized that the committee and its helpers are too busy on the day to speak with everyone (how practical is it for one person to speak to each competitor anyway?), u got a better / more practical solution to finding out why some members / competitors come to a few events and then don't return?

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Ive competed in both events and to me its easy to see why D&W has over taken dex. A lot of Dexers have gone to D&W. D&W is faster and more exciting. Two cars side by side is a bigger thrill than going around in circles rel slow in first gear. Spectators enjoy watching two cars racing side by side more than solo competitors driving on a slow course.We had discussed doing side by side events before but it never came off. SOLODEX still offers a different kind of challenge because every course is different and u learn to handle different types of challenges on the course.
That said....there is no substitue for speed...

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novice numbers started slipping before D&W
Having said that, yes we can expect some tradeoff against D&W but at the same time, not everyone will be into that....I personally prefer the challenge of new courses to (struggle to) learn, rather than the same course repeated over and over

As per doing side by side events, Kirk had pioneered this as 'head to head' dex back when he was on the committee, and it met with great reception, but that was fought down for reasons I won't get into here.....

At the end of the day, this is all speculation until we get members involved.

As I told Anthony, I am willing to help with his role in Publications........this will be a start

I don't know who whizpig is, (assuming a newcomer) but he understands what I', saying

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Thanks Kevin.

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Seasoned drivers who are not marshalling can volunteer to meet with newbies, and/or maybe we could make it mandatory for newbies to marshal. They could team up with the experienced drivers (which is done anyway) and take it from there

sounds good
Once seasoned members are asked in advanced (via a generic mass email, perhaps), I am sure we will have volunteers.
I wouldn't say make it mandatory for novices to marshall, but at least during the driver briefing, indicate to them the importance of marshalling as a learning tool, keeping in mind depending on how the run groups go, they may not be able to marshall before running........either way, having a go-to person for novices is important

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The regulars will have to make themselves more visible (CARS t shirt/pink hat, etc)