MotoAmerica Climate

Just my two cents.

MotoAmerica has been the easy whipping boy. I don’t feel that they are the blame of the down fall. They have done a lot of good for the sport. There is room for improvement. I don’t like the spec tire. It cuts off the brand wars and raises the cost of racing. Brand competition keeps the price down. I am not a fan of the Superbike spec. Price is too high. I feel they need to keep up the hard work on the marketing side of things.

I feel the manufacturer’s have to take their share of the blame. Yes bike sales are flat. I get it! What have they done to change that? I think they are afraid (Legal) to say how badass their machines are. Find a way to make them cool again! Still for the money you can’t beat a new bike. Finance a new R1. Payments are affordable. You can’t get a Lamborghini for $200 ish a month.

My last point. I’m ready for you to rip me on this one. Are you sitting around complaining on forum’s or trying to help? I did everything I could do to bring new blood to the track. No luck. Wow the excuses. I gotta wash the dog this weekend.... Really? BS

We as fans need to find new ways or old ways to bring people out. I remember the keg parties in the infield. Great times! How do we get new blood? I am going to see if I can bring a Boy Scout group to a club race this year. Young kids need to see this stuff live.

Lots of blame to go around.

 

Keg parties are fun when you're 20. Not so much when you are retired . I agree that this sport needs young blood .

 

In on the first page AND before @Metalhead

 

20 again.

 

Whose fault is it then???

They write and enforce the rules and create the business model they are operating under.

My opinion, for the hundredth time.

Electronics ruin racing, they allowed them to keep Yosh and Yamamaha their and happy. How many years has racing improved and grown with advanced electronics allowed? Seems to me it has been a pretty constant decline since about 2006 or 2007... not too long after AE started showing up.

They are still heavily relying on manufacturer support for the racing to be sustainable. More sensible rules packages would allow more to compete and be competitive and better parity. Lose all the homologation bullshit and have outright rules for parts and pieces.

Multiple tire brands would definitely reduce cost and increase competition. Not a open tire rule though, allow each tire company to provide three compounds and make them available to all racers. Cut the number of allowed sets back to reduce costs farther.

JMO

 

Why do we need a new thread to rehash the same topic that has been discussed ad nauseam in two recent threads.

It's not the monthly loan note that keeps people from buying sportbikes, but the monthly insurance payment thats almost as high as the loan payment. 1000cc sportbikes are insane to insure.

Last time I got a quote on a 1000cc sportbike, I could have insured its naked equivalent for less than a third of the price, so why should I bother?

 

I have been a fan for decades. The last few years I've been bring my kids with me for the race weekends at NJMSP. Now its become a bit of a tradition.
Moto America is doing a good job I think with the TV & streaming package. That was a very positive step in the right direction. I find the 2 best series for race action and emotional involvement for me are MA and BSB.
At the track fan activities aren't bad, but could be better. Here is where the factories and more factory involvement would make a difference., think Ducati Island at Leguna Seca type stuff. A few years ago MA had USCRA participate with a race and they did some small promotional stuff as well. Looks like they are expanding on that idea with the MA Heritage thing. If they can throw in some sort of historical exhibit linked to a fan activity so much the better.

On Superbikes. BSB made radical changes to control costs (restricted electronics, less than whats on the stock bikes). It seems to have worked in that market very well. Of course the USA and UK are very different markets and bike cultures.

Overall it's an evolving thing that requires time, hopefully MA gets that time to continue to develop.

 

+1

One of my son's MA racing friends was over, when Tyler came home for Christmas. We were talking about different things to make MA better, and his number one thing was what you stated on electronics.

He said buying the box was nothing for the team...$10K I think, but then you have to hire the guys from Magnetti to come over for 6 days or so to test and build maps. Plus you have to hire a Magnetti guy to come to each race......way too complex and too much money for a smaller team to afford.

Heck, I would say it was way too much for even M4 Suzuki to pull off in previous years, based on what I've read from them in RRW.

 

I don't think there are enough bitch fest threads about MA.
Can someone please start a new one tomorrow?

 

^Yes^ All racing in America is dying because the culture has changed. Electronics, bike prices, race series, etc are all irrelevant. Kids don't grow up the same anymore, they would rather play their game system than go outside and live dangerously, and parents have become way too soft. So unless culture shifts back to older ways, racing is going to die.
MA is not the problem. A giant fan base is absent and without youth growing up with race posters on their wall and wanting to race themselves, then the bleachers will sit empty, the tv or internet coverage will go unwatched, sponsors will go away, and the sport dies.

I mean seriously, the arguments I see you guys make about racing dying off is like arguing about keeping the patient comfortable on his deathbed...not about what the actual problem is.

 

Kids used to play outside and ride their bikes all day. Parents would participate with them in different outdoor activities including motorcycling.

Now most parents toss them a phone/ electronic device from birth and boom, you're done raising the kid and they develop no interests outside of that.

 

Funny...a few years ago I was mocked on here because I didn't go along with the idea that Tony Elias was going to save the race series by bringing back the fans and give credibility to SB racing in America again. Well, Tony had his run. Did he save the series?

 

Nonsense. I’m 44 and we played video games all the damn time. We also raced bmx, skated, played football, etc etc. video games are not the damn problem. This constant stupid ass drumbeat of ‘the current generation isn’t as tough as mine’ is straight up bullshit and non productive.

 

Exactly. I built a new house a year ago in a new housing development. There are lots of kids in this neighborhood. As one house was being built within view of my living room window, I watched a very lonely big pile of dirt about 8' tall sit there untouched by the many youth around. It was actually quite sad, and it got worse.

As the house was completed, a family moved in with boys around 10-12 years of age and the dirt stayed there for a few months until the landscaping was finished. Those boys never once walked on that dirt and never once busted out a shovel and hit it hard with a bmx bike. Any of us here on this bbs would have the most wicked jumps dialed in on day 1 and we would have hit that all day long everyday, then begged our parents to leave us some when the yard was finished. This is what has changed. Those boys are the norm now and they are the future. They will grow up never riding a dirt bike, never taking a risk, and never attending a racing event of any kind.

Without that changing - bike prices, electronics, who's managing the race series, or what name is winning races does not matter.

 

I did not say that video games were the problem nor am I arguing about generational toughness because you are correct that is not productive. The culture has changed. If the youth don't grow up interested in the sport of racing, it will die. Kids do play sports, but it's all stick and ball not racing. Does that make more sense?

 

I blame this thread.

 

I 100% disagree on multiple tires increasing competition. No way. Cost wise, yes it will reduce for a lot of teams but it will just spread the field even further.

 

I’ll just say my 7 year old who has an Xbox, iPad and iPhone is outside in the misting rain with a buddy “enhancing” the tree fort.

 

Shouldn’t you be producing some compelling and motivating vlogs to get us through the off season?

 

No idea how anyone can place any level of blame on the manufactures. If they chose to race they can. If they don't they don't. Its as simple as this. I certainly wouldn't place any blame on them one way or the other. It's their money etc.

I would also like to know how a non spec. Non allocated tire would significantly drive cost lower.

Electronics I agree. Huge developement cost etc.