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jules
thanks for the reply. i note the circumstances of the development and agree that for cars, PD may not be a bad proposition in terms of distance.
in terms of pricing, i am of the opinion that demand (and elasticity) determines the price. i generally do not approach pricing on a cost plus basis, but would instead ask what does the demand curve look like.
as you say, there is quite a demand for track time – as proven by the HPC events.
however, mine is only a conceptual point to state that i do believe that a city located driving club is not necessarily out of the question. that said, if there is insufficient demand then building in the heart of KL may be a loss proposition.
as for the KL motor park – i was looking forward to it… but sad if it is canceled.
i think the first step is to talk to the various municipalities. the proposition is being a crowd puller – which i think is always a great thing for town councils in general. let’s discuss this at saturday’s FOUNDATION meeting.
[quote=Jules]Well, given the price of real estate in Klang Valley – I think any projects which need huge parcels of land such as a race track will incur monumental expenditure to just acquire the land. So in reality, there is NO CHANCE. Just look at what PKNS did to Batu Tiga….its a another featureless housing estate…
On the choice of this proposed facility, PD is not too far from KL and the location south is also ideal for our richer SG neighbours. So that’s a compromise and ideal for business. Its afterall, not too far from F1 circuit or KLIA too.
Then of course, there’s also the issue of land cost….which needless to say supports the location on its own accord.
On a separate area, some of you may know there is Kampung Gajagh car/bike track in Perak….close to Teluk Intan and that can be converted to a resort too, if you have the cash…..
In the end, any idea need funding and marketing sense to make it economically viable and sustainable in the long run. Its ppl like CFO Fazz who spoils the fun…he he but then that’s his job![/quote]
fair enough. what is the plan for the PD location?
in any case, my thoughts of a motorsports country club is as follows:
1/ safety is paramount
goes without saying. there should be on site medical facilities, emergency response and safety designs built into the track and club.2/ needs to be family friendly
motorsports in malaysia today is a petrol-head hobby… very little family involvement. so casual enthusiasts (not your true hard core) will often find it difficult to get “visa” from the family. one way to solve this is to have facilities like swimming pool, playgrounds, playrooms, spa, salon etc for the family to enjoy whilst the petrol-head is burning rubber. like golf, when the golfer is “cutting grass”, the rest of the family is either playing or relaxing.3/ needs to allow multiple functions to happen concurrently
often tracks are built such that one group function occurs at a time. so you may find it difficult to use the track if some other group is already using it. which means that you give up after trying a few times. golfers today can generally go to the course at anytime.4/ needs to be available on weekdays, nights, and in rain
most tracks are available for a limited period: on a dry weekend day, which limits to only 2 twelve hour sessions per week… very underutilised, and therefore a huge cost burden. perhaps pricing deals can make it attractive to be used on weekdays, in the wet and at night (or a combination of these). solving this will also help 2 above. golfers usually go on weekdays too! now there is night golfing as well.5/ overall cost of running and membership fees must not be too far off from golf
this is self explanatory.6/ must have facilities for meetings, hanging out etc
a country club is usually a social club. so facilities for “lepak” must be there. it must be a DESTINATION for people to willingly take a (especially) a long drive out.7/ the facilities must have minimal environment damage
ideally, existing flora and fauna must not be significantly touched to build this country club. so using existing (unused) country roads, terrain, topography etc is a must. the targeted customers are generally more conscious of these issues nowadays.8/ must support grassroots, and motorsports development
it should be open to general public and must feature on grassroots motorsports development programmes. this must again not be yet another elitist motorsports club. so i would say membership should be open to all… although we need to have some value proposition for premium members too.9/ proximity
my original point to jules is this. generally, proximity will allow regular visits. so we may need to test, simulate and balance the overall development cost versus the revenue streams. it is like opening a shop: the choice is whether you want to open it in mid-valley mall (high cost, but high traffic), or at shah alam (lower cost, low traffic)? at the end it is about the overall economics of doing so. looking at cost alone is insufficient. my hypothesis is that the elasticity of demand, and behaviour of general motorsports “customers” is not so good – in a sense that they won’t go too far (take SIC).anyway. love this discussion.
[quote=Jules]Okay. Time to put money in mouth.
If I do this, how many of you will join? To elaborate, an organisation I am atached to is looking at a PD located CAR track…..and this club thing can be easily done.
Keen? If yes, who?[/quote]
sounds interesting…. however, PD is location-wise away from the where the target market (middle income) is…. however, if it is a premium club (like the one above), then perhaps it may attract those people.
i would like somewhere near the klang valley. any chance of this?
[quote=naza]Let me the first to sign up!….. 😉 [/quote]
you should check out the website…. *droool*
only catch: the membership admissions fee.
[quote=karter_stuart]so is the meeting still on tomorrow? or postponed…[/quote]
no. the meeting is not on. but i suppose patrick is ok for yum cha. 😉
let me provide a bit more background to this dilemma.
we know that the current K2 karts are a bit dodgy. hence, the thought of establishing K2 exclusive (a la K1).
however, in order for the K2 exclusive to work we need to have sufficient confirmed participants: ~30 pax to ensure 20 per round. given the current smallish pool of K2 drivers today (and many desiring to move to K1), we may end up with a small number for K2 exclusive, and therefore rendering the series a non-starter. hence, the reason for this discussion thread – and the options listed above.
option 1 – may be possible if many of the current K2 remain in K2 exclusive, and sufficient K3 upgraders to K2 exclusive despite the higher cost
option 2 – if many K2 upgrades to K1, and insufficient K3 upgrades to K2 exclusive (due to cost), we will then need to maintain the current public rental karts for K2… but could result in depletion in participation numbers over the long term due to kart conditions… making option 3 inevitable
option 3 – if many K2 drivers wish upgrading to K1, and insufficient K3 drivers wish to upgrade to K2 exclusive / non-exclusive because of higher cost / poor karts, respectively… then we may need to abolish K2.
happy to read more comments, and thoughts here. please let’s debate this thoroughly.
[quote=yazidm]To our eyes Ikhwan may have it but I am not sure in the eyes of PFX. They may have different ideas. So lets wish him the best and pray for his success.[/quote]
we all wish him the best! :up:
[quote=yazidm]The 1st PFX School Race was ran last Sunday 17-8-08. The event was done at the north track and half track was used. It was a national level event where the race was ran by SIC and sanctioned by AAM. This way will allow the boys to get their international racing license once they finish with PFX having met the minimum requirement of 4 national level races.[/quote]
wooooo hooooo!!
excellent stuff by all the boys. congratulations to ikhwan for showing strong pace and consistency. look forward to seeing further progress! :up: :up: :up: :up:
* thanks yazid for the updates. :up:
sorry, i have got to avoid running on 30 august on my-kart’s own goals of building grassroots motorsports in order to create a larger motorsports industry. many of the people coming through my-kart will also race in MME – which is what my-kart would want to encourage…. so i have to allow those who are racing in my-kart to race in MME or any others (if they choose to do both series).
