Cobra Nats 2017!

[Kimbo]

Here is my interpretation of the Nationals Survey from November 2016.

Many thanks to Tenrocca for creating this survey.

There were 81 responses – Thanks to all that participated.

Over 90% filled in by fairly equal proportions of VIC NSW and QLD people.

57% of people did not enter this year

About 57 people are more than likely going to enter in 2017

Most people believe it is good value for money

41% of respondents have never entered the event with 38% that have entered more than five times – so there are people that never enter or always enter (not much in between).

The biggest reasons for people previously entering but not in 2016 is
• No longer own a cobra
• Don’t want to damage the car
• Been there done that
The biggest reasons for people not entered in 2016 and have never entered is
• Don’t want to damage the car
• Entry cost
• Goulburn weather
• Extra costs
People that don’t normally enter don’t understand the rules, the car requirements, the classing etc.

Many that don’t actually enter come as spectators

Some structural format changes were floated like:
• Friday Cruise & track events Sat and Sun
• Greater importance on Show and shine
• Dyno Competition
• Sharing the event with other clubs

These options were answered in a very dangerous fashion with equal numbers of more likely and less likely to attend – I see this as a warning not to make major structural changes as we may lose our current entrant base and still not get the extra entrants from those that would not normally enter.

So what did we do with these results?
As a committee, one of the things we needed to act on early, was to agree on the overall structure for the event and confirm our track booking for 2017.
In our October meeting we agreed that we would be happy to consider structural changes to the event pending the results of the survey.
When the survey came back, the results showed that making structural changes to the event may lose a significant part our current entry base without any evidence that we would improve our entries from those that wouldn’t normally enter.
The decision was made in our November meeting to continue as a three day track event and confirm our booking for the October long weekend as we have done in the past. This has now been confirmed with the track and our deposit has been paid.
Having said that, even though we are still three days at the track, we are discussing elements within this event structure we can tweak to make it more fun and social.

• A “come and sample” the track event with no focus on times and speed
• More scheduled passenger laps and driver training sessions
• At least one of the dinner nights to be less centred around award presentations and more centred around fun and socialising
• More social activities to keep the non-drivers at the event entertained

We will continue to listen to suggestions from the community and use these where practical to improve the event in the future.

Many Thanks,
Kim Down