EISANDIEGO@aol.com wrote:
>
> It occurred to me that collectively we provide considerable exposure at
> various race events across the country. Has there ever been any discussion
> amongst this group or anyone else thought about pursuing sponsorship ? (And
> no, I am not suggesting that we make our cars look like SCCA vehicles.
> Although I found decals an economical alternative to repainting injured parts
> of my RX7).
>
> This is not as far fetched an idea as it may sound. Just prior to my
> purchasing the TR3, it was raced with a vintage team that was financially
> sponsored by Coors Racing. And I believe the Victoria British has some type of
> program. It seems we could represent very good exposure for either a British
> car parts supplier, a car magazine, or even a British beer. ( I can see the
> commmercial now, opening scenes of TR passing by Porsches and Ferraris on the
> track, following us back to the paddock where we celebrate with a fine British
> ale, .......)
>
> Tell me, have I been drinking too much CocaCola again ? There are a number of
> events that have fairly high attendance so there exposure to vintage cars fans
> in general. We get a lot of Triumph owners through our Paddocks during the
> race season. So we could help some in that specialized market. And we have
> nation-wide representation. Which would make it easier to provide cars at
> events. Plus our personalities ........
seeking individual sponsorship is one thing, but finding a sponsor for a
"collective" group of cars - tr's at road america, tr's at grattan, etc
- would prove to be a nightmare. how could you guarantee the sponsor
that "x" many cars would be there; who would be reponsible for a
guaranteed paddock "exhibit space; what would benefits would the sponsor
gain; how would you present crowd demographics - whose or what numbers
would you use, etc., etc., etc.. i was a sponsored driver for well over
20 years. not charity sponsorship, but real contracts, many of them
multi-year with companies such as marathon oil, quaker state, mobil oil,
goodyear, carrera, bowling green state university and many others.
this was sponsorship that required getting up with sponsor in the
morning and putting them to bed at night. does the group, or you as an
idvidual, have the time to spend with this type of commitment? if you
call sponsorship getting parts at a discount or an occasional free
something if you order as a group, go for it. real sponsorship is a
fulltime job. ask yourself how many $ you want from a sponsor. then
comapre that to your salary and see how many hours you work to earn that
$ amount you want from a sponsor. if you can give that many hours, it's
a start. to give you an example of sponsorship, in 986 we were running
a very successful endurance car in the escort series. we were the only
car running 13" tires. goodyear did a special run of these tires for
our car. since this was an endurance series - we normally used 50 - 60
tires on a week-end for a 24 hour race and also had our own tire
engineer - the job we were doing for them justified their rather
sizeable investment. ted
--
Ted Schumacher
TS Imported Automotive
404 Basinger Rd.
Pandora, Ohio, USA 45877
Ph. 800/543-6648 (sorry, USA only)
Ph. 419/384-3022 - tech./general information
FAX 419/384-3272 - 24 hrs
New-Used-Rebuilt-NOS-Performance British car parts.
We also have used sports cars for sale.
Always 200 - 300 cars for parts in our British-only
salvage yard.
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