Just finished watching the GP of Korea. No grandstand was full,... many were 1/2 or less full... at least 1 was closed. Was attendance down from last year. Considering this is only the second year for Korea, this can't be good. Does anyone have attendance figures for 2010 and 2011? Thoughts?
Not surprising IMHO. I don't know much about Korea, but it doesn't seem to be a car country. IIRC it was one of the Hyundai Europe guys who said that for the average Korean, a car is on the same level as a washing machine (which is why Hyundai 'outsources' a lot of design and development work to the local markets, and is very successful doing so).
Here are some claimed figures for 2010... 25,000 for Friday, 63,000 for Saturday and 80,000 for Sunday http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/10/29/korea-say-168000-attended-first-f1-race-but-many-tickets-were-given-away/
I'd like to get an update on the surrounding infrastructure of the track, maybe that explains something: It is far away from the capital and at least last year the teams stayed in brothels as there were no hotels. I'd love to attend a GP in Korea but first they need to get the surroundings in shape. As it stands right now, I'd go to Dubai long before I'd go to Korea for a GP.
This is from March,... but considering the fire sale,... attendance seemed pathetic. http://en.espnf1.com/korea/motorsport/story/42185.html
It's out in the middle of nowhere and is difficult to get to. My wife is Korean and even she doesn't want to head out there for a GP unless it were at least somewhat close to a major city. The idea behind this track was for it to be a springboard for the entire community. Korea's urban planners essentially said we have done all we can for the major metro areas and we have to get another going somewhere........somewhere indeed, hence a racetrack was born which does absolutely nothing the rest of the year. The track is pretty much padlocked left sitting all year. Many teams were reporting various items on tables they had left there the previous year. Crazy. Well, it's a new track so I really hope they build the infrastructure a bit more and really get things going in terms of other racing.
I don't know much about the hotel / restaurant biz,... but I'm fairly confident they can't make money based on 3 days a year.
Hmm, let's see, going by my own list of GPs to visit: 1 Austin (well, assuming it happens of course) 2 Montreal (again 3 Spa 4 Monza (trying Ascari and hoping it is better) 5 Silverstone (trying out the new layout) 6 Monaco (checking out the new pits complex) 7 Sochi 8 South Africa (fingers crossed) 9 Nuerburgring (if it is still around) 10 Suzuka So Dubai for me is still 10 years out and Korea even more. Phew!
Martin Brundle said that he and David Coulthard met up with most of the drivers the night before the race as they were all staying in the one hotel that was nearby, so that may have changed a little bit. Meanwhile, BBC's Jake Humphrey said in one of his blogs that the BBC crew were staying in a "love motel" this year because it was all that was available nearby (We'll believe you Jake! )
While that's great for the teams, it still leaves the fans with no place to stay. Two thumbs down. Last year all the ladies abandoned their workplace for the duration of the GP. The teams rented the entire house(s).
if they had 80k people in attendance on Sunday, then they have 200k+ seats. I find that hard to believe. Bernie's diversity experiment across Asia and the ME has failed. some markets (Japan, etc) should stay but five or six should go IMO.
Well, that diversity experiment had only one purpose right from the beginning: To create diversity on some bank accounts, namely decreasing the amount on the GP hosts' accounts and increasing the sum in Bernie's pockets.
I think the idea of building a city around a race track is a dumb one to begin with. they thought of bernie convincing them they will make money make me sick.
Do you mean Abu Dhabi? Or have i missed the accounted that Dubai is getting to host a race as well. It would not surprise me if they did.
Unlikely for Abu Dhabi to give up their hosting right to Dubai anytime soon. Not when Abu Dhabi is still bank rolling Dubai's debt.
Sorry, my bad. I mix them up all the time. That said, there was talk about a GP in Dubai at some point. And if I'd go to Abu Dhabi, I would also visit Dubai.
Attendance did look pretty low. I was just happy to see the beautiful Korean "Race Queens" out there. *shhhhhh* don't let my wife hear that (she's Japanese). Haha.
preliminary reports are about 80K of race day. considering they had to sell tickets 50% off that can't be good. On the plus side,... at least it'll open up a race date after a few years of a financial beating. Gotta wonder how many more suckers are out there thinking they can make a profit from holding an F1 race...
While I catch your drift I still think it doesn't have to be a loosing proposition: It all depends on how you measure success and where you measure it: All things considered a GP costs about 50 million in total to put together (assuming you have the track already) and that's roughly what the local economy gets as a return through all the fans/teams/journos staying for the weekend. So while a track owner might loose in total revenue, the local economy (= mayor, town etc) breaks just about even with the added bonus of having their name on the map. At least those were the numbers reported for Indy and as I said many times here before: For the life of me I don't get why the mayor of Indianapolis didn't jump into the gap in the negotiations with the Indy track and covered the hole by raising a temporary sales tax for the GP weekend on all hotels/restaurants/parkings/rental cars/airport etc of the city. It would have worked and Indianapolis could have kept its prestigious F1 GP. Obviously this doesn't work if you have nothing surrounding the track where fans can sleep or eat at.
