Ridesmart COTA Survey

[Striple]

I'm sure most people here received the RideSmart survey regarding the possible track day at COTA.

So, how much would you actually be willing to pay (at most) to do a track day at COTA? After thinking about it, I realized that $250-300 would probably be close to my limit for a track day there. What about you guys?

[WillK675]

Well depends. Are we talking a single day, or the weekend (2-days). 250-300 for the weekend would be a great price. For a single day, I think 200 to 250 would proably be my limit. For a weekend my limit woudl probably be about 350, at that point it's just getting too expensive for the entire trip, especially when your only traveling 3 hours.

[Striple]

Single day cost. This would obviously change for a weekend, but considering that our single-day cost for Barber was roughly $200, I think $250-300 would be my max for COTA.

[fixxervi6]

I'd be willing to pay quite a bit for a single day because it's a GP track, for a "been there done that" type thing. But if it has to be like a both day type thing, I probably wouldn't do it.

[Rhino]

Probably in the range of you guys. I'd pay $200 for a day or $350 for a weekend.

[nitzer]

I was wondering how long it was going to take for people to start doing track days there...being it's close to home I would probably be able to do one on a weekend. Don't think $200 is that bad.

[Grinner]

So I am to assume that based on the prices listed in the survey, if they get the chance to take it on, I will be popping my COTA cherry alone?!?!

[milesmiles]

I'm on the same page as well. 200-250 350 weekend. Any much more than that then it would become a one time thing and rarely again

[DarcShadow]

If I can swing the time I'd probably do it once for any price under $500. But it'd just be a one time thing just to say I did it.

[DarcShadow]

Here's the actual survey if you didn't get the email yet. Looks like $400 is the lowest option and I'm guessing $500 will be a more likely price as the track is insainly expensive.
http://www.ridesmart.info/survey/COTA.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[El Diabro]

I'm in line with the same prices as everyone else

[DarcShadow]

Honestly I'll be surprised is RS does a trackday there any time soon. Even at $500 each he'll still need 100 riders to to cover the cost of the track. And while he's not out to really make money he'll need another grand or two to cover expenses.

[milesmiles]

Honestly I'll be surprised is RS does a trackday there any time soon. Even at $500 each he'll still need 100 riders to to cover the cost of the track. And while he's not out to really make money he'll need another grand or two to cover expenses.

I agree

[Fish R1]

The thread on motodfw.com about this is a really good read. I also look forward to the conversations at ECR this weekend and the upcoming toy runs.

[U-Turn]

I dunno, if they are asking "How much would you pay?" - to establish a baseline? I'd say $1, just to keep it low. (Really would pay more to say look at me on COTA, but if they are asking....")
All I'm saying, if everybody says $200, then they'll charge $279.99

[Telomere]

I dunno, if they are asking "How much would you pay?" - to establish a baseline? I'd say $1, just to keep it low. (Really would pay more to say look at me on COTA, but if they are asking....")
All I'm saying, if everybody says $200, then they'll charge $279.99

They give three choices $400, $450, $500

[Striple]

I dunno, if they are asking "How much would you pay?" - to establish a baseline? I'd say $1, just to keep it low. (Really would pay more to say look at me on COTA, but if they are asking....")
All I'm saying, if everybody says $200, then they'll charge $279.99

Anything less than $400/day would not make the event financially feasible to host. With the investment for hosting the event being in the neighborhood of $50k, even at $400/day, a sold-out event with 120 riders (40 per level) would require about $417 just to break even, and probably closer to $500/day to make it worthwhile. Given that the track is 3.4 miles long, it would also be likely that RS would increase the number of riders per level. If they were to decide to run, say, 50 riders per group (150 riders total), then they could make this worthwhile much more easily.

That said, it would still be a massive risk. Just because a bunch of people are sitting at their computers saying that it sounds good, doesn't mean that most, many, or any of them are actually going to pay that price. If Dave takes a shot at this, then his balls are going to have to be pretty sizable.

[Rhino]

Yeah, I'm sure that's why he's testing the waters. I think Barber ended up being a huge success for him the first year and good the 2nd year, but I think Heartland Park and NOLA have been money sinks. I don't think Dave has a good handle on what gets people to the out-of-town track days. COTA has a huge logistics cost advantage because it's local, but it's also horribly expensive.

As I've thought about it more, I'd pay $400/day for two days there. Barber cost me a little over $1000 and it was worth the money. An $800 weekend plus hotel plus a couple tanks of gas in the truck puts me in the same price range. I could probably swing two days at the $500 mark, but I'd be camping or couch surfing instead of sleeping in a hotel, and I'd need bigtime advance notice to save up for it.

[Striple]

COTA would be a fantastic track to ride on, but any way I crunch the numbers, it just doesn't make it very high on my list of priorities for the track right now. I'm already going to ride two new-to-me out-of-town tracks next season, and competing in multiple classes for the entire racing season is not going to be cheap. Along those lines, a $1k+ non-race weekend would certainly be better spend getting some practice at one of the tracks that I actually compete on, rather than the novelty of riding COTA.

Of course, this doesn't mean that I won't be extremely jealous of everyone who does get to ride COTA...

[WillK675]

Even at the $500/day. I think COTA would do well, and wouldn't be a huge money sink for him. There are a lot of us that want to ride the track. However, it'd be a one time, thing. If he tried to do it again, he'd lose money.

[DarcShadow]

I really question how fun the track will be. It's a LONG track designed for F1 cars, not motorcycles. While any track if fun, I am doubtful that COTA will be all that much fun as the track is simply to big for anything we all ride. I'd bet that Barber would win out in the fun factor over COTA, but then what do I know, I've not even seen the track yet.

[Grinner]

I will throw in that if it comes down to Barber or COTA, I will have to go back to 'Bama! I just absophucnloutly LOVE that friggin track!!!!

[milesmiles]

lol grinner you haven't even been to COTA to compare! AN COTA is supose to be a better track!

[Striple]

I just had the brilliant idea of asking Cloudy Pants to give me a membership to COTA for xmas. Problem solved -- who wants to ride with me as a guest on my membership?

[milesmiles]

well sure yea of course i'll take that offer