X-cars at AX

[Niraj]

My 6 cents.

When any non-profit is trying to break-even or gain profit, sometimes the quality gets compromised in the process. While we haven't reached that point, it IS a slippery slope. Quality and consistency, to me, are the most important factors from a customer/member experience standpoint. We are all members because we love the experience, organization and the community. The problem with having an open door policy to gain revenue for AX's is that we can have drivers/cars who don't quite follow the rules/code/culture. Some of this is a learning process, much like it was for me and other new members. Maybe they didn't know better... maybe they are on a high horse.

We can either limit the number of non-members and x-cars , or we assign them a member/instructor to ensure they get acquainted with the community, codes of conduct, rules, etc. If people feel welcomed, they are a lot more likely to do the right thing. Upping the cost is an easy solution to avoid x-cars/non-members but to Kim's point, we need to corner workers too. Attendance is definitely a factor. Anyone like working double shifts in the sun? Not me, I'm tanned enough!

I would suggest we put a limit on non-members/x-cars to register early but allow them to register at the event only if they are willing to be paired with an instructor until timed runs. This means, if you have a race-prepped car with one seat...you are SOL! This also means we need more instructors! Dilemmas... I also think we should limit the number of events non-members can attend. This will push them to memberships, which is turn will help us get more support from national, etc.

[Kim Crosser]

A couple of responses to Niraj's post...

1. If a non-member doesn't own a Porsche, they cannot become a member, regardless of how much they might want to. They *could* become associate members of a Porsche-owning Member, but that would presumably displace the Member's significant other, son/daughter, etc. A Member can only have one Associate Member at any given time. Since annual PCA membership for a Porsche owner is less than the entry cost for one event, I don't think a PCA membership fee is keeping X car drivers from being members.

2. I don't have a problem with allowing ANY conforming X car to drive at our events, as long as we aren't displacing Members. As noted earlier, we have handled up to 140+ cars at an AX, and everyone got their 12 runs. If we do become at risk of filling up, then we can think about how to manage attendance, but that doesn't seem to be a problem at this point.

3. Interesting point about a single-seat X racer... How do we verify that the driver is safe to let on the course if no one can ride with him/her? I would let the AX event chair make the call on this, rather than an outright ban, but I would think we would need someone we know and trust to vouch for the driver.

As long as the X drivers follow the rules, no problem. We just hold them to the same standards as our Members, and as long as they behave, welcome!

With respect to the X driver mentioned in prior posts, I watched a number of spins by Porsches at that AX as well. To get really good times on that track required you to be right on the ragged edge of control in a number of spots. We need to keep in mind whether the driver/car is really that much worse than anyone else in a Porsche, or is the make of the vehicle a factor in deciding that the driving wasn't that stellar? (What does that shirt say? "Sometimes, in order to find your limits, you have to exceed them!")

[gulf911]

Not X class but a registration issue. Why is it that if you miss the "Changed" deadline to register online you have to now wait until the event to register? It seems to me that in order to keep that line at the trailer down there should be some way to register anyway and post the additional penalty. One last peev is the 40% penalty for trying to register after 12:01am on now Tuesday (why was this changed?). Banks dont even charge that and they are for profit.. I would like to see a much more reasonable penalty imposed. Cause it sure doesn't cost 40% more to the club to register at the trailer...

Can someone also explain why the $5 increase that nobody heard of until just recently? Was this for increased cost of the rent of the venue? Just Curious,

Thanks,

[Niraj]

1. If a non-member doesn't own a Porsche, they cannot become a member, regardless of how much they might want to.

Oh... right... lol

[Kim Crosser]

At the risk of getting some of this wrong...

The cutoff for pre-registration is because the prereg team gets together before the event (usually on Wednesday) to process all the info - make sure everything is entered, do initial assignments to run groups, student/instructor pairings, etc. If pre-regs continued up to the event, they would have to keep updating the event database. If you miss the prereg cutoff, when you go to the trailer, they know they need to add you, assign run group, pair up, etc.

The $5 is due to the stadium rental increase, which happened in early 2009. The Stadium (really the City ) raised the rent from $1500 per day to $2000 per day - 100 drivers @ $5 each makes up the difference in the rental fee. The 2009 Board decided to postpone the increase until the end of the year, so it kicked in at the start of 2010. It was discussed at a few board meetings, and I am pretty sure it is in the minutes in the Witness (you do read the Board minutes every month, right?).

As for the $20 late registration penalty, that is intended to STRONGLY encourage early registration, so that the team does NOT have to add lots of people the morning of the event. Several times we have had the cars out on the track while the registration team is still trying to get all the data and receipts reconciled. Since there is NO penalty for early registration (money is refunded/not charged if you don't show), why wait until the last minute???

[gulf911]

Thanks Kim, but that begs the question how can it be you need 88 - 90 cars to break even if the venue costs $2k? Thats $2500 profit each event and I may be all wet here but those little cones and stickers dont cost $2500. Or do you mean break even as for all the events where AX money is used to supplement those? Just trying to get the big picture here.

[SC Tailgater]

What about corporate sponsorship to offset event expenses?

[Kim Crosser]

Ummm... "free" beer and wine... "free" water, ice, sport drinks, coffee... replacing/repairing timing equipment... replacing/recharging fire extinguishers... paying 4-5% fees for all credit card/Motorsports.reg transactions... truck rental/gas... trailer storage... supplies... end of year awards... ribbons/cones for event awards... etc. etc. etc.

I don't have the final numbers for 2009, but across all of 2008, the AX income exceeded actual expenses by a whopping 7%. With lower attendance and the increased Stadium fees starting in 2009, it is possible that AX in 2009 actually didn't provide any net income for the year.

Contrary to popular belief, the AX events are NOT subsidizing everything else the Club does.

[CSROCKT]

Hello to all,
Boy I miss you guys. I haven't had the time to come join you this year. Too much on my plate with life and handling the registration for PCAOCR. I will have to find some time soon though.

Marie, Marie , Marie,
If you had trouble registering for one of our events you should of emailed. I do seem to recall last year when you did. You told me that you bought your Porsche and wanted to AX it and that you couldn't wait for our event so you signed up for SDR's. The same time you did sign up for a couple of our upcoming events. I remember introducing myself to you at your first event with us.

The Facts for all are;
Since the start of my volunteer position as the PCAOCR Registrar in 09' there have been changes.
One of them being the Cap on our events. Yes in the past we had a low cap. We have raised it due to the same reasons SDR's talking about, corner workers, venue fee's and so on. Raising the cap allows more entrants. Entries that may or may not be filled. Before I go on let me assure you that First and Foremost We are and We will always be a Porsche Club of America. We love our club and want it to thrive. Now with that said our registration entrant process has gone by these simple rules.
1st entrants allowed) PCA Member & driving a Porsche.
2nd " ") Non-PCA Member driving a Porsche.
3rd " ") PCA Member driving "X" Class. (Some of us do own more than one car that we'd like to play with out at AX)
& Finally
4th " ") Non-PCA Member "X" Class driver.
#'s 1 through 3 can register at any time for an event. If they can't get in they are to email me as it says on our event flyers.
The #4 entrant cannot register before the Tuesday night prior to the event. And that's only if the event is not full.
I have been known to drop "X" class drivers from our events. If they register too soon and/or if I need to make room for a PCA Member. It's funny but the few "X" class drivers that have been dropped from an event will still want to come out & join us. If not the current event but the next. They want seat time. Don't we all?
I have to say a lot of my "X" Class drivers are SCCA members and these drivers know and respect the rules. Other "X" class drivers are friends and family of PCA Members wanting to try AX.
The Plus side with this philosophy of allowing "X" class drivers, PCAOCR has seen Ferrari, Corvette and BMW owners become Porsche owners and PCA Members. All because of their experience with the club. WOW! That says a lot. Don't you think? Soon we'll have so many Porsche owners we'll have to be exclusive.
A club doesn't grow unless you open the doors.
On the note of hooking up your "X" class drivers with instructors for the day... With allowing more entrants you need more instructors. Instructors are here for our PCA members first. To put them with "X" class drivers all day would be taking resources away from our PCA Members. "X" class drivers as I said before are for the most part experienced and need only to be check out/OK'd by an instructor. If you'd like, you can teach them your rules of conduct but, It's been my experience as well that they know the rules of conduct better than most. In fact they're always the first to help out with anything before, during and after an event.

With are so called "2 year" turnover of our PCA club volunteers, there will always be changes. Hopefully for the best.

Which brings me back to you Marie,
My stint as the PCAOCR Registrar is open at the end of this year.. Are you interested?
Hope to see you all soon,
Christine

[Bill Behun]

Dan - As a former Logistics Chair I noticed one item not mentioned in Kim's listing of allthe "free" stuff.

FREE PORTAPOTIES!!!

Add about $200 to the free stuff.

= need for portapotties!!

[JERRY B]

Why do we need X cars
# 1 Money; This seams to always be # 1
# 2 Corner workers; We need over 100 drivers to fill the corner working stations.
We also need some people to show up at 6:00 am to help setup the track
Racelegal was running tonight and we were only able to set 1/3 of the track

[Dan Chambers]

Well, I've enjoyed the discussion from the sidelines, now I'll toss in my grenade.

1)This is a club predicated on the marque of a product: Porsche. It's not the X-club (that's in the Red-Light district), it's not the "Driving AX's is My Life" club. It is the .... Porsche Club of America. We are a region of that national organization. Want to join? Own a Porsche. Exclusive? Yes. Privileged? Sure. It's the reward of hard work, dedication to earned success, and the sense of earning what you worked so hard for. So: Porsche Club event? Porsche cars. Period. Black and White. Clear as the Desert Sky.

2) The By-laws specifically state how X-cars and non-members are to be dealt with. If the rules allow non-Porsches/non-members, than non-Porsches/non-members must be permitted or the rules are being violated. Don't like the X-car rules? Submit your changed to the Rules Committee. Period. End of rules debate.

3) Market dictates profit. If you saturate a market with a product and the sales go down, profit suffers. If the market changes due to a down-turn and the sales of a product slacks, profit goes down. If you attempt to saturate a down-market with product, you lose revenue. So: if attendance at a Porsche Club event goes down, what to do? Adjust to a more open market (X-cars allowed)? Produce less product (# of events)? If I had to choose, I'd choose to drive in less events with my Marque compatriots. If I want vehicular variety, I'll join SCCA.

Just my snobbish, self-righteous opinion.

[Kim Crosser]

I question whether fewer events would really increase attendance at the remaining ones.
It seems that a lot of the focus has been on $$$. While the Club cannot subsidize everything everywhere for very long, we could probably ensure break-even at AX events at around 80-85 drivers.
HOWEVER - the real problem is that to run those big tracks in the West lot, we need a LOT of corner workers. If there are 10 staffed corners (typical), plus gate, that is an absolute minimum of 66 people to work corners. Except - some people cannot work for physical reasons, new students need their instructors (or some experienced person) with them, many people are tied up working all day in other roles, etc.
Realistically, unless somebody wants to work corners twice (volunteer to spend 3 hours out there instead of 1.5?), we need at least 90-95 attendees on a regular basis. If we aren't getting that many P-car attendees, then I for one don't see a problem with opening this up to X cars - as long as X cars aren't displacing members.
Of course, we could always decide we don't need to use the whole West lot, and make much smaller tracks that require fewer workers...

[MTrotter]

I have 3 points I would like to make in addition to this thread.

1. Maybe Im just too parvenu for this club but I consider the Autox scene to be more of a gathering of friends and competitors than a car show. If all I wanted to do was go look at Porsche cars I would head off to a Concurs and look at the pretty cars.

Think of auto x like a church... if you are Lutheran and go to a Baptist church... will they turn you away? NO. they will embrace you as their own and try to convert you.

We should embrace the guy that brings his C5 Corvette to an event and kicks our butts.. then we can try to convince him to purchase a Porsche... or two.

2. The idea of having less events in hopes of increasing revenue seems backwards in thinking. If PCASDR is having less events, ill take my car and tires elsewhere on the weekends they didnt have an event.

Trust me..

in SOCAL there is pretty much an autox every weekend between the 2 SCCA regions, the other 2 PCA regions and other car clubs... i.e. BMWCCA or The Datsun Club.. the Corvette club also has events. I even autoxed in an Austin Healy club one time to get more seat time. and guess what.. the owners of Bug Eyed Sprits and Healey 3000's parked their beautiful vintage cars to get rides in my ratty old Subaru!

last but not least #3

Just because someone fails to have a Porsche does not mean they dont have something to add to the club. They can Instruct, they can corner work, then can be a timing assistant.

The Fed EX delviery guy just showed up to bring my ARP wheel studs and guess what he was driving? A BUDGET RENTAL TRUCK!!!!

Should I have turned him away becase he didnt have a shiny red white and blue FED EX truck?

I assure you that if you allow X cars, the majority of cars showing up will still be Porsches. And maybe we have something to gain from allowing them to come.
I sold a Porsche to a "Non- Porsche" guy that showed up to an event just last year...

and now he is writing articles in the Windblown Witness...

[gulf911]

Kim, with all due respect.. you said...

"Ummm... "free" beer and wine... "free" water, ice, sport drinks, coffee... "

These are not free and everyone pays for these, unless I am he only one paying the reg fee?...
If these are free shouldn't you deduct their cost from the reg fee?...
Yes, just like a dog with a bone..

I understand your points and I am not suggesting anything at all , only wanted to understand your position on break even. Although i would love to make 7% on my money
in todays market...