YRC are half-way there
Reaching half-season point may not be significant to some however if you are a team aiming to be funded totally by fan sponsorship it is something to celebrate! With four product discounts, five ticket discounts, sixth in the G50 Cup championship and seven attraction offers, plus a name and picture on the YourRacingCar.com car for each YRC fan these are great results for a team started in February 2009 aiming to end the season without reliance on traditional corporate sponsorship programmes.
YRC was on message with delivering a different and valuable experience to their followers long ago whilst FOTA’s fan initiatives were still only a twinkle in F1 team bosses eyes! The message to YRC from the fans was three-fold:- a multi-make series can be difficult to follow for those newly attracted to the excitement of high-speed motorsport action, there needs to be over-taking, and the fans wanted to be a real part of it.
So how do you encourage people who have to shell out an average of £70 to enjoy a race weekend (excluding beer and pie money) that they should part with another £25 to support a racing team? Turn the sponsorship concept on it’s head, of course! The fans are the sponsors, the businesses involved are the YRC partners providing discounts, freebies and other benefits directly to the fans, not cash to the YRC team. This let’s YRC ask the fans to help fund the car, running in a one-make series, and enables through the partners returns of over £150 to each fan when they take up all the offers for all sorts of fun attractions in the UK and for products and experiences that relate to their motorsport passion.
Quick to spot a different opportunity, small businesses approached the YRC crew at circuits and the towns close by seeking the nod to put their business names and logo on the car in return for buying one or more fan packs. The fans access to the paddocks is a plus for these innovators. Not wishing to disappoint the back-bone of England’s credit-crunch recovery and celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit that is growing, YRC launched Deals on Racing Wheels (a limited scheme of four special packs per race - a local offering for local people!).
Add to all the benefits the range of monthly prizes supplied by the YRC partners ranging from £40 to £399 in value, plus the priceless visit for ten and a friend to the Ginetta factory this month – YRC have a very lucky bunch of fans. The YRC crew have secured over £35 of BTCC discounts per YRC fan sponsor to date as every effort goes in to helping them get trackside. There is still room on board and the majority of the non-race specific benefits are valid until the end of December 2009.
It’s easy to join in by pushing the “Start the Engine” button at joinYRC.com and the fans’ YRC car runs in the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup which is next out at Snetterton on 1st and 2nd August 2009.
