New Indoor Track In North Jersey, Need Feedback
01-22-2011, 08:52 AM
#97
yeah thats cause carpet racing is very small portion of this hobby n chris is a whole other situation that doesnt promote his track...
01-22-2011, 08:56 AM
#98
01-22-2011, 12:42 PM
#102
Wow - how did I miss this thread until it got to page 7?
Living in NW Bergen County, and speaking selfishly, a track in Passaic County sounds like a great idea.
My two cents:
- While I LOVE and race nitro, I think indoor nitro is a suicidal idea from a business point of view. Getting landlords and town officials to let you open as an electric track will be more than enough work. And if you go nitro, kiss electric, rentals, birthday parties, scouts etc goodby...you will have a 15,000 square foot building, empty in the summer, that has a fickle set of racers as it's only potential customers.
- Start very small, and see what works and what doesn't - neither you, me, Aldo nor any else can guarantee ahead of time what will work. People who tell you 'you can't lose opening a track' have never opened or run anything...these kind of folks will help you make a small fortune -- as long as you have a large fortune to start with.
- It's not about getting a slice of the existing racer pie...it's about baking your own new pie. While the existing racing base may provide a first set of instantly available customers, it would be very hard to keep something even remotely retail/upscale going in NNJ with just the existing racer base to support you. If you want to build a racer-only track, I'd try and go really low rent - think Paterson, not Fairfield - keep the expenses to an absolute minimum and run it more like a club. Nothing wrong with that as a business plan, as long as you are comfortable with those limitations. It could work, done right.
- Be really honest and clear with yourself about what kind of time you want to spend, what kind of customers you want, and what kind of vibe you want to maintain, and then make that happen. There is no right and wrong answer here, just what is right for you. Since I don't know who you are, I don't know what that might be. I do know that there is no way you could keep even just the people that have posted so far on this thread happy. I know most of them, and even with a group that has this much in common (active racers, read RC forums on the internet, etc) they are still all over the map.
- In my experience the vibe a track has is the most important success factor. After all, you'll be in the entertainment business. Do you go to a restaurant you hate, just because you're hungry? I've never seen a track that was successful that had a lot of people who weren't having fun. Creating fun is very elusive, the rules of what is fun are always changing, and it requires a strong personality to keep it happening.
That was probably a lot more than two cents...
Living in NW Bergen County, and speaking selfishly, a track in Passaic County sounds like a great idea.
My two cents:
- While I LOVE and race nitro, I think indoor nitro is a suicidal idea from a business point of view. Getting landlords and town officials to let you open as an electric track will be more than enough work. And if you go nitro, kiss electric, rentals, birthday parties, scouts etc goodby...you will have a 15,000 square foot building, empty in the summer, that has a fickle set of racers as it's only potential customers.
- Start very small, and see what works and what doesn't - neither you, me, Aldo nor any else can guarantee ahead of time what will work. People who tell you 'you can't lose opening a track' have never opened or run anything...these kind of folks will help you make a small fortune -- as long as you have a large fortune to start with.
- It's not about getting a slice of the existing racer pie...it's about baking your own new pie. While the existing racing base may provide a first set of instantly available customers, it would be very hard to keep something even remotely retail/upscale going in NNJ with just the existing racer base to support you. If you want to build a racer-only track, I'd try and go really low rent - think Paterson, not Fairfield - keep the expenses to an absolute minimum and run it more like a club. Nothing wrong with that as a business plan, as long as you are comfortable with those limitations. It could work, done right.
- Be really honest and clear with yourself about what kind of time you want to spend, what kind of customers you want, and what kind of vibe you want to maintain, and then make that happen. There is no right and wrong answer here, just what is right for you. Since I don't know who you are, I don't know what that might be. I do know that there is no way you could keep even just the people that have posted so far on this thread happy. I know most of them, and even with a group that has this much in common (active racers, read RC forums on the internet, etc) they are still all over the map.
- In my experience the vibe a track has is the most important success factor. After all, you'll be in the entertainment business. Do you go to a restaurant you hate, just because you're hungry? I've never seen a track that was successful that had a lot of people who weren't having fun. Creating fun is very elusive, the rules of what is fun are always changing, and it requires a strong personality to keep it happening.
That was probably a lot more than two cents...
01-22-2011, 01:04 PM
#103
Wow - how did I miss this thread until it got to page 7?
Living in NW Bergen County, and speaking selfishly, a track in Passaic County sounds like a great idea.
My two cents:
- While I LOVE and race nitro, I think indoor nitro is a suicidal idea from a business point of view. Getting landlords and town officials to let you open as an electric track will be more than enough work. And if you go nitro, kiss electric, rentals, birthday parties, scouts etc goodby...you will have a 15,000 square foot building, empty in the summer, that has a fickle set of racers as it's only potential customers.
- Start very small, and see what works and what doesn't - neither you, me, Aldo nor any else can guarantee ahead of time what will work. People who tell you 'you can't lose opening a track' have never opened or run anything...these kind of folks will help you make a small fortune -- as long as you have a large fortune to start with.
- It's not about getting a slice of the existing racer pie...it's about baking your own new pie. While the existing racing base may provide a first set of instantly available customers, it would be very hard to keep something even remotely retail/upscale going in NNJ with just the existing racer base to support you. If you want to build a racer-only track, I'd try and go really low rent - think Paterson, not Fairfield - keep the expenses to an absolute minimum and run it more like a club. Nothing wrong with that as a business plan, as long as you are comfortable with those limitations. It could work, done right.
- Be really honest and clear with yourself about what kind of time you want to spend, what kind of customers you want, and what kind of vibe you want to maintain, and then make that happen. There is no right and wrong answer here, just what is right for you. Since I don't know who you are, I don't know what that might be. I do know that there is no way you could keep even just the people that have posted so far on this thread happy. I know most of them, and even with a group that has this much in common (active racers, read RC forums on the internet, etc) they are still all over the map.
- In my experience the vibe a track has is the most important success factor. After all, you'll be in the entertainment business. Do you go to a restaurant you hate, just because you're hungry? I've never seen a track that was successful that had a lot of people who weren't having fun. Creating fun is very elusive, the rules of what is fun are always changing, and it requires a strong personality to keep it happening.
That was probably a lot more than two cents...
Living in NW Bergen County, and speaking selfishly, a track in Passaic County sounds like a great idea.
My two cents:
- While I LOVE and race nitro, I think indoor nitro is a suicidal idea from a business point of view. Getting landlords and town officials to let you open as an electric track will be more than enough work. And if you go nitro, kiss electric, rentals, birthday parties, scouts etc goodby...you will have a 15,000 square foot building, empty in the summer, that has a fickle set of racers as it's only potential customers.
- Start very small, and see what works and what doesn't - neither you, me, Aldo nor any else can guarantee ahead of time what will work. People who tell you 'you can't lose opening a track' have never opened or run anything...these kind of folks will help you make a small fortune -- as long as you have a large fortune to start with.
- It's not about getting a slice of the existing racer pie...it's about baking your own new pie. While the existing racing base may provide a first set of instantly available customers, it would be very hard to keep something even remotely retail/upscale going in NNJ with just the existing racer base to support you. If you want to build a racer-only track, I'd try and go really low rent - think Paterson, not Fairfield - keep the expenses to an absolute minimum and run it more like a club. Nothing wrong with that as a business plan, as long as you are comfortable with those limitations. It could work, done right.
- Be really honest and clear with yourself about what kind of time you want to spend, what kind of customers you want, and what kind of vibe you want to maintain, and then make that happen. There is no right and wrong answer here, just what is right for you. Since I don't know who you are, I don't know what that might be. I do know that there is no way you could keep even just the people that have posted so far on this thread happy. I know most of them, and even with a group that has this much in common (active racers, read RC forums on the internet, etc) they are still all over the map.
- In my experience the vibe a track has is the most important success factor. After all, you'll be in the entertainment business. Do you go to a restaurant you hate, just because you're hungry? I've never seen a track that was successful that had a lot of people who weren't having fun. Creating fun is very elusive, the rules of what is fun are always changing, and it requires a strong personality to keep it happening.
That was probably a lot more than two cents...
rent in paterson is not cheaper. its a zoning issue to open a track. fairfield offer retail space at industrial pricing.
01-22-2011, 01:45 PM
#104
I hope this happens - I would love to be able to just practice. The people that race with me would love me to practice, too...
