Possibility of a 7 second RX-7 to come from Oz for ROTORSTOCK 3!

[oldone]

Maybe, on the other hand, we should put out an open invitation to as many ROTARY CLUBS in the world as possible...see what happens..maybe they accept and find their own way here..! :Thumbs-up

[Ricco_04]

I can do a 14.7 on half a turbo - anyone?

ok, ill get me coat  :Hammer

[20B_boy]

Hi Rich!

Don\'t get me wrong, I\'m hanging for more cars here to be in the 9\'s and even 8\'s.

Lol, I was agreeing with u mate - i.e. if we are \'10 yrs behind\' we cant expect to bridge that gap overnight...

Carl - I didnt realise u had sponsorship from what you were saying earlier i.e. lack of. We\'d happily accept ANY sponsorship - wont make us go any slower 4 sure

[20B_boy]

If this car did come it would indeed be very impressive,but also maybe it could be possible to persuade some of the Peurto Rican boy\'s or even Abel Ibbarra to come over?

From what Abel has said before about running o/s this will never happen - his and his teams schedules are too full to make it possible.

[Norton]

Dream on   We live in a small country who does every thing to disuade the small company or individual to excel any more in one way or another - UK sponsorship for anything but main stream motosport like F1 and WRC will ALWAYS be minimal...

Unfortunately i think you are right, i remember the problems Richard Noble had squeezing money out of British companies for his supersonic land speed record attempt. Bringing a 7 sec car over is a great idea and would be amazing to see but British companies only seem to stump up if there is a guaranteed sales return on their outlay. Im very surprised that Mazda dont want to get more involved, they are selling plenty of RX8s in the UK, it wouldnt hurt to put a little money and publicity back into something like this.

[jinx]

Sorry if this comes across OTT or patronising - its not meant that way but the words sponsorship and Rotorstock in the same sentence are a bit like fingers down a blackboard for me at the mo. Dedicated Mazdaistes should look away now.

As far as I can tell from attempting to deal with them this year, Mazda UK would be totally unmoved by ANY application for sponsorship.  In the unlikely event they read this forum and would like to dispute my opinion - Clive has my contacts. I would not respond by hanging up, telling them the office was closed (mid afternoon) or furiously demand to know how they got my number. Someone else besides Clive and I can chase them this year - I won\'t waste the time and neither should he.

Rumour has it that they last moved a 787 outside the US when Ford aquired a controlling interest in them - and that was at the whim of a curious European board member. Someone told me recently how much money Mazda US spent getting the Renown liveried Le Mans car to Sevenstock (last year?) - the figure was absurd in UK terms but in the states sponsorship is \'easier\' as an idea because corporate tax rules and business expectations are different.

Mazda UK know that the bulk of the RX-8\'s they sell do not go to enthusiast owners and in my, admittedly, small experience of them don\'t see the enthusiast market as somewhere they play. (With the possible exception of the MX5 - but they have shifted more than a million of them.)  (edited!)

There is already another thread on here at the moment about how small the margin on imported parts is, so how reasonable is it to look for much in the way of sponsorship from specialist suppliers? [I\'m ready to call Japan but who do I ring - any contacts?]  

Yes, there are big corporates who play the sponsorship game in the UK but
1.Things aren\'t looking that good for UK Ltd at the moment so speculative sponsorship is tough to find - there would need to be a direct link between cost and benefit.
2. Getting to a decision maker is incredibly difficult the bigger the organisation gets. (Shell Motorsport last year - only slightly off the script of "Computer says No" because we could not get past Jenita - an attractively named lady Rottweiler allegedly \'in charge\' of sponsorship)
3. Items 1 and 2 do not mean thinking small. It is sometimes easier to raise a big number than a little one.

BUT, the important question we need to be asking ourselves is - What can MRC/Rotorstock deliver to a sponsor? This is not just a question of finding someone with a few bob - they, quite rightly, want something back. The Australian car was ready to come bare - to be wrapped in any livery on arrival - but its clear we don\'t represent value-for-sponsor-money at that level for one car. (Perversely, 9k would not get a sponsor 2 races on a second string touring car here)

Sponsorship is not just about having a winning car, be it 7, 9 or 10 seconds. It is only about adding value in some way for the sponsor. Sometimes that is as easy as free track passes for their customers and a bit of corporate entertaining at the circuit but 20B Boy\'s pithy descripton of the two main UK drag strips makes that one an uphill struggle (On the plus side for us there is a very nice man at Exedy who thinks SCR is lovely but SP is not fit to p*** in!)

Notwithstanding some of the above, lots of successful sponsorship deals come out of personal networks rather than business connections or hard headed bargaining. So who, as a group, do we know, drink with, work with, play golf with etc etc?   \'Oldone\' - or indeed anyone - with any specific ideas on who to call or talk to about raising sponsorship funding for Rotorstock please mail me (andrew@mazdarotaryclub.com) - even if it is just to pass the ball.

Going now - time for my medication.

[oldone]

Im thinking again....this is starting to become a personal challenge for me,gathering thoughts as I had to attain sponsorship for my own racing program and for the teams I had to look after.WILL be back with more....... :cool

[Norton]

As far as I can tell from attempting to deal with them this year, Mazda UK would be totally unmoved by ANY application for sponsorship

That is \'disappointing\'
The only idea i can think of (and its a very long shot) is try \'Duckhams\' oils and remind them that the last time they sponsored Rotary Motorsport they won the 1994 British \'Superbike\' Championship and got loads of TV exposure. If they still have the same Marketing Director he just might go all misty eyed and get the cheque book out.... and then i woke up  :2Rolleyes


Edit: Had a look on the internet, it seems that BP have put the Duckhams brand on the backburner in this country so thats the end of that idea  

[clive]

It has been mentioned today to me about "Fosters" sponsoring the whole event, lock stock n barrel.

With our fortunate and wonderful MRC Aussie connections this may be a way of stumping up a lot of money to bring over a lot of Aussie Jap cars that are both drift n drag, so do we have anyone in the house with any Foster connections, mind you I do know a company that couldn\'t give a XXXX about Fosters so maybe we can have a pop at them as well ?

Also does anyone know the where abouts of one David Leslie who is the ex Mazda Touring car / Lemans racing driver who from memory apparently has a 787B sitting in his garage that maybe in London???.

I presume this would be the White and Blue 2nd 787B and not the Renown car that David himself drove, if we don\'t ask we won\'t get will we.

[Brett]

Wonder what Johnny Herbert is doing next May?  If we can get some of the old team together maybe Mazda would be more keen to lend us some support?  I\'m currently buttering up some private individuals who can be described as \'gentlemen of independant means\' but I wont know anything more until the new year.  

 Andrew, I\'ll email you in the new year, as I have had some success with a few things

[mattmaclennan]

Kenith Atcheson was beaten by the Renown car in Le Mans and he owns a cosmetics distribution company in Trowbridge... Just down the road from my workshop. I\'ll ask what he might be able to do. After appearing in the Newcastle GT car on "Worlds Worst Motorsport Crashes Ever" or something similar, he retired minus a retina I think. Ouch!

[jinx]

Quote from Norton: "If they still have the same Marketing Director he just might go all misty eyed.."

I\'ve just talked to the former tech director of Duckhams. Turns out he\'s the bloke with the border collie and a Velocette Clubman that I sometimes meet when walking the dog. He DID go all misty eyed about their time with the rotary Nortons but you should have seen the look on his face when he got onto the subject of dealing with Colin Chapman.:reallymad  (Certainly not repeatable on here!)

A

[Norton]

I\'ve just talked to the former tech director of Duckhams. He DID go all misty eyed about their time with the rotary Nortons but you should have seen the look on his face when he got onto the subject of dealing with Colin Chapman.:reallymad  (Certainly not repeatable on here!)

Really!! small world eh! ... (i think you mean Colin Seeley btw)

[jinx]

Norton - no Chapman as in Lotus. Not an overwhelmingly positive experience for Duckhams by the sound of it.

[antnicuk]

I do like the idea of seeing this car run at RSIII but,     it has been touched upon,  cars on tracks here dont seem to run as well as they do in the USA, AUS or OZ, i\'m sure someone knows why.......    Would be a shame to get them over and they only manage high 8\'s cos the track is not upto it, especially for the sponser......

The other problem would be that it isnt road legal (i assume) so it wouldnt be able to compete.......   couple that with the fact that we may well have an 8 second evo, or skybus, it could be really embarassing if it lost....

i would love to have snoop around it though.......