in many countries that I know of, race track prosper coz racing activities are popular for eg, uk, aus, japan.. etc
with popular racing activities crowd rushes to races everytime is held and that bring in sponsors, in which ease the cost of running a circuit, which eventually resulted in profitability and sustaining of race track and even creation of new race track.
now back to Msia, apart from international events such as f1, GT and A1 etc.. how many local racing event that you all attend to? While i concede that the local racing standard are not as competitive compared to Japan or European countries I believe in terms of racing activities and competitiveness we are better than other Asian countries, including HK. A good example will be such as our very own Merdeka Millenium Endurance which is held on a yearly basis, it has been attracting more and more international teams every year
BUT what are the uses of these activities without the support from the local motor enthusiats? I mean thru out the history of MME and MSS, I have not seen much support from our local pool of enthusiats?
I believe some of you will then complaint and say that it is not exciting to watch, before you even start with that comment pls ask yourself a question, what race have you been watching? Not being bias here, the MME results and races has been closer year and year, I know it becoz I was there, racing with them. The other local series in Msia, MSS also have been improving in terms of racing competitiveness evry year but I don think many ppl actually realises that? In terms of excitement, try watching the Integra Cup one make race from the track (one of MSS events) and tell me you honestly don think its exciting enough
now the other thing, some of you have been complaining the track fee is expensive compared to BT3, but don u think everything has been alot more expensive compared to 10 years ago? look at food for that matter, I remember there was time where 3 rinngit probably will get u a decent meal but now you are probably buying bread for that amount. I also believe many of you would have experiance similiar growth in your income level compared to 10 years ago
more to the point, while you are paying more (in absolute value) for the track the facility and the track standard are international so dont u think its fair? Japan for instance have alot higher track fees for lower standard of track. If as Malaysian you could not appreciate Sepang, don moan when the track is not available becoz foreigners such as Singaporeans, Hongkies and Thais book the track
So to conclude it, instead of moaning the loss of BT3, lack of alternative tracks and lack of idea what to do, a SIMPLE solution would probably be start with what we have, Sepang circuit and Pasir Gudang. Give some support to the local races, pull your mates with you to these races.. at least then you are putting in effort to growth the sport
