What do you want to see new or more of on this site? - Team Juicy Racing's Racing School and Race Series Forums

sydude · #1 08-18-2010

It's great to see some new blood coming in lately, but it's still quiet compared to the good old days. What kind of content do you think would increase your participation (and/or participation in general) on this site?

WatertownNewbie · #2 08-18-2010

Good suggestion, Sy. In the old days, we used to have more discussions about what Skippy could be doing to increase driver interest and participation in the race series. Retention seems to be a problem, with many of the old guard (when I joined in 2005) having moved on and with too few of the newer drivers staying on board from one season to the next. Of course the current economy is to blame for smaller fields at events, but there are not many signed up for Grattan next week, and from everything I have heard it is a challenging circuit and likely to be a fun event. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

GregS · #3 08-19-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

Good suggestion, Sy. In the old days, we used to have more discussions about what Skippy could be doing to increase driver interest and participation in the race series. Retention seems to be a problem, with many of the old guard (when I joined in 2005) having moved on and with too few of the newer drivers staying on board from one season to the next. Of course the current economy is to blame for smaller fields at events, but there are not many signed up for Grattan next week, and from everything I have heard it is a challenging circuit and likely to be a fun event. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

who is going?
I know of no one going to this.

WatertownNewbie · #4 08-19-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by GregS

who is going?
I know of no one going to this.

I will be there as will THE VIZ too. At last count there were twenty-one drivers signed up for the open-wheel weekend as well as enough others for an MX-5 group. Hope we have two groups with that many open-wheels. Otherwise could be crowded.

cdh · #5 08-20-2010

might be there, still unsure...where are you staying?

sydude · #6 08-20-2010

HEY! You're hijacking my extremely important thread!

cdh · #7 08-20-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by sydude

It's great to see some new blood coming in lately, but it's still quiet compared to the good old days. What kind of content do you think would increase your participation (and/or participation in general) on this site?

Ah yes, the age-old question....well, the 6 year old question anyway. Would like to hear ideas, esp from new members. Not sure what more we can delve into, maybe doing some of the old stuff, some more photo quizzes, they usually got activity. An F1 pool generates a lot of activity, but running our own is a lot of work for someone, was always Sy's chore. Something to think about for next year....as for new ideas

Skip is doing live T&S for the Nats, maybe in the future we could do a pool for the Nats? Or even the Summer/Winter and MazdaSpeed seasons. THAT might kick things up a bit...."hmmmm, if I throw this race I win the SF pool....hmmm"

chsutherland · #8 09-08-2010

If you would like more participation in the site, perhaps opening it up to people who have SBRS as a common tying thread would yield more members, posts etc. When it was TJR the site name didn't imply that it was strictly for current SBRS participants. I would be curious to know how much traffic has fallen since the name swap. I for one, would be more active in the site, if it weren't only about SBRS. Personally some of the more interesting threads were about what folks were doing outside of SBRS. Jim Lowe did some neat stuff, reading Mr. Pews post about his activities were very cool.

I guess I think the site functioned better when it was about the people who had SBRS as their racing background, not about SBRS itself. The people who race, and work at SBRS are what make it interesting, not SBRS the corporation.

Craig

sydude · #9 09-08-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by chsutherland

If you would like more participation in the site, perhaps opening it up to people who have SBRS as a common tying thread would yield more members, posts etc. When it was TJR the site name didn't imply that it was strictly for current SBRS participants. I would be curious to know how much traffic has fallen since the name swap. I for one, would be more active in the site, if it weren't only about SBRS. Personally some of the more interesting threads were about what folks were doing outside of SBRS. Jim Lowe did some neat stuff, reading Mr. Pews post about his activities were very cool.

I guess I think the site functioned better when it was about the people who had SBRS as their racing background, not about SBRS itself. The people who race, and work at SBRS are what make it interesting, not SBRS the corporation.

Craig

Oh boy, can't win either way.. The reason why we changed the name was because too many people felt that 'Team Juicy' was an eastern series site, or a site based on a specific circle of people, which was not the case. We felt that changing the name the way we did would make our doors feel open to those in the SBRS community that felt excluded before.

I think what's had the biggest negative impact on this site is not the change of the name, but the general degradation of the active driver base at skippy, plus the feeling of malaise that is creeping in to the old guard. I'm not going to get into details on why, but I think many of you know what I mean. The only question is, can we do anything to help? And I mean either with this site OR with SBRS.

dalyduo · #10 09-08-2010

Great to hear from you Craig and I also think the name has less to do with fall off than what Sy said about the long term customer base dissipating. Case in point, a bunch of us masters farts (Wilcox, Mayes, Ludwig etc) went to Road America and ran in the kiddy National event and had an absolute blast but there were issues that made it less attractive for a repeat in Atlanta. There needs to be a new wave of grown up customers to re-invigorate the regional ranks. Very few are running a full season any more.

None of us at Skippyforums are trying to exclude others but the plethora of social media options has made it less compelling for people who aren't doing SBRS stuff. George Clooney and I are the last humans not on Facebook and while George has his reasons I'm not on it because I'm distracted enough with all the other stuff I'm juggling in my life. From what I've observed the software makes it entertaining and fun and if I get any more distracted... Ohh look a Porsche! They'll have to embed a lojack in me to find me and bring me home.

I think the site now has a nice base of interesting old threads for new racers to review and a home for new and old to chew things over as they always have. The economic fall off really hurt enrollment in the race series and that tends to drive the social aspect as well.

Glad to hear from you though. How have you been weathering these times. Any racing?

Gerardo · #11 09-08-2010

One thing that used to drive visitors to skipbarber.com many years ago was a good press agent. Back in the day, Jim Moore and Jim Bowie in marketing believed one or two news releases per day drove eyeballs and clicks. At the time, I used skipbarber.com as my primary racing news source. It was a good combination of articles about Skip Barber events and its people, plus articles about Alumni and other related industry news. Most of the articles were written internally, which meant a full-time guy. With the severe economic downturn and related corporate downsizing, this feature no longer exists.

If we had a writer for SkippyForums who could tell the Skip Barber story, and of course, the story of drivers who have moved on, in a compelling, entertaining, or even a personal way, eventually more eyeballs might come for their daily dose of entertainment, and hopefully contribute while they visit.

Maybe we could spread the duty around, each of us volunteering to write a story about a race weekend we attend during the season, and starting a thread for each weekend.

cdh · #12 09-10-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by chsutherland

If you would like more participation in the site, perhaps opening it up to people who have SBRS as a common tying thread would yield more members, posts etc. When it was TJR the site name didn't imply that it was strictly for current SBRS participants. Craig

Look at this screen shot and the # of threads in the circled forums...clearly there is a great deal of posting about non-SB racing activities. We have been asking this question for 6 years, my guess is an F1 pool next year would bump participation more than anything...just a guess.

Slowhands · #13 09-10-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdh

Look at this screen shot and the # of threads in the circled forums...clearly there is a great deal of posting about non-SB racing activities. We have been asking this question for 6 years, my guess is an F1 pool next year would bump participation more than anything...just a guess.

I agree about the F1 pool. I also would be willing (deep breath, swallow hard) to run it

if my time situation allows next year. Will know by Jan/Feb...

BTW, love your new avatar. And before you ask, yes I know the track!

I crack myself up....

cdh · #14 09-10-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slowhands

I agree about the F1 pool. I also would be willing (deep breath, swallow hard) to run it

if my time situation allows next year. Will know by Jan/Feb...

BTW, love your new avatar. And before you ask, yes I know the track!

I crack myself up....

I VOTE FOR HARSHA - YAAAAAAAAAAAAY HARSHA!!!!!

Of course you know the track, I would withdraw my nomination otherwise...

That is a Bug isn't it?