[prasadee]

Originally Posted by pranavt

Where's the irony? A sport which is more accessible has more viewers and more sponsorship, as opposed to a sport reserved mostly for elites and/or filthy rich rockstars. How can you expect a village kid to understand about engines and downforce when he has possibly never sat in a car?

Valid point. To some extent most Italians cannot afford a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, they still have a warm spot in their hearts for racing. That siad, sports has not been popular in our sub-continent, racing anything as a sport fares even worse. IMHO, getting a kick out of going fast and appreciating the pursuit of going fast is a cultural thing as well. Would racing bullock carts, tractors, or bicyles be popular? Atleast not in my village. (compared to looking at a guy dance while being possessed by spirits) Sports has little entertainment value.

Most entertainment is in the form of spiritual goofy woo-woo statements made by babas, film stars, and such. My entire village has been under the spell of TV shows that promote delusion/miracles of gods. This is most of what the kids talk about, tons of delusion and some cricket.

[Skyline GT-R]

Cricket has become popular in India because of Kapil Dev's unexpected stunning WC win.

In 1983 cricket was like what motorsports is now. If Narain Karthikeyan wins F1 drivers championship, i'm sure lot more media coverage/public attention will follow on how he reached there.

Cricket/other sports does not involve heavy investment as motorsports at an individual level. Therefore all parents who want their kids to be like Sachin/Sehwag will never want them to be like Schumi/Senna.

In business/financial point of view it is a miracle how RRR stayed in motorsports scene till now. I congratulate them on their effort & hope that they are able to popularize the tuning scene.

[ares05]

It is sad to hear about RR exiting the motorsport world. But there is still some hope out there. Saw an ad in the paper last week, Force India conducting go kart races in order to find talent in the country. I think they deserve praise for putting India in F1 and promoting it in the country.

[orangelephant]

Official statement by RRR.
Red Rooster Racing - India's leading professional motorsports company

[Jayabusa]

All I was trying to say is, people 'watch' more of an accesible sport like cricket, than they 'play'.
When you play, it's sport. When you merely watch, it's mere entertainment.

Originally Posted by Skyline GT-R

Cricket has become popular in India because of Kapil Dev's unexpected stunning WC win.

In 1983 cricket was like what motorsports is now.

OT: And what about the strategic, symbiotic relationship between the media, the sport and business houses. The media is made use of to give players a Demigod or God like status. Experts with the bat and ball become opinion leaders and endorse products they don't have an iota of an idea about.
Statements like "they play for the nation" surface and the public goes ga-ga over it.
Cut the money out of cricket and let's have a reality check regarding who plays for what.
It's all about understanding the pulse of the masses, 'creating markets' and 'commoditisation'.

Originally Posted by Skyline GT-R

If Narain Karthikeyan wins F1 drivers championship, i'm sure lot more media coverage/public attention will follow on how he reached there.

Cricket/other sports does not involve heavy investment as motorsports at an individual level. Therefore all parents who want their kids to be like Sachin/Sehwag will never want them to be like Schumi/Senna.

OT: Brother, your statements remind me that not very long ago Abhinav Bindra struck gold in the 'prestigeous' Olympics for shooting(which would involve very scanty investments as compared to F1), or if India wins the Hockey(our national sport) world cup, how many parents do you think will want their children to become Dhanraj Pillais or Abhinav Bindras?

ps: I am not affiliated to any sporting activity for that matter. My posts are a result of a detached, bird's eye view of all this hysteria.
And yes, I like cricket as a sport.

Peace

[ihmisohjus]

How much ever I may miss the team, to an extent it WAS expected. the day RRR launched, Mr. Dinesh Reddy said that RRR will focus on Motor-sports for three years and he and the whole company have done what they had promised.

[Nilesh5417]

unless we get more entry-level competitions and forums like these push FMSCI to have an amateur calender of events, the pro-motorsport scene is going to remain dismal. if you and i were able to participate in a safe, well managed, low-entry racing circuit, we probably would!! as it is, cars are expensive so there is going to be a lot less of young blood out there racing.
a regular enthusiasts circuit will hold at least some promise of potential winners graduating to the pro-circuit.

[Skyline GT-R]

Originally Posted by Jayabusa

OT: And what about the strategic, symbiotic relationship between the media, the sport and business houses. The media is made use of to give players a Demigod or God like status. Experts with the bat and ball become opinion leaders and endorse products they don't have an iota of an idea about.
Statements like "they play for the nation" surface and the public goes ga-ga over it.
Cut the money out of cricket and let's have a reality check regarding who plays for what.
It's all about understanding the pulse of the masses, 'creating markets' and 'commoditisation'.

OT: Brother, your statements remind me that not very long ago Abhinav Bindra struck gold in the 'prestigeous' Olympics for shooting(which would involve very scanty investments as compared to F1), or if India wins the Hockey(our national sport) world cup, how many parents do you think will want their children to become Dhanraj Pillais or Abhinav Bindras?

India's National sport was very popular when they used to dominate opponents like the cricket team is doing now.

F1 cannot be compared with an individual sport.

I'm sure commoditisation & creating markets has affected every walks of life. Cricket succeeded because they delivered to an extent.

Less sponsors->Less TV coverage->Less public attention->Less sponsors. I think this is the real issue.

[gopa99]

RRR is coming up with lots of exitement by getting modified cars a common sight on Indian roads, and we are going to see a whole of B2B excitement in that segment soon. I too heard it from the horses mouth, Leela & Dinesh Reddy of course during my chat with them!

[Sn1p3r]

Sad news , but I always believed that RRR had most sponsors.

This was bound to happen, motor sport is not a great spectator sport, even F1 had it's scary moments once tabacco companies were not allowed. It's the enthusiasts sport and till such time we get race circuits in india or law changes for good about modified cars (it's still illegal to make modification to your car as per RTO). Not many will venture in the sport. Volume makes economic sense and mass following comes from personal experience. Had we not been playing cricket from school level we would not have love for the sport. I love to ski as I was introduced earlier in my life to the sport thus my liking towards x games. IMHO we in India need small circuits that gets attention from locals, I also believe it can be a make or break story with Jaypee and Kingfisher setting race schools. Sorry for the incoherent rant, this news really saddens me.

[GTO]

Pranav makes a very valid point about accessibility. Cricket is "accessible" to the masses, "cars" are not.

Am pasting the official statement from Red Rooster here:

Motorsports is not an inexpensive sport. At its most competitive, it needs sponsorship. As the fastest growing sport in India, given the fascination and unambiguous appeal it has for people of all ages and backgrounds, it is unfortunate that we have not been able to garner sponsors at levels significant enough to make the operation of building and running a team .

In the last 10 months, we have spoken to many corporates - FMCG, Automotive, Telecom, Technology and more. From those who have a direct connect to motoring and motorsports to those who are already trying to leverage it in woefully inadequate ways. And even to the biggies who could be the first to differentiate in this market where distinctiveness is being sacrificed at the altar of the loud adspends in a highly cluttered single sport environment. How much louder can one afford to get without making a real difference to the life and business of a brand?

The proof is all there. TV ratings are heading skywards. The Internet traffic from India to the top motorsports websites of the world is amongst the global top 3. F1 is here for economic reasons. Everyone wants to own a car, and then, to only own a more powerful car. All the famous sports cars have set up shop. The sport captures the imagination like no other, and imagery to that effect is being used flagrantly by all and sundry in brand communication. It is much more than a sport. We could go on. The big question, therefore, that begs an answer, is: why are corporates (those big brands with all their spiel about being different and wanting to stand out) so afraid of being the first clutter-breaking winner?

We asked ourselves that too and could not come up with an answer that sounded sensible. Till a few days ago, we had every hope that at least one smart corporate house will call us to leverage this powerful, unoccupied platform to their benefit in a way they never can again. Not one did. Hence this very painful but logical decision by Dinesh Reddy, our founder, N Leelakrishnan, our Chief Technical Director and 7-time INRC champion and our board of directors.

We've spent almost 18 crores in the last 3 years, in building and running what are the best motorsports teams in India today. We have given wings to some of the best talent there is.

Companies such as MRF can afford to continually invest in their teams, after all, the brand's entire marketing campaign and positioning has been built on motorsports for over a decade. With the high standards we have set ourselves in the engineering of the cars, team management, talent and development of the sport in itself, we have little choice but to pull out of motorsports - especially rallying. We will, however, continue to support some disciplines and talent in various ways.

Our goal of pushing finely honed talent to the world stage remains an objective we hope to achieve someday.

[kaushikkrishnan]

Valid point there 'cricket is accessible and motorsports is not'

How can we make motorsports grow ?

1. We do not have motorsports clubs everywhere in the country, even those that are there are not conducting events every month leave alone the week

2. Television is not giving any importance because they need the glamour content which motorsport today misses. When you compare the tracks in the western world and the one in sriperampatur the kind of facilities are a shame

3. We have a rally forum and the team-bhp where atleast there are >10000 enthusiasts but there is hardly any activity

We need events that can be done in every day bikes and cars every month in every city to start making sense

[Maverick1977]

Its not surprising considering a lot of motorsport sponsors (globally) in India support CRICKET. Below is a list which also includes some of the Indian companies:
Castrol - Cricket Ratings
Ceat - Cricket Ratings
BPCL - MS Doni (Brand Ambassador)
VW - Sponsors IPL (though it has its own event Polo Cup)
Fiat - Brand Ambassador - Yuvraj Singh (hope I got that right)
MRF - Cricket Ratings & cricket equipment
Bridgestone - Sponsors of MI in IPL
Renault - Motorsports, globally, but cricket when it comes to India.
Total Lubes - No spends for advertising/sponsorship.

I can say this confidently because I have personally been out there trying to get sponsorship for numerous motorsport activities (offline & on-ground) & trust me its irritating what answers I have got from these companies.

[jalsa777]

thisis indeed a loss for indian motorsport.

While we all rue about how the public in general has shunned every sport except cricket, What about this forum ??

Team-bhp is arguably the biggest gathering of automotive enthusists in the country.
Even so, the Indian Motorsport sub-forum is probably the least viewed part of the site. Even the contribution levels here are abysmally low.

GTO or other Mods can can come up with some statistics here.

[esoticoreventon]

This is absolute Bad news... This is what happens when a country focuses on one game alone! :(

Of course, what more could you expect when the sports minister calls Formula 1 "entertainment"!