Reality Show, Racing on Closed Public Roads, Participants Wanted...
02-24-2009, 02:56 PM
#1
Reality Show, Racing on Closed Public Roads, Participants Wanted...
I got this email from the guy who sells memberships for Lime Rock. Interesting, if you've got $50k burning a whole in your pocket.
Dear Potential Participant:
Yes, you read the subject line correctly. I was approached by a major national cable TV channel to develop a reality TV show involving amateur drivers racing on closed public roads.
What I did was create the coolest program you can imagine. Some of the details:
You get to race a Ferrari, a Porsche, and an AMG on a minimum of 6 and maximum of 13 closed scenic public roads throughout the USA. Think the Pacific Coast Highway, the Kancamagus Highway, and the Devils Tail.
We are accepting 50 participants and 10 alternates. Each participant will have three runs in each vehicle on the closed designated course over a two day period. You will have a chance to run your own vehicle in a time trial as well, though it will not count towards the race but the best weighted times will receive additional prizes.
If you WIN you get to pick a Ferrari, a Porsche, and an AMG to take HOME! Second prize is two cars, third is one.
Yes, there is a $50k participant fee which is cheap, less than $1k per race, and if you break one of our cars you dont have to buy it.
If you are interested email me back as soon as possible, I have more than 25 people who are seriously considering participation and we are just now making this public. I will email you a detailed package including an overview and a contract.
Once you receive the package I need your serious expression of interest, i.e. email me to say I am in, by March 4th then I need your executed contract and check no later than March 16th.
Please email me back if you would like to receive the package.
Dear Potential Participant:
Yes, you read the subject line correctly. I was approached by a major national cable TV channel to develop a reality TV show involving amateur drivers racing on closed public roads.
What I did was create the coolest program you can imagine. Some of the details:
You get to race a Ferrari, a Porsche, and an AMG on a minimum of 6 and maximum of 13 closed scenic public roads throughout the USA. Think the Pacific Coast Highway, the Kancamagus Highway, and the Devils Tail.
We are accepting 50 participants and 10 alternates. Each participant will have three runs in each vehicle on the closed designated course over a two day period. You will have a chance to run your own vehicle in a time trial as well, though it will not count towards the race but the best weighted times will receive additional prizes.
If you WIN you get to pick a Ferrari, a Porsche, and an AMG to take HOME! Second prize is two cars, third is one.
Yes, there is a $50k participant fee which is cheap, less than $1k per race, and if you break one of our cars you dont have to buy it.
If you are interested email me back as soon as possible, I have more than 25 people who are seriously considering participation and we are just now making this public. I will email you a detailed package including an overview and a contract.
Once you receive the package I need your serious expression of interest, i.e. email me to say I am in, by March 4th then I need your executed contract and check no later than March 16th.
Please email me back if you would like to receive the package.
02-24-2009, 04:18 PM
#3
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It's a fun idea, but that doesn't seem to add up
Not to rain on a dream, but.....
50 participants driving 3 cars for 3 runs in each car is 450 runs total. Spread over 2 days, that's 225 runs per day assuming absolute best-case conditions (ie, no reruns, lots of day light, clear skies, etc). If they're 3 minute runs, that's 11.25hrs of run time each day.
The only way to pull that off is to run multiple cars on the course at the same time. That seems like a bad idea on actual roads without extensive flagging, and even then the only to pull this off is if everything goes perfectly and all of the workers skip lunch. Anything less than "great" will push this out to three (or even four) days per event.
There must be a lot of TV and other sponsorship money involved if they're going to be giving away 50% of the entry fees as prizes. That doesn't leave much to cover the cost of renting 6-13 otherwise public roads, staffing the event, insurance, course preparation, road repairs, flying everyone around the country, etc.
If you really want to drive fast on closed public roads, start doing hillclimbs. Much cheaper, much more accessible, and you get to do it with lots of folks who have done it 100s of times before.
50 participants driving 3 cars for 3 runs in each car is 450 runs total. Spread over 2 days, that's 225 runs per day assuming absolute best-case conditions (ie, no reruns, lots of day light, clear skies, etc). If they're 3 minute runs, that's 11.25hrs of run time each day.
The only way to pull that off is to run multiple cars on the course at the same time. That seems like a bad idea on actual roads without extensive flagging, and even then the only to pull this off is if everything goes perfectly and all of the workers skip lunch. Anything less than "great" will push this out to three (or even four) days per event.
There must be a lot of TV and other sponsorship money involved if they're going to be giving away 50% of the entry fees as prizes. That doesn't leave much to cover the cost of renting 6-13 otherwise public roads, staffing the event, insurance, course preparation, road repairs, flying everyone around the country, etc.
If you really want to drive fast on closed public roads, start doing hillclimbs. Much cheaper, much more accessible, and you get to do it with lots of folks who have done it 100s of times before.
02-24-2009, 04:49 PM
#4
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Interesting "business" model. For $50k you get 18 runs (minimum), plus a chance to be the one of
the fastest 3. If you're not in those top 3, you get your 18 runs, for a cost per run of $2778 per run. Plus, I'm assuming you probably have to somehow transport yourself to all these "courses", pay for lodging, etc. I could be wrong there, maybe that is all included in the $50k.
So the promoter gets 50 people to pony up $50,000 apiece, for a total of $2,500,000. Who knows what he gets donated by Porsche, Ferrari, and AMG - probably a number of cars for the racers to use.
If it is indeed backed by the "major national cable TV" company, they are undoubtedly picking up some of the costs.
So it looks like in the end, the promoter makes out pretty darn well in this deal.
Maybe some guys here have that kind of cash, but none that I know!
So the promoter gets 50 people to pony up $50,000 apiece, for a total of $2,500,000. Who knows what he gets donated by Porsche, Ferrari, and AMG - probably a number of cars for the racers to use.
If it is indeed backed by the "major national cable TV" company, they are undoubtedly picking up some of the costs.
So it looks like in the end, the promoter makes out pretty darn well in this deal.
Maybe some guys here have that kind of cash, but none that I know!
02-24-2009, 06:30 PM
#5
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It's 50k entrance fee plus ~1k per race, but the costs to organizers/sponsors could add up quick
I imagine a sh!tload of cars being wrecked (why wouldn't you push them to the limit - and beyond?). The fat cats signing up for this would have even less downside than a pro driver racing for his team (and career), and god knows even the pros intending to stay within the limits manage to wreck plenty of cars.
In a recessionary economy, how many cars are F, P and AMG willing to donate to such a marketing effort? The timing seems all wrong for such an endeavor.
In a recessionary economy, how many cars are F, P and AMG willing to donate to such a marketing effort? The timing seems all wrong for such an endeavor.
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02-25-2009, 06:51 AM
#8
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I got the same email from Stephan at Limerock- 50k though? seems like one of those NIgerian scams
something about this reality show seems a bit off to me... and when people want 50k that fast... u never know
02-25-2009, 07:06 AM
#9
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Sounds like a liability nightmare.
With the number of racers and locations I would expect at least one person to be seriously injured or killed. It would be fun to drive flat out on roads like the Kancamagus, but some of the corners on that road are not forgiving. If you hit one of those guardrails at high speed, you will go right through, and off a cliff into the trees.
02-25-2009, 07:15 AM
#10
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If i were someone that lived on one of those roads I would not be happy..
Especially if i had kids/pets.
As a parent all you need is some corpse mangled with body parts across your lawn and your child is never going to forget that image.
My guess: it will never happen.
As a parent all you need is some corpse mangled with body parts across your lawn and your child is never going to forget that image.
My guess: it will never happen.
