JULY 20, 2005

On the subject of promotion

It is perhaps worth noting that in the last 10 days we have seen some dramatic results in terms of crowd figures at relatively minor events. Renault has been pushing hard in recent months to promote the its World Series by Renault championship and has achieved some quite startling results at Le Mans and in Bilbao.

The French race took place on the short Bugatti circuit but the concept of bringing the fans closer to the action obviously paid off as the event attarcted no fewer than 180,000 fans over two days. Attracting people to the sport is apparently a great deal easier when they do not have to pay out huge sums of money to the promoter. The event was thus France's second biggest motorsport event of the year, behind the Le Mans 24 Hours, and was considerably bigger than the French Grand Prix.

In addition to the races the Renault event at Le Mans included attractions for the young and old alike. Special guest David Hallyday, the French pop star, got to drive a Renault F1 R24 and then took up his guitar for an outdoor concert after the racing was over. There were flying displays by the French Armee de l'Air's Mirage 2000 and the Patrouille de France while on the race track there was a massive display of Renault cars, including all the major historical cars and indeed some of the drivers who made them famous.

A week later in Bilbao the series ran on the streets of the capital of the Basque country and attracted around 100,000 people.