Thinking of starting my own place.


J

jdmek

New Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
Messages
28
Hay guys and girls I was wondering If I could ask for some of your views and opinions on something I have been thinking about Alot lately.

Situation is I have been looking at starting my own track/race prep company in Essex area.

I have been in the motorsport world for a while and feel it's time.

Here's where I'm looking for opinions. Do you think there's a big Market for this And what sort of thing do you look for in a company.

Many thanks guys And girls
 
How much capital do you have? Qualifications? Company/team experience?
 
come to northern ireland mate,there none over here ud make a killing from all the honda boys.Really badly need places to do fast road set-ups and corner weighting and that
 
exactly, more info on expertise and qualifactions an experience
 
i have been a mechanic for the last 7 years. i started at porsche and then did merc and bmw aswell as a bit for ferrari. for the last 3 years i have been working in the motorsport industry as a tech/engineer in everything from single seaters to euro gt and tarmac rally. just finished a year at f2 as well as doing a bit here and there in club racing

i have desided to seek ask your advice and opinions as there seems to be more track fans on this site than most. i would like to seek your advice on what sort of services you feel are missing and what u feel would be popular

kellsled, i know the situation over there and it would be good but i just live to damn far away. lol. i was thinking about corner weighting as i know thats a key factor but many people never seem to want thats sort of thing :( i was looking at maybe doing thinks like stage 1,2,3 etc kits for both engine and suspension but it is all down to what people think.
 
I've seen a lot of motorsport companies come and go, the ones that have worked have been ones where there are at least two people working together and sharing the profits, normally with one guy on the phones, forums, facebook druming up business and handling questions and the other working on the cars. Both are vital and of equal merit.

Then its hard work and long hours to build the reputation

It's tricky to gain that rep though, especially if you are on your own, so you have to ask how many of your existing customers will move from the place where you're working and use your services? At least you'll need to start with a working base.

Then its a case of wanting to either go down the fast road route (where people tend to concentrate more on getting the right parts on their cars - so not much corner weighting done there) or track and rally stuff where setup is more optimum. I don't see much, or any, cross over between the two categories.

So in short, identify your target market, establish your supply chain and plan how you're going to market the company.
 
What about doing things in your spare time for now to build up a reputation?

Also to see if the work is out their in your area?

For example Saint Matt and R motion both did this. Saint matt offered his services on here and other websites and R motion started breaking a couple of Civics now they have their own unit and race series coming up.
 
thanks for the imputs guys. i was planning on starting it on the side till i can get enought throught the doors to sustain a full time business

i was planning to advertise all over, on both forums and clubs and to the racers direct. i was looking to aim for a broad a market as i can reach. i feel that the club race scene and track day scene are both up and coming especially with the introduction of more and more series aimed at cost effective racing as well as the price of track days becoming lower.

i have thought of a couple of ideas that might work ie labour discounts for forum/ race series memebers/competitors. i have seen this work before and feel it may be a route worth taking.

another idea i was thinking of was maybe approching track day companies and seeing if there willing to sort some sort of deal where by customers would also benifit from discounted labour/parts rates in exchange for recommendation.

where do you guys stand on demo cars. do you feel that these are a good idea. gives a chance to see what you can do and show case workmanship.

the problem i have is that the main companies i have worked for have been high level motorsport (£100k+ a season) and theres no way i want to walk striaght into that (very cut throat and costly). i have a few people in club racing i work for and i know they will come.

what are your opinions on best ways to drum up a customer base?
 
jdmek said:
thanks for the imputs guys. i was planning on starting it on the side till i can get enought throught the doors to sustain a full time business

i was planning to advertise all over, on both forums and clubs and to the racers direct. i was looking to aim for a broad a market as i can reach. i feel that the club race scene and track day scene are both up and coming especially with the introduction of more and more series aimed at cost effective racing as well as the price of track days becoming lower.

i have thought of a couple of ideas that might work ie labour discounts for forum/ race series memebers/competitors. i have seen this work before and feel it may be a route worth taking.

another idea i was thinking of was maybe approching track day companies and seeing if there willing to sort some sort of deal where by customers would also benifit from discounted labour/parts rates in exchange for recommendation.

where do you guys stand on demo cars. do you feel that these are a good idea. gives a chance to see what you can do and show case workmanship.

the problem i have is that the main companies i have worked for have been high level motorsport (£100k+ a season) and theres no way i want to walk striaght into that (very cut throat and costly). i have a few people in club racing i work for and i know they will come.

what are your opinions on best ways to drum up a customer base?
Click to expand...

I dont blame you in wanting to open it up to as many potential customers however from my own experiance i would rather take my car to a Honda specialist than someone who deals with all types of cars.

A demo car would be a good shout show what you can do etc.

Altho you would need to document it well on the forums. take a look at Saint Matt's build

I think you should start small before looking to other companies to provide a recomendation,

Build up a reputation on forums first.
 
i would specialise mainly in hondas/jap cars as thats where i have alot of experience and alot of friends. i know that hondas are becoming cheaper (ep3 now going for under £4k) and ever more popular with the track day entusiast. i have an ef civic i have been building and documenting on other forums but they dont seem to be anywhere near as track active as this forum.
 
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