Oulton Park BaT Day 22nd August 09

[Fruitcake]

Went as a spectator to this yesterday, saw some pistonheader out and about. The track seemed pretty empty though I suppose the sky high price made its contribution.

[andy798]

I went down for a few hours in the afternoon and noticed the track was pretty dead.

The grey civic has flying and sounded charged, anyone know who that was?

[mattsayle]

Where are the ones of the black noble? I know you took some as I saw you on the inside of Old Hall as we came past

Thank you very much to Conleth (fellow PHer) for the pax laps. Much appreicated and you were going much better than last time

[Fruitcake]

They're on Ms. Cake's laptop. Can you wait a day?

That Noble was fast as fk.

[philevo6]

I was going to do this trackday...but has been said,the absolutely sky high silly price put me right off (and alot of other people i know).

Oulton is a FANTASTIC circuit,but come on!! £325!! + fuel,food etc....you are looking at the best part of £500 for the day.

Least the weather was spot on for the guys that did go.

[carlosvandango]

Do you think BaT are in the mire?

[philevo6]

Ive used bookatrack once or twice...very good company/trackday organiser.

Just thought that that price was a joke! (as at least 6 other people i know thought too)...hence the car park empty in the pics.

If it was £200-240 the day would have been full.

probably greedy oulton putting prices through the roof

Edited by philevo6 on Sunday 23 August 21:19

[willr]

To put this in perspective, another TDO's average price across the whole year (March to November) is £270.

It depends what value you put on having 6 1/2 hours open access to a superb circuit, on a Saturday, with plenty of free space on track and no holdups.

I guess I spent over half that time completely uninterrupted on track - which to me makes it worth at least a couple of sessioned days run by other TDOs.

And the weather was perfect

[CTO3]

i had a great day yesterday, noble was going well with no real probs, apart from needing to refuel all the time, keeping matt busy at the filling station! you're welcome matt about the pax laps

was expensive but was on a weekend and when i went out had the track pretty much to yourself, driving standards were good so i think worth the premium

conleth

[Elderly]

BAT did promise 'low numbers', so what do people expect?

I don't know about Oulton but most tracks that I have dealt with (helping organize trackdays
for owners' clubs) have only put up their charges by about 5% this year.

[3wheels3]

Wasn't there but it's nice to see a few other cars about though. I even did pit drive through on a sessioned day as I wanted some company. BaT are ace though just not cheap.

[boxsey]

My understanding is that the cost of hiring the Oulton circuit goes up in the summer and weekend days are also more expensive than midweek. So it's the circuit making more bucks rather than the TDO.

[spdpug98]

I popped into Castle Combe last week as a BaT trackday was on it was also empty I think at most there must of been 10 cars, at some points the track only had 1 car on it

I checked the price when I got home and it was around £300 for the day, then realised why it was empty

[mattdaniels]

philevo6 said:

I was going to do this trackday...but has been said,the absolutely sky high silly price put me right off (and alot of other people i know).

Oulton is a FANTASTIC circuit,but come on!! £325!!

As a comparison, notice that Goldtrack have an open pitlane on a Wednesday in October for £299. Makes £325 for a Saturday open pitlane in the summer look like a bit of a bargain!

I don't think BaT claim to be the cheapest, but likewise I suspect the circuit hire costs have more of a direct impact on the price than the TDO trying to earn a living.

[juansolo]

I almost exclusively use BaT for trackdays, yet there are some UK circuits I just no longer bother with. Sadly Oulton Park is one of them. It's a great track and I love it, but it's now too pricey. Spa is cheaper FFS, a proper full on F1 track and I know which one I'd rather be driving around.

[whiteonyx]

Focused Events had an open pit trackday at Oulton 2 weeks ago for £175, different TDO's are compedatively priced others are there to fleece you.

[sfaulds]

I'm amazed that people just don't get the maths about trackdays. I doubt any of the TDO's have massively different *target* profit margins, however there are different types of day on offer. Less money = more cars on track. Some people are happy to queue to get on track, and then either be overtaken or overtake constantly while on track so will go for cheaper events. Others prioritise no queues and a lack of traffic on track, so will pay a premium for it.

This weekend you had a choice - BaT on Saturday with 30 cars, or another company the day before for £80 less with 90+ cars. Some would rather save the money, others would rather be with less cars - it's a choice.

And as for a £175 day at Oulton in the summer - that can only be a loss-leader.

[philevo6]

whiteonyx said:

Focused Events had an open pit trackday at Oulton 2 weeks ago for £175, different TDO's are compedatively priced others are there to fleece you.

Yeah,thats the one i went on...£200 with a garage...about 50 cars there.

Quote===This weekend you had a choice - BaT on Saturday with 30 cars, or another company the day before for £80 less with 90+ cars. Some would rather save the money, others would rather be with less cars - it's a choice.

90+ cars!!!!!??...which circuit allows 90+ cars on a day???

[Pee Bee]

I was there on Saturday and for me was one of the best track days yet at Oulton. Quality track time, good standard of driving and very little hassle.

In fact I've already e-mailed bookatrack asking when the next "Platinum" day is.

"You pays your money and you take your choice" etc. etc.

[RMac]

philevo6 said:

whiteonyx said:

Focused Events had an open pit trackday at Oulton 2 weeks ago for £175, different TDO's are compedatively priced others are there to fleece you.

Yeah,thats the one i went on...£200 with a garage...about 50 cars there.

Quote===This weekend you had a choice - BaT on Saturday with 30 cars, or another company the day before for £80 less with 90+ cars. Some would rather save the money, others would rather be with less cars - it's a choice.

90+ cars!!!!!??...which circuit allows 90+ cars on a day???

hmm - most organisers will aim to run over 90 cars at most tracks in a day. You would need 80 cars to break even at Oulton, each paying £200 at this time of year on a weekend. It really is simply like Sfaulds says, the maths are the same for every track day organiser. Aim for 50 cars on a day and you can charge £320 to break even or charge £175 and you need 92 cars to break even.

Obviously, as MSV own the circuit, they can charge less for less numbers as whatever they get in goes straight into their pockets so to speak. I would think every organiser there pays pretty much the same price. The likes of focused events who do a lot of bike track days may get a slightly cheaper rate? I don't know!

The track day companies are not there to take your pants down, they are generally enthusiasts and try to run the sort of days they would be happy to attend themselves. Unfortunately, market conditions tend to mean that prices have to come down, which means numbers go up. It's not udeal but from a purely business point of view, most companies need to run days with lots of cars on them.

All this is purely in my opinion and as someone who has done lots of track days, paying a little more for a quality day is important to me. There are of course other costs and staff who need to be paid on the day etc. so my numbers are fairly rough and fairly guessed at!