Despite being held as national-level race championships since 2001, the Malaysia Championship Series (MSC) for cars and Malaysia Superbike Championship (MSBK) have not been profitable, and Sepang International Circuit (SIC) has been given a three-year deadline to make the two series financially self-sustaining. SIC chief executive officer Datuk Razlan Razali was quoted in a New Straits Times report.
“The (SIC) board wanted to scrap these events as they have been loss making since (introduction in) 2001 but I insisted on maintaining them as they are our national championships and are part of our nation building and talent development efforts,” said Razlan. ““The government, however, does not want these two series to depend on public funding forever and we have been given three years to break even,” he continued.
The two races are in the SIC national championships calendar for motorsports and are running based on funding from the government. However, Razlan mentioned funding became available due to the removal of Formula 1 from SIC in 2017.
“It is easier for MCS as events such as TCR Asia and Asian GT3 are run together with MCS and they pay us a slot fee. It is harder for two-wheels (MSBK),” Razlan added. Razlan said he hopes to be able to have the races turning a profit with increased online viewership of both races to attract sponsors, among others.
Both MCS and MSBK have five rounds each in 2018, and begin on March 30 and April 12, respectively. SIC is also organising an e-MCS series, riding on the rise of eSports (video game competition) to run alongside the regular MCS, with the winner earning a seat as a full season driver in MCS next year.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
no Formula 1, this circuit is already a useless white elephant
U forgotten MotoGP? Our very own Hafizh will be riding in it yo!
Problem is, incompetent and not so intelligent people running the show. Do like Proton. Get a China CEO. Then you will see, SIC will also make start to make money.
Some people are not good in business la
Oh really?
(Jun 20, 2017 – China could be about to call time on its showpiece Formula One grand prix after FIA on Tuesday released the schedule for next season with the Shanghai race marked as provisional, having yet to secure a commercial rights deal with the F1 group.)
Not just SIC but we need Mainland people in our Cabinet too for Malaysia to progress.
SIC don’t have any business acumen. Please employ people like CEO Li
Behave now. Ur fake news will bite that rear soon. And ur reply has nothing to do with SIC or automotive. If MY were run like China, we wud be in a crippling trade war with USA. Not a gud idea.
In another words, the car race part can still be sapoted while the bike race part is not. They shud continue the bike race as it helps more MY riders onto international stage like MotoGP. Perhaps they need to split it up and move MSBK as sapot race to MotoGP.
On the hindsight, SIC received great support and an encouraging resurgence interest in local motorsports with Toyota Gazoo Racing launching their Vios Challenge there.
Shiok sendri racing got no paying customers and no spectator engagement. That cant help SIC there.
These guys need to do more to monetise the racing events
Can’t have races with empty stands and little to no media coverage – i dont recall seeing live coverage of the local races – how to generate interest?
This is not rocket science. Most race event made possible by SPONSORSHIP. Look at cubprix, it is sponsored by so many companies. Where is the plan to upgrade the event atmosphere to something with the whole family can enjoy? Easy. Have alot of activities during the race event.
– new car test drives.
– automotive themed play areas for kids (kids go karts, f1 pitstop roleplay etc)
– relaxing area for spouses. Pedicure, foot massage etc.
– Please keep up the maintenance of the automotive museum. I dont expect it to be like in motegi, but something halfway is more than nice.
– arcade games
– lucky draws
Ekceli MSF alredi has all those https://paultan.org/2017/10/23/malaysia-speed-festival-msf-to-debut-drift-gonzo-series-at-season-finale-december-2-3-at-sepang/
agree with you, SIC can learn something from Cubprix organiser. I went to Maeps to watch the race last year. It’s fun to watched with many booth to visit.
The Malaysian Speed Festival organised by local company is seems to be doing great and having good spectatorship compared to all SIC organized events. Maybe SIC should support more grassroot level motorsports that is close to middle class motorsports enthusiast. There is a greater sense of belonging in events that the Malaysian mass can relate and have access to. Keep it real.
In nurburgring, when you can’t make money from paid audience, make money from paid racers. I would love to pay hundreds as long as I can race or rempit in the world class circuit. I believe many like me too.
https://paultan.org/2017/10/30/malaysia-speed-festival-msf-season-finale-this-dec-2-3-at-sepang-track-day-slots-at-rm300-promo-price/
Is there a track day for public? Or track day for small car clubs? I think they have, but how many of us know? Most peoples out of central region don’t even know SIC whereabout from inside area of Sepang. How many times we stumbled upon the name of SIC, or the picture of it, or the video of it, anywhere across Malaysia? Unless we read about F1 or Moto GP in newspapers or clicked paultan.org, we wouldn’t ever stumbled upon them. Their ubiquity is second to none. Their marketing has been a failure. They seriously need to fix that.
Cars so expensive, petrol expensive. tax here and there…..Gaji not increasing….
So, how many ppl can afford,renting the SIC for motosport?
GST make cost of living lower.
what make you think motorsport is a cheap hobby?
Thats epic gold right there
Big talk by the SIC boss about not needing F1, now back the big talk with big ideas to stay afloat. Humility by the SIC boss is in short supply for sure.
to monetize you need to attract people who is able to pay. People will only pay if:
1. there is enough interesting events to attend 4 wheels or 2 wheels notwithstandings.
2. people will pay attention if there is enough promotion and marketing of events case in point F1GPMalaysia. Promo done only about 3-4 weeks prior race.
3. Malaysian like to spend money for products and services they find values in it eg F1 merchandise with F1 talents signing during meet and greet the fans.
4. facility for these events is well maintained and enough novelty to interest people eg SIC after the first F1 race in 1999, novelty wears off due to other venues coming up.
5. Access to event/ facility is comprehensive and well organised. Also plenty of information to help people navigate when you have 100,000+ people and vehicles moving at the same time.
6. Last but not least, F1 does provide moments for fans to cherish ie photo shoot or selfie with the winners on podium.
7. Start to end experiences are just not available for the fans ie arrival point is non existence; during event moments are not choreographed or opportunities created for the fans; end experience is simply missing eg final 2017 F1GP Sepang race-no nobody can recall; whereas KL2017 finale was a big bang with fireworks etc.
8. Go figure SIC management
SIC management team..
Business man bukan..
Motorsports enthusiast pun bukan..
Who let the clowns run the show?
It’s very far for spectators to come n visit when there’s events.. kalau event SIC yg cap ayam, mmg xde la orang nak datang.
What they should do is an event with a big boom.
Example:
1. work with proton and have a 3days Proton Festival, make it like NISMO festival in Japan. Charge mininum to spectators, bring sponsorships in, bukak booth banyak2 mengalahkan pasar malam.
Call all proton clubs, owners, let them have a feel to drive in sepang(drive, bukan bawak mcm anjing).
Make people wanna get close to SIC, make it alive and happening.. come on lah oi..
2. Make a vintage car festivals with parades n stuff.. call up those owners from Thai and Spore to join. Invite also those old aircrafts and park it somewhere there as attraction
3. Call up all motor-journalist to a brainstorm session.. take note of their points.. they know better compared to the rest average joe’s out there.
4. Held a daily driven car sunday drive in sepang. All standard, no need rollcage and stuff.. just ensure the participants join the the briefing session limit it to those who never drive in sepang.. create attraction, people will come and support.
5. Go and find those good designers to redesign your SIC merchandise, no more design pakai kaki.. malaysian would support if it looks good, nice and cheap. Nak jual mahal boleh, kurang la yg beli. jual murah ramai yg beli –> sales volume up.