What the data showed:
Age group
84% of the respondents are over the age of 40 which in most ways aligns with the assumption that most ND era enthusiasts would have a connection with vehicles that were relatively new or raced during their youth.
Licences
- 74% of the respondents already have a competition licence of some sort.
- 20% of the respondents have more than one competition licence. (just a point of interest)
- 31% of the respondents already have a Motorsport Australia Race Licence that is required to go racing
- 47% of respondents have held a competition licence for over 20 years which shows a high level of commitment to motorsport in general.
- 32% of respondents have held a competition licence for under 10 years so there's a good number of new comers as well.
Whilst the vast majority of respondents want to compete in motorsport events which is understandable. 38% of respondents indicated they were also interested in spectating at an ND event which tells there is a general interest level for this era of racing rather than just competing.
Summary:
A deeper analysis of the respondents with a licence under 10 years revels that nearly all of them are over the age of 40.
The new cohort of competitors that currently hold a licence is evenly split between long term licence holders (>20 years) and relative new comers (<10 years)
The majority of respondents are over 40 which aligns with the interest in vehicles from their younger years.
Note: The term competition licence has been used to cover all variants of race and speed licences across Motorsport Australia, AASA, Racers and other.
Whilst a fair % of our youth are working on late 70' to early 90's cars, many are doing engine or complete driveline swaps to get reliable performance. Huge following for early Corollas, Datto 1600, Commodores etc. The cars and coffee scene appeals to lots , with only a few getting serious on local track days with their retro-mod cars. Huge $ being spent.
Ill take a punt and say we will see a higher % of youth when Ne or Nf are announced. Bring it on!!