FastOnWater Magazine issue 1 | Page 16

Sponsors – and why they’re so important Even though circuit powerboat racing can be considered as one of the cheaper forms of motor sport, we all know that it still isn’t what you might call ‘cheap’. So where do you start if you want to take up the sport? You’ve gone to your local club, had a go in the training boat and decide you want to start racing. You can afford to purchase a second-hand boat and engine but you’re going to need some sponsorship to start racing. Or maybe you are already racing but you want to get a more competitive rig or move up a class. So where have all the sponsors gone? If they’ve actually gone anywhere. Motor sport and sponsorship have been intimately linked for long enough to realise that one definitely needs the other, especially at the upper end of the sport. Sponsorship isn’t sat there waiting for you. You have to let prospective sponsors know you are there and what you and your sport can offer them, which would entice them to part with their hardearned cash. Many prospective sponsors haven’t even heard of circuit powerboat racing but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be interested. It’s for the one looking for the money to make the presentation that will impress a sponsor, much like a job interview. So are sponsors hard to find? To some extent you could blame the economic climate, although that doesn’t appear