planetf1.com

I was a bit surprised that within my mail I received a letter from the HRT F1 team. Very Strange

Basically they've thanked me for my support along with confirmation of my club membership and a membership card to the team. Then they've gone on to mention details about the new headquarters in Madrid and exclusive promotions/contents blah blah.

All this came about from simply signing up to HRT website before the start of the season as I was curious to find out if their car would have the stepped nose or not.

I've been a fan of F1 for 25 years and for the past 10 years I've been signing up to most teams and some drivers official websites. I've normally just got a email news letter type thing on races or a status update on facebook/twitter. However, this is the first time I ever received anything in the post from an F1 team and with a personalized membership card which is pretty nice.

I am just really impressed that HRT have done something like this and they now have a new full time fan in me.

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Curious to know if this has happened or something similar to anyone else in the forum??

Sounds like a tidy bit of grassroots goodwill marketing! They need to raise their profile, after all.

I've actually been rather impressed by HRT this season. They seem much more professional and De La Rosa really seems to have grabbed the car by the scruff of the neck. He may be at the twilight of a journeyman career, but his experience seems to be helping them along.

Indeed great work by their marketing team.

They've clearly spend a few quid doing this. I can't read Spanish but the Madrid post mark is dated the 12 June and it was received this morning. What would the postage cost from Spain?? I've checked that from the UK to Spain it would cost 87p for delivery that quick. Also my member number is 14632... so do the math.

HRT are impressing me this season too and De La Rosa's doing a fine job. In Canada he qualified ahead for both Marussia's and was running well in 18th place before he had to retire.

Really? Wow I might support them then as they are giving back to the fans obviously. You wouldn't get that kind of PR goodwill from Macca and Ferrari.

That is a nice touch.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Reminds me of all those 'fan clubs' that were around in the 90s!

Ahhh memories...a kid's wallet full of random membership cards, usually with my name spelled wrong on them...

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I got mine too, very impressed indeed!

Impressive.......MOST impressive.



(Been waiting to use that Darth Vader line )





BTW, I actually DID do the math and up until member 14632 they've spent about 12,700 pounds! That's close to $19,000 dollars, I think.

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I hear they are going to invite the first 10 people to sign up to a Grand Prix all expenses paid.

They are hoping they can get the other 9 to sign up before the end of next year

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Awesome. I've registered and will update.

Agree that PDR is strong and was perfect fit for team. They still might surprise this year and score point. The car is getting faster.

Nice to hear they are taking care of their fans and people who have a real interest in F1.

Considering they are badly funded they are making the most of it. It would be good if they had a nice tie up with a key sponsor but Spain is sadly not doing well economically at the moment!

Yeah, I'd like to see them on podium this year. Not far fetched considering the circumstances. By the way, if I was a Billionaire I'd equal their finances with Red Bull Racing, but then it'd be same as if I bought them... Anyways, they're showing signs of promise. I support them against Marussias and Caterhams.

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HRT FTW!

Good to hear some teams at least corresponding to and interacting with their fans.

I've been supporting HRT this year and defending them against the borage of negative criticism they've been dished all year. They are doing the best job possible given their difficult financial constraints and lack of staff and they're still improving. Kudos to them!


I wrote Sauber earlier in the season regarding my idea for an inexpensive and efficient Front Wing Stall system and then completely forgot about it until I received an E-mail a couple of weeks later thanking me for taking the time to write them and for my clever and innovative idea but after some deliberation among the team it was thought that such a system would not comply with the rules. And then graciously thanked my for my support.

I've never really routed for Sauber unti I saw the look of the car this year and felt for the first time their car just looked all kinds of right. After the E-mail they are a team I will root for from here on out.

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Second place is the first loser!

Received Same package few days back.
The nice gesture was that they informed us when there was slight delay in sending out the cards as well.
The other thing I liked about them is that I got response to every single twit I sent their way. Even the stupid uncomfortable ones which I just sent to check if they will really reply to stupid queries regarding their problems with the car.
They are definitely keeping fans happy and are happy to interact. Probably they feel the need to generate a fanbase more than others, but this is still nice thing to do. And probably because they are a small team with actually very few people bothering to interact with them. But I am not complaining. I like this team for things like this. A bottom of the chain underdog who struggles but never complains and is happy to interact with fans.

Only 87p? That sounds awfully cheap! And also when you send out tons of stuff you get good discounts, so they'd have probably paid half of that. And money well-spent! Now even I am gonna follow HRT even though they never sent me anything (nor did I register on their site, for that matter) simply for being an awesome team!

Their marketing team is doing it right.

Just signed up! Looking forward to impressing the wife with my membership card!

Good for them I've been criticising them as much as the next guy (for good reason!) but every now and again they go and do something useful and positive, makes it hard to properly dislike them! Unlike Marussia who are getting more useless by the race.

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Official Kamui Kobayashi Fanboy

Clever piece of marketing there.
They get good mentions on the boards, giving them that little bit of extra good will.
Who knows, people that got the 'starter kit' might buy some merchandise, banners will most likely be up at the British GP and all that for a few quid.
Well done.

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"Too often we take for granted what our collective dream tells us is possible or impossible, acceptable or unacceptable."
The Four Insights by Alberto Villoldo

Thought you were going to say they were recruiting you... or asking for donations.

Meh.. sounds like they are better at writing letters than making F1 cars. bah-da-boom!

I think HRT will be more worthy of support if they actually start to design and build their car in time for pre-season tests, and not run it on track for the first time at a grand prix weekend. Even KERS. 2 years down the line, still no KERS.

Wow, now that is very cool of them.