EAMotorsports

iTrader: (79)

Exactly what I said.....

EA

chach

I've been reading this thread since its inception...and it is funny to say the least, almost as entertaining as the Dumas and Baker threads....would you guys just give it up, have fun racing toy cars, and dont try to put your hands into other peoples pockets.

robk

iTrader: (22)

Watch most rc videos, and you'll notice they use one, MAYBE 2 cameras. This is visually very lame. To do rc real justice, I thinkthere would need to be way better camera coverage of the track, as well as some creative editing.

I realize most people doing videos are on a small budget.

If you did have enough coverage, you could do cutaways to the drivers faces as they make a pass, or crash or whatever. An in car camera in every car could be awesome visually. Tighter shots of certain corners or the straight could make the footage more exciting.

However, the reason you see cup stacking and spelling bees is that they are so cheap. One camera does it all, tells the whole story, and costs peanuts. So, if somebody could come up with some $$$ to do it right, it would be killer.
I just need to win the lotto so I can get this off the ground....

DA_cookie_monst

iTrader: (1)

off-road Euro Champs just gone, they had some decent filming done, and the DVD preveiw looks ace, picture in picture, following the lead car etc....

All those worried about how much people get paid, get a life man.

raffaelli

iTrader: (13)

Seven figures including the two after the demical? lol

Rocket42

so what we really need then is to get the drivers to yell and scream at the turn marshalls and throw there radios across the track if they make a mistake, thats is what is gonna make for interesting tv.

ok the fact that cup stacking is on espn and other sports such as dodgeball and lawn mower racing just shows that r/c is marketed completly wrong.

you want to grow r/c and make it more popular then you have to make rock stars out of the drivers. everyone knows what james stewart and ricky carmicheal make, every professional athlete (baseball,football,basketball) salary is open to everyone to know, But when someone asks what a r/c salary is everyone says oh its none of your business how dare you ask. The problem is the figure is so low that no one wants to admit it, if the drivers could at least make decent money 60k-100k a year r/c would be much more popular. Its a double edged sword because r/c companies don't make enough money to pay drivers this much so they continue to keep actual figures secret. So we need to pay drivers more to make the hobby more appealing but the r/c business can't afford it so we need to bring in other sponsors. What we need is exposure.

If you want r/c to make t.v. this is how, you go to a national quality track in vegas you call it the u.s. open of r/c. put 20 1/8 buggies on a extra large track and you pay 50k winner take all. You film with at least 2 ground level cameras and one on a boom, you make every driver use a radio to there pit man and record there conversations. (also act like the driver never works on the car and the pit guy is his mechanic.) you draw straws and 2 drivers have to run mini cameras mounted on there cars. You get one or two guys to act a little crazy on the drivers stand if he is not doing well. you make the main 20min so the race can be covered start to finish in a 1/2 hour show. then you would actually have a show you could market to espn. you get a out of hobby sponsor (pepsi for example) and every driver runs a large pepsi sticker on the side of there buggy so you can promise repeated product exposure from first place to last. oh yea almost forgot since your holding it in vegas you can then bet on who will win the race so during race coverage you can talk about odds and things like that to keep the show interesting.

so how do we accomplish this we have to do something unheard of in r/c and thats get all the manufacturers together to promote something like this. what do you think people will want to watch a well covered r/c race or cup stacking. i know what i would like to see but i am biased. as far as seeing the driver as he races i don't think a little picture in picture of the drivers face while he is driving and his buggy on full screen would be to hard to accomplish.

RandyB

iTrader: (2)

It doesnt matter what you do in this world, Garbage man, shoe maker, whatever......... as long as your damn good at it you can make a living!

And thats what sponsored drivers do

MrBlack

All the camera angles, TV coverage, and big sponsors are great thing to wish for but you have to have a potential viewership in place before any of the above will take the risk with there investment.

In the Action sports industry the Pro's have unionized and they have their own orginization called "P.R.O." (Professional Riders Orginization). This would be good if it allowed drivers to bring something to the table. However from my experience most drivers (not all) tend to reep the benefits while spending years in the C and B mains where nobody hear's about them while doing zero R/D and sleeping in everyday till noon. So maybe a union would help them work together to provide something more to there sponsors and the industry as a whole because as of right now many of the Pro's are digging there own grave with the whole "I want more of this and that which will benefit me", rarely do I hear the Pro being proactive to make the hobby better for everyone there are exeptions like Hodge, Francis, Hara, Cyrul etc. but they are few and far between.

The R/C industry is so much smaller then the average R/C consumer thinks and I believe this may be why these types of threads keep coming up. I have only worked in the R/C industry for about 4 years, prior to that I worked many other much bigger industries and have had designs and ad work in major publications such as Playboy and People and have even had work featured in Superbowl commercials and NYC Buses so many would ask why would I take the pay cut to work in a cottage industry? It's easy and I believe the answer is simillar to many, in about 4 years I have yet to have a bad day at work the same cannot be said for my previous 10 years on other industries. You do it because it is something you love. And for the Drivers they may not be living like Rockstars but for many of them it is a comfortable enough living for them and they enjoy driving R/C cars for a living rather then putting on a suit waking up at the crack of dawn and being sombodies gopher.


Garbage men and Shoemakers (Cobblers) actually make more money annually then Pro R/C Drivers but again it all depends on what you like to do and why.

robk

iTrader: (22)

Cup stacking??? It's not the final four, but it has to be more exciting than cup stacking.

RobertV

I think we know some of the same people. LOL.

Tekin Prez

IIC is trying to move us up the food chain.

http://www.intchamps.com/

So is this event.

http://www.fastrcworlds.com/ Well positioned where hundreds of families will pass by.. that can afford to be at disney world...

But do not kid yourself.. large non RC companies are not going to throw money at anything without understanding the benefits... IE number of impressions on what demographic. If the impressions were in the 7 figures.. perhaps the drivers could make 6 figures..

Google really sells nothing but impressions.. enough of them to be worth billions. Since that is not going to happen in RC we need to figure out how to get more people involved and keep them involved. RTR was a great change, but how many really stick with it and make it to hobby level?

We sponsor racing as a proving ground for our products and hope it sells a few more units along the way. We sponsor a broad race team to help the newcomers get over the hump to real RC where the dealers can make a little money as well.

We do not know what the answer is, but after being the title sponsor at 2 ROAR nationals you can bet we are thinking about it and open to new ideas.

Tekin Prez

pkfrizzlefry

Perfect thread guys....

Big sponsors are coming...now lets show them that there is alot of us!

Future events can only achieve better payouts...better payouts will attract more drivers that will attract media coverage....

The stage is set! The checks are cut...

2006 On-road carpet
World Series for Drivers is here to stay!

See ya there!!

And remember the Sportsman division is for Non-Sponsored drivers like the rest of us! Win this race and you will be sponsored on your way to making the big $$!

W.E.D.Jim

iTrader: (17)

R/C would be huge if we could find a way to make it dangerous!

The big jumps i've seen lately are a step in the right direction, but i'm not sure if injured turn marshals count?

Maybe sharp spikes on the cars and major carnage......oh wait, even the Robots are history now.





hmmmmm, Maybe if the entire R/C industry yearly revenues had close to the value of Honda's dirtbikes in the first weeks sales.

I'll throw out a rough number, for every $1 R/C brings into the economy Skateboards bring in $5,000+. Dirtbikes, $100,000 +.

This is why Tyco sells WAY more in a month then all racing manufacturers combined do in a year, racing is alot of work and money for the reward. Most people would give up the $6 trophy and keep the $5000 in the bank. But not me, or us, LOL.



We just need to realize that if tracks and manufacturers spend their time catering to a small crowd of maniacs the sport will never reach it's potential.

Have you been to a track that is easy for beginners lately?

Is the cost of what we do prohibitive, for example. Can little bobby get a bicycle or skateboard for his brithday for less then a gas car set up?

Which is easier to figure out?

When bobby brings his new bike to the BMX track are there alot of overwieght older men there yelling at other competitors for some reason?

How often are the skateboards and Bicycles made obsolete by the manufacturers? b)wouldn't prices drop if this didn't happen so often, which would attract more people?

This is done in the R/C industry because it caters to a small group of hardcore racers that must be given a reason to reinvest repeatedly, rather then finding new customers.
Traxxas and HPI have done alot to change this and possibly are the reason the sport still exists at all!!!



Just my thoughts,
...Jim

robk

iTrader: (22)

What are HPI and Traxxas doing? Where are all those cars going?

Are you guys talking about RACING or the entire industry? Last time I looked, HPi has enough money to sponsor full sized touring cars and send 3 or 4 magazines to drive baja cars in the desert for a new car promotion.

I'm not an "insider", but I have a hard time with everybody crying poormouth in regards to the rc industry. I cannot believe everybody, including the racing companies, are just in it for the fun. We probably need a better way to start the new guys off vs. just throwing them in the water and seeing who swims. They tend to just go back to the Xbox pretty quick.

TECH CONTROL

The Worlds Series For Drivers (WSD) is what the people here at Fast RC Worlds hopes will be the beginning of the transition for RC's to a more Public Sport. Now RC races are almost cloistered. Very few “Heads on Races ". It is great for all the racers to go to all the Biggies and hang out and have a great time and we sure don't want to change it, but the manufacturers and all the vendors know that to Grow you Got to Show. For quite a few years now the industry has been showing to the already converted at the big races around the country and world and the results are not showing great growth. Sponsor support from outside the industry is the only way for all that this thread has been talking about to start happening. Our goal at FAST RCs is a 6 figure payout race in 12 months...that will not come from any factory or vendor. If there are major sponsors for skateboarding, snowboarding and darts let me tell you there are Major Sponsors for RC's. FAST RCs is primarily an event planning company and RC's are the next big series of events that we have planned for the Orlando area.

If the talented and personable drivers who have written here and have been mentioned in this thread compete at the WSD and FAST RCs puts the "Heads on Races" the Sport itself will ignite new racers. It starts with a first big race for $ and then it grows. There will be 4 Mags there because they know what this means to the Sport. This WSD will start something, how far it goes is truly up to DRIVERS...no one else.

Finally, as a non RC guy I want to say you all have the one magic ingredient that can't be manufactured. That ingredient is like a very infectious disease. It is very potent and most who see it and feel it will want to be part of it in some way. Don't hide it under a basket show the whole world. That ingredient is "PASSION". We at FAST RCs and our supporters hope we can bring it to the world sooner rather then later. Our researched opinion.