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News Flash Indoor tracks droppin' like flies

News Flash Indoor tracks droppin' like flies

Old 07-08-2007, 05:07 AM
  #226  
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Fastcats has closed
www.fastcats.ca
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Old 07-08-2007, 05:27 AM
  #227  
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It just this :

Toy car racing just does not generate enough cash to keep the rent on some of these places paid. Especially here in NY. Prices on property is retarted. Unless you outrite own a property . your $15 race fees and your occasional $10 part is not gonna pay your $7k a month rent. Unfortuanlly to race indoors you need a large property, unfortuanlly that cost's large $$$.

I think you'll see a trend back to parking lot "club" racing and see more smaller single store hobby shops.
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Old 07-09-2007, 01:24 PM
  #228  
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Reading all of the posts in this thread and what has happened here recently.

FIRST OFF TO MAKE A CLEAR POINT. I DON'T OWN A SHOP NOR TRACK SO I HAVE NO INTERNAL IDEAS OF WHAT IT TAKES TO KEEP A TRACK OPEN.

I wanted to make that clear because there are some things on the business side that I do now know of. I am going to take for example what happened here in vegas. We had a carpet track and the simple fact of the matter is that they were not generating enough money to keep the carpet track open because we were only about 8 to 9 people strong that would race onroad consistently. The track has tried everything to keep the track open but states that there wasn't enough income to keep the electricity open for 2 days out of the week.

I DO UNDERSTAND THAT

But there are some things that may have happened here that may not have happened anywhere else, OR it may be a common story. I started racing about 5 years ago and it was my mistake. I went to Radio Shack and wanted to buy a monster truck to play around with. Hobbytown USA was next door and I would up walking in there and the first touring car i bought was a HPI RS4 Pro. Went to the other hobby shop and saw that they raced the cars and that was all it took for me to get hooked.

Since that time, me and my friends raced for a couple of years and there were tracks. Tracks closed for one reason or antoher and it got so frustrating that I sold everything (about 2 years ago). I was out of RC racing for over a year because there was no where to race. I found out that a fellow racer that we use to race with opened a gorgeous indoor track for offroad and onraod with great intentions to keep the doors open, and they are still opened to this date.

What happened was that the onroad program got dumped because the onroad track was in another room and it took extra exectricity to keep those doors opened. With only 9 people attending the race (now mind you more people were starting to come out) but it didn't justify the money they spent on electricity.

I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THAT.

Where I think the problem comes in is the lack of support that I have been reading here in this thread of racers purchasing online instead through the hobby shops. Take me for example.

I am 100% into supporting the LHS and I have done so coming back into racing.

Where the problem lies is the LHS competing with the online shops out there. Once again take me for exapmple. Not everyone is like me, I came back to the hobby having nothing and having to purchase all of my equipment again. I wanted to support my local hobby shop but here is the dilema that I had to choose from.

I wanted to purchase the following:
MuchMore Power supply
MuchMore chargers (2)
MuchMOre Motor master
MuchMore Power block

If I had gone through my LHS, to buy those 5 pieces of equipment would have cost me over $1100.00. I decided to purchase them from RCmart.com (China) and for the same items, it cost me $625.00. So do i buy online or do I support my LHS and spend almost twice as much?? That is an wasy answer. Iwent online. If hobbys shops are going to compete and keep things in house, you have to have products that are comparable in price. Dont sell a hudy lathe (no motor no bit) for $200 and a dimaond bit for $100 (Total $300) when you can purchase a integy lathe with bit and motor for $140.

I don't blame anyone for closing of tracks and if the hobby track owners are not making the money they wanted to make with the track open, I can understand them closing it. But as far as I am concerned there are other options out there. It just takes some head banging to come up with an idea that benefits everyone. IF i was a track owner and I am not making money to justify something that I want to do then I am not going to do it so I understood why the carpet track closed because of the lack of onroad support. We are not asking owers to go broke.

But if you take Vegas for an example, over the past 5 years there has been so much frustration on tracks opening and doing well for a while and then the decline happens. It is to the point to where there are some guys that raced onroad and loved it are now selling all of their stuff and getting out completely.

I believe in supporting the local track and anyone who knows me knows that I will bend over tooth and limb to keep racing open. Not a lot of people are willing to do so.

Now I could sell all of my stuff AGAIN but that doesn't make sense to me. That is the reason why I am about to do something that I never thought that i would do ......and this is getting an offroad buggy. I am a touring car person, that is all that I like to do. but because there are no onroad tracks open and because of the fact that I have all of this equipment, I want to race and have a blast and that is all that I want to do. So I am going to continue to support my LHS because I want to race and because of the fact that the track owners are good people and their intentions are true. It's just the fact that if you are going to open a track, you have to be able to compete with online and not for the small things. Hell brushes, motors, parts etc I have always bought from the LHS, but with online being so competitive it's hard for tracks to compete unless they buy in bulk.
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Old 07-09-2007, 03:00 PM
  #229  
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This is a great thread! Lets talk about how much money the shops make. Does anyone pay retail for kits? If you do your stupid but thats another story.lol Most shops only make $20-30 per kit. Thats just for the kit. But they do make 40 or 50% on parts usually. I do mean usually because everyone gives 10% off if you race or should. Now lets say that part cost $2.00 and is sold for $3.99. How many kits and parts do you have to sell in a week just to make payroll? Get the picture? There isn't any majic answers. All we can hope is there are enough dedicated people to keep this hobby going.

Last edited by rcmark24; 07-10-2007 at 06:09 PM. Reason: Man I can't spell today!
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Old 07-09-2007, 03:05 PM
  #230  
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I believe the correct formula is....

RC only store + Race Track = Poverty

Well balanced Hobby Store + foot traffic = making a meager living.

FWIW
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Old 07-09-2007, 03:14 PM
  #231  
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You aint kidding!
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Old 07-09-2007, 03:50 PM
  #232  
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Originally Posted by rcmark24
This is a great thread! Lets talk about how much money the shops make. Does anyone pay retail for kits? If you do your stupid but thats another story.lol Most shops only make $20-30 per kit. Thats just for the kit. But they do make 40 or 50% on parts usually. I do mean usually because everyone gives 10% off if you race or should. Now lets say that part cost $2.00 and is sold for $3.99. How many kits and parts do you have to sell in a week just to make parole? Get the picture? There isn't any majic answers. All we can hope is there are enough dedicated people to keep this hobby open.
I agree.
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Old 07-09-2007, 04:09 PM
  #233  
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eboogie , im sorry but you dont get it , nothing personal , but your not supporting your local shop , i know you saved alot of money on your stuff , they have less over head , meaning , THEY DONT HAVE A TRACK , im not yelling , but i am very passionate , if you dont have paid spectators , or a tv deal ,its a pay to play hobby , when you say a track opens and does good for awhile and then has trouble , what really happens is there in trouble on day 1 , now the people buy so much on - line , and its just a matter of how long they can take the bleeding , they have to charge the mark-up they do just to stay open and make a meger living , just my opinion and everyones else desereves theres , but stop complaining about the racetracks cosing if your not going to support them , ray
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Old 07-09-2007, 07:09 PM
  #234  
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Any business that raises the markup to over the market price to try and make more money won't be in business very long. You don't just get to charge whatever you think you need to make and just expect that people will line up to buy stuff. That's a fantasy. The shop has to compete, price-wise...period.

Originally Posted by ray3619
eboogie , im sorry but you dont get it , nothing personal , but your not supporting your local shop , i know you saved alot of money on your stuff , they have less over head , meaning , THEY DONT HAVE A TRACK , im not yelling , but i am very passionate , if you dont have paid spectators , or a tv deal ,its a pay to play hobby , when you say a track opens and does good for awhile and then has trouble , what really happens is there in trouble on day 1 , now the people buy so much on - line , and its just a matter of how long they can take the bleeding , they have to charge the mark-up they do just to stay open and make a meger living , just my opinion and everyones else desereves theres , but stop complaining about the racetracks cosing if your not going to support them , ray
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Old 07-09-2007, 07:49 PM
  #235  
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you are right as long as your just a basher , as appossed to a racer , ray
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Old 07-09-2007, 07:55 PM
  #236  
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Originally Posted by ray3619
you are right as long as your just a basher , as appossed to a racer , ray
OHHHH...that's right...the basic tenets of market economics that apply to everyone else don't apply to people who race RC cars. I forgot...they got some sort of exemption or something.

How could I have been so ignorant?
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Old 07-09-2007, 08:12 PM
  #237  
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Originally Posted by jiml
I had an interesting conversation with a hobby shop owner last week. And a successful hobby shop at that. He went over what he lays out in overhead every month. Of his ten biggest expenses, rent was like fifth! Insurance, utilities, and advertising were bigger nuts.

And I'm one of the few people who think a track can make a profit.

B as in B.
S as in S.

B.S.

The guy you talked to must own the building, I would like to hear of one other person that runs a hobby shop that has a utility bill higher than their rent. ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JimL if you can find a location where your rent is lower than your utility bill and you open the shop I will personally pay your monthly rent.

I guess that all of us could make a profit running a hobby shop if our rent was lower than our utility bills.
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Old 07-09-2007, 08:14 PM
  #238  
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hey sorry turbo , didnt mean anything wierd , were just watching these places , mostly the indoor , and it gets cold here just fall by the way side , my friends brag on the way out of the races that they didnt have to spend a dime tonite , anything needed for next week theyll still have time to order it on-line , these shops and tracks have to make money and they cant compete with the internet , they cant , racers have to step up and pay there fair share of the cost to operate a track , ray
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Old 07-09-2007, 08:16 PM
  #239  
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Originally Posted by benmlee
Am I seeing a contradiction here. In the same post, you mention lipo as being way too fast for 12th scale, then you mention they don't even compare to Nimh.
Is there such a thing as way too fast in racing anyway?
Why can't lipos be legalize one class at a time as technology develops.
Go back and read my whole post and dont cut parts of the paragraph up. My point was simple and easy to understand when its not chopped up.

Yes there is a thing as too fast....Its when you are left with about a dozen people in the world that can drive a car at that speed. It's happend to Oval racing. There are only about 8-10 drivers in the US that can handle the raw speed of the cars as they are now with 4 cells. Thats why there are not many people left racing it. Its going to get that way with TC's as well.

For your question I dont see a reason why lipo's can not be legalized for one class at a time as technology develops and I am sure this is what Roar is thinking as well.

EA
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Old 07-09-2007, 08:19 PM
  #240  
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I use to race BMW's until my kids started asking why I was buying $800 worth of tires (last one weekend) instead of christmas gifts.

Anyway, there is an old saying that goes like this ---

" To make a little money in racing, you have to start off with a lot of money!"

Most of the successful race tracks throughout the country such as Lime Rock, Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta, etc. are owned by millionaires. The racing and track is a passion and a right-off for other ventures.
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