Northern.dj

Well as a older driver and a older car Vector which still walks all over 960s the biggest expense is club membership i was stood next to a lad that had a HPI i think and wanted to join £30 not that bad but then they told him his dad would need to be a member as well just to be in the pits £50 that's £80 before they have started so hence why there trading in there saloon cars and getting these 1/8th monster trucks so they can play in the field with them. spectators get Bord even the World championships we we held the only race that attracted any spectators was the final
My son has now said he wants to race i have a impulse but they have said he can not go in the beginners cos of the car it's two fast. there is two many rules in clubs and nine times out of ten the people that run them have not got a clue

bozla

Heavy promotion of the hobby does nothing if the grassroots aren't supported. What do you guys do to help your club or newcomers?

The grassroots do need to be supported a lot more. If you get into RC you have to pretty much work it out yourself. Some clubs are better than others, but I've been to clubs before that I didn't want to go back to - too 'clicky'.

Accessibility is also an issue - cost and getting to tracks.

Roelof

Very True. RC-junkies is a comnunity in Holland, when they organise a trackday you get a lot of people, when a club is organising the same thing and is reaching the same people just a few will show up.
Under the name of RC-Junkies people think all is fun and under the name of a club people think it will be more serious. Once I started a topic on a Dutch forum why bashers can show off with their equipment and driving style and won't prove it on a track. "Mind your own business", "Why should I?", "To far from home", "cost a lot of money while on the parking it is free", "I just love tuning" were some examples of not going to the track proving their higly pimped cars. One club even started a RTR competition and on a forum there were about 30 persons promising they would come, the 1st race there were only 3
There is a kind of fear about not driving good enough or even failing and yes, when they think it is becomming serious they have 2nd thoughts.


Problem with newcomers have a fear to talk with others. Asking and talking is the way to become friends and getting help and also not be yelled out when they are a bad driver on the track. It is not only to the club to help but for newcomers it is more important to take away the fear to talk/ask.

I even sugested one national open trackday with some demo cars. If you organise this with all the clubs in the country/region you make a better advertisement in national papers or even on national TV. Make one site people can go to with all the adresses of all the clubs/tracks, make some registration to it and you can email them later about events, races etc. to keep them warm.

Jspeed

Kyosho Inferno GT "Spec" class racing programs

genesisG4

iTrader: (8)

I also like this idea...and everyone seems to agree that the costs have to be kept in check with the "spec" formula.

92mnstanger

iTrader: (16)

The main issues I see with current on-road nitro racing are;

1) Cost- Almost everyone seems to run pro-level cars with foam tires and pro-level power. All but gone are the days of people buying an RS4 @ 9:00 am and racing it @ 10:00 am. Ther really needs to be more box-stock rtr classes, but I don't see that happening. Nitro guys are motor heads and motor heads modify stuff. It's in a person's nature to want to tweak and play. I think cost has run away a bit and will be hard to slow down. You won't stop costs from rising, period.

2) Vehicle obsolescence. New cars are hyped so much that people researching the hobby become turned off for the fear their $300-400 investment will be a waste after a year. There aren't many people out there representing the vintage cause, myself included. I gave away my old RS4 rtr and bought a V1RRR off Ebay.

rx7ttlm

iTrader: (30)

I think there is a big pull around here for picking the right RTR and will take you most of the way.. I hate to say it but some of the Kyosho platforms arent bad.. but parts support sucks.. the Nitro TC3 is sadly one of the strong contenders that can take you to the novice nitro winners circle.. If asc makes another nitro car. I think it would be a winner considering the rest of their race stable.. I run xray because I love the cars, and they are sweet. However, I don't always suggest them to the new guys that could get a TC5 and save 100 bucks off the top.. set them up with a used brushed esc since they aren't worth much these days. and send it.. There has to be a chassis in the pipeline that you won't need special tires for, won't need all the crazyness.. reasonably priced replacement parts and whatnot..

genesisG4

iTrader: (8)

I speak from experience and I am sure everyone else agrees....the new guys do not need the best as they are going to spend the first few races bouncing off the boards and tearing corners off anyway. Once they perfect their driving skills, then they can start upgrading their equipment.

nitrodude

iTrader: (8)

The problem is not the cost, or the location. IMO the problem is in the mindset of beginers. They happen to see a track in their area, they watch for a few weekends, after that they go and buy what they need to get started. They go for their first race thinking they're just gonna woop everybodies ass right away, until they realise that its a lot harder than it looks. Then they just give up, they dont comit to setting up the car to make it work for them and learning the track, they think they're going to copy Tossolini's, or Swagers set up off the internet and they're going to win. Those of us that race every weekend are willing to put the time into the hobby.

Beginers dont understand that in not only takes money, it takes time to drive fast. They dont want to beleive that some us just dont have it. I always tell people that if you told me that I am never going to win a race, I will still show up every weekend and enjoy it.

rx7ttlm

iTrader: (30)

Thats why i was saying that asc NTC3 is a good choice.. cost effective, and reasonably quick.. and its a decent learning platform.. and I can tell you from experience, the parts are almost half of what an Xray is..

genesisG4

iTrader: (8)

So every other form of racing has a drivers school to teach beginners the ropes...or to freshen up even experienced racers.
Maybe clubs should invest a little time and effort into teaching the beginners. Some people have more of a knack for this than others and some have a pretty steep learning curve but if they had some one on one coaching that could make all the difference in the world. Show them the basics on set up and driving, adjusting your radio...blah, blah.

R/C Racing School Basics...does anyone do this?

92mnstanger

iTrader: (16)

Sure, I do it in my opentrack driving clubs, but not RC. I wish there was something out there like that.

rx7ttlm

iTrader: (30)

Every day I am at the track I spend more time teaching people and working on other peoples cars walking them through racing than I do working on my own cars.. And i race 2-3 classes per race day... there are people out there that are willing.. there are simply not enough people that know what they are doing and are also willing to take their own time..

meronr

well said bro

JetMD

iTrader: (1)

If we had a perm. site, I think a beginner training course would be a great idea. We could do it on a non-race day and I'd be happy to sit down with someone and help. I saw a guy's NTC3 once that I looked at for a whole 5 seconds and saw a million things wrong with it. But it was a race day and I didn't have the time to get with him and help him out. I wish I had though. We are going to try out a RTR class this year so we'll see how that goes.