nexxus

iTrader: (315)

Too many classes, and while it may work in Europe etc we simply do not have the population base to support them all. In the past 3-4 yrs I have seen classes like F1, Mini, 1/12 Stock, 1/12 Mod, 1/12 GT, TT-01E Truck 200mm Pan, 200mm Pan Oval Nascar thing, 235mm Pan Stock, 235mm Pan Mod all be raised some work for a while, some don't.

I'll admit to having bought an F1, was going to run it, but it's a time and cost matter for me, so it'll probably have to go shortly.

dman18t

Pit 571/572, done. It's the one combo that works 90% of the time. 2 options cold/hot is a great idea. Control tires can work to reduce costs, look at USGT in the states. 1 set of tires lasts months. As long as the control tires are good, do it! The other thing that can help revive ra class is to change up the game. Maybe replace 1 class with another for a points series. Example, our club has a 10 week points series. 10 weeks of F-1, then replace it with 10 weeks of another struggling class and then swap back again. Variety and a small window might encourage people to get involved or miss out. Tem points like UF1 could be fun. Fun is what brings people back.

dman18t

Pit 571/572, done. It's the one combo that works 90% of the time. 2 options cold/hot is a great idea. Control tires can work to reduce costs, look at USGT in the states. 1 set of tires lasts months. As long as the control tires are good, do it! The other thing that can help revive ra class is to change up the game. Maybe replace 1 class with another for a points series. Example, our club has a 10 week points series. 10 weeks of F-1, then replace it with 10 weeks of another struggling class and then swap back again. Variety and a small window might encourage people to get involved or miss out. Tem points like UF1 could be fun. Fun is what brings people back.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

The 571/572 combo doesn't work well on our outdoor asphalt tracks. 573/575 is better, but still not great in warm weather (it's really warm right now). Ride GR seems to be the most popular combo I've seen so far.

nova2015

iTrader: (5)

Agreed, the Pits are good until our Aussie summer kicks in then they go away very quickly. The Ride GR as noted above does not have the outright grip in cooler conditions like the Pits, but has a far wider usable window for temperature. I used them at IMCC last year on a 35'C day, one set held up all day, and I used them at club level since.

Hugh Jazz

iTrader: (4)

I have been racing F1 on and off for a while now. Started out with a F104w and then a Yokomo and finally a Xray X1.
Here are my thoughts.
At the moment numbers are down for On Road, both electric and especially in nitro. That is a huge contributing factor for what is a "demo class", novelty class or fill in class. The people that tend to run these classes are club racers that just want to have fun without the competitive nature of the TC classes. When the top TC guys join in for fun they tend to bring with them the competitive streak from TC and the original guys soon loose the enjoyment and either stop coming or move onto the next class.

Over the last decade I have seen these novelty classes come and go. They only have a short life span before people get board and move on to the next latest and greatest class. 12 to 18 months at best. These include Mini, VTA, F1, GT, Tamiya Truck and the latest craze 4wd Mini. Mini is trying to make a come back in Vic at the moment and i think that is mainly due to the RC-Mini guys coming back from there hiatus and pushing the class. They all tend to run in cycles of popularity.

So problems with F1.
Price. Back when F1 started to make a comeback due to ETS most people were running a F103 of F104 and some even had the 3 racing FGX. You could pick them up for a couple hundred bucks. They were cheap and you couldn't really do much setup wise to them. Ideal cheap second class. Then came the latest crop of F1 cars from the established TC brands with so many tuning options. Up went the price. Now most F1 cars are more than an entry level TC. But to be quick you have to have one of these cars. Some aren't prepared to fork out $400-$500 on a second class.

I don't really have a problem with tyres. I tend to only use two types. If it's hot Ride front and rear. If its cold Pit rears and ride fronts. The fronts are only personal preference. I like my F1 to understeer. Especially on our low grip tracks. Maybe a gentlemen's agreement with tyres might work. But a lot of people do their setup work on F1 with tyres. They have their go to brand or set if nothing else works. They see a control tyre event and know the tyres don't work for them or at all and don't bother entering. Further reducing numbers.

As numbers are down at events and Titles with the exception of AOC. Racers are having less time between races which results in less time to work on cars. I know I see that as a negative and will only race one class. Others probably do as well. This further reduces numbers.
AOC seems tp bring them back out of the woodwork. At big events people start looking at running a second class to fill in the time. Plus F1 feels great on carpet. They work.

sparksy

iTrader: (14)

Part of the draw to F1 racing was the scale appearance. With the current lack of F1 coverage on FTA TV are less people inclined to want to run it?

ShadowAu

iTrader: (7)

I think you'd be right in saying thats probably an issue generally with motor sport in attracting younger people to it. Its certainly not like when I was growing up and there was always some form of motor racing on TV on a Sunday arvo

rbarciko

ShadowAu

iTrader: (7)

The problem I see with your idea is that there is rarely, and probably never has been, more than a $20 trophy on the line at ANY RC car event/club but that has never stopped people racing for sheep stations regardless. Speaking for myself, the focus on "winning a trophy" has long since switched to trying to do the best I can and trying to improve my performance every time I race. Simply going out and bashing around a track with mates won't achieve that so would have no attraction for me.

I've held the view for a while that there is far to much focus placed on qualifying in RC cars. Even club meets now usually have a Qualifying/Finals format, whereas in my earlier days club meets tended to consist of 5 or 6 races and everyone just dived in. While it was still competitive it seemed to promote a bit more relaxed feel.

In fact I believe the whole format of how we run race meetings, especially larger events, is completely redundant and basically hasn't changed in any practical sense in maybe 30-40 years, but that is a discussion for elsewhere.

TryHard

iTrader: (4)

Not true. Events changed from 6 qualifying rounds, with triple A's only (Bs and Cs running less finals), to max 5 qual and triple-leg finals for all. And that happened within the past three years. So there has been a shift to more Racing

Does that mean a more radical overhaul wouldn't be a bad thing for even more emphasis on racing? I personally have had some ideas, but getting the majority of people to accept change is harder than pulling hens teeth...

RickyBobbyRC

Id love to see more "Heads Up" style racing here in Australia be it at Title events or even club days. All finals and the challenge of starting in a different grid position each run would only promote better racing imo.

Dan the Man

iTrader: (41)

Formula One racing in Italy

These guys seem to be able to keep it ticking over, all it takes is one person or more to have the passion and patience to drive the class forward at their club or in their city.

DirtyDog3375

iTrader: (37)

2 key aspects need to be addressed before this can be successfully implemented.

1. Patience on track
2. Driving etiquette

Too often and it seems common place and the norm now for people to 'hack' or have little care or understanding of racing. I see it on club days in practice! Not just in qualifying or finals.

Not sure what the reason(s) behind this mentality is, but it will not help this cause.

My 2 cents.

Leonard.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

That's how Boronia run their club meets, and how TFTR and SERCCC tend to run their Summer Night racing series. No qualifiers, only heads up racing. You start where you finished last race.