Jim85IROC

iTrader: (1)

Earlier in the thread, a couple people mentioned marketing, and others mentioned the underground nature of the hobby. To me, this is the real issue. It's not just the racing that's "underground", it's the whole hobby. Back in the 80s, RC was everywhere. Open the Sears catalog and there was 2 pages full of Lobo RCs. Open the Radio Shack catalog and there were a lot of them. Nikko stuff was everywhere. We all had one, or our friends did. Enough of us liked it enough to move up to hobby grade stuff and then some of us went on to racing. Now that toy grade stuff is all crap aimed at 6 year olds. There's too much of a gap between toy grade and hobby grade, so older kids aren't getting involved in the hobby anymore.

In order to get more kids at the race tracks, first you need to get them into RC. I think that in order for that to happen, a company needs to fill the gap between New Bright and Traxxas. Get ECX on the shelves at Wal Mart and start advertising the crap out of it on the cartoon stations. Within a couple years, the hobby shops and race tracks would be full.

Socket

iTrader: (61)

I would argue about rc not growing.

I've never seen more brands at the track than now. No longer is it a two company battle in 2wd.

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (1)

More brands doesn't mean more users.

platgof

iTrader: (4)

I have seen a drop since last year, and the track is better than ever. But our winter series hasn't started either. Money and time are the culprits that drive young people back into the video games. The economy is in bad shape right now, and mom and dads cannot afford the $300 a month to race, between vehicles, accessories, track fees, maintenance, driving costs, food, they all add up. I have a hard time with costs as well, and my kids have left the house. I really like the novice practice idea before races, makes a lot of sense. Box stock Slash race class used to be popular, and Slashes are not a bad vehicle, I really enjoyed racing one. I also agree about the SCT comment, as they are easier to drive, especially stock spec, where all novice racers should start.

3srcracing

iTrader: (29)

Race time personally is what I feel gets a lot of people.

Racing starts at 10, but you need to get there an hour early to practice, so that leaves u leaving at least 8:30. Then you don't get done until 4-5? and there really isn't that many heats, or anything?

Just a time consumer, that a lot of people don't like.

Or start at 5:30 and get done at 10:30-11 is better, but then you aren't home until 12-1am..

tc5 man

The money thing honestly is not that bad look at all the knockoff cheaper but good escs and lipos /motors you can save $100s .

One big problem i always see is when spectaters ask some guys how much to get started etc they tell them to get the most expensive brands .Which these days is not really needed and does turn away new people to racing .

Grigz

iTrader: (16)

I work at a hobby shop and around where I am it's constantly growing. People come out and buy Slashes and bashers and get a taste of the track and instantly become addicted and come back to buy a more track suited car. Our club races went from 20 people total to 20 people in just a single class on a weekday. I think once someone gives it a chance they become hooked. It's getting someone to give it a chance that is the challenge. It's hard to say if its growing or declining really. I imagine depending on the location some could be growing and others could be declining. Money is hardly an option once someone gets the itch to become faster and faster. More so when you get the whole family involved which is what it is all about. Lately I've been seeing a lot of dads getting their younger kids involved and they seem to have a blast. Some get annoyed at them being on the track and getting in the way but we have to remember kids are the future to this hobby. Run them off and you're running the hobby into the ground. Embrace new people, help them as much as you can and they will be coming back for years.

Tom87

iTrader: (3)

Down here in Australia we are starting to get around the time problem by splitting the day in half. In Australia all the regular racers run 2wd and 4wd, but novice/new guys/kids only have 1 car so the wait around all day for like 5-6 races. So some tracks now race 2wd and novice in the morning and 4wd and novice again in the afternoon.

So you get 5 rounds in before lunch with the 2wd and 5 after lunch with the 4wd. But the new guy/kid/novice get 10 runs over the day with the same car. Or if they are young kids, they just do a half day.

It also works good for the regular guys as if you have other stuff/family/kids sport etc you can still do a half days racing. Win win.

Video games are killer but.

bash bros

iTrader: (2)

This.

That and race days are an all day event at a lot of tracks. Qualifiying, A mains, B mains, etc.

Davidka

iTrader: (86)

People want choice but throughout the history of this hobby, the times of growth have always occured when fewer classes were on offer. People like to be part of a larger group. 1/8 buggy (pre-truggy) and early SCT are the most current examples.

As for the length of race days, I'm in the same situation as lots of guys, I'm not bailing on my family for long days at the track. For healthy tracks I have suggested limited class nights, ie. Tuesday Buggy night, Thursday SCT night. The obstacle that presents I'd that popular tracks have very long reach and a significant percentage of their customers can't come frequently.

tbullard

iTrader: (7)

Not sure how it is in other areas but a big hamper to my racing is that tracks are only running at the most every other weekend or even once a month. If you have a job where you work alternating weekends this can really make it hard to race if your not on the same schedule as a track.

DialedIn-67

Crawling tough RC club, has been promoting RC in general. We are tied into local car show clubs and local hobby shop. I have race for many years and I can tell you for sure is once you stop having fun you loose intrest. First you must have fun with your new toy, now you take the next step. That could be just trying out the track, once they have control they might try racing. Some do this and some just like to have beater fun. I have talked with many over the last few years, some guys just are intimidated by racing. Seems most kids now days are willing to try it but have issues with not coming in first. All we can do is provide a place to play with out pressure, find out what they have intrest in and start them in that direction. From this point you hope they will go in the direction of sanction racing or crawling to help grow the sport.

At Modellbahn Otts in Gilbertsville, is a perfect place to go and just run a rc track that is not in the loop of local racing just bashing fun. Place is full almost every Saturday and Sunday when nice. Plus there is awesome scale trail crawling course, a must see. They need a place to go and have fun first, once they feel ready to move up having help from friendly experience racers will help them into another class or go mod. Having a place to play with your new toy, friendly, helpful, experienced rc enthusies, will make this hobby grow.

Speed Freak RC

iTrader: (13)

There's quite a few issues, but to me these are some of the main ones. Cost is not a big issue though IMHO.

First, can't really buy a ready to run and race it. Most tracks are hard clay. RTR tires do not work, so they are stuck buying new tires out of the gate. Plus traction compounds, bringing stuff to clean and prep tires, ect. Kids don't want to do all that when they start out. Bring back loam already. Not sure why everyone thinks they need to go mach 1 on concrete like surfaces.

Next, we don't have any Junior classes (at least not in the USA that I know of). Kids need to be racing with kids their age if you want them to keep the interest. We have Masters classes for the 40+, why not anything for kids? Dumb. Look at all the other forms of sports and motorsports (mx for example) and they all have classes based on age. And don't say "but we have Novice class".....

I would like to see 5-8 year old and 9-13 year old classes added to buggy and short course.

Socket

iTrader: (61)

It means the market will hold more brands - which means there must be more users, or we're going to see lots of companies folding.

mdl060374

iTrader: (3)

I agree with most of this. I don't agree 100% with the feel/need to race more than one class though, but thats just me. A lot of the fun is focusing on my class, and just watching/being around the other races/racers in between heats.

I started as a kid, took a few decades off, and am now back into it (not as much recently due to living out of town.) One issue is cost. Kids need to have a sponsor (ie mom or dad) to fund their hobby b/c it is expensive once bashing in the backyard gets old... I was fortunate in this regard, but many aren't.

Availability of convenient tracks is an issue for many, as well as long race days.. Also cost of maintaining a "good" track (indoor) I think has risen due to expectations, and covering costs. I am not sure of how much internet shopping has hurt local hobby shops/tracks but I am sure it hasn't helped with with their business models. Hence tracks are harder to keep open.

A lot of the other stuff hasn't changed in my opinion from back when I did it to now.. The video game thing can only be blamed so much, as they were around and popular way back then also.