Tools for Promoting Racing in your Area
 

This thread is meant to be a clearing house where people that have had success in promoting racing in their areas can share information to help others do the same in their towns.

If you have experience with city governments, county commissions, land management organizations or forming and maintaining clubs please take the time to share you experiences here so other can apply your knowledge.

From what I was told Kississimee Raceway was leased by an airport. Check with your local parks, private airports, etc. for starting a track too.

1 Tool that I think is very important to have is enthusiasm. When I was waiting for the gas season to finally start up here in this lousy habitat, I was constantly probing for other racers and trying to get them as excited as I was for opening day.
Another way to keep people around and really just to not make yourself look like an a$$, keep a good attitude. If you need to have a talk with someone about an incident on the track do it in private. If you are just mad at yourself, go sit in your car and give yourself some time alone.
A term I use a lot on the job is, "praise in public, counsel in private."

Also, ask yourself this, if you aren't having fun, why are you there?

We've been trying to promote our club at other sporting events by driving around our GP and EP cars during breaks or intermissions. This weekend we will be having an indoor carpet race at a car show called DTP ( Drive -To -Perform http://www.driventoperform.ca/) Calgary location, should be fun! :D

HobbyTown in Fremont California was able to ask a very very busy Target store to borrow the far left parking lot spaces to hold races. Since we starting racing there, we've got more and more new faces every race. Sometimes we have more people in the rookie class than expert. Most of the rookie class are kids between 8-17. Also, every race, we attract a lot of spectators. Moms and Dads with their kids. Try talking to the general managers of your nearby shopping center and run races there. It will definitely attract more people to the sport.

Also, offer a cheap spec class for the rookies. 540 motor with 3000mh battery packs. This will encourage kids that don't have much budget.

In the UK we have had success with a relationship with our local ice-hockey team (and there are a lot more of them in the US!) where we run demo races in the 5 mins between when breaks after the Zamboni has finished.

Our tyres are simply any old tyre with drawing pins stuck thru. Put a 9T motor in a rip the ice!

Here we have maybe 2000 spectators each time, in the US it could be much bigger - have a table near the exit with flyers and hand them out after the game.

Car Clubs
 

Our club runs indoor carpet racing during the winter months. We've had success during the summer, promoting the hobby at custom car/ hot rod/ truck shows. Most communities have a car club or some similar organizations that put on outdoor car shows during the summer. Contact them & see if they would be interested in having a track set up at one of their shows. Show them some parking lot style racing .These shows attract the true motorsports fan, & they are a lot more receptive to the R/C scene than the average spectator. Check it out & have fun.

yup those are some great things to live by. This hobby is all about fun.

This is something I wrote this last weekend and posted on my site. Its not about promoting the hobby, but I hope its a good read.


Im far from the best driver around but I have been around racing so long that I have picked up some knowledge along the way. Maybe this can help some new guys and remind some of us elders of what we sometimes forget.

Your equipment is very important obviously. Tires are a major player in your cars handling but poor maintenance is the major reason for a poor handling car. Binding moving parts especially suspension and wheels will make a car handle like PooPoo. Clean, clean clean.

But this topic is aimed at driving. I hear alot about the MT drivers and hacking. LOL Number one rule in racer etiquitte. Dont hit anyone. If your being lapped, you are NOT supposed to get in the way of those who are lapping you. You need to learn to let them by. Yes, it seems that it will slow you down, untill we put you in the pipe. Remember, you are not racing them if you are a lap down. Be considerate and get out of the way. If its hard to stay out of the way, that means that your not seeing the whole track. In order to be successful in racing RC cars, its imparative to develope your periphial <sp> vision.

Throttle control is the hardest thing to learn. The most common mistake newer guys make is to drag race from corner to corner. And then overshooting the corner. Youll never win a race on the straight-a-ways. You win by going fast through the corners. The key is to go into the corner as slow as it takes to be set and online not only for that first turn, but the next turn also. Slow in, fast out. You would be surprised how soon you can get on the throttle in the apex of the turn if your set up well in the entry of the turn.

Momentum. Imagine tying a golf ball to a 2' piece of string and twirling it in a figure 8 motion. Think about that for awhile. Thats the way you want to drive your car around the track. Smooth and consistant. Speaking of consistancy. When I look at my times, I dont look to see what my fastest laps were. I look to see how consistant I was lap to lap. It doest matter if I had a 10 second lap, if I tag a wall on the next lap and it was a 20 second lap. Thats 30 seconds for two laps. I could of ran two 14 second laps in a row and would of been a second faster. Slow, is Fast.

Steering: It has alot to do with throttle control. If you come into a turn a little fast, and you crank the wheel over, what happens?

Your front tires slide and that scrubs speed. When your front tires slide, you lose momentum, and control.

Jumping in offroad. Sure its cool to get big air! But atmosphere makes for poor traction. Your not going forward, if your going up. Its important to learn how to "downside" the jump. Get that thing back down to terra firma asap and get back on the throttle. Once you get the distance down, learn how to land with the front tires hitting the ground slightly before the rears. Why? Because at that time, you have steering immediatly in case there is a turn right after the jump. Also, once the rear end sets down, it loads the rear suspension through weight transfer and gives you more traction allowing you to nail more throttle.

But you ask, how do I make sure the front end lands first? Depending on the face of the jump and how it launches you, you can adjust the "attitude" of the car in the air. If your car is jumping with the front end high, hit the brake while your in the air. If your car is jumping with a nose down attitude, hit the throttle in the air. YES, that works.

When you really get good, you can steer in the air.

Unlike full size car racing, the starts are not all that important unless you in the worlds or something. But even those drivers that are the best, allways start out slow. Most wreaks in RC happen in the first turn. NEVER try to pass on the first lap and allways make sure you leave room around you. Besides, the track may have changed or you cars has since the last run and youll need to get a feel for your car before pulling full leeever.

We have covered most of the basics so far. And I hate to bring any of the new guys down, but your not going to dominate any races right off the bat, no matter how good your at Grand Turismo. Its takes awhile to get good. And thats the key. Get good before you try to win. Get your car around the track without crashing. If your getting lapped, learn how to read the field and how to stay out of the way. Work on being consistant in your lap times and dont crash.

Practice: I sometimes think that the term practice, practice practice is overplayed. If your practicing wrong, your only getting better at driving wrong. Practice doesnt make perfect. When you practice, drive as slow as you need to to stay in the "GROOVE". I cant stress this enough. STAY IN THE GROOVE NO MATTER HOW SLOW YOU HAVE TO GO!

Confidence is a major player when developing your skills. Just because you have a bad run, dont let it get you down. Learn from it. If your a motivated racer, you will lie in bed and think about your driving before you fall asleep. If your REALLY motivated, you cant sleep the night before the race.

The most important thing is to remember, this is a hobby. Racing RC cars isnt what, or who we are. We race because its fun. We get to hang out with our buds, talk a little smack, and do something that we enjoy. If your not enjoying racing, then quit. Dont ruin it for the rest of us who are having fun.

Thats what 2Cool is all about!

I don't think this thread is about the mechanics of actual racing. I am assuming Adrian is talking about Promotion of the hobby in general.Although learning as racer{newbie or veteran} can help you as a driver personally,it's not gonna promote racing and keep it going for the long term in any area if we don't show people how much fun this hobby can be.

I help run the program that Stonedgti is talking about. We started with 25 regulars and now we are averaging 60-80 regulars. Its alot of work to say the least but I think it has to start with the locals,period. Everyone has to chip in even in the small things to keep the momentum. I have seen too many programs die due to lack of interest by the ones running the show. It's thankless work,but if you love doing it,you find a way to make it work,grow and succeed.

This is all excellent stuff! Lets keep it going.

I have seen this work first-hand at the "World of Wheels" show that runs in Canada. I would suggest that the local club get in on the local car show during the winter and see if they will give you some space off to the side.

I have also seen people setup outdoor tracks at the local stock car oval and race there. No better place to put the product on display than at a place where people love racing. Some guys used to do in near the consession area at our local track, and it definitely drew some attention - especially if you work the schedule a bit and launch races during downtime on the track (let me tell you, there is always some downtime at a stock car oval).

Recently I have seen one of our local tracks in Seattle have a glass case where guys can put their old cells up for sale for $5. No better way to lower the cost of entry than putting old motors and cells up for sale for a small amount to keep growing the sport we love.

Keep in mind that you dont have to get people interested so much so that they buy a car and go racing right there and then - just as important is planting the seed in the minds of the people who spectate.

Personally thats how I discovered real RC. I saw an indoor event (off road national titles) at a big Car Show here in Australia one year when I was in early high school.

I couldnt afford to get into it then, but wanted to ever since. Now that i'm in the workforce with my own house/car/missus/etc i'm in the sport I saw as a kid but couldnt afford. I'm spending enough now to make up for what I missed out on spending as a kid :p

Most important tool would be bikini girls selling booze :p .