InspGadgt

On-road started its decline long before the economy went south.

I think a big part of it is coverage...look at what gets coverage in the mags and what got popular...for awhile drifting was all the rage and got quite a bit of coverage...once the coverage started to wane there was a decline in drifting. But the mags are still covering off-road and especially SC quite extensively.

tc3team

Part of keeping on road alive is when you have a good crowd in the programme, ask yourself why...

Some parts of a racing programme can take care of themselves, others need looking at periodically to keep a working programme well oiled.

You can have all the best intentions in the world of creating an on road schedule, but if the foundations of it are wrong, it will never work out.

One "level" playing field (one motor class) is all that is needed unless you have a BIG club.

17.5 is a good enough motor for club racing. If you want mod, look for BIG tracks with BIG amounts of entrants.

Within that 1 playing field, have a junior championship for under 16s - and a most improved racer of the year.

Why?

Because anything more is just extra work IMO.

As for the series championships, best 6 out of 8 meeting scores allows people to be away on vacation now and then but still be in for a chance of winning the championship.

If you really need to, have a 540 silver can (non points scoring class?) or 25.5 for the newcomer.

All i'm saying is, don't overcomplicate things...

stevepowling

You have to remember that it's really hard to have a permanent on road tracks that stick around too. Here in Toronto we had one that was amazing, indoor carpet. But after a little while they had to close because no one was coming in the summer time...which is understandable. On the same hand, off road tracks have opened and closed just as easily.

ozzy-crawl

iTrader: (14)

+1

were i live there is a large out door track, beautiful weather most of the year and you cant pay people to run there, but they race short course in a little shed and the place is jam packed with a minimum of 40 entries a night.

imo the average guy gets more fun out of off-road at a lot lower cost and
its a much more even playing field

British Menace

Well I don't know the full history of racing, I'm merly pointing out that we need to keep changing things. Rules reulations pit stops etc

How about there be no battery changes but finals will be 20 or 30 mins long!? How many would run 13.5 motors then?

First rule in any racing weather it be full scale or 1/18th is that you comply to the race rules and regs..... once you at that point you get the cars as fast as possible yet staying within these rules and regs.
Now change the rules and regs and you have to readress your car... the whole cycle starts again.

Interesting on the RTR conversation.
One race rule......
Your car must be as it came out the box. No upgrades or different tires or motors, Any parts changed due to crashes etc must be like for like.
No build your own or 90% built, must be as it is when in the box.

Just another idea.... crazy I know.

BM

RogerDaShrubber

iTrader: (6)

Actually we are totally blessed in the South East when it comes to high quality permanent tracks that are within an hours drive of most people, In a region of what 3mil people?

Gold Coast
Landsbourgh
New England Park (Brendale)
Meakin Park (Logan)
Bayside (Wynnum)
Ipswich

But the reality is, on road see's 20-30 people at a club day and 40 odd at an inter-club, but a club day at South Pine Off Road would see 80 odd drivers from what i am led to believe. And you have the Ipswich council building an RC precinct at Carol Park to cater for on road, off road and drag racing.

cpjr65

After reading some of this thread , and looking at some of the ideas and suggestions , while agreeing with most people I believe keeping the race program and cars to be used simple would bring back your touring car program back to life. I come from another form of electric racing (slot cars) and I learned that keeping the classes simple and the racing program (rules) simple, you will get more people to participate at more of the events you would think of. First start with an affordible car that a father and son team could get , its easy to buy 1 car and mod the car up , but 2 cars usually change that up a bit. There are plenty of young families looking to get into a hobby to share, but you will get more (newbies) into the hobby by making it affordable to all new comers not just the guys who been racing for several years. It is easier for veterans of the hobby to locate all the hot parts , due to the experience of the past(not that its a bad thing) and tune thier cars to the best potential , making it very intimadating for new comers to join up and want to participate in any racing program.Find 1 good car to be used , I know everybodies opinion varies , one that can easily be used for stock racing and has plenty of spare parts available, with a good realistic body selection, set the rules as simple as possible and get your vetran racers in on the idea, and promote the hell out of this class by using your lhs and make it happen. One big way to get people to come out to see the racing program is if you have 8 racers (though thats a really low number) set up a charity race race and let the local media know you are doing so. Most organizations will help with the idea, get the name of the track out and see what happens, I have done this with a local track for an event and 100+ people showed up with a radio station event, and the track owner gained 4 new racers. Use the new class cars as the event to be raced , and the interest level will pick up. If you are thinking now all the guys (gals) already racing would have to buy new cars , they might already have some cars to fit in the class with a couple of drive train changes and they will help promote the class , by actually helping newbies and not shunning them away. The vetran racer knows , if thier are no fresh racers to come out , the hobby will eventually die off. Its only an idea and thanks for reading.

RogerDaShrubber

iTrader: (6)

Further to this, the QLD State GP On Road titles are being run this week, total of 40 entries in the 2 categories 1/10 tourer (26) and 1/8th scale (14).

You get more entries than that at Pine Hills Off Road for a club day, even Rockhampton, which is in the arse end of nowhere can pull 100 entries to its biggest event of the year, the Rocky Cup.