Billy Kelly

iTrader: (9)

Windy City was In Arlington Heights. I believe the building is still empty. St. Charles reconfigured the store to fit a small carpet track. On/off road and oval

TT_Vert

iTrader: (72)

ok it's at hobbytown in st. charles. What are the class rules for slash? 100% stock w/ lipo?

Dave

cbb

iTrader: (5)

Src
Very nice facility
20 minutes from campus

Billy Kelly

iTrader: (9)

sooty about the delay. Didn’t see this. I believe so. Best to check with the store.

cbb

iTrader: (5)

Really nice facility

petersen114

The way I see it is that track access is the main issue. Eg: If there is local tracks in my area and they only allow practice one day per month that sucks, but when yo drive by the track to check it out on these off days there are all the track owners buddies practicing. It’s ridiculous. I understand if it’s on private property behind someone’s house not in most cases this isn’t the issue.

flymetonight

RC Racing is dying yes.

Why ?

Land is alot more expensive buy and own today.
Gasoline is Expensive, to drive 1/1 car to track and home is not cheap anymore either.

Computers and gaming and Social Media is what most young people like to do home sadly.
Modern nature and environment things have come too big in Modern days, less and less people, specially younger people care less about 1/1 Cars , and Nitro Cars.

When young people Inherit land / RC Tracks from old relatives or parents, they want sell and get big money in their Pockets.
RC Hobbyist dont have the money to buy this land anymore.
Big companies will buy and build new apartments or houses insteath. RC Tracks close because of this reason, and other reasons too.

Bashing and RTR Cars still sell well.
Tough Custom 7075 alu parts and Hardcore bashing cars like Arrma and TRX is the new thing with big and fast Brushless combos and huge Lipos.

I had self 4 tracks less than 1hour with 1/1 car 20years ago from my house, and 7 tracks less than 2hours.
Today there is only 1track of these 11 left, and this is 2hours away.
All the ones that was less than 1hour closed many years ago sadly.

These RC Race tracks are history. There is new Apartments and Houses today, one is Shopping Centre today also.

I had 5 hobby shops near me before. Today only 1 of them exist, and i believe this will close in less than 2years.
Because no tracks, and webshopping is popular.
Young people many dont have 1/1 car, no one likes to bring big box with new RC Car in Bus, or train.
So they order online and get the car home in couple days. And bash only.

Everything is getting expensive.
Food. Electricity, Apartment rental. Or buy a house is alot more expensive today than 20years back in time.
Insurance prices, Gasoline, everything is expensive today. Less money left to RC.

RC Racing is dying sadly.

RC Bashing will survive.

Check RC at Youtube for example.
There are many great RC Bashers who do alot cool Bash content.
95% of RC Influencers does RC Bashing. No Racing.

I do believe that Nitro RC Cars are forbidden in 10years from now.
Only Brushless Cars will be awaible in future.

Same will happen with 1/1 Gas cars in less than 20years from now.
Only Electric cars will exist in Future. In EU, US and propably also Half Asia atleast.

I did read that EU will ban all new made Gasoline 1/1 Cars year 2035.
All new Cars after year 2035 sold new in EU must be Electric. New Gasoline cars will be banned year 2035 in EU. This is only 12years from now.

Good old days are gone.
Sad but True

MULMZ2

It's too bad there isn't a smaller scale that is affordable, something the size of a slot car, that could be raced indoors like slot cars. It would also be cool if someone made some type of modular track to race on that took up a small amount of space that anyone could buy for their living space.

I'll also add that another reason why RC Racing will die is because the racing community is unwilling to accept new ideas and in on road unwilling to accept the use of RTR's in some sort of spec class like Off Road and Oval has done with Slash. Think about it, who wants to spend a months rent on a racing setup when they've never raced before and may end up hating it. RC has a horrible resale value and the investment is not worth it for most. When RC finally does die the blame will mostly be on the shoulders of the racers. It's sad, so much potential wasted.

Roelof

Smaller scales like mini-z are available, that is no problem.

The onroad racing scene has tried many times to get new drivers but most "bashers" are more into offroad and want to drop their car in their street or the field at the end of the street, going further away needs more dedication that is hard to find with those guys.
Hanging arround in many basher groups there is also a lot of bad words written of going to a track and people are advised to stay away. All about rules etc they do not like. Sad thing is that others take it and tell it further w/o any own experience.

Then still I wonder how come the Tamiya cup can have 100 drivers while official national competitions are dreaming of those numbers. For a part it is because many racers and old racers do enter as well....

nitrous36

Its ultimately the internet. It has been a blessing and curse for RC. RC is thriving well, and its at where its at today because of the internet. This is great for the basher side of things. Where the internet hurts it, is it killed the brick and mortar stores that oftentimes facilitated the tracks. Its a combo of things, but a major one for racing is the internet.

More people are into hobby grade RC stuff now than ever. Its much more user friendly now. You don't have to build them, paint them, and buy separate running gear to complete it, unless you choose to. The models are more durable and require less maintenance. All those things are perfect for new comers and bashers. But it doesn't translate well to racing. Because racing still largely requires all those things. Though brushless is much more forgiving than the older brushed and nitro stuff, its not enough. Everything else about racing is still the same. And add now that you have to drive much farther to find a track.

I guess the other part of it is people are lazy(er) now. People want the walmart/radioshack RC experience. You open the box, throw in the batteries and rip it. Racing is not that. It requires more initial commitment and mental investment then most care to give. Again blaming the internet here for instant gratification. Then add that racing models are obsolete very quickly. Combine that with the cost of buying/building it, then having to travel on weekends to run it, and its very quickly a low return on investment. People don't have that kind of time and money anymore(multiple recessions, wars, covid, stagnant wages).

The other big factor are the racers and the organizations that run it. They all universally agree things need to change. But none of them are willing to make the changes. They argue for change, then defend things the way they are. A lot like government. So racing will be what it is now for a long time.

Alexv2024

iTrader: (2)

I keep hearing RC racing is dying, I even heard that back around 2000 the first time I got into racing.

Hoosier RC Hobbyplex constantly has high turnouts and its a fairly new track, and like the Jconcepts dirt offroad series race has had record turn outs there.

Yeah some tracks are struggling and a few have gone out of business but that happens. I've been hearing "racing is dying" for 20 years but its still here. So be good stewards of the hobby, have fun and maybe our hobby wont actually die.

MULMZ2

I completely agree that a majority of bashers prefer off road and I believe that is due to the versatility of an off road RC. There are so many videos on youtube of people doing on road speed runs with off road vehicles. Another reason why I think off road bashing is more popular is due to the vehicles being better, cheaper, and faster than their on road counterparts.

As far as bashers not being willing to try out racing because of what they heard, I'd have to side with the bashers on this one. For a newcomer the track is not the friendliest place. A lot of racers are not approachable and can be a bit uppity. and that's no fun to be around and some race directors are unresponsive and unwilling to help/provide info to a newcomer or returning racer about the program they're running. Racers really need to take MSM's video about racing to heart and make some adjustments, whatever they may be. I used to race every week and stopped, because it stopped being fun. Competitive cars got really expensive and then there's the keeping up with the Jones aspect which is again no fun and is very costly. Race directors also tend to focus on only making the fast guys happy. I know that being a race director is very difficult and that not everyone is going to be happy, but at the same time they need to enforce the rules and not cave to the fast guys and it's their job to figure out how to grow the program, whether that be working with the local hobby shops and/or introducing an affordable spec class. Bashers want to have fun, racing is no longer fun and hasn't been for quite some time, people take it way too seriously, like they are going to become some kind of superstar because they race an RC car. I think most just want it to be simple and fun. A simple affordable car (like a TC3 or XXXS), a couple of moderately priced batteries, and simple charger, but that's not the way it is.

Over Covid I decided that I wanted to start racing on road again. I couldn't go down to the track and see what was what, because of lock downs. The race director in my area was posting on RCTech and FB from time to time. He states that people should contact him if they have any questions, so I did, because my intent was to buy what I needed, practice, and race once everything got going again. I never heard a word from him and he has not restarted the program or been friendly with people. No one has been able to get another program going in my area, several have talked about it. How is this hobby and racing supposed to grow if we cannot get a program going or find space for said program? I live in a county with over 10,000,000 people, it shouldn't be hard to get at least 1,000 of them into RC racing, but for that to happen RC needs to do some outreach, gain exposure, become approachable, and affordable, which means that manufacturers need to step up their game and do their part as well. This means hosting more races and investing in things like ROAR and tracks.

As far as why Tamiya TCS races get 100+ entries and the weekend club races don't, take a look at the price of the chassis' that most people race at TCS and then take a look at the chassis' that most people race at the club level. My bet is unless there is a spec class for those Tamiya chassis', such as Mini and Euro, you probably won't see a Tamiya chassis in Touring Car, USGT, or Trans AM.

nitrous36

You have a good point. But the others who have ben saying its dying for the last 20 years, are right. It has been dying slowly. Its in decline. It wont go away entirely, and will experience growth here and there. But its not what it was in the prior decades. These people aren't wrong. There are exceptions, there are areas where racing is doing great. But with the closure of stores and tracks, more and more people are in "RC deserts"(new term) and rely on online retailers to get their stuff.

The market has shifted and traxxas and HPI were ahead of it. I had old traxxas and HPI catalogs from the 90s that still advertised their race kits. These were all soon discontinued. By the early 00s their catalogs were mostly basher friendly RTR models. They wanted to keep their doors open and thats where the money was/is at. Not arguing with you. I truely get your point. But HPI and Traxxas were two good examples. They saw the writing on the wall back then and shifted their focus. HPI offered racing stuff a bit longer than Traxxas, but eventually stopped too.

nitrous36

I have been fortunate and unfortunate to experience both sides of this. Have been to tracks where the racers are non engaging or approachable. Have also been to tracks where the racers are enthused with new comers. Their responses being, "You have a savage?! Bring it! Run it! Try our track!" And racers eager to show you their setup and recommendations on what to run if you decide to try. Wish that every race venue could be that way.

Unfortunately its not just racers. Its people in general. I have been to basher groups with no hard set rules, and even in such a laid back atmosphere, people still occasionally bumped heads over where and when to run. Just basic stuff. Its not exclusive to racers. Said it before, people are just going to people and politics are just going to politic. No matter how easy you try to make something.

MULMZ2

A lot of us are losing tracks to development. That's great that is happening in your area, but for those of us in major metropolitan areas the exact opposite is happening and RC Racing is quickly dying or already dead. The closest on road track to me is about 1 hour without traffic, add traffic, which exists a majority of the time and that 1 hour drive turns into a 2-3 hour drive and occasionally that hour drive takes 3+ hours, that's life in the big city. That traffic for the most part is stop and go, is very exhausting, and I'd say it's safe to assume that after a 40 hour work week, no one wants to drive 2 hours in stop and go to go and play.