MonkeyCmonkeyDo

iTrader: (2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xKmt0kR5l4

ya the indoor clay tracks really aren't comparable to loose dirt or even packed dirt.
my local guys might as well be running foams.
d

L.Fairtrace

iTrader: (24)

Yes /thread

GuyIsDamGood

R.C. Car racing is Dead in N.Y. City. It's been dead here since 2016.

The Floyd Bennet Track is totally gone. Now there's No real R.C Car Track in this city.

(I/we always ran our own R.C. Car Track system on top of running at the Floyd Bennet Field Track; so we're just missing some of the fun)

An R.C. Car Track will pop-up here. . .someday...(?)

Take care

(trying to stay interested in this Hobby)

Roelof

It would be nice to tell if the loss of tracks are a result of a lack of interest, owners that quit or a government claiming the ground for other use.

Kregger

iTrader: (2)

There is new rochelle

MULMZ2

Speaking from experience the track that I raced at for a time that at one point had a very large turnout went away because people had a problem with the way the program was being run, so a lot of them stopped coming. A lot of them drove a very long distance to race there. Sponsored drivers raced there. Part of the problem was the owner, I will also say that I don't know all the details. That racing program completely died when people started buying exotic chassis', gotta keep up with the Jones' and when getting everything you could out of a 27T became a thing (spacers, zapping, balancing, etc), it became no fun and some racers started building crawlers. I think you will find a lot of former racers in the crawling world. That segment of the hobby is pretty laid back, which is the type of environment I think most of us want.

The racing scene in general seemed to die off in the Bay Area around 2007 - 2010, which was recession time in the states, I moved in 2015 and have no clue what it's like now. In San Jose EV used to host parking lot races in the most ideal spot possible for years, right on the corner of a busy intersection, but that went away some time ago, I don't know the exact reason. A developer has since bought the shopping center, there was also a shop in this shopping center that was very well established. In the states it's developers buying the land and buildings we used to race on/in. These developers, mostly from out of state don't take the community into consideration and build whatever they think is going to be the best ROI for them even if that means destroying the fabric of the community. Our government, at least in California favors the developer over the citizen and community.

As far as the United States goes the only way government can claim property is by using eminent domain and that at least in California is not very common and is generally only done when building new infrastructure like freeways and high speed rail that doesn't go anywhere. One of the reasons why shops close in California is due to the landlord raising the price of rent to unreasonable levels. A shop that I worked at closed because of this, they also had a race program and an owner that catered to racers. I'm sure high rent is a reason why tracks and shops disappeared in Los Angeles and New York proper as well, but that's just a guess. Anyone remember Hobby People, that place was pretty awesome.

Another reason why I stopped racing is because I didn't want to drive to the track, the good 1/10th race programs in the Bay Area were not convenient to get to and dealing with traffic in the big cities isn't much fun, which is why I haven't started racing again, there is no race program in my area. The closest off road track is Hot Rod Hobbies, which is a 30 - 40 minute drive with no traffic and if there is traffic, forget about it, especially if it's fire related traffic which is becoming a common occurrence in that area. Closest on road track is 40ish minutes away with no traffic and the closest 1/27th track is 40ish minutes away with no traffic. I have plenty of interest, but I think the high cost of rent and the high cost of liability insurance along with a couple of other things is what has pretty much killed racing in California. I think the high rate of theft in the area I live in also plays a small factor, who the hell would want to open a shop. In my experience it's usually a shop that supports and hosts the race program.

MonkeyCmonkeyDo

iTrader: (2)

u and others need to start your own racing program. I'm fortunate enough to have some around me i can support. If you need something local, u might have to make it.
-d

OffRoadJunkie

iTrader: (1)

Yes, racing is dying off in the big cities. It's not due to a lack of interest. It's because of the high overhead cost. when rent is over $10k a month, it can make it hard to stay afloat. Then you have tracks that are located deep in an area that is hard to get to because that is where rent is cheaper. The last dirt track, in Sacramento, closed down a couple months ago because of the new landlord jacked up the rent.

MULMZ2

No place to set up an off road track that I'm aware of at a reasonable cost in the San Fernando Valley and on top of that from what I can tell Hot Rod Hobbies would be a very hard track to compete against, just because I'm not willing to drive there doesn't mean others aren't. We also have people in this neck of the woods that would not respect the track, so to make sure unnecessary track maintenance wouldn't have to be done everyday and to make sure you wouldn't have to deal with the loons, the track would need to be indoors and out of sight or very hush hush.

Regarding on road, there is a race director in the San Fernando Valley and he was sending out texts several weeks ago stating that the program is close to being back up and running, but I haven't heard anything in a few weeks, he also posts on RCTech. There have been what seems like several other people in my area that have talked about starting a program, but it never materializes for reasons I'm unaware of. A park near me is doing a major renovation and was looking for community input, there is already a flying field at this park, so it's RC friendly. I posted a thread about it in California Racing with the hopes of getting a group of us together to attend meetings and such, check out the thread, very few replied. I did what I could, wish I could do more.

I would love to open a 1/27th scale track in the San Fernando Valley, if I had the money or an investor. It would be awesome to have a space that could accommodate a 1/14 - 1/18 off road track as well. Unfortunately I am not in a position to pull this off and I think it would be hard to convince an investor to invest in what is essentially a toy store with a very low ROI that also would without a doubt be broken into and robbed blind on a frequent basis. Opening a business in California right now is a very risky business.

TimF

iTrader: (104)

I don't think R/C racing is "dying off".. I agree in US urban areas the cost or rent/real estate has made it difficult to run a track and we are seeing less tracks in those areas (unfortunately for me as a Southern California resident).

Land is expensive, and Wearhouse rents have gone crazy, and for some reason the empty grocery stores, best buys, and other box stores seem to stay vacant (the rents are not coming down on un occupied buildings, not sure why)

However, in the 90's in the US there were 2-3 off road manufactures of race kits and 3-4 on road. there are now what 6-9 off road race kit manufactures and more than 10 on-road race kit manufactures, that indicates to me that there is demand (at the race tracks) for kits.

As discussed to death in this thread earlier, the attitude at the track of some seasoned racers, the time commitment, the way the race program is run does not lead to growth that we "could" see in the hobby/at the track.

Don't forget in the 80's and 90's most people racing at the track also bought their kits, tires, batteries, radios, replacement parts, snacks, paints, etc... from the store at the track, most tracks made their profit from the store not the track. As more of us "bring" what we need and only pay race/practice fee, it makes it very difficult for a facility to generate the 10,000 or so a month for rent plus payroll from that take alone.

Just my additional 0.03 cents

MULMZ2

Regarding buildings sitting empty, I have read that in some cases the property owner makes more money writting off a property that sits empty than they would if they rented it out. In LA they say we have a housing shortage, yet there are a lot of brand new luxury apartments sitting empty because no one can afford them (about 50% of the population in LA is on or below the poverty line), they are being used as a write off and/or they are being used as a 2nd home. The US government does not regulate housing and property, in fact within the last 2 decades they have been rolling back regulations, which in my opinion is one of the reasons why the cost of housing and property in this country is so high. The rest of the country has also seen increases in housing due to people fleeing California, if the person leaving was a home owner they had a lot of cash in their pocket and were able to pay cash for a home out of state in a lot of cases (my dad bought his home for $350,000 in 90, sold it for around $800,000 somewhere between 13 -14, a couple months later the house resold for over $1m, it's an average tract home, just under 3000 sq ft in an average neighborhood in South San Jose, last I heard my grandma's dumpy small house in Santa Clara was valued right around $1.5m). Most people out of state can't outbid someone from California, this applies to rentals as well, this is one reason why rents have significantly increased across the country. Don't want to dive to deep into this or debate about it, because that's not what we are here for, but for those outside the US, that's our reality. Our government could give two poops about us when it comes right down to it.

The space that the shop I worked at that was closed due to a large rent increase sat empty for many years. Store closed in 2009ish and when I left in 2015 pretty positive the space was still empty.

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

The only people that can fix this are the distributors... they need to figure out a way to get products to the tracks for less than the deals that the "sponsored" drivers are getting. There are many locals at the track in my area who aren't sponsored and they pay full price at the shop, so if something needs to be done to cut back sponsorships then point the finger at the distributors.

nitrous36

The bottom line is simply this, the people that can make the change don't want it to change. Because they benefit and profit from the way things are currently. So why upset the apple cart. They're getting theirs, thats all that matters.

Its like government regarding taxes, healthcare, immigration etc. There are very powerful people up top living nicely who would stand to lose if changes were made. So as long as they hold the reigns, it ain't happening.

MULMZ2

If I'm reading what you're writing correctly, I completely disagree. A sponsored driver should be getting their gear gratis or at cost, they are one of the reasons why people buy product x, sponsored drivers are for a lack of a better term, influencers and should be rewarded for their efforts. If you want a discount you need to buddy up with the shop owner. The owner of the shop I worked at took very good care of his regulars and the racers. In the world we are living in now, costs on the distributor side will not come down, due to the high cost of shipping, most recently dock workers shutting ports down, increase in raw materials, etc, etc... If anything distributors need to stop passing out product like candy to the youtubers who give everything they receive a glowing review, direct your frustration at them, in my opinion the videos those people make are pointless and are advertisements, not reviews.

One thing that I think would help RC and RC Racing gain more exposure is if more demands were placed on the sponsored drivers, meaning you need to create online content and do interviews. Why don't teams do videos spotlighting their drivers, 5 questions with driver x, etc, etc... Sponsored drivers should be doing vehicle demos, unboxing videos, and showing them to the public, not Joe/Jane youtuber who is just doing their thing for free stuff. I have respect for MSM due to his involvement with the hobby, he should be the bar that all other youtubers are measured by. I love WEC, I love that they have a pre race show, post race show, and a show that is for the most part raw footage of the teams/drivers in action, these are posted on YouTube (search for FIA WEC if interested). I think something like this could really boost the visibility and appeal of RC. I sent MSM a message with my suggestion, I think he's the guy who could pull it off, no reply.

TimF

iTrader: (104)

I worked for an independent bookstore (I guess I just outed my age) years ago and the distributors make things hard. I saw many books/movies for sale at chain stores for a lower retail price than our wholesale price (economy of sale and all) . This was a tough sell to our loyal customers that we could not match he "big store" price because we would be selling at a loss if we did. I am sure the same holds true in the hobby industry.

to bring it back, I need a track to race my toy car at, so generally I am "OK" paying up to 10% more at the local track for parts (but do still buy some on line, so I guess i'm a little of a hypocrite) to help them keep the location running (being in socal, we are down to less than 5 tracks to run 10th scale or smaller at, which is crazy based on the population.


Tim