billdelong

iTrader: (33)

agreed, and probably the single most common complaint being either the layout is too easy or the layout is too difficult... it's like no matter what the issue is, most of us try to motivate guys by saying something to the effect, "I'm just grateful to have a place to race my toy cars"

RC10Nick

iTrader: (9)

I would love nothing more than for this to become more mainstream in the US. The need for tracks to generate profits has led to lots of things I'd consider bad for the overall health/growth of the hobby. And coincidentally in parts of the world where tracks are run as clubs, they don't have those same problems. What a weird coincidence.

Possible reason: there's a track in my region that rarely if ever changes its layout. Like, the layout has basically been the same for nearly two years now. People don't like traveling there to race because they don't want to lose to the locals who have been running on the same layout non stop for those two years.

Billy Kelly

iTrader: (9)

Don’t like the layout. Jump are too small, we does the track have to also run on road. Yup. I’ve heard them a lot. A number decided one of my local track was more favorable to on road. So they stopped coming.

One of the big advantages of carpet is tracks can be adjusted if something isn’t working. Maybe it ran great as a single test buggy. But doesn’t race well.

I’ve seen more then a few pack up and leave because they didn’t like the layout

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

I have an RV and will bring my RC's with me when we travel each year, I was pretty excited to visit a nice covered 1/8 track in Tennessee for a club race while on vacation. To my dismay when I arrived, the layout was the same one as videos I saw posted 6 months prior. Not saying I won't go back, but I will certainly put another track on my route planning next trip... I was at a clear disadvantage and that wasn't much fun. It showed me why so many people only run larger races with green layouts. It also increased my appreciation for the local track in my area who does an amazing job making pipe layout changes for every monthly series race and a full rebuild for the 3 day events.

AHR43

Community support is often an overlooked aspect of motorsports - be it full size or RC. Right up there with racer support in my humble opinion.

Convincing the community or neighborhood that a race track is an asset, not a nuisance is vital to its longevity. Personally, from a racer standpoint, I never had a problem with tracks I ran. Figgured I take what the track gave me and make the best of it instead of whining about this or that.

nitrous36

I thought the case for Wilksboro were the cars out growing the track, not the attendance. Maybe I'm wrong.

Are you a realtor? Agreed it sucks when another track is lost. I get it, business is business, if property becomes valuable you're going to make a go for it. You didn't like me calling it greedy, but its still unfair when shady practices are used to oust the current user(s) and acquire it. That's all I'm saying.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

Without more info, 6 months doesn't sound like a problem. One of my local tracks changes layout every season (6 months) and the members are happy with that frequency. One of my other local tracks changes layout every month. They've got 4 or so different options to pick from. After 6 months the locals have already practiced on every layout so they're going to have an advantage anyway and it's possible you'd show up on the month where the layout is the same as you last saw anyway.

If the locals need 6+ months to learn the layout to have an advantage over you, they're not going to be that competitive in the first place.
​​​​​

jiml

iTrader: (3)

This WAS the mainstream for most of the 70' and 80's. However as RC racing became more technical more on their stuff and less on the needs of the club. Every club I saw fold was because not enough people were willing to put in the time to set up and tear down the track. Commercial tracks can pass that cost on to the racers in race fees. There are some club tracks in the US but not enough.

RC racing is completely different in Europe for some reason. Racers understand what it takes to race and are willing to put the work in. And don't you DARE call them toys They're very serious about RC but there's a lot more sportsmanship.

jiml

iTrader: (3)

Outgrowing Wilksboro??? Have you seen Martinsville? It came down to there were too many races in North Carolina and fans went to where the thought the best races were.

I'm not a realtor, but I did think (very stupidly) that I could open and run an RC track on Long Island. I spent a lot of time researching everything I could about the hobby business. I found out very quickly that commercial real estate had it's own set of rules that didn't make sense to regular people. Around here landlords would rather keep a building vacant that rent it at a discount. The number of vacant properties is staggering.

What you consider shady is actually standard business practice

jiml

iTrader: (3)

Most racers I know will get bored with a track if the layout stays too long. Traction Action will change the track every 2 months, and always before a trophy race.

Keep in mind off road track changes are huge undertakings

AHR43

What I find curious is that in 1:1 compared to RC, tracks don't have the luxury of changing layouts at will or to accommodate the whining's of the few. And yet, racers and major sanctioning organizations return year after year to the same layout.

Again, Regarding losing Race Tracks, I look to the Magarigawa Club Racing track in Japan and the Thermal Club here in the U.S. Both examples of privately owned tracks. Perhaps tracks like these as a harbinger of the future? Tracks laid out on private land owned by probably a consortium of multi-millionaires. At least they offer some semblance of stability to racers and organizations.

RC10Nick

iTrader: (9)

I can't believe this has to be said, but RC car racing isn't the same as NASCAR or F1 racing.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

But they also tend to only race at that track once per year and move on to a different track for the next round.

staiguy

iTrader: (7)

A lot of the tracks that have only few selected practice days boogle my mind. Does it really cost that much to keep a track open for practice. I see some people complain there’s no time to practice when tracks do this. Some days it was empty and I was the only one there for 1/2 the day. Other days there could be up to 10 on the track. Practice just means pushing it, breaking something, then buying a replacement :P

right now the local track is revamping its crawler course into an entire crawler room. About once a month they section off the parking lot for on road racing. They have a good variety of classes and turnout. It’s just some classes die off or something else gets popular. Mostly everyone is running 17.5 spec and then they have a second class to race. But even that has pretty much everyone branched into either 13.5 4wd, truggy, or 21.5 buggy or 40+. There’s not a lot of people running just one class.

last race series was pretty regular, about 10 people every time in sportsman. Rarely a b group except one time there was a full group a and b. Hardly any of those people who came that day ever came back for another race that season.

only once have I seen drivers refuse to drive until there was a track change, but they had a good reason: that track layout was just plain horrible. The jumps where too big and there were too many blind spots. It made racing more dangerous and prone to breaking. It got a revamp to the point they did race on it but they were glad when it was changed.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

Depends on the facilities and staffing requirements. If the required people aren't available, the track can't open.