732LikesTamiya Championship Series
01-24-2008, 10:43 AM
#7366
Tech Elite
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Location: The Secret Underground Laboratory
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Thanks, Larry. You know we love you, man.
So I was told by someone whom I would consider an unimpeachable source. Apparently they e-mailed not once but several times.
One suggestion that might help grow the TCS series is to permit sites to hold their own official but unsanctioned event as part of the qualifying process to hold a 'true' TCS regional. Race results are accepted to qualify for the Nats just the same as any other TCS event, and there are enough experienced TCS racers around who could act as unofficial representatives to make sure that tech and rules enforcement was handled properly. Just a thought, but one that could easily double the number of events with the Tamiya name on them...and would help sell more product. Just a thought.
The Coliseum emailed us about a TCS site and never got a reply?
One person has to be at all the TCS events.
01-24-2008, 11:15 AM
#7367
rccardr - I think your idea is a good one. Could Tamiya provide the guidelines for the local track owner or designate a TCS veteran as the official for a local race? I agree that it might incease the number of local races, and I have heard this idea from other TCS veterans. Not bad for an old guy, rccardr!
larrio - It seems you guys are extremely under staffed for the amount of work you have to do.
larrio - It seems you guys are extremely under staffed for the amount of work you have to do.
01-24-2008, 12:46 PM
#7369
Tech Fanatic
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Location: Trackside, Wisconsin/Seal Bay Alaska
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Just a POV on the schedule that I'm sure I've said before but...
Tamiya alone does NOT make out the schedule. They must work their busy schedule to mix in with the Track's busy schedules to plan out the TCS schedule.(Too many schedules!)
They have other plans as stated by Larry and so do local tracks. As far as what AKO said about his friends whom I am sure I know and am disappointed they can't make it, We all had to adjust for the simple fact thet the later March date did not work out with Trackside's schedule. things were in the works here and sometimes even we don't know what's going on until the last minute.
Quit yellin at Larry!
Every year it seems I say:
Remember! This is a FREE race put on by a great company.
Tamiya alone does NOT make out the schedule. They must work their busy schedule to mix in with the Track's busy schedules to plan out the TCS schedule.(Too many schedules!)
They have other plans as stated by Larry and so do local tracks. As far as what AKO said about his friends whom I am sure I know and am disappointed they can't make it, We all had to adjust for the simple fact thet the later March date did not work out with Trackside's schedule. things were in the works here and sometimes even we don't know what's going on until the last minute.
Quit yellin at Larry!
Every year it seems I say:
Remember! This is a FREE race put on by a great company.
01-24-2008, 05:33 PM
#7371
Tech Master
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Location: Outside of Crook County Illinois
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And Jeff to through that HPI had their rules and schedule in place in september was really uncalled for. How successful is that series? The Tamiya TCS is far superior. No one is holding a gun to your head and saying that you have to race in the TCS series. If you don't like what they are doing go run in the HPI series with handful of others that are running that series.
So by your post there cannot be constructive points made about how to improve Tamiya or TCS. Others that are in the series might have been more blunt about it but this is what we do talk about. If you don't like it I offer no apoligies... it is what it is.
01-24-2008, 05:38 PM
#7372
Tech Master
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Location: Outside of Crook County Illinois
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I'm not offering excuses to the way things are and I definitely can't speak on behalf of the company. I'm merely explaining things from my perspective and there needs to be an understanding that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes beyond me. Now I'm glad to be at the forefront for criticism, however not everything is as black and white as it may seem. And if the changes for '08 were already decided by the '07 nationals, then that sure is a heck of a surprise to me.
Your disappointment and your perspective on the small hoops for TCS sites are duly noted. When it comes down to it, there really is no point for me to explain any further. To tell you everything else that is happening besides TCS seems to be providing excuses. So all I can say is that we'll try harder to meet expectations next year. In my personal opinion, offering next year's schedule right after the TCS nationals seems a rather unreasonable request.
Your disappointment and your perspective on the small hoops for TCS sites are duly noted. When it comes down to it, there really is no point for me to explain any further. To tell you everything else that is happening besides TCS seems to be providing excuses. So all I can say is that we'll try harder to meet expectations next year. In my personal opinion, offering next year's schedule right after the TCS nationals seems a rather unreasonable request.
Not looking for excuses. It is more of a concern when after 13 years you would expect to see more tracks, not less. If I hated racing Tamiya cars or the TCS series, I would not waste my time posting here.
I do appreciate having a Tamiya rep here, not as a dart board but to understand a little behind the scenes.
Last edited by A-Ko; 01-24-2008 at 06:11 PM.
01-24-2008, 06:58 PM
#7373
Offering a schedule right after the Nats is not that unreasonable. Tracks do have calendars and can plan 6 months to a year in advance.
Not looking for excuses. It is more of a concern when after 13 years you would expect to see more tracks, not less. If I hated racing Tamiya cars or the TCS series, I would not waste my time posting here.
I do appreciate having a Tamiya rep here, not as a dart board but to understand a little behind the scenes.
Not looking for excuses. It is more of a concern when after 13 years you would expect to see more tracks, not less. If I hated racing Tamiya cars or the TCS series, I would not waste my time posting here.
I do appreciate having a Tamiya rep here, not as a dart board but to understand a little behind the scenes.
The reason as to why there aren't more tracks is explained above in previous posts due to timing constraints. Hopefully it is a logical and suitable explanation. The amount of employees eligible for TCS travel has been relatively the same for the past 13 years.
01-24-2008, 07:22 PM
#7374
Jeff,
Like you say, " it is what it is" , so let it go man
We had like 2 months to prep this year, which beats the hell out of last year. And maybe next year we will have more time to prep, and there will only be 1 rule change to deal with. Last year I was the guy that was whining about everything and pissing people off, and ironically this year I am the guy whose tired of hearing about it. I know if I "don't like it don't read it!!" Why not focus the energy on the 1st race, I have a feeling that with the rules the way they are, it is going to be the hardest TCS race yet, maybe even more competitive than the nats. From what Larry is writing here, it sounds like the voice is heard, and at least someone is trying to do something about it.
Like you say, " it is what it is" , so let it go man
We had like 2 months to prep this year, which beats the hell out of last year. And maybe next year we will have more time to prep, and there will only be 1 rule change to deal with. Last year I was the guy that was whining about everything and pissing people off, and ironically this year I am the guy whose tired of hearing about it. I know if I "don't like it don't read it!!" Why not focus the energy on the 1st race, I have a feeling that with the rules the way they are, it is going to be the hardest TCS race yet, maybe even more competitive than the nats. From what Larry is writing here, it sounds like the voice is heard, and at least someone is trying to do something about it.
01-24-2008, 08:22 PM
#7375
Tech Master
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Larrio there are two sides to every coin you see the Tamiya side and most everyone else sees the racer side. Both sides might be hard to understand from the other perspective. The racer tends to spend quite a bit of time getting ready for 1, 2 or if your doc most of the TCS races over the year. I always do wait for the new rules before I pick the classes I am running and order tires/parts. I understand change can be slow and hope future complaints can be about nothing to complain about.
Brad, I understand he is trying to do something about it. Which is why instead of having shared complaints with my friends, take the bull by the horns and make a post. I don't think it is unreasonable, it just might mean more communication, meetings or restructuring TCS job duties at Tamiya for an even better series!
Brad, I understand he is trying to do something about it. Which is why instead of having shared complaints with my friends, take the bull by the horns and make a post. I don't think it is unreasonable, it just might mean more communication, meetings or restructuring TCS job duties at Tamiya for an even better series!
01-24-2008, 09:06 PM
#7376
Larrio there are two sides to every coin you see the Tamiya side and most everyone else sees the racer side. Both sides might be hard to understand from the other perspective. The racer tends to spend quite a bit of time getting ready for 1, 2 or if your doc most of the TCS races over the year. I always do wait for the new rules before I pick the classes I am running and order tires/parts. I understand change can be slow and hope future complaints can be about nothing to complain about.
Brad, I understand he is trying to do something about it. Which is why instead of having shared complaints with my friends, take the bull by the horns and make a post. I don't think it is unreasonable, it just might mean more communication, meetings or restructuring TCS job duties at Tamiya for an even better series!
Brad, I understand he is trying to do something about it. Which is why instead of having shared complaints with my friends, take the bull by the horns and make a post. I don't think it is unreasonable, it just might mean more communication, meetings or restructuring TCS job duties at Tamiya for an even better series!
Jeff,
I don't know how Larry can make it any clearer to you why the decisions are made the way they are. Tamiya is a business and has to run its business in the best way that it can to remain profitable and take care of most of their customers. Contrary to what we wish Tamiya has other businesses besides RC cars. I think it is great that they really listen to their customers on a forum like this and try to do what they can to give their customers what they want. At the end of the day they still only have limited resources to take care of all their business needs and will do what is right for the business. Lets not forget this is a free race and yes we all spend alot of money on tamiya parts but I would be willing to guess that more money is spent on the Model side of Tamiya and they have to take care of that business as well.
Stop telling Larry and Fred how to run their business and just remember it is a business. I know they welcome suggestions but repeating the same thing to them year after year and then getting the same answer to what you are saying is getting a little old.
I don't know if you ever ran a business, but if you did you would understand what Larry has been saying.
I guess my 20 years of retail management experience and listening to this same stuff every day in my stores has caused be to react to what is being said on this thread.
In business you will never be able to please 100% of the people 100% of the time. Lets just enjoy this awesome series and give suggestions that have will not add to the heavy load they already have.
Just my rant.
01-24-2008, 09:31 PM
#7377
I think the concerns expressed by the drivers are because they are supporters of Tamiya and the TCS. We enjoy the series so much that we would like to see more races. If they didn't care people wouldn't say anything. I think it's reasonable to suggest that races get posted on the web site as they are scheduled. I think that most people learned about the date of the Trackside race from Trackside's site. Why not post a partial schedule? This would allow people to plan ahead. I think that in today's world with higher gas prices people will really have to evaluate attending a TCS race. I drove over 700 miles one way to attend the race in Laurel last year. I think that Tamiya needs to consider that when they are planning races. In Memphis a large percentage of the drivers were not from the Memphis area.
01-24-2008, 10:10 PM
#7378
Larry the choices are easy since Jeff feels rushed to make his TCS Race in Wisconsin move Scotty to the end of the TCS Season so he has to plan it later in the year this will give AKO the 9months he is looking for to plan, buy and participate in a class.
Oh while you are at it. Do not sit back and reflect on last years TCS races and grow based on customer input instead sit behind Fred and polish up his crystal ball. Come out with the 2009 rules based on who knows what and stick with those rules come hell or high water.
Jeff all kidding aside your timeline is prolly the most condensed purely based on the fact that the Trackside stop is at the beginning of the season. It is about plain as it is that there is no way to condense the schedule. As has been posted Trackside moved their date based on events at their facility. The dates for the Seattle TCS have moved based on events we have going on. Some of the tracks might not have a stop purely based on X dates are available and it does not fit with what they have for other events.
Oh and having a 6mo window and knowing every event going on is not guaranteed. We have NW Indoor series that is planned in the summer for the fall winter race season. We have had date and location changes after 3 months of planning. One race was changed 2 weeks out based on happenings out of the tracks control. If it was TCS that race would not have happened period.
This is all from a track operators view point. While I am a Tamiya supporter Larry is 100% correct on this one. A National schedule is a complete PITA to plan and get travel for all the employees. Yes it is the Company's and employees job. If you look at the economy and expenses with their manpower and budget it is about spot on. Not all of Tamiya revolves around TCS either. Add in all the other market that Tamiya sells in and they are lucky to have a full staff in the office on any given week. Now add in a bit of vacation and oops no more dates for TCS.
The internet is great as everyone is an expert. It is nice to see that everyone is self employed here with highly successful business and understands how marketing dollars and employees are used and spent. Send in your resume's as I am sure they will take all the help you can give. Plus you can also add 10 stops with the millions of revenue you will be bringing in and the employees you can add or oops wait rehire since we they have botched it so bad.....
Oh and the ref to HPI is pretty lame. They have a concept and series that was shelved for 3 years due to lack of turnouts and events. So in that case which was the chicken or egg? also having 3 yrs to come back and put on a series is not the same as year after year running a series that has had bigger turnouts. Plus every year they moved the stops to different markets it was never at the same track. We had a stop in the Seattle Tacoma market that was popular but noone realised that all the cars they bought were useless as HPI was not coming back again, like Tamiya........GO ahead and win then pray your lottery ticket is drawn so all the work preparation that you did to win is hinging on someones fingers pulling your ticket out of a hat. Nevermind that in a fair race at a location known internationally you would have wiped that person up handily lapping them.
Yep sign me up. Guess we all have our points of view......
Oh while you are at it. Do not sit back and reflect on last years TCS races and grow based on customer input instead sit behind Fred and polish up his crystal ball. Come out with the 2009 rules based on who knows what and stick with those rules come hell or high water.
Jeff all kidding aside your timeline is prolly the most condensed purely based on the fact that the Trackside stop is at the beginning of the season. It is about plain as it is that there is no way to condense the schedule. As has been posted Trackside moved their date based on events at their facility. The dates for the Seattle TCS have moved based on events we have going on. Some of the tracks might not have a stop purely based on X dates are available and it does not fit with what they have for other events.
Oh and having a 6mo window and knowing every event going on is not guaranteed. We have NW Indoor series that is planned in the summer for the fall winter race season. We have had date and location changes after 3 months of planning. One race was changed 2 weeks out based on happenings out of the tracks control. If it was TCS that race would not have happened period.
This is all from a track operators view point. While I am a Tamiya supporter Larry is 100% correct on this one. A National schedule is a complete PITA to plan and get travel for all the employees. Yes it is the Company's and employees job. If you look at the economy and expenses with their manpower and budget it is about spot on. Not all of Tamiya revolves around TCS either. Add in all the other market that Tamiya sells in and they are lucky to have a full staff in the office on any given week. Now add in a bit of vacation and oops no more dates for TCS.
The internet is great as everyone is an expert. It is nice to see that everyone is self employed here with highly successful business and understands how marketing dollars and employees are used and spent. Send in your resume's as I am sure they will take all the help you can give. Plus you can also add 10 stops with the millions of revenue you will be bringing in and the employees you can add or oops wait rehire since we they have botched it so bad.....
Oh and the ref to HPI is pretty lame. They have a concept and series that was shelved for 3 years due to lack of turnouts and events. So in that case which was the chicken or egg? also having 3 yrs to come back and put on a series is not the same as year after year running a series that has had bigger turnouts. Plus every year they moved the stops to different markets it was never at the same track. We had a stop in the Seattle Tacoma market that was popular but noone realised that all the cars they bought were useless as HPI was not coming back again, like Tamiya........GO ahead and win then pray your lottery ticket is drawn so all the work preparation that you did to win is hinging on someones fingers pulling your ticket out of a hat. Nevermind that in a fair race at a location known internationally you would have wiped that person up handily lapping them.
Yep sign me up. Guess we all have our points of view......
RIGHT ON Doug
