Originally Posted by
scirocco14
Great ideas, Indy.
One thing that I do to help grow the hobby and the classes I like is to provide loaner cars, free of charge. I provide the radio, car, equipped with transponder ready to race to anyone who would like to try on-road. I have a USVTA and an F1 loaner car ready to go. I only charge for any broken parts that occur.
So far this season, TWO guys have gone out and bought F1 cars after having a ball driving my loaner car.
The USVTA car is perfect for introducing guys to on-road. The speed is manageable and the car (a TC4) is pretty durable. A lot of times people are interested but are reluctant to spend the $$ to find out if they like it. This way they can try it out relatively risk free.
I've convinced my friends to build loaner cars too. They don't have to be state of the art, and a lot of us have older, obsolete chassis/motors sitting in a box. They might not win the A-main (although I have been beaten by my own loaner cars a couple of times this year) but they're good enough to introduce someone to on-road.
It also gives you a chance to spend time mentoring newbies and helping them learn the ins & outs of a raceday. Tuning the chassis, learning the routine of driving/marshaling/charging batts, tire prep, etc.
We can't always leave it to the hobby shop owner or track owner to provide cars and support for new folks, as they are usually pretty busy on raceday doing other stuff.
Just some ideas!
Mark
This is quite effective to bring in new people. I have for the last few years brought two loaner cars with me to my local track. They are set up for our Breakout class, which I helped start to get beginners involved. The cars are really just old and donated piles of bits, but they work fine at the limited speeds necessary for the class.
Quite often a parent will wander in to the shop with a child or two, and watch the races. If I see them, I'll offer a car and transmitter to them to try during a break, with the proclamation "If it breaks, I DON'T CARE"! They always have fun, and a few (within a few weeks) even purchase a car to get started.