Originally Posted by
Boomer
A: why would we need to attend a "novice school" - SCCA does that for liability and safety reasons. Drivers are driving a 1.5 ton guided missile with soft bodies right nearby. . . there's no safety reason with RC cars (well, small safety issue. . .
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B: Be wary of trying to imitate SCCA. As smracer noted, SCCA is HUGELY about politics. The rulebook for autocross is HUGE in part because of the politics of racers lobbying for this and that exemption or rule change. The rallycross rulebook has expanded because of this same lobbying (adding an LSD in Prepared? Seriously?)
Take the principles, yes. . . don't go too far. Look at the bad and avoid; take the good.
The biggest issue I have with the National thing is that you have vastly different groups running. You will have "homers" who will do well at their ROAR track but suck elsewhere (looking in the mirror! LOL) so they could earn max points but not really be worthy of a national ranking. . .
In any case, I think it might be a good idea to do a trial run. Many tracks are now putting their results online, yes? Gather as many as you can and start putting them in. . .
As far as logistics go, it's not a complicated one. The database is pretty simple, as far as the initial table goes. Fields for name, UID (gonna need a unique ID), region, etc. Probably secondary tables for tracks, classes and scores. Not a big deal.
The big thing, honestly, is going to be the data feeds. Does any RC scoring program export xml feeds? If so, that would streamline things tremendously.
However, I'd be curious as to the ultimate goal for this. . . is it to qualify for a National championship? Is it just bragging rights? No criticism intended, just asking is all. . .
As far as the diversity in racers from different regions, i agree, theres a large variance in talent from region to region, however, thats what qualifying at the worlds is for. Obviously those drivers wont make the A-main, but they should still be allowed the chance to race at the same venue as the 'pros'
I think the ultimate goal of this is to garner more enthusiasm in and around the r/c industry. Like other 'sports,' people in general want to compete and make a name for themselves. I think this would also help to get more drivers recognized in the industry. Theres a lot of talented individuals that dont have the time, money, or luxury of traveling around the country to attend the big races. Giving these competitors the ability to strive for a 'regional championship' title, will hopefully attract new people to the industry, and get those already in r/c more involved in their clubs racing programs.
On another note, there are tracks following these same principals. Tq Racing in California has its own championship series that has taken off very fast!, they now have a packed house at each championship race. What started out as a small group of guys having fun is now a very large competitive event. So the formula does work, its just up to roar as to wether or not they want to capitalize on it.