Fair enough, but this is my rebuttal. Not all people who review product that have affiliated links let that influence their review. Some of them like Model AV8R and Mark Santa Maria actually pass on things they are not interested in reviewing and they also don't post negative reviews because they don't want to spotlight that product, among other reasons they have stated in their videos. Unlike most reviewers of RC, Model AV8R gives the pros and cons and explains in his videos why he has affiliated links, it helps him pay the bills, he makes it clear he's not trying to sell you anything, but buying from him really helps out. I firmly believe that if the product he is reviewing has a downfall, he'll let you know and he'll also let you know how to overcome that downfall if possible. Have you ever done any type of semi-professional - professional production work that involves a camera and editing, it's very time consuming and most people like to be paid when they are doing that type of work. Trust me when I say this, it was my profession for a period of time.

I have high hopes of getting into off roading. My favorite off road YouTuber, TrailRecon not only has affiliated links, he also has his own website with product for sale, but I trust his opinion and reviews, because he comes off as authentic and he does what he does to help inform people. Can't really blame someone for trying to make a buck if they have the opportunity to do so, especially in this day and age.

Roelof, I have read a lot of your posts and there is no doubt that you are one of those people that appears to do whatever it is you can to grow the hobby and I admire your efforts. You are incredibly fortunate that promotion is free where you live, in the United States promotion is incredibly expensive.

Roelof, I have read a lot of your posts and there is no doubt that you are one of those people that appears to do whatever it is you can to grow the hobby. You are incredibly fortunate that promotion is free, in the United States promotion is incredibly expensive.

• Meanwhile, I’ve got 3 track with 50 miles that don’t really acknowledge the other exist. Often overlap schedules

Lol. As if we care about the reviewers opinion, anyways.

I just want to see the thing. Features etc. I know more about RC, than the reviewer. Sometimes the manufacturer too.

Same here, bonus points for dramatic slow-mo effects, flashy epic camera angles, and all sorts of other editing magic to make their footage look like an advertisement.

I dare manufacturers to market outside of the hobby for a change.

Is it? No local by shops/companies full sponsored newspaper or radio station? No hometown facebook page? Sad...... We have all that stuff but most clubs are not doing a thing with these possibilities.
Regarding no communication of planning events among tracks is here the same but that has more to do that people can race every weekend somewhere. The ENS/ETS is very popular, on 2nd place the nationals but also from the neighbor countries so not much free weekends are available for club events. Even at my club it has no use to organise a nitro club race because most drivers are not interested to it. Sadly they forget they also spoil the fun for the few other club members who like to have a club race.

But your tracj

Many years ago as a mod on a Dutch RC forum we were were pointed out to this affiliate system where several users were busy with with promoting stuf. A new forum rule to prevent affiliated links and a huge wipe action of these links gave a huge war as if those users were financial depending on it. Then we had a guy named DutchRC who claimed that his reviews are only to help people. Every week a new movie of a new product but after the new rule about the links he did not place any links but the movies he made came with a scrolling text to follow the links below the movie...
When searching this guys name his video's showed up everywhere, on all kind of forums and video platforms, he even was here for a short moment. Finally he got banned at a lot of places....

Yes, people do try to tell the viewers that the affiliated links are to compensate some costs they make but still you may ask if a positive review is actual a real positive review if money is earned with every click and buy. And because these video channels have a lot of followers you can say that those guys are actually influencers.

From my observation of the local RC scene, the one area that seems to have a LOT of kids playing along side their parents is the crawler scene which to me is about as exciting as a glass of water and plain toast but.....it seems the only place I see kids excited with a controller in their hands.

The other day a kid and his parent came in while I was running laps on the indoor carpet with the TT-02 and they walked out with a Mini Z......again not my thing but at least the kid has a controller in his hand.

Racing venues are just competing for the same people and as Billy mentioned, often overlap and conflict as there are only so many decent days of the week to get people together.

er, Traxxas? They have a big display at most car events. Don't know if they do SEMA but they did PRI last year

The Summit catalog has a section devoted to the Losi drag cars

So the marketing is out there. Just not working the way you want it to

Lots of talk about tracks closing. While not totally wrong, I'd like to point these 2 out.

The carpet off road track near me closed because the owner had an addiction problem. Don't want to go any further than that because it's not pretty.

Another track got closed down when a competitor track ratted him out for some building violations. Fortunately track reopened after a while.

Real estate is expensive and the space needed to accommodate a decent size track, pit space, racer's hobby shop, bathrooms, etc is quite a big space so I can understand why we are seeing less and less places to race or places closing down. It also doesn't help when you have different seasons. Up here in the Northeast carpet is popular in the winter months. But once summer comes around those places are ghost towns as folks want to run outdoors (or do other hobbies such as golf, boating, fishing, biking, beaches, etc).

What this industry needs is a way to draw in sponsorship from outside the RC community. Sure its great to have a few RC companies sponsor events or local series. But we need mainstream companies like Red Bull, Monster, etc. But how do we get them interested? What would these companies have to gain? That lies the problem. If you have a race facility in an area with a lot of local businesses, perhaps you can draw in their investment (local lawn care businesses, power-washing businesses, cleaning services, auto repair shops, pizzeria's and other restaurants, etc). You need to promote online as well as thru other platforms (such as email/SMS messaging as not everyone is on Facebook, rctech, etc). Then combine all that with a healthy race program that offers beginner, intermediate and pro level competition but MOST IMPORTANTLY a FUN environment, and I think you would be very successful year round. And as racers/hobbyists we all need to do our part and HELP the new folks. Nothing worse than seeing someone new to the hobby get overwhelmed and stressed out to not get any help from anyone and exit just as fast as they entered.

those kinds of companies go where the eyeballs are - there's no point in sponsoring an event that nobody cares about or watches. rc needs to be more entertaining to observers. IFMAR qualifying is the antithesis of entertainment and sorely needs to go. I had more fun watching the RC chili bowl coverage than most of the recent 1/8 nitro worlds.

I was looking at driver numbers for the Chilli Bowl. I don’t run oval, but I do race with some that go. 260 drivers. Not even a blip on the screen for those big brands to even notice.

Has anyone seen a numbers from the Amazon Prime RC recaps broadcast?

When ESPN was showing the Drone racing league. They averaged 300,000 viewers at peak.

NASCAR is having a hard time getting and keeping sponsors. What makes you think anyone is going to sponsor toy car racing? And the bad economy is forcing local small businesses to cut back on expenses.

Never seen a drone race, but I have tried watching an RC race. The commentators I have run across that do RC races are very hard to listen to and they aren't doing anything to change the perception of the hobby, they are reinforcing it, which in my opinion is not a good thing due to what most peoples perception of RCers is. I couldn't get through a race or an interview. People aren't going to sit and watch or get involved with something if they can't relate to the people who are already doing it. RCers have for good reason been stereotyped and it's not a very good one.

Another big difference between drone races and surface RC racing is FPV. Put some FPV's on an RC car and it would be more exciting to watch, but I've brought this up already and got shot down. People don't seem to think that it's possible.

I personally think that doing proper professional watchable coverage of an RC race is possible, but it's going to take some work, some out of the box thinking, and money. I have an idea, but my idea is tech oriented and very cost prohibitive unless someone is willing to do the work for free and get paid on the back end, which is just not going to happen. We have the tech and camera technology we just need someone(s) to tell/teach the tech what to do.

Rc car racing isn't cool enough.

-As said above, the qqqm format is dreadfully boring.

-racers are too slow getting on the stand and getting each heat going. When spectators do show up, it's always between heats, and their attention span has ended before the heat even gets going. Then they have to sit through 87 lame electric heats to see the show.

-tracks are too normal and boring. Big air is impressive. Even if its a painfully easy ski jump with a massive landing ramp.

-most rc racers are driving cars as interesting as a potato. Nitro draws crowds. Gasoline draws crowds. Electric is for carpet indoors. The only people interested in watching E potatoes, are already signed up and running them.

-nobody wants to be in a tetanus shot junkyard. Tracks are too ugly. Boring flat, dirt pancakes, with pipes. Lame.

-I think you guys know exactly what would boost the hobby. Ya'll are just too chinsy and lame to get it done. (But I just want to run 2wd buggy?)

Ever watch an RC car FPV video? You get motion sickness really fast. The scale and speed are way off and generally doesn't work