rosko

well since rubber tire is the future what happened at cleveland they offered you rubber only guys what you want and still a low turnout, so i dont thing getting rid of foam tc will magically boost entrys so...

robk

iTrader: (22)

Plenty of dirt oval races in Central IL....and they get 40+ **MOD** sprint cars at the series races every month in the summer. It's a lot of fun

rosko

wow thats awesome.

Warren Weaver

iTrader: (49)

I think the spec foams are the answer.

hanulec

iTrader: (28)

+1 - the current spec lilac for foam touring are great. both bsr and jaco have them available.

Medved

My brother and I are picking up a WGT car. I think I saw that there were some tires at the track, I was wondering if they were still selling tham at a decient price. I might make a trip back up there to day to pickup some stocking stuffers for my brother. Would these be the same tires we would use at the local track?

Schuie Driver

iTrader: (8)

Was shocked to see the numbers for the race this year, but as many others have said I'm sure it's a combination of multiple things rather than just one glaring issue. The economy is hurting right now that there's no mistaking that the Cleveland area is one in which times are particularly tough. Other races around the country do offer better "perks" like Vegas and Orlando and that makes it more appealing to the guys who have the money to fly to the races or want to make a family trip out of the event. With that said though, there should still be a number of guys who race in the Ohio, MI, IN, PA, WV, KY area that are within a few hours of Cleveland and still did not appear to show. Maybe lots of people in those areas have decided to hang up their TX's until they feel that spending conditions at home will allow them the flexibility to race again?

I'm not sure shortening the length of the event is the answer as in years past when the event attendance was high you wouldn't have been able to fit all the racing in within a shorter time frame. (Unless you wanted to eliminate a practice round or a qualifying round.)

The number of classes being offered was probably to try and boost participant numbers instead of to turn people away. Why do people think that by just offering stock or mod 1/12th racing or touring car that the numbers would increase instead of the organizers offering more classes to appeal to more guys who don't race just those classes? Yes, numbers were much larger in years past, but sedan racing was HUGE just a few years ago and now it appears that the class is slowly dying off. (For a number of reasons that have probably been argued to death in other threads.) It is what it is and there's no getting around that fact. I'd be surprised if forcing people to run either foam or rubber is suddenly going to drive participant numbers in the class to skyrocket. Maybe we'll start to see a resurgence of 1/12 racing in areas around the country that need to race indoors, but again only time will tell. It seems like the more complicated and expensive things become the less the average guy wants to mess with it and those 'average guys' are the ones that usually make up a large percentage of hobby participants as a whole.

Lipo technology is still in early stages of racing right now and maybe the constant changes related to that tech are keeping some people on the sidelines? I'd like to think that could be it too, but when I think back to when I was racing you still had technology constantly changing. First it was the conversion from NiCad cells to NIMH cells and then it was changes within the NIMH cells themselves.

or8ital

iTrader: (38)

I hate to say it, because it probably wasn't their intent, but I would guess the Northeast Grand Slam series is probably effecting participation as well. Many people in this area choosing to spend their money on those 4 events rather than 1 big event. Not to mention there are just so many races to choose from during the winter now.

windix606060

iTrader: (3)

Pete,
Yes these are the same tires you will use at the gate. Usually they drop the price on Sunday for tires to keep from sending them back.

Kelly

Fred_B

iTrader: (1)

Unemployment is as high as %15 in some areas. That's a big part of the numbers when you consider that most run more than one class.

Too many classes is not an issue unless there aren't enough racers to run them. Should it be changed? Probably yes based on the new number of racers. Is rubber tire going to save the Champs? No... Sedan numbers are down around here and will continue to be down until a few things change.

So what needs to change for the race?

1) The entry fees for 17.5 and 13.5 need to drop. This should have happened when we got rid of the handouts. And $5 isn't enough... It needs to be a ton lower. This is not Vegas or the Snowbirds.

2) Because of the turnouts we do need to have less classes. Masters should be the first to go. The old farts can be very competitive in the regular stock class.

3) All stock classes should be run on a spec tire with a limited number of sets available for the event. Tire compounds should be chosen by how well they last and how easy they make the car to drive. Yes, even 12th.

4) Sedan needs to pick a tire. Foam or rubber... Not both.

5) It's time to stop talking about it and lay the sub floor properly. I heard it's better this year but still not very good. The bumps are just not going to cut it any more. (This is one of the biggest reasons I'm not there this year)

6) The layouts need to be planned out so that the racers don't have to bitch and change them. And they need to be forgiving enough for when the bumps come up. If the sub floor is going to be crap, I would like to be able to race without randomly destroying my car for once...

7) If Cleveland wants to compete, they need to get grab bags for the different classes. This will take some work up front because the manufacturers need to be able to plan ahead on the freeby's.

or8ital

iTrader: (38)

That explains only 10% of the drop in attendance (since 5% unemployment is considered basically 0). I'm guessing unemployment is a relatively small reason why there is a drop. Unless unemployment is disproportionately effecting RC racers.

Fred_B

iTrader: (1)

Double that %10 because most run 2 classes...

And no it's not the only problem.

robk

iTrader: (22)

^this


1/12 is up everywhere they race on carpet. The top of the line car is 1/2 the price of a top of the line touring car, batteries are cheaper, less maintainence... Not surprising it's getting popular again.

or8ital

iTrader: (38)

Still 10% unless only those running 2 classes get unemployed.

Grenade10

iTrader: (40)

I guess this event is not that important as LiveRC has better coverage (or atleast the audio/video is working) for the 1/8 off road race and several local races.

Kinda sad that there is not good coverage for those who did not go and was interested.