Alfie

iTrader: (17)

Ray,

You've already said so.

I just had so much fun racing against Bernard on Saturday. He's with an Xray and me, with my faithful F103GT.

The fun part is to know your competition, and not bumping into each other. Always anticipate for the other party's action and decide what to do next. Or when I was in front, I make sure he's not anywhere near the loopholes for overtaking. That, I would gladly call it FUN.

Racing is no longer in part of me. I'm out for fun. This is in me, and that's why I'm in this hobby for so long now.

Alfie

Ray Lan

iTrader: (4)

Firstly ,excellent observations as well.
Contrary to being a wet blanket, Kelvin and I have been very curious and worried that our only hobby will die off due to the lack of participants.
Maybe somebody can shed some light in this issue so that we may try to address the issue as an R/C community????

I went into this hobby because it was fun and I made many friends whom now are my best buddies. Its all about fun at the end of the day. Not hardcore racing in the beginning, at least for me. It was until the recent years that I got serious. Naturally.

The following is my guess:
Are new comers to the hobby feel that racing is expensive and beyond their capabilities? Not unless the RULES depict so. There are entry level classes like Sportman and TAC stock. Not much money is required.

IS the learning curve too steep or the cost to high to enter? Or are we making it difficult for the noobs?

Are the experienced drivers telling noobs that,"oh! not only do you need to buy this, you need to buy that, and you need to buy this to support that part and buy this too before you start racing." "Stock car ah? cannot lah, need to hop-up first."
have we been sending the wrong messages to noobs? and thus scaring them off the racing scene?

During the marine parade CC days, everything goes!
NO rules no close this no close that. OPEN EVERYTHING. a weekend club race had about 30 plus cars at LEAST.
A, B, C, D mains!!! We competed openly, from hi-end to entry level, all race on the same field, fast cars learn to overtake slow cars, slow guys learned how to drive like fast guys. The Mains will group the fast into A main, not to fast into B, mid field to C Main, and entry level to D Main. No sportman, expert or stock. Race together, you fast good, A mian for you, you slow, its okay, still got D main to compete in.

No one is being streamed into classes, like our education system's EM1, EM2, EM3 crap which demoralise most. that was back then. But now, marketing has taken over. Must buy this to race, this BRAND only. 23T stock ONLY, MOD only, this chassis ONLY. IT IS important to stream classes, FOR IMPORTANT RACES. But why make things so difficult for the new comers? He like that type of car, I like this type, different type cannot race, must same type, but i don;t like this type. HOW?? Need to buy that type to race that race.

ANYONE REMEMBERS
NEE ANN CITY Grand Prix?
Tamiya, HPI, Yokomo, Kyosho.... ALL RACE TOGETHER. A to D E F main also have! Those were the days! Let the HEATS decide who should race where, classify the MAIN.
Truely OPEN RACES... EXpert to novice all can join. Any one still reading?

NO ONE COMPLAINS about:
1) "Eh, I Pro racer leh, why you(race organiser) put me into this HEAT with the noobs? Wah lau, very pek chek leh!" The old timers (David Koh, Kenny Chua to name a few) just ran the race as it was given to them, they learnt to navigate traffic. They improved their skill.

2) "Eh, why race entry so expensive ($30 per class is NOT expensive considering how much you spent on your car), yet NO LUCKY DRAW???" "First place why no Car kit?" Everyone back then was happy just to race together, talk rooster sing song. At the end of the day they walk away with nothing more than a good race experience with many friends, HAPPY. only top 3 of each class had a trophy.

3) "You bang me!, never see I faster you must give way meh! I faster you know?!!! Then, the faster guys simply waited patiently for the slow guy to make a mistake ,corner wide, before they made their move. The other fast guys behind this one did the same. No banging and crashing. Gentlemenly, never scare the noob. Then later, when in the pits talking rooster singing song, the fast guys nicely explained certain race craft to guys who are willing to learn. Social stress nowadays make people impatient, I understand. Patience, is becoming rare. and common sense is no longer common.

4) When they touched and crashed on track, they apologised and pat shoulders in the pits. Competitors on the track, friends in the pits. Everyone shared their "little secrets" on how to do up their cars. No dark secrets. Tamiya, Kyosho, HPI, Yokomo... all the drivers are friends. Sincerely.

5) No one complained about "Boring la this track. I expert liao.... Need new challenge!!!" All ran on 1 single tiny track layout for years. Where got a nice BIG RCI with driver stand, power supply, pit area and a shop just beside? We could setup the cars and push it to higher limits. No time to play car? No worries, 2 months later, the track will still be the same, can CONTINUE your setting up... no need to restart, Army style,"Start from ZERO!" Everyone could talk to each other to teach and learn race craft and setups. The community matured as a whole.


So.... to finally conclude... Do you think there should be OPEN races once again? No more classes? 540 silver can, 23T stock, MOD, Brushless, Ni-MH, Li-po....ALL running together? NO series race, just 1 stand alone race EVERY once a month? Called CLUB race? Save a dollar a day for 30 days. Expensive? no.

This will remove all barriers for noobs to start racing. All they need is $30 bucks. A main to D main, all get to run. When the need to buy parts and upgrade, they can chose freely, no worries. Any brand any type... Just so long as they are HAPPY.

THEN maybe when the turn out becomes large again then maybe have a series race 23T stock, Open Mod.... catered to the more passionate drivers who really want to push themselves and their cars to the limits...

BUT for now... with all the rules and regulations, its nice for the older racers.. BUT... harder to get new blood into the system. you just can't make everyone happy can you? The fastest way to fail is to try and please everyone. True? to some extent.

Thats my view at least. Anyone can solve the mystery of missing noobs???

Hope the High Powers of Singapore R/C can bring back these good old racing days.

Hope
Ray

Can you recognise some current racers below?

Ray Lan

iTrader: (4)

A saturday morning at, Marine Parade CC Track

.... now replaced by some "unusually beautiful" Library/CC.

The good old days:

Notice the puddles? Even if it rained, the few of us will go MaMa shop buy Straits Times to throw all over the track to try to soak up the water quickly. Time is precious, PLAY time is EVEN MORE precious.

Our pits... a corridor with only 1 13A socket, overloading and tripping the CC's powergrid was common. We always denied causing it.

tamiya, kyosho, hpi, yokomo. all go! FUN is wat matters most.

Notice the size of the track? and the black lines laid down by years of running the same racing line.

Who remembers the DeaDly "parking lot" at top left hand corner?
Full throttle turn right, UNDERSTEER...SURE confirm break an arm or something... TA02 will break half the car, cos half is the gearbox and arm.

12 Turn motor then was like....."WOAH!....so fast ah... can handle or not?"

And yes... that nerdy guy with THE hair... is.... me..
Memories...

foampervert

iTrader: (5)

NICE!

ah the good old days!

say, in the attempts to egg peeps into racing, i've found the following:

- peeps don't wanna race if they think they cannot win; meaning most noobs (for some reason, racing is not about fun at all, it's about world domination)

- peeps don't wanna race cos they are oldie moldies, "racing is for kids...", "i've raced more in my time then you'll ever in yours...", "ima married", "i have a kid"

- there are just less peeps interested in rc then before, most peeps find pc/console/handheld gaming or alternative entertainment to be easier to upkeep then rc.

- the cost of racing has risen over the years (cos, this argument is invalid in the light of open CLUB type racing... run what ya brung, wasn't it?)

- peeps now find it harder to socialise (due to er... our erm... society?) then in our (meaning, we oldie farts) day and hence find RCing to be like any other entertainment... solitary affairs. that being the case, better to play a game of counter-strike then a day of racing. most of us oldie farts socialise at races and such, but it's hard for the noobs to break into our cliques. you'd notice a lot of noobs can get by a whole day of racing without ever uttering a word. it's amazing! ima thinking they won't be long in RC if they dunt make friends fast.

there we are.

actually, some o you peeps may have seen Serene and myself at the races recently. i know most peeps with GFs/Wifes/Mistresses dunt usually have the luxury of their company in your hobby. but that's where i wonder. does your woman have a REAL hobby of their own? is owning kids a hobby? does getting married sound the death knell to your hobby? why not bring them down to races so all the RC widows can congregate?

it's nice to see women racing, cos you know she's got an actual interest for a change. way to go Nancy! ( and Rachel... and we know why you don't race )

-alexander