Ideas to keep memberw interested at club nights..

[markwilliamson2001]

I havent been doing much Sunday racing of late, and maybe like some others, am finding club nights just a bit repetitive.

What do other clubs do to keep members coming along regularly? Vintage nights? Competitions, championships?

Ideas PLEASE!

[c0sie]

Atmosphere.
It wont matter what you do, if the atmosphere is shit then people will get disheartened.

Efficiency.
If it takes ages to put the track out/book in/get heats sorted/yada yada then people will resent having to wait so long.

Get the building blocks sorted first before trying to branch outward and upward.

Just my opinion of course..

[Apricot Slice]

We are doing a 4 hour enduro tomorrow at the GRCC. it usually attracts folks from further afield and is more track time than most usual racing.

we have also started doing a Mardave class (Up until this year it has just been TC) and an off road class.

The off road involves a bit of running about with jumps etc but for me at least it is the highlight of the meeting. There is no motor limit and run on foam tires. they are as quick as the touring cars.

[reg]

total agree with c0sie

[c0sie]

total agree with c0sie

Thanks :)

I really need to start my own club oneday, would be a great project :)

[mrspeedy]

I'm assuming it's for off-road so ....

Fun tracks with big jumps, wall-rides and always different layouts with anything goes type attitude seems popular with members and helps promote a good fun atmos ....

We always run a summer and a winter championship, 5 meetings over 5 months, with 4 to count. And each heat with a "bump up" Its surprising how competative peeps can be and won't want to miss championship rounds.

Our summer series is usually run as "drift" racing with cut up inner tubes for tyres. Its cheap, very different and VERY popular.

I would also say don't worry about trying to include all classes, peeps will generally go and buy whatever class you race ....

HTH :thumbsup:

[rondoolaa]

our weekly track is held on a friday night and we race sharks and blaze's,

we get between 15 and 20 people race a week, i dont think we get bored because the guys that set up the track set it up different from week to week,

also we all enjoy racing,

i would never get bored of it, i've been racing rc since i was about 14 when i got my first car, think it was a tamiya frog or something like that,

i'm 42 this year and still enjoy racing as much as when i first started

[markwilliamson2001]

Maybe i have been doing this too long...just seeing the same old things over and over again....i think the worst thing is at our club, its not treated as a club, just the same old few laying the track out, and setting everything up, whilst others just stand and watch....starting to get a little wearing to be honest :eh?:

[Apricot Slice]

Maybe i have been doing this too long...just seeing the same old things over and over again....i think the worst thing is at our club, its not treated as a club, just the same old few laying the track out, and setting everything up, whilst others just stand and watch....starting to get a little wearing to be honest :eh?:


maybe a new club rule could help?
*Anyone who dose not help setting up/ tidying away has to use yellow wheels.

[jukeboxman]

Mark's hit the nail on the head with that comment - always been the same since I started racing, same few faces doing all the labouring, everyone else standing moaning they're having to wait........then that few stop working at it and the club goes to rack and ruin.

Change the track direction once in a while too, layouts differ but going the other way usually throws a few.

[sparrow.2]

Topless trophy girls would help draw entries too...

Hooray for boobies :thumbsup:

[terry.sc]

Maybe i have been doing this too long...just seeing the same old things over and over again....i think the worst thing is at our club, its not treated as a club, just the same old few laying the track out, and setting everything up, whilst others just stand and watch....starting to get a little wearing to be honest :eh?:


The solution:
Atmosphere.
It wont matter what you do, if the atmosphere is shit then people will get disheartened.

I bet the ones who stand and watch don't mix with the ones setting out the track either. The problem is the people standing round don't see themselves being part of a club, but just a track they are paying to race at.

Been running my club for 18 years now and it's as popular as ever, which I believe is down to the friendly atmosphere caused by making sure people don't go off in their own little groups, making sure everyone mixes together, making sure everyone treats each other as an equal and making sure no one takes weekly club racing seriously. If everyone feels part of one large group then they are more likely to support that group by helping out. We even have racers turn up when they aren't racing just to socialise with everyone.

I've found the final solution to people not helping was to get the regular helpers to stop and then shouted at the others that they can't race if there's no track. All it needs is to get one or two of the non helpers to join in setting out and the rest get the hint that it's not 'cool' to stand by and watch others work. Shouldn't take too long before everyone helps set the track out and clear it away.

[markwilliamson2001]

I think maybe some of the regulars just need to stop for a bit, then the others would HAVE to lay the track out :lol:

I wasnt really hoping to turn it into a slagging match, and was just trying to get some more regulars coming, we only had 15 on friday (and made a loss on the hall rent) and the problem seems to be that we get a lot of non-locals coming from miles around, so they leave earlier to get home in time (which is understandable really).

Setting up some sort of mini-championship to keep people coming seems a simple start, with a cheap prize at the end!! The other option is to try and find a better and cheaper hall for rent, which is more local to Hereford itself. This is a risky option though, as I would say that half of all racers are guests in effect not members, so would we get more racers coming locally to keep the costs covered? Tricky decision.

I agree with your comments about groups of racers Terry, this is exactly what is happening. I dont like shouting at people to get involved, its not my style, but the 'take no s**t' attitude of John Robson at stafford always works!!

[afun1979]

Hi mark, we've had the same problems in Telford for 20 years that i know of. Unfortunately the regulars who get their first and do all the work - ARE the club, so standing back and letting everyone else set the track up etc will just cause the night to get running late and running over.

Years ago we use to penalise any club member who didn't help set the track out by losing them 1 lap from qualifying - as long as you stick to the rule it's certainly an incentive to help!

Incentives. Your track is the reason i've travelled the hour journey to race at Hereford the few times. It's a good size with some excellent jumps, a well organised night certainly helps.A+
Championships always work, we're all racers and we all want to win. So as long as you've got some competition you should get some good racing.
Endurance team races are always good fun but you need a certain amount of people to make the teams big enough and have enough people on track.
Pairs nights? names selected at random and combine your laps at the end of the night, it should help people mix a little more.



Moving venue. You've currently got a perfect venue so finding a cheaper one would probably result in a smaller hall or one with no/less storage.
Also, if you move venue yes may lose non-members but i imagine the club members will follow - they are the club.

[markwilliamson2001]

Thanks for the comments afun...i recognise your shell, but cant put a name to the shell :lol:

The other thing is lack of youngsters...very few young people starting up...i csnt believe this is just cost? What are parents doing with young kids in the area?? I remember most of the people racing when i was growing up were kids, with parents/dads running alongside them. Are RC cars not cool anymore?

[afun1979]

Andrew funge. 2nd to you last sunday!
I don't know what's happened to youngsters starting out. Maybe it's a generation thing, PS3's and computers seem to be more popular nowadays. They're more realistic and involving and so maybe more entertaining?

It's certainly the case at our club that the people who i raced with 20 years ago are still the main part of the club there's just not reall any "new" young members.
What will happen when we all retire????? rc obsolete:o

Maybe take a look at putting on a race day at school summer fete's (we're going to look into it) this is the age group you're after and perhaps they just don't know that the club or sport exists.

[markwilliamson2001]

Good idea...i work in a school, and my mother in law works in Hereford sixth form college...guess they could do some free publicity of some kind for me??

[gaffer]

TIME is a huge factor for me but I would imagine for a lot of people also. People are having to work alot more hours, alot more unsociable hours to keep the money coming in. Unfortunately hobbies have to take a back seat when the mortgage needs paying.

I would love to help put the track up and take it down again and i do get embarrassed packing up my gear and walking out leaving you guys to pack up but the 1 and 20 minute drive plus getting back to close the pub really hinders me from helping - but thats just my story as you know.

Hereford is a great club and I will always try my best to make it down to race, I do hope others old and new to the rc scene will come and support the club.

Game on friends.

[markwilliamson2001]

Yes its more a factor of relying on long distance racers such as yourself, andy, sleigh, bish etc, which cannot be good in the long run.
How about doing a local league of some kind, joining forces with ludlow, and say telford to keep all if them going??

[markwilliamson2001]

maybe a new club rule could help?
*Anyone who dose not help setting up/ tidying away has to use yellow wheels.

How about no helping, no practice? :)

[reg]

its the same at our club,always the same people,there must be 30 odd members and between 5 and 10 of the same people setting the track up,we were told to pre book because if we had over 20 cars in one class and we just turn up and 20 are in we cant race.....i understand you have to limit it abit but turning people away when what needs to be done it all 30 people set the track up and start earler,why not make people wait outside if there not setting up the track

[terry.sc]

I agree with your comments about groups of racers Terry, this is exactly what is happening. I dont like shouting at people to get involved, its not my style, but the 'take no s**t' attitude of John Robson at stafford always works!!
I'm not one to shout either, but you only have to do it one or two times to embarrass the lazy ones who think they are more important than the helpers into getting their hands out of their pockets. We have one racer who comes semi regularly and never used to set out the track, he got the hint when he sat down, prepped his tyres, put battery on charge, then looked round and realised he was sitting on his own in the pits. Not surprisingly he now joins in.

If racing starts late so you either have to run less rounds or finish late, then so be it, it will only happen once. They rely on the fact that you will give in before they do and if you don't put the responsibility of setting out the track onto them they will keep on standing by and letting others get on with it.




An idea to break up the little cliques that are at most clubs is a variation on team racing, a normal endurance will have everyone racing with their own little group of mates. We also tried sorting endurance teams by splitting up the drivers so there's a spread of abilities in each team, but the fast drivers tend to hog the track to win leaving the beginners to wait on the sidelines.

I placed the drivers in heats as normal based on ability, so everyone raced against similar skilled drivers, then all drivers with number 1 were team 1, number 2 is team 2, etc. so every driver had their own race as normal, but the total laps for each number was added together to the teams total lap score. The idea is to encourage the top drivers to help out other drivers of the same number to improve by giving them driving tips and help setting up their cars instead of just hanging out with their mates.
Cheap plastic trophies for the winners will be greatly appreciated, they don't need to be anything special. The only downside to it that you need to have exactly the same number of drivers in each heat, so needs a bit of forward planning to get the numbers right or have the extra drivers opt out of teams.

[terry.sc]

The other thing is lack of youngsters...very few young people starting up...i csnt believe this is just cost? What are parents doing with young kids in the area?? I remember most of the people racing when i was growing up were kids, with parents/dads running alongside them. Are RC cars not cool anymore?
Currently I've got a heat full of under 10s turning up most weeks, although most (but not all) are kids of old drivers who then get back into it themselves as well. Keeping them there is down to atmosphere, treating them with the same respect and treating them as equals to the fastest drivers.

Drivers attitude makes all the difference, when one of the youngsters breaks down there's guaranteed to be one of the top drivers going over to work out what's wrong and fix it if they can, or if a youngster turns up with a Tamiya TT01 and one battery pack there'll be someone who will top it up for them on their charger. Making them feel part of the club makes all the difference to keeping them coming, which means they tell their mates about us and fathers also see it's a good place to bring their kids. Strangely enough the kids are the only ones who actually check their lap scores after each race, and printing off a spare set to give to them at the end of the night if they have done well means they have something to show their parents and friends to help promote the club. Get the young kids hooked and you've got someone who will race until their late teens when they discover beer and girls, then come back when they've settled down.

We used to have Phoenix Raceway a couple of miles away, a bigger permanent track that was advertised by the local hobby shop. It died because the serious racers there effectively scared off any newcomers which led to its demise. An example was a pair of new drivers that turned up at our club, they had been told by racers at Phoenix they needed the latest spec touring car, lipos and brushless to race there, while we told them the 15 year old Tamiya tourers with 540 motors and old nicads would be fine to get started and have fun racing. Guess which club they raced at.

As for getting them there in the first place, I can't help much there. We rely on an ancient website that needs updating with an easy way to email me from it, youtube videos and a facebook group, but mainly by word of mouth. We haven't been advertised in a model shop since 2004 and we've never got to the stage of needing to promote the club.
Getting coverage in your local papers is a good way to get yourself known, pointing out it's something for the kids to do and how little it costs to get started (540 motors make a cheap starter class) while pointing out there are world championships and the fact Lewis Hamilton started with r/c cars are good ways of attracting their attention.

[Si Coe]

I'd come visit you guys at Cheadle more often if it wasn't for work/family commitments meaning Thursdays are basically out. The reason why? Ironically, its because you don't have a transponder loop! Buggies are always a bit of a carnage class on that track, and (absolutely no offence intended here Terry!) the manual timing means there are frequent errors - but thats why its fun. Its not about FTQ, fancy gear etc, its just about having a laugh at the track.

[fidspeed]

hi Guys
Most of what is said before me is true , A few hardy regulars doin' the hard work for the masses.

I have been racing since the early nineties at Louth we still average 60 drivers per weekly meeting

We race on a friday night (the best night of the week ) generally kids havent got to be up Sat morning and most parents dont have to be at work either probably our most important advantage

we never turn anyone away whatever they bring to start with (we have two loan cars gor testers (currently bulletproof Ansmann tourers)

Encourage youngsters the most

Drivers briefings (rants!) about helping naming and shaming if neccessary it usually works if there not willing to help there no use as clubmembers either .

regular series about 4 a year Team race (mixing all abilites horrendous to organise but the best night of the year ) christmas party with prizes raffle and disco

We are blessed with a hardcore of regulars and who have evolved with our club over twenty years and moved with times from buggies to tourers and no doubt will follow trends in time

we have handout transponders available but do encourage personal AMB

Lastly we are all there for fun and everyone is regularly reminded about it Prima donnas do'nt go down very well here unless they learn to muck in quickly

we also are doing a monthly carpet series on Sundays (f1 mardaves pancars etc if anyone wants to come

weekly meetings £2.50 sunday all day £5.00

regards Dave fiddling

[terry.sc]

I'd come visit you guys at Cheadle more often if it wasn't for work/family commitments meaning Thursdays are basically out. The reason why? Ironically, its because you don't have a transponder loop! Buggies are always a bit of a carnage class on that track, and (absolutely no offence intended here Terry!) the manual timing means there are frequent errors - but thats why its fun. Its not about FTQ, fancy gear etc, its just about having a laugh at the track.
Gotcha there Si, we have our own IR transponder system and have had it for almost a year now.:p
The fact there used to be no guarantee that the lap scores were accurate (they usually were Si!) as you say meant no one bothered much with lap scores. You would think accurate lap counting might make them take it more seriously, but strangely enough still no one cares who actually wins.

[Apricot Slice]

I agree with Terry about folks that stand around while others set up.
(Some people are just bone idle and you cant do anything about that.) Mainly its not quite feeling part of the club and that maybe handling the clubs equipment, as it were, would in some way be taking a liberty.
Its quite simple. Be friendly and ask a random onlooker to help do this or that. soon they will get the idea that its ok to handle the equipment and hopefully they will feel better for making a contribution.

I think positive encouragement is the best way.

[taz5311]

I've been racing at Leighton Buzzard MCC for about four years now and agree with most about setting up, Its the same old faces week in week out.
We have been running a very good Tamiya MINI class for years and it certainly helps with ecouraging the youngsters to join, (having a good local model shop helps as they can help push the class.) cheap to start but can allow for hop-ups as drivers improve.
Tuesday was the first round of our new TT_01 class, run straight out of the box, only 'hop-ups' allowed are bearing set, alloy drive shaft and 3 racing shocks. we use a control motor, (ansmann clash 28) and control tyres again 3 racing. This has already proven to be a popular class, cheap entry level racing.

[john333]

I think maybe some of the regulars just need to stop for a bit, then the others would HAVE to lay the track out :lol:

I wasnt really hoping to turn it into a slagging match, and was just trying to get some more regulars coming, we only had 15 on friday (and made a loss on the hall rent) and the problem seems to be that we get a lot of non-locals coming from miles around, so they leave earlier to get home in time (which is understandable really).

Setting up some sort of mini-championship to keep people coming seems a simple start, with a cheap prize at the end!! The other option is to try and find a better and cheaper hall for rent, which is more local to Hereford itself. This is a risky option though, as I would say that half of all racers are guests in effect not members, so would we get more racers coming locally to keep the costs covered? Tricky decision.

I agree with your comments about groups of racers Terry, this is exactly what is happening. I dont like shouting at people to get involved, its not my style, but the 'take no s**t' attitude of John Robson at stafford always works!!

hehe, john robson used to scare me when I first started racing as a kid.....and he still did a bit last time I raced (I was 30.....)

[RogerM]

Mark, as a (saddly) infrequent visitior to your club may I give you my honest feedback ... I appologies if any of it seems blunt, it's certainly not intended to be offensive in any way ... it seems I have a bit of a harsh vibe to my writing style!

Firstly the venue itself is very good, plenty of space, adequate power and reasonable temperature control. +1

The track surface, good carpet that isn't mega grippy and doesn't eat tires and also doesn't seem to offer a huge benefit to those with fresh tires over worns ... perfect for a club +1

The layouts, sometimes I think you guys put features in for the sake of features. On a couple of occassions I have been to the club it has felt as if the car almost never has all 4 wheels on the ground. That makes it difficult to judge any potential setup improvements and makes it difficult to 'race' on IMHO. I know the majority are micro racers but it does make the track less enjoyable for 1/10th ... again just my opinion. -1

The people, everybody seems nice and friendly and there doesn't seem to be any real cliques going on which is nice. +1

The schedual, it does seem to be the case that it 'feels' like a long time form doors open to the start of racing. Once the meeting gets underway its totally manic to the point that if you break anything, not matter how minor, it's tough to get out for the next round. As I am coming from about 90mins away and I am leaving work about 4:30/5pm I am usually one of the first there. You know I am more than happy to help with the laying of the track but I do find it difficult to get involved as there never seems to be any sort of plan. All that ever seems to happen is that 1 or 2 guys "make it up as they go along" whilst the other handful of folks drag all the bits out into the middle of the hall and pile it up. I think a pre-drawn track plan would help loads to get the track layout communicated and as they say "many hands make light work". Your track marking system is really simple to set up and the only improvement would be for the lengths to be marked on them, that would allow anybody to be able to follow the plan if there was one. I wish I could do more to help with the packing up but have at least an hours drive back and invariably have to be up at 5am on a saturday morning for work -1

The day, with more and more people working saturdays, often at even less sociable hours than in the week, a Friday night is a real PITA. The arguement for Fridays was always that the kids would struggle to get their homework done and get to a race meeting on a school night ... thing is there are next to no kids now and those that do race seem to be organised enough to cope IMHO.

Also only running every other week means it is easy to get out of sync with when it is on, a number of times I have found myself in a position to go racing on a Friday night only to look at the website and find that your not running that week. Often it's a more than a month before I get the chance to visit your club again.

Obviously that is going to be different for everybody you ask so this one is just my personal opinion. -1

The location, Leominster isn't easy to get to from the south or (M50 side) in terms of consistency of journey. Easy enough to find but a horrible slow drive through the lanes non the less. Not sure on the access from the north side but looking at the map it seems a little better. If you could get it closer to Hereford without loosing too much of the space and storage of the current venue I think it would benefit the club as it would "feel" closer for many of the west mids off-road racers and that might get the guys from the Birmingham / Coventry / Kidderminster / Worcester areas along a little more often. I remember Worcester buggy club having 30-40 every week at a venue much smaller than yours because it was always good racing and easy to get to (must have been a while ago though as I also remember TQing regularly there lol).

It might be worth while posting a question / poll in the Mid West region section on here and asking if you can have a link on the Mid West website to judge what would be best to for the 'local' drivers.

The motivation, why am I willing to do a 2.5 hour round trip to race at Leominster / Hereford? Because I like the size of the tracks and the fact that I can use old tires without feeling at a huge disadvantage. That said there is no reason for me to become a regular, especially not seeing as it cost me £20 to do a club night there. If I knew there were going to be several quick buggy lads there to compare myself against (i.e get lapped by ;) ) I would be there much more regularly. 0 (as not the clubs fault the quick west mids guys don't go)

Total rating = 0 (i.e. the negatives for me balance with the positives)

So what do I do instead of going to Leominster? Well the simple answer is nothing, I have very little other choice.
I could maybe go to Caldicot and maybe I will in the future but that is further in terms of time (or more expensive if I use the bridge) and the hall is much smaller than yours ... seem to remember it being a bit of an obstical course type track from some previous visits too.
I am getting my TC together to run at Gloucester, even though their track is VERY small it is only about 4 miles away and they do get a couple of quick boys there now and again (such as Mr Jefferies).
I might also go to Worcester on occassion with the TC once I have it running as I would like.

What I am looking forward to is Ledbury running on a Wednesday evening, hopefully I will see you there Mark.


You know I am a fan of your club Mark, the core guys do a great job and I am disappointed in the poor showing of support from the Mid West lads at the BWOC even though I pushed it as much as I could for you.
I really hope that the Hereford club keeps going and putting in the good work you have been, would be a shame to loose it ... even if it is a little too far for me to become a regular (although I will try to do once a month again soon)

[G-46]

hehe, john robson used to scare me when I first started racing as a kid.....and he still did a bit last time I raced (I was 30.....)


i was a member of John Robsons club for a number of years and i must say i have nothing but praise for the man, his indoors and out-door meetings are the best run i have been to, in regards of the manner, organisation and just the way the meeting is ran.

Yes he has a no nonsense approach but it works.

[john333]

^^ nothing but praise for the way he ran the meetings, it was more a case of me being a bit "timid" at the time! hehe

[peetbee]

I could maybe go to Caldicot ......
seem to remember it being a bit of an obstical course type track from some previous visits too.
Not the case now Roger, hopefully you'll get the opportunity to visit us sometime soon. :)

This year has been the first in a while that we've had a heat full of new starters with their christmas presents - remember when that used to happen every year?! There are only 3 children in that group though, the rest are 'born again' racers!

Last year I wrote a little article for the local parish/village magazine which encouraged a few locals to come along to see what we are doing. Is that something that you could look to do in addition to the local schools?

For those clubs who have cars for people to try out, could I ask how popular they are and whether it does help get more people into racing?

[swappyd]

I'm just looking at getting back to racing after a very long break (20 years).
However for some of the mean time (and still am) I've been into Heli's.
Our club just about folded two years ago.
But what has happened is that the club has as big a social element (chatting, drinking cups of tea, drinking more cups of tea, etc..)

This has transformed things as people want to be there and feel the club and it's future belongs to them.

We do have a few "odd jobs" but then every club does, as a group everybody mucks in and those who don't find themselves on the end of light hearted micky taking.

You find the group that does not help are the sort that don't like been the butt of jokes

We have gone from 20 (hard core) members to having to cap the membership to 60 and add a waiting list this year.

So if you can get the club nights to be enjoyable word gets round and people come

Hope this gives you an "outsiders" view.

[Thargor]

hey guys.....

i think RC racing needs more promotion.... i was looking at go pro camera vids on you tube when i came across a guy who had put one on his car and it got me wondering what was going on in the rc world. i used to race 20 years ago at bolton buggy club and when i read about LiPo batterys and brushless motors and 2ghz transmitters i thought wow ..... surly with all this new technology people should be attracted back to the sport... i know i am..
im not allowed to spend all my money on a new car and radio gear atm though as im moving house..blah blah...

as for the other stuff you guys mentioned cheap plastic trophies are really good for kids... ive still got some of mine... (only the big final wins though... i threw away the 3 in the g final ones :thumbsup:)

and another idea i had to help get people involved in setting up the track would be to get a layout of the floor space drawn out and get people who come to the club to design a track... the winning design is used that week and if you had drawn the track you would want to help build it... and also it might speed it up having a drawn out plan.... just a thought i had while eating my beans on toast....

[Si Coe]

hey guys.....

i think RC racing needs more promotion.... i was looking at go pro camera vids on you tube when i came across a guy who had put one on his car and it got me wondering what was going on in the rc world. i used to race 20 years ago at bolton buggy club and when i read about LiPo batterys and brushless motors and 2ghz transmitters i thought wow ..... surly with all this new technology people should be attracted back to the sport... i know i am..
im not allowed to spend all my money on a new car and radio gear atm though as im moving house..blah blah...

as for the other stuff you guys mentioned cheap plastic trophies are really good for kids... ive still got some of mine... (only the big final wins though... i threw away the 3 in the g final ones :thumbsup:)

and another idea i had to help get people involved in setting up the track would be to get a layout of the floor space drawn out and get people who come to the club to design a track... the winning design is used that week and if you had drawn the track you would want to help build it... and also it might speed it up having a drawn out plan.... just a thought i had while eating my beans on toast....


We did that when Bury ran the indoor series at Chadderton - each meeting a couple of us would draw up a track, we'd choose 1 and build it. But even then translating drawing into track wasn't easy. Setting up a track in a bare hall with or without a plan is tricky.

I agree about the promotion though. Roger mentioned lack of kids racing - a good part of that is so few even know racing exists. I'm a teacher, and my pupils are stunned at what our cars can do, and that there is organised racing. Now my current pupils don't have the income or resources to afford race cars (its a poor area and most are new arrivals to the UK), but I've worked other places where it might well be more successful, if we even tried. I see plenty of kids bashing RC's - they just don't know there is more than that.

Trophies I never saw the point of. Pot hunting used to mean it was better to be 1st in the C than 4th in the B which always seemed absurd to me.

Anyway, you won't need a new car to come run at Bury. Bring the ancient one and I'll get it working....

[bigred5765]

when we were running chorley club we had a few kids racing, and small trophies and or badges for 1-2-3 always drew them in,

[mattb]

Having big oople bustups and slanging matches also seams to boost the attendance:thumbsup:

[bigred5765]

Having big oople bustups and slanging matches also seams to boost the attendance:thumbsup:
lmao, thats because evryone comes to see it kick off:woot:

[mattb]

probably karl,lol

[Thargor]

i dunno if i ever saw it as that... i know i always thought urrggh b final third trophie again when i would have much rather just qualified for the A..... when bolton was at its fullest A final was damn fast....

i am going in the loft tomorrow to get my cougar...
my brother stole most of my electrics so would need new.... if i was going to come back it would have to be a set of lipos, 2ghz tx and brushless.... there would be no point trying to use my old stuff... it was cheap back then....and i think this is what will make RC racing big again, the batterys...

when i started racing at 8 i think my grandad funded my mardave meteor :thumbsup: and my dad the rest... we got really into it and my dad loved setting up the car (as much as he could with a mardave). i couldnt believe it when i opened my cougar box on crimbo morning a couple of years later and it said works team on the box..... my mum and dad always were (and still are) ace at crimbo presents.even if they didnt really have the money for it....its a shame some kids cant race cos they dont have the money to get a car.....but i think your right though.. most kids dont even know you can race RC cars rather than just chasing the dog.....

[bigred5765]

ahh racing at horwich in the very small hall at the collage those were the days lol

[Thargor]

do you remember christine bellowing "shut that door" over and over again in the winter.....

[Thargor]

that was the only place i raced for ages because of the small track it was the only place i could get my cheap batterys to last with a fast motor....

cant imagine doing 2 races on the same charge..... i want a go......:woot:

[Daryl]

A point id like to make, which has lready be touched on above..

I had no idea people were still racing, I stoped racing around 94/95 and probably moved onto football or something, anyway, I completely forgot about it..had absolutley no idea in the last 15+ years that people were still doing it. You just dont see it anywhere advertised in any way shape or form, it was only last year someone showed me a video of an RC plane or something that I thought id investigate and see if people were still in RC car racing and had it evolved, low and behold its very much alive and well!! I now own a yokomo B-max4 and in the process off buying electrics from DMS racing and should be attending the next club meet next week, :thumbsup:

If you want to bring a younger generation into this sport you need to target schools as a starting point, maybe open a club night once a month or something at a local school hall and allow kids to watch full races and have a go and see what they think.

[Thargor]

yup... RC deff needs to put itself about a bit...

[bigred5765]

that was the only place i raced for ages because of the small track it was the only place i could get my cheap batterys to last with a fast motor....

cant imagine doing 2 races on the same charge..... i want a go......:woot:

i still see her from time to time,she was always shouty lol:woot:
i use to be there virtualy every sunday
me
ste armour
simon pickering
graham eccles

[Thargor]

no way you still see her...ha thats good....

i remember simon pickering and graham eccles name's.....
im younger than you guys.....i think........

i used to pit with a guy called peter edern ..... hes car was always in the wall cos it was too fast for him.....

[Chrisfoster1971]

i've only a matter of a few weeks ago started visiting Mansfield RC club and in the main I enjoy it. Like most have said there appears to be a little clique of drivers that dont deem themselves necessary to help out with track setup/packup and on occasion have made snide remarks about what you've purchased etc etc. Which personally doesn't bother me one bit( the remarks that is ) however if clubs are to grow surely a friendly approach is going to do the club more good. There are some cracking guys down there and thankfully a small number of kids that come down racing their SC's. Like most money is tight and I purchased a cheap Maverick SC which i find is adequate for me, although a recent TT01 is more lively to hold my interest.

Things I'd change would be location...its erm a bit of a dump, the hall is nice and large but pillars etc when impacted do plenty of damage,

I'd be tempted to have a room layout with dimensions and an inventory of track parts, making it possible to design a track rather than winging it.

More power.. The unit is an old industrial unit which could do with more power outlets.

I love going down and having a crack, and in the most people are nice a friendly, I do feel intimidated and on occasion have ended up breaking my car to get out the way of the obviously more experienced guys.

A few of us have asked for a practise night without timing etc which would mean more track time if this followed race night we would and chance to have 15min slots for different classes etc allowing time for charging/setup changes and no damage inducing jumps.

Hope this helps coming from a noobie and my observations.

btw we stumbled across a post in the local morrisons, had it not been for that we'd have no knowledge of the club, which is a shame as its corking