Off Road Club Hampshire

[dibble34]

Hi All

Quite new to the RC Scene, but just wanted to mention a little club i have joined in Hampshire. More info can be found here http://www.torch-hants.fsnet.co.uk/. Quite a small club with really friendly people and a wide age range. Would recommend to anyone in the area. Thought i woulld give it a plug as the site isn't the easiest to fine on the web

Cheers

Dave O

[Lee Martin]

coool, how olds this track, i went ot a place like this when i was younger!!!

[dibble34]

I think they have been there for about 6 years, but they do maintain the track. It's astro Turf. Quite a good layout

[David Church]

I have been there once, it's a good track!!!

[Crash]

all sounds good to me.
i live near Bournemouth and there's only snoring car clubs near me - this looks ideal.
can i just turn up one sunday morning and race?

[dibble34]

yep, just turn up and go, there are 2wd and 4wd cars, no spec rules as far i am aware. Just turn up and race

[Crash]

I'd better dust the cars off then - looks like I'm going racing!!

[showtime]

the track looks good from space

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=50.92...20&r=0&src=msl

scroll out to see whereabouts it is

[Crash]

looks really good, nicely kept too from what you can see.

just found out it's more than a good dusting the cars need, a small spares order will need to be placed soon me thinks

[Crazy L]

Gotta love that vid eh

Sorry I've not been down for the last year Dave, been really busy on the house and changing jobs, got a new bike too. Had no time or money for RC this year at all.

Be back soon though, my motor is still in bits from last october when I came last time with a couple of clanners.

Yup, get your arses down there, great track, dont be fooled in thinking it's flat, it isn't.

And with money tight these days, it doesnt cost a big ben to race either, bargain.

We could use Fred Dineage to do a local telethon to bring in some new members and small donations

turn up, tune in, go out.

[dibble34]

Hi all

Yep it is a great track and friendly people. It is £4 to race which i reckon is pretty cheap. Crazy, i don't think i am the Dave you know as i am quite new too. There is another Dave that still goes though.

[Crazy L]

Oh ok, I'm thinking you were the other Dave, too many Daves, aaaagggh.
The Dave with too many 1/10th buggies.

Well, I've not been down for about a year, shame, cheap racing ahoy. But i'm hoping to be back soon, have you heard the one about the 540 powered Tamiya buggy winning races?

laterz

[Crazy L]

Bump

It's a small club people, please visit them sometime, if it gets some new regulars things can only improve. Some new regulars will bring new ideas and much needed club funds, which will help greatly .

I dont mean for this to sound like a charity case, but there aren't too many 1/10th off road astroturf tracks on the south coast are there, and there wont be any if we cant keep it rolling.

So come on, pop down for a mornings racing just for fun.

[Crazy L]

Here's a question. What attracts new members to a club/track? and what can persuade them to keep going back?

I ask as I dont think the guy who runs this track does enough to promote the club. I've told him the internet is the answer, he's a bit old skool and wasn't even aware of the existence of DSM technology. He has also in the past shot down all my ideas for trying to attract a new membership.

So how hard is it to run a club? and if you guys visited an astro track on the south coast that was a bit ramshackle, would/wouldn't you go back? and why?

Answers on a postcard to the usuall address. Ta

[dibble34]

For me the main problem is i didn't know they existed. I accidently found the site when on a site about RC planes! As soon as i spoke to the guys and found out it was still running i got a car straight away. The problem is if you google rc clubs, off road clubs, in hampshire etc etc the website is never returned. Unless you actually seach for Titchfield off road club nothing is returned, so unless you know what it is called (guessing most people won't) it remains an RC Secret

[Crazy L]

True, it's a bit hard to find. Then again, on the other hand, if one is bang in to 1/10th leccy buggies, they probably end up here eventually, and judging by the swathes of people not really interested in going that far south, then Ian and Jules may as well call it a day and pack it in. Another one bites the dust.

Other nails in the coffin include the tyre additive smelling hall dwelling 1/12 folks down at Wickham village hall, If they had any imagination, they would get themselves an off road buggy and come race in the summer.

The other thing is, racing every week. Most clubs I know of, have an actual race date, whereby everyone involved knows which sunday to attend, thus you get all the people that week, rather than 3 one week and 4 the next.

It's a shame, but I think that 1/10th off road is dead on the south coast, we have the club, but noone to attend. I was hoping that when the on road (cough) club shut down in Burselden, that we might have soaked up some of the fallout, alas no.

My last nugget comes from the frustration that neither Jules or Ian appear to put themselves out to get on the internet and try and promote the place themselves, I can post 2 minute videos on the internet till the cows come home but if the actual chairman cant be arsed to promote his own club, then what hope is there, lets be fair about this. I even asked Colin of RCKingdom to set up a mini forum for the club on his own website, it had a few people post, only two of which were from members of the club, myself and Jon Wolfe, it's still up, no posts for about a year. I was hoping that interest would pick up since it's existence is now known to the 1/10th masses due to the power of Oople, get some new regular blood down there, then stage a mutiny to see If I could do the job with a bit more gusto, but since there isn't, I wont.

RIP Titchfield Off Road Club Hants*



*though I'd be happy to be proven wrong

[showtime]

i'd go there Lionel & i'd probably be able to get people like Flanders, Sparky, Mini-P & a few others to go as well but its the wrong time of year for us
to us the tenth stuff is something we do indoors in winter because we're not keen enough to go freezing our jacobs off outdoors doing 8th

pretty sure we'd get down there if it was still running next year (8th calendar permitting)

[dibble34]

Don't think it is RIP TORCH. They only pay when they race and only need 7 people to break even, and there is normally around 9 of us. Just would be nice to have a few more. I don't think it is that they can't be arsed, just that it is quite a casual club. Better not close anyway, i just spent loads on my ZX5

[dr durga]

lol i might be able to go but i need something i need someone to go onto google maps and get how many miles is it from witley... comps gone crazy ect would gretly help =p

[Crazy L]

Originally Posted by dibble34

They only pay when they race and only need 7 people to break even, I don't think it is that they can't be arsed, just that it is quite a casual club. Better not close anyway, i just spent loads on my ZX5

This is more like it, any publicity is good publicity in my book.

I know that, but when I was last there, about a year ago, it started to get silly with only 6 turning up and still holding a meeting, a little too casual if you get my drift. It looked set to continue, that's why the RIP prediction.

I beg to differ with you on weather they can be arsed or not, I've been going there for years. Last year, Dave Moore & myself asked Ian to get us all together in a pub somewhere one evening to discuss the club and just chuck ideas out there about how to keep the club going, he didnt want to know, he wasn't the only one though, I thought that the regulars who do show would want to do something to keep their club going, with a couple of exceptions it looked like I was wrong. I suggested a stock class to keep costs down to attract newcomers, he didn't want to know, I suggested an internet forum for members, with the thought it may generate some outside interest, he didn't want to know, (so I did it regardless) He actually told me off for posting the video because it had a thumbnail of something else I had made in the corner of the page (it is MY photobucket page afterall). Perhaps he has something against me personally, I don't know.

I've only started to race again over the last few weeks, having spent the last year changing jobs, working on house, personal issues etc, which explains my absence. I know how you feel about your new buggy having just invested in a new buggy myself, I'm looking for a return sooner rather than later.

Dr Durga, do you mean Whitley? if so, its aint far, the track is in Curdridge lane, which is circled, check it out: http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=curdidge+lane&countryCode=GB#map=50.90379,-1.20879|14|4&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:50.92958 :-1.22763:17|curdidge%20lane|Curdridge%20Lane,%20Wal tham%20Chase,%20Southampton,%20Hampshire,%20Englan d,%20SO32%202

Perhaps double figures are on the cards soon, especially if come the spring, Showtime can rustle up some followers to come down when the RX is not on