How many drivers are there in the north east interested in a perpose built track

[paulywally]

Ladies and Gents - drivers of the Northeast

I am sure, like many of you, I am extremely frustrated with not being able to race as often as I would like. Not having a purpose built track in the Northeast, I have taken it upon myself to look at several different options of sports halls etc, both indoors and outdoors to accommodate our passion for racing. I am in the process of reviewing and short listing several options of a permanent location.

During this research I have spoken and had several meetings with a contact at the council to find out what help is available with funding and support etc. These discussions are in the very early stages with a lot of admin and ground work which has been already been done and with a lot more to do. My contact is very eager to help.

So, I am doing some market research to find out what interest there is and who would be willing to support the venture by answering the few questions below. I am only looking for positive, constructive feedback. I believe there are approximately 50+ drivers in the Northeast, so I would appreciate as much feedback as possible. I would be grateful if you can ask as many people as possible the following and return replies to myself:

How many drivers would attend regularly
How many nights a week would they attend
What nights are preferred
How much annual membership are you willing to pay
How much are you willing to pay per session
Are you interested in doing weekend display days.

[chris68nufc]

Paul.....yadda yadda yadda!!

Loads of people have harped on about this to no avail!


I would personally love this to happen but im not confident even though i will try and help out with anything i can do if it does happen, i think it will take a good man/team to get this up and running but bloody good luck mate!!

Make it in Morpeth if you can!

[cmgreen]

During the week would be fantastic! We once had this at a club called jarrow, and every tuesday nite there was loads turn up. Dont make it a weekend cos this is what happened and the club died!

If you need any help paul give me a shout and i'll try my best to be there! Its going to take alot of hard work to setup somthing like this but surely once its taken off then we should reap the rewards.

Come on guys lets get behind this

How many drivers would attend regularly - ?? Dunno
How many nights a week would they attend - once for me
What nights are preferred - Monday/Tuesday/thursday for me
How much annual membership are you willing to pay - For a decent indoor track (permanent) £300 - 400 - 500 ???
How much are you willing to pay per session - £10
Are you interested in doing weekend display days. - Could be!

[paulywally]

Come on Ladys and Gents
I need feed back on this before i proceed any further

[Col]

How many drivers would attend regularly Not enough!
How many nights a week would they attend1
What nights are preferredWeekend
How much annual membership are you willing to payYORCC charges £12
How much are you willing to pay per session YORCC charges £5
Are you interested in doing weekend display days.[/QUOTE]Not really

Have a chat with the lads from the warehouse to find out why they had to close, see what (if anything) they could have done different. You need a seriously dedicated hardcore membership that you can guarantee will turn up EVERY week (who pay enough on their own to cover all costs), or it will fail.

[Dalton]

How many drivers would attend regularly +1 for Me
How many nights a week would they attend 1-2
What nights are preferred Weekend
How much annual membership are you willing to pay £40-50
How much are you willing to pay per session £10
Are you interested in doing weekend display days. Yes

What area in the north east would this be ?
Will it be Perm built track indoors or outdoors or both ?

[Dalton]

Originally Posted by Col

Have a chat with the lads from the warehouse to find out why they had to close, see what (if anything) they could have done different. You need a seriously dedicated hardcore membership that you can guarantee will turn up EVERY week (who pay enough on their own to cover all costs), or it will fail.

TRCC Warehouse ? its still running but mainly onroad, We tried a few sundays for Off road, have alot of jumps and ramps built but only getting 5-6 people a meeting so it died off. Posibly if there was more advertising and more interest you could run there.....

[Col]

Originally Posted by Dalton

TRCC Warehouse ? its still running but mainly onroad, We tried a few sundays for Off road, have alot of jumps and ramps built but only getting 5-6 people a meeting so it died off. Posibly if there was more advertising and more interest you could run there.....

TRCC may still be running, but the warehouse isn't. That's what needs discussing! IMO that place was what all indoor off road venues should aspire to be.
As far as most were (are?) concerned when the warehouse closed the club went back to running just onroad.

[Dalton]

we ran a massive L shape track last time with some great jumps :-

http://www.youtube.com/user/chequere...11/hyLo5iQ2uPw

Track was great, new warehouse is a little smaller but with a little work is just as good as the old 1. TRCC just need the support to get the buggys running full time again

[nobby]

Originally Posted by Col

TRCC may still be running, but the warehouse isn't. That's what needs discussing! IMO that place was what all indoor off road venues should aspire to be.
As far as most were (are?) concerned when the warehouse closed the club went back to running just onroad.

the reason teesside club don't run at the warehouse is because boots the chemist hels the lease on the warehouse and had 10 years left on it, but they didn't have a use for it so they came to a deal with teesside rc club to run there.
when the lease ran out boots walked away, and the landlord told them time was up so the club had to leave.
no other reason than the lease was up and they had to go.
nothing to do with lack of racers far from it the club was heaving.

[AfroP]

How many drivers would attend regularly? me
How many nights a week would they attend? 1 or 2. maybe 1 through the week but defo on weekends
What nights are preferred? weekend
How much annual membership are you willing to pay? £20
How much are you willing to pay per session? 7
Are you interested in doing weekend display days?no

[nobby]

i have noticed quite a few people that have voted have said they wouldn't do display days.
well most of you whinge on about wnow tracks to race at, and you want a track or club to race at on a week night.
well first thing is if you don't get out there and let the public see the cars and the club you will never have any new members coming through, or is that what some poeple want less racers to beat them

second thing you have monday at tyne met or friday at benfield school.
now forgive me if i'm wrong, but arn't they week nights.

if your planning on this new club being in the newcastle area i think it's the last thing you need with two clubs already there.
just try supporting the clubs that are already there.

paulywally be very careful most of the people on here from the northeast mean what they say, but some of people type good intentions, but don't follow them through i'v seen it so many times over the last few years.
shame really.

best of luck with it pal.
i really do hope it works, but if your looking for support don't hold your breath.

[Chequered Flag Racing]

How many drivers would attend regularly
guessing game (TRCC indoor on Sat night gets circa 35/40 drivers for on-road. 15/20 for a Wednesday night practice)

How many nights a week would they attend 1 night, 1 weekend

What nights are preferred needs to move with my shift pattern

How much annual membership are you willing to pay £20 to included BRCA if needed / £15 if you get your own BRCA membership

How much are you willing to pay per session £7

Are you interested in doing weekend display days Yes

[Chequered Flag Racing]

Originally Posted by Dalton

we ran a massive L shape track last time with some great jumps :-

http://www.youtube.com/user/chequere...11/hyLo5iQ2uPw

Track was great, new warehouse is a little smaller but with a little work is just as good as the old 1. TRCC just need the support to get the buggys running full time again

Haven't been any since that one though

[lotussmart]

Happy to talk to you about expectations, Ardent has been going over a year and we've learnt from mistakes and misconceptions of the wealth (or lack of) of the RC Industry.

Drop me a PM if you want some insight, happy to help.

John.

[Steven Forster]

Would love this to happen

How many drivers would attend regularly ME
How many nights a week would they attend 2-3 times a week/weekend
What nights are preferred Any
How much annual membership are you willing to pay £20-£50
How much are you willing to pay per session £7-£10
Are you interested in doing weekend display days. Maybe [/QUOTE]

Lets have a good venue like Robin Hood Raceway (but indoors)

[cmgreen]

How about just getting a oudoor venue we can use 7-8 months of the year? That will give us north east drivers so much more experience outdoors.

[chris68nufc]

Paul, Why not let everybody know what you are planning because we all probably have different ideas in our own heads what we would like, maybe a brief outline of what you have planned, who will be involved and where abouts etc, it's not as if somebody will steal your idea is it?!

I think that the North East is desperate for a track but I will eat my hat if we get one in the next few years.

I am well on board to give a hand with anything that I can do.

You need to suit the requirements of the people wanting to race rather than the new possible drivers IMO. I can remember when Peter bought loads of cheaper models for newbies to use to get them interested in racing, I would have thought putting the money towards the current racers would have been better, not a dig at Peter at all just an example.

If people are genuinely interested in racing or r/c as a hobby, all they need to do is to do a quick google search on r/c in the north east and I'm sure that they will find something to get them going, having public displays is a bit of a stab in the dark to get members.

I say look after the ones that are interested personally.

Like I said earlier, good luck!

[Steven Forster]

Was thinking of something along these lines for an indoor track.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUKw23XelYY

[baD]

Originally Posted by dexter24

Was thinking of something along these lines for an indoor track.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUKw23XelYY

That WOULD be real nice, I'd even move house a little if you didn't build it in Co Durham !

My thoughts........

Col hit the nail, when he said "You need a seriously dedicated hardcore membership that you can guarantee will turn up EVERY week (who pay enough on their own to cover all costs), or it will fail."
If the annual and/or race day fees are at the top end of the suggestions, a significant number will consider it is more economical to motor south to other tracks, and race there without any need to lend a hand with the track etc.

Having looked at the finances for more years than I care to recall, I do not think there are enough dedicated racers in the NE to make a success of this unless you have a benefactor, or you convince all current NE clubs to merge into one venue catering for all classes of On / Off road vehicle under one roof.

Possible Benefactors:-
1) Local Authorities - unlikely in the current economic climate - they talk good but are very much targeted with making a profit on every premises in their portfolio.
2) Vacant Local Premises - you may hit lucky in finding a deal like TRCC's warehouse - I hope so.
3) Local Landowners - for an astrotruf outdoor venue - possible, if the landowner has to let land go fallow (or similar) for a limited period.
4) R/C Racing manufacturer sponsor(s) - they have to go where the racers are - sadly not the NE
5) Sport England, MSA - I'm sure they have both been tried (prob many times from all areas of UK)
6) You - if you have won a major lottery

I do hope the last option is true as statistically it may the shortest odds - I'd love the plan to succeed before the Parkinson's sets in (some of you think it has already judging from my driving )