There are two points that have to be addressed to get more kids into the hobby. We are always going to be competing with video games, something we never had during r/c cars heyday in the 80s.
First you've got to get them to know about r/c racing in the first place. Not easy to do, but having spent last weekend hiring r/c cars out at a local classic car show there is plenty of interest from kids wanting to have a go. To me that is the hardest part, getting them to the club in the first place. Once they have seen what racing is all about and that most importantly club racing is fun and not serious then they usually want to start up with whatever they have.
Once you've got them interested you've then got to do everything to get them racing, just getting them running in the first place with whatever they have is a start, whether they are slow or not BRCA legal is irrelevant.
We always run a novice heat with everything that isn't fast enough to run with the others all mixed together, the last thing you want is some idiot who isn't capable of avoiding a car in front of him shouting because the kid he just crashed into isn't going as fast as the others.
Then help the kids and treat them the same as your adult mates. Don't hang around in your own little clique but get to know the kids and help them out. Charge their batteries, help them sort out their handling problems, give them spare parts when they break their cars. All gets them involved with the club and keeps them coming back. Finally if anyone doesn't respect the kids tell them to go race somewhere else.
We keep things fun and just like Bury the number one priority is enjoying yourself, not race results. Amazingly we also have plenty of kids who race regularly. Show them a club made up of serious hard racers with high end cars and they won't be coming back.
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03-04-2012
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