|
I think it's rather important to have a novice class for newer racers to start out in. Usually, it's one of the biggest classes at our local track, and it gets people's feet in the door. Most of the clubs we race with allow a class if there's 3 or more entries, and it's not that hard to find another person willing to try it out. There's been times I've ran a car in novice just to help out newer racers with developing race craft and setting up passes.
I think most clubs do a bad job with newer racers or view them differently then they should. They want to race just as bad as we do, they're just nervous to be thrown out there with all of the big cars/classes. One track we compete with always has a strong novice program, even having some vehicles owned by the track just should anything happen to a driver's car and they cant race with it. Novice drivers are very important, they're the future of R/C racing. |
Quote:
I find this more common in onroad than offroad, but I know what you mean. I've seen more than a few potential new racers turn up at the track with a TT01 or similar, still on the standard motor. They normally go home disheartened when they see the other car lap the track in less time than it takes them to get down the straight, use an esc that costs more than their entire setup and are carrying vast amounts of gear around even for a club meet. Truth is though that its the driver that matters. I know quite a few good drivers insist on using older, cheaper gear because thats all they need to win. One of my clubs top drivers for example still runs a 20 year old 27mhz entry level Futaba Attack radio - it works as well for him as the latest DX3 so why not? In fact, its worth noting that the clubs I know that have lots of new drivers are the ones that also have a good number of older hands that like to mess about the bargain basement gear (cheap cars, old cars etc). |
My son is 9 and has just started racing. I got him a second hand B4 and set this up with all my old brushed electrics that were sitting locked away in a drawer.
At the moment he plays rugby at the weekends but in the summer we hope to get out for some more out door racing. Maybe clubs could ask people to hand in their old electrics and this could be given to the juniors to use. Bet most people have old brush motors and ESCs lying around which will never be used and could not be sold either. |
NEXT STAGE
Right people, i have been speaking to some of my work colleges with young children at junior school. There is intrest in running demo's/testing at the school fate's etc. I am in process of writing letter's to there headmasters/Mistress to inquire at the possiblity of running there. I would be intrested to hear from a few people around London to help out?
James K |
Quote:
I hope this high status mentality goes away because at the end of the day we're all here to have fun. When I started racing a long long time ago it was mardave mini stocks, £40 for the kit and another £40 for the radio, so for £80 plus a lesure battery you could race, everyone had the same gear it was a very even playing field, now it does seem to be who can spend the most money which is such a shame. I'm not having a pop at people who can afford the best gear, why shouldn't you buy it but if people come to the club asking questions don't tell them to buy what you have explain about the cheaper stuff, explain about how easy it is to pick up used items that aren't that old and still perfectly capable. |
Quote:
|
But I went there everyone had the lastest cars, lastest Hudy tools,Wet car and a Dry car, Its just seems to be such an competive field out there now and not alot of kids/teenagers my age 15 and the younger age groups doing it. Meaning no sort of entry leval class/Track day class, im up against top leval stuff not being horrible but there much more charger is worth more than my car alone, Its a bit like entering formular one. Louis
|
Kids racing
We (my son and myself ) race at telford hot trax, he is only 9 and is doing quite well with a Carisma gt16b, all standard kit, apart for a few old lipos i had lying about,
his car is currently setup to approx 30% power and he finished second in his final last week, the club has a good mix of oldies and 30+ and also a few younger kids all of the races are mixed and there is a good race atmospher with all ages of racers, |
My son is almost 5 and RC mad, he was having a play with my buggy at my local track but its to hard for him to control so i luckily managed to pick up a 2nd hand XXX-CR-T for £75 including a Novak ESC and motor and a spektrum Z590 servo. I have put in a cheap (£40) new 2.4ghz system and a second hand lipo battery (£10)
What a difference - the truck is easier for him to learn on, rides obstacles easily if he makes an error and crashes and being a truck the tyres have now been on for about 6 hours running time and are still good enough to race on. All i have done is turn the radio down to 20% throttle and added a lipo cutoff as the system doesnt have a built in one. When hes ready i will move him over to buggy again but the trucks are that much fun ive bought a 22T so we can race together in the summer! Maybe with the advent of some cheaper RTR trucks clubs could be aiming to promote this class for younger drivers - i think from a cost point of view with regards to tyres its cheaper long term and they seem more durable than a buggy plus the bigger shells make them seem more attractive. |
Hmmm
It's interesting reading all these comments...definitely some positives vibes on bringing the younger generation into line with r/c.
TBH, most kids now run around with a mobile, mp3 player blah blah...so the idea of affording this and that (for a lot of teenagers) isn't such a big factor. Though I think the idea of having some "taste and see" cars would be a great help to encourage others. When I was young, I dreamt of a Tamiya Grasshopper...though in those times the price was phenomenal! My dad bought my a Turbo Blaster which I cherished but I always wanted a Tamiya.. Recently, I was going to a small club in Colwyn Bay close to where I live, but recently it packed up due to poor turn out. It was just indoor bashing where people brought whatever...but it was fun as you could have a good natter and tune your kit. Sometimes I think with better promotion it could have been a success, but these days people just don't have the time to invest.. |
Quote:
It was a slightly unusual day in that a lot of the top national drivers were there as a warm-up for the BTCC meeting next week and the full national next month. Understandably these drivers have a lot of gear, but fundamentally they have a lot of talent and it is a valuable experience to just watch their lines and learn. Most of the gear you see on the pit tables is out of choice. The Much-More charger is nice, but in all honesty it doesn't charge the batteries any better than a £50 charger from your local model shop. I was running my 5-year -old touring car at the meeting with it's 2-year old motor and new battery pack (yes, I have been splashing out), and the car was not a problem on the day at all. I put it in the 13.5 A-final. The track temperature was very low and a lot of us were struggling for grip, especially on the BRCA-spec tyres. As far as lower-cost racing is concerned, we had a heat of Minis and front-wheel drives there. These cars cost a lot less than a full-fat touring car and we run them with £10 motors. The racing is just as much fun, possibly even more fun at times - the tyres on my Mini actually worked in the conditions! So don't be disheartened, just focus on bringing a well prepared car to the track, and practicing your driving. We all started somewhere. If you have any problems, just ask. We race for pleasure, that's why we smile in the pits! |
Quote:
Im getting the car set up properly and learning how to drive it race pace going most weekends there to practice. Then I will fair a good chance racing. Cotswold is an amazing track so is every one in the pits I found out really helpfull.:thumbsup: |
| All times are GMT. The time now is 08:27 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
oOple.com