Permanent outdoor track in North East

[chris68nufc]

When will we see a permanent venue in the North East? I know there have been enquiries into this from a few people but how do you make this happen? I have noticed my local council have started building Skateparks/BMX type parks so why would they not help us fund towards getting an off road/on road track built. I know that model car racing is a very small percentage of people but arent BMX bandits/Skate dudes about the same percentage? Maybe i am picking on BMX ers but im sure that an off road track wouldnt cost half as much to build!
I can appreciate that a club with a permanent outdoor venue would take a lot of commitment by club members and that it would probably only get used in the summer months and maybe a little bit in the winter but im sure that it could work. I have been thinking this due to the lack of tracks around the area an the ammount of racers that would love to see it happen.
What do you think?

[racingdwarf]

That always pisses me off.......lots! Those skate parks cost thousands to build. I know a firm that builds them. There are about three in our area...........never seen anybody on a skatebord, just kids smoking , drinking behind them ( I sound a bit old there) yet the council think they are the nuts!!! some are even floodlit. Yet will they help an RC club in any way? NO.. not unless you spend years hounding them, then they may give you a bit of land but thats normaly in such a rough area you are lucky if the track stays in one peice from week to week. Same thing could be said about bowling greens how many of them do you see? round here there is about 6 in a five mile radius of my house.
Look at the age of 90% of you local or parish councils members.maybe part of the reason.

Rant over........off to crush a grape now

[Lee]

Chris, i know exactly what you mean, my nearest 10th track is batley and im sure you are the same, i have been driving round locally while i have been off and there is so much unused land around me which must all be owned by the council as a lot of it is unusable (to them anyway)

I would love to get something like this going but i really wouldnt know who or what section of the council to contact. If anyone can point me in the right direction im more than willing to have a go

Of course i will use such phrases as "team building" and "learning life skills" in the email/letter

[chris68nufc]

Chris Pattinson has done loads of ground work for NERCR getting a permanent venue and i hope i am not speaking out of turn on this matter. I wanted to post this to see what others thought or maybe start something going again. I work for a few people that own lots of land but im not sure how to go about asking them. I know 1 lad im particular that has 2 farms in northumberland but would people travel/is it a waste of time?
The thing is that i would love to get this going and am sure that there would be local support but i think the council approach is a waste of time. The lottery is a worth a try. We could put a balet shoe on the gates to the track and a tree bent over a bit to satisfy the ART ticky box. What do you think?

[Mrs oOple]

Would it be worthwhile approaching your local MP and explaining how much interest there is in a hobby like this, and that with sufficient Local Authority funding to set up a track you are sure that club members would help to maintain the grounds. It's perhaps worth a try?

[Lee]

Good idea mrs oOple

here is the woman i need to contact

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/214.stm

i never realised there were so many and they all cover small areas, maybe its worth us all draughting up a letter to our nearest MP and see if anyone gets a response.

[Col]

York club have looked into the possibility of building an outdoor track and this is what was decided - total failure!

You cannot rely on non club members turning up, so unless you have an extremely dedicated, large membership and secure, superb facilities, it's not even worth thinking about.

The answer has already been posted in the "only 4 events" thread - Bury was brought into the N/E to help the club out (and that's the best outdoor track for miles around)
Batley has massive problems with location and dedicated members and both these are clubs that have run nationals in the past.

[nottmboy]

hi if you go to the brca website it gives info on how and who to approach, may give you some help good luck

[Northy]

The biggest trouble that York faced was finding land close to the required facilities.

TOILETS are the main problem. If you want to run a National event (which the club would aim to do given time) you need the facilities.

The other problem is planning permission, and getting the use of the land changed.

All hope is not lost for York yet, the search still goes on.

G

[James]

You can all migrate down to worksop if you like, we have the venue, toilets, mini cafe, small kitchen, huge race control, big field for parking etc, away from any neighbours we just need people ! to help upgrading the track

Good luck to you guys further north though...
Look out for a site you might like on agricultural land and write to farmers, theyre prob much more likely to provide you with land than a council or similar, see if theres a corner of a field available somewhere preferably near power and water, expect to offer £500/acre/year + extra if its invasive use ie near farmstead or similar.

Planning permission is a grey area, if you run 28 or less meetings per year and there are no permanent structures on site you shouldnt need it...
Of course if your on the edge of a town people are more likely to complain and they can get planners to investigate and potentially shut the track down, somewhere like blyth in the other hand where theres noone to bother you should be fine..

[chrispattinson]

whoa whoa whoa.

Can I assess how much support a track would get in the North East??

I have had a lot of interest from South Tyneside Council about funding the development of a track in South Tyneside, up to National standard.

The problem being, our clubs dont get enough drivers.

I was enquiring on behalf of NERCR, which had 4 or 5 buggy drivers, not good enough really.

I have contacts with councilors, the deputy mayor etc, but if this is going to take off, we need well attended meetings (even the indoor regional wasnt well attended at Temple Park, and that was partly funded by the council, and they did attend on the day to watch).

There has been a lot of work putting in the foundations for support of a track, but dont know if it can be justified for 5 or 6 drivers to use regularly.

The council also mentioned buying 10 or more B4 RTR for local kids to get involved, they would fund workshops on cars with after school workshops etc, they would help fund a shop setting up at the track etc. They are really keen. If anyone is willing to help take this forward, I'm all ears, but I couldnt find much interest to be honest, apart from a few core people.

[Northy]

Chris,

It all sounds good, but I also see your problem. Here's some figures from the indoor regionals:

Batley 103
Teesside 87
York 111
NERCR 65



It looks like you would struggle maybe with numbers. But it sounds like the council are willing to try and fund it so that new blood starts racing, that is exactly what we need!

G

[chrispattinson]

Another thing to add to this, is yes we can get lottery funding for spending on assets such as the track, my wife works for the Big Lottery Fund and can help with applying for assistance.

[Lee]

Chris, I thought there would be a lot of interest, because of the 3 clubs in the area but with nowhere to race, teesside have now lost there permanent venue so i would say you will get more people willing to race outdoor instead of keeping dry etc.

I think you would pull in more people as well as nobody really walks past a sports hall or a warehouse and thinks "i wonder whats going on in there" but if the track is visible from a road or path etc then people that have an incling of interest will come and see whats going on.

The north east does need somewhere to race 1/10th, if you look at the 8th track near bishop auckland that has taken off well and people travel for miles to race on it as im sure people from york and batley clubs would if there was one built further north.

If you need any help just ask

[chrispattinson]

I would like to think that our May 2008 regional weekend is well attended, again funded by the council. I could organise a meeting with the directors of cultural services (that who you need to talk to) on the regional weekend, if anyone is interested, particularly people who could bring a bit more expertises with bigger tracks, enthusiasm and professionalism.

[nobby]

chris i'll speak to you at jarrow on tuesday.
if you can get a meeting set up on the weekend of the nercr regional i'll come with you and have a chat with them.

i may be able to help you out with the sort of thing we would need.

[Northy]

Chris,

I'll help in any way I can too, and in return you could give me some details of Lottery money for York

G

[chrispattinson]

No problem.

[nobby]

the lottery thing has been tried before and nothing came of it

but if we have somebody on the inside who knows

[chrispattinson]

Its not going to be a magic answer to getting lottery funding understand. ITs just she knows how to apply correctly, for instance your club constitution etc needs to be worded correctly, to ensure a successful application etc.