What can we do to help our sport
 

During my rookie racing season last year i have had mahoosive fun down at FORCC. Starting off as most of us do, crash, bang wallet and slowly improving as the year has gone on.
One thing i have recently started to notice however is that the general standard of driving at the club seems to be getting really impressive. The racing is faster and feels alot closer than it did just 12 short months ago. (does anyone else at FORCC feel this is happening or is it my imagination?)
Anyway, the younger members of the club are also flying round at the moment with good clean racing and often finishing the night well into the top 15. This is a massive pat on the back club in general ! :thumbsup:

I recently took part in the Petit RC and one of the young members of FORCC was there and put in some really impressive drives.!
Now this chap comes to FORCC week in week out and is on a similar level to alot of the teenagers at the club.
I think what im trying to say, is that i have come into this sport very late in life, i'm never going to make the A final at a regional or national event. I dont have the years of experience behind me but i do have massive amounts of fun. But already i can see that filtering youngsters away from their playstations and onto Model Cars is a huge battle to fight.
This just means that the ones who are coming along to club meets in general need to be helped along the way to regional and indeed national events so that we don't waste the talent that is already under our noses and also help to develop skills and hopefully keep the future of the sport safe.

Once again i will be doing the South east Regionals this year and no doubt ill have the lady with the cake in tow.
But this year i intend to make use of the empty seats in the car by taking along some of the yougsters from our club that have shown a keen interest in wanting to come along to meetings they would otherwise not get chance to go to.

I know its a subject thats comes up all the time and im sorry to bore you all to death. But i think we can all do a bit to keep model car racing as good as it is now.

Thanks for reading;)

Although i don't race at Faversham (i did many many moons ago!), I was once a teenager racing at various clubs in the south east. I was lucky enough that a few fellow racers in the region (Bren Ralls, Adam Hampton and a few others) took me along to regional events so that i could experience a higher level of racing. As you say, it helps young lads develope their driving ability and i am very grateful to them for the help they gave me.

Hopefully other people will share your view and take along any club members that don't have transport.
:thumbsup:

oh, and that obviously applies to all regions!

i gotta agree there is some very good young drivers coming up the ranks as you know i havent been racing down faversham again for very long iv naoticed there is a couple of young lads that could be very good and a push in the right direction is needed but if you dont ask the question you will never know the problem that happends and it happends at every club and that is getting stuck in the same routine the problem with this a driver who has talent will never be at the top of the list purly down to lack of racing experience for example take the top six on wednesday all of us have raced at national or top end reginal level and its that racng experience that alows us to run that 2 3 tenth alap faster. there is a couple of youngsters that could be up there in my opion young will with the atomic b44 the car looks very good on the race track and i dont beive the setup is anywere near perfect tom bates is let down by lack of maintance and a out dated losi xx4. but both of these drivers could be very good.

stu rand

gotta say racig off road again is so much fun im loving every minuit cant wait to get racing outside.:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

As the newly appointed 1/10th PRO I will help in every way I can!!!
It is great you are willing to help out other drivers, especially the younger/newer drivers.
The way forward is to race at as many different clubs possible and as often as possible. Yes FORCC have a great following and they should be congratulated for the work they have done!!!!
Off road outdoors nearly died in our region, when I started racing outside there was only 1 track, and I think only about 10 people turned up for that meeting, the Crawley track is no more, and 1 or 2 tracks have come and gone, but we now have 2 permanent outdoor tracks, Eden Park and West kent, and we are hoping FORCC hold a few rounds of the regional series this year.
So get to as many of these tracks/races as possible!!!
And it may even be possible to race at the national at Eden park as well.
yes it is a big step up, but a step that is definetly possible.
So bring all the people you can, if you need any help please ask, enjoy your racing and of course the company!!!!
DC

Congrats mate :thumbsup:

I think we should have trophy girls at every national! :drool:

Martin & Dave

What can I say but what a thread and some top postings in here!
I hope everybody (nationwide never mind just Regionally!) appreciates that the BRCA, myself and DC are right behind you and anybody else that has such initiatives!

Anything that anybody can do (I'll be dragging some of Chris' mates along to Regionals and maybe End of Season Finals this year) to get the kids (and we all know and appreciate how heavily FORCC supports their youngsters!) racing outside of the club environment will be appreciated and welcomed.

We also need the youngsters and their mentors to think about the End of Season Finals and especially the Junior events (and possibly the EPR National? And Chris says they could come and watch the best in the country even if they unfortunately miss out on an entry!). The South East were so close to the top of the Championship at the 2008 Junior/Veteran event (2nd!) all we were lacking was numbers! And if those numbers have got ability and it sounds like FORCC are bringing more through, so much the better! You never know they might even surprise themselves!

Anyway, better stop now, could carry on and on. We also now have Dave Church as the 1:10 Off-road section PRO and, as he's already said, he'll be right behind such initiatives.
More power to your elbow, lets get right behind this!

If anybody wants to know more about the Regionals, Nationals or End of Season Finals they can get me on here or my email address and phone number is in the BRCA Handbook.

Steve

There are great post's in here!!!!

I would like to hear from more members from FORCC on what they think can be done???:D

Where do you start on such a question, theres a few things i could say but i think it would upset a few people, not that this bothers me but this time i will keep my mouth shut.
Our main aim at FORCCis as you say Steve is to bring the young ones through, at the mo we have over 20 under 18s.
But the main thing that will hold most of them back is not lack of talent it,s COST simple as that COST.
At our club you get budget racing simple as that low cost affordable by
all.

Being a 'Home-Counties-on-vacation' racer, I had to find myself a new regional home last year and, despite Trevor Brown's best efforts with the EoE, the South East is closer and that's where I ended up.

I've got to say that the Faversham regionals were excellent in 08. I loved the track but even more so, I thought the club organisation, their friendliness and their obvious desire to see youngsters racing was top notch.

I hope to see more 'club' racers at the SE regionals this year. I disagree that the series enforces any extra cost over club racing - it can be just a day out at a different track but the excitement of driving somewhere different is definitely worth experiencing.
Agreed you can go mad with the cost of racing but you don't have to. I ran the entire regional and national 2WD series last year with 1 motor that NEVER came out of my car. I used 4 packs of cells and generally needed only 1 set of tyres per national (which could then be run at the regionals).

I miss the old South of Watford leagues and the inter club-rivalry that they, and the clubmans finals used to generate but the regional series is a fantastic opportunity for anyone to 'grow' beyond a single club and I would recommend them to anyone - especially youngsters.

If you're worried about not knowing anyone then come over and make yourself known - we don't bite (well, most of us) and if you need any help or set up advice, you'll find a wealth of knowledge just waiting to be tapped.

Come over and say hi to an old dog in 09 ;-)

i must say i miss the south off watford meetings as well,
i have some great memorys,
at those if i remember rightly,
didnt juniors have seperate finals and points.
maybe somthing like that could be arranged,
this might encourage the youngsters to try some outdoor racing at different venues,


trekkker

Alan, Now is the time to say how you feel!!!! We are trying to move our sport on!!!! There is plenty of room for all South East clubs!!!!
I am confident we can hear your opinion on a public forum and respond in a polite way!!!
This is all about moving our sport forward, and I believe all that have responded are in favour of this!!! And we all do value your opinion!!!!

In answer to " what can we do to help", I think any youngster in our sport is of the X-Box or Playstation age. By youngster I mean under 19's. Fast reactions and good eye to thumb coordination is a given. How else are they going to kill that alien in Gears of War II or lift that trophy in Gran Turismo..

Being able to drive an RC car is very close to second nature for these whipper snappers, but what they lack is the skill to set the car up. It's the knowledge of what to change and when, on the car that will take them to higher levels of our sport.

Faversham is certainly great at helping it's younger and older members with both car set up and maintenance. I've seen many of the top drivers helping out with repairs and set ups. Not something that I have always seem, at some of the clubs that I have been to.

So what can we do to help? Keep our clubs friendly, carry on being open and helping with repairs and set ups.

As the saying goes, "Knowledge is power", lets give our younger members that power..

Big G. :D

:lol: Thats brilliant!!! :lol: you've made my day now Gordon :D

Your welcome,

Once you have your B44 dialed in, your going to be near unstoppable...

Sony and Microsoft have a lot to answer for...:cry:

Big G

Atomised b44 actually :p

help
 

I think Gordon has answered that spot on.
The thread never was pointed at a certain club being better or worse for the sport as far as i can see, ive been doing 1/10th for about 19 years on and off and seen alot of change i.e clubs and series gone cells and motor changes and for me the new age and off road being reborn again is great, with lipo and brushless you now can spend your money and know you have good equipment which has always been a grey area, so with this cost is cheaper now than when i tried higher level racing.
Setup :o some people make it seem easy myself even with all the racing ive done i still struggle to get it straight away the reason is racing in one club takes away setup changes i.e racing in FORCC once the car is setup i very rarely change so with this you do not get an understanding of what changes do, so try other tracks try altering the car see what it does make a note of the change for future refrence and most of all ask other peoples advise the top guys do not bite and they are normal people nothing special depite the t- shirts and stickers :lol: and most of all enjoy after all its only toy car racing;).
maybe 09 will be the year for the South East

I agree Neil, this thread was never about who's club is better!!!
It is about how to better our sport and the drivers in our sport!!!
Setup is all important, and I must say after 6 years or so in the sport, I am still rubbish at setup!!!:cry:
But asking for help is a great way of learning. There are many guys that are more than willing to offer advice, but people must be prepared to ask!
This means approaching people that do understand setup. Just make sure you ask at an appropiate time.
I don't think the top guys would just go up to a newbie and tell them what they are doing wrong, this could be interpreted as being pushy, so it is a delicate issue!!! But as newbie's become more familiar I am sure plenty of setup advice would be on offer.:D:D:D

Absolutely Dave - hit the nail right on the head.
It's not always appreciated if you go upto someone you don't know and then proceed to tear their set up or preparation to shreds - even if it is well meant with the best intentions so most of the top guys keep a respectable distance
But don't ever think that those guys are not approachable. Most are 'top' guys because they are prepared to talk through things with a newbie to help them to get more out of their racing.
I went to a TC open meeting recently and pitted next to Elliott Harper. The lad has left an indelible impression on me - not simply because he's undeniably quick, but because he was prepared to discuss how my TC set up could be changed to improve the handling and how he obviously does all his own prep himself.
He didn't come over to me though - I simply went up and asked.

There's a huge amount of racing experience in the SE region. For anyone who wants to learn more about their own set ups, or how to drive a particular section - just ask any of the 'fast' guys.

I may not be a 'top driver' or a 'fast guy' myself but I am always 100% prepared to share my set up advice or understanding with anyone - if they really want to try things out. I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping others - even if they then go out and beat me with my own set up:blush:

thats what you tend to find with all the world spec drivers excelent prep and a very mathodical way of thinking about setups and what the car is doing on the race track. ive raced againts elliot andy moore ollie jeffreis chris grainger and there out set on the way the car is preped and setup is about the same and some times its a good think just to watch and think how can i change my technics and prep to acheive this.

we are here to help and give freindly advise if you dont want to take it thats fine too.

stu

Hello, thanks for everyones comments:D, this thread was purely about using the extra space in your car and an extra 5 mins of your time to give the youngsters further experience in off road racing.
It was NEVER about any club being better than any other, and my only mistake was to put this thread in the FORCC forum rather than the general South East forum.

On the matter of cost, yes it can be very expensive if you have got and endless pocket and want to make it all the way to the top but on the other hand it doesn't have to be so.......... for example, at the end of last season Steve Andrews ran a end of season round at WKCC, I took along Jordan and Tom who both had a cracking days racing, loads of fun, gained further off road experience and were both using their indoor setups, tyres and 27turn motors !! :lol:

Throughout last year i got huge support from lots of top drivers from various clubs who were more than willing to help out any way they could, for which im am very, very grateful and hopefully i can pass on any knowledge they have given me to someone else!