Making R/C bigger

[Hpi_guy]

in my eyes there is quite a few factors that put people off, a few of these have been mentioned, first being the appeal from manufactures such as durango, i was 14 when i first started and could never afford a car such as a durango, never mind a tamiya, my budget only just got me a rtr blitz (this is also where my love of ansmann cars comes from, purely for their cheap price but still competitive), for anyone who cant drive such as people like me then transport is a issue, my local club is about half a hour away, luckily there is 1 or 2 people that race at the club who live near by who i can get a lift with, price of equipment can be a issue, when i first started all i knew was brushless was better and the lower the turns the faster and shocks require oil, i stupidly thought engine oil would do, but when i asked people what i should get i was told speed passion and tekin and such brands that cost more than my car was worth, these are a few issues that i had.

[Mad-Wolfie]

I think we are all forgetting something here, which goes back to what Jim & a couple of others have said.. WE are the BRCA, without us there would be no BRCA at all, that means WE have the power to make the sport bigger.

The best way to promote the sport/hobby whatever you want to call it is by doing it. I mention i do RC racing to people i know, meet down the pub etc & everyone usually takes an interest & a few of my friends/family have asked me to take them along to a race meeting in some cases some have bought their own cars & had a go.. it may of only been for 5 or 6 months in some cases, but they have shown interest & as a result have a better understanding.

The big problem as i see it is not many people know how to go about starting, but there are people out there with a bit of guidance are willing to have a go or just go along to watch. Lots of people have had RC cars as kids or seen them in shops but are totally unaware where there are clubs or tracks to take them to (even some RCers you talk to don't know there are clubs near to them in some cases), I know what you are probably thinking, this is where the BRCA should come in but we can't blame the BRCA for this lack of knowledge, this falls on the club chairman or his committee members to get out there & do their bit & as i say we are the core of the BRCA, it's members.

Also someone mentioned getting a major sponsor on board to help with advertising etc. as in any menial sport, most sponsorship comes from within the sport itself this is why we have companies like Schumacher & CML etc sponsoring events rather than corporate sponsors such as drinks companies. The more the sport appeals to a wider audience the higher the chances of those types of corporate sponsors coming on board, but it's catch 22.. you can't get the wider audience because to do that takes high profile PR or advertising which is why you need sponsorship.

Some things i've considered if/when i ever run an RC club
* having a lads & dads championship or meeting.
* getting in touch with local schools or colleges - sounds daft, but think of it this way, RC can be a great way of teaching kids about engineering, you may just come across the next Adrian Newey, so what is wrong with asking if you can offer your club to the school system to learn about automotive engineering in small scale.
* get into the shopping centres.. set up a table with a car on it, or build a area to run round in & hand out flyers or vouchers
* hold training... attract the newcomers & take them to one side for a few minutes before heat 1 starts to talk about car set-up or race craft, i've seen this done & it attracted a lot of keen interest showing people how to set up a car with a very basic school maths set & a couple of coins rather than using an expensive set-up board & loads of special tools or gauges.

[DanB4]

I ran this event for Red Bull over here earlier in the year.

Students were given red bull cans out of which they had to make a shell for the car and then race one another, it was a knock-out competition with the finalists from each country visiting Red Bull F1 in the UK! I always worried about masses of cut fingers though didn't see any The racing wasn't exactly exciting on the tiny track though!

It must be a global competition if the finals are in the UK? It's called Red Bull Racing Can....anyone heard of it? We provided the cars, transponders and BBK/MyLaps timing.

Also built a circuit in a shopping centre car park and inside another big centres food court - they aren't managing it well though and at some point my 'real' job and family have to come first

Contrary to the worlds perception, it's equally as hard if not harder to persuade people here.....they're bloomin' awkward and tight!

Dan