What can we do to help our sport

[Team No Idea]

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 !

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

[jim76]

Originally Posted by Team No Idea

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.

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.


oh, and that obviously applies to all regions!

[discostu]

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.

[David Church]

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

[Southwell]

Originally Posted by David Church

As the newly appointed 1/10th PRO I will help in every way I can!!!

Congrats mate

I think we should have trophy girls at every national!

[brookie]

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