Racing and how to increase attendance ??????

[T.S.Davis]

Tom and I talked about this some yesterday.

Something else you really need is a couple knowledable guys that are part of the club that will throw themselves on a grenade to get guys in the water. Be that organizing the club so it actually can race, talking to people that just stop to ask questions, tech support for guys looking for speed. Organized racing doesn't just magic itself into reality. Someone has to make it happen. These guys need the patience of saints too. They're gonna answer the same questions 10,000 times. Plus there will always be the "but this guy on the internet said it would work" battles. Ya take a deep breath and keep working with them.

Another thing I meant to do today but forgot is to volunteer to help the local store. If I happen to be there and someone has FE questions they can come find me.

You have to first want racing to happen and then be willing to sacrifice some time and a bit of sanity to make it so. You'll know when you find one of those types. They enjoy talking FE almost as much as racing them.

[MarkF]

Terry hit the nail on the head. Car tracks and hobby shops with a flyer to your club has worked the best in the 25 years I have been doing this. Having a loner boat for those that show up to try it helps out and then offers of used boats for cheap so they can get there first boat is the best way that I have seen to get people started. The disease will take over from there.

Mark

[Rumpelhardt]

How are the classes structured? I know in drag racing racing you have sportsman classes set up for people running basically stock production vehicles with strict rules pertaining to modifications restricting mods to basic safety and maybe a few small performance/reliability mods. The classes move up in performance from there with each class building on the entry level "stock" class allowing people to move up if they so choose while using the same basic platform helping to keep cost at a relatively manageable level. You then have the upper classes for those who have reached the limits of the production platforms to move into purpose built race vehicles. This works out pretty well but the problem is as people naturally push the limits of the rules the people who make the rules often under pressure from the competitors will as time goes on change the rules in the lower classes allowing more modifications raising cost making it harder for younger people to get a start. You then end up with a bunch of old guys standing around wondering how come their favorite sport is dying.

[ray schrauwen]

Let some people with the interest, try it out. I've heard people say this but the club's don't respond (here at least) unless they lump down $$. They don't mind say $15 or so but not an all in with IMPBA membership and joining the club.

A good number of FE guys just fun run in Lake Ontario because they can and it's fun and cheap.

I known, some spend thousands on some boats only to do fun running and choke on an insurance fee, I hear ya....

[Luck as a Constant]

for me the whole idea of racing just doesn't interest me. I'm not very competitive for starters, and i really like my boats to stay undamaged. that doesn't work if you're racing.

[Rumpelhardt]

I was kind of surprised to learn that RC boats are not popular here in the Northeast. From my point of view the whole RC thing, cars, boats, planes etc. should be more popular than they appear to be. Then I started thinking about why it took me until 59 years old to really start getting into RC vehicles.
I tried RC in the early 80s with a nitro car. It sucked in my opinion. Obnoxiously loud, messy, always tinkering with it to get it to run and glitchy unreliable radio equipment. Sold it off and moved on to other things. A couple years later an electric car. Still with the crappy radio it was slow with no run times and it always seemed to be burning something up.
About fifteen years ago on a whim I got a nitro boat. It was still nitro with the stuff I hate about nitro but it was fun, fast and fairly reliable once I got tuning it figured out at the cost of two engines. The radio still had problems but it was much better than the ones I had before. Problem was I was still drag racing fairly regularly and that took a lot of my time and money so rc was out again.
I really never gave RC another thought until my youngest son came home with an old beat up Traxxas Rustler he got off a guy he worked with. He spent a little money fixing a few minor problems and got a couple lipo batteries and as I watched him run it I saw that it was fast, very reliable, fairly decent run times, tough and the damn radio didn't even seem have much of an antenna on it and still didn't miss a beat. It's been down hill from there lol.
I finally after seeing the new Traxxas boats at their display at New England Drag way decided that I needed a boat. Did a little looking, asked a couple questions, got my Blackjack 29 that I've ran exactly twice before ice and I think I'm hooked.
All this to say I think that a big part of the problem at least with older folks is that there is still some perception of RC vehicles being ether noisy, messy and smelly, or slow and much more finicky and delicate than they now are. There is also the problem of people not even knowing these are out there. I've been in the RC hobby in the car end of things for about five years now and I still didn't know how far boats had come until I saw the Traxxas boats and people can't race something if they don't even know they exist. The hobby needs more exposure. Get more people into the hobby and you will get more racers. There will be more people buying boats and related stuff. It's a great hobby, It's good creative outlet for younger people and old fogies like me alike and I can see racing being a good competitive outlet for those so inclined as well.

[IRON-PAWW]

OK this one I can have some input on. We are a *very* small club in Perth West Australia struggling to get members.

Cost and complexity to get into the hobby is a huge part of it. Honestly - you need more straight off the shelf boats that people can buy and run easily and get hooked. That damn Traxxas Spartan has a *lot* to answer for. Time and time agaim I see new people turn up with one of those - it melts - and you never see them again. Proboat have made good inroads here - but more is needed.

If quality boats - properly set up - with decent ESC's and running gear come in a package with all you need to run them then more people will be interested. A guy in our club just bought a genesis cat from HobbyKing. The motor way *waaaay* out of alignment with the flex/stuffing tube. Just shoddy stuff. Boat went for 2 minutes (god knows how) and the flex flew apart. If that's your introduction to RC boating you aren't going to like it. Put boats on the shelf that will perform and be set up right straight out of the box and you'll hook people. I know that's not so simple. I know. But...

Over here we have a boat show. A rep came to our club meet and was extremely impressed. He asked us to put on a display at this years upcoming boat show. I think you need to get the boats out there and seen by the public at large to generate interest. We get interested onlookers at our club days *all* the time. When people can actually see for themselves what boat racing/running is like you'll hook them. So maybe clubs *do* need to think about display type days.

Flyers at hobby shops and knowledge of the clubs at hobby shops also helps when customers come in looking to buy boats. If customers know there's a club out there they can join to get extra enjoyment out of their purchase then it may just hook them. Great for the hobby shop - great for the club.

Just some ideas...

[T.S.Davis]

like minded nut job.

Haha That sounds like something I may have actually said at some point.

[Ken Haines]

I like to join a club but where is one near orlando fl with out going to the west coast.

There is a large FE club in Ocala at the Villages.
Our club is in Ft Pierce ....The Wave Blasters of Florida
Both are Fast Electric Clubs
NAMBA District 3 is the State organization which races
mostly Gas and Nitro, however this year they are allowing us
4 classes at 7 monthly races. There is a club in Orlando, but
as far as I am aware they are a Gas racing club for District 3.
Actually next week is the Winter Nationals in Melbourne.
Check out Namba3.com

Hope this helped, Ft. Pierce is about a 2 hour ride from Orlando....
we would be happy to have you join us some Sunday.
Pm me if you have any questions and I can give you a cell contact.
Thx,
Ken

[trigger]

Yaeh, I do feel like a snake oil salesman sometimes.

Yeah I hear you. It can be tiring answering all the same questions too, but you have to as you pointed out, just in case you find that like minded nut job.

[T.S.Davis]

Yaeh, I do feel like a snake oil salesman sometimes.

[trigger]

Boats are a lot more effort than other rc forms, it’s not like you can step out your door and run it. Trudge to the pond, don’t forget that retrieval method, assemble everything there, then have 3 mins of fun. Oh and all winter you can’t play if you live in the cooler places.

Our club has all kinds of events be it scale or racing, some in places at the same location of popular farmers markets, in schools, at apartment complexes, loads of people watch, we pass out cards etc, but it’s surprising how few we hook in to it.

When drone racing was made a sport, and grew, I was hopeful that all rc areas would grow with it.

I’m not sure what the answer is, we try to hook folks with various methods, I wish more were into it and got the bug.

[Shooter]

One of the biggest deterrents (at least for me) is the time commitment. If it was an 'afternoon' or a
'morning', then maybe less of a problem. Giving up an entire day + prep is not everybody's bag. My wife still looks at me like 'an entire day??? really???'. Maybe I'm the oddball, but I work full time, come from a big family with wknd b-day parties, little league games, church, etc..., it makes it nearly impossible, even WITH the FE FEVER!!!!

[T.S.Davis]

Should have said, buy all the boats ya want but make sure you continue racing the class the group agreed to. Consistency matters. We bailed on a class we felt we had outgrown and lost a member over it.

[T.S.Davis]

MMEU has set up tables at swap meets multiple times and netted not a single new member from it. That said, locations as well as dates could vary.

The trick to starting a club is really......find someone you know personally that digs RC stuff. Network with people you know. Hand them stuff to try out when/where you can. "First ones free!" Once you have literally 3 dudes to play with you have a club.

Then volunteer your knowledge and even your services if you can. Ken Joye and Dennis Whitt helped me a lot early on. I built a Stealth for one of our club guys that I had met one time. Now he's a junky. He can't get enough RC boats. I try to answer every question I get via text, FB , on here, emails, in person. I even forget who I've talked to sometimes. Getting guys to agree to play (at first) together is how the club forms. Doesn't have to be racing right away. That can come later. Then you need to get the group to agree to a particular type of boat to make heats. Cats, mono, spec, full P hydro, 10th. Doesn't matter. Just so long as the group picks something that everyone wants to run. Then stick with it. Only add if you have the numbers.

Danny's right on. People see you having fun, laughing, acting a fool........they notice. If you're doing it right, the people aspect will keep them interested. Don't get too serious either. I've personally done this. Blew it. A hobby that's stressful isn't a hobby. It's a job. Nobody is getting rich racing toys so keep it fun. Someone once said "The first rule of racing is........have fun". Took a while for me to believe it though. Did I say fun enough times? I could go back......