exactly...

To me the main thing is that the Regional series are so under-subscribed as people prefer to just turn up and do Nationals, even if they're F5's etc. It’s all very well having the most over-subscribed national series, but Club and Regional races have really gone down hill since I packed up around 2001/2 – and that’s got to be the grass roots for the hobby as surely if these meetings don’t start growing again, you will literally have 130 people that do nationals in 1/10th R/C and that will be it (extreme I know but you have to look at the worst case scenario)! Plus if nobody else can get in, then the number of people competing can’t increase anywhere if they’re only set on Nat’s.I've always thought that to do Nationals you should have to compete at Regionals first to gain some sort of ability/standard - which is basically how any Motorsport works. You don't get amateur or newbie riders at the Motocross British GP rounds - the riders there have had to qualify by gaining a certain standard, just like our "F" Formula's. I have loved the chance of racing again, albeit only at local(ish) events such as Regionals etc, but it's given me a good chance to gauge if i'm still any good or not, and really get to grips with setting up the cars and racing competitively again. The problem with trying to organise one big invitational is that you would rarely find all those drivers free on the same weekend, at least if you let wild card entries there's always that chance that maybe just 1 (i.e Craig) or 2, 3 racers might turn up unexpectedly and can still race. I know they do it for the big Neo race, but 1/8th scale is far more popular across Europe anyway so it’s easier to get the sort of numbers they do.I think the chance to see the likes of Craig show up at an off road meet and possibly make the A should be something everyone would want to see or witness, he’s pretty much the most famous UK racer of all time and certainly one of the most successful. It doesn’t just apply to Craig but it’s great to see any of these top guys show up and demonstrate to all the kids and newbies just what can be achieved in the hobby. The last thing you need to do is push these kind of guys away as they simply won’t bother to come back next time……I vote for wildcard entries as stated by Chris/Jimmy, this leaves it open and as Chris said actually gives more Little Johnny’s a chance to race anyway so where’s the problem?I personally think if you can’t get into nationals and find this a big pain, you should keep racing at Regionals etc until your Formula is high enough to not have to rely on getting your entry in first – it will only improve your driving anyway as you’ll be in heats with people that are a higher standard then F5 or a complete beginner which personally I don’t think belong at nationals.

When i used to race years ago, i didn't do the nationals cos i didn't think i was good enough. When i came back into it a few months ago, it seems everyone does the nationals, and (this is a personal opinion, and not a criticism in any way, because who am i to judge!) for me, it just doesn't have that 'aura' it once had.

I personally want to see the very best racers competing in the national series, from home and abroad, and if that means i lose my place because i'm an F5, then so be it. I'll just have to improve so i'm good enough to compete in the nationals.

i'd actually prefer to have to qualify for the national series through the regional series the year before. I know this is sort of the case already, as the higher licence grades get priority, but to actually recieve an 'invite' to race at the national series would be pretty cool.

....Please don't call me a tit or whatever for my views here, i'm not saying i'm right, it's just what i think :cool:

I don't understand why more people don't do regionals. I mean, I'm not sure which is the most popular region but there seems to be a reasonable turn out for the N.E. but there could be more.

For me doing the regionals is mainly to get experience, practice, and so on, before I even think about doing nat's. Because I don't see the point yet, of booking in to nats, being F5 I wouldn't stand much chance. So doing the regionals to get the old F rating up is the best option realy, surely.?

But, although it would lose some people their places, it would be good for the class, if someone like Andy moore were to take part. Like jimmy said, it would get some of the t.c. drivers think, ooh that actually looks like fun.

what about a 2nd "national" series, such as the old radio race car series, to run on the same day as nationals, but at tracks that don't currently have a national, such as coventry, swansea and the likes?

i have spoken to Dez Chand, and he's up for it....

i think what jimmy is saying is a good idea :) but another option would be to do 2 nationals ie for each track that holds a national run it twice for diffrent people then at the end of the nationals have a big super final with all the top drivers from both nationals racing to see whos the best this would allow more people to run the nationals and allow wildcard entries:) again just my thinking dont go mad at me

dam u beat me 2 it burgie :)

Tough call ,this one! Loads of valid points for both sides of the arguement but here's my view and I'm gonna stick to it:
I really couldn't care less if Andy, Craig or even God turned up to race 1/10th off road - they shouldn't get to race. As racers (no matter how tallented) in a different class (on-road) they do not support or benefit our 1/10th off road in any way, therefore do not get to race unless their "F" rating is high enough, which it isn't cos they don't do off road... That's the point of nationals

Got a bit carried away there....sorry

I think if a top driver from another class or country wants to race in the UK nationals they should race enough of them to qualify for the championship, not just to do one then go back to what they usually do. People are trying to gain places in the championship to gain there F1 or F2 license and they wouldn't want some "wild cards" to come and push them down.

Also if they want to compete in the nationals they need to gain an off-road license the same as everyone else would have to. If this did happen i think there would be some very annoyed F4/F5 drivers that got pushed out because of the them.

I think its a fair point to keep things as they are, but claiming someone has done nothing for off road like Craig is a bit of a stretch.

I think the overwhelming point is that if these guys want to race in these national events then they should be committed enough to get the required grade by attending other events.

I was thinking the same as well, also have a 19t class it was so cool trying to get our cars down to the weight limit and tweaking the motors, etc to get every last bit of performance out the car.

I use to do the RRC series and it was good fun, at the time i did not think i was that good and did not do many nationals, but when i did not do to well, so i just did RRC series and the Midlands championship which we had back then.

what about a f1 f2 nat series and a f3 f4 f5 series based on a league style system much closer racin double revenue for clubs and brca;)

I think a series like the RRC would be a good thing to bring back, then maybe all the reserves from the nationals now would be able to race a series such as the RRC. Maybe allocate a space in the higher class series for some "wildcards" They may push some of the lower grading people out of the nationals but then they would still be able to race in another series. Would there be enough tracks willing to host a national series and a RRC series along with the end of season final, Juniors etc?

Sorry Jimmy, probably spoke out of turn as I have no idea who he is!

I think most of us would like to see the Worlds best competing over here against our top drivers but is it right they are allowed to enter our National Championship? They could have an effect on results in terms of team drivers helping out the UK drivers. I'm not saying anything naughty would go on but there is a potential for a few arguments along the way. Then again not letting someone like Drescher compete because his F grade isn't high enough does seem a little silly as he is proven at the highest level in all forms of RC. To be honest i don't know which way we should lean.:eh?:

They tried to do this in the last few years of the RRci series,
1/ they banned F1 drivers
2/ You had to pay to join the RRCi drivers club for your points to score
3/ they started to clash the dates with Nationals

If they were to bring back the RRci series they would struggle, I think as it is already a very congested summer calender, BUT why not use the winter and make a type of winter national series?

There are quite a few national standard clubs holding a winter series ie: Stotfold, Cml, Kidderminster, Eden Park, Coventry why not get them all together and have on big series??

Anyway back on topic I aggree with Jimmy and Chris that there sholud be a wild card entry system in place, but if we want this to happen it would need to be done at the AGM at the end of the year.

As for an invitational type meeting, I was luck enough to race at the Reedy Race open class held at Marston Palmer in 1996, and that was a great 2 day meeting, every round was a race with mass starts.
Watching the invitational class heats change every round, so everyone raced everyone else, with the eventual winner coming from a culmination of points over the 2 days.

So Dez if you are reading this "RRCi Winter Nationals" October to March @ CML, Coventry, Kidderminster, Bury, Stotfold and Eden Park, and as it would be one meeting at each venue a month, it should not interfere with there own winter series hopefully.

Anybody can race at them as long as they are a BRCA member, so any guest drivers can race as long as they are a BRCA member.

What do people think ?

Sounds like the perfect solution to me. As a bonus, will probably get rid of all the fair weather racers as well! (my best result was a Batley last year in the NE regional when most of the field went home cos it flooded...)

How about providing 5 EXTRA places reserved ONLY for foreign entries? That way no national drivers would be "pushed out".

Can anybody copy+paste your BRCA rules in the forum as to how the qualification and license system works?

Nats:
I don't quite understand...
1) There's 130 drivers in 2WD saturday and 130 drivers in 4WD sunday?
2) Anyone with a F1-F5 licencse can take part as long as there is enough places?
3) F1 has precedence over F2 and so on I guess.
4) Does only regional points from the previous year qualify for F licenses?
5) Do you have to qualify first for F5, then F4 and so on? Or can you qualify directly to F1?
6) In which regionals is the level the highest. Do the best drivers in the UK do regionals?

There is only speak about the tops dogs in the world visiting. How about mere mortals who dream about doing a race in the UK and learn from the best 1:10 OR drivers in the world? For example here in Norway there's approx. 10-20 drivers in total in the Nats round, very big contrast to the UK...

We wouldn't have the time nor money to do all the Nats rounds + regionals to qualify. How about some reserved "foreign friendly entries"? Share the planet! :D We can even bring some norwegian salmon! (or blondes)...

Keep in mind we would be talking about a VERY small amount of extra participants here, it's a minor detail really! I'd also really like to see a comment from a BRCA representative to hear their view.

Btw. how is the situation for other UK classes? Any more classes with this amount of entries? We used to have 200+ entries for 1:10 OR in Norway in the 80s... but now only 1:8 OR (70-80 pr. race) and 200mm (30-40 pr. race) are blossoming. 1:5 is also doing OK. The rest is in bad shape...

I dont want to cause offence to anyone here but i dont think we should let racers from other countrys race they dont support the uk shops and there are some drivers like me who have been trying to get into nationals for the past few years why should someone else come from another country and race at one meeting and possibly not allow one of the british drivers to race. They wouldnt do enough rounds to even complete the 4 rounds to be counted.

As for regionals it depends some top lads do race at regionals the like of richard lowe, stu wood, phil sleigh, tom yardy. Ive been told that mid west is one of the most difficult regions to get licence grades from and guess where i am lol. But i love it everyone is so friendly and we have some of the best tracks.

A

other racers from around the world would be cool, they could bring so much more to the UK scene, plus it would be ace to see a brit like tom cockerill, rich lowe and so many others compete against some other top drivers on our tracks that most know how to take and run a good line round the track on fixed tracks and good set ups for that track..

if tom can make a final on a track he hasnt raced before against some very quick drivers what would be and many others be like on home ground against some of the best ?

Garry

@Ashley: what's the problem if this is additional places? We're talking maybe 2-3 drivers at a round or two?

You guys are 100% welcome to race at any event in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland - and probably more or less any other country in Europe... Even if you don't open your arms, we have ours open for you! This is valid for most full scale race series as well... it's not that unusual to go abroad to get better matching... after all, this boils down to having fun racing!

I know this is vey much a matter of principle... but keep in mind that in real life this really is no problem. It would not interfere with who is UK champion, it would not "push anyone out", it would just be very much fun, social and interesting!

And how do you know we don't buy from UK stores? We do indeed dude! ;)

Are we welcome or not? Is it that much of an "island"? C'mon lads!!! We'd even support the local fish&ships stores!!! :D

If not, we'll call back all the norwegian players in the Royal League = half of it :p

How about a British GP .. ... or two? Or a Reedy Race. How long has it been since we had one of those, off-road? 10 years?

Think about it, it'd give the Continentals a chance to visit and enjoy those marvellous ferry rides and grass tracks. And it'd be open to anyone including people without an 'F' grade.


If SHY brings the blondes, I'll bring beer. We're all set :cool: (I'm sure Northy will invite the French or Dutch for their cheese)


(And indeed, Apex, DC, BB, AC,... all have a fair sized customer base on mainland!)

A british GP would be great, I would have to see if I could make an appearance :p

Now that's a brilliant idea! We hereby order you to arrange an EFRA GP every year! *thumbs up*

Or else... hundreds of foreigners will enter the UK Regionals & Nats and mess up any hope of a F-license :p

Who takes responsibility? Make it happen in 2008!!!

I think an invitational is a great idea, as long as I get invited

Yea a UK GP would be ace i want one.

A

Will the Euros be in the UK next year btw? If so, what track? Link?

Im not sure where the euros is next year.

I love the sound of a british GP.

If we could get a club to agree to host a 3 day event then i would volunteer my services to be a point of contact and work with the brca to host the event.;)

Does that mean you will you stop using the radio that came from HK Ash?

Its to exspensive 280 quid i got it for 100 quid less than that.

A

But Ash, you said that racers who don't support UK shops shouldn't be allowed to race......:rolleyes:

:D Quality

I do support a uk shop if you want ill go into the yoke section now and just remove the link ive put in to your site doom for bx parts.

A

Annnnnyway - back on topic!!! :D

i think the British GP is a great idea!!

im lookin forward to it :D

sounds like a great idea!! :D

kick ass!

My personal opinion is that we should allow foreign drivers. As surely if the top drivers want to come over here and race surely this is good for the series and also a reflection on the great tracks we have over here and also the great work that is done by the BRCA officals. It has happened in touring cars for god knows how many years. It also happens in full size motorsport. I know people that come over from sweden just to race in the championship. Its a good reflection on the series.

Yes it does mean that some of the lower grades may not get in but this then puts the emphasis on you doing regionals to gain your liecence grade. As it is meant to be an elite championship.

Yes i am an F5 this year and have got lucky to get into some rounds but the rounds that i have got in to i have taken as practice to race on different tracks that i have never been to before. I think at the minute i am border line F3/4 from the regionals and do i think that i am ready to do a full series of nationals NO. If next year i can maintain the same liecence grade next year or possibly improve (as long as i am a F3) then yes i would then consider myself to be ready to progeress to nationals.