Do you support your local club at club racing level?
 

Just been reading through the thread about Bury struggling to get attendance at club nights

http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12198

Just wondering how many actually do support their local club on club race nights on a regular basis? (As in at least a couple of times a month)

If you don't, why?

Well, the regional scene is poor in this area, so I do as much as I can to support my locel club, and try to point things in the right direction as much as I can.

Since the birth of my wee little one I've stopped racomg at all but club meetings. With racing less I was able to take a much more active roll in the club and now help out with race control whenever I'm down (usuall every other week) as that seemed to be the area we were struggling in.
It'd be a real shame if Bury were to close as it was always my favorate outdoor track.

I suport my local club i try to go down once every two weeks to cut take the track up and cut all the grass then relay a new track. and tidy about a bit.

A

The reason why I started the thread was my dissappointment that Bury is closing due to lack of support, or even possibly closing. The simple fact is for those who only race regionally and nationally is if these local clubs don't get the support they need to run, there won't be anyone to hold the regionals and nationals they like to attend!!!! The first to complain will likely be those who go when they feel like it, when it suits them, not those who've supported the club as much as they could. Bury is a few hundred miles travel for us, but we've popped down for club days when funds allow. I can't believe how few support their local clubs then just expect them to be there when they want to race at a higher level. I think the message comes across firmly, use your local clubs or loose them!

Col I am sure every other parent like me understands where priorities must be, but it is nice to hear even if your circumstances have changed, you'll still support them however you can.

There also seems to be a major issue getting youngsters involved in clubs, the problem we seem to have up here is a lack of new people coming into racing, so when peoples priorities do change and when they no longer race there is noone to continue it. We've seen the same people for years racing with very few new members coming in in our region. Every year it's the same drivers at regionals etc.

Jarrow as a club we'll be trying to get these youngsters interested, get them involved. We're in the process of buying a few cars to be used as club cars, can't afford many due to the lack of fund but we're doing our best. Hoping to contact local youth clubs etc about getting the kids involved, maybe doing a demo evening as we are organising for the disabled group. RC racing may never die off completely, but a slow decline is what we're seeing happen.

:(Getting to a sorry stage when even the likes of an excellent track like Bury is looking at closure due to lack of support.

I have this sort of discussion with many racers from our local area too on a regular basis. It justs seems that lots of people dont want the "hassle" of helping at a local club and would rather travel to somewhere where it is all laid on for them..:thumbdown: :o

It is always the people who dont support the local clubs who are first to moan when they are no longer about too....strange that!

for a club to thrive, it needs to be run on a very regular basis, so you don't have to 'check' the calendar to see if they are racing that week, and regular can be every other week, or a week night etc. Once a club moves away, people find other things to fill the spare time, then they look and see all those thousands of pounds on the shelf collecting dust, then the rot sets in, and by that time, it is to late.

Also, when a club runs, people can be put off by the cost or the amount you 'look like you need' to.

DMS you might have hit the nail on the head there, I suppose it does take more effort to support a local club, but I do wonder if there will also be a lack of response by those who don't want the 'hassle' in this thread. Maybe they'll listen now the likes of Bury are looking at closure that what we say as clubs will happen if noone supports it actually will happen, they can't run on nothing, becomes a bit more 'real' doesn't it.

DCM this is why we're looking at the 'investment' for the future of the club by buying these cars, we understand people, especially parents, don't want the initial outlay to find out they don't like it (I have 2 children and know how 'faddy' they are) Then hopefully those who are interested in racing regularly will eventually move on to buying their own.

We do usually have racing every week but there has been a few dates this year, due to venue closure we haven't been able to open, couple of weeks there just wasn't enough attended, at present we have about 1/3 to 1/2 of the members racing we had in October last year. Ok we're still doing better than some clubs but knowing how much effort goes in, it's wondering what to do next to try to gain support and not face what Bury are now.

**Maybe I should have posted this in general, if someone would like to move it**

As much as i would like to race at a local club i just dont have the time, i usually dont leave work till 7pm on a weekday so by that time any local club night is well under way, i then have the family and just want to chill out, i race nearly every weekend as it is, i really cannot find the time to put in to a club :(

I'm with Lee here, it's all a balance for me. I have to keep me, the wife and now the little one happy.

I race Nationals and Regionals, and find very few free weekends other than those, yet I STILL get people saying we should run more regional rounds! :eh?:

The NE regional series (8 meetings) was combined into 6 weekends total this year to allow more club days.

I do sit on my local clubs committee and try to help the club as much as possible outside club nights, helping organise big meetings and a new winter championship that atrackted people to come and race at the club that wouldn't have normally made the trip.

I'm also a person who doesn't like to race week in, week out, I do actually get sick of it, and like a weekend off.

My local club is also a good 30 minute drive.

So those are my reasons. Make of them what you will.

I do agree with all the points about new blood though and I've also thought what we could do to attract new members. We have held meetings at other large public events in the past, but fitting them into the racing calender is hard work - it's always the same few people that do this stuff.

I sometimes think clubs have the wrong idea about attracting people, a big one off meeting will only attract people currently racing, no new people, we need to work out how to get the new people into the grass roots of the sport.

Any ideas welcome.

G

I would, but we don't have a local off road club in our area any more.
Worksop is the closest for me, and I get there as much as poss when the winter comes round. Although this year it may be a struggle with the twins being born.
I've already had orders not to race anymore.......but I don't think that will happen. :) You need some free time.

maybe the national and regional series are over shadowing the club life then, as the clubs are what feeds the regionals and nationals?

I would love to visit my local 10th club (EPR) more for racing but I also do 18th scale off road racing and so there are 2 reasons I don't get to the track that often, firstly my son who is 5 also races with me and they let him marshall on his own at the micro club (smaller cars and there are lots more kids racing there so the child friendlyness is generally slightly better) and number 2 it seems my local club and the 18th scale club always race on the exact same days! :( So when I have to make a decision about racing with or without my son there really is only one way to go. :) At least I go racing on average twice a week so I am supporting the sport in general.

As for supporting my local micro club - no absolutely not, miserable bunch of bastodians.

same as g and lee as much as we would like to, nats regionals and OD club day to suit practice

there is also the matter of the rising costs of, well, everything...

I imagine a lot of people simply can't afford to do club racing and the big ones.


I do remember the days though, when there used to be 2 or three heats full of tamiya hornets/grasshoppers etc... and i can't pinpoint why, but i enjoyed racing a whole lot more in those days than i do now!

I voted yes :thumbsup:

I agree stan, i used to love going to the local club and racing my cougar 2 in the stock class, it really was so much more fun :thumbsup:

I no longer seem to do club meetings, unfortunately.

It's a simple matter of time and energy - both in the week to strip/clean/prepare the car between meetings, and at weekends to actually go racing.

When I was a student I used to race every week (although mostly indoors, which is easier on the prep) but nowadays I probably do ten meetings a year.

It doesn't help that every time I race at my local track I seem to break the car, but that's a different matter...

(edit) One other thing that makes a difference is timing. Club meetings at Ashby used to start around midday, which meant you could go racing and still get a lie-in on a Sunday; and at West Bridgford, the Friday evening meetings fitted well with the rest of my life at that stage. Now, racing inevitably means getting up earlier on a Sunday than I do in the week.

I don't make it to club races anymore either. Main reasons being time (balancing the number of weekends away with having a young child), and money (cost of fuel and tyres/spares).

The issue of attracting new blood was often raised at my old regular club, but we never managed to find any good solutions. Suggestions were things like a cheaper stock class (mardave etc) to allow youngsters to compete on a budget (or minimise parent outlay!) and level playing field.
I think the hiring out of "club cars" is a great idea, as this was reasonably succesful at my old club until the person who organised them moved away.

I race weekly at Southport with my two sons. Because we only race in club meetings the cost implications for me are small - we all run lipos and brushless motors, and we use Schumacher Blue Tyres or Ballistic Greens for the wet, so that's roughly 3 pairs of rear tyres every month and every other month three pairs of fronts as well. Despite what many people think, the costs of this sport/hobby can be controlled, and races can still be won.

Because the club runs weekly in a public park, we tend to pick up new drivers year on year as well.

Maybe the fact that many drivers don't do club meetings because they prefer to race nationals or just regionals is a big pointer to why clubs such as Bury are struggling?

You are right, and it is also because those doing nationals will try to visit the venues beforehand, so the weekends where they could be supporting the local club - they're actually elsewhere because thats where the national is.

Its a shame. We need newbies!

Eric,
I dont think this thread was aimed at people such as yourself who go above and beyond the call of duty.
ALL Club & Meeting organisors deserve a huge pat on the back for the effort they put in, not only on Race days but all those hours spent beforehand organising things. :thumbsup: to you mate.

I dont think Southport as a club should be asked to give up members to help out another club, that is just daft, thats like asking tesco to close down for a weeks so morrissons can get a few more customers :confused:

Southport should be commended on their efforts and the facility they have and not criticised for doing a good job. My local permanent track is batley (80 mile away) i actually drive past it and choose not to go to it so i can go to southport for a club day (130 mile) To make someone do that you must be doing something right :thumbsup:

Having been around the NE racing scene in various capacities for quite a while (and I mean the real North East and I mean club racing), I have a pretty good idea why turnouts are low.

Fundamentally, the hobby needs new faces to stay alive. For various reasons there are almost no new electric racers in our part of the NE.

Bringing old racers out of club retirement only goes so far, ultimately the reasons they went into club retirement are still there, and soon enough they will stop again.

So, Jarrow had a boost 6 months ago with a new broom sweeping away the cobwebs, however the boost was only old racers coming back, it sounds like their interest is tailing off again, and Jarrow is back to the turnout it had during the last days as "Oxclose", half-a-dozen if you are lucky.

I have great sympathy for the situation but little surprise. No matter how much work the Jarrow club put in, they will always be fighting a losing battle.

This is probably the case for a lot of clubs across the country.

voted Occasionally

that's because I work a shift pattern and prefer now to race competitons most weekends when I can get away for a full day or 2.

With you not being for a while sosidge maybe I can clarify where Jarrow really are at. The last days of Oxclose, last few months, there was many weeks only 2 drivers turned up. Currently most weeks (apart from when the tables needed putting out/away) we have usually at least 10 racing, last week I think it was about 12. I am very proud of what the club have achieved as Oxclose was nearly dead when it was handed over to the committee. We have 3 members totally new to the sport recently joined who come most weeks but not others which we don't mind, we have another 2 who joined but due to work commitments haven't been for 2 months almost but they have kept in touch and do plan to return. A big credit must go to our very supportive regulars who help these new people through the early teething stages, we really appreciate the effort put in being approachable and helpful. Between us he managed to get a young guy racing for the first time who arrived with basically half of what he needed a few weeks ago. It's been quieter since the weather improved, wet Tuesdays are busier than dry ones, but being an indoor venue we expected that. I haven't known numbers to fall below 8 apart from the 'tables' weeks.

I think we're the only club planning on doing some promotional work outside the scene, we've been looking for inspiration but so far haven't seen much being done. Once we have the DADLG group set up we'll be looking at going into the schools and youth clubs. We have some very supportive members who are willing to support this, I think they're noticing aswell as we have the lack of new people coming into racing. We aren't saying as a club our current members don't matter, they are extremely important to us but for the club to continue and grow, we need to focus our attention on increasing new members. I hope we don't end up fighting a loosing battle, as a family and a club we're investing a lot of time, money and effort into trying to promote the sport (passing on those who can't make a Tuesday to NERCRs Sunday's aswell as trying to go and support them when we can) but I think we'll have failed if we don't at least try.

I understand completely about costs, travel and other commitments, I have a family aswell. When we moved house last year one of the reasons we moved here was to be a bit closer to the club, we still do 25 miles or so.

Well I am pleased to hear you are getting 10-12 racers, compared to the rest of the clubs in this region that is a very good turnout. I'm sorry if I caused offence by suggesting you were getting 6 racers, that was not my intention, that was just my calculation of 1/2 to 1/3 of the peak turnout.

I don't club race mainly because of time and finance at the moment.

Our max's then was 28/29 I think we got over 30 once, encouraged by food! No offence taken, it's been a while. Finance is an issue for everyone I think at the minute unfortunately which is why we're looking at buying club cars to encourage the new ones, save the initial cost at first see if they like it.

Fingers crossed eh!

ive got no local club to race at,chester is like a dead zone,i race at southport and bury and enjoy both but as with everything cost and time is the main thing i work 6 days a week and by the time ive been to southport and got home its 7.00 pm and the days as good as over.
theres racing at wrexham but because off certain problems at the club(its on road only)my buggy gathers dust.
whats going to happen to the north west regionals if bury goes??

I havent club raced for as while but i will definatley return when work commitments calm down a touch. Jarrow club is a fantastic place to race indoors and has some cracking drivers(when im there:)) and im sure when the summer ends(what summer) then numbers will pick back up. Keep up the hard work Peter and the team and i will see you soon.

I think that the post that mentioned people who just like to turn up and have it all laid on had a point! I, for the first time in years, have been going to regionals as well as running our local club. I have also been attending the local RX club on a weekday evening. It is like a breath of fresh air to turn up and just race.

However....

I still enjoy club racing at my own club more! The key problems we face as a club are...

1. People are very busy working long hours, it seems to me. They can't always attend. This means you need about 2 times the number of club 'members' as you you need 'racers' to make a good meeting. Also it means that few parents seem able to bring their children regularly.
2. 'Critical Mass' = the number of racers needed to have a good meeting, with enough drivers at differing levels for a good competition and to fulfill marshalling duties. If you fall below 'critical mass' then the club is in real trouble. Even if you persuade newbies to come and have a look the club looks poor!
3. The 'usual suspects' - even at club level most racers seem to want it all laid on for them! A small bunch of folk do all the work - and eventually burn themselves out, leave the committee (and often the sport altogether) and the club looses momentum!

Having said all this - our club still runs, with the 'usual suspects' doing all the work!

So what can be done? I suggest everyone who attends a local club approaches the committee and asks what they can do to help. Anything would be appreciated - especially in terms of publicity! If 20 people (such as a Jarrow - incidentally I used to race Mardave's at the other club at Oxclose!!) all did some publicity work then it has to have some effect!

Also i think that each club needs a dedicated PRO who co-ordinates (NOTE: this does not mean does all the work!!) all the publicity for the club and is not responsible for any other duties! Perhaps they don't even marshall so they can talk to the onlookers/newbies!

Anyway - I'll keep racing at FMR

Website - click here!

No

Reason: http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12403 no choice lol

Local Club
 

Havent got a local club, I consider a local club to be about 10 miles away and everything relaxed, problem I have is that my local club is about 45 mins away and when you consider the price of petrol and the time you finish work - dont see the point

I think my local club is great, and race whenever I get the chance.

the only things I would change would be the venue and frequency of races - where we race outdoors is great, but it's completely at the mercy of the british summer... just like any outdoor venue.

we've had a few meetings postponed this year due to the weather.

if I won big on the lottery, i'd be building a tiverton-style barn for the whole of south wales to come and race in, with a model shop onsite :thumbsup:

"
 

Just a suggestion but could it be possible to attach clubs together (like regionals) that are within a 10 mile radius, that way you could race at the club attached one week at a time. I think that if you branch all the club members together then it may be possible to share the duties on a rota system. Ie Wrexham, Oswestry, Mold etc or Bury, Southport, Ellesmere Port etc. I also think that there are plenty of second hand cars on ebay that could be setup and used by any potential new members