How did everyone reading this start racing?
Personally, I was bought an RC car when I was probably 5, and I used to be able to drive it and walk behind it, then my uncle gave me his 10th scale pan car which was fast - but to use it we had to go to the smoothest car parks at night - when empty. Then at 9yrs old I was bought a Monster truck which I raced a friend around the street with. So when my friend went to Bury Model shop one day he was told about the club, which he came back and told me about and we turned up there the next weekend - that was the start of my weekly racing and my mate never came back.
I think that now (certainly NW region), there are less shops actively involved with the clubs. For example we had Bury Modelshop > Bury Buggy club, Micks Models > Chorley Buggy Club, Rochdale models > Roche Valley Buggy Club, Formby Models > Southport Buggy Club, A shop in Oldhame (forgot name) > Oldham Buggy club.
Out of this list, only Formby Models is still open and now they have less involvement with the club.
The other idea is local news paper coverage. I know Teesside have had this - did it help?
The other thing is that there are so many of us who have raced for ages and ages, that when a beginner comes the difference in skill level is massive and that can be offputting. This is why everyone in this forum needs to be friendly and supportive to beginners and especially first timers... im sure we all are..
The class we race is growing, but I think thats because there people moving over from TC. Perhaps now the beginners are choosing TC as in introduction? I don't know.