[terry.sc]

Originally Posted by VincentVisser

I agree and understand your point here but as the BRCA this is a very Government Body type of response.

You (committee members) create the rule book
You (committee members) create the regional events
You (committee members) set the rules for the clubs to follow.

Instead of pointing the finger and saying the above which is such a "it's not us its you response" you could have looked at it and said these are valid points and as the BRCA we could maybe look into making some changes to the rule book to try and see if we can force clubs to have young driver heats. (I think some clubs might be shocked to only see 1 or 2 people standing there on the rostrum)

I would just like to point out I have no connection with the BRCA committees, I am just an ordinary member like the majority of us here. I have no connection with the running of it at all, but I do know how it is run. I am only a BRCA member because I sometimes race at clubs that require BRCA membership and the insurance cover is useful.

My own club is not BRCA affiliated either.

The rule book is created by the ordinary racers, at the AGM they propose rules and rule changes, and then vote on whether to change the rules or not. The committee can't create any rules without the membership voting them in.

The regional events are created by the ordinary racers, they put in the proposal for them then it is down to the regional reps and the clubs to organise. So for the North east that's Kash Khan and the North east clubs to sort out, not any "BRCA committee" imposing their will.

No one sets rules for the clubs to follow. The ordinary racers create the rules for BRCA sanctioned meetings such as the nationals and regionals. whether a club follows some or all of the rules is entirely down to the clubs themselves. If the club is full of narrow minded pedants who insist on sticking to the BRCA rules over what is better for the club then that is down to them.

We can also look at regional or competition events to have under 13 heats instead of having everybody of all ages in the same heats. We could also have a look at regional’s or competitions where under 13 do not pay entrance fees. You could be doing allot more than "your question really is what are you doing to promote the sport."

Great ideas, but it isn't down to the BRCA committee to impose rules or events onto the clubs, the committee only does what the members tell it to do.
As for what I'm doing, well I went out and spent 3 days of my time running demo cars, letting kids try their hand at rc cars to promote the hobby and telling them about all the local clubs not just my own. My club has around 25% of the racers being the kids you want to attract, this week we had 6 kids out of 23 racers. We also had 4 new racers, 3 newcomers and one returning from racing years ago. What more as an ordinary BRCA member, the same as you, should I be doing?

The BRCA isn't a business with a CEO or board that tells everyone what to do, it's an association and the BRCA can only do what the members of the Association want it to do. If you put in a proposal and you can convince the majority to vote for it at the AGM, then the BRCA adopts whatever changes that have been passed. If you want reduced fees for juniors at the regionals or other BRCA events then go ahead and propose it at the AGM. if you want reduced fees at club meetings that's entirely down to the clubs themselves.

Touring cars already have a 'Young Guns' junior championship, it is just a single event rather than a series but it does exist. It came about because someone wanted it to happen and actually did something about it, rather than complain that someone else didn't do it for them. You want a junior championship run by the BRCA offroad section, then propose one at the AGM and get it voted in, or just either organise it yourself or persuade someone else to organise it. There isn't any rule preventing anyone from doing it.

This is where the problem is. We need to look at clubs as to what you/they do and what can be imroved to try and get more young drivers involved.

I can honestly say I have not been to any of those shows before you mentioned and I am not planning to go because they are pricey so would have not found out about racing rc cars unless I met someone that did it and introduced it to me. (This is where we come in...promote what we do more...I am doing this on a regular bases)

That's the point, it's showing r/c racing to groups of people who don't know it exists. I can also pointout that if someone else finds the £10 entry fee to the show I recently demonstrated at as pricey, then they aren't going to be buying an r/c car, especially when it can cost more than £10 in race entry fees at bigger meetings.

As has been said earlier, both Stockport and Bury clubs already attract lots of kids, and we get them to stay. The way this is done is that both clubs treat club days more of a social occasion, with everyone having fun and less serious racing. This attitude tends to scare off the committed racers who are only interested in racing, but then that's no bad thing as the serious racers are the ones that intimidate newcomers with their pit tables full of equipment and spending their time between races either working on their cars or sticking with their small clique of mates. The drivers that help keep new racers and especially newcomers coming back are the ones that between races just put their batteries on charge and go over and chat with the new faces to make them feel part of the club.

At both clubs we also put the kids together whatever they are running, and only when they are fast enough to compete with the adults move them into the most appropriate heats.

We need the info structure in place to make the under 13 kids injoy it when they come to a club and to a regional event and unfortunately it is not up to the normal racer but up to the BRCA to put rules in place so that clubs and race event organisers take action. (Some clubs refuse to change because the BRCA Book they follow does not state that they have to do so.

If you read the BRCA handbook there is nothing in there at all which tells clubs how they must be run, that is entirely down to the clubs themselves.

There are a set of rules for BRCA sanctioned races in each racing class in the handbook, but those have nothing to do with the rules clubs use. Whether the club decides to adopt those rules is down to the individual club. I do know if I had checked over all the 23 cars at my club last night there would be only 2 or 3 that are BRCA legal. If a club is going to stick resolutely to the BRCA rules then I would question the motives of the club members who have decided to run to those rules which will put off new members. What makes kids enjoy club meetings is entirely down to the attitude of the club members, if the regular racers are friendly or not depends on whether the new racers enjoy themselves or not and whether they come back again.

As I pointed out above the BRCA isn't a business, it is an association. It is up to the normal racer what the BRCA does, the BRCA won't put rules in place without the authorisation of the members, the normal racers.
A perfect example of this is the new Mardave circuit racing class. A few racers were shouting on forums about why the BRCA didn't publish any rules specifically for them and how the BRCA should be doing something about it. It was some time before someone actually contacted the appropriate BRCA section and the reply that came back was that there weren't any rules because no one had actually asked for them before. The Mardave racers then went away and wrote their own rules for the class, which then developed into the new class at the 1/12th nationals.
The point is that the class has been created because someone wanted to run it and actually went and created rules for it, rather than just moaned that 'someone' should be doing it for them.

If you think we should have a junior championship or separate junior class races at the regionals to encourage the more experienced kids, then someone put in a proposal at the AGM. If it is voted in then it becomes the BRCAs responsibility to actually run it and promote it.