Originally Posted by stucartwright
I have a really lovely story on this topic that happened a few hours ago...
I myself am a newbie to the sport, I raced 1/10th buggies 25 years ago.. I have returned not more than three months ago and have loved every minute of this steep leaning curve. I primarily wanted to get back into a class that was a little restricted in the variables, being all about the driving and not about the wallet.. For many reasons, none other than the ease of use, lack of maintenance and some good honest competition.
Since researching, I have found the GT12 class as much as its restricted, there are very many ways to hop up your car and spend money on extras, on one thing or another.. I digress slightly, but this will be relevant come the end of the story.
I took a buddy of mine along to West Kent this morning, who has never even raced an RC car let alone every thought of purchasing one. I emailed the club last night, and Brian along with Ian who run the club, (by the way, these guys are absolutely brilliant at what they do!!) gave me the all clear that the club buggy they have was free and my pal got the shock of being able to race instead of just coming along for two pals hanging out on a sunday morning.
He raced and absolutely loved it; this afternoon he purchased the kit from Schumacher, the race kit, that includes charger, battery and all the kit needed to get running... He will be joining me at Maritime on Thursday and to say he is excited is an understatement.
He has potentially three to four months of learning to drive to a decent standard, whilst seeing all the many hop ups available to him that will make his car handle better and indeed run faster etc etc.. I believe this problem is simple..
Use the GT12 race as the leader to get into GT12, nothing other than the race kit provided by Schumacher is allowed, only replacement parts such as lipos etc and make this a six month journey for those new to the hobby to find their feet and then use the same platform to build on, when they come into the GT12 class that we all run today..
It is without doubt, much easier to drive these GT12 cars with all the various upgrades, which is so necessary to be competitive, I don't care what you say. Maybe yes, if you have been driving for many years it does not matter to you so much.. for us newbies, a bit speed, a bit of stability and it makes the world of difference, I have the figures to back it up...
Cut out the options of a class, cut out the wallet syndrome and at £199 all in GT12 platform gives a person a good resale value if its not for them, a good platform to custom up when the time comes, and a great taste of a class that could be all like minded people, wanting to be the best they can be with what they are allowed to use..
Simple.
My pal loved today, with a small investment of any club getting a tamiya mini with a couple of cheap batteries and a charger who knows the far reaches this sport could get to; fetes, school playgrounds, the options to grow this sport is endless... Just depends how far people wish to push their imaginations. Nobody is to blame, the BRCA are merely the gate keepers, its our job, lovers of RC to get out there and tell people about it and how easy it is to get going....
Its been a fab day.. Thank you RC madness!!
|