How much interest is there in the following...

[bedsrcmcc]

Dear fellow racers. I want to put a question to you all...

If there was a facility based in Bedfordshire that had an indoor off-road track made from clay, would you be interested in racing on Sunday mornings all year round, as weather would not be an issue.

The overall size of the track would be 35ft x 75ft. OK, not huge by some standards, but of course it would have the added benefit of running meetings no matter what the weather was doing out side

Our club needs to gauge the feeling for such a facility before we make the big step into doing this. Feel free to leave a post here, or send me a PM if you would be interested.

Classes would be for just electric 1:10th 4WD, 2WD and 1:10th trucks and short course.

I look forward to your thoughts...

[Skye]

Depending on where you are exactly I would be interested. I live in North Northants and do not have a 'local' track as such. Moto Arena is the closest at 36 miles away. Whilst I would not be averse to travelling the length and breadth for a specific meeting, ideally I would like my club track to be as close as possible if I was going there several times a month....

I think if I had the land, money, resources etc etc (which I dont) then North Northants close to the Leicestershire border would do well to have a venue as to the best of my knowledge there is a big void in this part of the country which needs filling!

[mattybucks]

Originally Posted by Skye

Depending on where you are exactly I would be interested. I live in North Northants and do not have a 'local' track as such. Moto Arena is the closest at 36 miles away. Whilst I would not be averse to travelling the length and breadth for a specific meeting, ideally I would like my club track to be as close as possible if I was going there several times a month....

I think if I had the land, money, resources etc etc (which I dont) then North Northants close to the Leicestershire border would do well to have a venue as to the best of my knowledge there is a big void in this part of the country which needs filling!

I'm currently looking for venue's in the Milton Keynes area to hold both indoors off road meetings on carpet, and an outdoor grass track.

[taz5311]

Would certainly be interested as live only 9 miles from MK.

[LewisStrong]

I could be interested as I only live Flitwick, Depending on what days it would be as already race stotfold sundays & wednesdays.

[Skye]

Milton Keynes would be another good location for me, although not quite perfect as its still a good 45 minute drive for me. Locations such as that are probably a little too far away to go to week in week out but I would definately support them when and where I could.

[DerbyDan]

Hi Scott... as you know our indoor club nights for touring cars clash, both being on a Friday night (I race at Kettering) But i'm sure that there's a few of us (three at least) that would be interested in racing at an all weather/undercover off road facility on a weekend day... especially if it was a proper clay track!!

TBH with the current surge in the popularity of off road racing i'm sure you'd have no trouble in attracting members/racers with such a facility!

If anything, in this area we are somewhat spoilt for choice!

[Skye]

Dan, I also live in Kettering and whilst there is the Touring Car club on fridays at the William Knibb do you not think we could do with an off road club closer to home?

There used to be a midweek one at Burton Latimer indoors and also an outdoor course in Corby near the printing company just on the right hand side as you drive towards Rockingham.

Unfortunately both have long since vanished which leaves us with a void as far as I am aware, with the closest now being MA at Silverstone??

[Gonky]

Don't forget that the guys at Silverstone have an outdoor astro track... mid-south 4wd regional being held there this weekend i believe as well!

[DerbyDan]

Originally Posted by Skye

Dan, I also live in Kettering and whilst there is the Touring Car club on fridays at the William Knibb do you not think we could do with an off road club closer to home?

There used to be a midweek one at Burton Latimer indoors and also an outdoor course in Corby near the printing company just on the right hand side as you drive towards Rockingham.

Unfortunately both have long since vanished which leaves us with a void as far as I am aware, with the closest now being MA at Silverstone??

Yes - At one time I used to run the meetings at Burton Latimer.. indoors during the week & opposite Weetabix at the sports ground for outdoor weekend meetings during the summer. The Kettering club was born out of these clubs when the community centre had other plans for the hall. We used to run buggies put they gradually declined during the early 90s leaving us with just TCs - the track markings & carpet are now more derived for Touring car racing.... that said we would never turn anyone away if they wanted to run their buggy at our club on a Friday evening.

There is a bit of a void here I suppose for off roaders... but with MA, Silverstone, Stotfold, Coventry, Hinckley, (& Nene Valley Raceway if you are into 1/5th or 1/8th) all a fairly short drive away there certainly plenty of clubs to choose from... of course they are not quite on the doorstep like when we had Rockingham (I still have their Barrcuda lap timing system!) Cranes, Irchester/Skew Bridge, Burton Latimer all so close.

[Skye]

I used to race at the community centre, if you can call it racing that is. My buggies were always bought with my own pocket money so I could usually be relied upon to be somewhere out the back with my Tamiya Madcap and such like! When I decided to get back into the game recently I thought long and hard about going down the TC route, just so I could attend at the WK centre on Fridays. In the end though my love affair with O/R buggies won so have just invested heavily in an Rb5 so I am now trying to find a club close enough that I can race there on a regular basis. All the clubs you mention are close(ish) but just that little bit further away than ideal to be a true 'local'....

[AdamBurgess]

Get yourself a cheap and cheerful Tamiya M03 Skye, then you can come and play on a friday at the knibb centre with us, then go off roading over the weekend ;o)

Back on-topic tho... i'm probably one of the one's mentioned by dan that would pop along if you were holding meetings on a weekend scott.
It would certainly make this part country spoilt for choice on off-road surfaces, you guys on clay, moto arena on tarmac/carpet, silverstone on astro and hinckley on grass.... thinking about it that would make a pretty good 4 round series!

[Skye]

I might just do that Adam, but not for a while yet. The next time I manage to save a spare few quid I've already promised myself a nice shiny 4wd to go with my 2wd. The only dilemma is what to get. It's narrowed down to three really, the lazer, the b44.1 or the sx3. It's going to be one of these three mainly for the fact that spares are easily obtained... How do I choose between them though!?

Back on topic.... as you say, that would be a pretty smart 4 race series! I've never run on clay or astro so I'd probably be hopeless but I'll give it a shot!