What classes for event meetings?

[•Axle 145]

So if events even take place to the same capacity after this whole debacle, what would you recommend cars and class, how many races do people usually participate in and what things are usually allowed to be done to the kits?

[SimonL 71]

Probably best to ask at your local club. Some clubs have active Tamiya classes (Top Stock, M, Truck etc), whereas other clubs frown upon ‘slower’ classes and would rather everyone was racing with Schumacher/Xfinity/TRF419/420 etc....

[Mad Ax 9299]

Where are you based, and what sort of racing do you want to do?

Racing has resumed here in the UK, albeit outdoors, to similar capacity as before.  This weekend sees a national round taking place at my local club, although I'm driving 3 hours to do some vintage racing instead.

Obviously things are a bit different now - we have to wear masks when driving and in the pit area and anywhere where we can't socially distance, we have to bring our own yellow vests for marshalling and we have to wear tough gloves when marshalling.  Actually I don't know why I haven't always worn gloves for marshalling - no more tyre burns / fingers caught in spurs when drivers are too keen to race off before I've put their car down, no more nasty cuts from split lexan.  Many tracks now have their on-site food outlets running again too, which is nice, although I usually cook lunch in my camper.

The only real difference now is that, with indoor clubs not running or having to run reduced events in outdoor locations, outdoor clubs have seen a boost in membership.  And because outdoor clubs have to keep a close eye on numbers in order to maintain social distancing, they are sometimes running with reduced numbers.  That said, I haven't had trouble getting places at events and nothing has been over-subscribed.

So if you want to go racing - best thing is to find some local clubs and see what they run.  brca.org lists all the UK car clubs, if you are UK based.  As @SimonL says, some clubs are very fast and take it very seriously, some are more about having a laugh with less focus on rules, some are great for kids.  If you go to a serious club you're likely to have to buy a fairly modern Losi / Xray / Schumacher to be competitive, although if you've never raced before you might as well start off with something cheaper - I raced a TT01 for a year before I graduated to something adjustable, but that was at a slower indoor club.

Are you looking to do touring or off-road?  It might depend on what's available locally or how far you want to travel.

Some clubs now run 'stock' or 'clubman' classes with limited hop-ups.  For a while I raced in the Truckman class at my indoor club, which is a TT01E truck chassis (MAN or Fat Fox body), stock wheels and tyres, kit torque tuned motor, oil shocks and springs.  No fancy alloy parts, carbon damper stays or turnbuckles.  It's frustrating (stock tyres grip-roll really badly on carpet) but everybody has the same problem, so it teaches good driving technique, and there's no constant adjusting and fettling to tune for the conditions - and it's cheaper than having to buy the latest hop-ups every week just to keep up with the fastest drivers.  Alternatively if you enter boosted touring, the sky is your limit.

As to how many races - in the Before Times it would be normal for someone to enter two classes at one event; most clubs are now restricting entrants to one class only to allow more people to race.  That's no big deal as a race day will involve 1-2 practice rounds, 4 heats and 2 finals - that's 8 rounds of 5 mins each, plus a further 8 rounds of 5 min marshalling stints after every race, and the time in between you'll be cleaning / saucing / heating tyres, adjusting chassis, fixing breakages, charging batteries, grabbing a snack and nattering (safely) with your new pit buddies.  And, if you live in the UK, holding down your awning against the next squall.

I don't know what will happen come winter - a lot of outdoor places shut down or switch to their indoor venues.  Maybe (just maybe) things will be better then and we can all move to indoor tracks, but we'll have to wait and see.  Personally I'd be happy to carry on racing outside as long as the clubs are happy to run, but if not then it's time to break out the crawlers and head out to the woods.

[TurnipJF 9183]

I am hoping that the Coronapocalypse will bring us some rally events. With people going out onto the course with their cars rather than standing on a rostrum, doing their own marshalling, etc, it is an event format that is more compatible with social distancing than most. 

[•Axle 145]

Thanks so much for the informative answers @Simon L & @Mad Ax, initially I looked at the Iconic meets with wide eyes and thought it might just be happening again, more relaxed meets off-road courses looks ace to me, something I wanted to do as a kid. I’m desperate for some bashing with others, and if that means buying a certain chassis I’d do it. I’m in Brighton, so I have Adur Model Car Club indoors and off-road but as with what’s been said they want everyone to buy into Losi etc, which I’m not that interested in, they look great flying around the track but it doesn’t appeal to me.

As you were saying – the Woods, I’ve been doing a daily hours walk with my daughter on and off my shoulders and treating the RC as a dog, this has been fun but looking for more.

Funnily enough while getting bored on my own walking I scouted out the local dodgy areas and found a motocross type track that’s been made up, although being so close to the main road and paths it felt trés dodge as there’s quite high banks for grass anyone could be hiding behind, little nooks that sort of thing.

In general I think I’m wanting a few more RC buggies around for a bash.

[Why me? 24]

Hi @•Axle, whereabouts in Brighton are you? Myself and @Dweeb are Brighton too.

[•Axle 145]

@Why me? – Walking distance I’m about 10 minutes from Brighton hospital, the bottom of our road is an industrial estate. I’m walking around the race course each day, are you quite near?

[Why me? 24]

14 minutes ago, •Axle said:

@Why me? – Walking distance I’m about 10 minutes from Brighton hospital, the bottom of our road is an industrial estate. I’m walking around the race course each day, are you quite near?

I can see the racecourse from my house, I’m just over the hill in Bevendean. Is your photo of the MX track on Wilson’s Avenue?

[•Axle 145]

@Why me? yes, that’s the one it looks pretty good from above, just a little intimidating when you’re standing in the middle on your own! 😂

[Why me? 24]

I’ll give you a shout next time I’m heading out with the car, not sure if it will be next week as I’m expecting a baby any day now!