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Wooders28

If you're not a member of an RC Club, why not?

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32 minutes ago, mud4fun said:

I quit that club in the end because the events (probably in an attempt to get rid of us boring old farts) were getting silly, bigger and steeper climbs, ever deeper mud holes, deeper water or higher speeds etc and it became a competition of who could spend the most money on outlandish suspension lifts or pro race spec engines. Driver skill seemed irrelevant towards the end as only the 50K purpose built race or trials machine could win.

I've noticed this across the board over the years (maybe a result of living in a capitalist civilization?):

When winning becomes the goal, in whatever hobby/venture/etc. the money comes in and ruins it.

The hard part is figuring out how to keep it fun and accessible to all without allowing it to devolve into an arms race.

In HO slot cars, for example, there's "spec racing" where the chassis is intentionally kept simple and cheap, so anyone can rock up and have a go.

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I feel like making rc car racing accessible would be super easy. 

Make a Hornet or even a Racing Fighter stock cup and job done. 

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9 minutes ago, cowboyjon said:

Make a Hornet or even a Racing Fighter stock cup and job done. 

Exactly my thoughts!

Unfortunately it doesn't take care of the "run what you brung" aspect and it still involves racing.

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 @El Gecko in my case, the club (All Wheel Drive Club, AWDC) started out small, way back in the 70's. When I joined in the early 80's it was still mostly friendly folk. We would drive to work or go shopping in our Land Rovers during the week then at weekends stuff on a set of mud tyres and compete. That worked well for years.

sadly in the 90's the entrants started to include alot more people turning up in purpose built machines that were not road legal or at the very least not really practical use on public roads. Those purpose built machines initially were just stripped down old Defenders. Then the spaceframes started creeping in, suspension travel started to be measured in feet and speeds got dangerously fast. The club was loving it because their events got televised which raked in money. That then led to businesses such as Simmonites (A Land Rover repair and parts business,) building dedicated race machines. The two Simmonite twins, highly skilled girls, then had the financial backup of a business to support them. They could push the boundaries because if the car broke their Worksop fixed it for them. In my case if I broke my vehicle I couldn,'t get to work the following week!

so in the space of a decade the events went from some blokes turning up (and driving to the event) in their old stock Land Rovers to giant American motorhomes and HGV's pulling trailers with £50-100K purpose built race machines and a dedicated pit crew! The club caved all too easily. Rules were changed to suit the wealthy teams, tracks were changed to suit the wealthy teams etc etc. 

 

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I guess this happens in many clubs, the original aims and vision of the club are lost along the way once it starts to become a business.

Loads of people I knew quit at the same time as me. We weren't interest in competing at events against wealthy pro teams. Instead we started going to pay and play days in quarries etc. You paid a fee and could drive anywhere you wanted with whatever vehicle you wanted. It was all about fun, no competition and very limited site rules. It was a great way to play in the mud or do some rock crawling or steep climbs with no pressure. We used to carry a BBQ or gas hob in the back, stop at lunchtime and sit on the tailgate cooking a meal in the middle of a muddy quarry. Great memories.:)

PS @El Gecko I don't think it is because of capitalism. I think it is just natural evolution. Eg. A couple of us agree to meet up and race each other at a weekend. More friends join in so we need a bigger track and more rules. Yet more people join in and it starts to cost money to hire tracks and timing equipment etc so a membership fee is charged. Then you need a treasurer to organise the finances. Then you grow into a big building and have even more costs so you try to get sponsorship and that leads to yet more rule changes and more teams competing.....  The trick is knowing when to stop before you lose sight of the 'just a bunch of mates having fun,' :)

 

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2 hours ago, cowboyjon said:

Well, I'm not too far away in Carluke and even I had no idea a (somewhat) local club even existed so there's a good starting point 😂

Not far at all! 

Not far from me either, I've just moved to Airdrie! 

Glasgow has had an RC Club for years, the last venue, (ish, we ran in a church hall for a while) was at, The Experience in Hillington (until they found they'd make more money with 5 a side so.....☹) . 

Theres also a track at Ayr (near the hospital) , it's Scotland's only perminant indoor track (so no messing about putting a track out, and clearing it away!), and have (pre Covid) family fun nights on a Friday night. We did rent it for a day a few years back, and had our own wee tamiya meet (everyone brought loads of cars, I brought 20...., so everyone got a shot of all kinds), something I'd like to orginise again.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/161092140649851/?ref=share 

 

2 hours ago, cowboyjon said:

For us personally, me and my sons aged 11 and 9, the idea of getting a play round a real track is appealing but everything else that comes with it not so much

I think I can safely say, we'll be having a smaller, practice track, so hoping it'll be less daunting ,if just you and your sons can go at your own pace, without eyes watching.

Yes if you turned up at any other time, you'd have been able to use the track on your own, even if you'd raced, we'd have given you room and ,honestly hand on heart , not judged, but when your new and you feel everyone is watching, it can be daunting.

 

2 hours ago, cowboyjon said:

We enjoy our time with the rc's but aren't really interested in blathering about them with 40 year old men to be honest😅 although it would warm the cockles of my heart to see my kids engaging with others their own age on the hobby

I can talk for hours.....🙄🤐

We do have younger members who are similar ages to your sons, and they'll help with introducing them to the club (Plus, the best places on the grass bank to do ,rolly- pollies and knee slides, stuff that would put us 40yr olds in A&E...😳😂

 

3 hours ago, cowboyjon said:

Probably it's as much the thought of us turning up with our tamiyas or whatever and just getting in everyone's way that would stop us trying it. Maybe the best way around that would be an open track day aimed at easing in beginners, maybe once a month or so? 

If we knew you where coming, I'd bring some tamiya's too! 

Open days are defo on the cards, I've just got my 6yr old daughter her first BRCA License (she's made up ,she's got a, racing licence 😊), so she's wanting to get out on the track too. 

With a perminant , 'practice track' , (although ,they'll be no lap timing equipment..) ,it should be possible to use that at any time (actually plans for flood lighting down the line, depending on funding , so could litterally be, anytime!! ) 

 

2 hours ago, cowboyjon said:

I see a lot of, 'don't be daft, our club is full of the friendliest folks', type comments all the time in all different types of hobbies

It is! 😂😂

We realise some people aren't as forward/confident as others, so trying to do our best to make everyone feel welcome.

If you're on Facebook, this is our page (well, one if them, we've a ,'buy and sell'  page too, this was to help new members find cheaper cars /equipment, its linked off the page) 

 

https://www.facebook.com/GlasgowRC/

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1 hour ago, mud4fun said:

 @El Gecko in my case, the club (All Wheel Drive Club, AWDC) started out small, way back in the 70's. When I joined in the early 80's it was still mostly friendly folk. We would drive to work or go shopping in our Land Rovers during the week then at weekends stuff on a set of mud tyres and compete. That worked well for years.

sadly in the 90's the entrants started to include alot more people turning up in purpose built machines that were not road legal or at the very least not really practical use on public roads. Those purpose built machines initially were just stripped down old Defenders. Then the spaceframes started creeping in, suspension travel started to be measured in feet and speeds got dangerously fast. The club was loving it because their events got televised which raked in money. That then led to businesses such as Simmonites (A Land Rover repair and parts business,) building dedicated race machines. The two Simmonite twins, highly skilled girls, then had the financial backup of a business to support them. They could push the boundaries because if the car broke their Worksop fixed it for them. In my case if I broke my vehicle I couldn,'t get to work the following week!

so in the space of a decade the events went from some blokes turning up (and driving to the event) in their old stock Land Rovers to giant American motorhomes and HGV's pulling trailers with £50-100K purpose built race machines and a dedicated pit crew! The club caved all too easily. Rules were changed to suit the wealthy teams, tracks were changed to suit the wealthy teams etc etc. 

 

 

I see a lot of decisions in that story based on money.

90s entrants building machines specifically designed to win, which as you said led to a business (that makes money)

which led to more dedicated race machines (sold to other racers for most likely top dollar with high margins)

which led to financial backing of their business (self-sponsorship, essentially) for when they themselves would race

which led to everyone else doing the same thing because they weren't competitive otherwise--some starting their own businesses to be able to afford just to compete

but because ONLY SOME people had financial backing, it left others out completely and left others struggling

leaving only the people with the most money to make all the (wrong) decisions (based on money)

causing attrition and eventually killing the whole club, or turning it into basically a corporate race program --  again, to make money for the corporation that sponsors it

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14 minutes ago, El Gecko said:

 

I see a lot of decisions in that story based on money.

90s entrants building machines specifically designed to win, which as you said led to a business (that makes money)

which led to more dedicated race machines (sold to other racers for most likely top dollar with high margins)

which led to financial backing of their business (self-sponsorship, essentially) for when they themselves would race

which led to everyone else doing the same thing because they weren't competitive otherwise--some starting their own businesses to be able to afford just to compete

but because ONLY SOME people had financial backing, it left others out completely and left others struggling

leaving only the people with the most money to make all the (wrong) decisions (based on money)

causing attrition and eventually killing the whole club, or turning it into basically a corporate race program --  again, to make money for the corporation that sponsors it

Hehe, when you put it like that then yes it does sound about right.... :lol:

However, if it was a socialist/communist club it would be the exact same result:

The club committee would dictate that every member must pay an environmental tax for use of the track, each car would be taxed an entry tax, the wealthiest drivers would pay a higher entry tax, the winner would pay a tax on the value of the NIB kit he got for winning the race and all the money would go to the committee who would sit in a royal box watching the event while sipping the most expensive Champagne and charging it back to club expenses that would then need higher entry taxes to cover....... :D:P (oh and you would only be allowed to race cars and use parts from the committee approved manufacturer who the committee happen to also govern)

That is said in jest by the way, I don't wish to fall out with you again (or at least not so soon after the last one) :);)

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11 minutes ago, mud4fun said:

Hehe, when you put it like that then yes it does sound about right.... :lol:

However, if it was a socialist/communist club it would be the exact same result:

The club committee would dictate that every member must pay an environmental tax for use of the track, each car would be taxed an entry tax, the wealthiest drivers would pay a higher entry tax, the winner would pay a tax on the value of the NIB kit he got for winning the race and all the money would go to the committee who would sit in a royal box watching the event while sipping the most expensive Champagne and charging it back to club expenses that would then need higher entry taxes to cover....... :D:P

That is said in jest by the way, I don't wish to fall out with you again (or at least not so soon after the last one) :);)

Good sir, I have no intention of having a falling out with you :D I believe we're having a nice discussion so far?

I hadn't intended to get into a capitalist/communist argument--only to show that a substantial amount of decision-making is based on money, even when we think (or say) it isn't.

And not just for 1:1 4WD clubs, for any clubs/hobbies/sports/activities/whatever in the world. The "top dogs" in their particular arena are typically the ones with the biggest financial backing.

Which doesn't make it very accessible for anyone else.

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12 minutes ago, El Gecko said:

Good sir, I have no intention of having a falling out with you :D I believe we're having a nice discussion so far?

I hadn't intended to get into a capitalist/communist argument--only to show that a substantial amount of decision-making is based on money, even when we think (or say) it isn't.

And not just for 1:1 4WD clubs, for any clubs/hobbies/sports/activities/whatever in the world. The "top dogs" in their particular arena are typically the ones with the biggest financial backing.

Which doesn't make it very accessible for anyone else.

:)

Yeah, you can mitigate against the 'person with biggest wallet wins' but sadly that then involves more rules and regs which is exactly what puts alot of people off club racing in the first place. I'm not sure there is an easy answer?

I for one wouldn't like single make or model races because I want to race my favourite buggies which is not necessarily what others like. So for example a single marque Hornet race would not appeal to me or my kids.

Youngest would want to race her Aqroshot, middle Mudlet her Egress and me my Cougar or Thundershot. So as you can imagine, even within our family we already have plenty of issues! I only beat them at postal racing because I have the biggest budget, run the best cars, motors and batteries and I have more time to practise (due to the type of work I do). However, we still have plenty of fun. :) 

The fact the postal racing results table includes lots of different cars of all types means there is less pressure to win and more emphasis on just taking part? Getting highest lap counts becomes a pleasurable challenge rather than a stressful experience.

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1 hour ago, El Gecko said:

When winning becomes the goal, in whatever hobby/venture/etc. the money comes in and ruins it.

So, something like, ' most improved ' trophy for new commers? (Unless someone starts, sand bagging....) 

1 hour ago, El Gecko said:

"spec racing" where the chassis is intentionally kept simple and cheap, so anyone can rock up and have a go.

I think this ironically, becomes confusing ,hard to police and expensive. You need the best 'Stock' motor, or the less honest putting different winds into stock cans, organisers having to check each car, check ecs's in blinky etc etc.

1 hour ago, cowboyjon said:

Make a Hornet or even a Racing Fighter stock cup and job done. 

The Ayr club tried stock , Holiday buggy ,racing a while back.

They bought a bulk buy, with the intention of making it accessible etc.

It didn't work, seasoned racers didn't want to go that slow, I wasn't going to buy a specific car, just enter a race once every few months (Ayr isn't on my door step, so more due to work commitments), if they'd gone with the DT03, I'd have entered (maybe, as I think they ran kit motors, and I've not got any...)

What you find with new commers, they don't look for a club, then buy a car, they've bought a car, then look for somewhere to run it. If they've bought a RTR Traxxas ,because little Johnny saw one on YouTube, then they don't think they're welcome.

RWYB, open track, I think is a much better option. With the back up of club cars and decent club members, who'll let you drive their cars (with the end point turned down) 

 

 

 

 

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Why do car and buggy clubs have to be about racing? Boat clubs, aero clubs even model railway clubs seem to have the balance right. Some of us aren`t interested in the latest trilimilipoface battery technology, or the latest variation of a tin can with a few wires that promises speeds to rival NASA`s latest venture, or even a pastic wedge shaped thing flying round a circuit. Thats been my (limited) experience of clubs anyway .Some of us are into RC because we like what boils down to realistic 10th or 14th scale static vehicles that also move

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58 minutes ago, mud4fun said:

Yeah, you can mitigate against the 'person with biggest wallet wins' but sadly that then involves more rules and regs which is exactly what puts alot of people off club racing in the first place. I'm not sure there is an easy answer?

From my experience,  the biggest budget doesn't guarantee wins in RC Racing. You could have a brand new car, all the top gear, and I'd bet the average Joe, would still be beaten by Lee Martin or Neil Cragg, with a bone stock ( but set up) Neo Fighter. Again with motors, people think they'll put a 2.5t in a 2wd, and win, as It'll be super fast, it will be fast,  straight into the first barrier...

Even running a championship during lockdown on VRC, Allan still won it, so even when the cars are absolutley exactly the same, the cream still rises to the top.

We want as little rules as you can safely get away with. Battery rules will be adhered to , charging in charge bags etc, 

 

18 minutes ago, Wetman said:

Why do car and buggy clubs have to be about racing?

It brings the most people, which equals money to pay the bills. 

We have and will ,run open track days and even training days ,where I've bought a load of small football training cones, and marked lines, braking points and had experienced guys on hand to help with set ups and lend tyres etc, but we'd get more than double the people if it was a 'race night' . When the venue costs £80 a week , and 6 turn up for a open/training night and you're charging £7, the maths don't work, and you need the volume of the race nights, to pay for the open track / training nights, unless we doubled the entry fee....

Kind of the reason for the thread, we / I want to make it accessible and, more importantly , enjoyable to more people,  if we can get it right.

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31 minutes ago, Wooders28 said:

From my experience,  the biggest budget doesn't guarantee wins in RC Racing. You could have a brand new car, all the top gear, and I'd bet the average Joe, would still be beaten by Lee Martin or Neil Cragg, with a bone stock ( but set up) Neo Fighter. Again with motors, people think they'll put a 2.5t in a 2wd, and win, as It'll be super fast, it will be fast,  straight into the first barrier...

case in point - TurnipJF beat me in one round of postal racing using a Grasshopper and on several by his Thundershot (not even his touring or F1 cars)...... oh the shame of it :D

However lets say by some miracle I managed to beat Turnip using my Cougar (yes OK, you have to stretch imagination a bit) I honestly, and I really do mean this, would not get as much satisfaction as if I'd beaten him (with him using his modern touring cars) with my Thundershot. I'm either just plain stupid or have some inherent flaw in me but I get a perverse pleasure from making a vintage car (whether that be RC or 1:1) beat a modern one. I honestly can't explain it. So I genuinely would most likely turn up for a race at a club and run my Thundershot against all the Cougars! :o (Even though the chances of me winning are 0.0000000000000000000000001% ). I guess it is similar to the feeling I got many years ago when my very rough farm looking Land Rover albeit fitted with a very powerful V8 beat a 911 Porsche in a drag race. The guy had assumed the 'wreck' next to him would be easy prey..... I reckon I got more enjoyment from that than if I'd have been driving a million pound supercar.

My kids thought it was hysterically funny that the grasshopper beat me, they have ribbed me about it since. That is the fun aspect of doing a run what ya brung, the comedy value is awesome. 

 

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1 hour ago, Wooders28 said:

It brings the most people, which equals money to pay the bills. 

We have and will ,run open track days and even training days ,where I've bought a load of small football training cones, and marked lines, braking points and had experienced guys on hand to help with set ups and lend tyres etc, but we'd get more than double the people if it was a 'race night' . When the venue costs £80 a week , and 6 turn up for a open/training night and you're charging £7, the maths don't work, and you need the volume of the race nights, to pay for the open track / training nights, unless we doubled the entry fee....

Kind of the reason for the thread, we / I want to make it accessible and, more importantly , enjoyable to more people,  if we can get it right.

Yep, when there are bills involved, somebody has to pay them. Unless you've got enough people showing up every week or every day, it's just not going to add up, and someone is going to be spending a lot to keep things going for everyone else.

When land is only valued for the money it can generate for its owner, everything that happens on that land has to have a price. Thus the racetrack. Or backyard tracks that are free to their owners and certain others, but are otherwise closed off to outsiders. It causes lines to be drawn.

The solution, obviously, is publicly available, rent-free land. But where? And how? Probably not anywhere close to a group of people that want to get together and RWYB. Or maybe closer than we think? Bicycle groups are able to lobby for development grants to get pump tracks built in public parks--if you could make a case for the "good of the village" or some such, perhaps they might also think about building an RC track course? Same kind of rules as the pumptracks too (and other forms of public recreation equipment): run what you brung, and drive at your own risk. No insurance or cost needed other than you and your equipment. Maybe a pipe dream but it's not impossible!

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1 hour ago, El Gecko said:

The solution, obviously, is publicly available, rent-free land. But where? And how?

There's hundreds of thousands of people into RC, world wide, and only a small percent are actively in clubs. 

In other hobbies/sport that require a team ie football ,there's plenty of council funding, and places to go.

If there where more people notably involved in RC, there would be more clubs, and then more chance of council funding, especially if kids benefit / get them out and active,  off the streets etc (going down this road atm....). 

But ,as you can see ,it's a catch 22.

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8 hours ago, mud4fun said:

I guess it is similar to the feeling I got many years ago when my very rough farm looking Land Rover albeit fitted with a very powerful V8 beat a 911 Porsche in a drag race. The guy had assumed the 'wreck' next to him would be easy prey..... I reckon I got more enjoyment from that than if I'd have been driving a million pound supercar

Super off topic, but

Sleepers are brilliant ,especially when they're, built not bought.

I remember a mate of mine turned up at the strip in Scotland, Mk2 Cortina Estate, hand painted ,rusty home built exhaust hanging out the back ,but with a built Rover lump, 2 stage Nitrous ,home built ECU (went on to become a developer for Megasquirt), individual coil packs, running both wide band and EGT for injection control (O2 sensors don't like nitrous). The thing runs 11's. Was laughed at by the ,Backwards hats , but the only thing that would line up next to him at the end of the day, where motorbikes..🙄😂😂

Love that car, 

2021-01-27_02-12-03

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16 hours ago, El Gecko said:

Exactly my thoughts!

Unfortunately it doesn't take care of the "run what you brung" aspect and it still involves racing.

My local club has a Grasshopper class. Stock grasshoppers and bearings. The only mods are cosmetic, or lowering the GH with shims. No other chassis (Hornet etc) is allowed.

Its great fun. It's an indoor onroad track and they pootle around with the 380 motors. They are slow, but great fun and the racing is close...Also nothing breaks, and the tyres never wear down. 

This club also has pretty much a run what you brung attitude to newcomers as long as the car would not damage anything, or be too fast and could harm someone. 

Clubs are the best bit about the hobby, I really miss the social aspect of it. Even if I couldn't race I would pop in for a chat if I could.

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On 27/01/2021 at 8:36 AM, qatmix said:

Clubs are the best bit about the hobby, I really miss the social aspect of it. Even if I couldn't race I would pop in for a chat if I could.

I have done the same,if I've worked late etc, and just go over for a blether (or pic up parts that got delivered to another member in a, bulk order....😏

Going off the above, Is something like sales of , spares , tyres , shock oils etc on anyone's wishlist for a club? 

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Because even if I were a good enough driver to race, the cars I build and like aren't competitive as racers on a modern track.

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So it seems there's a fair demand for an RC social club, rather than an all-out race club.  In the past I've talked about setting up a weekly or monthly Pub Night, that any local RC enthusiast can drop along to, and we'll sink a few beers and talk nonsense about RC.  Off the back of that we could probably arrange a few bashes - the bigger the social gets, the more chance of meeting someone with a bit of land that they can loan for a one-day event.  Obviously right now isn't the right time to be organising that, but maybe if we ever get out of our homes and once the initial rush for freedom is over I can set something like this up.  That said, I'm always talking about setting up little social meets for various groups and it never happens.

Also - a lot of areas already have their own modelling clubs, but they're not always easy to find.  At the local Model Expo there are usually a few 'generic' modelling clubs which spread slightly beyond the bounds of RC cars.  There's one that puts a lot of emphasis on scale and functionality and display - IIRC they had some super-scale Royal Marines hovercraft, a fully-functional airport fire engine based on Tamiya big rig chassis, various custom-built boats and even a few aircraft.  There's another that looked to be a collection of people with RC car interests - they had a nice-looking re-re Mountaineer on display with an attractive home-built caravan behind it, I can't remember what other stuff they had.  And there was another similar club that had various RC cars and trucks on display.  I didn't actually talk to any of the club members so I'm not sure what they do besides display their cars at expos, but one would imagine there's a social aspect where they share WIPs and swap ideas, if nothing else.

I think it would be nice to have an all-encompassing RC Car Club where anybody in the car scene can go along and be welcome, but with low membership numbers you might have a hugely disparate group of people who have no common interests and with high numbers you'd struggle to get them all in one venue at the same time, which sort of voids the point.

I think there's a potential quasi-communist utopia in which every region has a Modeller's Village (next to the Crafter's Town and a short distance from the Robotics Division), which is an area where all the model shops and race tracks are situated, where the boating lakes and airfields are, where there are drop-in halls for viewing or displaying static models or RC models or other types of functional model, cafes and bars where you can meet like-minded people and swap ideas and projects.  But we're a very long way from achieving that kind of ideal, unless it was done virtually*, which is pretty much what we have here.

*I'm actually kind of surprised that the pandemic hasn't given birth to a new generation of virtual socialisation outside of the MMORPG world (or maybe it has, but I don't know about it because I'm not in that scene).  The best we have is stuff like Zoom and Skype, which is about as reliable as a mobile telephone was 20 years ago.  Oddly, around that time, I was drafting out ideas for a "virtual car meet" web app where people could meet in an online cartoon environment and talk nonsense or have virtual drag races.  With today's game engines we could do something technically brilliant, but I don't know how we make it relevant for real-world projects.

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On 1/24/2021 at 12:57 AM, J@mes said:

I’ve checked it out, here’s the track:

My issue is also time and commitments, like so many no doubt

Ouch are there «coblestones» placed on track?, get anxiety just looking at it. As i love my Monster Truck and driving around my block in the Woods/Mountain it sure looks like fun driving a road car on a propper track. Always wanted ti drive a RC F1 on a propper course but i lack everything inkl the skill to controll one, and that anxiety for coblestones, those are RC car killers :)

edit: Not thinking about standard red/white turns with built up coblestone corners. But other straight areas there seem to be white coblestones. Just to make that clear

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2 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

*I'm actually kind of surprised that the pandemic hasn't given birth to a new generation of virtual socialisation outside of the MMORPG world (or maybe it has, but I don't know about it because I'm not in that scene).  The best we have is stuff like Zoom and Skype, which is about as reliable as a mobile telephone was 20 years ago.  Oddly, around that time, I was drafting out ideas for a "virtual car meet" web app where people could meet in an online cartoon environment and talk nonsense or have virtual drag races.  With today's game engines we could do something technically brilliant, but I don't know how we make it relevant for real-world projects.

I have been using MS Teams daily for work meetings, often for hours at a time. We have a short team meeting every morning and afternoon, don't talk much business really, mostly complaining about lockdowns or whether it will snow etc and we have recently started playing virtual games - last week we had a joint game of Pictionary on the team meeting. It was ace!

The postal racing that @TurnipJF started during lockdown is the first step towards your virtual racing. Everybody races in the back gardens or parks to a preset track design and submits their results. Several of us are now using race timing equipment with transponders too. The next step would be to introduce technology that does real time monitoring of the car on the track and feed that back to the PC which could then be streamed live to central base station where all entrants lap times could be displayed on a virtual board in real time. We can't be far off having that technology? It would just mean getting everybody to run their races at the same pre-set start time but other than that you would then have a perfect blend of virtual game but with real cars and real driving without having to venture too far from home. You can even have a virtual bar afterwards too :)

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4 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

Obviously right now isn't the right time to be organising that,

I don't know, maybe it is! It takes ages to muster troops, find a venue etc etc, and with everyone chomping at the bit to socialise again, you could hit the ground running, once ,normality ,resumes!

4 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

I'm actually kind of surprised that the pandemic hasn't given birth to a new generation of virtual socialisation outside

There has! 

We raced all through lockdowns on VRC 

https://www.vrcworld.com/

You can set your own private races up, and we set a group chat up on, discord. So computer on, plug an RX into the VRC dongle (you can build them for around a fiver), put discord on your phone and away you go.

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39 minutes ago, Wooders28 said:

We raced all through lockdowns on VRC 

https://www.vrcworld.com/

You can set your own private races up, and we set a group chat up on, discord. So computer on, plug an RX into the VRC dongle (you can build them for around a fiver), put discord on your phone and away you go.

Nah, where's the fun in that, you wouldn't need to spend an hour washing all the mud and grass out your buggy.......... oh wait..... :D:lol:

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