JeremyH
I wanna be Dave
In our club, we call that a "gotcha bitch!"...:ror:
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New class to encourage newbs..
- Thread starter Chris_The_Battery_Man
- Start date
rangercat23
RCC Addict
I can vouch for that...
JeremyH used to let me borrow one of his spare pro rigs for a couple comps when I first started attending comps. That was a year ago, I started this sport with a LNC sporty.
Now I am the proud owner of a 1.9, 2.2 pro, 2.2s, super, and another sporty under construction. This sport takes quite a level of commitment to stay active, but so do most sports. "thumbsup"
JeremyH
I wanna be Dave
Gotcha bitch! :ror:
Charlie-III
I wanna be Dave
OK....soooo.......I did the, "Why I don't do comps" thread, you have a GREAT idea on a, "why I do go to comps" thread, so I nominate YOU to start it.;-)
:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:
"thumbsup""thumbsup"
8)
rangercat23
RCC Addict
Charlie-III
I wanna be Dave
Soooo....if you do better, who gets to bitch slap who??!!
Now I just need to practice...
:shock:
:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:
[maybe "TMI" here...]
rangercat23
RCC Addict
Stregone
Pebble Pounder
I think a spec class could work, if the circumstances are right.
At my onroad parkinglot track attendance was way down. Some people moved, or new jobs and no time, but the big one was 2 indoor offroad tracks opening up within an hour away.
The race director got together with the LHS and put together a legends kit and combo for $150. Included everything you needed other than radio and charger (some of us regulars donated spare rtr radios and old chargers to brand new to r/c racers).
I was kinda skeptical at first, but it turned out to be the most consistently full class all year. After buying the combo I think I only spent 20 bucks on a new set of tires all year.
The problem with doing this with crawlers is that even low end rtrs are pretty pricy. The key to making it a successful class was the low cost of entry. It wasn't about being a beginner class, just a cheap class. We have racers in this class who are also hard core mod touring guys, down to racers who are just starting out with it as their only class and everyone has fun with it. One guy has a bunch of spare cars and usualy has a non r/c friend or two in tow racing with us every week.
I'd recommend getting some of your core guys (who can afford to 'waste' a little money) together and brainstorm a spec to use. Buy one or two and do some testing and experimenting to make sure everything works the way you want. The last thing you want is to have everyone buy the spec stuff, and then find out something doesn't work or just isn't up to par.
At my onroad parkinglot track attendance was way down. Some people moved, or new jobs and no time, but the big one was 2 indoor offroad tracks opening up within an hour away.
The race director got together with the LHS and put together a legends kit and combo for $150. Included everything you needed other than radio and charger (some of us regulars donated spare rtr radios and old chargers to brand new to r/c racers).
I was kinda skeptical at first, but it turned out to be the most consistently full class all year. After buying the combo I think I only spent 20 bucks on a new set of tires all year.
The problem with doing this with crawlers is that even low end rtrs are pretty pricy. The key to making it a successful class was the low cost of entry. It wasn't about being a beginner class, just a cheap class. We have racers in this class who are also hard core mod touring guys, down to racers who are just starting out with it as their only class and everyone has fun with it. One guy has a bunch of spare cars and usualy has a non r/c friend or two in tow racing with us every week.
I'd recommend getting some of your core guys (who can afford to 'waste' a little money) together and brainstorm a spec to use. Buy one or two and do some testing and experimenting to make sure everything works the way you want. The last thing you want is to have everyone buy the spec stuff, and then find out something doesn't work or just isn't up to par.
Sheepdawg23wm
Quarry Creeper
Anymore ideas on this subject? I too have noticed a major decline in club comp attendance in the last year. Most of what I see that makes a newb not come back is the fact that to be really competitive, a guy has to spend alot of coin and spend a ton of time practicing to be COMPETITIVE. My club has tried adding bonus gates after every regular gate for the better drivers and leave regular gates easy for newcomers, but this hasnt worked. It appears to me that it all comes down to cost. Most guys are competitive by nature and when they tally the cost of a real rig, they just say screw that. I dont personally see where a spec class will solve anything. Ill share why I feel that way. The comps are held on one day, the newb shows up with a few other newbies and runs there spec class crawlers. So one guy wins since there always is a winner and a loser. The only guys really caring is the small group of newbies. Then they know to get real recognition from all the pro guys they have to put together that comp monster costing well over a 1000+. At the same time now they feel like they have wasted there money on the spec class crawler and feel overwelmed with all the cost associated with this hobby and just say f this. I personally think what im going to try is advertising our club gtg's and comps on craigslist for all those guys that have no clue our club even exists. This hobby is really only for a select few of the masses. My idea is to get so many guys out to the gtg's and comps, that hopefully I can find a few that have the crawler gene and are willing to spend the time and money to make it work. Ive been comping for 2 years now and went 5 years in rc before I found out about a local rc crawling club. I went to one comp and was hooked. Sold all my go fast crap to finance what I needed to be competitive. I researched this website for days before I made any purchases on anything to make sure I wasnt wasting money. I think thats the key, finding a guy with the right state of mind for what we do and leading them in the correct direction on what to buy right from the start.
Stregone
Pebble Pounder
The problem is you are looking at it the wrong way. It isn't necessarily a 'noob' class. It should be a CHEAP class. An easy to get into first class for noobs, but also an easy to get into second class for non-noobs. It needs to be run as a legit class of its own and not half-assed.
crawl-o-matic
www.ottsix.com
How about this:
Have everyone in your local club chip in and build a comp worthy rig, or two, that any new driver can use to comp with. This way, they can get an honest feel for comping rather that showing up with an off the self POS and HATING the experience.
Just a thought...
Have everyone in your local club chip in and build a comp worthy rig, or two, that any new driver can use to comp with. This way, they can get an honest feel for comping rather that showing up with an off the self POS and HATING the experience.
Just a thought...
I've been thinking about this, and there is a simple solution:
1. Scrap most of the technical limitations for the crawler. Any size, number of motors, servos, radio channels, etc goes.
2. Use course rules for the 2.2 class. (Crawlers wider than 16" are legal, but will have problems passing the gate markers...)
3. After the competition anybody can can buy any of the competing crawlers (less radio and battery) at a fixed price of $150 (or similar).
The sales are arranged by the event holder in a form of lotteries. All that want to buy a crawler state which one and pay a token fee ($10 or so) to be part of the drawing. At a given time a "winner" is drawn for each crawler that has bids on it, and the "winner" get to pay $150 to the crawler's owner.
This way it's stupid to spend a small fortune on the vehicle, and anybody can buy one for cheap(ish).
1. Scrap most of the technical limitations for the crawler. Any size, number of motors, servos, radio channels, etc goes.
2. Use course rules for the 2.2 class. (Crawlers wider than 16" are legal, but will have problems passing the gate markers...)
3. After the competition anybody can can buy any of the competing crawlers (less radio and battery) at a fixed price of $150 (or similar).
The sales are arranged by the event holder in a form of lotteries. All that want to buy a crawler state which one and pay a token fee ($10 or so) to be part of the drawing. At a given time a "winner" is drawn for each crawler that has bids on it, and the "winner" get to pay $150 to the crawler's owner.
This way it's stupid to spend a small fortune on the vehicle, and anybody can buy one for cheap(ish).
The only thing that needs to be done is to make sure your club is friendly and accommodating to new members, and most of all, that you guys are out having fun.
A new class won't fix anything. Even people that show up for a rtr class are going to get discouraged.
A new class won't fix anything. Even people that show up for a rtr class are going to get discouraged.
Charlie-III
I wanna be Dave
+1.....I have to agree 100%.
Sheepdawg23wm,
I did 3 threads:
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/newb...nt-go-comps-not-looking-comp-guy-replies.html
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/general-crawlers/417001-why-i-dont-go-comps-anymore-open-anyone.html
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/gene...king-all-replies-newbs-seasoned-veterans.html
Asking for how to make things better.
Time (building, practicing, driving to/from comps, etc.)
Money (rigs, parts, upgrades, repairs, gas to/from comps, entry fees)
Attitude (on the part of one or more at the comps)
Seem to be the biggest things from each of these threads.
Adding another class is a lot more work for the guys that set-up/run the comps. They are spread thin already and some are asking for even more.
In any group, there will be the "hardcore" that will always have the better/best rigs and time to get really good.
There will also be the other extreme of the guys that just want to get out and have a bit of fun.
I think this is part of why GTG's & scalers have risen a bit. It's fun for the day and less pressure for a "season".
Don't take my work for it, read through the replies in the 3 threads.8)
Olle P, I've been in other "sports" that had a "claiming" type rule. There were always guys that had deep pockets & a desire to win, thus it was "worth it" to them to really bend the rules and piss away a lot of money.
I think this idea is just another layer of "issues" waiting to happen if we do it here.
But, that's my opinion.
PS, I've been in on some similar "private" discussions (mostly on what class to get new people into RC crawling) and I suggested just reading through the 3 threads to see what a larger cross section of people like/dislike before going overboard on new classes/new rules.
;-)
Personally I feel this is the biggest consideration when getting into crawling. I believe a lot of people buy a crawler and do not realize how much time and effort they are going to have to invest if they want to be competitive. I probably spent 20-30 hours building, tuning, and practicing between monthly comps. Comparatively, I spend about 30 minutes prepping my sc truck between weekly races.
They think that rtr crawlers are like rtr race vehicles that are competitive out of the box....they are not.
They think they can show up at a comp, get a feel for the course and be competitive...they can not.
Racing is easy and is not much of a time suck off of the track. Crawling is difficult and time consuming. Both are still fun. :mrgreen:
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summitcrawler
My vendor status has been revoked
you said it best..... "once I got a taste of victory I was hooked" so if there was an easier cheaper class then more people would get hooked....... a lot of people dont have a year to figure out what they want to do with their life...
..its as simple as that.
summitcrawler
My vendor status has been revoked
it seems like everyone is being a little defensive and anyone with experience is telling beginners to suck it up... it seems that no one wants anymore competition...
why cant there be a beginner class that would just be a stepping stone...
it would get more people into the hobby which would bring more ideas, more vendors more everything...
if anyone even doubts the idea of adding a beginner class then in all reality your holding back the hobby.
you have to BEGIN somewhere to be a pro...
why cant there be a beginner class that would just be a stepping stone...
it would get more people into the hobby which would bring more ideas, more vendors more everything...
if anyone even doubts the idea of adding a beginner class then in all reality your holding back the hobby.
you have to BEGIN somewhere to be a pro...
Manning
RCC Addict
Ha, the claiming rule sounds great in theory, but doesn't work so well in practice. Two things will happen. 1. If someone claims another's rig, the original owner gets pissed for losing all the work involved and either quits or end up in a fight with the new owner. 2. Eventually, it turns into a situation where there is a "gentlemans agreement" that nobody claims anyone elses rig, so the cost goes right back to the level it was before the claim rule.
I do think lots of people assume they absolutely must spend $1000 on Vanquish parts and have a $500 radio to have any chance at being competitive. Truth is, it's not necessary. But I do admit that comp crawling is in a bit of a pickle now that there is no comp crawler available at all. Not a good situation for growth.
I don't know what the answer is.
I do think lots of people assume they absolutely must spend $1000 on Vanquish parts and have a $500 radio to have any chance at being competitive. Truth is, it's not necessary. But I do admit that comp crawling is in a bit of a pickle now that there is no comp crawler available at all. Not a good situation for growth.
I don't know what the answer is.
Manning
RCC Addict
True. Does your club refuse to have a beginner class?
You should suck it up. Every new driver there ever was since the beginning of comp crawling has had to...why should today's drivers be any different? This is not life or death, there are no great stakes involved. This is not a major fork in the road of life. It is a hobby where you go out to have fun. Treat it as such and you will succeed.
Your journey to becoming a pro starts at the bottom, competing with whoever shows up that day, just like everyone else. ;-)