Future races at HONK?, Moved from Pro-Mod thread Options

[trenchtownbilly]

Thats a good point, i should have remembered WHO races on the 1st week of the month. I will talk to Tony during the week. The original discussion was about not clashing with local 1/32 clubs, Viking race on Monday, Medway on Wednesday and Larkfield on Friday, so we were more concerned with the day of the week, not what weeks we raced. 2nd and 4th Thursday should not be a problem. Of course , if there is not enough interest in 2 nights a month, then we will stick with 1. My idea was for OW 1st week and Nascar the 2nd week so doing both classes each month, that way if somone only wanted to do 1 week a month, they could pick a class and stick with that, but it will come down to what the majority of club members want.

[diesel]

I only asked for purely selfish reasons But if the weeks were only picked out of a hat it makes sense to keep them a little apart from other clubs. That way anyone who may want to visit is not as rushed. May benefit LeeH and his mission to do every event going?

I know everything is very embryonic at this stage but are you planning the classes to be pretty tied down chassis wise? I know the slightly looser chassis options at WHO over the EAHORC rules make for some interesting racing and its not unheard of for an A Final to include 4 different chassis. I think it would be a shame to lock OW down to the Mega-G at such an early stage. If it's such a good chassis then people will gravitate to it anyway but it would be nice to let Darwin do his bit.

[LeeH]

Once a month be easier but if there the scope to go twice a month I'm flexible and will work to the majority

[Gareth]

No support for the other current production chassis to be raced then? I know SCHORC have had fun with the MS car.

Also I know the long chassis makes sense for OW and LMP but the short chassis would be Nascar capable wouldn't it? And can take all of the older bodyshells.

Thats one thing I like about EAHORC Mod. The bodystyles are nice and open.

[trenchtownbilly]

I know where you are coming from Andrew and i would like numerous chassis use but as a new club, we have to take into account that most members will probably not have raced HO and will rely on club cars. The club has no funds so like Andy P and Robin the cost of club cars will be down to Tony and me to start with. To make it fair and keep people interested then there will probably only be Long Mega G and LL chassis for club cars, thats not to say that other chassis can not be used but we will have to wait and see how things pan out. If memory serves me WHO members relied on club cars to start with but look how things have changed in a short time.

[trenchtownbilly]

Yes Gareth, i think Nascar will probably be run on EAHORC rules so 1.5 Mega G and other chassis that people have and want to run will be ok.
As above, we have to start somewhere and try and keep new members interested, with time everyone will want to use their own cars and tune them as rules allow rather than stick with club cars.
Once again WHO is a good pointer to what can happen in a short time.
I think the main thing is to have an open evening to recruit members then build on things from there.

[montoya1]

I'm not sure the WHO classes are slightly looser, they do have a class which sits between national Mod and national Pro, but as Dave points out this has all quickly followed a time when it was wall-to-wall club cars. That is where HONK is now, I feel.

Anyone who knows me will know I hate too many restrictions. DHORC with their 2 chassis only for 20+ years would drive me potty. But there are times when that kind of thing can be useful. Long before the ProMods we all gawk at now EAHORC had a class which was pretty much for one make of Hobby chassis, run to pretty tight specs. I had to do that first, although it made my skin itch, to get to what we have now. Launching Pro as it stands in 2012 from day one would of had precisely zero takers.

If I was setting up HONK now I would get 8 Mega-G champcars, 2 further long chassis, 8 LMP1 bodies and 10 or so Life-Like Nascars is various colours. To start with only those chassis would be legal, at least up until January, and rules would be stock other than tyres.

I would then look to make HONK much more like WHO is now over a two year period, in fact some of the classes would be identical. I would expose the racers to other types of cars and chassis, parts, controllers and all that jazz. If that sounds similar to WHO's path, that is because Andy Player knows his onions. Baby steps, but at no point doing a dhorc and standing still.

But that is just me.

[Julian_Boolean]

I know where you are coming from Andrew and i would like numerous chassis use but as a new club, we have to take into account that most members will probably not have raced HO and will rely on club cars. The club has no funds so like Andy P and Robin the cost of club cars will be down to Tony and me to start with.

Ask Deane for SRT prices, they're good value and have very good spares availability.

[montoya1]

The Mega-G twofers are also insane value.

[trenchtownbilly]

I like the idea of 8 Mega G champcars, I might find a fast one in there for myself for EAHORC.

[montoya1]

[diesel]

Deane. When I was referring to WHO being looser, I was alluding to OW, where SG+ and Micro Scalextric are allowed to challenge the Mega G.

As for club cars, I'm not suggesting the club invest in many different chassis, merely hoping that those with their own cars have a choice other than Mega G. Most people on here will know that I'm a huge advocate of Micro Scalextric - the only HO car actively sold on the UK high street by a UK company - which i reason enough to support the chassis. I'd love to be able to run this at HONK.

[montoya1]

Ah. Gotcha.

I get that you want to use other chassis, I do too, but I think running the other stuff so the HONK locals can see them is one then, allowing them in the actual racing a bad idea.

It may seem a bit restrictive, but it is all about snagging the locals and their kids. Things will open up quickly, just as they did at WHO.

I agree with the Micro btw. Other clubs in the UK talk about them as a joke chassis, but they need not be. A class for them when HONK and Scalextric HQ are so near each other would make a lot of sense. Next year.

[woodcote]

The beauty of the early days is that you get to experiment with the club cars and people new to HO just get on and enjoy the racing

I've said this before and I'll say it again - don't go for SRT club cars. They are way too fragile for the hard knocks they will get.

I'd also wonder about the LLs. They can be a bit twitchy for new racers. That was our experience at WHO - although ours weren't built by Mr H

The crucial thing is to give racers a great racing experience from day one. So it's also worth considering 60 Ohm Parmas, which are more forgiving than the 45s.

Because we started in 2010 (before Mk II Mega-Gs) we had Tyco club cars in F1 and ended up with G3/Super-G hybrids for Mod / Nascar. Both types were really sweet cars to drive for beginners, but could also deliver race wins - like Darren winning Dec 2010 F1 against the big guns with their own cars.

I think Dave is right to start the Megas on low tyres (but maybe not too low) as they are really smooth cars to drive. Might I suggest 1.5 Megas as the Nascar club cars too? Then you have the same spares and all readily available from AFX. And club members will look to buy what they've already raced.

One last thing... we always have at least one spare club car ready to roll in case of emergencies.

[diesel]

Got me confused Deane.

Why is allowing other chassis in actual racing bad?

If grabbing 'locals and kids' is a goal (and I know you think it is, WHO thinks it is and I'm sure HONK think it is) then surely Micro Scalextric is a good chassis to allow to run? This is probably going to be most new people's only experience of HO. To turn up at a venue and be told that all the cars they have at home are no good seems strange. If people can see the cars they run at home at club level it would offer some familiarity. Last F1 at WHO I came 3rd against a field of Mega Gs with an MS car that had no more than £4 worth of 'go faster' goodies. Hannah got her best place ever and loved the car. For youngsters, I think a well adjusted MS car is as good as - if not better than - a Mega G. Why does it need it's own class?