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

[montoya1]

You assume that people will have their own cars, which will probably not be the case much, if at all.

I also think HONK might get support from Hornby if they run an Micro-only class at some point. I could be totally wrong.

I have seen people bring home cars to a club, in both slots (1/32nd and HO) and RC (indoor and out) and invaraibly they get blown away, so it's a double edge sword.

[diesel]

I like your thinking on a Micro only class and approaching Hornby, but I still don't see why this should mean excluding the Micro from other classes.

And if somebody did turn up with their own car (however unlikely) I'd still rather let them run it

[montoya1]

It is about putting one car in a total Chatham-newbie's hand and them feeling they have an equal chance.

Ironically this is exactly the reason I was told EAHORC would not get past year one, because I did not do that. I proved those people wrong, but their way does have it's uses, just for one year, not 22 . Bear in mind the EAHORC newbies were people like Marc Townsend, so it was somewhat different.

For all that The WHO way should be the ultimate goal for all HO clubs....

[woodcote]

I think the Micro is a goer in a local club F1 class. But having diesel around is key

My fear would be that a family turning up with their MS cars would be a disappointing experience for them and not one that would encourage a return. That did happen a couple of times early on at WHO. I insisted on them trying the MS in practice but sticking to the club cars in the race.

A year or so down the line, WHO racers can see a guy who's got the chassis going nicely. If others want to try the MS now, they can get tips how to do it (or an offer to do it for them). As Andrew said, it doesn't cost much, just needs the know-how.

That state of affairs would be perfect at HONK - especially with Scalextric just down the A2 & A299...

At our local club, I am looking at having the two easily-available chassis (MS and Mega-G) as central to our F1 class. But we're not there yet. Plus the Mega will always be the easier option to run out of the box. Without diesel, I'm not sure we'd have gone this route with the MS.

[LeeH]

If doing twice a month why not this type format-

Race night 1-
F1 with a classic cup for Tyco and Micro.
Aurora G+ F1

Race night 2-
NASCAR, any chassis aloud if bring own cars
LMP Mega G only.

Agree only club cars available to keep cost low for Dave and Tony be F1 Mega G's and LL NASCARs.

I think if race nights run as above that would be amazing. Thoughts?

[montoya1]

That's as good a format as any. For later.

I stand by one chassis per class only to begin with.

[trenchtownbilly]

As Deane said. A good format for later. Us regulars probably have all the chassis mentioned but newbies will not.
It will take time for them to get into HO and build a garage of various chassis and spares, time consuming and to some expensive.
Honk as a club is just starting out and like Lee i would love to run all classes straight away but we have to think of the newbies
who will be in the majority. Unless WHO, SCHORC, ECHO, FLBT regulars make the trip every 2 weeks.

[LeeH]

Fair point guys. Well I will be there for all races defo

[woodcote]

I'm afraid that aiming for running two classes in a night is to aim for low numbers.

Running two classes with big numbers and you'll be there 'til midnight. You'll lose the kids and their dads, people who have to be up early and people traveling any distance.

At HONK - with all the marshalling demands of that awesome track - you can't afford low numbers.

The key thing is to test the water. See what a proper publicised launch night brings through the door.

Aim big, see what you get - give them a good night's racing and then keep pushing for more punters. You can always adjust the format to aim for a 9.30pm finish.

Here are a few useful stats from our first year at WHO:

The attendances were: March – 19 racers; April – 24; May – 21; June – 22; July – 19; August – 12; September – 11; October – 21; November - 24; and December - 19. That’s an average of 19. We expected the dip in August, but clashed with the start of term in September.

Each and every month we had new people try out HO slot car racing. Overall, 61 people raced at Worthing HO Racing events in 2010, 35 of those were under 16 years old (and 26 over 16). Our youngest racer was 6 and our youngest junior medal winner was 7 years old. Sixteen people won medals during the season.

Most of our racers were local – 45% lived in the BN12 postcode area. We would describe most of our racers as ‘dads and sons’. We knew from questionnaires that people were enjoying the race nights and that 85% of people returned to race again.

Financially, we covered our running costs with a £2.50 race fee.

At the start of the year, everyone was new to HO racing. Our club cars spent almost every heat on the track for the first 6 months of the year. By the end of the first year most of our regular racers had their own cars and some had HO tracks at home.

[LeeH]

That makes sense. Sorry getting carried away . . . . Again, just habit

[woodcote]

It's understandable

Tony and Dave seem to have it pretty much thought out and realise it's a big step to kick off right. Also, that it's the people (most of whom they don't know yet) who will be the club.

I will never forget that first year at WHO. In terms of cars in was very basic, but we were convincing a group of complete strangers to come along each month, race HO slot cars and stick around with us for the next 5, 10 or 15 years maybe...

Year two was all about buying, preparing and racing cars. And all the time me and Robin were drip-feeding new developments - for example, we only started the club shop just over a year ago. The WHO you see today is not how it was 'born' in Feb 2010. It is the result of a (nearly) three year evolution since Deane got me and Robin chatting across the Channel.

And, of course, our racers have started to show us their talents - so far we have Andrew's stunning IT projects and Mike D's superb carpentry, amongst other stuff

The HONK guys already have an amazing facility, so that wow factor is going to be a very interesting extra ingredient

[roll1later]

All great ideas and I'm sure Dave and Tony will sort something epic.

Just a thought but would it be worth thinking about the possibilities of fabricating a set up where by it's easy to switch from the glory of the huge track, we all know and love, to a smaller more manageable size? Would help maybe in the early stages where numbers may be small and therefore marshalls a little light on the ground.

Just a suggestion

Cheers
Paul

[roll1later]

Well my previous post brought the thread to a grinding halt, I'll get my coat...

[montoya1]

It's something that got discussed when the idea of going for 6 lanes was first mooted by me. I think Dave would rather use 3/4 lanes and the whole track to free up marshals on quiet nights, than all six lanes but only one end of the track.

[LeeH]

Dave did say to me he is going to be making sections to have different track formats and also a switch to allow track in reverse