Joined
·
1,052 Posts
McLaren has made the point that no matter how many club members you have turn up for an evenings racing a proportion will have to marshall and a proportion will have pit time.
Basically I like 100% race action and at home you get this as you self marshall if you come off and pit time is non existant.
Accepting that club racing is a more intensive affair than home racing then some pit time just to sit down and wind down if nothing else is desirable. And the larger circuits mean that self marshalling is not possible so marshalls are required.
Now I did speak about the possibilty of 18 club racers racing at the same time on 3 different 2 lane very large digital circuits which could be accomodated in similar space to that currently required for a large club 6 lane circuit.
The size of these 2 lane circuits would offer a "wow" factor for the home racer so lets not get into the debate of whether you could draw home racers to clubs if you only had 2 lane circuits.
Remember also that marshalling would be much easier as there would be no lane colours so it could be that the ratio of marshalls to racers would be lower.
Now to the point.
Analogue racing by its very nature permits no more than 8 racers to race at a time on a very large 8 lane circuit. Then there is marshalling time and pit time. Ultimately there is a natural tendency for clubs to get to a membership point where there is a balance of member numbers as folk will leave as a result of not liking the limited racing time due to the number of members attending which is offset my new members who turn up and who short term do not mind waiting around for their turn to race.
Given that it would be possible to expand an existing club by offering digital racing thus permitting more club members to race at any one time then this would permit clubs to expand and increase membership and the ratio of racing time to non racing time would be (probably) much higher.
However, do clubs consider that it is possible to expand or are we at the limits of membership right now?
A move to digital could be a catalyst that permits club membership to increase.
Do clubs actually want to increase membership?
The biggest handicap to club creation is that of finding a suitable (and cheap) location for club to reside.
2 lane digital racing could well be a catalyst for new clubs to spring up as it would clearly be much easier to set up a temporary 2 lane digital circuit (in a hired hall for example) than a 4 or 6 lane temporary analogue circuit. Existing clubs who have a spare room could create a second digital circuit to boost interest at the club.
Do existing clubs feel threatened by the advent of the digital age or is it seen as an opportunity?
I would be more inclined to get to a club on a regular basis if:-
1) it was local (no more than 5-10 minutes drive)
2) it had a very high ratio of race time
There may well be a large silent majority who feel the same way as me. My view is that digital slot car racing is more likely to fascilitate the above as a result of the ease of set up for multi car racing.
![]()
Moped
Basically I like 100% race action and at home you get this as you self marshall if you come off and pit time is non existant.
Accepting that club racing is a more intensive affair than home racing then some pit time just to sit down and wind down if nothing else is desirable. And the larger circuits mean that self marshalling is not possible so marshalls are required.
Now I did speak about the possibilty of 18 club racers racing at the same time on 3 different 2 lane very large digital circuits which could be accomodated in similar space to that currently required for a large club 6 lane circuit.
The size of these 2 lane circuits would offer a "wow" factor for the home racer so lets not get into the debate of whether you could draw home racers to clubs if you only had 2 lane circuits.
Remember also that marshalling would be much easier as there would be no lane colours so it could be that the ratio of marshalls to racers would be lower.
Now to the point.
Analogue racing by its very nature permits no more than 8 racers to race at a time on a very large 8 lane circuit. Then there is marshalling time and pit time. Ultimately there is a natural tendency for clubs to get to a membership point where there is a balance of member numbers as folk will leave as a result of not liking the limited racing time due to the number of members attending which is offset my new members who turn up and who short term do not mind waiting around for their turn to race.
Given that it would be possible to expand an existing club by offering digital racing thus permitting more club members to race at any one time then this would permit clubs to expand and increase membership and the ratio of racing time to non racing time would be (probably) much higher.
However, do clubs consider that it is possible to expand or are we at the limits of membership right now?
A move to digital could be a catalyst that permits club membership to increase.
Do clubs actually want to increase membership?
The biggest handicap to club creation is that of finding a suitable (and cheap) location for club to reside.
2 lane digital racing could well be a catalyst for new clubs to spring up as it would clearly be much easier to set up a temporary 2 lane digital circuit (in a hired hall for example) than a 4 or 6 lane temporary analogue circuit. Existing clubs who have a spare room could create a second digital circuit to boost interest at the club.
Do existing clubs feel threatened by the advent of the digital age or is it seen as an opportunity?
I would be more inclined to get to a club on a regular basis if:-
1) it was local (no more than 5-10 minutes drive)
2) it had a very high ratio of race time
There may well be a large silent majority who feel the same way as me. My view is that digital slot car racing is more likely to fascilitate the above as a result of the ease of set up for multi car racing.
Moped
