FE racing growth… Sound off

[Chilli]

Some good points about mixed classes and the nitro crossovers. One more factor why my district went combined was the number of classes run in a race weekend. We're at 17 classes now and three more classes would make for a very long race weekend as well as increased award costs for the host club. As for the crossovers, we have a few just like Mic in my district and they are also tunnel drivers. Most of them have P-Lim tunnels but they are not going to give up running their B-Tunnel to race a P-Limited. I do love the crossovers though because most of them have been in the hobby for years and you can rely on them to show up at multiple district races. We've got plenty of new FE racers in the district, all I can do is keep on plugging hoping that a few of them will join in on the fun and do a little traveling.

[T.S.Davis]

Great stuff guys.

On the cup date I want to use I already verified against the Badger and Mendota dates. Checked it against all the majors here in the midwest too. I think I have it. I've been calling all over to racers that have expressed an interest to see if my date will fly. Checked with the Elks too. So far so good with one exception. I can't find a solve for that one with all the other events I'm trying to miss. There aren't that many weekends to pick from. I even have TWO potential expert contest directors. Names you all will recognize. If I can get both we'll split er up.

I hope to discuss the date thing with our gang at the last club race in a couple weeks. I'd like to shore up a date and start planning now. Technically, I'm out on a limb already. At least I've had the sense to tell people it's a potential date. Ultimately it has to be up to MMEU to host a Cup or not. We haven't officially made that call but I'm confident I have a good read on them. Call it pre-planning then. haha

With the mixed events we've had a mixed reception. Some guys totally dig it. If you could race rubber band powered boats they would dig that too. Sure! Bring em out! Does it float? Then let's race it! The Wolverine Boat Club here in Detroit seems to be like that.

Then we've had guys that wont even speak to us. Ever had your generator switched off at a race? Happened. I truly believe those types are the oddity.

We've seen open run with all three powers and honestly if I was a fuel guy I wouldn't want to run against electrics. It's apples and cinder blocks. They can go just as fast but they always seem to me like they are closer to the ragged edge to get there. Ragged edge more often than not equates to a ragged failure. Half the open boats need retrieval. Maybe my perception is off. Could be a regional thing too. The one time I did try my hand in open the host club enacted special FE course rules that only applied to electric powered boats. Put us at a disadvantage. If two boats did the same thing in the same turn at the same time side by side and one was gas........... the gas boat would be allowed to continued racing and the electric would be given a DNF. Goofy rule. Cost me that class too. Didn't set well with some of us.

[Napalm]

See im in D-4 but there are never any races in central IL their all two or three hours away other wise id be there in a heart beat

[LuckyDuc]

I see a couple different approaches to FE racing. Some wanting to build standoff events and others looking to blend in with established nitro or gas events. Being a convert and not giving up my nitro and gas I see blending as better but have attended FE only races. I have even built a P-mono to have another boat to run besides my tunnels. As was stated earlier converts are not going to be happy with spec racing long. I have two spec tunnels and several P & Q tunnels that may only get to race 2-3 times a year.

I agree, there is no one formula that works across the board. You run the classes that have the most interest and attendance in your area. For our district it is P-Ltd sport hydro, tunnel, and hopefully mono(next year). As interests change over time, I’m sure the classes will too. The FE guys in our District discuss what classes to run for the next season. If we see a class suffering from lack of growth or poor attendance we discuss replacing it. This is why we phased out the rigger class and replaced it with a mono class for next year.

The “standoff” electric races as you call them offer a wider variety of classes to participate in, but these races usually require a good amount of travel to attend. The mixed race venues offering Gas, Nitro, and FE can only accommodate a few FE classes. As such, you start with the classes that will result in the most turnout. Around here it is P-Ltd.

My opinion of spec classes is they are a double edged sword. Great way to get into FE racing but equal equipment may not really be what works best.

This question deserves further exploration in its own thread. Does relatively equal equipment make for better racing? I don’t know.

From my gas experience where boats are sometimes plug and play and speeds more equal in many cases than nitro you get boats bunched up and more carnage with some less experienced operators. It is only going to be a matter of time for everyone to figure out lane one at the start is an advantage. With the instant acceleration of an FE even hitting the line on a perfect outside fly won't get you command of turn one. Like a lot of gas races have become a game of leapfrog and who can force their way into the lane you though you had and may even get a warning to go along with their 400 points. So before you make all of FE racing spec classes they may not be what everyone really wants.

I don’t think that anyone is trying to make all FE racing P-Limited racing. It’s just how things developed over the last 3 years. The P-Ltd classes have the highest interest level as shown by attendance numbers at most race venues. This doesn't mean that it is the "be all, end all" class.

Converts may not be what die hard long time FE's want to see in growth.

Really? Why not?

[LuckyDuc]

See im in D-4 but there are never any races in central IL their all two or three hours away other wise id be there in a heart beat

Where at in central IL? Shoot me a PM

[T.S.Davis]

See im in D-4 but there are never any races in central IL their all two or three hours away other wise id be there in a heart beat

The Cleveland fellas had the same problem. Sometimes they pack their junk in the car and just drive up here. They don't do it every month but when they can we see them. We don't require anyone to be here every time to join in on the fun either.

Anybody have a clue how to start from scratch? That's a tricky too. Probably worthy of another thread.

With MMEU we had basically 4 or 5 guys at first. Used to be we had one guy with an N2 mono, one guy has a P offshore, one guy has a maybe 1/16 scale sport, and one more an O mono maybe. All FE freaks but can't really race together. You have to get those few guys to go ahead and own those favorites of theirs but also run one or two classes that everyone agrees on. Those handful of classes get run every time you get together.

The spec classes aren't the answer to all that ail us but they have taken much of the mystery and magic out of the boats. I think that helps. Pretty much if you build a spec boat there will be a class for you somewhere. LHS's almost need an optional registration for boat buyers. Two guys that buy boats from the local hobby shop could well have bought the same boat and could be racing but neither know the other exists. The first race happened when the second guy showed up.......wise man once told me that.

OH! What if Aquacraft and Proboat had an on line registration page that was voluntary? You include your email and city. Not details about where you are and how to rob your house. Just a 100 mle radius or something. Then I could click on Detroit and find all the guys that had SV's or Mystics or whatever. That would be cool. Send em an email to say........hey we're getting together to play boats...wanna come with?

[Napalm]

That registration idea would be phenomenal! I would drive up to the races if i had four or five guys that had boats and would be willing to go but i cant find one person who has a boat. Either that or they have a little 50$ toy boat that wouldn't be fast enough to have any enjoyable competition. Like it was stated earlier in this thread without decent competition you would just get burnt out quick with the hobby. I am new to FE but i enjoy it just toying around seeing what i can do to get my boats a little faster each day that i can. im just playing the waiting game now though on a new lipo

[RayR]

I guess we are lucky here on the west coast of Florida. We just post a few videos (I think this is very important), and folks beat a path to our door. Our club now has over 30 members, although only about a dozen or so are regular attendees. The ranks swell as the seasons change and the folks from up north appear as well.

[Napalm]

Maybe a few videos with a title of where im at will draw out the ones hiding around here. There has to be someone within a 50 mi radius! if not there is something wrong in this world because FE is a great hobby

[madmikepags]

Here in Namba D-1 we have only 6-7 FE races a year, 3 before mem day 1 in the summer and 2-3 after labor day. We actually run 10 different classes: Kids class (N1 mono just kids), N1 mono, P-mono, P-hydro, P-limited sport hydro, N2 hydro, LSO, Open Offshore, Scale, and this year we added a box stock Motle Crew class. We have grown in numbers stedily over the past 3 years, not huge but steadily, we are averaging about 45 entries per race day, lots of the younger racers are now running 2-3 classes and a couple of them are running 5-6. The fathers are now running a little less ex: (I'm only running 2 classes) but my daughters are each running 3 classes. We have attracted a few newer Nitro/gas guys and they seem to be enjoying themselves, (they keep coming!!!). Our club has established some unique rules to keep the classes fair and to keep costs down. For example all N2 and P classes cannot use batteries that exceed over 200 amps continuous discharge, so for example you can use a 5000mah 40C or a 4000mah 50C or a 4200 45c. This has kept the competition close and kept costs down and the speeds are fast but not rediculous like the true N2 and P classes. The only exception is LSO we run this just like the National level class.

With our limited FE schedule The Nitro/Gas clubs over the years have allowed us to run in their classes and we have established classes that we have agreed that are pretty fair to run together. We run P power classes w/in the A/B power class (mono, hydro, sport hydro), usually theses classes have almost all FE w 1-2 nitros, this has kept the AB classes alive so those very few nitro guys w/ .21's and .40's can still race and they are actually very grateful for that. They let us run Scale with them, allthough our FE's are quite a bit better they are "tolerant" of us, and then there is Open Cat, Mono and Hydro that we are welcome to run whatever we want!!!!!! We always have a pretty good contingent of FE racers at the Gas/Nitro races and that has kept their race registrations up as well. FE is alive and well here in District 1 and the younger drivers are becoming better and better w/ each heat they run. We have 3-4 classes that are relatively easy and inexpensive to get into for newbies and everyone in the club is always available to help out the new guys.

I am hoping to propose a "BIG" 3day trophy race to my club for next season maybe later in the year (Sept, Oct), That I would love to get some of the upstate NY, Pa, Maryland, Mi, Vt, Ct, Oh, boys to come to!!!!!! Let me know what what you guys think?????

[LuckyDuc]

I guess we are lucky here on the west coast of Florida. We just post a few videos (I think this is very important), and folks beat a path to our door. Our club now has over 30 members, although only about a dozen or so are regular attendees. The ranks swell as the seasons change and the folks from up north appear as well.

Can you elaborate some more on how your club uses posted videos to attract new people. What kind of videos are you posting, where are you posting them, how are people finding these videos, how are they finding your clubs location and contact information from these video........?????