NEW Florida Fast Electric Club

[sailr]

Number one, this has nothing to do with us running our own races. We can still do that! This is about getting more people involved in electrics so that when we are ready to run our own races there will be enough FE boaters around to participate. We are still not even official with the county at Akerman although all the contacts have been made. I'm waiting for the parks department business manager to contact me at this point.

Number two, you do NOT have to join a different club to run in the WCRA, just be a NAMBA or IMPBA member.

Number three, we don't have the facilities or the funds to put on races at Akerman right now unless you can come up with a driver's stand and $$ for porta potties. In addition, we wouldn't attract enough boaters to make any $$$ for the club unless we can grow FE. The WCRA is a great way to do that.

Number four, I drive an hour and a half to Akerman also. So what's your point? I just drove 3.5 hours to go to the nats! We can't all have a lake within 15 minutes of the house like a couple of our members do so we have to travel.

Number five, the WCRA, which is nitro and gas guys, have graciously invited us to participate in their well established points series races! Why in the hell would we turn down that opportunity to get more race experience and introduce FE to more r/c boaters? We will be running in our own classes, NOT against nitro, etc!

Finally, the waveblasters are not excluded nor is any other FE boater that wants to run in the WCRA series. The invitation is extended to all FE boaters, not just our club!


I musta struck a nerve calling your new boat ugly! Jeez, I'm just talkin about the hatch! Can't take a joke? You've struck a nerve with me by being so negative about running with the other clubs around here after we have been working on getting a cooperative relationship with them for about 3 years now!

OK, gonna get another cup of coffee now and chill out.

Dude - I was talking about us running a point series at our pond to grow our club, What happened to that ? If the WCRA ? recognizes us as a club, then we should be able to participate in the series, and ackerman could be on the race schedule.
Is this a state series ? If so the wave blasters should be involved also.
If they have FE racers we could race with them or against them, I don't care but joining a gas boat club to run FE... I for one don't feel like sitting around waiting while gas classes run. FE should have its own State series.
I already drive a hour and a half, and spend nearly $50 in fuel as it is each time, I don't know if I would be willing to join another club and drive even farther. I have a perfect lake with a 1/8 mi course 5mi from my house too, but drive up there to race.
Oh and Jim, as far as the boat goes, crackerboxes don't look much better...
RCK

[sailr]

Bill, not sure how you can read anything about a club merger into what I wrote but if you did, it was not my intention at all. Our club is alive and well (if more people will renew their dues). You are absolutely right that we are not ready to run our own races yet.

What I meant by "We Need To Do This" is that we need to participate to encourage more people running FE and to give ourselves more racing experience. Certainly didn't have anything to do with disbanding our club or anything like that. The comment I made about joining the Brandon club is so that I, personally, or anyone else that wants to, can drive only 30 minutes and always have access to a retrieve boat so I can gt in more practice time. I'll still be going to Akerman on our race days.

You have to remember that adding 4 more classes to the WCRA will already be tough for them to fit in and I find it incredibly thoughtful of them to do it. The classes proposed are the ones with the most FE boaters in them. In time, maybe more classes, like S&T could be added but you have to admit it would be hard to always find at least three boats to make the class. Sure, there were enough at the nats but there were people there from all over the country. One of the other points brought up by Bill Britten was we should run classes that are easy and not too expensive for people to get into, thus the spec classes, etc. S&T are very very expensive. Although I love to watch the big boys run, I don't have the cash to put one together either.

I'm always open to looking at other lakes.

I think Jeff makes some very valid points regarding the WCRA series. I wouldn't mind running in some of them if they have any classes that interest me. I didn't see any mention of S-T classes though.

He also made good points on why we aren't ready to do them in our own club. In addition to a port o let we'd need to come up with tiiming equipment and most likely have to re-survey and lay out our course. I've heard our 1/6 mile course is actually longer than 1/6 and since we used existing markers for measuring/laying out the 1/8 mile it's probably a little long as well. Trying to get as many racers as there was at the Nats pitted at Ackerman would be real challenge too.

Jim, I think you might have chosen some bad wording in your post. "we need to do this" almost makes it sound like a club merger and probably sparked part of the following volley. Joining their club could work well for you since it's close and convenient for you. For most of us, voluntary participation in classes of interest without joining would be the ticket though. Those of us that attended the Nats did so because we chose to.

As for checking on the alternate lake Scott mentioned, I'm all for it. If it supplies a larger pit area and some facilities like restrooms it could be a real boom for our group.

[sailr]

Scott, our own races is certainly a goal but in order to ensure success, we need more interest in FE and more guys running them. By running in the WCRA series we can do that. Jeff is absolutely correct also, in order to run sanctioned races there is a lot required that we can't do yet. So the goal is to first build up DEMAND and then hold races.

I'm still not sure how any of you read anything into my post that was against the AQUAMANIACS and was negative in any way.

Shouldnt we be looking at series racing through the "Aquamaniacs" to help raise money for our club????? And invite others to come run w/ us???? We need to start doing something to start sparking interest in our club and doing things that raise money so we can "host" events now and again, which basically is just getting a Port-o-let rental for the weekend..... Or finding a new location such as Bennet Park that may already have facilities. And the location is directly adjacent to the Interstate, so it will spark tons of attention. It is inbetween the SR64 exit and US301 exit (Bradenton and Ellenton) Looks like it would be a fantastic location if we can get in there and the lake runs N and S so those East winds days may not effect us as much. AND, its all gradual banks to the waters edge.

[sailr]

I talked with the Brandon Club pres a while back. They have THE BEST racing lake in the area if not the state. He said he thought it would be OK for us to hold our club races at their site. That would be ideal. Can you get an address for Bennet Park and post a link to a google map? Is it a county or city park? Sure, we can absolutely look at it. I'm always in favor of that. The North South lakes (Like Riverview) are no better for rough water. In the winter when the wind is out of the north, (they race on the south end) it is almost unusable.

Shouldnt we be looking at series racing through the "Aquamaniacs" to help raise money for our club????? And invite others to come run w/ us???? We need to start doing something to start sparking interest in our club and doing things that raise money so we can "host" events now and again, which basically is just getting a Port-o-let rental for the weekend..... Or finding a new location such as Bennet Park that may already have facilities. And the location is directly adjacent to the Interstate, so it will spark tons of attention. It is inbetween the SR64 exit and US301 exit (Bradenton and Ellenton) Looks like it would be a fantastic location if we can get in there and the lake runs N and S so those East winds days may not effect us as much. AND, its all gradual banks to the waters edge.

[sailr]

I did talk to Bill and he agrees about the spec rigger. He and Steve Hurl and Mike Whitney are all onboard. He just needs to talk to the Tampa Club pres. Doesn't see any reason to have any problems.

I realized at the nats that I just don't get enough opportunity to race for real to polish my driving skills. 5 bonafide races a year, especially all within a 45 minute drive will help me for sure.




Jeff,
Hugh and I were talking last night and we agree we should do spec rigger. I'll talk to Bill Britten again today about that.

Guys its only a few races per year. Its not every month. I doubt there will be too many times that the WCRA race date will conflict with the regular meet at Ackerman.
I can tell you that if we are running 3 or 4 classes, you won't be sitting around all day waiting to run. They run 3 rounds. If you think about it, you will be flat out trying to keep up if you are running that many classes. Hell 2 classes would be enough to keep you busy, working on the boat between heats and charging batteries. Not to mention, if you are like me, you will be helping out other drivers with pit duty. I am more than happy to go run 1 class because I enjoy the racing. spec tunnel is going to be a very competitive class once the rest of the tunnel guys get their boats built. I think there are 5 or 6 nitro guys building spec tunnels right now. I know a couple of guys are also working on p and q tunnels. I would like to see a spec rigger class, but I know not alot of people have them so I understand why it is not on the list.

Rckong, I understand what you are saying about fuel costs.

For me the only close race course is the Tampa clubs new site since it is in St. Pete. Everywhere else that I have been takes me about the same amount of time to get to. Doesn't matter if it is Dover, Riverview, Ackerman, or Mike's house, its a little over an hour drive to all the ponds.


The WCRA series is between the Tampa, Brandon, and Gulf Coast Rc clubs.

I would love to see some of the waveblasters come over to race as well. You never know this could turn out to be a good thing.

You don't have to join their club to race with them. I have been racing on and off with these guys over the last 3 years and I am not a member of any of the clubs.

The idea behind going to their races is that it takes quite a bit to host a race. We don't have any of the equipment necessary to do so. Outside of a retrieve boat.

[bill34207]

Bill, not sure how you can read anything about a club merger into what I wrote but if you did, it was not my intention at all. Our club is alive and well (if more people will renew their dues). You are absolutely right that we are not ready to run our own races yet.

I didn't really read it that way but after the responses thought maybe some did. Chances are the part about being able to hold our races at the Brandon site "if" we joined their club didn't help.

[obrien]

I do have a p-mono for the time being that I can run.... Thanks Hugh!

[Rod Burner]

Im finally an OSE member

-Lawson

[bill34207]

Congrats Lawson

[osprey21]

Im finally an OSE member

-Lawson

Welcome aboard!

[ron1950]

alright....lawson is here

[sailr]

I didn't word that very well Bill! Read it again! What I intended to say is that if anyone wanted to join their club they could run their boats there any time they want. I said that I may do that because it would only be a 30 minute drive for me and I could run any day of the week. That way I could get in more practice. That's all it was meant to say. We don't have to join any club to run in the WCRA races. Not at all!

I didn't really read it that way but after the responses thought maybe some did. Chances are the part about being able to hold our races at the Brandon site "if" we joined their club didn't help.

[sailr]

Hey Lawson! Good to see you here!

Im finally an OSE member

-Lawson

[sailr]

Yep, that's the whole point of us racing with them. I'd be willing to bet we get some nitro guys who will end up building an FE or two once they see us run.

I just checked the schedule for the remaining WCRA races this year. Their are only 5 this year. They have run 2 so far. The next race is Sept 4, October 2, and November 6.

So there is no conflict with the regular ackerman dates. We might even get some of these guys to come down on our race day to run with us.

[RCKong]

Jim, it has nothing to do with the boat. I thought the hatch was ugly too. Your post is what bothered me. I know you mean well and are trying to help the club, but the way you want to go about it is not a good idea in my opinion. If you want to run with the gas guys, Aquamaniacs - thats up to Ya'll...

I'm not running for governor, but I can say I built an RC club and track in Ft Myers from scratch and it had over 40 members in less than a year and a half, so I know that there are a lot of things we can be doing but... were not.
I know for a fact that lots of FE boats flow off the shelves of local hobby stores and nothing has been done (till now) in years to attract these FE boaters.
I have already heard that people that have been to our club meets will not come back or join because we are so unorganized.
This sucks and really needs to change.
If you guys want to have a lazy non- organized club,
I won't be renewing my dues. We need to work a bunch of stuff out as a group.
There... I said it.

RCK