5 boat minimum to make a class

Hi:
Let's see... one minute, please:
I would like you to make me a clarification:
Are we talking about RC boat competitions or real boats?... I've seen some photos and references to real competitions, and I modestly believe... that they have nothing to do with each other.-

Julio Almazan said:

Hi:
Let's see... one minute, please:
I would like you to make me a clarification:
Are we talking about RC boat competitions or real boats?... I've seen some photos and references to real competitions, and I modestly believe... that they have nothing to do with each other.-

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Rc boats

Julio Almazan said:

Hi:
Let's see... one minute, please:
I would like you to make me a clarification:
Are we talking about RC boat competitions or real boats?... I've seen some photos and references to real competitions, and I modestly believe... that they have nothing to do with each other.-

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If you read the first post it should clarify that . I posted a pic of some of the type of kneel down hydros I used to race ..."Pic for attention " .

Don Ferrette said:

On the outside looking in but interested just the same. Is there a list of the classes for these D3 points races??

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Don, this is the class list from the upcoming November race in Melbourne straight off of RCracingevents. Plenty of nitro offered.

FloridaScaleBoater said:

My opinion is,
5, five, is excessive for a district race.
Not sure why district's have to write there own rules, we DO have rule books.
Attached is pics from both IMPBA & NAMBA rule book sections.
Just sayin.

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My understanding is Namba gives district clubs the right to deviate from the rulebook. As I mentioned earlier in this thread 5 to make a class and 175 boat count for a two day race was done to help get things to the point where we could consistently start getting in for rounds again because we had slipped to only getting in three.

Don Ferrette said:

Thanks Greg. I've been sitting back watching this (mostly to be sure it didn't get belligerent) but it got to the point I felt compelled to ask. I do wonder about the 5 boat rule though as that seems to just make it worse. The winding up with a possible 2 boat heat at end of day argument is a stretch, it happens even with 5 or 6, seen it more times than I can tell over the years. There have been a couple good suggestions made (like capping the number of classes entered by a racer) and there does seem to be a transparency issue. But try to make some spaces for the nitro guys even if it means things like a .67 and up hydro & mono class and something for the tunnel guys. Gotta be a bunch of them sitting on shelves as Florida was always known for being huge in o/b tunnel. Best of luck with it.

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Don, this is a place for people who have good suggestions to make them. The district Director is just a phone call away. I’ve called him plenty of times and if he’s not able to answer at that particular moment I will 100% get a return call. I don’t know if many people know this, I would guess maybe people within the district already do but Eric Canto came in as a 100% nitro racer. He’s told me in the past that if he had a choice every class he ran at an event would be nitro. There is no target on Nitro’s back in this district from a Director who has run nitro for over 30 years. I feel like too many people are making these judgments without knowing too many of the important facts. Again, if you’re in this district Eric Canto will take your call whether it’s a complaint or a possible positive solution to an issue. I personally don’t agree with capping the number of boats that a person is allowed to enter for a particular race. Most of the people that run between 5-8 classes are people who show up at every single race. That’s a lot of steady support for the district and the clubs that are putting on these races. Why would we punish those people? I’m open to other points of view and if we disagree it doesn’t have to turn into a pissing match. I only started posting on here to make sure that things that were being posted were facts and not feelings and to try to encourage communication. One last question Don, what were you talking about when you mentioned a lack of transparency? By the way, thank you for wishing us luck on getting things sorted out. Little things like that can make a big difference.

Daniel's Racing said:

Let me throw a wrench in the works.

Wanna see some more nitro action happening ?

Let up to X Nitro (or any class nitro engine) run in the gas classes.

When we have enough nitro boats running again we can split them back up again.

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Daniel, the open mono class is still going strong and for a while so was the open Hydro class which I’ve run in myself. It’s cool to have nitro, FE and gas running all together. Any of these suggestions people have can be brought to their club president who in turn can bring it to the board members/director “or” they can bring it to the director themselves. That seems to be the missing part of this equation. We don’t all have to like each other but if we want to exist in the same hobby together the best thing is always going to be to respect each other.

John Dooling said:

Don, this is the class list from the upcoming November race in Melbourne straight off of RCracingevents. Plenty of nitro offered.

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yes the nitro classes are offered and have been…when I started racing in 17’ that’s what I ran 20 mono and 40 rigger….and both the classes really only had 3-4 boats normally at the d3 races and struggling to make the 3 boat min then….the really only good turn out for nitro was at the Brandon races during that time period… so yea the 5 boat Minimum killed nitro at 99% of the races here in d3….but again that’s my opinion

Good evening. I will speak for Broward Model Boat Club and only Broward Model Boat Club. In May we offered a two day non points race and only had specific classes. I pushed hard for nitro to come out and even tried combining some nitro classes to try an and make the heats. I had zero nitro boats signed up. Even on the flyer I mentioned dusting them off and bringing them out.
The classes were
B,C,X mono combined
B,C,X hydro combined
Sport 40, scale combined

The classes are offered and no nitros signed up. I can understand if I see three or four in any class and then they didn’t make the 5 boat minimum but just like our race last weekend there was not one nitro entry at anytime I had the race open. It was opened since June.

curtis canton said:

Good evening. I will speak for Broward Model Boat Club and only Broward Model Boat Club. In May we offered a two day non points race and only had specific classes. I pushed hard for nitro to come out and even tried combining some nitro classes to try an and make the heats. I had zero nitro boats signed up. Even on the flyer I mentioned dusting them off and bringing them out.
The classes were
B,C,X mono combined
B,C,X hydro combined
Sport 40, scale combined

The classes are offered and no nitros signed up. I can understand if I see three or four in any class and then they didn’t make the 5 boat minimum but just like our race last weekend there was not one nitro entry at anytime I had the race open. It was opened since June.

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Thanks for your reply Curtis . The gas numbers are overwhelming particularly in your area . Nitro participants are down plain and simple
Many have " switched sides " pushing gas numbers up . The combined classes are an offering but as you know yourself as a former Nitro guy 20 60 101 boats don't mesh too well , as with 20 60 and Twin hydros . You may not have noticed the gas boaters that didn't make the race simply due to the numbers but with the few amount of Nitro boaters left it becomes obvious when they don't attend . Anyway , do you think the 5 boat minimum is a good policy ? Thanks .

Curtis, I remember when you guys had that 2 day race. I was not able to attend due to already being committed to the the tunnel champs that same weekend in georgia. Hopefully if you guys have another race like that, i can attend. I was looking at the last district race you hosted as well, but fe entries were basically non exsistent, so I didnt bother. I think the more I look at what is going on, if I really want to keep racing rc boats, im going to have to take a hard look at moving to gas
I like that your club has been offering the q-limited classes. I currently only have a q-lim tunnel, but would consider building more boats in those classes

Tom Foley said:

Thanks for your reply Curtis . The gas numbers are overwhelming particularly in your area . Nitro participants are down plain and simple
Many have " switched sides " pushing gas numbers up . The combined classes are an offering but as you know yourself as a former Nitro guy 20 60 101 boats don't mesh too well , as with 20 60 and Twin hydros . You may not have noticed the gas boaters that didn'take the race simply due to the numbers but with the few amount of Nitro boaters left it becomes obvious when they don't attend . Anyway , do you think the 5 boat minimum is a good policy ?

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I see your point Tom. That’s why unfortunately I had to sell my 20 Mono and 40 Rigger. I came from nitro and held on to them as long as I could but on the east coast there was just not enough attendance. As for the 5 boat minimum. I saw no harm in it but after our last race one of the classes I enjoy seeing almost didn’t make it and maybe I stand corrected. There has been some talk by district members of dropping the district rules and sticking to NAMBA rules. If this happens it will go back to three.

curtis canton said:

I see your point Tom. That’s why unfortunately I had to sell my 20 Mono and 40 Rigger. I came from nitro and held on to them as long as I could but on the east coast there was just not enough attendance. As for the 5 boat minimum. I saw no harm in it but after our last race one of the classes I enjoy seeing almost didn’t make it and maybe I stand corrected. There has been some talk by district members of dropping the district rules and sticking to NAMBA rules. If this happens it will go back to three.

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obrien said:

Curtis, I remember when you guys had that 2 day race. I was not able to attend due to already being committed to the the tunnel champs that same weekend in georgia. Hopefully if you guys have another race like that, i can attend. I was looking at the last district race you hosted as well, but fe entries were basically non exsistent, so I didnt bother. I think the more I look at what is going on, if I really want to keep racing rc boats, im going to have to take a hard look at moving to gas
I like that your club has been offering the q-limited classes. I currently only have a q-lim tunnel, but would consider building more boats in those classes

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Maybe If some of the nitro guys had gas boats to sign up as well that would solve half the problem of getting them to the race to for a class/classes with a guaranteed turn out? Then they can also sign up for the nitro classes that they like to run and maybe with some communication the 5 boat limit for those classes could be dropped for that event?

I was in the Keys when your race was up ,maybe next time .

John Dooling said:

Maybe If some of the nitro guys had gas boats to sign up as well that would solve half the problem of getting them to the race to for a class/classes with a guaranteed turn out? Then they can also sign up for the nitro classes that they like to run and maybe with some communication the 5 boat limit for those classes could be dropped for that event?

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I have been trying to run my gas boats for years but felt a compulsion to try to keep Nitro alive . Boat limits keep me from running them all . Maybe if some of the gas guys had nitro boats to run .............

John Dooling said:

Maybe If some of the nitro guys had gas boats to sign up as well that would solve half the problem of getting them to the race to for a class/classes with a guaranteed turn out? Then they can also sign up for the nitro classes that they like to run and maybe with some communication the 5 boat limit for those classes could be dropped for that event?

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Maybe they shouldn't have to get a gas boat just so they can run. Here's a thought- how about dropping the limit to 3 for nitro and see how it goes. Also curious- what limits are put on boat counts for each class vs. total boat count limit for races? In other words if class count limits are much higher for gas than nitro I can see a race hitting it's max boat count effectively pushing out the others. Does this happen??

Okay. I’m going to throw a wrench into this discussion.

Is it really a bad thing if certain classes die, regardless if they are nitro, gas, or FE? Bottom line are those classes, for whatever reason, are no longer popular. Our hobby is always changing and evolving. Why are we so concerned about classes that are one step in the grave? Should we have pushed to keep tether-line racing?

I for one LOVED Nitro and still do. My thing is the competition of racing and for this reason I made the switch from Nitro to Gas in 2010 because the writing was on the wall and nitro was no longer drawing the numbers they once were, especially at the local district racing level. Gas had become king.

We can make all kinds of concessions in an attempt to save a dying class, but it’s dying for a reason.

I know there are those who do not want to adapt to change and that’s okay. We all have different tastes and likes when it comes to rc boating. Change is inevitable. One can either adapt to change or leave. No right or wrong decision.

What about a paid pre entry or a partial paid entry to hold the spot?? If everyone wants to put their money where their mouth is the problem with entry count would solve itself and wouldn't matter what class it is. it could be an electronic list (online) so would be free to sign up but a week before the event the entries (paid by date) would be locked in with a payment.

Randy Rapedius said:

Okay. I’m going to throw a wrench into this discussion.

Is it really a bad thing if certain classes die, regardless if they are nitro, gas, or FE? Bottom line are those classes, for whatever reason, are no longer popular. Our hobby is always changing and evolving. Why are we so concerned about classes that are one step in the grave? Should we have pushed to keep tether-line racing?

I for one LOVED Nitro and still do. My thing is the competition of racing and for this reason I made the switch from Nitro to Gas in 2010 because the writing was on the wall and nitro was no longer drawing the numbers they once were, especially at the local district racing level. Gas had become king.

We can make all kinds of concessions in an attempt to save a dying class, but it’s dying for a reason.

I know there are those who do not want to adapt to change and that’s okay. We all have different tastes and likes when it comes to rc boating. Change is inevitable. One can either adapt to change or leave. No right or wrong decision.

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Being this is a hobby , I do think it's important to try and revive classes if possible . Not sure what the answer is but if specialty races is the path then Ill.take it . I hate to say it but separation of Gas and Nitro has to happen, the number of gas boats is astounding and I.love it but too many for a regular race in this district .

Randy Rapedius said:

Is it really a bad thing if certain classes die, regardless if they are nitro, gas, or FE? Bottom line are those classes, for whatever reason, are no longer popular. Our hobby is always changing and evolving. Why are we so concerned about classes that are one step in the grave? Should we have pushed to keep tether-line racing?

I for one LOVED Nitro and still do. My thing is the competition of racing and for this reason I made the switch from Nitro to Gas in 2010 because the writing was on the wall and nitro was no longer drawing the numbers they once were, especially at the local district racing level. Gas had become king.

We can make all kinds of concessions in an attempt to save a dying class, but it’s dying for a reason.

I know there are those who do not want to adapt to change and that’s okay. We all have different tastes and likes when it comes to rc boating. Change is inevitable. One can either adapt to change or leave. No right or wrong decision.

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This is just the bottom line... as long as the interest is good in whatever class it will stick around. if it dies it dies. its nobody's fault, it is what it is. Unless there are some folks out there that will go the distance to market Nitro it will go the way of the dodo. BTW, if anyone here knows about RC Cars, they are mostly electric now... So the gas boaters arent safe unfortunately. I love nitro anything! I dont want to give anyone here the impression im on the nitro hate bus.. They really dont do much Nitro in D9 as far as ive seen otherwise id be running that.

Just for discussion and consideration -

From my experience with RC Car Major/National Events, when multiple/multiple classes appear at the same event, and a cap is in place on total entries (after all - there are just so many hours to run the event), its best to have an allocation for each class during pre-registration and restrict a pre-entry per driver to 2 or 3 classes. 50% Entry Count for one Heat should be the minimum to run a class (ie - if 6 boats fill a heat, then minimum pre-registration could would be 3. which could allow for walkup entry at the event to fill the heat)

For Example. 6 Classes (6 boats per heat) to run with a Total Entry cap of 185. Pre-Entry cap allocation could be:

Class 1 Gas x - 36 (6 heats)
Class 2 Gas y - 36 (6 heats)
Class 3 Nitro x - 30 (5 heats)
Class 4 Nitro y - 30 (5 heats)
Class 5 FE x - 24 (4 heats)
Class 6 FE y - 24 (4 heats)

Pre-registration for each class beyond the allocation goes on waiting list for the class. Often we see multi class events become dominated by one or two classes reaching the total entry cap in hours. Allocation Caps during pre entry stage can accomplishes several important objectives. 1-increases opportunity to showcase every class intended at a major event with allocated minimum participation; 2- Increases the opportunity to raise participant level (30 drivers Vs 50 drivers participating); 3. Increase opportunity for drivers to race maximum heats/conci/finals; 4: Gives Promotor chance to close out a class by an Entry Deadline and re-allocate spots in other classes using the class wait list, to fill the schedule and obtain awards required