Funding boost helps out hidden racetrack
Wellington’s main radio control car racing club has successfully received a grant for a new recruitment effort to battle against the club’s greatest strength and greatest weakness – its location.
Capital Model Racers (CMR) received a $3240 grant from the New Zealand Capital Trust for a portable Kyosho Mini-Z racing track, which it hopes to take to indoor venues in an effort to build membership and provide a gateway to model car racing.
Club treasurer James Fraser said the track would provide an easy entry into the hobby.
“For some of the larger cars we use, one of those might be well in excess of $1000, which is quite a barrier. Most people want to see if they like the hobby, and if you're a parent with a couple of younger children, that will be cost-prohibitive.
“But if you get two or three of these cheaper ones here for a reasonable amount of money, it makes it much easier.”
The Mini-Z cars are considerably smaller than the larger ones. Fraser said a new one cost around $100.
Club member Matthew Reading, who introduced Mini-Z racing to CMR, said the club’s location had proved a barrier to attracting a younger audience.
The club is located up a hillside in Wingate, on the site of an old landfill. Only a yellow AA sign on a lamp post and a sign at the back of a cul-de-sac give away the fact that motor racing is going on in the hills above.
However, once you’ve wound your way
James Fraser Capital Model Racers
“We just don’t get those passersby, and a lot of people just don’t know we’re up here. So that’s where the portable track comes in. It lets us to go to them.”
up the hillside, wondering if you’ve been badly misled, it opens up to four bespoke tracks for all sorts of racing.
There’s a tarmac circuit for F1 and touring car models, a miniature speedway race track, and two different dirt tracks with ramps, jumps, and dips dug out of the ground.
The membership is a mix, too. It’s one of those activities that attracts both true RC diehards and petrolheads who dabble in a few other areas.
Some members also race in speedway or racing simulation, go to classic car events, or just have a passion for cars.
What’s more, Fraser said, some of them get really into the nuts and bolts of the machines – adjusting engines, wheel camber, braking and drive belts to create the perfect mini-speed machine.
“We used to have a site down at Avalon Park, and back then, people would walk past and see what we were up to.
“Now, though, we just don’t get those passersby, and a lot of people just don’t know we’re up here. So that’s where the portable track comes in. It lets us to go to them.”
The club intends to set up a regular venue, and while it won’t able to reveal the details for another month while negotiations are ongoing,
Valley.
In a statement, NZCT’s general manager for grants Ben Hodges said it was “delighted” it will be somewhere in the Hutt
to be able to help the club purchase the track.
“We hope it will enable even more young people to get into this exciting hobby.”