Why isn't 1:27 and 1:28 scale racing so popular in the UK?

[Monski]

I just can't get my head around why small scale, indoor racing is not so popular in the UK. I mean, venues are expensive to hire for larger carpet racing, as well as it being a lot more expensive for parts/upgrades etc.

I used to be a member of a 1:10 scale touring car club but became frustrated to only be able to race once a week for 3 heats and a  final - 20 minutes actual racing in all with a bit of warm up at the start. I'd want to try new set-ups and had to wait until the following week to test it out on racing carpet as my lounge is nowhere near big enough to run a car of this speed and also only had limited time for tweaks at he club. Sometimes I couldn't make it at all and often had to wait weeks to get my racing fix.

So I got into 1:28 scale, the likes of Atomic BZ3 and GL Racing GL-A. I have a track in my lounge and one in the garden in summer. It just makes more sense to me and I can have fun whenever I want. Anyone with a reasonable sized lounge, garage or loft space can do it and the cars are fully customisable and adjustable very much like their larger cousins so not much of a draw back there. It's quite well followed in France, Italy, Spain and the Far East but not much going on here which is surprising in a small, more cramped country!

There are a few clubs in the UK that run Mini-Z and have a super-modified class that incorporates the cars I have but the nearest to me is 120 miles away. It'd be great to meet a few more people who might be interested in lounge racing.

[turok007]

I would say every scale is less popular now.  But 1/10th does the best as you can take it to the park or street and use your race car  but you cannot really do it with mini/micro scale.

[Monski]

It's a fair point and a shame that RC racing is not so popular in this age of the Playstation. As for running the car outside, if you like carpet racing the car doesn't behave the same on tarmac and if you crash, the least that happens is that you destroy your nicely painted body. It's also difficult in my area to find a carpark that hasn't got cars coming in and out all the time and you can't really set up a decent track without carting very large gutter downpipes with you. The weather is also a factor. At least I can get my fix every day if I want to with my indoor setup. It's so much fun!

Edited December 1, 2020 by Monski
Video didn't upload properly first time

[Alex97]

Some peoples fingers are too big to work on them 🤣

[Monski]

1 minute ago, Alex97 said:

Some peoples fingers are too big to work on them 🤣

Haha! Yes, my friend sometimes has this problem. I'm blessed with skinny fingers so no problem for me! 😁

[Jayce]

On 01/12/2020 at 12:22, Monski said:

Haha! Yes, my friend sometimes has this problem. I'm blessed with skinny fingers so no problem for me! 😁

You should try dnano's then!  This scale was popular in the uk about 10 years ago.  I used to run one of the UK clubs.

Check the link in my sig for some race videos of Mini-Z and dnano racing.