FAQ/Sticky/Beginners

Hi All,
There is an old post aimed at beginners that really winds me up. You might know the one, its starts out mentioning expensive and quickly gets into technical terminology.

If the site supports sticky topics or a FAQ I would like to suggest something that might get a few more beginners or casual browsers through the door.

See what you think, its not meant to address every aspect or technical term, but if people read it and get the idea that there are a lot of us doing something easily accessible, affordable and fun then job done. Also if the mods like it, can we make it a sticky or something similar.

Duane.

Read on ------>


Beginners Guide.

Ok, welldone, you have made a pretty good start by finding this site started by your local club. Like any half way decent club we organise regular races and drift competitions, we also sell our old gear on here so you might like to keep an eye out for a bargain first car.

If you dont already have a car, the best car you can get is one that your local club race. There are a massive range of cars available but most clubs concentrate on one or two classes so that races can be evenly matched.

Here our most popular class is Tamiya Mini racing. The Mini is a 1/10 scale electric car that is available as a kit or ready to run. We recommend that you buy your car as a kit and build it yourself, purley because its a very enjoyable and exciting process going from a box of bits to something you will race. Its also very easy to do.

There are faster cars than the mini, but buying something that will get 300 meters away in six seconds is pretty ridiculous if you haven't yet learned to control a car not much bigger than your shoe which is disappearing out of site at 100Km/h. Our minis run at about 40Km/h which is an ideal speed for learning, for having fun in the 20 ft wide road outside your house and for really close racing. It also means that the cars don't destroy themselves in thier first crash.

So how much is a mini ? Minis are currently around 600 DHS or 100 USD. The price varies (450-700 DHS) depending on the bodyshell, your choices include some classics like the Honda S800 and old style Mini Cooper or newer models like the Suzuki Swift, Alfa Romeo Mito, Fiat 500 Arbath or the new Mini Cooper. My guess is that most of the difference in price is down to royalties that tamiya must pay the car companies for copying thier designs as its the same car underneath every shell. Some of these shells are so nice that there a millions of radio controlled cars all over the world that thier owners keep on shelves and in display cases and never actually run - theres even a name for these, they are called 'Shelf Queens' - The fiat Abarth and Alfa Romeo in particular are a bit too nice for racing.

As well as a car you will also need batteries, a battery charger and a radio, you can often get a good deal on this lot when you buy your car or you can look out on this site from someone upgrading and selling thier old sets. Modern batteries are incredible compared to anything you may have used in the past, our batteries charge in around one hour and will power your mini for around one hour.

If your still with me, the best advice anyone can give you is that if you think you would like to take up remote controlled car racing in Dubai as a hobby - buy a Mini. Ignore the faster cars and ignore the salesman trying to get you to buy whatever is in stock that week. Every single one of us has more than one car, every single one of us has faster cars, but week in week out its minis that we race - because we want to.

If you need anymore convincing, check out the mini gallery here

http://www.dubdrift.com/gallery/Mini-Mayhem-Rides/Mini-Mayhem-Rides-cat_c3.htm

and the Mini Super Summer Series race reports here

http://www.dubdrift.com/event-sessions-f17/2010-mini-sss-super-summer-series-t1073.htm?highlight=summer+series

and the dedicated mini racing site here - www.rc-mini.net - its nothing to do with us, but has loads of information on minis - just ignore the top secret mini tips it was an April fools joke.

For anything else you want to know just ask us

Duane.

Hmmmnn..

I like it.

Great job Duane! Thanks for the initiative.
Now it's more inviting.

But I think you missed out on the Drifting aspect but maybe another person can step in and make something for it.

Jay?

Hehe.

But all in all, it's great!

I'll vote for it to be a sticky (once some paragraph for drifting has been added).

BTW, the "Top Secret Mini Tips" was very entertaining..

very well said duane ....... you are my bestfriend from now on ......

The one I made was supposed to be a technical term dictionary type of thing...

I've edited out the negative bits, can someone have a look at it now and tell me what's wrong with it?

I think if we just combined this guide and mine, it would turn out to be bigger, better guide.

Let the flaming begin?

@Abdul and Lance
Sir Duane's guide is more focused on Mini's/Touring kits
So it would be better there were two different guides on Drifting and Touring kits.

Actually, it would be a great idea to have a basic guide on each of the RC divisions here on Dubdrift.

I do have one question though.
What in the world does this have to do with "JJ RC Drift Shop"?

All in favor of moving this to the General Discussion of EP Touring say "CHEESE".
=)

of course its more focused as he based his idea through his own and not did not copy, paste and edit from other sites hehehe

separate drifting from touring/mini & copied and original works

i know i know!! he's in a hurry to post his orders at JJ that he posts his thread on JJ by accident hehehe!

mods please move accordingly. thanks

@Josh, yeah, come to think of it, that is a better idea.

And to everybody else, message me more content and ideas instead of posting bad remarks please. It feels really bad to see such comments...

Oh, and CHEESE

Moved.

Copy/paste/editing information from outside sources isn't really bad just as long as the value of the content is solid.
Let's just thank those who gave their time to give us information. =)

As for the 'sticky' idea for the guides made by members, it gets my vote, but let's leave the final decision to the Admins. =)

We need to combine and fine-tune our ideas to make a better guide for each division.


Cheese!

So thats where it ended up ! I will have to go and check to see if ordered anything now.

Duane.

@Lance
You missed the second sentence.

Quote :

So it would be better if there were two different guides on Drifting and Touring kits.

=)

Was it on JJ DubDrift Shop?! Maybe I was too sleepy and tired from playing basketball.



@josh, I've read that part as well.

Question is, why did you have to address your reply to me and/or Abdul?
You could have just replied.


Anyways, I think it's already pointless whether or not you answer this question.

On with the discussion. Sorry for the OT Mods.

Because:
1 - Although Abdul's intentions were right, I saw something that would start you guys flaming at him again. So I just put my foot down there.

2 - The idea of making one giant newbie guide isn't what newbies would 'actually' read. So I addressed it to your request in adding drifting tips.

Asking and answering questions in a forum isn't pointless.
We have to discuss every nook and cranny until all patches are as smooth as silk.

You, Sir Jay, Sir Reck and Abdul have posted very interested guides in the past.
Let's work with what we have and support each other.

Opening up a new topics would be very confusing for someone new.
Modifying/editing ideas (or previous topics) would be a much better idea so that there will be only one guide (per division) that a newbie can look up on.

Does everyone agree?


OT:
About my "what in the world" thing.
I heard "cheese" from somewhere and just wanted to use it as a joke.