The elephant in the room...is not quite dead yet

I like many others started watching and then building cars with my son in lockdown. 
We have started to get a bit more confident and have just entered our first few races...will see how that turns out!

We would not have learned that much without this site, it's has been and still is my go to place every day to see what's going on.
Yes I agree things on Facebook etc tend to get lost and missed, that's what's so good about this site. A lot of knowledge / information all in one place. 

We are in the UK and it's great feeling part of a worldwide community in diecast racing thanks to this site. 

I'm on here all the time, but I'm using it not so much for the discussion forums as I am to keep aware of what racing is happening when and where.....I also use it to communicate directly with other channels and racers

All discussion is growth. I check RLD almost daily. More often than not. I like the topic discussions and pour through archives when time permits. I really really empathize with race hosts. That, to me, seems to be a thankless job sometimes. I make a point to comment and especially say thank you to every host i send in to. In this "got to have it now" world i see; its nice to be able to check here for the calender of events. I get invites to race thru FB and always accept, trying the best i can to not get dragged (sp?) lol. I try my best to enter events here as well. A lot of times they fill-up fast so i know theres traffic here. Im not really sure how to improve this website. Maybe a "intro-video" that highlights all that RLD has to offer because sometimes i google something and it comes up on RLD and i'm like "oh dang, idk that was on here!" Everyone on here has been very helpful and i appreciate all they do for the diecast community. Its all for fun, until it aint. Its still fun for me. 

I am very young member of the community (maybe the youngest), and it's my first time checking in, in a while. As a Hot Wheels Racing fan, I really don't want this internet treasure trove go away. I discovered this place via a 3DBM video, and mentioning this place. I think that a growing online presence in larger platforms may bring in younger fans. 

I haven't been around as long as most of you. I am still learning and exploring the hobby. I will say, my daughter and I would not be as interested in diecast racing if it were not for Redline. It is an excellent forum for people to share ideas and meet like-minded folks. Cheers to Redline and all the contributors who made it what it is today. I appreciate all the people who came before me and their willingness to share their experiences. I especially appreciate the race hosts. Without hosts, there is no diecast racing.

I still visit daily, part of the routine.  There's so much great stuff here, and though I don't post as often as I used to, rest assured I'm still around and can't see a time when I won't be.

There's so much here for people into every aspect of diecast racing.  And for every person who "doesn't do this but does Facebook" there are people like me out there who don't do Facebook but love this.

Like a lot of us on RLD I was introduced to diecast racing through 3D Botmaker. Heck, I didn't even start collecting cars until that time even though I had some as a kid. When I looked into racing my own cars I watched YouTube channels for both drag racing and street racing. To my amateur eye, there was more of a luck factor in street racing than there was in drag racing so it was a no brainer to start with street racing. I raced in many street races before I tried my hand at drag racing simply because I lacked the knowledge to compete with drag racers that have been at this much longer than I have. With drag, there isn't any room for error and the learning curve to compete with the top drag builders is much longer and chance is a non factor for drag racing on a competitive level. I highly respect guys like Blueline, Voxxer and K&O for their hard work, ingenuity and tireless hours they've spent trying to gain that extra speed that most of us newbies fall victim to.

Diecast racing has grown exponentially since 3D found the audience, similar to professional poker, when amateur Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP main event in 2003. The extreme growth after his win resided in that exact form of poker because of the exposure it was given. As time went on many of the players that took up poker after 2003 eventually branched out to other forms of the game and as a result, poker in general continued to grow.

Without painfully rambling on any longer, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that street racing has brought this beautiful influx of members to the hobby and RLD is the place that the new members flock to for racing info as a whole. It seems awfully gut wrenching to see drag racing pick up and leave RLD with so much future to grow upon.

 I'm not an expert and have yet to host any races of my own but as a fan of both street racing and drag racing, it just makes sense to have the whole diecast family under one roof and somehow make it work. RLD is the only one of its kind to have a clear and easy way of knowing when diecast events are being run, unlike Facebook where posts get swallowed up by the news feed after just a couple hours. I speak for a ton of newbies when I say thanks for maintaining this site and I hope you continue doing so.

I'm still here and still find RLD to be the best place to post about races etc. 

From a creator point of view, I see why fat track is more popular, because there is more of a spectacle and the races are longer. I think of my videos as entertainment more than about Racing. From a pure speed point of view you can't beat drag racing. It's over so quick though, that for me to make an entertainment video there is little time to talk about, and I get drag racers most likely don't care, but for what I do it generally doesn't suit. 

I would like to post more but am just busy with my own content and two other jobs. I have some ideas for content and how to's but I find videos are easier to follow so I tend to do those. Because you can't currently upload video's directly to RLD, you can only post a link, I don't tend to make them as the content doesn't fit with my channel so would need to set up another one which is more hassle. If there was a way to direct upload here I'd be happy to put up more (if people were interested). Other than that I can't think of too much else you could do on the site. I still push people here as much as possible because it's the best place for diecast racing and information 

Hey Brian, just thought i'd log-in just to voice my support for RLD and to tell you how much this site means to me. You know i've been around for a long time but come and go with my activity. But, even when i'm going through a period of not really participating in the hobby, I still hop onto the site from time to time lurking and reading posts.

I have so many fond memories of this site! I still have my fantasy league trophy from back in the day and everytime I pick the car up which was attached to it and race it so many memories flood back to me. I have a display case for my custom cars and right in the front are these sweet gassers which smitty custmized for me a long while back and the second fastest car on my track was kindly donated to me by Mattman! I'll never forget attending the Featherweight challenge in person with GspeedR hosting and he also donated some great cars to me which hold a special place in my collection. I've never been part of a community of people so nice and giving as this one is!

Anyway, I don't use Facebook, so RLD is all i've got when it comes to this hobby. Despite what the numbers may say, I remember times that this site wasn't nearly as active as it is now and we got by just fine. I hope you keep this site up for a long as you can! I know I may not be active now, but for me its a hobby that I know i'll return to when the time is right and when I do i'll need some competition!

I do want to conclude with an idea, which i've think i've voice at every opportunity that I can, that may help boost activity here. Sometimes people step away from racing and building cars due to life changes or just needing a break. When that happens, there isn't a great reason to keep posting here at RLD. So, what is really needed is something to keep people coming back here when they aren't able to participate in building and racing. So... bring back the fantasy league!! I know it was a lot of work to run at the time but if guest hosts can be brought back along with it, it also gives those still active in the community something fun to do. Anyway, just a thought.

Thanks again Brian and keep up the great work!

On the note of drag racing, I would like to eventually add a strip to the track I'm currently building, primarily to use for qualifying, but also to incorporate into multi stage events.  Honestly, it would help weed out of a lot of duds that slow down round 1.

Why does it have to be Facebook or RLD? Could this site have a drag race specific section for content and upcoming race event listings separately from anything non drag race? Then everyone knows where to find what they want. Combing through Facebook to find a race is shit. One place for all is more efficient and effective.  I "asked" to join a Facebook drag race group 4 days ago and have heard nothing. 
I get the arguments  of entertainment vs competition and I think it fine to like both. When I enter a drag race, I want to race the best. That's the only way I can compare my builds and become a better competitor. Racing open track is a little more relaxing and less stressful of a build, usually. 
So basically, if you have a drag track, I'd like to race against you. If you have some other track, I want to race against you. I just hope I can find you    

As a 1 year "vet" now, RLD is essential. I cannot find near the info anywhere else. This site was my 2nd exposure after 3Dbot, and I am here almost every day. 

I am very thankful for this site; without it I would be wallowing, it is a MUST for every rookie, and THE place for diecast builders to "congregate" and compare notes. Please never go away!

My 2 cents