Happy New Year to All!

Well, im sat here just about to go out for a meal with friends and just taking a minute to reflect on the past 12 months. What a time.... credit crunches, permenant immenant doom forcasted by the fianancial experts, the Beijing Olympics (where Mansfield Swimmer Becky Adlington kicked butt) - for those that don't know, Mansfield is my hometown, Lewis Hamilton finally taking the F1 crown on the last corner.... all things considered... WHAT A YEAR!

Closer to home, at Ben Raccing we have concentrated on streamlining processes to make time from order to you receiveing the goods even shorter. This can sometimes be difficult in parts we have to source such as 15 year old parts for what was an obscure model in the first place. But it always makes it worthwhile when we get an email thanking us that no-where else could get the part... in short, you dont need to thank us - its what we do!

On other matters, supply of Traxxas cars has finally stabilised so all the strife we had at the end of 2008 getting hold of the Slash, Slayer and the Rustler VXL should be at an end.... on the downside prices have incresed at the end of 2008. As with all other model shops in the UK our suppliers have increased their prices to us as their cost prices have incresead due to the underperforming pound against every other currency (it seems) out there.... when will this situation change???? Some economists are predicting not before 6 months to a year.... be assured that here at Ben Racing we will be looking at how we can keep our prices below the rate of increase to keep on giving you the best deals.

Well, thats about me written up for the mo - so all that remains is to lift a glass out there to all you in the RC industry, from suppliers, to other model stores in the UK and around the world and finally to you the customers..... and wish you all a great 2009!

Cheers!

Ben Kelsall

Ben Racing

Credit Crunch....

I sit here writing this as I have a few spare minutes whilst getting my lunch down me, before getting the mail order out for the day.....

The buzz word on everyones lips is the current recession and credit crunch we are in the midst of!!! How did we get here, who is to blame - I'll let the politicians and social commentators toss that one about amoung themselves whilst I get to the matter that directly concerns us - namely keeping prices as low as possible to give you guys the best deals we can!

As usual it's not that simple.... as the pound has been underperforming against the dollar, yen, euro.... you name the currency we are getting alarm bells ringing from suppliers left right and centre that trade prices will be going up within the next week.... not good news... This will have the knock on effect that our retail prices will increase too - hopefully not by a lot, but we will have to see what increase is imposed upon us by the suppliers before we can set new retail prices. In any case, we will still be doing our utmost to keep out prices the lowest in the UK.

On the plus side of things.... all of our customers that have been waiting for Traxxas stock, there now seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.... we are expecting a shipment of all the Traxxas cars available before Christmas now, so we should be able to get them out to you in good time!!!

Well, thats my lunch finished - off to get packing on all the mail order. As usual if you have any questions or need help with your RC car drop me and email or give me a call at the shop!

See ya!

Ben

Customer service.... the cornerstone of ALL industries!

Well, I sit here to write this as just yesterday I had a long chat with a rep in the model car business about how the industry was at this moment in time, if other shops were selling a lot, what was the general feeling in the industy..... you know the chat. Strange times for sure... with the preceived 'credit crunch' the country is talking about, and the current cost of living.... is it any surprise that many people are hanging onto their money... or are they?

I have often said that its not just price, but also service that wins the day in this industry.... model cars are in fact not just as simple as an Xbox or a Playstation. Often the engines need tuning, and to begin with the customer is faced with a steep learning curve to get their pride and joy up and running.

Quite often (in fact I have just had a customer in that promted me to put pixel to paper, so to speak) I get customers in that have bought a car from elsewhere and are surprised when the selling shop does not want to know once the car has been sold. I have just spent all morning tuning engines for customers, and we do this free of charge. It's more important to me to have a customer with a well running engine, that i know will stay in the hobby and get a lot of satisfaction from their car!!! At the end of the day I think everyone who works in this industry has to remember that for a customer to buy a model car, be it £50 or £500+ pounds from a shop means that they are putting their trust in both the product and also US!! The shop!! And to be honest, I enjoy talking to the customer and finding out about how there car has been running..

So, hows things been??

This month so far myself and Rob have been very busy both in the shop and also online.... http://www.benracing.co.uk/. The HPI Savage XL has been selling well but since the New Traxxas T-Maxx 3.3 has landed.... well we have not been able to get enough of these!!!!

Right, im off to natter to customers as the shop front is full, speak laters!!

Ben

Coffee plus sofa on a Saturday morning!

God i love this sofa in my shop! Normally its for customers (well, cistomers wives and better halfs to sit on whilst the hubby get his RC fix). But for once im sat here, drinking black coffee whilst tapping away on me laptop!

Yeah, you guessed it - (black coffee....) went out for a beer or two with some old school buddies last night. And as usual - one is good, two is better, past three is fantastic! It was good to catch up with the boys, usual chat, girls (wives in many cases now!!!), football, F1, girls.... usual..... :-)

Well, it's lashing it down here and ive drawn the short straw as to who tunes the cars today... so
im going to make my excuses and dash.....

See ya!

PS. Todays Top Tip! Never play leapfrog with a Unicorn....

Is it too much to ask....

Hey guys.... in a great mood...(not).

Just finishing repairing a truck for a customer today, a Traxxas Jato 3.3 RTR. The said customer had managed to drive it into a wall - hey we all do it.....

But do we all drive it through dog muck before we take it back to the shop.... I dunno - what is wrong with cleaning the car before dropping it off at your local model shop!!!!! Honestly... cant wait till the guy comes to pick it it up sans dog muck.... he'll be gutted... "Awww guv!"

Just found out today off Traxxas UK that the Revo 3.3 Platinum wont be reaching these shores after all..... however, with the predicted £700 price tag I was a bit dubious as to whether or not we would sell any...... On a lighter note - the new T-Maxx 3.3 will be with us soon - new tuned pipe, air filter and steering system!!!! Get ready for this new monster!!!!

No Sleep for the Wicked....

Hi guys and girls.....

After promising to write more in my last blog... guess what happened... i didnt. Sorry about that. Got so busy with the run up to xmas, i now find myself on the 6th June having not written anything for 7 months!

So what's been happening? This year I have taken a year out of my racing to concentrate on the shop and site www.benracing.co.uk and to be honest I am missing racing! This is the reason many of us get into the hobby trade, because it was a hobby for us in the first place.... and then it becomes a business, and then your livelyhood and BANG! No time for the hobby anymore... To quote Arnie.... "I'll be back!"

What else.... oh yeah.... last Weds the hard drive on our mainframe computer decided to give me two fingers and decide to pack in or go on a permanent vacation....

After a little turning the air blue and threatening the sodding thing with teaching it how to fly I finally relented and got a new one.... and all the hassle of retreiving data... reinstalling.... swearing... we got back on line after only losing a day...

So if your order from the end of last week was delayed.... apologies.... we have finally caught up with the backlog!

Right, im off to try and get some sleep before the alarm goes off!

Ciaoski!

WOW! What a week!

Wow.....thats all I can really say. This week has been the busiest in the Companys history. Me and Rob have been putting in the hours to try and keep up with demand at the moment and we are just about managing it.....just! Phew.

While ive got a mo im going to tell you about what will be HOT this Xmas! The HPI Baja 5B SS is going to be massive (no joke intended as the size of this buggy really is something else!). We have over 20 on pre order at the mo and to be honest im getting a bit worried where on earth we are going to put them all! Sure I can find somewhere!

The Traxxas line of cars are really selling well at the mo and we are getting excited about the shop project Rustler VXL brushless creation! This baby is going to be astonishingly fast!

Anyways, got to go as we have a competition for a prize draw for our Xmas December orders - so dont miss out of that!

Ben

Saturday.....

Well, im sat here with a cup of coffee at the mo having two moniutes break from the madness that is Saturday! Usually on Staurday we get the engine tune ups and the like in. We have a car park next to the shop where we can run cars on a Saturday, this is great for setting engines up as (no matter what any local model shop tells you) you can't properly set an engine up on a shop doorstep. Many variables affect the tune of an engine, and an engine that runs fine under no load can often suck air when under load (as when running on the ground). This car park lets us set engines up to their maximum capability whilst still being sure that the customer will be able to start and stop his car with ease. We also don't charge for engine tuning - because at the end of the day - RC should be fun, and a good running engine will make it all the more fun....plus, tuning engines all the time keeps us in good practice!

Might be something to think about before you next get your engine tuned by the local model shop!

Well, its hectic today, lots of folk looking to buy for Xmas, and to be honest - I enjoy Saturday. All too often I am in the back running the business side of things and Saturday allows me to get out and play with cars and chat to folk!

Anyways, got to go but if you need any advice on engine tuning - drop us a line at Ben Racing.

Ben