Frank Root

iTrader: (25)

I have talked with many people in the industry, and they all agree 1/10 RC should go to 5-cells. And not just mod tc, every discipline and every class, stock to mod. I agree. Right now, 6 cells is 7.2v and 2s Lipo is 7.4v no big deal. But 5 cells is 6.0v, the right range. There is no way to get Lipo in that range. It is simply 3.7 or 7.4.. to little or too much...lose-lose. The real change to reduce cost all around... tire wear, cheaper battery, longer motor life, longer electronics life, ect. ect...

I have been through a voltage reduction. I used to run Paved Oval, back in the 6-cell days. It was unbelieve able. Then.. 2400s came around and we were able to go further with the motors, down to 11 and 10 turns, just too fast...a change was needed. That change was 4 cells.

Although 4 cells is a drastic improvement from 6, oval took a huge hit and is still dying..why? Because, instead of all the governing bodies and local tracks getting together and making a unanimus move to 4 cells, many didn't for even a year or two. Then resistance split the few oval racers into more groups, that were smaller and some slowly faded away.

I call upon ROAR and IFMAR, EFRA and the other governing bodies and large race promotors (Mike Boylan, Scotty Ernst, Jimmy Babcock) to go 5 cells across the board on January 1st, 2008 to save our beloved hobby.

PS, legalizing Stock and 19t Brushless equivalents, is next task, a very important and vital one...

Jack Smash

iTrader: (35)

If our only option was to go to 5 cell I would have to agree with you but I believe the best thing for our sport is to get away from NiMH cells. I have personally seen 5 packs blown up this week. They have gotten to the point where they are getting so much power out of the cells that it is costing us durability. If you run stock or 19turn at a very competitive level you will need to replace your packs often as these new cells drop off fast and it is pricing some people out of the sport. Going to 5 cell is going to make the need for fresh packs that much greater.

FlyByWire

iTrader: (28)

+1 (IMHO)

LiPo is the future (again, IMHO)

Frank Root

iTrader: (25)

If LIPO manufacturers really want to be in the mix, they should develop cells that are based on 3.0v per cell. Then we can be win-win..

crazyjr

With the momentum for Lipo's getting stronger, why not just go to higher turn motors. I have always believed in the driver being the equalizer, if you can handle it, why not run it? At my local track there was a guy named Jeff, we called him Tortoise Jeff, because he seemed to run so slow, but somehow he would win a race every so often. Most people will run in their comfort zone once they figure out how racing works. I have finally got to the point where i don't fall for fads and have found what works for me, I'm not the slowest guy on the track, but not the fastest either. I keep the mistakes to a miniumu and let the chips fall where they may

Rfury

iTrader: (6)

+2

JLock

iTrader: (4)

I recently ran in a big regional race in Mississippi where I had a cell laydown in my 6-cell pack. I was running stock electric with a 13.5 brushless. On 5-cells in stock, 5-cells suck!!! On 6-cells, I was able to build and stretch a lead in the qualifier in which this happened. After the bad cell discharged early and left me with only 5-cells, i had to fight hard to hold off the competition. Stock is slow enough on 6-cells and now folks want to run on 5!! You might as well run a Radioshack/Toys-R-Us/Walmart r/c car if you do that. It is 6-cells or LiPo for me when I race electric.

hobbipro

iTrader: (23)

5 cell rules will not solve anything! When all this talk of going 5 cell came about to try to slow down R/C cars, save drive trains ect, now we actually now know it makes them faster. Then was the talk of lowering voltage to save speed controls from mysteriously blowing up, and now we know that now its the 5 cell battery taking all the abuse and blowing up like a shot gun shell. Whats the story going to be next month?
Sorry, but I'm totally against going 5 cell only. However it should be an option. If you want to run it fine, just dont ask me to. I dont want to be forced to buy a new, dinosaur celled, 5 cell pack every month. In reality it would hurt racing since most of us have gone the lipo route anyway. Cats out of the bag, lipo's are the future of racing. If the organizations havent taken notice of this yet, they deserve to lose all of there membership.

Chris Brown

iTrader: (19)

From what I have seen , the power to driver ability ratio is getting out of hand. With the better motor/ battery technology, fewer and fewer people are able to handle it. The problem with trying to slow the cars down is this hobby/sport is horribly unorganized. Sure we have ROAR, but no one takes them seriously as they aren't proactive. Making changes in this hobby has always been an uphill battle. But I'm not one to just complain, there is a solution. One answer would be to organize this sport and get ROAR memberships back up. Racers need to voice their opinions to ROAR and ROAR needs to listen and implement changes that will help this sport grow. Track owners should all become ROAR affiliated and encourage their members to do the same. It's not an easy fix, but I think this sport can grow if we just had more organization.

DustinR

iTrader: (10)

"Some say were going to fast. Maybe we are, Maybe were not. Who's to say? Do you want to race or dont you? I want to race. (Dale Earnhardt Sr.)

I thought this was an intersted quote regaurding this topic.

I like the 5 cell argument for wear on the cars...but... I am not so sure I like slowing down the cars. And I know the lap times might be the same or close but there is nothing like seeing cars rip down the straight. That is what got me into this hobby. Everyone wants to see the 4wds run at races, Why??? becouse they are the fastest. I think we need to keep this speed atribute for our hobby.

However lighter lipos or brushless I could get behind.

Frank Root

iTrader: (25)

Okay, so if you were running against other guys with 5-cells, would they have caught you? Did you LTs suffer only because of powers, or was it partially if not most because you were forced to alter you braking, acceleration points mid packs?

Also, how about this...

I can see why new people into the hobby are easily scared away, the stock guys who are sponsored with super-fast, cut every run motors, and new packs really are fast. Sometimes able to run within 1-1.5 seconds per lap of mod drivers at the same track. And someone to just bought an RTR B4 (or whatever) is in the same class, getting lapped 3-4 times. That's just not fun. There's not much incentive to keep doing this hobby.

Now, if we were running 5 cells, with a 13.5, it would be:

1. Easier for a newbie to drive
2. Be far cheaper
3. The "fast" stock guys who are complaining it is too slow, might actually move up to 19t (10.5).

19T is a very unutilized class.. and with 5 cells, the 10.5/19t class will be much better suited as a "Pro Stock" class, running with just a bit more speed than today 6 cell stock...

Does this sound realistic? I think it would help a ton...

Leodis

iTrader: (16)

+3. I'm done buying NIMH cells. Tracks that want my money will need to allow lipo or I'll take my business elsewhere.

Frank Root

iTrader: (25)

[QUOTE=DustinR;3554681]And I know the lap times might be the same or close but there is nothing like seeing cars rip down the straight. That is what got me into this hobby. Everyone wants to see the 4wds run at races, Why??? becouse they are the fastest. I think we need to keep this speed atribute for our hobby. QUOTE]

I think the speed of all mod cars will not be reduced by 5 cells. Most guys running Brushless 4wd, run a 6.5 motor. They can easily go to a 5.5 or even a 4.5 to get the power back to the same speed...

DavidAlford

iTrader: (32)

You know you have to gear the car different on 5 cell right?

DustinR

iTrader: (10)

"The "fast" stock guys who are complaining it is too slow, might actually move up to 19t (10.5)."

So what you are saying is MORE CLASSES.

Sorry I dont think that will help any.

Just trying some respectful banter. I agree there is a problum but I am not sure slowing down the cars and adding classes is the way to fix it.