billjacobs

iTrader: (65)

as long as racer responses are "man the ***** up", nothing will change and it will only get worse. on-road went through similar concerns, with the never ending quest for speed and traction, and we see how well on-road is doing.

the same thing will happen to off-road.

quick question for all the racers that think anything should go: how are your racing turnouts? Are there new racers? Are there young racers?

tc5 man

Dude there was other things other than tire sauce of why onroad racing has been going to down for a long time.

I used to run onroad 1/10 Touring cars outside at a parking lot club racing. What killed that was the money and setup time you needed to just be competitive in a stock class not traction compound .

Will traction compound kill offroad no nobody is making people use it its my choice.

And the attitude of some not all of the onroad racers and the lack of help.

Just what i exprience and why the reasons why i race offroad and still do .


The turnouts at the tracks i been to seem fine still. Is there any new racers yea they come back to again to race not all of them sure . Younger racers really only the ones who have there father racing like a father and son thing.

With the crappy Ecomony parents are not going to shell out money inless there is a Farther and son thing or there son has a job to pay for it.

tc5 man

Like i was talking before us offroad guys know what traction compound has a strong smell t it buggy Grip anything Winter green. There is many more traction compound that is not strong and smells fine . So if a racer comes using something with a strong nail polish smell compound or winter green tell them to please can they do it outside if it bothers people or go to the track owner or directer.

JiuHaWong

Has anyone tried the odorless traction sauces that are used commonly in onroad, on offroad tires?

ctsvls2

iTrader: (1)

This hobby has a low turn out due to many things....but, I am sure its not tire sauce thats to blame.

Do any of you realize how expensive this stuff is? How competitive it is? How steep the learning curve is?

There is really no class (that I have seen, in my limited time in the hobby) where you can buy a car thats ready to run, goto the track, and be competitive.

Simply deciding what kit to buy and what electronics and what charger (omg I spent two whole days researching chargers and im still not confident i bought what i should have) and nitro vs electric and what fuel if nitro and what class to run and...and...and...

That said, I love it. Ive only been at it for two months, but im hooked. I cant wait to race, i cant wait to practice, hell... I cant wait to get home and clean my cars and get prepped for the next weekend.

I think this hobby is just a stretch financially for the majority of families.

uclabruins89

iTrader: (5)

Not only buying a car initially but all the support equipment.. tools, soldering station, oils, extra screws, chargers, batteries, tires, paints, etc.

wyd

iTrader: (51)

Our track outlawed Paragon because of the heavy wintergreen smell and any compounds that smell like that. Doing this we have not had a complaint about tire compounds and over power traction compound smell for over 2 years now. Has worked out great. Our attendance has never been higher/lower because of traction compounds. We stock probably 10 different kinds that our racers like and have not had a problem ever since we went to the No Paragon setup.

Touring racing went down because of over priced kits every 6 months and high priced tires. The other reason is I went to a advertised local big race and the shop opened at 8am but got their early and saw the shop racers already practicing on a new layout that no one was to run on til the shop opened so after that race I sold my TC. Best thing I ever did. Don't want to race with hose kinds of people anyways.

tc5 man

I agree but this Hobby/Sport is still much cheaper than full size racing or Motorcross racing . Heck with them you need companys to fund you to just race not with R/C racing if your doing mostly club races and some big races .

ctsvls2

iTrader: (1)

Thats why im here. I just know that I am a bargain shopper and I purchase a lot of used stuff and I have spent a few grand in the last couple months.

Plus...its toy cars. People think your crazy when you tell them. Once they drive one though...most people get it!

theblitzkidd

iTrader: (11)

That is true lol...ppl are like what, you have how much in that buggy!? And they run it1 time and wanna buy one

Davidka

iTrader: (86)

So were timing advance speed controls, tire lathes and batched/matched 6-cell packs at $100+ per pack. The key to navigating this is recognizing which things return value to the racers and which don't.

One in the same my friend. If saucing tires into a state where they don't last long enough to satisfy the racer's expectations is what it takes to be competitive, the only racers left will be sponsored or just willing to throw money at it. The latter is a group of racers that don't exist in great enough numbers in any market to sustain a track's turnout needs.

There have been several posts pointing to the cost of racing. I reiterate - RC racing has never been as inexpensive as it is now. People will bear the cost if the value of what they're spending on meets their expectations. I did this in the late 80's on a lawn-boy's pay.

tomdav

iTrader: (44)

SAY IT WITH ME... banning sauce is NOT about the smell! If you want to justify the health issues by saying "everything will give me cancer" then I have a nice glass of water from a coastal town in Japan I would like you to taste.


Taken from that same article on REDrc.net

A bit off topic but.....


Hara has previously shared openly his views that what is on offer to the customer today is both too technical and too fast and he views this as being a barrier to getting fresh blood into the hobby. Admitting that he doesn’t have a ‘magic’ concept for such a car he said it has got to be found as at the moment there is just one dish of dog food from which a lot of dogs are eating and if we don’t do something that provides a starting point for beginners soon we will start seeing dogs dying from hunger. I think that’s a rather good summary of the state of our industry which in 2013 suffered quiet a significant downturn globally.

Wild Cherry

Never been more expensive than now for myself


Car packages over a $1000

spend for one club race what I use to spend for two weeks of racing way back because of tire & insert wear.
$12 entry
$50 set of fresh tires

Corners

iTrader: (2)

THE problem, no. A problem, yes.

Death by 1000 cuts.

I still haven't heard any good reasons to keep it, other than people's pursuit to get their off-road cars to handle like on-road slot cars with a jump every once in a while.

Along the lines as stated above, holding cost fixed, the more unnecessary variables you eliminate, the more new blood you'll attract.

Phred2069

tin welding is unhealthy. Lead vapors, burnt resin, ... Should be banned of the racetracks !

More seriously, i see (indoor) racetracks that authorize sauce only if done outside of the building. Who can complain on that ?

On the complexity / excess of settings to cope with : I actually use sauce to easily compensate a lack of grip on one end of my car. So easy to sauce half of the tire width, or 3/4, ...