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Hara and Uminino

Hara and Uminino

Old 11-18-2001, 07:26 AM
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Default Hara and Uminino

Since Hara and Umino go driving Schumacher off-road, does anybody know if that means they leave HPI?
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Old 11-18-2001, 07:46 AM
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I don't see why they would. Its kinda like how the Associated guys run Yokomo 4wd buggies.(well at least used to, when 4wd wasn't dominated by Losi)

HPI doesn't have an off road program(yet), so that means if their team drivers want to run off-road, then they have to use another brand.

You should feel happy that its Schumacher they are running off-road with though. Because unlike Assoc., Losi, or Yokomo, Schumacher wont try to swipe them away from HPI for all racing classes. So don't worry, they'll still be running for HPI on-road, they just run Schumacher off-road.
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Old 11-18-2001, 11:19 AM
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It just follows the trend to get sponsors for every little thing they run with.

I don't know about their contractual ties with HPI, but if I was an HPI guy I would make them sign a much more restrictive contract.

When you look, the car that Hara drives has nothing to do with a HPI Pro 3.

What message does this send to the buyers? The car is not top level unless you buy:

Plate chassis from someone (because HPI does not have it)
Upper deck from HB (same thing)
Shock towers from HB (you know...)
Shocks from someone (bla bla)
Rear diff from OVA
Bulkheads from Square
Body by HB (does HPI have Stratus? LOL)

Look at the other guys, Spashett for instance.

Car by LOSI, period (ok, some parts reach his hands before ours, but it's Losi and you can get it now, I mean the graphite kit)
Pavidis? Associated TC3 Factory Team must be pretty close to the one we can buy

Hara seems to be too eager for fame, sponsorships (and a new hair style...)
He has plenty of talent, but the last major race he won was with a Yok.

I guess that this situation is harming HPI more than making them look good.

How loose can a contract be? It seems fairly loose to me, unless HB and HPI are the same exact thing.
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Old 11-18-2001, 11:27 AM
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HPI/Hot bodies, are basically the same company. So, Hara and Umino are not doing any thing wrong here.

It's like Tuning a real honda car with Mugen parts. They are the same company but with emphasis on different things.
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Old 11-18-2001, 11:45 AM
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Even if the companies weren't so closely related, he still isn't doing anything wrong. I'm sure their contracts are no more restrictive than anyone elses. If Losi drivers can drive Trinity on-road cars and Associated drivers can use Yokomo 4wd cars, then HPI drivers can use Schumacher cars.

Its not like this is something unusual.


But, I certainly do agree with about Hara's car. I think the gear box covers are about the only stock HPI part left on the thing!
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Old 11-18-2001, 12:32 PM
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REMEMBER Hara is actually sponsored by Hot Bodies, Square, Ova, etc... so that's why he uses those parts.
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Old 11-18-2001, 12:34 PM
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Aurra Sing: Exactly! So all hes doing is running all of his sponsors stuff!

So whats wrong with that?

I say if their going to give him the stuff free, he should take it!
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Old 11-18-2001, 12:49 PM
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HPI should release a Hara Edition kit and just call it a Pro 4.
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Old 11-18-2001, 12:52 PM
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Or maybe a conversion kit to make a Pro 3 into a Hara Edition. First line in the instructions are:

"Take gear box covers off Pro 3, put the rest in the garbage."
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Old 11-18-2001, 04:07 PM
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I had the idea that HB and HPI were closely related.

And I understand that if a brand does not have a specific car (off road, or 1/12...) they may go with a different sponsor for a different class.

But what I find strange is to have two or more sponsors in area where there seems to be a conflict of interests.

As far as I can remember, no one has a sponsorship that allows them to use EXTENSIVE hop hups to the point that the car is completely different from the original.

Put yourselves in HPI shoes and imagine how can you pass a message that Hara and Umino are driving the car (Pro 3) that you can buy. Not these days. Not on the days where you can find apicture on the Net that shows how different the base car is from that thing.

From the point of view of effectiveness the message gets lost. worse than that, it gives the idea (wrong or right) that the car can't be at the top positions without those parts.

This makes the car far from the reach of the non professional drivers.
If I wanted to have a car like his, it would be impossible to get half the parts in my country. This is true for many other HPI fans that would give an arm and a leg to have the car that wins a major race.

Now, if this was done with parts you can buy from HPI (with all the distrubution channels and marketing) it would be a totally different matter.

That what I was trying to say. Believe me, I would buy that car from HPI in an instant. However I don't want to buy i from 4 different manufacturers for a 400-500 USD price.
Do you? (I know some of us are raving mad, but I had to make the question anyway LOL)
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Old 11-18-2001, 04:08 PM
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yea, i totally agree
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Old 11-19-2001, 01:25 PM
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Looks like we may be going back to the bad old days when you had to buy a kit, and replace 90% of the original car. Look at thePro3, all Schumachers and now the XXXs.

I thought all this would have been left behind, with the advent of factory team cars, Kinwald editions, Xray etc.

It surely can not cost manufacturers much more to put in Graphite parts, Thredaed shocks etc. i bet that 99% of people who actually race these cars would be willing to shed a few extra bucks for a complete car.
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Old 11-19-2001, 03:35 PM
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If HPI and hot bodies are related, does that mean that the Hot Bodies stratus is legal, it could very well be the same as the HPI stratus. Kinda like the Andy's and Yokomo. Because the Hot Bodies isn't listed as legal, but the HPI is. Maybe that's why Hara can run the Hot bodies stratus.

Well, Hara probably wouldn't do as well if he didn't have all those parts on the car. You have to ask, would I rather have my driver place lower, using all parts from my car, or have him place higher, with 90% of the car from different manufactures.

I definately wouldn't get a pro 3. IMHO, that car is a piece of crap. HPI should have put more time into thinking about it!

YES! That is what I like about cars like the Yokomo, X-ray, Corally and FT TC3! They come with almost everything you need. Most of the time, if you buy anything for it it will just be replacing a worn out part, or getting a part as a tuning option that suits your track. Losi always comes out with the basic kit, and offers the upgrades seperately. Then they come out with another "worlds" or something kit later one. This causes most people to either, a) buy the base kit, and buy a bunch of hopups for it, or b) by the base kit, then buy the hopped up kit when it comes out. Either way, they make alot of money, because they advertise the car so much.

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Old 11-19-2001, 04:21 PM
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Originally posted by Speedo
If HPI and hot bodies are related, does that mean that the Hot Bodies stratus is legal, it could very well be the same as the HPI stratus. Kinda like the Andy's and Yokomo.
The Hot Bodies Stratus is definitely not the HPI Stratus.

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Old 11-19-2001, 04:34 PM
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Thumbs down I guess that HPI messed big time

In two main areas:

1.
Releasing the car too soon. The Xray was being announced as the ultimate winning machine.
Yokomo had won the Worlds and was offering the Replica.
The Losi car was on the works
...and HPI had no "new” generation car.
They rushed to design a radical new car but strangely enough they seemed to test it very lightly.

2.
Grabbing the World Champion under contract and eventually making a judgement error about his multi sponsorship.
They ended up with a talented driver that can (I'm sure there's no breach of contract here...) modify completely the car, leaving HPI in a bad spot and all the HPI competitors smiling. And after all those damn Losi and Yok cars win everything.
Sure they can tell is R&D etc etc but they need to get a positive spin on this. Sure it's R&D but not HPI's R&D... It's got to hurt!
Being caught totally unprepared is the only explanation I can find for HPI seeing after market manufacturers releasing "complete" Pro 3 kits while they have just a few hop up parts. How many bucks is HPI going to make selling graphite molded chassis? And upper decks? (Ooh I forgot that they don't have one...) and alu bulkheads? and grafite shock towers?

I have a Pro 2 and I went the hop up route. But that was not critical for the car to handle well. It was just my newbie belief that purple is faster.
However the Pro 3 flexes, the arms used to break (3rd version now), the CVD's were a little under par, the outdrives had the bad habit of loosing the rings (remember the grafite outdrives for the Pro 2? I have them and never had any problem with them in one year racing modified)

If you are in the US it seems that some of the manufacturing flaws on the original kit are handled by HPI, but on other countries you have TO PAY for the replacements of defective parts.

I'm so glad that I bought an Xray . And on top of that I removed the dust from my purple Pro 2 and now I have two EXCELLENT cars.

Sometimes pure marketing can just blow on our faces (I was a marketing guy in a former life...). Not even the best marketing effort can help sell a piece of junk.
You may fool all for a limited period, or a few forever, but it's impossible to fool all, forever.

What HPI execs should think when they plan the Pro 4
Make a Pro car
Make more restrictive contracts with a few good drivers
Don't disappoint fans
Do not become Nikko at all costs
Keep a short leash on those marketing loonies

Then they have at least one (me) person buying their cars again. Until then, I'll go for another car.

Last edited by antoniop; 11-19-2001 at 04:37 PM.
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