Get a Newbie Started
 

My club is getting ready to push pretty hard to get new members. We've had some new people come by and check us out and the inevitable question always comes up... "How much does all this cost?"

Now, for the people who've been around a while, we know how and where to get used equipment. We know what to look for and how much to spend.

But what about the person who would rather buy brand new equipment? They would rather go online or to a local hobby shop and spend the money to know they are the first person to own that piece of equipment. What suggestions do you make to that type of person?

Now we all know some people go "whole hog" into a new hobby. They can spend the money for all of the high-end equipment. We also know the people who buy the lower-end RTR street basher kits and end up spending again to really race.

But what about that person who wants solid equipment? I'm talking about a decent car, 2.4ghz radio, Lipo Battery, AC/DC charger and a motor/esc appropriate for the classes offered at this person's track. I've searched Tower Hobbies, Horizon Hobbies and Stormer Hobbies looking for a car or RTR setup i'd feel comfortable recommending.

And to be honest, there isn't much out there. Associated still offers a TC4 RTR kit, but who really wants to run AM radios these days when you can have DSM? Plus it still has a brushed motor.

HPI offers a brushless Sprint 2 RTR kit but the motor is a 5700kv which isn't the equivalent of a 17.5 motor. The TX is once again and AM unit.

So, keeping in mind the goal of getting a newbie into the popular class at your track with brand new equipment that won't cost an arm and a leg and can be easily purchased at a local hobby shop or online...

What would you suggest?

Car-
Tx-
Servo-
Battery-
Charger-
Motor/ESC-

Best i've come up with so far... Tower Hobbies pricing... RCGT class


Car- Ofna JL10- $130
Tx- Airtronics MX3 Sport- $100
Servo- Futaba S3004- $14
Battery- Duratrax Lipo 4000mah 25C- $55
Charger- Duratrax Onyx 230- $80
Motor/ESC- Novak Havoc 17.5 Combo- $150
Body- HPI Porsche GT3- $19
Wheels and Tires- This car already comes with HPI X-patterns, no extra cost.

Approximately $550, give or take. Now all the experienced guys know there are better deals and better products out there, but i'm thinking of one-stop shopping convenience for a new person. Give them a list and say, "Go buy this stuff to get you started."

We could say, go to ebay and buy this, go to rctech and buy this, go to this random website and buy this. The problem with that approach is the glazed over look a new person gets when you start listing five different websites and stores track down everything they need.

Don't know about your club, but our club needs members and it looks like brand new people are going to be our best bet. Gotta make it easy for them...

The problem is that $550 dollars is still a lot of money. I am sure that will scare many people away. I started racing in the days of Sanyo NiCds, and things were much cheaper. I definitely like Lipo batteries and brushless motors, but they have really caused the costs to get out of control.

Actually, in my experience most people do not start out by going to the track and racing right away. Usually they spend a while, sometimes years, driving with their friends or on their own. So at that point they have the radio and car. Usually all they would need to start racing would be to upgrade to a Lipo battery and a brushless motor.

HPI also offers a version of the RTR E10 Drift car without electronics for $95 dollars. That saves $35 dollars compared to the Ofna kit, and $20 for a body. So that brings the cost down by $50 bucks at at least gets it below $500 bucks.

The HPI Drift also includes a 27T motor. So if you get a $50 brushed speed control and use the supplied motor, then you save another $100 dollars and gets the total price to about $400 bucks.

New class
 

PJ you are right on on what you are saying. How about we look out of the box and may be run a truck class short course box stock. You can buy them for 100.00 used and then a bettery and charge for 100.00 and they could be racing for less then 200.00 after they start then get them into vta or rcgt. I have an extra car I could use as a loner. The one thing that we all must do is help any new person out to get them up to speed so they don't give up to soon. see you next week. Harold

HPI Blitz, ASS SC10 or any of the RTR 2wd shortcourse.
more and more clubs are racing this class now.
carpet, tarmac, dirt, bashing.
can be purchased or set up brushless with 2.4 radio for under $500.
easy, cheap, durable, reliable, perfect for newbie