Johnny Wishbone

iTrader: (6)

I think it would put some aspect of "race management" back into 1/12th racing.......something that has been missing since battery dump no longer exists. JMO

RedBullFiXX

iTrader: (34)

A friend of mine ran "ONE" set of Black Yellow last year in 17.5 Blinky, for the entire week
Qualified in the same main as me, which of course did wonders for what little pride I have left

It can be done

CypressMidWest

iTrader: (1)

So now we want to spec the compound, AND limit the number of sets an individual is allowed to run in NATIONAL level events? Is the cost and complication of tires really what's slowed down On-Road attendance? The biggest US turnouts TC's ever had were in the dreaded, scary FOAM era. Every race goes to a spec rubber formula and the numbers have never recovered.

At this point I think it's time to spec everything in the 17.5 classes. One set of purple fronts and pink rears, everyone runs the same chassis, suspension set-up, body and electronics package. Maybe we could get the same guy to build and maintain all the cars too. That way there would be no tuning or experimentation at all. Sure sounds fun to me.........

Of course spec tire would free up some cash to use in the search for the perfect rotor, stator, sensor board combo...............

Johnny Wishbone

iTrader: (6)

The reference to the high number of entries in TC foam was also during a much better time in the economy at this time attendance in just about everything is down.

Look at the numbers at your own backyard, the Indoor Champs, a mainstay in racing for so many years, but even it suffers for entries, not like the old days. Where the events with the spec tires from the start continue to gain entries.

I don't think people want to take it quite to the extremes that you're stating, but they still want to have some self identity.

gkraios

iTrader: (1)

Or you could just turn off the message boards.

On the other hand, maybe 17.5 RTR cars would force people to move up into classes they actually belong in.

PS - I thought everyone wanted rubber tires? You don't want anyone having an advantage with spec tires that get trued down.

DesertRat

iTrader: (2)

Spec tires are a terrible idea, they won't lower cost a dime, and the fast will still be fast while the slow will still be slow.

P.S.: Die thread die.

DesertRat

iTrader: (2)

Even if all cars at a big race were identical in every way, the slow would still complain that the fast are fast because of better equipment. Foam tire Sedan was the best ever, comparing it to rubber is like dirt rally racing vs F1.

CypressMidWest

iTrader: (1)

I don't think it's down to the economy, otherwise no one would race $500 tc's. It's more about the attitude of racers at this point. This hobby used to be all about tinkering, and tuning to find an advantage. Now it seems like everyone just wants to pull their stuff outta the trunk, throw it on the track, and then throw it back in the trunk at the end of the day. While this is fine, it's never gonna make you fast. The solution to this problem is to then limit the choices available, and reduce speeds to give the illusion that the class is more competitive.

CypressMidWest

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, maybe I should limit my message board visits to once a week

RedBullFiXX

iTrader: (34)

"Just about everything"
Fair enough
But, that statement would hold a lot more weight if Off-Road Racing had declined by similar numbers in the past few years

I don't follow Off-Road that much, so I could be wrong

Are spec tires popular in 1/8th or 10th scale off-road too ?

Johnny Wishbone

iTrader: (6)

Other than the economy issue, I couldn't agree with you more. My thoughts are, for a big event using a spec tire makes the event much easier for someone to attend as they don't have to bring a foot lockers worth of tires on the hopes that they have a compound that works. As a once die hard 1/12th racer, the tire deal is what keeps my car at home for the big events. I don't want the class spoon fed to me, but I just can't haul that much gear. It seems to work for WGT, so why not for 1/12th?

Johnny Wishbone

iTrader: (6)

I honestly can't comment for off road, They always seems to be a thing of their own, tires, motors, they always overcome those odds, why? not sure. Could be that whole SCT/Traxxas deal that has the number up, on road we don't have that RTR deal.

Numbers down, I was thinking more like NASCAR and other events such as that. I run a business of a different nature, our economy is fortunate that its very good at this time, you'd think people would spend their extra income on hobbies such as ours, but in our case, its now that people would rather spend on really big ticket items, so the smaller ticket items suffer. Most bizzare thing I've ever seen.

CypressMidWest

iTrader: (1)

Every event I've ever been to had a hobbystore. In years past, I'd show up with 1 set of each viable compound, run to find out what worked, then purchase my tires at the shop for the rest of the event. This process helps you in two ways: You only end up spending money on what works for the event, and you saved space in your luggage because you didn't drag all the tires you couldn't use with you to begin with.......

Bust out the 12th scale and race it at major events.

chris moore

iTrader: (96)

A couple of thoughts on your statements; to be honest one of the problems with this hobby is that everyone does want it spoon fed. No boost, spec tires, only this or that esc, blah, blah, blah. I understand that alot of this comes from the change in todays society, nobody wants to have to think anymore but come on this is racing still right?? You made the statement "I think it would put some aspect of "race management" back into 1/12th racing" earlier in the thread, how in the world does a spec tire add an aspect of race management?? I just dont see how taking away a tunning option is going to enhance race management, please enlighten me. If you need a level playing field run 17.5 blinky, you can expect that purple or black fronts and yelow or orange/gray-lows will work. Its kind of gotten already spec'ed in so your travel woes are solved.

Now compairing WGT and 1/12 is apples and oranges, other than both are pancars thats all thay share. WGT has a longer/wider wheelbase, much bigger tires for a much bigger contact area, and not much more weight. There is just no direct relation between WGT and 1/12th so lets just leave that out of the disscusson. In case you haven't guessed I'm against a spec tire for 1/12th

So to recap you can run blinky and bring a max of four compounds, now whats keeping you out of running 1/12?

hairy

iTrader: (1)

Ah...the dumbing down of America has found roots in R/C racing.
We need to stop handing out trophies at race events and just give everybody a ribbon that signs up, that way we won't have to worry about the fast guys cheating and the slow guys will feel better about themselves. That will also cure the need for rules, spec tires, spec ec's, the whole lot.
This will make it affordable for all to join in.

I am not kidding I am very seriuos. We are not promoting work, desire, thinking, ingenuity, we are just trying to make everbody equal in all respects.