Serpent-Dan

iTrader: (18)

Once I settle in after the move to Florida gotta make a trip asap to the track it's beautiful

captian

looks great going to be very nice when all done . keep the great work going

mikemyers

The interface I use from my Win Mobile phone is almost always Pistachio, which gets you all the important stuff, and leaves out the "fancy" stuff that uses up space and slows things down.

If you have a terrible connection, and just want to read, not see the images, "Vanilla" works fine as well - I used to use that when I things were really slow.

Either interface makes it easy both to read and to respond. If you use the "Abalone" interface, there is too much "fancy" stuff that gets in the way of the information.

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The video of Art is now posted, both in both the magazine and the on-road forum. (Sign-ups for the SGRID forum that are good for a year, are still free through the end of August, if you're a racer.)

I'm not sure how the video will work on a phone, but here's the link if you want to get to it from here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8vDRIn9fig

stefan

Now here is a serious question:

I have lived in the US for a long time and raced on many different tracks and I have asked this question lots of time, w/o getting an answer.

Why are on road track in the States always built as a square and the lanes are divided by unmovable objects?

Especially in your country where you have so much room and where constructon work costs a fraction of what it costs over here, wouldn't it be easy to build a real track with lanes seperated by grass?

Most oval tracks I have seen are build this way.

Maybe somebody can give me an answer to this, since I am asked this question over very often.

Thx.

quietstorm76

iTrader: (12)

Yeah I would love to see a grass-infield track in the U.S. Good question Stefan.

brc358

iTrader: (18)

Actually the land and costs to build a track here is much higher than you may suspect. Land is getting to be at an all time premimum now, and with the on-road scene dying in so many areas,the economy not doing well, costs to run a nice facility, it is just not a sound investment. I live in So Ca. and this is where many of the manufactures are located, and when a couple of the local tracks closed down, everyone thought one of the RC manufactures would step up and build a nice track.
But with the costs of the land,building costs, and monthly costs it just does not add up. So to answer your question, it really boils down to how much land is available for a track,costs, and willingness for someone to take a chance and invest high dollars on a hobby that it at best losing ground every month. If one of the manufactures were to step up and actually build a track as you described with the grass infields, they would have to locate it towards the high desert area to keep the costs down. Then you would have the question of who would drive that distance to be able to practice, or attend some races

wingracer

iTrader: (24)

Then there is the fact that some of us actually LIKE our style of track.

Give me a short, tight track any day. I love watching top European pros come to Ft. Meyers for the first time. They all drive scared.

Roelof

I did understand most tracks in the US are not based on supporting clubmembers but just people paying for a day racing/driving. Clubmembers are the way to keep and maintenance the tracks in Europe. In such a construction you do keep more activity on the tracks and also attracting new members.

wingracer

iTrader: (24)

Very true. Europe definitely seems to have the whole "club" thing down. There are only a few proper club run tracks in the US and they just happen to be among the best.

stefan

Wingracer,

I did NOT imply that nobody likes the tracks over there. I actually liked Ft. Myers as well, I just hated the fact, that wherever I raced, that each single contact with the barriers either chunked a tire or parts fell off the car (especially NTC3 :-))

I started gas racing in ATL and when I returned to Germany and had my first race on a European style track, I thought I was in heaven.
Chunked tires are really rare and not every mistake costs loads of money.

I think the biggest difference is that tracks over here are all in the hands of clubs with no commercial interests.

wingracer

iTrader: (24)

I know Stefan and I agree with you. Now you see why us Americans prefer durable cars like Mugens to fragile cars like NTC3's.

My point is that our style of track gives us an advantage over the Europeans at least when running on our style of track (though the Japanese seem to adapt well to them also). As much as I would love to run on a European track, I compete better the more screwed up the track is.

I am also not a big fan of this trend to make 1/8th tracks longer and longer and more and more sweepy. I watched the vids of the euros and it looked like running a 1/12th on 1/5th scale track. Just pull the trigger and see how much motor you have.

So I like short, tight tracks. More challenging to drive, easier on motors and even some of the pros drive scared.

nitrodude

iTrader: (8)

Who owns the land on tracks like Mach, Sneterton, Locorotondo, Monaco, Lostallo. Does the club own the land? Is it borrowed to them? How does it work?

wingracer

iTrader: (24)

My understanding is that most of them are on government land. Could be wrong though.

Roelof

I can not say for all but with most of them here in Holland the clubs are owner of the facility and do hire the ground in an arrangement/contract with the local community.
Clubs do have a status in Holland and can make arrangements with banks etc because they are no commercial party.

chromie

iTrader: (3)

THAT GUY IS SMOOOOOKIN FAST