Nerobro

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This is, in a large part, because people don't say what sportsman is. So at WCRC, there were unspoken rules about Sportsman. EG: 17.5 or less, if you run sportsman you can't run any other classes.

Basicly, if you ran sportsman, that's all you could run.

There's a lot more to reply to here, but I'm still tied up.

Nerobro

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Mostly. "Getting in" is a matter of making them comfortable with whatever "mistake" car they bought on their own. Then having an inexpensive "entry" for them.

But the LC car isn't a reality yet. And the LC manual (for the EMB-1) is not one I'd hand to a new builder and expect a good result. The manual is ~trash~. I haven't tried to buy parts yet... I expect that will be tricky, but only time will tell there. The grasshopper is only cool for children of the 80's. And having driven lots of grasshoppers or grasshopper type cars... I wouldn't hand one to a noob with any kind of real motor in it. If you want to watch experts driving grasshoppers, the japanese tamiya cup stuff has a few videos like that. It's.. interesting for about three laps.

I had that same dream. Sadly, people who want to build, are very much in the minority.

The vast majority of people who are "active" in the 3d printing scene have zero idea of what they're doing. You'd end up with mostly a bunch of broken cars. If you'd like to see how that turns out, check out the open rc F1 cars, and the "races" they've done.

IT does sound interesting. As cool as it is, we don't need more classes.

I.. like.. antiquated stuff. But that's "for me". I have my DT-02, and it's awesome. But I wouldn't race with it. It's an amazing basher.

Shapeways isn't an answer to 3d printing. 3d printing ... isn't ~ever~ going to be an average person thing. Far to much of it is weather dependent, and a good 3d printer is as big as a microwave. I love my 3d printed stuff. And I've given away a lot of it.

First, anytime someone talks STEM, I do my best to reply with STEAM. Art is important. Vitally important. Art is what makes engineering and math worth the effort. So, any time you wrap schools into sports like this, you end up crippling the program, or attempting to develop it's own sport. It... never supports the industry, though it ~can~ support the students. "we" can't do it. That, and there's the time thing. :-/ Schools providing a place to have the hobby, is good. Schools being part of the hobby, notsogood. Also, kids aren't independently able to participate in the sport. This isn't a "for those without jobs" sport. I know it sounds terrible... but $400 cost of entry, is $400.

I'm cranky today. :-) I'm going racing tomorrow. I'm excited. That'll help.

Billy Kelly

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Nerobro

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A rookie class shouldn't ever be "big". It just needs to be there, and people need to feel welcome and encouraged to try.

taylorsizemore

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Billy Kelly

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Nerobro

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Good.We need to work on audience size first. Then we can work on "neat classes". The ecosystem isn't big enough right now.

taylorsizemore

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Billy Kelly

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Nerobro

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I'm wrong ~all the time~. :-)

The TT02b is cheap, is available at retail, and comes with everything minus a servo and receiver. It's also a "build". RTR puts a newb in the position of "this is magic, and it just works" and that... isn't a good place for someone. It leads to people buying the same crappy OEM servo, time and Traxxas again.

Ideal entry? Is someone shows up to a race track, they watch a race or two, then someone like me goes "Hey, wanna try?", and they get a few laps. We talk, or they talk to the shop owner, and they're introduced to what the low end of the hobby grade market looks like. They're shown the parts that they get to keep when they move models, and then they're shown some "reasonable" package for $400, with emphasis on "most of this you buy once." Whatever they buy at first, should be something that's more basher than racer. Nobody in their right mind, starts off with a good race car, and heck, you don't even know what you like until you're "deep in" the hobby. In an ideal world, they'll give/sell it to the next person who they want to get racing.

enare

I would reccomend, go to your local track, find out which class has the most cars and buy what ever they are racing. iff off road, it will likely be 2wd or 4wd buggy. i would not reccomend buying anything other than those.

Billy Kelly

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Nerobro

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That's real good in theroy. It breaks down in practice. Someone who's new, should be driving that car every day. Or at least a few times a week, around the driveway, back yard, local park. Just things to get muscle memory, and "how cars work" in their head. I don't want someone taking a brand new 4wd xray to the local park to chew everything up on grit, gravel, and nasty stuff. You don't want a car with good, hard, plastics when you could be running into the leg of a playset.

If you're learning, you want a car that you "don't need to care" about. Ideally with fixed suspension links, because it's easy to tell if that's "screwed up" while a car with adjustments won't necessarily tell you if something is wrong.

Biz73

iTrader: (24)

One thing to remember is that Tamiya esc's don't have a lipo cutoff, so you would need an alarm to not run the battery too low. Also, cutting the battery connector and adding a t plug will void their warranty. Not necessarily deal breakers, but something to think about.

Nerobro

iTrader: (2)

They have a useful warranty? I've not even tried... The escs are $25 on ebay, it's barely worth the time to try to exchange something at that price.