I just want to make an observation that I actually predicted. I run a full time Indoor Off Road R/C Track in Flowood, MS. If you live in the Southeast and have not been to the track it is worth a trip.

I predicted shortly after we opened, within a year, we would see more 1/8 electric than nitro on our track. We have held special races this year where we have had more electric than nitro but this past Thursday night at one of our weekly races, we had more 1/8 electric than 1/8 nitro for the first time.

I helped start a club and build our first outdoor track 6 years ago with a guy named Leighton Dillard. You guys might remember Leighton, he had a heart attack and died on the drivers stand in Atlanta at the PNB two years ago. Anyway, I cannot tell you how many people I have seen get into the hobby and quit after a short time because of not being able to tune a nitro engine. I can think of only a hand full of people who can truly race tune a nitro and every race we have many that flame out.

Most of the technology and innovation in R/C over the past few years has been in Electric. Esc, motors, batteries, etc. The state of Louisiana has more electric racers than they have LSU Fans. (I know that is not true, because they are all LSU fans and many more) These guys have figured it out and especially if you are going to travel and race. It is just so much easier and I know things can happen that keep the electric guys out of races, but not near as much as nitro. Yes, I like the smell and the noise of the engines as well, but I would also like to have all the people back in the hobby that got out because they could not tune a nitro and at the time did not have an alternative. I am loving me some Electric. Leighton is rolling over in his grave, but I bet he would be running electric as well.

indoor tracks i can see 1/8 electric taking over, at outdoor tracks i dont see that happening anytime soon. Espially with all the 4wd sc trucks coming out it doesnt help getting more people into 1/8 e buggy/truggy . Even though there is not a hugh price diffrence doing a converted 1/8 scale.

One track i go to now im the only electric 1/8 e truggy, and a guy i race with is the only 1/8 e buggy the others are nitro i dont see it changing. By the way i used to do nothing but nitro 1/8 .

I do agree with you though electric has takin a big step in technology, so much easier than ever before when i raced onroad with nicd/nimh and brush motors nothing but a $$ and a PIA.

But nitro is not going away anytime soon in the future if somehow there can be gas engines that require no tuning like the nitro engines do i will change back !

I agree with you, and I have seen the same thing. Once something gets complicated or hard to do the racer takes the easy way out, they don't want to learn just copy and get out on the track. Nitro is fun but just like touring cars if you got to work at it, it's not worth it it seems in this hobby.

OS Engines tried a no tune engine fuel injection system did not work and very expensive. Look at the air side of things nitro planes is now a very small part of the hobby almost all of the pilots I know fly electric and if you do happen to see a nitro plane it's at a large fun fly. Nitro cars will follow the same trend electric is easier and nitro will be a thing of the past, because of the fact that racers want it easy and not have to work for there fun.

oh well i get what your saying but intill, i see just electric at a 1/8 style outdoor track that i go to at least i dont see nitro going away there is always guys who just dont like electric thats there right .

but yes for me coming from nitro 1/8 omg its much easier with brushless/lipo 1/8 scale even though im still learning how to handle it and drive lol.

but i been focusing on driving more and setups than tuning a nitro engine and no its not being lazy.

who knows what will happen in the future with r/c engines .

Actually, there is a single technological advance responsible for electric's proliferation- LiPo. Before this there was no way to pack enough battery onto a 1/8 car and get it to run for more than 4 minutes (and it'd be a tank).

Nitro has gotten better. 10 years ago it was really hard to get an engine to run reliably. Even now that it's easier, it's still a PITA. I ran it for 5 years and liked it a lot but in the end I realized that electric 1/8 would be just as fun without the headaches.

In your area, yes electric may have taken over, and yes it's mostly on the east coast. Nitro is still by far the most popular. A good example is at a national level, for all racer levels. The ROAR 1/8 electric nationals had something like 8 or 12 heats in total while the ROAR 1/8 gas nationals had something like 32 heats maybe more, I cant remember.

You are right engines these days are easier to tune and actually hold a tune but there still a PITA to deal with . In my opinion the itatian made engines are very touchy to tune the tawain made engines are acutally easy to break in and tune.

But still 1/8 e is much easier and less stress, and no yelling lol well i race with nitro truggys so i do have to yell at the marshalls. Because if im flipped over they think im flamed out lol.

Poptart: not in the northeast nitro still seems to be the ruler for outdoor racing .

Interesting to compare is how few mains in each class there were at 1/10th Nationals. I have been to better attended regional events.

I can tune a nitro engine just fine...but I still only run e-scale now. The hassle part of nitro is far from over once you get a good tune. You also have to have someone fuel you up, set you out for mains, and do your pit stops. It's basically a 2 person operation, or you find yourself asking nitro illiterate people to help you out. Especially if you want to travel at all. If you have many friends at the track, the chances are they will also be running nitro, and likely in the A main along with you...so who is left to be pit Bi%$^?

With E-scale, you can race with your friends and not split up your classes so you always have a pit man, you can travel by yourself to other tracks and not worry about finding a competent pit man, you have a far less maintenance prone vehicle, you don't need to have a supply line for fuel, and you can actually talk to your friends on the stand and not just hear the constant noise of nitro....

Not to mention the cancer sauna that nitro racing creates...especially indoors.

Oh, and did I mention far more power?

I miss Nitro from time to time, but after pitting for someone for an hour long main.....I remember in short order why I ditched that crap. Electric is the far more intelligent route these days

Yup...


Thats the main reason I never got into nitro, I hate the fact that I'd need a pit guy and need to depend on someone.

I do think nitro will be around for a long time though

yes getting a pit man was always a PITA for me even though i dont really travel to diffrent tracks . Yea electric does have more power but its not easy to handle compared to nitro. But boy if you dont have enough people to show up to seperate the class you do have to drive hard, to keep up with the nitro guys it seems like it to me while racing with the nitro truggy guys.

Bubba is right. In south louisiana show up to our club races and the ele buggies will now have a 2-1 showing over nitro buggies. 90% of them have droped truggy to run nitro and ele buggy. Our e buggy class is strong and mormally will have 7-8 guy inside of 10sec's thrw qualifiers.

In houston our ebuggy is as big or bigger than nitro buggy.

One thing that E-buggy has over Nitro is that if you live in an area where it snows during the winter you can run them indoors.

I like nitro but Electrics are just a little easier to keep maintained it seems.

I don't think Nitro will ever die out but I can definately see electric taking a bigger piece of the pie in the near future.