tony montana

iTrader: (76)

I personally wish we could go back to all running rear motor and loamy dirt.

littlevette

iTrader: (22)

you're missing mdwaeracer's point....

IT'S NOT OFF ROAD!!!

303slowdown

iTrader: (24)

..

303slowdown

iTrader: (24)

I wish we could go back to when people didn't complain about everything. Oh wait , there was never a time like that.

mdwaeracer

iTrader: (19)

How is clay artificial? Some states here in the us. That's What's Under The grass.
ASTRO turf is woven material. Same as carpet. Woven material.
As far as sugared dirt. That's just crazy wrong.

Hacksback

Roostertail dirt is fun to run and play race with your buddies on. However, it is not a surface that promotes good racing. Loose dirt will always accumulate outside the racing line. This makes for racing that is extremely one line and hard to pass. Not to mention a track condition that is always changing from heat to heat. A second or three that you lost due to the track getting gnarly or just drying up can keep you from a good qualifying run and making the a main.

Pros want a consistent surface to race on. It seems only clay or sugared dirt is a suitable surface to run on lately. Clay is great but takes a ton of work, a dedicated facility, and can be a problem in high moisture areas. Sugared tracks just waste tires every run. Astro is a good balance and is good for the sport IMO.

leongkc

iTrader: (9)

The whole episode just played out in an insidious way.

Yatabe won the bid without stating they would like to change the status quo upfront. It seems as though there were lots of backroom maneuvering to get the other two blocs to go along with the vote. Almost instantly, Yokomo releases the YZ-2.

Pro RC offroad racing is slowly losing the plot....with the slide down the slippery slope starting 2 years ago with all those sugared tracks.

Good old days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV9OZ402EUg

hollywood3705

iTrader: (8)

What I'm still trying to grasp is its a world's how do any of you think it affects you on a local level. At the world's it's always been one run tires prototype parts and the same names at the top. Astro turf may seem unfair to many here but I want to know why? Are you going? Do you work for a us company? Do you have stock intrests? What exactly do you find unfair? That Naoto will be primed to win the worlds? You mean like ryan practices for the reedy race in socal? It's must be so unfair to make a driver adapt to a new track or surface. Are we really that arrogant to think that because the track isn't clay and prepared in a way to give the us an advantage it is now the end of racing? The fast guys will be fast......always. plus watch the videos of the turf racing at yatabe.....Naoto is making mistakes and the pressure of a world on home turf may be to much. It happened to Masami in tc in 2000 I think the year was. Open your eyes we are not gods gift to offroad just because we live in the us. It's a world's hence a surface that suits the world as a whole. Fair game.

monty c

iTrader: (8)

[QUOTE=Hacksback;13724475]Roostertail dirt is fun to run and play race with your buddies on. However, it is not a surface that promotes good racing. Loose dirt will always accumulate outside the racing line. This makes for racing that is extremely one line and hard to pass. Not to mention a track condition that is always changing from heat to heat. A second or three that you lost due to the track getting gnarly or just drying up can keep you from a good qualifying run and making the a main.

QUOTE]

what you just said is what Off road should be and was back in the day. the challenge is to keep up with changing track conditions, make adjustments thru the day. find the good passing points, etc. is all 500 miles of the Baja 500 the exact same?

sugar tracks have ruined it, it has become almost spec racing, everyone runs the same tires, everyone runs the same chassis setup, it is sad...

DJG24

Easy, trickle down effect, like everything else in this hobby.

Run Worlds on Astro
Mfg's develope cars/parts towards this surface
Local track owner sees astro as up and coming
saves work for track owner to run Astro
Local shop turns to Astro and covers his nice dirt track
We are all screwed!

This Hobby is based on the trickle down, Top drivers set trends.. which car, motor, esc, etc.. is hot and what people run. Everyone ran a tekin or LRP at my track, pros start running Orions, a majority of locals start asking for Orion's. Local Hobby shop now only stocks Orion.

Happens everyday in this hobby, with chassis, motor, tires etc..

This is how the Worlds effects us that are not going to it.

hollywood3705

iTrader: (8)

Trickle down doesnt always work like that. Lots of prototype world's parts never made it to shelves or consumers. And honestly if you buy just because someone else is paid to then you should be called a fan boy not a racer. Yokomo released a car to help win world's but also the eos and various other races. To think because it's astro at the worlds dirt racing is now screwed can only be described as lunacy. Mountains out of mole hills....it's a world's just wait and follow the race. And enjoy it for what it is.....then go back to your normal life.

EricW

iTrader: (1)

What the pros do on Sunday the club racers do on Monday

monty c

iTrader: (8)

exactly, great post. win on sunday, sell on monday. trickle down is huge in this hobby. 3 or 4 years ago the Cactus sugars thier track, now everything is high grip and mid motor. its all trickle down........this year the worlds is on turf and local track owners are pricing how much it would be to do thier track that way. i allready have 2 carpet off road indoor tracks in my area that are advertising how its the wave of the future.

hollywood3705

iTrader: (8)

I understand that. But for uninformed people that will be the case....unless someone in their area decides to help them make the right choice for them....like most tracks and hobby shops use to do in the past

orcadigital

iTrader: (61)

There is some irony here. The traction at the 2014 1/12th scale on-road Worlds was inconsistent and honestly terrible. People were doing all kinds of voodoo to their tires, sucking out the air with shock pumps after saucing, cutting the ribs in the wheels, etc.

Our local indoor track is going for more and more traction (hard packed clay with chemical additives to keep it that way) because people want more and more consistent traction. Thus we sweep between rounds, track gets watered regularly, etc. All to say we run on dirt, when people want all of the benefits of an artificial surface.

Fast guys run slicks, and you are hosed if you are off line or people did not sweep. Most buy treaded tires and grind off the tread with dremels. If you run a treaded tire, the tread lasts 3-5 battery packs, but the slicks are good for a couple race days once the tread is gone. Mostly, I burned through a newer set of rear barcodes (full tread to holes in the rubber exposing the insert) in 2 practice days.

It is funny that my USGT runs a treaded tire for carpet onroad, but my buggy runs slicks for "dirt" offroad.