CristianTabush

iTrader: (13)

I feel where you are coming from, unfortunately while we have flown the shorty battery flag for a while, the number one objection since day 1 is this feature of the car. When people saw this car at MHIC and when we leaked pictures on Social Media of this platform the interest immediately ramped up. We were told by numerous racers that in their eyes this was their "desire" for a car and that they definitely wanted to have part in running the car.

Trust me, I know what makes Gizmo the Gizmo. I struggled with the idea of releasing this car and it took a lot of convincing and brainstorming with guys like Adam (Syndrome) and Zac (thecaptain) to figure out what and how we wanted to handle this. Is the innovation coming from the dual drive train? Is it coming from the suspension? Is it coming from the fact that the car is "Crowd sourced development" and practically "crowd funded". Is the innovation the fact that this car is partly made in the USA, in my garage, on a tiny budget?

The decision was finally made to release this car because I asked myself, why does Gizmo exist? Why do I insist on being stubborn about releasing a product that practically makes me, as an individual no Money?

Well, the answers I came up with are the following:
1.I don't want to race any other car. (Maybe an Awesomatix, but after a month with it, it would probably have a lot of changes, because that's what I do. :P )
2.The car is FAST. Maybe it's because I designed it myself. (which contrary to people saying it's an A800 with shocks) and it suits me, however a lot of though has gone into the details of the development of the car. Arm lengths and positions have been changed numerous times, tower heights and bulkhead spacing have been fiddled with incessantly, almost obsessively, to find the right angles for the shocks to have the widest, yet most refined settings you need across most conditions. I guess the same can be said about the drive shaft angles. And the development there does not stop.
3.No other brand gives you access to the designer and the development as we give at Gizmo. I listen to every one of our customers and even our non-customers. While not everything can ever be integrated into a generation of a kit, I can't even begin to think how many ideas have been put into a car like on this one. For example, Adam wanted more weight balance countersink holes on the chassis, for screw on weights. All our new cars come with strategically placed weight holes through out the chassis. Something that we thought was good does not work? We'll admit to it and change it, no spin like others, just fix it and move on.
4.For those that still want the center motor car, we can still service them. The dual spur itself will not see much development, but the few changes down the line that are coming, will apply to all platforms. Some suspension geometry revisions have been done lately which we feel make a marked improvement will likely make it into future versions once durability is tested for long enough. In the end, like Adam said, this is the same car with 2 drive train layouts. Chose which one works best for you and which one you like the most. It's pretty simple. I do think that for certain conditions, the big battery car is more adequate. For example, larger Euro style tracks where Low CG lipos are not run in spec classes.
5.This car has a larger audience. I don't long to sell a massive amount of kits and become rich off of this. But it would be nice to be able to sell enough units to keep the platform developing. This is a SMALL market. Our car is a Niche car. If I can attract more users, it will allow us to keep developing the brand. If we don't, we simply will stop producing them. We only sell about 30-40 units per year. It would be nice try to double that.

WagwanBumba

iTrader: (1)

Alright - we got off to the wrong start at the beginning of this GZ2 convo, Cristian, but your answers and mission statement for Gizmo have convinced me. I'll be dropping in an order for the beta '19.

tbrymer

iTrader: (10)

Christian - Are you going to Reedy? Can't wait to see how the car performs, although I know the driver (Armand) is very good. He has been sending me some photos of his car and I will see it in person next week at Reedy.

CristianTabush

iTrader: (13)

No, Armand will probably be flying the lone Gizmo car at Reedy. The race was always on my bucket list, but with young kids, family obligations and work it is always extremely difficult to get away for races. MHIC is almost like my only opportunity to get away right now. Who knows, if this kit gets off the ground and sales do well, as they potentially could, it may also open up more funds and a "need" for me to go offer support at more events. More than likely, it will be the shorter events vs the longer ones at first. We'll see.

Megatron328

What sway bars are used on the cars? They look like Spec-R's it some other Xray clone.

CristianTabush

iTrader: (13)

We make our own sway bars. They are similar to XRAY front ones. I would not be able to tell if they are exact or not. However, I know Yokomo front ones work well, with minor, if any modification.

YBSLOW

iTrader: (9)

Christian are you going to run it at The Biggie next week?

Marcos.J

iTrader: (239)

I got yokomo's on mine

CristianTabush

iTrader: (13)

No, unfortunately I am doing the EOS this weekend at Porter, so it will be really tough to make it out 2 weeks in a row. I wish the races would not be stacked so close together.

YBSLOW

iTrader: (9)

Bummer, I was hoping to check it out in person and talk to you about it.

thecaptain

iTrader: (177)

I run the xray fronts on mine, it works without modification.

Chris Adams

Are you bringing an electric car for the Biggie?

YBSLOW

iTrader: (9)

I wish, Too much shit to get on an airplane. Bringing two 50lb bags and already sent a box to terry's house. I would love to drive a mod car on that track..

Megatron328

I put xrays on mine as well, 1.3 front and rear. Seemed better on high grip.

Marcos.J

iTrader: (239)

thanks for the tips Captain , TQ by a lap on 21.5 and won the A , and qualified 3rd finished 2nd in 17.5 (with a 21.5)