Agree or Disagree? - "club racing is now cheaper than it has ever been"
 

It seems that the majority of tracks are allowing brushless and lipo, more than decent premounted rubber tire sets are available for $32, a pair of electric foams costs as low as $13. There are even finally very decent $200-$250 car kits available again that can be hopped up to full race-spec (much like when we bought TC3's and then added option parts as desired). Going even deeper, the cars are much more durable, the CVD's don't look worn out after 2 runs, the aluminum diffs have blades that protect them from wear, etc.

One can certainly argue that the up-front costs are similar, but I have noticed that the weekly costs have been super low.
Ever since brushless and lipo has been allowed around here, there have been an odd number of happy faces :smile: .

Is this the cheapest that electric on-road club racing has ever been? Is electric on-road ripe for growing?

It definitely seems that way. Not only cheaper, but easier to maintain for those of us with busy lives, thanks to the reduced maintenance. Other manufacturers seems to have mostly caught up with the idea of a "luxury" touring car, without the cost.

Not only is it cheaper, but it's much harder to be out bought.

arun that you? maybe where lipo is legal, but i'm still not sure there is really a class that a casual racer can get into and have good fun without getting blown off tracks by even local hotshots.. this is a track issue more than car issue, but the lack of a true spec class i think is still a big financial problem for the hobby.. most tracks only have stock and the difference between the haves and have-nots is a problem for joe newbie.. once your in, costs are ok, but cheap doesn't come to mind... when i started racing touring (95 ish..) my yokomo yr-4 sport was state of the art at $120. you slaped in a stock motor right out of the package, ran stick packs (cause that is what it took) and the tires lasted a season... of coarse the track was set up with old fire hose so you never broke anything... getting a tear in my eye just thinking bout the good old days...

Nope, it isn't cheaper. Most of us just got smarter.

There are a lot of tempting options out there, many of the expensive, and many of them unnecessary. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of experience to know what you need and what you don't, inevitably with some mistakes made along the way. And the advice out there isn't always the best, or most cost effective. It's still a rough trail for people starting out. It's getting better for experienced racers.

A well prepared budjet racer can beat a big money racer any day.

Making sure you car is clean, menchanically perfect and setup properly costs nothing.

Turning lots of laps in practice even on beat up tires costs almost nothing.

Pick a car, stick with it and learn how it works. Just try stuff to get a feel for that changes it generates.

These three factors can make you faster with old batteries and motors than a guy whos setup is wrong and car is a hoopty no matter how much money in equipment he has.

I'm starting out 1/10 and it's quite a hit to the wallet. Even though I have done other RC, I needed to buy:

1. a Cyclone $250
2. a body $25
3. wheels and tires $40
4. tools ($40)
5. a charger (replace my destroyed one)
6. a battery (I have only stick packs, $50)
7. a receiver ($50)
8. a servo ($50)
9. a setup board, droop gauge $50
10. a stock motor $30

That's a great deal of money.

... until you start throwing away receipts and hiding it! :)

If its cheaper than its ever been, its still too damn expensive. Foam tires on carpet, you can't be competitive with no name stick packs, you need a decent charger, power supply, discharger, equalizer, 2-4 good packs of cells that last only a season, a tire lathe or access to, tires wear or chunk in only a couple of weeks, comm lathe, entry fees. Its no kids sport. I'd say minimum $1500 investment to be half ass equipped, and that's no tire or comm lathe or setup board and tools. End result, few takers.

Lets face it . this hobby ain't cheap at any level :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod:

Arun,

At the club level... running rubber tires.. yeah it can be pretty respectable.

Its deff not cheap but if your smart about it you can get into it and stay in it. I am only 16 and managed to sell and save to get a used xray t1 and spectrum dx2 for only 300$ duratrax ice for $80 and i'm building my own pack for about 100$ when i can get the money right now i run my stick packs to try and dial my car as much as i can before i get a real pack. I mean you don't have to be older to get into the hobby myself i just wanted it bad enough :blush:

um its not cheaper than the old days,ill tell you that
battery's $25
car $125.00
radio $120.00
mod motor $70.00
stock motor $25-$35
racing 5 bucks but then it went up to 10.00

so you see it was cheaper back then
ok the $ was different then too but if i was 15 years old today i would not be doing rc.

Taking it a step further...racing isn't cheap at any level. I don't expect RC racing to ever really be cheap.

I think electric on-road club racing has a lot of appeal right now, and the week-to-week costs are definitely lower. Anyone remember when the race entry fee was the consistently the lowest expense of each race day?

It's hard to tell whether this appeal will actually materialize into any real growth; there's a lot of bickering going on right now...

I deff agree with you on that one but you have to remember its not like were driving real cars and trying to support that ?!! :weird: The thing that gets me is that I still found that it is easy maybe even easier than ever because I can use the internet to buy used equipment to get out their and race with quality stuff ofcourse once you get in you can always save and get that brand new kit. It could be a whole lot worse than it is now.

The bottom line is it may not be cheaper on your young or older wallets but it is easier thanks to the internet and wider spread of knowledge about hobby r/c racing