Team Lotus

Thank you for your compliment eff one.

My very first slot car was a 1963 Marx Lotus F1 1/32(that's how far back I go), and my very first rc car was in 1987 and was a Tamiya Road Wizard which I painted up and decaled as Aryton Senna's JPS Lotus 97 and I have attended real F1 races at both Watkins Glen and Montreal. So, I have a life long love affair and intimate understanding and appreciation for F1; and that is why I'm so passionate about not allowing ANYONE, ROAR included, to screw up and ruin rc F1 the way so many other on-road classes have been ruined! So to those who want to just "look the other way" and try to keep everyone calm and quiet, and let the "run whatever I want" group sneak in the back door and take over the class, I say: Go race touring cars or 1/12 or 1/10 WGT pan cars; you'll be happier there!

Arahawak

iTrader: (32)

My personal feelings about this topic is whilst I agree with the F1 should keep their realism, the racing part should not.

A plain example would be in my local race a few weeks back, there were 3-4 Ferrari fans and it was hard to make out which is the faster one or slower one.. Hahaha so you can imagine how difficult it is whether to give way or continue racing...

Maybe concourse criteria have 2 categories? Painted and F1 replica?

I remember last year the RCF1GP in Hong Kong had a F1 replica class... So it really depends on the organizing committee if they want to ruin it or promote it.
Sad but true.

eff one

My collection of F1 cars and lemans

Team Lotus

Wow, eff one, that's a pretty nice collection!!

eff one

Your welcome to come race one of them anytime . Its arrive and drive in the blastf1 championship, i own all the cars and recruit all the drivers (my friends mostly).they pay for damages, tires and batteries i set up the championship.

Team Lotus

Well if I'm ever out Michigan way I just might do that! I live in Upstate New York.

BadSign

iTrader: (15)

Don't concourse rules state the car must compete on track? That instantly eliminates the HRT's for 1:1 Concourse judging

texastc

iTrader: (2)

The concours class was F1/VTA/WorldGT together. They werent expecting as many people at the NATS to sign up at the track. But when you lump them all together like that, the flashy paint is going to get the attention. Sure the F1s looked more realistic than the WGTs, but so did the VTAs. Mario had a nice looking car and it won, TPhalen had a nice looking VTA and got 2nd. I say Kudos to both. Even the pink one

RedBullFiXX

iTrader: (34)

We can take the positives from this race
Or we can focus on the negative

Roar actually followed modern F1 rules. 21.5 blinky, rubber tires, narrow cars, etc
They allowed new tech in for a one shot chance to compete. FGX

There were many entries that had realistic looking cars

There were winners & loosers, with plenty of drama included

That sounds like a good start to true F1 scale racing to me

With the two experimental classes F1 & VTA, it's clear that roar is listening to the critics, change takes time

Everything looks different from another point of view...

SteveP

Wow, it's almost as though I didn't say that I would have chosen a scale machine.

Regarding the way you choose to express your frustration, words like "stupid" and "travesty" are over the top in my opinion, and on these forums or anywhere else, I'm just as entitled to an opinion as anyone else. It's good to have the discussion, of course. Perhaps as a result of this, we can instruct the judges in the future to reward those that put more effort into scale appearance in these classes where scale is apparent, such as F1, VTA and ostensibly touring (although the bodies are getting ridiculously out of scale). I guess the question is, do you want to start right out of the gate with the "outrage" and insults that won't lead to any productive discussion, or do you want to approach it in a more reasonable manner that encourages "adult-level" conversation and resolution? I would choose the latter, but that's just me...

FYI, the judges were Steve M., the tech inspector from ROAR, Mike, the owner of the track, and Bob from Live RC. Although I TOTALLY AGREE AND WOULD HAVE SIDED WITH A CAR THAT'S SIMILAR TO THE OPINIONS VOICED HERE (just wanted to be sure nobody missed it this time) I respect that all the judges are experienced people with a lot of history in RC racing and they chose the cars they liked the best.

For those that want to turn this in a more positive direction, what would you change in the process to ensure that a scale machine is weighed more heavily than a good but still random paint scheme? I have my own ideas but I want to hear yours...

texastc

iTrader: (2)

Fn A.

texastc

iTrader: (2)

I would pit F1s vs F1s in a seperate class, because we are apparently elitists.

We were there to race, the Concourse was a surprise, most of us had no idea that there would be one. Most of us had been beating our cars to hell and back for 2 days already. Most of us do get a kick out of making our cars look as realistic as possible, some more than others. Some go overboard. But I think even the one color paint jobs and decals take longer to do than building the kit. Its fun, its part of the draw to F1. Im just thankful that there was that competition, I entered, no expectations of winning.

SteveP

This is one of my favorite classes, and it was a no-brainer to put it into the event. I think that too much of RC racing has lost it's way, forgetting that what makes it popular in the first place, is usually that it looks like a real race car that you watch on TV or at the track. You should have heard the screams when we made it a rule that you have to put headlights and taillights on a full-bodied car... LOL.

Suffice it to say, I'm a big F1 fan and a big scale fan, both of which mean that I personally support these types of classes for ROAR competition. Do I feel that the effort is in vain after reading some of the comments? Perhaps yes. I feel like some of you are throwing the baby out with the bath water. With all the positive things we were able to do in getting F1 on the roster so quickly, it seems that there's more focus on a difference of opinion for concourse judging. Seems to lack perspective a little bit. I DO value all opinions in the discussion, and I'll extend anyone all the respect they deserve, and long as it's mutual. Thanks for the feedback.

P.S. Elitists?! Not a chance. LOL. Classes like the F1 class are the antithesis of the elitist classes. There's no sponsored drivers (or very few), and the emphasis still seems to be on fun and scale - the two elements that are lost on the "elite" classes. I don't view the RC version of F1 racing as elitist at all - quite the opposite. I'm sure there are more laughs and fun in one round in the F1 class than in an entire event filled with sponsored drivers and high levels of factory participation. The qualities that are currently enjoyed by the F1 class are the genesis of any great class. It's when too much of the fun, affordability and scale are sacrificed for performance at any cost, too many drivers looking to make a career out of their hobby, and the scale appearance gives way to any aerodynamic "innovation" because someone wants to sell more bodies. No, this is my favorite type of class, and I'd want to keep it JUST LIKE IT IS. ;o)

F N CUDA

iTrader: (34)

Maybe "Realistic" for the true to scale classes like F1 and Vintage Trans Am and then "Custom" for the all out classes like TC, 1/12, WGT etc.?
Apparently they don't seem to play well with each other.

Both of these types of "Best of Show" classes have their own definition of awesome.

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

I hate it when someone picks a fight and its ends up in mature discussion.

And now, for something completely different...

I think from the perspective of ROAR just having the F1 class at the event was a huge win. Immediate publicity for our class. It's a shame the concours segment wasn't known about earlier. Next time!

ROAR, Thank you for having F1 at YOUR event.