SoCal Raceway is just down the street from Associated and my home track. I am the only regular there that practices with a 1/12 scale car weekly. I usually see any prototypes that are on the drawing board a year or more before the rumors, wether Losi or Associated. There is no 1/12 scale racing at this track, which would make it a perfect place to test such a car. I know many of the Associated guys and they would be the first to come spank my 1/12 scale, sedan-killing backside with a new car. As of last night, I have seen no such car...:cry: If there testing it, it isn't here.

Muffin: You've got PM....:D

Lonergan ran the Trinity i think. The associated drivers tested different chassis (thickness etc) and stuff at the carpet races last year. It may or may not have been development. I personally heard they were working on a new car, but who knows. Though i do think they would be focused on carpet more than asphalt.

Team CRC does make a conversion kit for the 12L3 that converts it over to damper tubes. It essentially makes it a 6 Pack. So if you want that style of chassis but with damper tubes and you haven't ordered your car yet I would just suggest the 6 pack. If you want the damper tubes and you have already ordered your 12L3 than just order the conversion kit from CRC's web site (www.teamcrc.com) . Hope this helps! :D

I wonder why someone would think 1/12 racing is super expensive. Any type of R/C racing is expensive, but I think that 1/12 is the least expensive compared to things like 1/10 touring and stuff like that. The cars are pretty inexpensive (usually around $150), battaries are much cheeper if you run 4 cell (you can get some really good 4 cell packs for $40) , steering servos are around the same price as for a touring car, bodies are pretty cheep if you ask me ($13 compared to $22?), there's also way less stuff on a 12th scale, when you need to refill your shocks you only have one shock to fill so you save money on shock oil, also a full center spring set for a 1/12 car costs 10 bucks, for my tc3 it's somthing like $30. Tires are the main thing that are expensive on a 12th scale car. I'm not trying to start an argument but I'm really just stating my opinion that I think 12th scale racing is not too expensive compared to other types of racing. Just my .02

yolo setup nationals north carolina
 

i used front strut braced to stiffen fron end with . 20 springs
caster spacer one front and one back `1 mm spacer under front dynamic suspension 1.75inch tire trc purple. silver center spring stock oil factory tplate and modified dampner post to use associted tplate brace. (stiffen car) used 3 screw for tplate #3 axle hight 1.90 inch pink trc tire used trinity red dot traction formula did try sun tan spf 45 did not notice dff. 98 spur gear and 32 pinion yokomo said thier comming out with thicker ssg chassis they due offer a 2.6 ? mm none ssg now
if you need more info email me.

Racerdx6: Isn't it ironic that the cost of these cars is so cheap, yet they go sooooo fast! :nod: :D I have an 8x1 in mine and it rocks.....I haven't turned the motor since the first of the year. Try going this fast with a sedan. Dial 1-800-big-$.

robk - Lonnergan ran a modified 12L last season. It used a thick chassis plate (they made a small run of these), dampening tubes and the "old skool" front suspension. He used the upper pod plate from the oval car to make this conversion. Blackstock ran the disc dampening system, but a 12LC chassis. Henderson ran the same as Lonnergan. I don't see a new 12th scale from Associated in the near future. [now maybe having said that, they will do it]

The best way to make a conversion to dampening system by tubes and rods is to use either the CRC conversion or the IRS conversion. The IRS conversion also gives you a thick chassis that is well suited for carpet. It is a little stiff for pavement. Word has it that Paved Onroad Nats 1/12 Stock Champion Mike Dunnigan wanted to cut some bracing out of the IRS chassis to get more flex for the conditions. I don't know if he actually did it, but that should be in your consideration for selecting a car to run. I wish Stormperson would have run better at the Nats so we could brag about his Speedmerchant REV3. One chassis seems to fit both carpet and pavement.

Doug, I think the normal Yokomo chassi sand the shooters are very similar if not the same... Yo can get the yokomo chassis in the states.

Mo did pretty well with his Speedmerchant........

I didnt see u out there, lol :D (btw, it wasnt even funny how much faster regular stock was than masters, i think the TQ in 12th stock was 20 laps and the TQ in masters 12th was 18 laps, and a good stock 12th lap time was 24 seconds, so it would have been an easy 1st place trophy for you to have taken home).

As far as the Rev. 3 went, the car was awsome (for some reason it was unable to go straight down the straightaway however alot of other 12th scale drivers had the same problems. it wasnt because it was a spedmerchant, i saw t-bar cars having the same problems), i could easily hang with 2001 12th stock asphalt champ Rob Michael in his Corrally in the infield, espically the tigher sections.

Mo did do very well, he had some problems with traffic and other drivers he was racing with is what i heard (since i couldnt have seen it considering i was all of his 12th scale races).

BTW, DavidL, any chance u are coming to BBT this season? Steve enlarged the track so that the road course extents all the way out to the right wall (where the oval track is) so now there is a giant oval and he will put a road course in the middle of it. apperently the oval guys were complaining that steve's old oval was too hard.

Lonergan didn't win Stock, he won Masters. Alex Lopez won Stock with a Rev.3. Speedmerchant, 17 time National Champions.

Thanks for all the input guys... I guess that will teach me to stop taking TTT too seriously :lol: On the other hand, I really like the irs conversion kit. Except it is just an upgrade kit and not a whole car (and a kinda expensive one at that). Maybe I will just by the chassis because its thicker and all I really do is carpet racing. Does anyone know how thick it is so I can compare to my current 12l3?

Cracker: I think you can get the Old Skool front-end from Speedmerchant for around $20, so if you were gonna build a Rugrat, you could order a set of IRS lowered Pod Plates when you order the car, and get the front-end from Speedmerchant and that'd put you at about $160. Throw your current T-bar set up and diff in it and you'd have a pretty much top of the line car.

Of course you could just buy a Rev.3 for $160 too.

davidl- i stand corrected. I knew Chuck had a Trinity for a while (he visited Leiure Hours in IL a few times year before last). i knew Walt was doing his own thing as far as chassis. I was told by a third party that it was part of ongoing development. Who knows though, as a lot of rumors go around like that.

Are you running the IRS car? If so have you tried it in mod?

And by the way has anyone gotten a hold of the Speedmerchant V3 front end (or whatever they call it)?