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Hobbyplex off-road fall/winter 2012/13

Hobbyplex off-road fall/winter 2012/13

Old 08-15-2012, 05:32 PM
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Default Hobbyplex off-road fall/winter 2012/13

Its time to start thinking about this fall and winter.

Tuesdays and Fridays will remain the same. I am instituting the 5-minute rule if we end up with more than 12 heats on a Friday. If there are more than 12 heats, all qualifiers will be reduced to 5-minutes. Mains will still be 6-minutes. Doing so will shave at least a half hour off the race night.

New for this year is the Winter 1:8 Off-road Series. The same format as the Summer Series. Best 5 out of 6 races.

The dates for the Winter Series are: Oct 28, Nov 25, Dec 16, Jan 27, March 10 and 24.

Classes are 1:8 nitro buggy and truggy, 1:8 electric buggy and truggy.

Doors open at 8am, racing starts at 11:30.

In between the Winter 1:8 Off-road Series and the Winter On-road Series, we'll be racing some electric only 1:10 scale Sundays. Its not series, just regular racing on Sundays.

The dates for the electric only 1:10 scale Sundays are: October 21, November 18, December 2, January 20,

Doors will open at 9. Racing will start at 12:30.

For these Sundays only, we'll reintroduce the PRO-20 class. It's Mod Truck with a 20-minute main that will be ran last in the mains order. There's been a lot of us talking about doing again, but it wouldn't be appropriate for Friday night as it takes a while already.

The classes on Sunday need to be stream lined a little bit. Here's what I'd like to see ran on Sundays:

Plexspec, Stock Truck, Stock Buggy, Mod Buggy, 4wd mod?, Pro-20, Pro-SCT, Pro-4 SCT.

Nothing against the electric 1:8th scales, but I'd really like you guys to plan on racing the Winter 1:8 Series.

Beyond that we'll be having the Novak race again the first weekend in January. We were just short of 200 entries last year, I'm sure this next time it'll be huge!

I'll have fliers up for all the above info soon, but for now start spreading the word.

Last edited by FroBoy; 02-17-2013 at 10:37 AM.
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Old 08-15-2012, 09:58 PM
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It sounds like the fall and winter are very well planned out! Nice job Alex...consider the word spread.

I know I am "just one of the guys", but I'll toss it out there...what if we consider 5 entries minimum per class to run on Friday nights? I know that puts my beloved SCB on the line, but for the sake of all, I'd go along with it (and work hard to make sure we get more SCBs to insure we have a class ). Last Friday, I think we had 4 classes that had 3 or 4 running. Maybe the stockers can toss in a mod and we merge those classes? I know 2:30 am is a tad bit late for this old man!

While we're at it, I was thinking...what if we ran 3 spec classes? Plex-4, Plex-2 and Plex Spec (buggies, stadium trucks, Rustlers, etc)? I know it would even out the field a bit, give some drivers a more equal chance, plus, as drivers move up, they would be more "conditioned" for the upper classes. As a trade off, we run one only one heat of each class (2 qualifiers) so that we don't add to the over-all time. I know if I was running a RTR Stadium Truck, I'd rather run against 14 other similar vehicles than 7 Pro-4 trucks

Finally, I was also thinking, what if we did what we did one night and sort of organize the entering and exiting of drivers. Drivers coming in for the next race go up the stairs near the booth. When the race is over, they park their truck/buggy in the open area next to the large garage door. They exit the stand that same side, collect the truck and take it to the pit area below the stand, shut 'em down, return transponders and head out to marshal. Drivers coming in dump their trucks on the track and head up the stand. If the driver is in back to back races, bumps up, etc, they need to take care of a substitute marshal before hand so we keep things moving. Plus, we're getting a lot more spectators and the area is getting congested. If we could organize between races, I think it'd go a lot smoother (quicker).

These are just some thoughts and I thought I'd toss 'em out there so we can talk about them. Either way, even if it goes to 4 am, count me in
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Old 08-16-2012, 05:30 AM
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I thought about this a bit more and based on last Friday's entries, we would have had the following:

Plex Spec = 3 classes*3 rounds*8 minutes (5+3) = 72 minutes
1/10th scale Stadium Truck (mod/stock) = 1 heat*3 rounds*9 minutes (6+3) = 27 minutes
1/10th scale Buggy (mod/stock) = 1*3*9 (6+3) = 27 minutes
Pro-2 = 2*3*9 (6+3) = 54 minutes
Pro-4 = 2*3*9 (6+3) = 54 minutes
1/8th scale = 1*3*9 (6+3) = 27 minutes

That's about 4-1/2 hours of race time/3 minutes between heats. 15 minutes between rounds puts us right at finishing up at 12 midnight. We run behind a bit, need to work on the track, etc and we go to 12:30 at the latest. Even if we have a huge turn-out (which is a good thing!)and have to go to more heats, that will add an hour at the most. That puts us out of there at 1:30.

That doesn't bump anyone out of a class (I don't think anyone is running both stock and mod buggy for example) and would help fill up some classes by combining them.

Of course, this is just my thoughts...I could be all wrong
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Old 08-16-2012, 08:57 AM
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Just curious what's the plan for heat in Nitro this year. Last winter was pretty mild and I doubt we can count on it being as warm so just curious
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Old 08-16-2012, 09:08 AM
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Originally Posted by davidfast
Just curious what's the plan for heat in Nitro this year. Last winter was pretty mild and I doubt we can count on it being as warm so just curious
Lots of layers of clothing?
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Old 08-16-2012, 09:11 AM
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Originally Posted by PnchoPwr
Lots of layers of clothing?
Martials running around like Ralfie from A Christmas Story. I'm for it lol
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Old 08-16-2012, 09:20 AM
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Originally Posted by davidfast
Martials running around like Ralfie from A Christmas Story. I'm for it lol
It could/would be highly entertaining.
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Old 08-16-2012, 02:11 PM
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Thanks for getting the schedule posted. Now i can put in my vacation time with the wife....
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Old 08-16-2012, 03:59 PM
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Déjà vu I like the idea of requiring a minimum of 5 entries to create a class. I would also like to see a Stock SCT class offered. I also like your idea for entering and exiting the drivers stand. I also feel a way to eliminate some of the congestion would to have a different place for the spectators to view the racing.

As for PlexSpec, I started off in PlexSpec this year and did not have an issue with different types of vehicles running in one class. My son is still in PlexSpec. My concern with adding additional PlexSpec classes is the added time it would to add to an already long night. I would like to find a way to have the races get over earlier. There has been multiple times where I have left early without running the main due to it being very late and our hour plus drive home.

I am all for Alex's idea of running 5 minute qualifiers to shorten the night up a bit. Every little bit helps.

This is just my opinion, my intent was add my thoughts and see where the tread goes.
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Old 08-16-2012, 07:16 PM
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Originally Posted by davidfast
Martials running around like Ralfie from A Christmas Story. I'm for it lol
That would be totally bad ass..I would guess kinda like Evansdale, only with a larger track!
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Old 08-16-2012, 07:30 PM
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There will never be a split in the Plex class.

There has always been a flow rule on race nights, but hardly any one follows it. lol. I'll bring it up at the next drivers meeting.

For heat this winter, we'll continue to bring in blower heaters on the drivers stand and on the track before race time.
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Old 08-17-2012, 03:09 AM
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hey alex u think you could have a 1/8th scale truggy class this year for the novak race
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Old 08-17-2012, 05:28 AM
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Originally Posted by FroBoy
There will never be a split in the Plex class.

There has always been a flow rule on race nights, but hardly any one follows it. lol. I'll bring it up at the next drivers meeting.

For heat this winter, we'll continue to bring in blower heaters on the drivers stand and on the track before race time.
I have a propane convection heater you guys could use if need be, too. It doesn't crank out the heat like the blower heaters do, but if you used it with those running as well it would help some.
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Old 08-17-2012, 07:56 AM
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Sounds good. Should be a fun Fall / Winter. See you guys at the next series race / Haven Shootout
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Old 08-27-2012, 10:16 AM
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FroBoy, what are your thoughts on the 4-5 entries to activate a class? I would think that such a rule would make it hard to build up a new class, but it would shorten the night a bit.

When I watched the race a few weeks ago, I did not notice a recognizable flow of people exiting or entering the driver stand. Seems like getting that refined could buy you some time between heats.

Also, maybe you should offer a killer deal on personal transponders for people that race on Friday night. Fewer transponder issues would also allow you to pick up the pace if needed. <- my attempt to get a good deal on a personal transponder.

Everyone else....
I noticed somebody mention a "stock" SC class. Would there be interest in this or would it cannibalize the pro2 class too much? I could see the value for those of us with kids in the plex spec class that use the same truck to run in pro2 or pro4. I know I'd rather just have my youngsters learning with stock motors, but I'm OK with just turning the radio down for them as well.
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