Tcaputo

With the price of the chassis taken into consideration what do you believe is the lowest cost to own over a year or two.. mainteinace parts and commonly broken parts cost.. Just cause a kit is cheap doesnt mean its unreliability will make it the cheapest kit to own

jenson40

iTrader: (4)

i just got into 8th scale racing bought my rc8t rtr last november at least spent 1200 since then

Tcaputo

not a hobby for the faint of heart ... my wife is catching on

hdcruzer

iTrader: (12)

Ive been doing it for about a year and and a half. I have at least 5 grand into it...........

Herrsavage

It's VERY expensive, and there is a constant, relentless pressure to always spend more.

Which is why I quit racing. Just cheap(but user-friendly) SH engines for me now, and used or cheap kits from ebay... Am making a general shift to buying used..

rbeamj

iTrader: (1)

aside from the initial cost of the kit this hobby is pretty inexpensive.

Figure a typical weekend of bashing will set you back 1 set of soft tires and about 1 gallon of fuel. = $100

Broken parts from bashing session will depend alot on if you were jumping or crashing or just racing around a baseball diamond with some friends. But for the most part figure some worn out arms/bearings. = $40-$100 depending on what broke. If nothing breaks or wears out then this obviously goes way down.

Travel expenses are dependant as well.

In comparison to skiing.

I live 3 hours from the closest ski resort so for me thats $100 in gas (round trip), $60 each person for a lift ticket ($120), and hotel room for the night as you want to make sure you get there early or stay all night gambling ($60-$150 depending on hotel and time).

In essence for having fun this is a hobby that costs as much as other hobbies that people engage in.

Consider one more thing. If you are a club racer, and in my area a club race is a one day event, then you will spend 1 gallon of fuel ($40) every 2-3 weekends thus reducing the costs.

I did not include food in this because it is the same between the two events. Also as you get better at driving your new buggy/truggy/monstertruck/boat/plane/whatnot, you will break less and less parts while getting consistently faster each and every weekend.

tc5 man

well , it depends really when i ran 1/8 buggy i had about i say $800 into it or less you can get good engines for around $200 or so and premount tires cheaper if you look around on the internet.


think about it this way its a hell of a lot cheaper than racing a full size car !

for club racing you dont need to spend $1000 i dont know why some people believe that .

you can get a hb d8 and not even spend close to $1000 with everything .

you, can get quality servos that last for $90 and are coreless diginal servos i been using them for a long time and never had a problem.

i just bring food and drinks from home i remmend people to do that if your on a tight budget.

token

To race 8th Scale and put in the practice to get better, it cost THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. There is not way around it. You can by cheaper but you will replace sooner. Nothing in this hobby is made to last. EVERYTHING needs to be replaced soon than later.

bacchus

iTrader: (8)

I've been racing a losi 8T 2.0 for about a year. I have probably 4 grand in it. I'm getting ready to start running a second class too. Alot of the 4 grand was getting all the other crap you need to make these things go. Hoping with my new car all i need is tires for awhile. But yeah to race these cars competitively get your wallet ready. It is cheaper than some hobbies but its more expensive than others. The issue that kills me is it never stops. Your ALWAYS spending and alot of the gear needed is a rip off. However, you gotta pay to play.

When i had a MT just for bashing i couldn't imagine spending what i'm spending on racing. It just wasn't as fun therefore not worth it. Racing is addictive and is by far the funnest hobby i've ever had. I enjoy hunting and fishing as well but those take a back burner to racing now.

jewn_beef

iTrader: (30)

the cost to club race in thiw sprot is not bad where you can run same set of tires for 4 race weekends or so but to get to a competitive level at big series like jbrl or grrs or going to big events and being competitive cost thousands practice with good tires so can get setup right is few hundred in tires then race day new tires every round few more hundred fresh clutch and bearings for the main 50 bucks so on and so forth all in all would not trade it for the world fun ass all heck and hard to get hurt doing it plus just tell the wifey there usually isnt alot of girls to be looking at at r/c events

tc5 man

now if you want to race at a pro level than yea it will be about $1000 or more.

AZRC4Me

iTrader: (8)

Racing anything = spending. It will cost coin to race at a competitive level. Club racing is different, but at larger events where the fast guys race, I put a new set of tires on every time my car hits the track. It gets expensive with travel, but tires will be your biggest continuous expense throught the year. And 8th scale must mean take what you think you're going to spend and multiply it by 8.

You can do r/c on the cheap if you bash or club race. Just don't expect to compete at the highest level in larger races with inferior equipment unless you are extremely gifted.

To your original question about an actual number, depending on how much you race/travel to larger events, plan on spending somewhere between 1-5 grand.

jewn_beef

iTrader: (30)

yes like these commnets it is around 1000-1500 per race so if run 5 big races a year then that is good number

Lilja

Honestly always thought that if youre thinking about how much it costs then you shouldnt do it.
It is insanly expensive and as other people said theres no way around it, not if you want to actualy get someplace atleast.
Ofcourse you can opt for a cheaper brand, and only replace parts when its absolutely necessary. But even though itll still be very expensive.
If you think its all worth it, which I do think and most likely everyone else on this forum for obvious reasons then by all means go for it!

morkendi

iTrader: (1)

takes alot to get in because you get what you pay for. Once your in, depending on what level you plan on compeating at. Maintenece is not that bad except for tires and a motor here and there. I buy used cars most the time now, but always by new electronics and motors.