5italkart

iTrader: (2)

really !!!! i thought it was last week. will be there too make sure roo is truly dead. dirt + puffy lippos has not filled my racing needs. yes it would be nice if serpent joined the pan wars.

racer034life

iTrader: (1)

I watched some videos of these cars and they look super fun. Can't wait for on road season. P.s if serpent where to come on board that would be sweet.

hitcharide1

iTrader: (1)

Well, we went to see a local CNC shop today....and he quoted about 200 per unit just on the aluminum fab.

(Insert long, fervent, and highly audible string of profane verbiage here.)

We'd intended an initial run of 10 car kits. I'm trying to minimize our costs, partly because I don't know how long it will take to sell them (with two other manufacturers in existence plus a slowly growing niche market) and partly because there's no guarantee they will sell at all....a rather hefty final build investment and the money is too short to absorb a huge potential loss.

(Insert further string of profanity, accompanied by visual interpretations of great vulgarity.)

Getting the parts made for us is out. Problem is, we still want to build and sell. I believe in the future of pan, just not enough to invest thousands of dollars in it. I've already got a substantial investment in 4wd, we have a Jag to restore, the gov't is making my electric bills skyrocket, blah blah.

So....we're going to have to PLOD.....and make the aluminum pieces ourselves. That means we need to get a few more pieces of equipment, and basically hand craft every piece of aluminum on the kits. Outsourcing the aluminum to someone better equipped and trained would have ensured better uniformity and appearance, not to mention sparing us the aggravation. We probably could shortcut in some areas, substitute plastic/nylon, but half the reason a SuperJ is still around and in good condition is because they didn't take shortcuts. Just don't feel like sacrificing quality for cost. Then again, rarely does anything worth having or doing come easily. In the meantime, if anyone knows of a guy with a CNC that wants to make a buck without making my wallet scream bloody murder, send 'em my way.

Anyhoo, we'll still try for a launch date in January, and if the money is there someday, we'll go whole hog.

hitcharide1

iTrader: (1)

You should have seen Rick running his beast. Of course it only weighs 3 pounds (well, it feels like it anyways) but he was making that thing move faster than my 4wd. It's impressive and depressing all at the same time. Come on out and play while the weather allows, it'll be a cold and long winter.

Taylorm

200 per car??..yikes....Phil...what about using all the rear end parts from the Edam cars....???...take the buggy diffs (that you already planned using)..and adapt pulleys to them like I did...Sandwich them between Edam rear bulkheads..( will have to make rear supports and a new upper crosspiece that the anti-roll bar mounts to..)...as I assume the rear will need spaced a little wider with the diff...at 200.00 per car just for the aluminum...forget it......

Then all u need is your own front end....you already have the clutches/tanks...

hitcharide1

iTrader: (1)

We're committed to the build we have, doubly so on the aluminum. I think the existing pan cars are too weak, they perform well for guys like Joe T but we're looking for a beginner model that is still competitive. For now, we'll do the aluminum in house best as we can and hope for better later, we'll still be priced competitively with the others, we're just not going to make very much. Such is life.

MrHistory

iTrader: (2)

Glad to see you on the thread and we hope you join us in the pan class. As Phil mentioned, the WRC is now fully supported in the US. You are welcome to take a look at our new website which is dedicated to pan car racing, and there will be many new items added to the store specifically for the class.
www.irwinrc.com

We also have a WRC pan car thread here on rctech. If you can't find it send me a pm and I will link you to the thread, or search a few pages back here.

Thanks!
Jason

racer034life

iTrader: (1)

I've read almost every post in this thread but I would want to talk to someone or see how the cars work. Also what happened to this class I the cars seem simple and the focus is on driving more then power and how much money you have! Also why arent more there more chassis coming to the U.S?

hitcharide1

iTrader: (1)

We've discussed a lot of this in the thread. Thirty five years ago, pan car was all there was. Then came the proliferation of suspension cars and 4wd's (and prices went up, up, up.) Then came the offroads. Then came better electrics with the Lipo. Fast forward to today and nitro itself is nearly a niche market, with onroad even smaller, because all that has been available has been delicate and fast 4wd's that aren't newbie or amateur friendly. Since onroad has shrunk to what it is, most companies aren't prepared to make a big jump into it, and it was almost exclusively a european thing till a year or two ago. Then Lon Burling decided to buy a few and start running them, and he's gotten a bit of support since then. I'm confident that people will see we have an alternative that isn't as expensive or difficult, and still tons of fun...but it's going to take awhile to get us back to where we were. The chase for faster lap times did not do the hobby any good as a whole....one of our greatest advantages is we offer an option to the class that requires a huge investment and much frustration, we're working hard to get the people who are more about having fun than going faster at any expense.

5italkart

iTrader: (2)

we look forward too seeing you, this class has really filled a void for sportsman racers. nice too see wrc come along, in my off road experiment i noticed how many RTR traxxis cars were being run maybe thats the key for new on road interest. and phil kudos on the effort but welcome to the modern age of machining. i bet most stuff is made as a side job in a large place that can absorb the cost.

hitcharide1

iTrader: (1)

Machining sucks. It doesn't help that we don't have the proper equipment to work with, but moreso, it looks like a talent that one either has or doesn't....Tom is pretty good at it and I'm not, it's that simple.

It galls me that we have no American manufacturer of 1/8th cars in general, let alone pan cars, and we're dependent on factories far away that may or may not drop the ball a la Moto. See, another problem with 30 year old memories....back when if you needed something you called the factory itself, like as not wound up speaking to an owner/designer, who then made sure you got exactly what you needed. We're going to do this, pain in the butt tho it may be, because it'll be fun and it needs doing. And maybe it'll prompt more people into either building their own car, or someone a bit bigger gearing up and producing a line, but for now we'll settle for one lap at a time. Gotta start somewhere.....

Taylorm

...Phil...what about getting a quote from Joe T's buddy at work???...He whipped out King Tutts diff adapters in no time....

dvondrakcz

hello 2WD guys,

Our Czech vintage series goes to the big final round. At this moment we had gone three races. You can see some photos and vids (please modify links below) at my reports ( wrote only in Czech language)

autorcolomouc_cz/svitavske-veteranobrani-a-nejen-to
autorcolomouc_cz/fotogalerie/
autorcolomouc_cz/category/18-ic-onroad/

I picked some highlights in attached photos :-)

racer034life

iTrader: (1)

If some one had a PDF of specs of parts I can machine some parts out. I work for a large machine company and have the ability to use them. P.s I am a CNC machine and a lathe worker. So let's get these cars built and rolling.

Taylorm

..And you want to BUY a pan car??...build one....