JLock: Some 10 years ago the club had a rubber tyre controlled GT class as Blis has said with a controlled side exhaust motor and they would get 30 - 40 entries every fortnight. Manufacturers have left a gap in the market with no real good quality RTR chassis and discontinuing the side exhaust engines and things have been forced to change as a result. Not everyone see's eye to eye on the new class especially when you are still spending big on the same chassis they run on the Pro Touring class (Open engine).

Andrew

I think it was the side exhaust specification that allowed the RTR cars to be competitive and kept the latest model 'Pro' kits out of the class. If you wanted to run a car designed for a rear exhaust engine you had to do some serious dremelling and in some cases create shaft extensions. I used to run at the pointy end with an NTC3 plus with the kit engine and a change of shock springs. There was also V-one-Ss and FW-05s that were really competitive as well.

I think the biggest mistake was going to a rear exhaust spec motor and allowing bumpstarters, and that is one of the main reasons the class isn't as popular as it used to be.

The side exhaust class had to have a pull start fitted, no bump starter was allowed. The TG class came about when a couple of people wanted to buy pro tourer chassis's with easy engine fitting, could use pro tourer exhausts and were able to bump start cars which also made ability to run engines leaner.

Seeing that most manufacturers don't make side exhaust engines anymore and OS still makes the TG, why not just develop a class around the latest version of that engine?!? Find a pipe that works well with the TG then go from there as far as the other rules for level competition.

As far as 8th scale GT, why can't your guys "down under" start developing a spec class around a simple engine like the OS XR-B or Werks B2, match a pipe up to it and go from there?!? Keep the rules as simple as possible but be firm in their enforcement or chaos will re-assume.

Not trying to create an argument but novarossi still make one of their oldest engine production CX12 with pull start.

Fairgo, yep and without the pullstart it exceeds it's specifications and no one can give a correct answer to power output, there's where the argument started, not here with us.

Limit traction and the engine wont matter.

Yes, side exhaust still exist, but mega hard to find now, there is no option there.

The 12TG is not a bad option, the class as it stands here is working using that motor, pipes are open though, for the reduced power, the chassis does not make a massive difference, so older and used models still do ok.
(Actually, how is this for a good possible rule, only legal chassis is a previous generation chassis, in other words, no new chassis allowed, you can only run at best the last chassis version of the brand you want to run)

My only sort of pain that I see with the class, is the TG build quality has always seemed a little variable, their durability is simply ok but not the best, and rough tuning makes them wear out kind of fast (they get run rocket hot), meaning guys seem to chew through motors fast.

It's not my call, but I'd rather see a budget Nova block used, with like a 4.5mm reducer insert, some of the lesser Nova based motors were good in that they will lean bog before they overheat, meaning you can't run them rocket hot and burn them out, also meaning a single motor would last you years, you could also pull the insert and run open class, encouraging newbies to move up, or try open when they feel like it without needing to buy another motor.


Thats all down south from us, GT 8th is non existent here in Qld, so it will be the clubs in south Australian regions that end up setting the rules, and they seem set to follow the path of their broken pull start class, and go for power and no real sensible rules.

It is being made an AARCMCC Australian class though, but I suspect it will stay as dead as pullstart was and is when they do things like have open motor rules.


I was never a fan on pull start motors when they had them, pain in the ass, bump boxes are cheap and easy to use, use of new chassis is not that bad a thing in entry 200mm GT with a TG, considering these days some of the good gear is as cheap as the RTR gear used to be, while being more durable.

See earlier comment about maybe requiring previous gen chassis though, used chassis and looooooong lasting choked Novas though, now there is a cheap class to run in, but like everything, it's just my own little opinion, many have many different ones. :-)

we ran tg os years ago one lasted 12 months the other about 12 minuts and you can get nova cheper we ran chep nova 12 rear exaust $90 at that stage for 3 years never even changed rod and it still goes love the lower speck noverossi
we have enough classes to send all of us broke now with out a new one I love onroad

Tg is junk, only reason i bought the one i have now is i walked into LHS and he did me a deal on a version 1 because no one wanted it and it was old stock. Apart from that I am joining the rebel Greg group and running anything just for some fun.

Well, if the OS TG doesn't stand up, maybe step up to the OS 12XZ. I know that this is a good engine as I have three of them, two in which I bought when they first came out and still running the same rod, piston, and sleeve. They still produce good power for as old as they are. RB and Dynamite also make decent priced .12 engines but I don't know much about them.

The main thing is to find a spec engine (and possibly pipe) that are reasonably priced and can last more than a racing season. Make sure no one mods the engine or that defeats the purpose for the class and don't be afraid to tech an engine (make them break it down) if you thing that a person had theirs modified. The same hold true for an 8th scale GT spec class as well. At least in 8th scale, you have more engine and pipe choices.

Bishop,

I like the chassis rule idea for 200mm GT Spec. This way, you don't have to have the "lastest/greatest" chassis in order to compete (just like the electric VTA class here in the US). But remember that you will definitely need a minimum weight limit rule going this route because of the big differences in chassis weights of the various manufacturers.

In my opinion this won't make any difference and doesn't address the issues of engine reliabilty and reducing overall costs for those that run this class on a regular basis. Out of the regular top four drivers in the class only one is running the latest generation chassis and if he was made to go back to an older car the end result will still be the same.

if you raced white goods the top drivers will still make the most soap//ha

Yes, we all know that the better drivers will finish at the top no matter what they use, that is a given. However, when the playing field is more level, they tend to not finish 20+ laps over the rest of the field of good to decent drivers. If you are going to comment, be a little more constructive, positive and bring more to the discussion than the obvious.