0010

iTrader: (4)

If you want to try out some indoor dirt, come over to Maxsel RC Raceway in Muncie IN. 90x60 clay track with no support beams in the track, it is wide open! Club racing every Tuesday and Friday night for 1/10 and Saturday for 1/8 electric.

You probably already know some of the guys that run at Maxsel. PM if you want more info.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

That doesn't necessarily mean people like carpet. It might be the only viable option in their area.

Bingo.

DarthDad

been wanting to stop by and check it out

Horatio

Yes, perhaps not their preferred choice [as per thread title] - but liked enough to warrant the outlay on a carpet specific buggy to suit the available clubs or the time of year.


If all else fails, yes - we can all go to bingo instead!! ​​​​​​​

Horatio

I would love to give it a go, but there's this big pond between us.

woofenstein

If you ever have the chance to check out Hobby Action in Chandler, AZ it's a great track. About a 1/4 to 1/3 larger than SDRC and while not technically clay (they don't call it that, it's some dirt/clay composite) it's basically a clay track. They held the IFMAR Worlds there this past September.

SDRC is lovelg, wish I didn't live so far away. I try to make it there for the occasional practice session though. I've been focusing on on-road recently but I'm going to try and start making it down there at some point. Gas prices are insane.

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

We got an RV over COVID and started doing more travel and I make it a point to do at least 1-2 club races on the road, but unfortunately the gas prices west of Texas have kept our RV away, we've been spending most of our time in the deep south where gas prices are reasonable.


Hobby Action is on my list of tracks to visit, normally we take Hwy 8 into San Diego but trying to convince my wife that we need to check out potential retirement property near Surprise and then mention, "hey there happens to be a race track nearby"... LOL


The 1/10 program in my area is dead, in fact they recently removed the covered turf track due to lack of interest. Everyone's running 1/8 dirt... they used to have a 1/10 clay track out here and that program was more popular than the 1/8 track, then 1/10 died a miserable death after they switched from clay to turf

Zerodefect

Carpet/turf is the only viable option for 1/10th scale.

The quality of racing those classes has been circling the drain for a decade now. Carpet is the only thing saving it.

We're still at critical mass, with stock hole blinky 21.5 nonsense. Carpet onroad has the same struggle. Hopefully solutions are found.

Zerodefect

Consider yourself lucky.

1/10th racers, around here, have been real slow at accepting that for real dirt racing, 1/8th scale is 1000 times better in every single way.

I want to go the slide in camper route. But have done the math. Numbers don't work unless I spend 21 days a year in a hotel. I'm not traveling that much, yet.

Horatio

1/8th buggies and truggies are in that sweet spot where they're big enough to handle blown out tracks, bumps and rough stuff and yet still light enough to be nimble.

I don't think I'd be able to race 1/8th anything indoors though - not in Blighty (with the exception of Harper Adams).

Zerodefect

No real 1/8th indoors.

Winter is carpet season here.

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

Yeah, 1/8 is better in many aspects, especially when they water the track, but tire costs are significantly higher, especially running 1/8 truggy. Main reason 1/10 had higher turnout was because you could get 2-3 race days on a set of tires where 1/8 would only get 1 race day on dry blue groove. Once they started watering the 1/8 track and folks were getting 6-8 race days on a set of tires then interest in 1/10 faded.

Not all RV's are the same but our Class A gasser was purchased for $80K used, it was 4 years old at the time we bought it where it was $100K new for the original owner and we're seeing a trend that it depreciates at about $5K/yr. Average hotels are in the $120/night range and average cost to run generator is about $30/day so the difference is roughly $90/night and the breakeven on the depreciation is $5,000/$90 = 56 nights

This past racing season I used the RV 32 nights for RC race events and 36 nights for family travel so we're slightly ahead of the game on recouping the depreciation. If my wife gets to a point where she no longer wants to travel in the RV then I can't justify keeping it unless I attend more big race events. It's a different mindset, but I can't emphasize how nice it is to go inside and lay down on the bed to stream TV while waiting 2+ hours for the next race.. you can't really do that with a pit trailer. In the winter time I plan to start taking the RV to single day club races when it gets cold so I have a place to stay warm between rounds. In Texas we race year round but often see highs in the mid 30's to 40's where having an enclosed space with heat would be nice. Also toying with the idea of investing in a popup with walls and run an electric space heater from a small generator which may prove to be more economical/convenient for 1 day events.

woofenstein

The impetus here in OC was the closing of OCRC and the insane commercial property rental costs that make opening up new indoor tracks very hard to make financially feasible. Huckleberry RC filled the off road need when there was literally nowhere else to go.

At Huckleberry RC they have started running 1/10 buggy as well alongside 1/8 buggy and truggy, and SCTs. But yeah, for the true visceral dirt racing experience the 1/8 buggies give it to you with the increased power and weight/grip, especially truggy which is just a whole other ballgame compared to anything 1/10 scale.

The 1/10 buggy class gets quite a few entries though, a bunch of the 1/8 guys there were OCRC locals and pulled out their 1/10 scales again. It's been fun.

jiml

iTrader: (3)

Are you talking 1/8 electric or nitro?

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

nItRo is the glory but electric pays the bills