Originally Posted by
Fred Hubbard
+1 You are absolutely correct PERIOD!!! This is the essence of what I was saying a few pages back, that there will be some who will try in some way, form and/or fashion to diminish the performance of this particular car instead of just accepting it as a viable competitor. Naysayers: "The car was only competitive because it was Hara's home track and it was built to run on that track" Real Talk: "BS, each manufacturer choose there own destiny by how much or litte time/development they put into being competitive." All I gotta say is stop bitchin' and SACK UP to everyone still talkin' that drama!!!
I'm putting together a video with the footage my son bought back from the worlds. As he is an Atsushi Hara fan, there's a LOT of the HB car with Atsushi at the wheel. Whether it's Hara devouring Pietsch's Mugen or him with open space, the car is amazing in the corners and change of direction, you can put it down to the driver or track knowledge but the car has to be able to deliver the results and from what I saw, it seemed to carry it's "reliability" to the finish and finished up there in the rankings.
If the car wasnt up to scratch one of the top drivers would have struggled and exposed any flaws, as it happens, it didnt faulter and there's no evidence that it isnt a world class car, as the results speak for themselves.
That's not to say, the capricorn, the KM, the xray arent good, even Shimo put on a great performance for Hyosho, but there's no way anyone could claim the HB is over rated by just looking at it. There were several top drivers on the team and they all performed well, so it's not only the driver either.
Expensive, so it should be with titanium, hard coated alloys and race spec components.
We all know the saying... In the right hands.... If you don't have one in your hands and drive it, perhaps the negativity is a little too "dramatic" as Fred said. The reality is that even if Atsushi Hara hopped on the thread and told us why it WAS good, some would accuse him of team propaganda, so it's a lose lose in that situation.
Nothing can take away from HB what I'm seeing on my screen. Bravo to HPI for coming up with a car, taking it to a World Championship on it's maiden outing and performing like it did!
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