Originally Posted by celt

It's more than a lot of fun...I genuinely believe that this class or one similar to it, is needed for on-road to remain viable.

On-road killing it anywhere in the states?

Some of us are still holding on to the same attitudes that caused the decline of on-road more than a decade ago or thereabouts. Not intentionally I don't think, but the result the same, and, I can see the same narrative alive in this thread today. I was a part of that crowd, in the middle of it, watched it happen, perhaps a part of the problem myself. This is maybe a confession of sorts...but if you guys don't identify with what I'm saying, your lying to yourself - you know who you are. Best start looking beyond the edge of your own pit-space and start taking these actions to a logical conclusion. I doubt your local club racing scene is much different than my own. Look around your pits...same eight guys I bet, same eight guys you've been racing with for years. Maybe one or two new faces, but not much more than that right?

Yeah...no one wants to race with you, you're too hardcore.

Let me qualify that observation: where does the new guy land? Where do potential new racers go? Someone pops in on your personal sandbox and wants to race...where do you direct them? Going to give them a 1/12 foam car to start with? Uhhh, not hardly. How about one of those sexy $600.00 touring cars? Get serious. You used to have Tamiya Mini racing, but the "hardcore" crowd berated those guys to the point of not showing up anymore. Trial by fire right? Spend a couple $K and see if you like it and us, then you're in? How's that working for club attendance?

Ya buddy...it may not be much, but we have our own thing right here, just the way the eight of us like it...the same eight guys for the last ten years right? Track owner can't float that forever. Track either closes outright, or, like many have done, converts to off-road. Voila!, attendance comes back to something reasonable.

Simple solution...give those wanting to, or considering getting into our favorite hobby, a place to go and learn, without dealing with the "hardcore" costs, learning curve and attitudes. Not suggesting they need to waste their money on a Tyco, but this is why I think a class like WGT-R (1/10 rubber tire pancar) is so potentially important. This thread? 1/12 scale rubber...little smaller, same discussion. A quality pancar running rubber tires is an awesome place to learn all those things we all learned years ago, while learning on a nice chassis that can grow with their needs and abilities. Still wanna be hardcore? Do that...run 1/12 with the tires cut down to the plastic. I dig it, nothing quite like it. Touring car? Sure! Pro10 235mm pancar? No you're talking!

We won't be around forever, on-road needs to find a place for new racers to go. We aren't doing that very effectively now, and the proof is in the pits - same eight guys...



We've done that exact thing. 13.5 with a fair amount of traction work beautifully. Modern CRC carpet and I suspect you'll like it. We switch back to 17.5 during the winter months, because we share the rug with off-road and they pull up our groove. It's like driving on a green track every Sunday. More than that, we are on old school gray ozite - a bit slick when green and cold for 13.5.

What more can I say...WGT-R or any pancar class with rubber tires is awesome! I can hardly take anyone's criticism seriously unless you've tried it. As others have stated, it is a far better experience than you would imagine. Killer run time, low maintenance, low cost, cool body selection. I defy you to find closer racing - two seconds covers the top five or six in qualifying. The mains are almost always decided in the very last turn. Even the hardcore types can get excited over that.

If you're not doing WGT-R, you're not doing it right.