Originally posted by RC Professor
I will be getting into 12th scale racing soon, and I have a general observation of all 12th scales that I am curious about. Every 12th scale that I know of uses a fiberglass antenna tube (I guess in this case a rod). Is there a reason nobody uses a plastic tube like all other RC scales? The only reason I can think of is that a non-rigid antenna tube may cause handling and performance problems when these cars are at speed. I know this is a general rookie question here, but I'm interested in the reason.
Thanks
The ridgid antenna is called a "roll-over" antenna. The name is self-explanitory, but it will keep your car on 4 wheels after a roll-over 90% of the time.
They were discovered by accident; way back when 1/12th was the only electric on-road class, some guys at a big race were having glitching problems. A few racers tried attaching long pieces of piano wire to their antennas to make them longer, and subsequently discovered the advantages of the "roll-over" antenna.