Originally Posted by Danny/SMC
ROAR, EFRA and IFMAR all need to work together and make the same changes.
I think 5 cell is a great idea and will bring the speeds down to where they were 2 years ago. Racing isn't always about speed. Look at the results in Cleveland this weekend and you will see that the fast 19t guys will run faster than the average mod guys. So the extra power of a 7 turn doesn't mean your going faster unless your car or driving can handle it. So speed isn't always the solution.
In another few years if cell or motor technology keeps improving then 4 cell can be considered then. But for now the logical step would be 5 cell.
Racing is ALWAYS about speed, fastest from point A to point B, first guy to cross the line. The HOBBY on the other hand is not always about speed. I think people tend to confuse those.
The reason that some people go faster with 19t is NOW, finally,
anybody has the batterys, tires, chassis, to simply go as fast as they are capable. You no longer need the fastest motor to turn the fastest laps. How great is it that people finally have more power than they can use and have to make motor decisions to turn quicker lap times. THAT'S AWESOME!!!
And when I say "anybody", maybe I should correct that to
exclude the top 100 US drivers and national and world champions, and change "anybody" to "EVERYBODY" has more battery than they need. It's a great time to be the average club racer right now. You can go as fast as you can keep it between the boards. And come back with battery to spare.
The gas tank on your car (battery) is finally full and useable. Now you have to make decisions on your motor and the track. COURSE MANAGEMENT!
Let the smart drivers win, not the ones with the biggest wallets.
Making a change like this is not as simple as simply losing 1 or 2 cells and putting the car back on the track. Racing is about going fast. Except NOW you have less power avaiable to go fast.
Motors will be re-designed, speedo's, chargers, discharge equipment, chassis and all the goods that we use to make cars fast
will be re-designed to compensate for the loss in voltage, so IRONICALLY, we can get the car to go as fast
AS IT WAS!!!
Interestingly enough, we make a living on supplying parts, you'd THINK I personally would be for a change like this. We get to sell and supply more parts. I wonder why I'm against it?
I think it's that it's being rammed down all our throats is the problem.
I say this, if 5 cell is better, simply make it legal to run 5 cell, make it legal, RIGHT NOW. Just like in the old days of off-road, you could run 6 or 7 cell, knock yourself out, MOD IS MOD. If 5 or 4 cell can be made as fast or faster, guess what, the racers will find this useful and do it. But don't replace the rules with ONLY 5 cell. Let racers make the choice. It will likely have the same effect as the fast guys turning mod times with 19t motors. COURSE MANAGEMENT.
And because I saved the weight of the cell (now 5 instead of 6), I'm gonna finally run a receiver pack, and another fan, and maybe some telemetry.... Yea, it's gonna make it a lot cheaper and easier. I can run a newly designed "double speedo" with bigger and twice the fets, sure, it's twice the weight, but who cares, I saved that weight when I lost the cell (and now I have the room too), so I'm back to even. Bigger better speedo, and no weight disadvantage... Yea, not gonna cost anybody any money....
Don't thing for a second that any motor manufacturer in our industry, isn't at this very second thinking about how to build a 5 cell specific line of touring car motors.
Make no mistake, the slowest classes will pay the biggest price. You thought stock was a battery problem when the cars were reasonably fast? See what happens when you pull a few cells out of the equation.