Originally Posted by
Jspeed
I wouldn’t be so hard on the R/C companies; for the most part they’re all doing a great job creating incredible race cars, parts and fuel for us racers.
All of us at RC Pro Series, appreciate all the manufacturers, distributors and hobby shops that help support our sanctioning body, events and our crazy radical ideas. Thank you all very much!
I am not being hard, really. I am saying that many have abandoned the budget racer which is the market you are trying to attract. With the rising cost of gas, food, homes, cars, etc, r/c has to compete for the very few extra dollars that can be spent on "luxuries" from most households. When you can buy a $200 bike, $100 skateboard, $75 set of rollerblades, $400 Wii w/ about 4 games, or a $800 to $1500 r/c race package, which one would you or your parents choose. The lifecycle of the first three are very long so many think that the money is well spent there. R/C cars seem to outdate themselves faster than game systems so you get the picture. If you do like Xray and Serpent, come out with a new car every 6 months, have very few interchangable parts between the old car and the new car, discontinue parts production for the old car to make parts for the new car, again, you get the picture. Kyosho has the right idea with the Inferno GT. If you want the fleeing dollars from the dwindling consumer market, you have to produce a couple of products that fit into that budget niche or your consumers will look elsewhere.