Originally Posted by
Darkseid
The fact is that there are A LOT of people who have actually run LiPo, seen the benefits, feel that running NiMH is just fighting change for the sake of fighting change, and will not go back to NiMH. So they are simply locked out of a this class until a bunch of old schoolers decide that LiPo has been "figured out"? Its time to stop pretending like Lipo is some kind of 'weird science' or something. The batteries work, they work better than NiMH, and its time to stop locking them out of classes. We went through this EXACT same crap with NiCD and NiMH and look how that turned out. Change happened anyway, no matter how people fought it, and the same will happen with NiMH and LiPo.
It's a mistake to assert that the majority of those of us looking at this class, or running it, are unfamiliar with the virtues of lipo batteries. I run them in my sedans and find them to be everything you describe. They are truly a "power revolution."
But, unless you've run 1/12th scale or some other breed of road course pan, it's hard to appreciate the importance of the voltage issue in these cars. Unless you are running on a really large track with wide lanes, any 7+ volt battery, whether lipo or NiMH is simply too much to handle for most of us. And unfortunately, the higher wind brushless motors, ie. 17.5 and 21.5 are a pain to gear correctly. The 17.5 is doable, but the 21.5 has so much torque it literally may call for an inverted ratio. This makes it additionally difficult to dial in gearing for tire diameter and track layout. I've squeezed the trigger on a lipo/17.5 200mm pan car. It was a missile! Sort of a thrill, to be sure. But nothing I would want to race.
NiMH, while "old tech" continues to have advantages in certain racing applications. The weight is actually a blessing in some cars. But more importantly, the obvious, easily teched voltage levels we can hit by simply adding or removing cells continues to be their main argument. And while you'll get no argument from me that the IB4200's were a disaster, I continue to run NiMH batteries that are durable and perform well. Are they as convenient as a single lipo? No. But not wanting to make perfect the enemy of the good, they're not bad, either.
The 4-cell/13.5 combo Scotty and Co. came to rest on for the IIC clearly showed their thoughtfulness and it deserves to be the standard for the class going forward. I guarantee they took all the lipo/NiMH/Brushed/Brushless debate into account. They made a good decision.