You can always find a parking lot

And if some Mini-Z shop makes such a movie it will give totally other results. Also keep in mind that although shops have a wide range of brands they do not offer all products or like to sell one or 2 brands better than all others due several reasons. And do not forget per country it can also be different.

You mean, different people are going to have different opinions?

Watching and re-watching the Amain 'Top 20' compiled a track/no track list in keeping with this thread subject.

Nine were crawlers. Eight (8) no track and one (1) comp, e.g. 'track' crawler.
Seven (7) came in as no track.
Five (5) came in as "track capable, although only two were shown actually on a track. One crawler and one buggy.
So, at least as I interpret the vid, two out of the twenty came in as RC track candidates. That leaves eighteen non-track runners. That's what 10% of the Top 20 sales are 'Track Racers'?

Sort of defines where the hobby is right now and perhaps one of the reasons tracks are falling out of favor? Realize it's a small slice of the hobby sales, but is it representative of the current trend? -AC

idk why that list would strike us as a new revelation. iv been around sense the early 90's and that's always been the case. the only difference i see is that its become increasingly difficult to bash a race car (cost, support, shelf life, kit complexity, etc). so the option of buying one car and both bashing and racing it is going out the window. its created a divide between what a racer is and what a basher is, and what we used to call "casual racers" are becoming fewer and fewer in numbers. not to mention the vaster styles of cars today. 25 years ago monster trucks were slow and didn't jump well. most bashers were running stadium trucks and 2wd buggies. if you're running the same truck or buggy as the racers then you have the ability to race. it's why short course was so popular and track attendance boomed during the fad. the trucks were both raceable and bashable and bashers were going to race tracks because of it. now short course racing has become a serious thing and the trucks are just variants the buggy/stadium truck platforms making them a more expensive, more complex, and less bashable and interest/attendance has fallen off. iv been around long enough to see this happen with touring cars, nitro monster trucks, and short course. nature of the beast, as soon as something gets serious most people loose interest or get pushed out by people who take it serious.

This has the potential to reignite on road racing.

Team Associated TC8

no it doesn't. a new TC8 would be to expensive, to complex, to technologically advanced and to track focused to appeal to non TC racers. and the body's shown aren't going to garner any interest from anyone not already racing TC's. so the only people who are going to be interested in a new TC8 are people already racing TC's.

You speak as if you've already seen the TC8, which I doubt you have, so everything you just stated are your assumptions and there is no factual information currently available to back your assumptions up. For all we know Associated is going to release an RTR version of this car and maybe it's possible that Associated took a look at what Tamiya did with the TA08, which is a very capable track car and also inexpensive and decided to release something that competes with it. It's possible that Associated isn't going after the high end market. The expensive cars don't bring people into the hobby, but affordable RTR's do.

We gotta fix this first. I used to think more classes sounded like a good idea. I now see it not. If associated gets back in to on road. Can’t really hurt. Help, not sure. Is another $600+ Touring car really gonna get someone to jump in. Or just get former drivers to switch back.

I agree a $600+ touring car isn't going to get anyone to jump back in, but an RTR and/or an inexpensive kit would. I think you nailed it when you said the only thing a $600 TC would accomplish is getting old users back in the Associated ecosystem.

I also agree, the amount of classes is probably another one of On-Roads downfalls. Off Road has pretty much had the same classes for decades. For whatever reason the fad classes always seem to be On Road focused. Before the fad classes became a thing, On-Road was very similar to Off-Road class wise. You had Touring Car Stock and Mod and that was broken down into Rookie, Sportsman, and Expert and 1/12th Stock and Mod broken down the same way. Around TCS in my area they would run those classes, but other than that it was just those 2 classes.

I would love to dive into a new TC8 (still have a TC4 that I run occasionally) IF a local-ish track would run a consistent TC class. I could technically drive 2 hours each way to race TC in the summer, but I would rather do other things with my time in the summer. No one really runs much indoor on-road around me. As I mentioned my local shop is 1/28th heavy now and that was my outlet for at least Tt-02 and Euro Truck on road racing, so without a guaranteed venue with consistent weekly racing options for TC, there is no way I am sinking $1000+ into a new TC rig.....

For me it looks like the clay off road all winter as well as possibly dabbling in dirt oval on the same clay as they swap out some moveable jumps for the oval course in the winter. They are running a Losi Nascar class, of which I picked one up.....gateway drug to oval possibly......

So Traxxas just announced something that may bring bashers into Off Road Racing. I can't remember if it was this thread or another where I made the comment that I think it would be funny if Traxxas released an RTR 1/8th scale buggy that could compete/beat a high dollar buggy and of course people laughed and said that would never happen. Well guess what, Traxxas just remade the 4x4 Jato into an 1/8th scale buggy. I'll take a green one Traxxas.

https://traxxas.com/products/landing/jato-4x4-vxl/

No RTR onroad will make people go to the tracks. All kids today start with offroad because you can drop it everywhere and run it. Look at speedruns, many use a buggy because that is what they have or what they know while a lighter onroad chassis seems to me the better choice for a speedrun.

I agree with el_rando - another car in the market that's just more of the same isn't going to do or change anything. And the likelihood of a TC8 rtr is pretty low - go take a look at AE's current RTR offerings. Not a single one based on their current TOTL racers. They've clearly given up on trying to sell cheapened race kits as RTRs, likely because it's a weird middle ground product that isn't the kind of car that racers want nor is it the kind of car bashers want.

And the new 4s jato is a terrible choice for a track car. Look at that price - $530 for what's basically a slash 4x4? For $360 you can get a Corally Syncro 4 - that's an actual 1/8 buggy platform. For $500 you can get a Typhon 6s. Again, actual 1/8 buggy platform. Both of these cars are better starting points for someone looking to get into 1/8 racing and cheaper to boot.

How did the TRL tuned Typhoon do for 1:8? I’ve seen videos, but did it actually bring new to 1/8. My guess is not really.