Is the hobby really going down?
#91
Tech Master
iTrader: (28)
I'm sure people that have raced at least over 7 years will agree with this. Racing has gone out of control and has been less inviting to new comers.
Just try to remember a typical pit area from 7 years ago. It consisted of your car 2 battery packs and a charger. The hard core guys had bulb type discharges and nobody cut comms at the track. lol
Fast forward to current times and you got guys with a power station two charges, pulse dischargers, equalizers, car stand hacco iron, motor station, with every ones heads down baby sitting batteries and cutting motors for a freaking club race thats so dilluted with three classes of each chasis so we end up with 20 heats with 3 to 7 cars per heat.
Keep it simple guys, I understand this mentallity at the big races but this is still a hobby and from a by standers view point most don't look like they are having fun.....
Another point is stop trying to save the hobby and just have fun. I used to worry about all that crap, I just pretty much race when I want to and just make sure that i'm having fun when I do decide to go out and race for the day.
Just try to remember a typical pit area from 7 years ago. It consisted of your car 2 battery packs and a charger. The hard core guys had bulb type discharges and nobody cut comms at the track. lol
Fast forward to current times and you got guys with a power station two charges, pulse dischargers, equalizers, car stand hacco iron, motor station, with every ones heads down baby sitting batteries and cutting motors for a freaking club race thats so dilluted with three classes of each chasis so we end up with 20 heats with 3 to 7 cars per heat.
Keep it simple guys, I understand this mentallity at the big races but this is still a hobby and from a by standers view point most don't look like they are having fun.....
Another point is stop trying to save the hobby and just have fun. I used to worry about all that crap, I just pretty much race when I want to and just make sure that i'm having fun when I do decide to go out and race for the day.
This is also why I love my LiPo Brushless stuff! I am back to 2 batteries and no lathes or discharge equipment! More time to hang out and have fun in the pits with your friends at a race. Who wants to babysit batteries and cut motors all day?! I also think it is watered down with waaaay too many classes. What ever happened to just 2wd and 4wd stock and mod? None of this Junior, Senior, Master, Stock, 19T, Mod for all three...it's stupid. It is a hobby for all ages, there is no need to split it all up.
#93
Tech Master
iTrader: (28)
Do you know how much of a performance difference there can be from one 540 to the next? Get a bum motor and you are done. Forget about the million different ways to "tweak" them. Less ways to cheat with an open mod class.
#94
Tech Fanatic
iTrader: (1)
There is NEVER anything stock in the stock class....
Do you know how much of a performance difference there can be from one 540 to the next? Get a bum motor and you are done. Forget about the million different ways to "tweak" them. Less ways to cheat with an open mod class.
Do you know how much of a performance difference there can be from one 540 to the next? Get a bum motor and you are done. Forget about the million different ways to "tweak" them. Less ways to cheat with an open mod class.
then thats just crazy. Whats the point of cheating if you are not playing the same rules.
There isnt that many ways to tweak with a 540. even if you try and waste your time tweaking it. it wont last and you just have to buy a new motor anyway. But all of the tweaking dosent cost money. A 540 cost something like $13.00. You have to waste a bunch of 540`s before you can even cover the cost of com lathe. Or a machine wound Mod motor. Forget about a Hand wound mod. Oh and you need a super speed control now because that stock speed control is now roasted.
So by the time you are running a Mod Motor, Super Speed control, there is no point without a super 4300 battery and you need three of these,plus your little cheap battery charger that does just fine with a 1500 pack is garbage now. So how much is a brushless set up anyway,About the same price as a complete RTR truck, buggy thing or more expensive that a kit.
So you are just going fast enough now to hit the walls harder and break all the little plastic bits that much faster.
But the guys in the stock class are learning how to drive instead of spending money.
And for about the cost of a Playstation Little john can drive his car and slowly learn how to drive and up grade to a better car if his gets fazed out as there really isnt any car that much better than a RC10 from 1984. So just about anything hes buys is just a RC10 Copy anyway.
Another thing that is killing RC racing is cars that look like Space Machines.
Truggies are stupid. Why not a Staduim truck,you know something that looks like a truck. Not a melted truck with ballons for tires. 1/8th Nitro cars have more scale to them than buggies do these days. Even Tamiya got suckered in with the 501X.
OK im done ranting. Now i will dodge the arrows
#95
Stock is a dieing class....
#96
Tech Fanatic
iTrader: (1)
24t Stock or whatever its called is stupid.
Im talking 540 Siver can stock. Kill that off and you are shooting yourself in the foot. How many people have slot car tracks in there town? Better yet how many in the State? Its most likely about the same as how many RC circuts you got. So that dead horse is allways around for youto look at.
dosent matter as everybody is buying drift cars anyway and haveing a ball in the parking lot. Wait thats what RC racing used to be like, Having fun.
Not com lathes and silly little brushless systems that cost twice the price of a car.
Get Lipo`s and brushless systems uner $50.00 each and they are a good idea. Other than that Little John and his Dad will most likely stay away from your little racing circut.
Im talking 540 Siver can stock. Kill that off and you are shooting yourself in the foot. How many people have slot car tracks in there town? Better yet how many in the State? Its most likely about the same as how many RC circuts you got. So that dead horse is allways around for youto look at.
dosent matter as everybody is buying drift cars anyway and haveing a ball in the parking lot. Wait thats what RC racing used to be like, Having fun.
Not com lathes and silly little brushless systems that cost twice the price of a car.
Get Lipo`s and brushless systems uner $50.00 each and they are a good idea. Other than that Little John and his Dad will most likely stay away from your little racing circut.
#97
Tech Addict
As a track owner and an observer with a fairly good novice turn out every week, I also would love to see something different offered. And I agree that a sealed 540 motor and a spec 2400 pack would probably be ideal for beginners. But it would only work if the manufacturers supported it by putting this in the RTRs instead of the bunk mods they do now.
I don't think theres anything wrong with the stock class as it stands. Although if the batteries and motors hadn't progressed like they have I believe a lot more people would run mod. At least in my area. Once upon a time there was a couple lap per race difference between the two. Now they are very close.
I DO NOT feel in any way that lipo and brushless is killing electric. When the technologies catch on they will offer faster and more lengthy racing at a more affordable cost.
I don't think theres anything wrong with the stock class as it stands. Although if the batteries and motors hadn't progressed like they have I believe a lot more people would run mod. At least in my area. Once upon a time there was a couple lap per race difference between the two. Now they are very close.
I DO NOT feel in any way that lipo and brushless is killing electric. When the technologies catch on they will offer faster and more lengthy racing at a more affordable cost.
#98
If costs are why racer`s are not racing , why then is everyone racing 1/8th`s that cost way more money to purchase and race ?
Just showing you theres a big hole in your theory....
Just showing you theres a big hole in your theory....
#100
Tech Adept
I am Little John's Dad. I currently have 7 racing r/c vehicles going in a family of 7 people.
Dad:
see signature
Mom:
T4 with Nokak GTB 13.5ss and 3200 Orion Lipo
Son: (lil John)
B4 with Novak GTB 13.5ss and 5000 Racers Edge Lipo
Daughter:
T4, rtr no upgrades as of yet until out of novice
Son:
T4, rtr no upgrades as of yet until out of novice, or at least until he turns 6. rofl
point is, your theory doesnt hold water either. I am not alone even at my own track. there is another Dad and Little John there, each running a B4, T4, and BJ4we's... all brushless.
#101
I believe the biggest detriment to the RC HOBBY/SPORT in the last 20 years is lack of support of the LOCAL HOBBY SHOP. As a former Hobby Shop owner I can tell you the mark up on RC is pathetic. That RTR that some kid just walked out the door with including decent required gear whether it's Nitro or Electric nets the owner maybe $50 over what he paid for it.
People think the profit is made from the purchase of replacement parts and tires and where this is true, even this margin has only dropped over the years.
With people able to buy mail order or on the internet the cars and high end components for nitro or electric cars for $20 more than a retailer pays for them it is tough to compete.
Don’t get me started that the two largest RC distributors in the WORLD are also the LHS competition (Great Planes/Horizon) Hell they even buy the RC car companies as well.
NO LHS = NO HOBBY/SPORT
All I am saying is the next time you need that Anodized-Hand wound-Matched-Titanium Doo Hickey and your LHS has it for $20 bucks more than mail order rather than breaking "John Does Shop Owners" chops that it's cheaper here or there remember how "John Doe" is there to help you when you have a problem, that they are there so you can have your part "Right now" for the most part and not have to wait a week to get it.
As far as electric racing goes I strongly believe that brushless and Lipo is the ONLY future for RC. This is not a statement of preference but the fact that as it gains a larger user base the cost of manufacturing and retailing it will be cheaper and it is simply superior technology to brushed and NIMH.
When’s the last time someone bought a high end NICD pack or a mechanical speed control? So will be the fate of NIMH and brushed motors. I am not saying this is going to happen tomorrow or the next year but it is going to happen.
People think the profit is made from the purchase of replacement parts and tires and where this is true, even this margin has only dropped over the years.
With people able to buy mail order or on the internet the cars and high end components for nitro or electric cars for $20 more than a retailer pays for them it is tough to compete.
Don’t get me started that the two largest RC distributors in the WORLD are also the LHS competition (Great Planes/Horizon) Hell they even buy the RC car companies as well.
NO LHS = NO HOBBY/SPORT
All I am saying is the next time you need that Anodized-Hand wound-Matched-Titanium Doo Hickey and your LHS has it for $20 bucks more than mail order rather than breaking "John Does Shop Owners" chops that it's cheaper here or there remember how "John Doe" is there to help you when you have a problem, that they are there so you can have your part "Right now" for the most part and not have to wait a week to get it.
As far as electric racing goes I strongly believe that brushless and Lipo is the ONLY future for RC. This is not a statement of preference but the fact that as it gains a larger user base the cost of manufacturing and retailing it will be cheaper and it is simply superior technology to brushed and NIMH.
When’s the last time someone bought a high end NICD pack or a mechanical speed control? So will be the fate of NIMH and brushed motors. I am not saying this is going to happen tomorrow or the next year but it is going to happen.
#102
Sorry was a double post
#103
i think it goes in waves but its bigger then BMX so im happy
#105
The hobby has never been more accessible to the newcomer, alot easier to be competive now days, with improvements such as control tyres, brushless motors, battery capacity and internet chat rooms to share advice....