Pooh. Your absolutely right. Great showing for novarossi / shepherd/ desoto at the worlds. You did those companies well !! One of your home tracks and layed it down !!! Great bump from the 256 to the 128. Keep it up. Phil

Thanks Phil,

Bumping from the 128 to the 64th was fun!!! I'm glad I was able to afford to go to the worlds. I know there were a lot guys who couldn't afford with the cost of tires and engines being so high.

Also, Good showing of you guys at Mugen North East at the worlds as well, I mean pre worlds.

You must remember that "cheap" tires going by the initial retail price are not always the cheapest tires in cost. Lower cost tires will have plastic rims that may not stay round through the complete wear of the foam especially during summer months. Their rims can break easily and the foam rubber can chunk easily. Lastly these so called cheap tires generally don't have a long wear wear time.

Of course I am partial to GQ tires because they are and have been the best quality tire on the market for the past 20 years. (Years not months..lol) Our plastic won't go out of round, you will have one hell of a time breaking them and most important our foam rubber will last longer than the cheap tires.

If you get 3 heats or more out of good tires and two heats (or less) out of cheap tires, were the cheap tires a good deal? If the tire chunks and you still have foam left on the tire, was the cheap tire a good deal? If you rim cracks on a glancing hit on the boards first time out on the tires, was the cheap tires a good deal?

There are a lot of tires to choose from in the RC Market. Just like everything else in this world, there is always cheaper! But cheaper may not be cheaper! Ask other racers at the track what they are using. Watch and see who is cracking rims or always needing another set of tires and not getting long wear. Find the better tire to use. The better tire may cost a few dollars more initially, however that tire will be cheaper in the end!!!!

Regarding the original poster's comment about engine prices, while there are some engines which are in the 700+ range, or even in the $500+ range and rising each year, there are also some very good engines in the $400 and under range.

The price is tires is kinda high but you gotta look at the Fun it is to drive one of these cars.The prices for tires have really been high ever since for the person buying from a hobby shop.I really have not seen a change in prices in the last nine years. Tires for sedan are really cheap,but they are not driving a 1/8. I knew getting into 1/8 that the tires cost is a factor considering really one set only last about 25 min of hard racing in a main. The price of motors has always been high,that is why 1/8 on road is the F-1 of r/c. A lot of my friends would like to drive 1/8 but simple cant afford to do it .At the end of a w/e of racing weather it was good or bad i just smile and say thats the price it costs to race the best class of racing for all of r/c. I race this class about 8 or 9 times a year. If some companys could come up with an alternative to what we are using now they would make Millions""

I agree that the price of on road engines is ridiculous I also agree that the reason for it is that so many are willing to pay for it. Money spent on R&D can't be that much of they're budget. Every time there's a new on road crank, it's funny how the new off road crank looks very similar but without all the fancy cuts. New on road = $600+...........New Off road = $289.00-$349.00. Doesn't seem right, but as long as we keep buying them the prices will stay the same.

Guys, some of you may have been around 1/8 onroad in the early nineties so you would remember how expensive tires and engines were back then (at least in Australia), not to mention the price of the car kit!!!
Now coming back to rc 17 years later i have really been surprised that the majority of items are actually quite a bit cheaper now than back then. Not too many things in this world get less expensive over nearly 20 years!

The market for any goods or service will dictates price...it is really that simple.

This was pretty much my point. On the motor side.

Agree. I ran a stock kangaroo last season at my local track and did fine. I'm runnin a xl7 this season locally which is plenty fast as well.

Was only referring to this year compared to last year.

a perfect example is grp. These were like 22-23 a set last season. Now 25-27.

Even online they are misc brands 14-15 fronts. And 17-up for rears.

Never said I couldn't afford or didn't know what I wanted to use. Just commenting on the increase in price. All brands. Grp. Kyosho. Ennetti. Contact. Zac. Etc

On the tires you guys have to look at the Euro. Right now it is pretty high, I think around 1.45. So that really effects the end price of tires for American's. Most of the company's bring in tires have to pay in euro's

I can tell you at RCAmerica we bring in the SRC line of tires, which are made by Ennetti and we cut it close on the profit margin, just so we can keep the cost down to the racer. So needless to say we don't make a whole lot of money on the tires.

I also know the price of foam from Japan has went up in the last 2 years. I think somewhere to the tune of 2 years ago you can get a container for around 50,000 and now that same container cost 80,000 to 85,000. I think this and the euro is why you see the price they way the are.

Thanks Drew

thanks drew makes sense. Nice job at the worlds. With the new car Ralh was looking awesome before the mishap. See you in Chaplin.

Tyres are the least of our worries.................Novarossi is having everyones pants down in 2011.......