Wild Cherry

Years ago the the team concept of marketing R/c seem a requirement necessary to sell r/c car kits...
Today this has change , no longer is it "win & sell" ...

Now having just a few team driver`s as possible to promote prime market area`s in the country`s R/c market is all that is necessary...




The old way, was to employ as many team driver`s as possible to dominate and win the big events..
This is expensive and not profitable today...
Winning a big race just does not sell as many car`s as it use too....

scott54

iTrader: (5)

I'm obviously not a team driver but I disagree with the potential impact of team drivers. ESPECIALLY in this case. Let's say Losi does step out of RC Racing... That leaves Associated as the ONLY manufacturer producing a stadium truck worthy of racing... Yeah, there's going to be people that pipe up and say what about this truck, or what about this truck..... But whatever manufacturer beats a T4 at a big race is going to sell a LOT of trucks from guess who....... the deserted Losi die hards that refuse to by a T4!! Therefore, whoever does step into this market, whether it's Hotbodies, Kyosho, or whoever, it's going to be VERY important for them to be represented at the big races.

Nay0k

iTrader: (1)

Just a thought - considering Japan is doing better than the U.S. financially and when you consider the exchange rates...it gets pretty expensive, so I agree with scrubnick. Don't know why they wouldn't send guys to the onroad nationals. Hopefully TL is just focusing highly on their 1/8 offroad endeavors this year. They have a good company with quality cars but their distributor sucks unfortunately.

mugenlife

iTrader: (4)

funny thing about that is you guys are trying to make something out of nothing. if the 2 parties arent fighting over anything and are happy with the outcome (the people who made/designed the car/coming out with the new) why do people try to make drama of it? hmmmm.does this infact change anything about the cars? last time i checked the xxx-cr was newer than a b4, the mf2 can still win races and the losi 4 wheel drives were still popular..... maybe losi has a reason maybe they are switching gears to nitro who knows last i knew people raced cars they liked not because it won a roar or ifmar championship.......

theanimaleide

iTrader: (10)

i agree with him, and also last i heard there was going 2wd week and 4wd week, so it would cost 3 grand to send one guy

thefnshow

iTrader: (32)

the worlds are once every 2 years...they can splurge and send a team

Jack Smash

iTrader: (35)

Doesnt Losi only have 1 2wd world championship after 9 tries? Maybe thats why they arent sending a team.

oople

The CR is an old car compared to the B4, an updated old car for sure, but still the B4 is the newer design. I just bought one yesterday and I'm sure it will do me well, but it's 4 years since I raced my old xxxbk1 and this looks only a little different.

scott54

iTrader: (5)

It obviously doesn't change anything about the cars already in production. But since Horizon has taken over there's been a major change. Losi used to be strictly race oriented, now they're using their R&D to develop 1/36th scale cars and drifters with working headlights. And try to order a set of 2.2 Tapers in the pink compound, or even a truck body... ANY TRUCK BODY.. everything's on backorder. I don't see any signs of a new design for anything electric. Their focus is on everything except racing. And it's not that we're making drama out of this, it's just a little upsetting to be loyal to a specific company to see them drop their interest in electric racing.

Lars Johnson

iTrader: (5)

The end? Bad year financially?? That's probably the furthest from the truth, and i'd like to think that the end would be way, wayyyy off, considering no shop on the planet can keep Losi 1/8th scale kits and parts in stock. And, you mean those high-profile races overseas - like the neobuggy race that Adam won, and the nitro the race in Italy that Adam won a few weeks ago. Seems to me like Losi has a stranglehold on the hottest market in R/C cars right now...

There's a great article in Xtreme R/C June 07 (page 52), with 4 items listed showing why electric offroad is losing to nitro offroad. Basically, one listed - if the tracks don't conform to the supercross style tracks that the consumer's want, they'll starve. the same goes for the Mfg's - AE did the RC8, and other primarily-electric companies have at least taken a stab at nitro with engines/accessories (Orion/CRF, LRP, etc)... Everyone is scrambling around to try and knock Losi off as the current king of the mountain... better bring a big stick...

I love electric offroad, and it's unfortunate to see, but i did not know how much i enjoy running Gas 1/8th scale till i got my 8ight and 8-T. I should start writing lyrics for 50 Cent...

I think you guys are blowing this way out of proportion. Yes, it is the world champs, with the title and all that, but why send a team of ~10 guys to try to sell a couple kits in 10 days time? When the market is shifting world wide as it currently is? From a business perspective, i would much rather use those funds to send Adam and Truhe all over the place to clean up on the track, and help develop sales off the track, at the national/regional level in the current hot market - 1/8th Offroad.

i need to start packing for the Shootout...

DanGriffin

scott54 - Do you actually know who designed the micro-t? Maybe it wasn't a losi engineer/R&D team.
Also..if losi isn't geared toward electric racing....
Look at the offroad elec. nats results. Losi sent 4 guys: Jesse Robbers, Mike Truhe, Billy Fischer, Ronnie Gardner. All 4 guys made every "a" main of every class they entered. 13 "a" appearances in total.

JamesnMeyer

iTrader: (41)

So whatever makes the most money is were the focus is? I dont see AE failing to send drivers to the worlds to focus on the "hot market" only.

Mabuchi540

Horizon and not Horizon themselves.

Example: My XXX-CR had parts missing and badly made when I got it, many emails to Losi and a few Aaron, about 3 months later it got sorted.

But.....

I also got a Blade CX2 RTR heli (by E-flite) from what I can only call the Aero division of Horizon. It had a couple of faulty parts and what looked like a part that was about to die so I emailed them (I even offered proof of purchase). The reply was basically "sorry to hear of your troubles sir the parts will be with you ASAP. And sure enough 2 weeks after they said they were on their way they arrived.

oople

There are loads of new 4WD buggies here or on the way, Durango, Aero, X5squared, D4, S4, 501X, Schumacher even later this year. 2WD I heard rumours of a Tamiya, TTech have plans to make one, Kyosho have an excellent new 2WD which got its second UK National A final this weekend gone.

Electric off road is awesome with the best drivers in the world.

scott54

iTrader: (5)

I have absolutely no idea who designed the micro-t. It could have been Bob, it could have been Chuck... who knows, who cares. I don't care if the project was subcontracted to Tyco to design it. The point is that they are releasing TOYS now. And read the comment above your posting, There's a nice argument at how Losi is going full speed towards the Nitro market because it's the "hot" market. I race on an outdoor track that gets as many electrics as it does nitro. And I also have to bring a spare truck for parts because I if I break something, the part is probably on back order....