djmachinist

Thanks Jeremy,

Look guys, all I'm saying is we have got to try something, on-road racing is at a all time low. 1/8 th is what this hobby started with, I do not want to see it die out altogether.The reason 1/8th is dying along with 10th Sedan is the high cost, complexity to set up and the high maintenance cost of running the present cars. The .21 9 port NR based engines cost $500.00 to $800.00. The
Picco is slighly cheaper. The wear and tear on the present cars is unbeleiveable. Clutches, engines, tires are used at a high rate. The competive sedan engines cost anywhere from $375.00 to $550.0. The Piston/sleeve/rod replacement cost are more than half of the original cost of the engine! A NR Flash or 35+21 P/S/R set cost $300.00 street price!

The French came to this realization several years ago and created this "Classic" class to keep cost down, yes the cost of the kits is only slighty cheaper than the present cars, a street price of around $450.00.However, they use inexpensive NR based budget engines from Novarossi and RB. These engines sell for $180.00 to $250.00. The clutches by rule are the off-road ajustable clutches made by Foroni and Werks. They are easy to set up and almost indestructable. The Tires will last longer because the cornering speeds are lower. The Front tires are much harder than the rears (shore 45 to 50), you might use three sets of rear tires to one set of fronts, and since you do not have to grind the tires to match ratios, you will not have to see 1/4 of your tires wind up on the ground at the tire truing station. All the drive train componets will have less stress therefore less replacement issues. The chassis are simple pan cars that do have toe and camber ajustments at both ends of the car. I have the Motonica built up and I can tell you this car is hell for stout, it will take a hit!! About the only place I see a weak spot is the steering blocks which are typical pivot ball type.

This a class that will offer low overall cost, low maintenace and good racing.
The lap times will be only a second off the open cars. No worry about breaking suspension arms, keeping up with multiple belts, and dogbones.

The French Drivers that I have spoke to say their seasonal cost are half of what the open 4WD cars are.

Think about it.

Dale

kaotickc

iTrader: (45)

Nobody is saying its a horrible idea, its just asking alot in our area I think. with the two major classes at an all time low, who wants to spend another $600 +/- on a class that "might" come around?

As far as you were saying on wear/tear...as with anything motorized, the more power you put to the vehicle the more wear/tear. Stop running those crazy power and high price engines, you really do not need them at our tracks. They are nice to have, sure, but they are not totally a needed item. I still think it would be easier to try and start a spec motor class now that their are some decent spec engines out there.

JLock

iTrader: (4)

Thank for your comments. This conveys what a few of us are trying to get Dale to see.

Dale,

Again, we are not saying it is a bad idea. It is just that with barely scraping up enough entries to run the current classes offered, it would be hard to start up another class with turnouts the way they are. Plus, not many new racers will jump aboard this class as of right now; this would be a class that current races (the few we have) would start and try to maintain the interest level until more jump aboard.

djmachinist

Hm......all this advice from two guys that don't even run !/8 scale that seem to know what we need.

Brian Bosley

iTrader: (13)

I would run 8th scale, but there is never any time to run it and half the time only masters show up so I run something else.

asking people to buy 2wd cars from overseas is much more complicated than asking them to run a spec engine in cars in their hands. too many people sit at home that have 4wd cars at the moment, we need to get them back at the track.

kaotickc

iTrader: (45)

Thats soo true. . . .you wanna have a larger class, ditch the masters class locally. If they are a master at driving why not enter open class. ...haha

On a 2nd note, another local at mikes picked up an 8th scale with the RB motor, so there is another one running that motor locally.

djmachinist

The Masters class is only ran at a few races like the Texas Biggie and the Gulf Coast grand Prix. Otherwise the guys that run Masters run open 4wd in the Southwest Series. You would know that Brian if you bother to travel to Dallas or ran in the Houston Series races.

Look, I am not going to get drawn any deeper in this pissing contest with you three guys. I have presented what I believe may be one solution to the overall problem. Again, the Motonica P8C is available through Garen at Motonica USA.. You three offer no solutions of your own. So let people read this and decide on their own.

I'm sure if people are interested, Jeremy and Mike E. will carry the cars and parts in the Hobby shop.

Dale

kaotickc

iTrader: (45)

We all 3 are offering a solution....run the spec engine in the 4wd cars. I know 4 people that would buy them as we type this. I know you have to have one, so thats another one.

Nobody is trying to get into a forum beat down, but we are offering a cheaper immediate solution. Yours is a solution, just alot more costly.

Why are you apposed to a "spec" engine class??

Brian Bosley

iTrader: (13)

So be it, when you have 10 guys consistently racing I will purchase one and join you because then it will be the popular class. None of this John "we have 23 cars in the houston area but only 3 show up" type of thing.

It truly does look like a lot of fun although I don't see it changing the costs enough to matter and maybe this only applies to the two of us but I don't think either of us pay attention to the yearly expenses we incur for fun.

I just want to see more people racing and will join any class that starts to look even remotely successful (those of you that have been in my house know I have every failed attempt at a class in existence except WGT and I sold my GT car and I don't do oval)

Keep with it Dale, I hope you get this class going or SOMETHING going. Houston has the worst racing turnouts in the country and I have been to North Dakota where I believe the land grab is still going on.

Grouper

Dale,
What kind of spare parts did you order with the kit.

RHH

I think the Southwest series has just been over done. Yes I drove in it a couple of years ago. Traveling gets old in a hurry.

It seems to me a lot more potential exists in the realistic 1/8 scale sedans based on the 4wd buggies by Ofna and Kyosho.

I really think the future is in the brushless and LIPO technologies.

I feel the same way as others, if a class gets big I'll race it just for the competition. Right now that is Mod 1/10th sedan and we are having fun.

JLock

iTrader: (4)

First, let me correct you on that point; I have run 1/8th scale and have a Mugen MRX-4R. Last year, I ran the engine spec class in its second year before it died off and the early part of this year's SWCS racing schedule. I ran the car along with my Inferno GT and 200mm TC until the Texas Biggie. The cost of me running my 1/8th scale car put a crimp in my racing budget (mainly tires) and I decided to finish out this year running 200mm TC (since I have a stockpile of parts and tires) due to some other races I went to in other regions don't run 1/8th scale Lola cars. If you don't believe me about running 1/8th scale, ask Roger Bourland. He and Matt Akkola had been trying to get me to run my 1/8th scale since the Biggie but I opted for the touring car, my choice. It get hard trying to run three classes at the same time.

Dude, I am not knocking what you are trying to start. I am just saying that we need to shore up the number of racers for the classes we do run before trying to do something new. I guess you weren't there at the Regional 9 regionals when we had somewhere between 18 to 25 total racers for both classes with some running both 1/8th scale and touring car and having to assign a pit guy because we did not have enough racer to marshal and pit at the same time. I have seen when some SWCS races had less than 20 people total running. Again, we need more racers so that we can substain what we have in order to try later to expand into more class.

JLock

iTrader: (4)

Thank you Brian, that is what I have been trying to relay in my posts. We need more racers first, the rest will happen in due time.

insaneracin2003

iTrader: (3)

Just my opinion on this issue....not bashing anyone. BUT, if you guys were to spend as much energy and time promoting the racing in Houston as much as yall beat each other down in this forum. it would prolly had help the racing turn outs.
I am all for a new class but like said, I think the current turnouts need to be improved before a new class is added....if the new class had an exabition vehicle, I think that would help....
enough of my rant...lol...
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.....

rcmike

iTrader: (40)

BUT, if you guys were to spend as much energy and time promoting the racing in Houston as much as yall beat each other down in this forum. it would prolly had help the racing turn outs.
that is so true Paul. YOU HIT IT RIGHT ON THE HEAD"""" thats all i read by some on these forums """ Have a Happy Thanksgiving Paul, Dale and a Merry X mas"