View Single Post
Old 2019.04.03, 06:34 PM   #69
EMU
EMUracing
 
EMU's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: NYC
Posts: 7,417
Send a message via AIM to EMU
While I try my hardest to shop local, I often find it very difficult with the pricing. I do like to purchase items every time I go to a track (maybe I just can't help myself, like a kid in a candy shop). But, without local support, it is hard to have local racing.

When I returned to the hobby, I had to do so with a much smaller budget than I had been used to. I have found myself spending much more than what I had budgeted due to the increase in prices.

The kyosho dominance in the scale is not what it was, however, often the rule structures make it difficult to use the alternative options for anything but modified class racing. The Asian market outside of Japan seems to be dominated by non kyosho based cars, which are considerably cost effective in that market.

I am still a fan of the kyosho based platform, but feel that the approach to racing in this scale has shifted away from the hop up on a base model chassis that it has relied on for many years. The hop up market is more expensive than it has ever been, primarily due to low competition (fewer hop up manufacturers, and smaller production).

While still more cost effective than larger scales, it is now almost twice as expensive to buy a mini-z car and prepare it for racing than it was for a similar level of competitiveness. My current budget limited mindset is always trying to balance cost vs performance gain.

The scale needs growth, the hobby needs growth. When a parent of an interested child sees the cost of an RTR it can be welcoming to the eye, however when they see that 3x the amount needs to be spent to race prep the car for the "stock" class, it can often rule out entry to the scale. For existing hobbyists that participate in larger scales, they may see cost savings associated with the scale, but others will see it as being quite expensive. When parents compare the costs of these cars to a video game system for entertainment, the video game can often win.

This is why I think a strong restricted stock class is important for growth. It gets cars in people's hands and on track. However, I know that experienced mini-z racers always want more. New racers often have interest in how fast they can go, which is often the first question you hear, how to make them faster (as in motor power). While many experienced groups hope to restrict power to level the playing field. This is a double edged sword, as restricted motor classes will just pass the emphasis from motor to battery and other methods to gain a competitive advantage.

As Arch has said so many times, clubs that have been able to establish strong restricted stock classes, which have low costs connected with them face been able to run strong while more speed focused clubs have faded due to consistent costs in development needing to search for the competitive advantage. In my years, I have noticed that with this scale, things can quickly get out of hand without limitations, especially when trying to grow. Unrestricted classes are not friendly to casual racers, but, heavily restricted classes can often leave the experienced racers wanting more.

I feel that the DC group has a good balance between keeping a restricted, inexpensive stock class as their primary class, and running two alternative options for racers looking for more.
__________________
EMUracing
Micro RC Syndicate /DG Designs /GSR /Reflex Racing /Fast By Faqish /MurderTown Racing
EMU is offline   Reply With Quote