Speed is fun!! I enjoy tweaking my car and suspension to maximize the handling to the track. Key word here is "TRACK". I enjoy bashing and running in the driveway, but nothing compares to driving a track with other cars equally prepared. You see the skill of the driver and the caliber of car set-up.
I've been racing stock motor classes in 1/10 for almost 2 decades. The governing bodies have bent to the will of suppliers and battery manufacturers. My opinion is that this is wrong.
Read on before you hit the reply button.........
Stock class was originally designed to offer an entry level to the masses, Novices if you prefer, I don't. It was made to be a battleground of equally equiped cars with similar batteries and motors. A true drivers' class. Then came the battery advancements that made modified racing possible. And then came the motor advancements that allowed the use of the total MAH capacity of the batteries developed for the mod racers. The self advancing commercial loop was started and has yet to be closed, it is now a spiral that has no end in site. And everybody benefitted.......WRONG!!
What started out as a class that anybody could enjoy has become a specialist class equal to modified in every way except straight line speed. I've run laps with the new stock motors that were only 1-2 seconds slower than the A-main 10th place qualifier in modified. Just fact no brag, I am not alone is this aspect, I've seen many stock class times Better than mod!!
So what am I rambling about? Speed is exciting but speed with control is the ultimate high. Nothing can be compared to driving down a long straight with 2-3 cars in competition for the first corner line and finding that your car dives in and out of the corner better than the other cars. Pride-skill-car all tied together to make it possible. You may tag the next corner and finish last but that perfect corner will leave an indelible mark on the brain that it will crave for you to repeat.
How do we get this feeling out to more people to "hook" them to the hobby? True stock class racing.
Governing bodies be damned!! for not recognizing this point and keeping the hobby alive with new converts.
How does this apply to Mini-z's? A harder issue now that internal turbo's are commonplace. Maybe the the new Yokomo chassis will alow a full inspect of the ESC, motor and batteries, as all the components are surface mounted and visible.
We hashed this out in other threads but I would propose that true stock class would involve checked and sealed hand-out motors and 700 mah NiMh cells from 1 Mfg. Speed checked before and after runs to maintain that nothing was changed. Chassis mods would be allowed as long as a minimum weight was maintained and the chassis remained intact.
I am venting because I see so much potential in the hobby with so little room for new guys to enter and be competitive at their own level. Thankfully the forum allows this venting and helps maintain my center.
My advice to all that enter into the world of Mini-z's, when you have modded to the point that it is no longer fun, get back to the stock mode and set up a track of some sort, involve some friends and get the cars equal. 2EZ and I have had a ball running comparitively equipped stock cars on our little local track.
Save the Insane speed runs for that long stretch of smooth concrete that says DRAG strip. Most of us won't see a speed track like that beautifully awesome Connecticut Speedway. But in stock mode on a small track, the Highs will come and the enjoyment will continue.
As always, JMHO. Keep the Faith!!
__________________
Racing is a state of mind....and I've lost it
[03/22/17] MZR was on vacation, didn't... : All kidding aside, the host experienced a bit of a server meltdown last week and efforts to restore the site to a new server took longer than anticipated.
The current server is temporary until - more»
[11/25/15] Did You Hear? Our Black... : Hey Racers,
We're getting started a bit early with our Black Friday sale this year. Generally we're not supporters of retailers opening early on Thanksgiving, but in our case, we're - more»
[06/30/15] shop.tinyrc.com: Have You... : Hey All!
Just a quick reminder to everyone that we post all of our shop.tinyrc.com Newletters here on the MZR Forum. If for some reason you miss them in your email inbox, you can always see the - more»