Built Or Bought

[Dangeruss]

A little morsel to chew on this New Years Eve...

A while back I read a post on another site about a member there who'd purchased a B6.4 and was upset that once assembled he was required to spend more money on additional parts in order for it to be competitive at his track. The core of his argument. That for the money he spent the car should be a winner out of the box.

Personally, I don't subscribe to that theory. Not only do I find it ironic a person wouldn't think a car needed to be upgraded when the car they purchased was the second time the platform had, by the manufacturer, been upgraded; but also, that's racing. It's constantly evolving.

...and that's without questioning the purchasers driving ability.

How about your though? If your local racing class didn't prohibit modifications, do you believe a winning car should be bought from a box, or built from experience?

Happy New Years!

[RCveteran]

As a consistent at best B main driver when I had a track to go to my experience was at least the really fast guys could race just about any darn thing and beat everyone often times by a lap or more even relative to other "fast" guys.

Were I one of those guys I would win with a B5M today against a B7 in the hands of a lesser driver. Now if it is the rest of us fighting it out mid pack I don't think it is a little mod or tweak that gets you to next level, provided you have the basic motor/gearing and traction figured out that day. Consistency of speed is what does.

It's always been the driver, yes if the best drive in world is given a Tamiya Hornet on a modern track of course not, but if you have a relatively current car in good tune and powered right for class, not sure all the little things the top guys do will affect you until you get to that level.

If there is a problem to be found it's more likely the formula for 17.5T racing than the car model.

[TRX-1-3]

Built and bought. If you want to race in a kind of "limited" class, go find one or start one. If you want to run with the big dogs, past pure skill, it'll cost you some Duckets. 1:1 racing is a money pit, RC racing ain't no different. The scale of money is different. The original "guy" is probably the guy that yells at corner marshalls and claims getting hacked all the time. It's supposed to be FUN.

But there is also an element of "gotta have all the cool stuff" as well. There is no substitution for track time and tune learning. I never got really good at it, I just stay out of the fast guy's way and keep my mouth shut. If I'm sucking up the rear, I have a pretty good idea of why.

[moto-steve]

As a guy who raced pro motocross, I spent ALL my spare time practicing on technique and figuring out my weaknesses. Money could never make me faster,however a factory mechanic with a factory bike would definitely help me out. But nothing beats talent and understanding I am actually racing against the track. With experience I went faster. Give a skilled racer a beat up vehicle he will do a number on your self esteem ( ego) I witnessed it a few times..

[scr8p]

Unless you are on par in driving ability with the top guys, the hop-ups aren't going to matter. For instance:

At the Vonats in September, I raced my Tamiya Manta Ray in the Classic class. I turned the fastest lap of the event (in that class) during the Main (finished 2nd). AE factory driver Lee Setser was announcing the race. When the race was over, he came out of the booth and asked if he could try it quick. I handed him the radio, and on his second full lap he was a second faster than my fastest lap....... after an 8 minute race. Subsequent laps were also a second quicker than me.

[RC10th]

It also comes down to how you build the car as well...

Provided all things equal,
Driver A puts the car together straight out of the box.
Driver B puts the same car together but cleans out the bearings, free's the car up, preps the tires etc...


Driver A can't figure out why driver B's car is so much faster as it is exactly the same car, even after buying hop ups to make his car "faster"



Joseph Quagraine says it best "Invisible Speed"

[JosephS]

How about you though? If your local racing class didn't prohibit modifications, do you believe a winning car should be bought from a box, or built from experience?

Happy New Years!

I would really like to see fully kitted out rental classes. With smart radio, batteries tires and motors to help focus up on skill.

The guy should be looking at the virtual rc racing to get more skill and track time.

But there need to be some realistic expectations. Each mod should remove around 1/10 a second per lap. So 3 second in a full race. If he is constantly finishing 9-10 seconds behind the pack then yeah its 3 mods.

A better battery, better radio and pixie dust might get him into the fray.


It’s just always down to skill. Driving skill and setup skill go hand in hand,

Now when talking vintage rc10 those steering ,’ things’ make a strong argument for a better kit

[Charlie don't surf]

I think on the "built" side of things ...info could be shared better with newer drivers too. The info is out there, but not in an organized and searchable manner with real data. Just Fred 50% guys' fragile ego and his "secret" tire system.

If Fred was faster, he'd be faster regardless-

I'm not saying i haven't worked my ass off for an edge, my setup ability far outweighs my almost-50 driving ability, sadly, but if Frank comes to me with a question I'm going to answer it honestly-

I spent almost a year developing my tire program, and it's only a bit better than it was to start with, although now I know what works and when, and how to adjust from there. I would have loved some real info so I knew in less time though

[RCveteran]

As a guy who raced pro motocross, I spent ALL my spare time practicing on technique and figuring out my weaknesses. Money could never make me faster,however a factory mechanic with a factory bike would definitely help me out. But nothing beats talent and understanding I am actually racing against the track. With experience I went faster. Give a skilled racer a beat up vehicle he will do a number on your self esteem ( ego) I witnessed it a few times..

This reminds me when I was at a full course car event. One of those weekend events, they had an instructor and a day you could pay to rent various cars. From say a Miata actually all the way to a Lamborghini and a few in between, think there was a Corvette, WRX and something else fast.

I actually had some decent real track time in my 2014 Track Pack Mustang for a good year doing events at this track (Gingerman) as well which is to say I could turn a respectable lap for a weekend warrior having had some formal instruction. After we were all out there, I actually did the Lamborghini, we were feeling great about ourselves.

Long story short, a ""pro" got on track in his base rental V6 powered RENTAL Mustang and blew all our times away. Humbling. Moral of the story a 225HP V6 rental Mustang in the right hands did better than a 450HP Lamborghini even in some OK'ish hands. Track was Gingerman for reference.

https://www.gingermanraceway.com/