A Vintage race in the West...

[Charlie don't surf]

17.5 is ok, blinky on a SoCal track is a waste of time. This was a "problem" at the CT race as there were/are guys like me running 10.5/8.5 every week in a vintage 10 that really aren't interested in shorting every downside on a good track. ( I am not referring to RCHR indoors/or calling it a bad track ) Stock was the smallest class BITD, and it seems to me amongst the vjntage crowd the most sought after. The only bad thing about trying to run both is splitting an already small field up-

[Orange]

17.5 is ok, blinky on a SoCal track is a waste of time. This was a "problem" at the CT race as there were/are guys like me running 10.5/8.5 every week in a vintage 10 that really aren't interested in shorting every downside on a good track. ( I am not referring to RCHR indoors/or calling it a bad track ) Stock was the smallest class BITD, and it seems to me amongst the vjntage crowd the most sought after. The only bad thing about trying to run both is splitting an already small field up-

Yeah I totally agree with that, so if it were you, what kind of solution would you go with?

[Charlie don't surf]

Most guys on here are not racers, as a best guess 15% are active racers and 40% have raced regularly. That being said, a lot of guys are under the impression that 17.5 is a cheaper class to run, and it is not at all- 17.5 (especially blinky) takes a ton of gear, and percise roll out to get it up to speed and a great wheel and setup to keep your momentum up everywhere especially corners, and is run "right on the edge" of everything from motor temps to your setup being super loose. Not a cheap or easy thing to do unless you are a very good regular racer, not to mention the 17.5 motor of the week is still a very real thing- causing guys to have 5-7 different 17.5's in lieu of say a 13.5 or 10.5 stock spec.

Take the NorCal track that the 2011 Nats was held on in it's layout that was used, a blinky 17.5 would at best double, double, single, single (maybe) triple the center and that's if you came off the corner just right, otherwise it would be something like double attempt (case) single, single, double double single and again if you goof, you can't get it back until next lap-

13.5 however you could run a wider gear, giving more motor temp margin, have enough power to fix mistakes yet not quite enough to overdrive if you lack the experience to modulate your trigger finger. You could have run the NorCal track pinned, smoothly transitioned all the rythm sections and not had to lift or scrub on jump faces to keep from over shooting landings.

I would think on a West Coast track, 13.5 and 10.5 stock spec- Plus, do you think that Hughs, Halsey, Kinwald, Pavdis, Losi, Johnson etc are going to be exicted about be invited to run 17.5 blinky?

[PBR Allstar]

I agree, 17.5 blinky is hard to drive, especially if it's an outdoor track. The car has to be perfect or you're going to short everything. It, along with 13.5 blinky are most expensive to race competitively as it requires good stuff. I spend much less in my mod cars because I can get away with an older battery pack on an older 6.5 or 8.5 and just drive the car accordingly or turn down the EPA.

That said, I don't think vintage guys are going to jump on board for a mod class. With that being said I think 13.5 spec would be about the minimum you could get away with. Any less and the car gets frustrating to drive unless you're the master of the perfect line.

[JK Racing]

I enjoy blinky stock, I ran my goldie at Hot Rod in blinky stock and qualified for the A main (about 30 drivers in that class). Proper lines are needed, but a track layout can be tailored for blinky.

Any motor is fine with me, honestly. Lets just get this thing rolling on a track

[JHarris]

Why not let it follow current ROAR motor rules? Stock vintage is 17.5 and mod is any motor.
If its a "real" race I'd go and drag Ruffy and Jeremy with me.

[Charlie don't surf]

Why not let it follow current ROAR motor rules? Stock vintage is 17.5 and mod is any motor.
If its a "real" race I'd go and drag Ruffy and Jeremy with me.

From Text to forum in under a minute

[Orange]

Need to keep it simple, I agree with that. I do not see a stock and mod class of each type car though. I don't want to water down an already small field. Finding the halfway point would be the best idea I think. So I'm thinking along the lines of a 13.5 because it could be good in blinky or without (Whichever way we go).

If I knew there would be 300 entries, sure. I think I can safely say we will not garner that kind of attention.

I like the ROAR rules, don't get me wrong, many of those rules in that book I wrote, especially the brushless and lipo rules. But I think finding the happy medium motor limit per class will be the way to go.

Its only a discussion right now. Its not a "real" anything till I have a track and a date. I would hope to get to that point eventually and maybe it will take having both of those things for some "People" to start believing. But like I said before, This will end right here on the forum if all I know of is 10 people. No big deal to me to spend a grand in travel and just go to Erich's race which I plan to do one of these years anyway.

[JK Racing]

i agree with electronics governed by current rules, they should be some discussion about what constitutes a vintage racer, maybe include a comprehensive list of cars that qualify.

bigger question is what mods are allowed and it remain a vintage car (I know, hot bed question and up for debate).

My thought is outside of minimal mods for modern wheels/tires, anything available at the time the car was the current car is fair game (design-wise).

take for instance:

RC10 chassis with B4 arms/mounts/tranny (which I have seen most done already) - not vintage
JRX Pro SE with modern 2.2 wheels - vintage

[Orange]

I personally do not think that we need to go by already published rules... As long as the rules we have for the race are simple, solid and followed properly, the race will be just fine. Its when rules get out of hand, cause confusion and are twisted around is when a race goes badly.... There are so many rules in the ROAR rules, people have their own idea of the meaning of them. Way to complicated for a race like this I think.

I think that the motor rules are the least of our worries though. The wording for the chassis used will have to be the most precise thing written.

My hope is that generally, we can all come up with those rules and happily accept them as a group right here on this forum for everyone to see and discuss freely.

[Goatless]

If only this wasn't 1800 miles away or so I'd love to come play!!

[Orange]

I agree with that. I'm sure its also a reason some have not attended vonats,

[Goatless]

[Orange]

Its not anywhere yet, only a pipe dream... Anything could happen.

Around 10 years ago or so, my wife and I were working on having an off-road race in a Vegas Hotel when a Cruise line contacted us with interest of having the race on a cruise ship... They were even willing to put dirt on board. But we couldn't garner enough interest because racers could not believe it was real... We even had the price below $300 per person... True Story!

Anyway, things can shift and things can change just like that. So you never know.

[JHarris]

As you dream out loud and consider every angle, keep in mind that if you find a larger interest on the right coast we could help with an indoor location. Florida is a vacation destination and it would help some guys get out the door if the wife knows they can go see the rodents while they're here. I will also add though; I'd like to see some factory interest and support as well as interest from the big names of that era. It would seem that holding the race in their backyard would make that more of a possibility.