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Thread: 2017 .... its coming and we need growth

 
 
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Old 07-27-2016, 09:40 PM   #1
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Default 2017 .... its coming and we need growth

Ok 2016 is rolling and I think a lot of us can say there has been some growth to competitive 2.2 and Super classes. But can we say its growth we have seen years before? Is it growth becuase veterans took a break and are slowly dusting off their trucks? Or is it growth with new faces?

I think (maybe) a lot of us could agree its a mix but more of it being veterans dusting off trucks. How do we get those new, actually real new drivers to try the comp side?

Not trying to lite fires or turn anything into a finger pointing thread but looking for real input for ideas on what we as a community can push to have changed, rearranged, added, retracted .... something to try with serious intent to get our hobby back where it was. I think the keyboard sometimes hides the passion a lot of us have about our hobby and that holds us back from trying new things.

Heres my thought into Shafty ..... much of which I think gets misunderstood in other discussions. My heart is in sporty, I truly believe its the stepping stone for many and something we should utilize to attract new people. Many I have sold the un-Stuck too I find telling me they dont even bother with here or comping big events. Most tell me its because traveling to an event they soemtimes feel they cant compete with the level of drivers that are there. Ya kind of feeds into that everyone gets a cookie mentality now but how do we change that image or thought processing?

2.2 use to be shafties all the time then MOA came and the field changed and the winners became the new truck. Shafties went into the closet until the 2.2S class came out. We saw more trucks come out full of dust and we saw new people showing up. The class brought positive growth I felt and loved the 'grass roots' style again. You could compete with something that cost half as much as an MOA.

Then over time innovation and limits were pushed and I think we reached a point where new drivers saw their pockets emptying and the pros winning. The feeling of being competitive on an equal level faded and we lost people. Yes that wasnt all that happened but if you look at the positive side of the other changes I think we got lucky RCCrawler and USRCCA just didnt close the doors and leave everyone out dry.

So lets discuss what could possibly, hopefully, help bring some new drivers around and grow the sport again. Lets work on 2.2S as our growth spurt.

Ive always been a believer in class separation and have verbally mentioned it several times. Even when the class was created 5 years ago but I think it was misinterpreted/understood.

Ive always said we needed a 'No Drive' drivers list but Ive never meant it to be a way of telling anyone they couldnt compete in the class. Ive meant more of a separation between Pro and Novice drivers.

Heres what Im always thinking and believeing could work and wouldnt even put a work load increase on event hosts. We seperate the drivers by wins and their own choice of classes.

We create a Pro and a separate Novice entry level into the 2.2S class. Its not an extra class, its not any different courses, its all judged the same, scored the same, teched the same. Nothing about the class rules is different. Both class drivers would run the same exact courses, You would just be competing against similar skill drivers. Ill get into vehicle separation shortly too because that would play into it.

If you have won a Worlds, Nation or even any of the qualifiers any year then you would be added to a No Drive list. All that means is if you won a 2.2S qualifier/championship (Ill use those terms just out of habit) then you couldnt run the 'novice' class at the big events. If you are a past 2.2S National/Worlds champion then again you would have to run in the 'Pro' level of the 2.2S class at big events.

I believe this would take the fear of competing against serious veterans out of the picture and maybe help people feel they are competing against drivers closer to their own skill level.

Now if a Novice class driver won any big events in the novice class their name would be added to the no drive list for the following year and they would have to bump up to the Pro level. We wouldnt instantly make them bump like a break out class for the same year, it would only effect them for the following year and after.

Now what if a Novice driver wanted to try the Pro level? We let them, we're not gonna tell them they cant until they win. But we also wont hold them to it either. If they ran for instance the Pro level in NENC and felt they didnt or werent good enough then we would let them fall back to the Novice class for lets say ECC. But once they won a big event then there would be no going back for the following years.

Make sense? In the racing world they have a rookie class for racers. You cant have any level or type of sponsor or even put sponsor stickers on your car. It is straight rookies. Its more to take the fear of driver experience out of their minds and attract new people.

Now rules ..... we need them and we need straight forward ones that help driver wallets but dont hold them back or hold parts companies back. So heres where I think our big help could come from.

Body rules for both driver classes. We need to stick to having a shell of some sort on the trucks. No body less at all, bodies would stay being made of Lexan. Also they would have to meet A, B, C measurements like it use to be. None of this 'including' the frame/chassis stuff. Put them back to the old way for the 2.2S class both Pro and Novice level. Theres nothing attractive about seeing a body hacked up to just the cab so it meets the roof rule and having a chassis 8'' long. Keep it simple .... the lexan body must measure A, B, C .... 8'' x 3'' x 3'' like it was. Plain and simple and everyone has to meet it. Heck we could even maybe see more involvement from the bigger companies with this.

Now lets look at truck costs. I can understand how a sporty can cost 1000-2000$ but whats the first question someone always asks when they see you practicing? How much does something like that cost?

How do we keep costs down for new drivers? Fresh into the hobby with bare minimal equipment or none at all. Rules.

Novice class .....

What about chassis material limits? What if we took the Carbon Fiber price out of the equation and limit it to G10? We could cut chassis prices almost/virtually in half. Drivers could get the same exact designs that are already out there and even be able to use that chassis in Pro level classes. They wouldnt have to buy new chassis just to move up. It would be their choice to do that if they wanted. They would still get pro level chassis but at a cost saving. We already have very competitive chassis's out there in G10 performing at top level so we know the material isnt holding them back.

Weight minimum. Again its a rule everyone would have to follow so the novice field would be closer to each other. It would take the mind set of 'have to be under **lbs' to win' out of the driver. We all drove 5-6+ pound trucks for years and tuned them to win. What about a 5* minimum .... for all novice class drivers? It doesnt matter where they stack it, what bias they run or even it 2lbs was in the roof. They all have to way the same.

Yes smart drivers will stack their front axles, stack it low or what ever but thats all part of learning. Light drive trains and as much weight below the axles as possible. Again its not gonna limit innovation or lose sales for anyone, it can only level the field by having a minimum.

We really cant and shouldnt limit radio equipment so I would never think of that. I would though think to limit batteries though, 3S max. With the motors we have today and ESC's we really dont need 4S but again a rule everyone has to follow in the novice class can only help to simplify things. Besides trying to handle a 4S and being new probably wont help someone trying to learn how to drive.


Tires ..... not a limit on types or brands but what if we got the thought of cut and shuts out? You want to compete but now you have to buy 80$ tires and cut them in half or buy 80$ of one tire and 80$ of another just to cut them all up and glue them together. Its not gonna make you win by doing it but if there was a rule limiting it then drivers may not feel like they lost because some one else spent 150$ on tires and they didnt.

I believe in my heart 2.2S class is the growth of our sport thats why I always jump into discussions when it comes to changes that effect that class. 2.2M is the big dogs, its the crown jewel of our sport so I always roll with its decisions and rule changes. If we could bring more into the shafty class by financially helping them and leveling the field I think we could see a positive growth again.

Again Im never one for creating or adding classes, this would be more of a way to separate experience and help ease the shell shock of getting into crawling.

Events wouldn't have to do anything different except separate scores by driver classes. No extra courses, no extra judges, no different scoring .... just simply separate driver numbers by driver class.

2016 is half over ....... if we start conversing now maybe as a collective community we could bring life back to crawling.

Ideas .. Input .. Thoughts ????

How do we attract those drivers that crawl around among friends to our clubs and events?

Last edited by Robbob; 07-29-2016 at 11:05 AM.
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