Big Gas Tracks

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slimefink

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hello

whats up with all these r/c tracks banning big gas????

I live in So-Cal and southern OR, and have contacted
local tracks to run my HPI buggy, and so far they all have
told me that big gas isnt welcome---what gives???

the 1/5 scale class is growing big time, just like it is in
airplanes, so one would figure that places that welcome
the larger buggies would do well.

I know this is more of a rant than anything else, but id
sure like to find a place to run my buggy on a closed course
track, and see this portion of the r/c hobby grow even bigger.

Ive posted this on another forum with no replies, need help.

mike
 
I assume you are from the south west USA? can you update your location in your profile please.

I have noticed that people tolerate small nitro more than they do largescale, it may be because they are worried about the damage it could to to marshals if it goes a bit Pete Tong.
 
I'm having the same problem. From what I've heard, the 2 local tracks here won't allow my FG Marder. It really pisses me off! With the new popularity of American large scale (HPI) you'd think they would make some room for us to play too!
 
I'm having the same problem. From what I've heard, the 2 local tracks here won't allow my FG Marder. It really pisses me off! With the new popularity of American large scale (HPI) you'd think they would make some room for us to play too!

yea there is quite a lot of smoozing that go,s on on the hpi front,
 
Are you saying they permit HPI 5B's but not Marders?
That's brand discrimination !! That's a new one on bashers I reckon.

I have noticed on many other forums the FG and HPI camps are constantly arguing. No need, lets just all play together, and can we use you track please......

p.s. the main reason I bother with LSF is that there is very little bickering, and everyone is willing to help [rip the piss]. Admins, what about re-naming this place "Eden"?
 
im not in that position so hard to comment, i think im in a worse one, the only track withing 100kms is electric only (built for 1/10) so I have no choice but to use BMX tracks.
if there was a dedicated track and largescalers werent allowed to use it then i would be pissed. I would recomend writing or visiting your council and let them know how you feel. most councils pay for and build these tracks to keep people out of trouble, so turning some people away from something harmless that they paid for im sure eventually it would turn in your favour.
 
Bigscale needs more wider tracks although onroad races on "normal" tracks too. We have to wait what sanctioned organizations will do. They need to make rules for the big scalers like other classes. On the other hand 90% of us is basher and races not competitive. If the big scale will be come too professional like 1/10 ISTC or 1/8 nitro offroad I am afraid the fun factor will be gone.
 
I've heard it too. man your tires would rip up the track.... that thing would kill our jump faces sorry. we have ne track that seems pretty open and I hope we can get 1 or 2 events there this year, just have to rally the troups. I took a year off racing but started again this winter with electrics...

to get racing 5th scale I think a dedicated track needs to be put in place.
 
you do need a lot more room to race a 1/5 scale, a large 1/8 scale track might be alright, but it would still be tight. its like guys trying to run 1/12 pan cars on a 1/18 scale track, just not enough room. another factor is liability. tracks need insurance, it may be in the insurance policy that only vehicles up to a certain weight or size can be run.
 
There are several now in California, just tell us what city you live in. Most tracks ban large scale due to teh maintenenace. The tires rip up the dirt and makes it harder for the little ones to get around. Try Milestone in Riverside if you are close to that.
 
well, heres a new twist on this subject.

I posted on another forum that I live 2 hours drive time from downtown los angeles, and have a bunch of open desert land that could be used to make a track. all I ask is that someone makes the track because im older now and a bit tore up for this kind of work.

thus far, no replies of any kind.

mike
 
large scale tracks are popping up. with the new thriving LS basher arena in the states, come new track for the bashers to become racers. it takes, time and some pretty serious and involved commitment, not to mention resources, to get a track for LSers to race on.

there are some inherant issues running on Nitro/Electrick tracks.

one is they tend to be too small. the track is all blue grooved out and they are worried about tearing it up, which ours would.

our large scalers need 14ft wide lanse for the most part, 16 and 18 are better, you need more area, less 180s, more cross and sweeps. safe marshal locations/setups (hay bales/tires ect, as well as a good good loamy track condition. Blue groove is ehhhhh unless your Ovaling. need something you can get traction on and tear up without it being a problem.

imo, Racing our rigs needs to be done on dedicated tracks for them.

so it stands to reason most the "lil guys" don't want us running on their tracks.
 
I have noticed on many other forums the FG and HPI camps are constantly arguing. No need, lets just all play together, and can we use you track please......

p.s. the main reason I bother with LSF is that there is very little bickering, and everyone is willing to help [rip the piss]. Admins, what about re-naming this place "Eden"?

I get the impression a lot of HPI guys (that means not all of them before you jump on me!) think they are far superior to the FG guys. As you say tho its not like that on here. Its just 1 big happy family :D
 
i don't think they worry much about that really. the Biggest issue the majority of HPI guys have (which im 100% a part of ) is the manufactureing and sale of the clones.

yes the HPIs are a bit more money, but their quality is also better, and no-one will every convince me other wise unless someones starts bucking up for some material testing and comparrisons done by an Out of Industry (meaning NO RC BACKGROUND AT ALL) indipendant team hat can analize the molecular structures and say they are the same thing. For me its about the Ethics. let Ethics drop in one area of your life, and the next thing you know, murder rape and robbery are just something that happens. I don't buy it.

now thats not saying i condemn those that own a clone. i would much prefer they purchased the Baja. But that doesn't mean i cant keep trying to persuade people to buy the real deal Baja. especially here in the states. maybe one day soon, the cloner manufacturers will grow a spine, but i doubt it, or better yet, maybe they ll not make any more sales and have to shut their shop down.

It would be one thing if ANY of these cloner companies/manufacturers/retailers did anything but make the sale and then shut the door once you money is in the register, but they don't. I have yet to ever see a KM santioned race, or Rovan Race or Integy Sponsored Race or event of any kind. even in their homeland China. So that to me says they want your money, nothing more. and that is one of the big reasons i stand where i do on the cloner issue.

I ll help the guy that has one out, but im also going to say, see, If you had the original HPI you could get cusotmer service, or at the least, likely not of had the issue the clone owners have.

other than that, i don't think to many of the Baja gusy see ourselves as eliteist persay.

but here in the states, its the sales and use of the HPI Baja that is making the biggest splash in RC in 20plus years. especially where Track building and racing is involved.
 
It's real simple people.Most if not all of these tracks are owned or run by the local hobby shops..which by the way don't sell any 1/5 scale cars...they sell losi,savage's electric and nitro's...You show up with that big 1/5 scale gasser and run lap after lap after lap after lap while the nitro's are overheating and the electric's are re-charging and everybody there wants to know where they can get what you got..thats why they don't want you there..It's like when suv's first came out,everyboby who didn't have one hated them..It's jelousy pure and simple.I had a savage,losi and a traxas all 3 nitro's..Bought all 3 and all the fuel and extra crap from the same hobby shop.shopped there for years..When i bought my first monster beetle the guy at the hobby shop who i probally spent 5000 bucks in his store told me not to bring it there and for me to stay away also..Why because as he said, if his customers see or hear about it they wont buy his nitro's and all the other junk that goes with it..It's easier to keep you off the track and out of sight then it is to keep making excuses of why they don't want to sell them..How can they look a customer in the face and tell them this is the baddest thing out there(any nitro,any electric,losi,savage,traxas,doesn't make a diff) when the customer was just outback at the track watching a couple of 4wd 1/5 scale's running over top of the nitro's..From my experience most hobby shops won't even talk about a 1/5 scale..I went to my local hobby shop 2 weeks ago to get a savage flux to add to my collection and they told me they don't have any because they cost to much and they don't think they could sell them...So for them to think they could sell a 1/5 scale is out of the question..And this was at hobbytown usa..a big national company.
 
you do have a very good point there. its really a shame that hobby shops don't want to get into 1/5 scale past the hpi baja (seems they only want to order parts for them as its easy to get hpi parts). there is a lot of money that could be made, however i think the problem is that hobby shops have to invest so much more money in stock for what looks like a smaller market. granted, 1/5 scale isnt for everyone, and i could see a lot of disasters happening from people running in and buying 1/5 scales, as 1/5 isnt for everyone.
 
one of the issues here stateside is lack of racing. considering 1/5 or otherwise Large scale has been aroudn the states for 20 some year. it was only with the release of the HPI Baja that really started a wild fire of people moving into the 2 stroke gassers.

seems people here see most and go, ok cool looking truck or buggy, but it still seems too similar to a smaller scale. if you didnt know any better, i bet an average person from watching a video could not tell the differance between a Hormann or a 1/10 Redcat buggy. not without something to compare size with or notice much different in the way they handle. when i check out alot of the 4x4 MTs they look like large TMaxx', and lets face it, the Tmaxx sold a bazillion units, but they still pretty much suck as a higher end hobby grade rc they are sold as. the buggys handle, react, jump just like a nitro or electric buggy in most cases, nearly identical to the smaller scale units. So i think alot of folks perceive them to be a cheaper toy.

but most likely due to the way the Baja 5B and 5T Look, it has caught alot of US eyes that unti then looked as RC something kids and old men in mid life crisses' do. Seems the more scale appearance, and handleing ability is what the US needed to get a kick in the ass in the LS arena. i think that is why So many baja guys are pushing the way they are to get racing going on at dedicated tracks. none of them realy want to associate or be associated with the smaller (in perception) more toyish small scales nitros and electrics.


even though size is very similar between the FGs, Harms, HPIs and Hormanns, i believe it the more scale package that draws the US populas into rc.

im willing to bet the HPI has drawn more new people into RC alone, than what FG has for sales in the states over the last 3 plus years.
 
great thread---so far.

"To clone, or not to clone" thats not the question, although its a great discussion point.

Ive been interested in R/C since I watched guys flying planes with the "bump" radio systems in the 60s at cal-poly pomona in So-Cal USA. I watched guys running 2 channel cars at thorps R/C raceway in pomona california in the 60s and 70s and ive piloted planes of all sizes and types for going on 30 years.
"the best kept secret in R/C is big gas" was overheard at the world championship R/C stunt invitational held in Las Vegas USA and this is true in my experiences. the big gas planes are more expensive but easier to fly and alot less to maintain and this is what im going for in big gas off and on road.
Ive raced 1/4 scale boats as well and in this class the discussion about "who originally built this hull" is an ongoing thing and to tell the truth this point has been beaten to death. the arguments will continue for sure but when it comes to my original beef about lack of tracks id sure like to leave this give and take out of it.
the big gas thing is growing and I think there should be enough followers to make the point that more tracks need to be built to service the needs of this growing part of the R/C hobby. Ive offered a portion of my own property to help out but have had no takers---why???
I guess its time to ask for a list of big gas friendly tracks.

mike
 
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