ASK Cub Reporter- 06.22.2011- The Pony Express Has Been At Work Again

“Will a “tuning kit” turn a Losi SCB from a basher to a racer? I think not… a tricker piece of machinery yes, but faster? Faster is much more about the driver than the equipment in rc racing.” (quoted from this weeks Cub Report)

Whys it need a tuning kit anyways, for all intents and purposes it is a Losi XXX-T which has been one of the best stadium trucks over the years.

You sorta mistyped, “Faster is much more about the driver than the equipment in rc racing.”; strike out the letters ‘rc’ and its utterly correct. Doesn’t matter if its rc, 1:1 racing or solo events, virtual online racing, etc., it always comes down to the driver, better drives simply can get more out of their equipment than others.
Also doesn’t TT own Associated?
Chris

Cubby– Hey ya Chris, thanks for the email.

I totally agree with ya on the SCB not “needing” the tuning kit, it’s a dern good buggy right out of the box. But… those TLR tuning kits are selling like hotcakes. The TLR kits are a nice ad-on sale for Horizon, and a nifty hop-up package for those guys in the hobby that like to tune and tweak.

And ya, better drivers always get more out of their equipment, but I worded it exactly as I intended it to be, rc racing, not just racing in general. And why did I word it as such?

Lets talk about drag racing- give John Force (perhaps the best drag racer ever) a Kia Rio, and give me (without doubt one of the worst drag racers to ever put foot against pedal) a Nissan GT-R. I have not performed this test in person (I can only wish!), so I can’t say for sure, but because of the gianormous difference in equipment, I had better not lose that race. Conversely on the rc side of the equation, give Mike Ogle, or Tim Smith, or Jim “Rainman” Shauer a bone stock brushed Traxxas Slash and they are going to pwn me in the scale quarter, with me driving any one of their full scoot drag cars.

So while a better driver can always get more out of their equipment, I feel that is especially true in rc racing. But hey, I’m an rc guy.

About Thunder Tiger/Associated… yes, Thunder Tiger bought AE in 2005, and no, the AE guys don’t seem to like that being known to the general public. I’m really start’n to feel the love for Thunder Tiger lately- TT is putting out better product now than they ever have, and they have good distribution via Great Planes. TT is on the road to success here in the States, will they keep on it?

And here’s one out of Brians email box…

Hi,
I was reading you recent Around the Office article regarding testing driving RC cars at your LHS.
I think you pose a interesting questions and I think maybe it is something the manufacturers could address better as well as stores. I think of my local Golf Club. When I go for a game they have a vast number of demo drivers etc that I can take for an entire round or two to see if I like it. This is essentially the same concept you are posing.

I know my local golf club also has demo days where manufacturers bring all their goodies that you can demo and have experts on hand to help you get the best out of their products. Maybe at the very least local hobby stores should have demo days where they invite various stocked manufacturesr to bring along some cars to demo. obviously it would want to be advertised very heavily but I guess they could be viewed as more localized, somewhat scaled down trade shows.
Just a thought I had that I wanted to share with you.
Keep up the good work. Cheers,
Brett S.

Cubby– Hey Brett, your letter was so good I had to steal it from Brian.

Brian is lucky, he’s got an LHS within minutes of the BSRC compound that offers rc test drives (I’m jealous!). I know from traveling around the country that the vast majority of hobby shops do not, and I know why…

Many LHS’s are struggling to make a buck. When they get in a new car/truck they know the moment the seal is cracked it’s not worth as much as it is sealed. The new car/truck has almost no margin to begin with, with a cracked seal they will instantly lose money on the unit. They also know that should they allow test drives of rc cars, that many of those test drives will result in broken parts, costing the LHS not only money for parts, but perhaps more expensive, the labor spent doing the repairs. For many LHS’s the amount of extra sales they project by doing test drives simple does not justify the expense.

But… of course I’d love to see more hobby shops offer test drives, it’s just all kinds of good for the hobby. When most of us got into the hobby we bought what we thought we liked with no opportunity to see what the car drove like. If someone is in the market for a new buggy this summer, it would be incredible if they could test drive an Electrix Boost against a Losi 22 against a Losi SCB against a Losi 8ight to see which one was truly the best fit for them. Unfortunately the manufactures don’t have the bank to spot every hobby shop a demo of every new model, so that leaves it up to the LHS to crack that box and take their chances, most are unwilling to do so and I can’t blame them.

For all you readers out there, if you have a local hobby shop that offers test drives shoot me an email so I can post it on our main page. I’d love to help spread the word on hobby shops where you can try before you buy, and I’m sure we have a lot of readers that would love to do some test driving.

Yes, I’m done babbling for this week. Send us your letters, the more interesting the better of course. Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com!

YOUR Cub Reporter