ASK Cubby – Your Emails, My Non-Sense

“Promo Vidoes

I love when a company puts out a promo video. Watching them pull off amazing tricks and getting huge air is just awesome. But my question is just how many vehicles do they demolish in order to make one short video? Back in the day Tyco must have gone through 20 Vehicles just to shoot one commercial. I know my Tyco’s didn’t last long trying to do what they did in the commercials

Thanks,

John B.”

Cubby- So hello there John, thanks for writing. Per the norm around here, if you shoot me your snail mail, we will hook you up with one of our very cool sticker packs.

So, about those promo videos…

I have been there, first hand, for many video shoots. Of course we do some here, but I’ve also been around a handful of manufacturers as they were doing their own promo vids. What is it really like???

It depends a lot of the company. Most of the companies have experienced drivers that have done that type of shoot for years. Over those years, you learn a lot about what you can, and can’t do, before destroying a truck by doing some extreme antics. I’ve been on photo/video shoots where only ONE truck was needed, but I’ve been on other shoots where there was basically a pallet of extra trucks on hand when needed.

Back in the day (which is how all good stories start), I was on a video shoot for a major manufacturer. That was probably close to ten years ago now, but the company was getting ready to drop a new larger scale release. The truck had yet to be announced, so while there was a half dozen of the new trucks on hand, there were zero spare parts. That particular truck turned out to not be the most durable, and their drivers were better suited behind a keyboard than a transmitter. So, even with relatively “safe” driving, they were still going through trucks far too quickly. Yes, they went through all six trucks in about 2 hours, but that was not enough time for them to even remotely get enough of the footage that we were looking for.

Also back in the day, I was on hand when another manufacturer was dropping their own big release. They had two guys on hand that drove demos for them quite a bit, so when the company went out to shoot the video, they had some trained/talented drivers on hand. One of the drivers drove one truck all day with barely any issues at all, and he was mostly just sending it. But then, after hours upon hours of driving demo shows, the driver knew exactly where the line was for “breaking” most vehicles.

So in the end, the answer depends on the company, but I believe even more so on the driver behind the wheel. I have seen companies go through a pallet of cars for a video, while I have seen others that could get away by using just one. Oh and yes, those old Tyco commercials were top notch. Proper marketing makes you serious cash, I would bet the owners of Tyco did quite well back then.

“New Trenchers

Hey Cubby, how are the new belted Pro-Line tires and have you tried them yet? I am dying to know what you think about them before I buy some.

William A.”

Cubby- Hola there Mr. William, thanks for the email.

About those new Pro-Line Belted Trencher Monster Truck Tires, I have a set in my hands right now. No, I have not run them yet, but that should be going down tomorrow, as well as more testing over the weekend. From the videos it appears that they have got tire expansion completely fixed, I can’t wait to see just how awesome belted Trenchers really are.

In the past, and I am talking several years ago, we got to try to a couple of other attempts from Pro-Line at tackling tire expansion. The P-L crew has been on this for several years now, so I would very highly doubt that the new belted Trenchers are going to disappoint. In fact, they might be a big turning point for bashers. How is that?

While there have been a few belted tires on the market for bashers, there just have not been many. And most of those that were available, just weren’t very well suited to hardcore bashing. The new belted Trenchers should change all that. Their tread design and rubber compound are top notch and perfectly suited to bashing. Now, being fully belted, they will help usher in a time in bashing where pinning it on 6S does NOT result in an uncontrollable car, or totally torn apart tires. Handling should be Vastly improved, something that high cell count bashers have been asking for for a very long time.

Belted Trenchers are also going to have a huge effect on gearing. In the past, when our tires would double in size each time we stabbed the throttle, proper gearing was extremely difficult to achieve. Now, with proper belted tires, gearing will become MUCH more consistent.

Anyways, sorry bro, I can’t give you any first hand feedback ATM, you will have to wait until next week. 🙂

Have a weird question? Need a weirder answer? Have an insane rant that you just have to get off your chest? Email me- thecubreportrc at gmail dot com.