THE Cub Report, Version- Jon Snow Lives!
So here we are folks, I am soooo sorry (not) if I spoiled this week’s GOT episode for you by the title. But yes indeed, Jon Snow lives again (we knew he would!!!). Ryan Dungey wrapped up yet another 450 Supercross title over the weekend, and there were a bunch of new releases in the rc world last week. So let’s jump right into what should have been the biggest rc news in quite some time…
Years ago the announcement of a new buggy from Team Associated was gigantic news. If you are noob, or lets say someone who got in the hobby after the year 2000, you would probably never know that. For nearly a decade and a half, a new AE buggy being announced was like the T-Maxx being announced, or the Slash, or the X-Maxx, it was HUGE. And as you probably already know, last week Associated announced the B6 and B6D buggies. They are littered with all the latest tech and sure look fast, however, of course in my eyes, I can do nothing but complain about them. And while they were “big” news to me and to other old school buggy pilots, in the grand scheme of things they were probably less noticed than the last time Traxxas announced a Courtney Force edition Rustler. “Sigh”.
“Back in the day” new AE buggies typically leapfrogged anything on the market as far as technology was concerned. A new AE buggy set a new standard and ment that if you wanted any hope of keeping up on the local track, you were going to have to be driving one of them. It has been a long time since AE leapfrogged the industry. The B6 once again looks like a “catch-up” machine instead of a “new standard of the class”. I would rather have seen AE go big by putting out some crazy all new design than simply one that just puts it back to standard with the leaders in the class.
And my other beef with the B6 and B6D is that once again, like the 5 series, they are telling consumers that you need two different buggies to be competitive. Seriously? You “need” two different buggies to run on different tracks with somewhat different grip levels? Ok, maybe if you were racing the IFMAR worlds every weekend on a different track, but for the normal Joe Blow racer, IMO that is not the case. I will back up that statement with something I have witnessed first hand. I have seen Brian Kinwald race one of the re-issued RC10 Worlds Cars. Sure, it had modern tires and electronics, but his lap times with his old school rig were just a few tenths off what he was laying down with his modern rig. So even with his old school Worlds Car, he was still a second or more faster than pretty much every local racer at the track. And yes, it was a high-bite indoor watered clay track. So even that old Worlds Car can be competitive in the right hands. It is only logical that if a local racer can’t keep up with Kinwald driving a decades old design, then they really don’t need one special buggy for clay, one for carpet, and one for outdoor dirt. What they “need” is more practice and tuning experience. I see putting out two buggies and telling consumers that they need them as a cash grab, which is great if you need the money, but not so great for the long term health of the hobby. It costs enough to race already, let alone if you now think you need two or more different buggies just to race one class. /rant-over
What actually turned out to be the biggest news last week? That distinction goes to the Losi Baja Rey Desert Truck. Oh yes, the Baja Rey is bring’n it- it has a big power system, it has some pretty incredible sale looks, and it is just what the buying public is going nuts for right now. I can’t wait to lay hands on one to see how it handles with the solid rear axle and to see just how much yank they let it have in stock form. However… and there is always a however… I have to wonder why it wasn’t released under Vaterra branding. I am a big Vaterra fan, I dig the scale realism they have done with it, and the quality behind it. To me the Baja Rey seems like a perfect fit under Horizon’s Vaterra badge, but it came out as a Losi. Vaterra has had trouble getting its footing out in the marketplace, so it makes me wonder if the Baja Rey is a Losi because Vaterra might not be long for this world? We are seeing the Scion brand go away in the full sized world only to be resold as Toyotas, I have to wonder if that might not be the case with Vaterra/Losi in the very near future. Time will tell of course, until then I will have no problem bashing the living daylights out of the Baja Rey, regardless of the name on the side.
So there ya have it folks, yet another Cub Report is in the bank. Get out and support your local hobby shops and bash spots when ya can!
YOUR Cub Reporter
