My rant about buying "the latest and greatest"

[Steven Vaccaro]

Back in the 80's I had a 1988 Corvette, with some basic mods it ran in the low 13's in the quarter mile. Nothing earth moving, but it was fun and reliable and I could drive it to and from the track. That summer, one of the local older rich hot shots decided to go and buy a 1990 Corvette zr1. For those that dont know the stock corvette was about 245hp. The ZR1 was 400 or so area, it was also selling for about 3 times the price of a base model.

After racing us a couple of times he couldn't get his 400 hp beast to get much better that the high 13's in the quarter. He was quite discussed about its poor performance. All us young guys could do is laugh which really pissed him off. After about 2 or 3 weeks goes by he shows up at the track with a GM Tech and a computer wired to the car. After about a nights worth of testing, they came to the conclusion that the car was starving for air. The bellow style hose that ran from the air cleaner to the engine was collapsing under heavy load. The next we they both showed up with a home made style cage around the hose that increased its rigidity. He pulled off some much quicker 1/4 mile times and from then on out I couldn't ever catch him.

The moral to my story is that if you want the latest and greatest item out there, be prepared to also undergo the problems(stress) involved with a new item coming to market. Sure it shouldn't be that way, but in reality it does and most likely will happen. Even in our hobby.

[raptor347]

Consumer beta testing. Why spend to do it yourself when someone will pay to do it for you.

Even the well tested stuff can have bugs.

[Steven Vaccaro]

Consumer beta testing. Why spend to do it yourself when someone will pay to do it for you.

Even the well tested stuff can have bugs.

I dont think that was the case in the ZR1. It was supposed to be, "The King of the Hill". My father knew a guy that bought 2 of them. One to store away and one to drive here and there.

[Raydee]

That is why I no longer update my Castle ESC's until I know the new firmware is working without problems. I was and still am at times a victim of beta testing the "latest and greatest"

[Steven Vaccaro]

That is why I no longer update my Castle ESC's until I know the new firmware is working without problems. I was and still am at times a victim of beta testing the "latest and greatest"

Software is notorious for this! I have some specialized retail software at the store, every time there is a major update I have issues.

[Doby]

Software....one word...Vista...

[Steven Vaccaro]

Software....one word...Vista...

Vista was a great success, it brought us windows 7

[Diesel6401]

Vista was a great success, it brought us windows 7

HAHAHA,

I am an aircraft mechanic and software issues are issues for us as well. About 5 years ago we bought the latest and greatest regional aircraft on the market. It came with software load I think 14.1, well here we are 5 or so years later and we are on verision 21 or 22, I forget lol. Real life using is the only real test, it looked great on the factory testing equipment but in the actual field it ran into a lot of problems. (Nothing dangerous, but caused a lot of delays for customers). Weather it's a $200 esc, a $50K car or a 30 million dollar airplane being the latest & greatest always comes with a headache. Now that the software bugs are worked out, it's the best plane to date that I have personally worked on!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_E-Jet_family

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Airways#Republic_Airways_Holdings_Republic_Airlines

[Flying Scotsman]

Do not get me even started on firmware updates....badly enigineered witih version 1.0 software and the updates!!!!

Douggie

[egneg]

Do not get me even started on firmware updates....badly enigineered witih version 1.0 software and the updates!!!!

Douggie

Douggie ... I think you are to old to worry about "firmware".

[Flying Scotsman]

Chuck, you are a bad boy....my firm parts still work....I think.... Also the Packers are going to tell the boys that make steel to piss off

Douggie

[egneg]

Yes I think the "Packers" will beat the "Lead Butts".

[ncornacchi]

I still have Dougies GB Packers painted UL-1....I will put her on top of the TV during superbowl for good luck...Although I'm a die-hard Pats fan, I was really happy to learn that the Packers are the only proffesional football team that are for the people, owned by the people....no corporate ownership.....that's pretty impressive!!

[egneg]

I still have Dougies GB Packers painted UL-1....I will put her on top of the TV during superbowl for good luck...Although I'm a die-hard Pats fan, I was really happy to learn that the Packers are the only proffesional football team that are for the people, owned by the people....no corporate ownership.....that's pretty impressive!!

Darn tooten!

[keithbradley]

Back in the 80's I had a 1988 Corvette, with some basic mods it ran in the low 13's in the quarter mile. Nothing earth moving, but it was fun and reliable and I could drive it to and from the track. That summer, one of the local older rich hot shots decided to go and buy a 1990 Corvette zr1. For those that dont know the stock corvette was about 245hp. The ZR1 was 400 or so area, it was also selling for about 3 times the price of a base model.

After racing us a couple of times he couldn't get his 400 hp beast to get much better that the high 13's in the quarter. He was quite discussed about its poor performance. All us young guys could do is laugh which really pissed him off. After about 2 or 3 weeks goes by he shows up at the track with a GM Tech and a computer wired to the car. After about a nights worth of testing, they came to the conclusion that the car was starving for air. The bellow style hose that ran from the air cleaner to the engine was collapsing under heavy load. The next we they both showed up with a home made style cage around the hose that increased its rigidity. He pulled off some much quicker 1/4 mile times and from then on out I couldn't ever catch him.

The moral to my story is that if you want the latest and greatest item out there, be prepared to also undergo the problems(stress) involved with a new item coming to market. Sure it shouldn't be that way, but in reality it does and most likely will happen. Even in our hobby.

Our cobalts are packin over 700hp now Steve. The one in this vid is only around 500 but you can see how much fun we have at lunch in the summer!