Rant

[lackabucks1]

Not sure if this is the right place. Currently run feel with a bunch of friends, but thought I might like to do some racing. Our local pond is the site of club races as well as national and international contests. Have watched a lot of Inc races and a few electric. Strikes me that the secret to success isn't who goes the fastest, but who finishes. On about a third of the heats a Springer tug could finish in the money, since most of the boats in the heat are floating around inverted.
To the point. Read the IMPBA rules for P Mono and they look like they were written by a lawyer who also runs if boats. Why do they have to be that complicated? How about a sportsman class based on fuel. I.E. limit the batteries to 4s (14.8 volts) any chemistry, 40c and 4000 or less ma. Mono defined as a single V-bottom hull with a pointy end on the front. Any motor and esc. Seems to me the guys who go super fast will be dead in the water in about three laps. If somebody wants to use esc, motor or battery as a fuse, that's racing and it's their wallet. Boats variations will shake out quickly and should give racing at least as close as it is with three pages of regulations in small type, and RTR will be competitive. You won't need to invest $800 to be competitive.
Good Lord, this is supposed to be fun.
Just a thought, but it seems like everything we do these days just keeps getting more complicated.

[lackabucks1]

Sorry for misspellings. Keyboard has problems.

[NativePaul]

I live in England so its nothing to do with me, but I have read the NAMBA book out of interests sake and found it funny and confusing in equal measures, I agree with you 100%, and think it must have put some people off.

I think we could cover all rules for all classes over here in the same space as your first post. It also solves the controversial issue over there of riggers running in the sportscale class because the numbers say that they are scale, over here we have no hull numbers (apart from length for Minis) so if it is a hydro and doesn't look like a real boat it is a rigger.

[Doby]

Some RTR's are pretty competitive in some classes "as is" with just a prop change.....no need to spend 800 bucks.

And you are correct, you do not need to be the fastest on the water...you need to finish.

[siberianhusky]

LOL you should see the BS fly when there is a discussion about rule changes, I raced nitro since I was a teen, got into electric, was going to join the Metro Modelers in Toronto. Was about the time a few years ago when battery capacity rules were being looked into. Some guys were real jerks. The biggest ass didn't even stick around Toronto for the start of the season, he was calling people names threatening to quit etc. Lite into me pretty hard for asking a real beginner question about rules. LOL he moved to Florida.
I hooked up with some guys locally and have fun running with them. Started our own group, we don't call it a club, to much BS if we call it a club.
LOL still have no idea what if anything is being run in the Toronto area. Based on the reception I got as a newbie a bunch of years back I really don't care!
You should have seen the crap fly a few years back on RumRunner around the hydro rules! Mean, bitter arguments!
Turned me off the whole idea of organized electric racing.

[gb tiggycat]

LOL you should see the BS fly when there is a discussion about rule changes, I raced nitro since I was a teen, got into electric, was going to join the Metro Modelers in Toronto. Was about the time a few years ago when battery capacity rules were being looked into. Some guys were real jerks. The biggest ass didn't even stick around Toronto for the start of the season, he was calling people names threatening to quit etc. Lite into me pretty hard for asking a real beginner question about rules. LOL he moved to Florida.
I hooked up with some guys locally and have fun running with them. Started our own group, we don't call it a club, to much BS if we call it a club.
LOL still have no idea what if anything is being run in the Toronto area. Based on the reception I got as a newbie a bunch of years back I really don't care!
You should have seen the crap fly a few years back on RumRunner around the hydro rules! Mean, bitter arguments!
Turned me off the whole idea of organized electric racing.

Siberianhusky,

You just used the "F" word in your post. FUN. As soon as people (or some of them anyway) start racing others, it is the first thing that they forget. Over here in the UK, I was boating at the start of the upsurge in I.C. Multiracing in the early 70's. It got to the stage of "the guy who puts the most bucks in wins" and the arguments were legion. The racers versus the rest split my local club in half and friendships went by the wayside.

Given what we are doing, which is basically whizzing small fancy boxes round on water under some control, is pretty meaningless unless all those involved ARE actually having some fun doing it. If it causes people to argue or fall out with each other, then it is POINTLESS!

We need to stand back and work out what we are trying to get out of our modelling and respecting others interests if they are not the same as ours. If the US or anywhere else banned model boating (and it seems that there are some who would like to try!), then the world would not stop on its axis and life would go on. It is a hobby or pastime, call it what you will , it is not an end in itself. Enjoy it, help others enjoy it or simply find yourself something else to do with your spare time. Life is too short and precious to spend it arguing,

[Punisher 67]

Just chiming in

[keithbradley]

There are definiltely plenty of silly and unneccesary rules in these organizations.
These race events could grow to 3 times the size in a couple of years if people knew that they could bring a boat and run it as long as it's safe.

[chris]

Rules are generally fine, most of them where written for gas and nitro boats .
Electric is " new" and is progressing same time too quickly for rules to follow .
People are speed ,competition and fun driven, regardless of interest .

[Namba328]

You guys all need to understand one thing. Electric technology has surpassed the rules so much that the board is having a hard time keeping up with it. They are working as much as they can to keep up with the technology that keeps making all of us go insane. Just give them time. ive been racing nitro since i was 5 yo. And trust me ive seen where rules have been bent and rules have been bitched about at events. We used to have lil squalls about rule proposals and it used to get flippin crazy. Just wait a lil. I know the board will get the rules squared away.

[Doug Smock]

It sounds like some of you guys have it figured out. Now what?

[siberianhusky]

LOL Going to love eavesdropping on those threads when they begin to appear, should be very, very entertaining!

[keithbradley]

It sounds like some of you guys have it figured out. Now what?

I'm ordering buffalo wild wings take out. I trust that you guys will have this all worked out by the time I'm done eating.

[Punisher 67]

LOL - Keith I love chiming into these threads also - many points of veiw .

[lackabucks1]

Doug - not suggesting it's all figured out. Am suggesting that it seems to me that the electric rules are not only overly complicated, but when applied to FE are simply silly. The bottom line with FE is that batteries contain a finite amount of energy. You can use a big motor and speed control and empty the battery before you finish and probably puff the battery. You can use a small motor and finish dead last, but probably finish. Or you can use a small motor or speed control and let the magic smoke out.
Too big a prop, you smoke (voice of experience). All of these things will even out if you limit battery size and c rating. That's why the ic boys don't run modified and stock together. Any motor, any esc, any hull that meets the definition of the class for a simple FE event.
After slogging thru the rules in the IMPBA I'm with SiberianHusky. Rather than spend 80 bucks in IMPBA and club dues, I'll stick with running with my buddies and to heck with rules hassles.