Local clubs.......P limited question

[T.S.Davis]

Question for clubs running P limited stuff.

Say a guy shows up at your pond to check out what this racing stuff is all about. He likes what he sees. He's got some car experience. Never thought about boats before. You try to gauge his build capability. Seems like he's probably an off the shelf guy at this point. He of course asks you the question.

"Looks like fun. What can I get?"

So what do you tell him to get? It's a loaded question of course I admit.

Revolt is unavailable
SV27 is unavailable
Lucas cat best of the bunch at the moment
Impulse may or may not have a legal motor
Blackjack great boat but again may or may not have a legal motor
UL1 is okay but really tough to compete with

I do have a point I'm trying to make.

Our P limited rule set (at least in my head) was written such that a new guy could in theory purchase an RTR and come play with us. The problem is that the list of viable RTR's right now is a bit short.

[longballlumber]

Terry,

Before you can accurately answer the question you MUST define your objective/s and put a priority on those objectives. There are many answers to your questions as currently stated and none of them are right/wrong.

You seem to be hinting at the NAMBA rule book "tying" the hands of clubs. By not allowing "Joe car racer" to race because his RTR boat bought from the LHS doesn't follow the NAMBA rule book (down to the letter) regarding the motor in his boat.

Later,
Mike

[Fluid]

Loaded question or not, what do current clubs do? It is a totally fair question, so here is what we do with newbies:

- If they already have a boat, we will let them heat race for awhile even if it doesn't exactly fit in a legal category. We judge their interest, competence and yes, their pocketbook.
- We usually recommend newbies buy an RTR, used or new. Used means that Revolts etc are available. New means the Lucas Oil or UL-1.
- If they have a lot of interest and competence then we recommend an already-built Limited boat, used or new.
- If they want to run with the big dogs (!) then they can buy or build a full P boat (or Q or T....).

This is what we do. Current NAMBA rules do not limit us. That could of course change in the future....


.

[RayR]

Terry,

This happens in our club all the time. The most popular class is P-Limited Offshore with over a dozen members. We steer them to a Blackjack 29.

[flraptor07]

Terry,

This happens in our club all the time. The most popular class is P-Limited Offshore with over a dozen members. We steer them to a Blackjack 29.

Ray, Except when you get a wierdo like me that shows up last year with almost no boat experience but lots of rc experience and builds 15 or so boats and none of them limited.

[RaceMechaniX]

Terry,

Valid point. The best alternative is to point him to a used boat that he can get up a running with some club support. Otherwise keep your fingers crossed he likes cats.

TG

[Darin Jordan]

I think you should do what many of the "newbies" on these forums seem to like to do... tell them to go build a Twin T-Cat... :)

[Doby]

Whatever you tell them...never turn them away and let them run what they brung (if they have a boat already)....best way to get people hooked and then they can figure out what their next boat will be.

[DPeterson]

This is exactly where our group got stuck. We had nothing we could recommend with a clean concious. Not so much with guy's coming in off the street but nitro guy's looking to run electric.

We are not aware of or have seen any rtr that can compete and or stay in one piece. And after the epidemic failures of the AQ2030 this year, this was the end of all recomendations for us. Again - clean concious.

Now we can recommend certain hulls, motors, esc's, batteries, etc. And be able to sleep at night that we didn't screw someover with a bad recommendation. To the real interested persons we provide the means for which to aquire these items.

It's all good now - Doug

[Mike Caruso]

Doug,

I am sure you have helped a bunch and I have to give you a pat on the back man. Lead follow or get out of the way right.

Mike

[T.S.Davis]

Doug, I remember you saying that. I'm not even talking about the quality.

The success of our club locally can be linked to those RTR boats. It's really not debatable. When talking about the motor spec and rules etc, I wanted them to keep the RTR part of the equation. Accept there aren't any now. So why bother clinging to those motors?

[T.S.Davis]

I just thought of something.

Doug is adding racers by trying to get nitro guys to try FE. That's who he's hanging out with. Makes sense.

Our new guys are rarely converts.

[longballlumber]

I just thought of something.

Doug is adding racers by trying to get nitro guys to try FE. That's who he's hanging out with. Makes sense.

Our new guys are rarely converts.

This is what I keep eluding to... Objective, audience, perception, goals (local level), goals (national level)...

All of these will have different solutions/compromises and there WILL BE a need for give-n-take in a effort to find a "solution"

[DPeterson]

Thats right Mike C. - and thanks - I always sucked at following.

Over the last 3 years we had numerous walk ins and nitro guy's bring rtr's to the pond. All of them left disappointed and none stuck it out. They either got their butt handed to them or their rtr's flipped or broke. And I'm talking about some nationally recognized racers. Most of the nitro gas guy's now have passed their rtr's over to their kids to run. Thats who we now have to run with locally. It's embarresing. Big reason we are now looking to make gas boats our primary racing and electric secondary. Trying to keep electric alive for now.

Still a hugh mistake IMO to tie a National set of rules to a RTR Manufacture. 3 years later and more instablility. The basis for National rules should be backed by technical parameters, not whether AQ or PB decides to manufacturer a toy boat. It's backwords. Toss out the ego's and agenda's and re-boot.

Doug

[Doug Smock]

Terry,
IMO, If you want a guy to be able to race his RTR you're going to have to offer a RTR class. Make it as simple as possible.
P Limited boats with your current rules will never be on the same page as the RTRs. Or as Mike said, there WILL BE a need for give-n-take in a effort to find a "solution"

And of course, if your P limited class(s) are going to be successful, you have to fix "the motor is the fuse" mentality. Although that appears to be a regional deal.

We discussed ditching the P Limited classes in favor of offering a RTR class. The current limited classes would be offered as P classes. Most of the guys including me are ready to drive on.
Nothing was finalized, just some talk around a Lipo fire.

Just my.02 FWIW