2s racing?

[T.S.Davis]

Oh, I’ll never build another nitro boat! No way, no how! It’s FE for life, for me! You can take those stink pots!

haha I used to be a full on hater. I have to confess........ I like that smell. I also appreciate the effort and knowledge it takes to be good at it. Before I just thought those guys were tools. Nitrolls.

Something else of note. When you race, you get a pit man who spots for you. He tells you where the dead boat are. Counts your laps. The better ones are the guys that have raced a bunch. Usually. I'm terrible. These guys that are good at it can teach you a ton. They watch your line. Tell you to come in. Drift out. "Why are you pushing so hard? yer a half lap ahead."

Doug Junior is a hall of famer. My son hunts down Douggie at races to be his pit guy. Another favorite of his is Dave Newland. He likes to have the Huff boys call for him too. He'll let me pit for him if there's just absolutely nobody else available. He'll take the new guy over me. He's sponging it all up. Lap after lap. Nobody ever says NO when asked for a pit. Unless they're thrashing to get ready for their heat or something is broken in their fleet they do it. No matter if you're a newbie or a vet. That part is kinda cool.

For the 14 NATS we had 6 kids I think. Ran multiple kids only classes. We hand picked pit men for them. Each kid had a high points national champion or a world record holder. These guys dropped everything to do it. So cool.

Not trying to get anyone to come race cold so to speak. Find a pond. Drop a couple buoy and drive yer boats. Doesn't need to be an official course. A buoy on each end. Get another guy if you can. Stay close to each other. Run in each others slop. Learn what yer boat does when you mash the throttle coming out of a turn. See how it reacts if you don't let off going in vs letting off. What happens if you input left too much in the straight. Get a feel for driving into the wind vs with the wind. All that rot. Knowing yer boat is most of the battle. The throttle is your best friend. (I can hear Ball laughing out loud reading that from me) Run stuff that's within your skill levels.

Reminds me.....

Another thing that nobody seems to ever want to do is recognize their own limitations. This is gonna sound arrogant. Can't help it.

I can build absolutely any FE boat there is a class for. Doesn't mean I can drive it. I might be able to drive a T rigger but I've never tried. So I'm not sure. I think I could........ugh......I just don't know. I do know that the time for me to figure it out isn't in heat one at a nationals. We see this all the time. Guy starts off way past his butt instead of dabbling in all the limited classes where learning is less painful. There are guys that will jump right past all that into P sport, Q hydro, T cat. "I wanna go fast!!!!" Got it. Me too. Go fast but work your way up. Everyone thinks they want to go 70 plus. "My GPS says............XYZ." I set a world record a few weeks ago with a Q mono. Turns like a beast on the oval. Ran it through the traps and it was only running 68. Is it slow? It holds a world record. Could a new guy handle that speed in a turn? Don't know. I hope he isn't finding out he can't in a heat next to my boat. We've had a number of brutal crashes due to this.

[Doug Smock]

Terry, No justification? Because you say so? Without a registration how do you know it's Scale? I'm gonna show up with a Backlash and call it a scale. Cool with that?
District trophy? No. "Purpose of fees-monies is to cover registration printing costs & postage fees". It's in the rulebook. Bring the approved form to every race? I have missed that. I think most Scale Directors print cards, could be wrong.

Ok, I'm peeing up a rope now and I know it. lol

Have a great weekend fellas! I got to get boats ready to race in the cotton field among other things!

[Doby]

Terry, No justification? Because you say so? Without a registration how do you know it's Scale? I'm gonna show up with a Backlash and call it a scale. Cool with that?
District trophy? No. "Purpose of fees-monies is to cover registration printing costs & postage fees". It's in the rulebook. Bring the approved form to every race? I have missed that. I think most Scale Directors print cards, could be wrong.

Ok, I'm peeing up a rope now and I know it. lol

Have a great weekend fellas! I got to get boats ready to race in the cotton field among other things!

For the love of God...lets not go there in this thread!

[CraigP]

haha I used to be a full on hater. I have to confess........ I like that smell. I also appreciate the effort and knowledge it takes to be good at it. Before I just thought those guys were tools. Nitrolls.

Something else of note. When you race, you get a pit man who spots for you. He tells you where the dead boat are. Counts your laps. The better ones are the guys that have raced a bunch. Usually. I'm terrible. These guys that are good at it can teach you a ton. They watch your line. Tell you to come in. Drift out. "Why are you pushing so hard? yer a half lap ahead."

Doug Junior is a hall of famer. My son hunts down Douggie at races to be his pit guy. Another favorite of his is Dave Newland. He likes to have the Huff boys call for him too. He'll let me pit for him if there's just absolutely nobody else available. He'll take the new guy over me. He's sponging it all up. Lap after lap. Nobody ever says NO when asked for a pit. Unless they're thrashing to get ready for their heat or something is broken in their fleet they do it. No matter if you're a newbie or a vet. That part is kinda cool.

For the 14 NATS we had 6 kids I think. Ran multiple kids only classes. We hand picked pit men for them. Each kid had a high points national champion or a world record holder. These guys dropped everything to do it. So cool.

Not trying to get anyone to come race cold so to speak. Find a pond. Drop a couple buoy and drive yer boats. Doesn't need to be an official course. A buoy on each end. Get another guy if you can. Stay close to each other. Run in each others slop. Learn what yer boat does when you mash the throttle coming out of a turn. See how it reacts if you don't let off going in vs letting off. What happens if you input left too much in the straight. Get a feel for driving into the wind vs with the wind. All that rot. Knowing yer boat is most of the battle. The throttle is your best friend. (I can hear Ball laughing out loud reading that from me) Run stuff that's within your skill levels.

Reminds me.....

Another thing that nobody seems to ever want to do is recognize their own limitations. This is gonna sound arrogant. Can't help it.

I can build absolutely any FE boat there is a class for. Doesn't mean I can drive it. I might be able to drive a T rigger but I've never tried. So I'm not sure. I think I could........ugh......I just don't know. I do know that the time for me to figure it out isn't in heat one at a nationals. We see this all the time. Guy starts off way past his butt instead of dabbling in all the limited classes where learning is less painful. There are guys that will jump right past all that into P sport, Q hydro, T cat. "I wanna go fast!!!!" Got it. Me too. Go fast but work your way up. Everyone thinks they want to go 70 plus. "My GPS says............XYZ." I set a world record a few weeks ago with a Q mono. Turns like a beast on the oval. Ran it through the traps and it was only running 68. Is it slow? It holds a world record. Could a new guy handle that speed in a turn? Don't know. I hope he isn't finding out he can't in a heat next to my boat. We've had a number of brutal crashes due to this.

Yes, don’t want to be one of those guys! I like my boat and others like theirs. You’re right Terry, right now I’m over my head on my hydro. I had to put in a small motor and prop to get used to 55 on the straight. I feel pretty good about turning, just CS about crashing it! The Pit Man sounds like gold! Like a nascar spotter, indespensible... I just put back in the bigger motor about a month ago, got the feeling again, the boat’s out ahead of me. It was running 62 on the straights, I got a radar gun guy to help me with turn entrance and exit speeds, so I can find the best throttle/rudder combo. After about 10-12 runs, it just started to feel slow, I was out in front of it again. But there’s a big leap in skills between 62-70. You gave me (and hopefully others that read your thread) some great advice! I’ve got a DF29 Mono that I’ve been driving pretty good. The Skater 32 still needs hull work. Just moved the rudder. I bought that used, had to fix a lot of setup issues. But it seems like a good class too. I’m going to remember your words tomorrow, I’m running the Skater... I should have started with something smaller, I thought I would drop right back into it, but it’s been 25 years since I ran my nitro hydro. FE accelerates so much faster, mind boggling! Oh, I don’t hate anything! I’ve had my stint with fuel and I’m thankful for the good times. Hell, I even built built Rolls Royce Merlin motors in my brother’s first Unlimited ride. But now it’s time for electrics!

[Doug Smock]

For the love of God...lets not go there in this thread!

You're absolutely right John!

[Peter A]

Here’s my take on your question Terry:

Gas and nitro are easier to understand... They also break less parts that cost a lot of money. Engines can be rebuilt. Even throwing a rod is a pretty simple pit fix if the block isn’t ventilated, which is rare.

But FE, batteries go bad when old... That is a major cost concern to many, just like hybrid cars. ESC’s blow up, $150-300 right there... And you can’t rebuild an electric motor, although you should never need to except for rotor bearings. You also need a good charging system, not cheap either...

There’s also the need to keep the hull water tight in FE. Gas and fuel boats just need a water tight radio box. A lot of folks run with a freaking open hole in the back to let water out while running. These are real factors, to people looking to the most economical way to enter the sport. I have many years experience in all things electrical, so I didn’t see this as an obstacle. But to many that just come and talk to me while I’m running, the up front expense is daunting. They are ALL very excited and fall in love right away. I can almost gaurantee you that if I had a fuel boat that I would hook some. FE’s are not cheap!

I gotta respond to this, no offense intended but. Gas guys break lots of bits, and they spend some serious coin. In NZ$ guys will spend anything between $2000-$3500 in a new boat, and sometimes more. I see guys in our club spending between $600-900 on mod motors, to try and make their boats go faster, sadly they don't listen and are wasting money when they could just tune their boats better, some even go slower! Changing motors, pipes ($400 for a good pipe) , fuel delivery systems, failsafes, shafts, etc,etc, these guys go through stuff, and there are those who go for a new hull regularly. There is very little, especially in NZ in RTR gas boats that are any good, mostly second hand.
In comparison, both Q hydro, and Q mono set me back in the region of $1500 each. I do all the build work myself, and use the same batteries. I can still beat these guys by either outdriving or actaully finishing races even though their boats can go faster, so much fun!
Honestly it is not the dollars and cents of it that is the issue, and my own experience is that FE is way more reliable, fast, less maintenance and therefore more fun. I did build a gas boat about 3 years ago, but sold it as I spent more time repairing and maintaining than all of my FE boats combined. I think that most of the gassers just get off on the noise!
I can get 6S revo go-packs for $195 each couriered overnight. Turnigy batts from Oz, on a 4 week slow boat.

[T.S.Davis]

Terry, No justification? Because you say so? Without a registration how do you know it's Scale? I'm gonna show up with a Backlash and call it a scale. Cool with that?
District trophy?:

Doug, got to think'n about yer text earlier. Hope yer not thinking we're having a real argument about any if this. We're too old for that crap and I ain't mad about any if it.

The trophy thing is in the book. As is the "bring your approved form to every race".

Not having a registration doesn't mean the boats don't have to comply with the rules. Do we register Q mono? How do we know it meets the rules without a registration? If we aren't registering Q Mono's are they still limited to 40"? Not registering a boat doesn't make the rules governing them vanish.

[Doby]

You're absolutely right John!

I usually am

[Doug Smock]

No Terry that text was all in fun and I figured you'd get a kick out of it. I was not the author, it was just one of those things that your "friends" send you. That one came from "Special Ed".

I'm way past getting upset about Toy Boat rules my brother.

I'm gonna drive on though before I type some things that need to be said IMO, but would probably make a big mushroom cloud form over the OSE server. You're welcome Steven.LOL


Yes John, yes you are.

See you fellas at the pond!