The good ole days....

[sjslhill]

I sure miss the good ole days when Jay Turner wrote his articles about pool racing in Alaska. 05 car motors and nicad batteries.

Chicago Amp Eaters racing every year with basic technology. Everyone was wanting to improve, don't take me wrong, things just moved much slower. You did not need to change everything from month to month to keep up.

Time trials with Ed Hughey, I went to many of them. Ed would tweak his props and change gear ratios and slowly up the speed. Ed hardly ever damaged motors or batteries.

All of this kinda led up to peak sometime in the late 90's I guess?, in Michigan with a huge nationals. Maybe it was early 2000's?

It sure seems that technology burned out the large races and racers. Maybe I am wrong, sure seems that way.

Oh well, just a sign that I am getting old. I have zero desire to run 70mph and even 50+ with an off the shelf RTR Aqua Craft boat. I must say it looks nice and I am sure glad they did the Lite and not an unlimited. Those turbine air scoops are the most ugly things that man every designed.

If I had my choice and the time, it would be more the rules in Europe. I was talking to Joerg the other day and they are looking into A123 only for classes. I think this is a very good idea.

Well, that's it for now....any old timers feel free to jump in here and share some tales.

[RandyatBBY]

Not me! I love my 67MPH P hydro. I love the power we have today. I love running 1/8 scale that is a rocket. I love Lipo that last more than one year I have been running the same Neu Power cells for two years and plan to run them next year. Just wish my body was not so old.

[ice329]

Our little NJ crew got into Buggies about 25 years ago. There was cars out but when that Traxxas TRX-1 came out wow things semed to really change. We had a few little race tracks in NJ but we would go to NYC 2 times a week sometimes 3 to a place called Queens Offroad. John I beleieve was the owners name, if I remember they were Koren and knew there sh_t.. and steve your fav company was big in batteries and most everyone had the sanyo's Nicd cells matched by Trinity. My nick name was Bon Joey...heheh they used to anouce the race and I used to laugh everytime I heard it, you know there Koren accents BONnnnn JoooEYYY. Well anyway he seemed to like me more then my other friends and always hooked me up, he gave me a set of batteries that just kicked ass and ever since then I knew they were FE heart. He showed us all of the ways to eliminate resistance, which ESC's we cut out all the bull and he showed us and our Buggies flat out ran circles around the other cars. Hooked me up with a motor, now there was a lot of choices he goes the only one right here and hands me a slot machine, changes the brushes and put heavy springs and the rest is history. That one motor lasted 20 years, with brushes changed of coarse and it only burt up because I busted a wheel and had to buy a set of bigger wheels and I still had the big pinion gear on.. I lost the darn hex wrench, she was fast a hell but I blew the motor up. I felt like I lost a kid... I just picked up a cheap Venom 19t double, figured after playine with a brushless ruseler I better go with a slight modified motor. But yes the old days, I still cant believe where the time went and I still act like I did then but the body says wooow...! hahah

[Xzessperated]

I hear what you are saying Steven but I do not share your feelings. For me the good old days are right here and now. I can remember buying an MRP Mr. Pringles and an MRP Skater and watching in awe as they skimmed over the water. Now I look at videos on You Tube of SV 27's and BJ 26's and marvel at how far we have come with out of the box boats. I know very little about boats but 3 of my riggers do over 60 mph and another has done 75 mph. Anything over 55 mph sure gets my attention real quick.
We had to have a past but I look forward to the future and like Randy it is my old body that lets me down.
For me one of the biggest advances is the forums where we can get help and ask questions and share information. Like you, I loved reading Jay's articles and look back at the past with fond memories but for me.... bring on the future

BTW. Great topic.

[motoxbob11]

I agree that the forums are an amazing thing as it allows us to gather knowledge from all over the world. We don't have to wait for Jay to write an article...he can just jump into any thread and set us all straight! And I don't even know Mr. Hill but for some reason I like him!
But as far as the old days I think the thing that was the most fun was the discovery of the whole hobby. My first battery was a Sanyo SCR 1200 running a Futaba FX10 car. (yes, Futaba made a car) At the time driving that car was an unreal experience and all us old-timers saw all the advances in cars and batteries. SCR 1400's, the dreaded 1700 SCE, and my all time favorite the Sanyo SCR 2400.
Now I look at videos of my Graupner Tornado ripping up the lake at appox. 30 mph (no gps back then) and it is wonderful to see but the fact is my little old SV is faster and stronger and better in every way.
I only have one problem with the new stuff---it seems so expensive.

[RandyatBBY]

Ya know I miss racing with the LA Skimmers and traveling to the wet and wild races but you know racing Darren, Brian, Joe, Doug T. and the rest of the guys is just as good.

And the internet is great!!!!

[raptor347]

Funny, I rebuilt an old gold pan RC10 for my racing partner's son. Sure brought back memories.

That being said, I like the new tech. I like the possibilities. I see the pros and cons of the RTR world. It's great that more people get into the hobby, but we've lost alot of what I equate with modeling. When it starts to bother me, I just head for the shop and build something new.

I don't really want to go back to 1985.

[Steven Vaccaro]

I have been playing with rc since 1984, to me there hasnt been a better time than present. Replacing brushes and comm lathes are a thing of the past. Yahoo!!!

[sjslhill]

I would have to agree that there was no way you could run an 1/8th scale back than....that's an improvment. However, that's a pile of money and I won't be doing it anytime soon.

I'd just as soon see 10 of those Finley plan boats running on lower cost BL motors.

[sjslhill]

I wonder just how many can drive 70 mph boats with 5 of them on the course. What size course? 1/8th maybe

[sjslhill]

Wow

Yup, Tornado, had one....it was fun. I can remember an article in there about how to set a record at Huntsville with it. Now you need some serious parts and need to go 80 mph. Maybe that's better, maybe it's not. Back in the 90's I won a race with one of those at Batavia. The course is obsolete now and you need a football field size course.

I agree that the forums are an amazing thing as it allows us to gather knowledge from all over the world. We don't have to wait for Jay to write an article...he can just jump into any thread and set us all straight! And I don't even know Mr. Hill but for some reason I like him!
But as far as the old days I think the thing that was the most fun was the discovery of the whole hobby. My first battery was a Sanyo SCR 1200 running a Futaba FX10 car. (yes, Futaba made a car) At the time driving that car was an unreal experience and all us old-timers saw all the advances in cars and batteries. SCR 1400's, the dreaded 1700 SCE, and my all time favorite the Sanyo SCR 2400.
Now I look at videos of my Graupner Tornado ripping up the lake at appox. 30 mph (no gps back then) and it is wonderful to see but the fact is my little old SV is faster and stronger and better in every way.
I only have one problem with the new stuff---it seems so expensive.

[sjslhill]

Well

Well, if it would all stop for about 2 years I would agree with you. New batteries, ESC's and Motors will come out next week.

I have been playing with rc since 1984, to me there hasnt been a better time than present. Replacing brushes and comm lathes are a thing of the past. Yahoo!!!

[AndyKunz]

The new stuff coming out next week tells me that there is market there, which translates directly into NEW BOATERS. Thinking about the good ole days is fine, but remember those good ole days had you booted from a certain board. Be glad time moves on, and we mature!

I was cleaning up a pile of CD's and found some home movies from 1999, the day my youngest daughter was born. Last week one of the little boys in the movie turned 18. A couple months ago the younger boy in the video was called to preach. The little baby was baptized and joined our church two weeks ago.

Sweet memories, but the best is yet to come!

Andy

[sjslhill]

I asked to be booted from the board and running sponsored has no appeal to me, it's not about that at all. The past is something to learn from, you know not the future and live in the present. New Boaters is great, however, this economy that we are in right now was caused by those who wanted something they could not afford. I am NOT saying that anyone here is doing that. People wanted houses they could not make payments on. People selling them did not care if they could not make the payments or not. The people at the closings did not care, they all wanted their money. The bank that made the loan did not care, they sold the loan right after the closing. So, all of sudden we have thousands of empty houses on the market, housing markets flop and thus follows the rest. So, in closing, thinking of the past is a good idea, man should do it more often.

[Darin Jordan]

The good NOW days!

• Offshoreelectrics.com
• AquaCraft and ProBoat RTR offerings
• Affordable, Reliable, Maintenance Free, and Readily-available Brushless motors
• Reliable and Affordable ESCs
• Reliable and Long-Lasting Batteries
• More Information Sharing than ever before
• A bigger community than ever before!
• NITRO, GAS, and FE sharing venues and race-dates
• ... and the NEXT BIG THING is always JUST around the corner!

It's all GOOD!