Team FEAR (south east Virginia)

[thegreat1]

i don't know where lake fear is lol. could someone fill me in. also what time?

[egneg]

Lake Fear (formally Loc Fembot) is at the corner of London Bridge Rd and Ships Corner in Va bch. Time to be determined but somewhere around the noon to 1 pm time frame

[runzwithsizorz]

Can't make it today, wife has made plans for me already. Is this the pond next to the Virginia beach Industries?

[egneg]

We will meet at the 7-11 at 2pm. Here is a link and a picture for Jeremy. Sorry you cant make it Runz, maybe next time. I will call Danny to check to see if he is still coming and Ben to see if he can make it.

http://www.mapquest.com/listings/7-Eleven_Virginia_Beach_VA_21803884

[Chilli]

How did the mono run today Chuck?

[egneg]

How did the mono run today Chuck?

It ran much better although I stripped the servo horn so I think I will have to get a metal one. I put on a detongued X642 today and moved the batts a bit back (I think I could move them back some more) and it ran about 40 mph, does this sound about right for running with the nitro boats?

P.S. Danny shot some video so when I get it I will post it.

[Chilli]

It's hard to tell what speed the nitro guys will ber running at. There is a huge span on performance depending on how good a tuner the boat owner is. 40 mph is pretty slow for a 642 with your motor, but if I remember correctly Lake Fear is not that big so not alot of room to wind that sucker out. I had the Titan running upper 40's with a 640. When you get together with the OD club, you'll able to run with the B-mono guys and get a good sense of where you need to be. If I get to run with any B's at test n' tune, I'll let you know what kind of speeds will be competitive.

[Meniscus]

Egneg, I got your call, but got involved with a combined birthday party for my wife where the whole family was there.

I hate missing meetings!!!

[Meniscus]

OK, ran my first boat in quite some time...

Mini Sea Drifter on 3s FP 2100mah, X-Power 2618kv?, x632, Velocity 35A ESC, etc. etc.

She planed out great, nice tight rooster tail, and did roughly 38mph. She would have done more if I had the room to wind her up. It ran very stable and had no issue going over the wake upwards of 1 1/4". It still needs a turn fin. I think I gave the one I was going to use to Danny D. with the Oberto.

[Diegoboy]

Sweet! Wish I could have been there...

[Meniscus]

Yeah, it's a shame when work gets in the way! Sorry Diego.

Just a note guys, hire Diego to conformal coat your ESC's and receivers. Mine were still working even with over a half a cup of water in the hull. They had to have been completely submerged, of course not by choice. Great job Diego!!!

[Meniscus]

OK, I've been looking heavily at the IMPBA rules regarding FE.

My goal is to find a class that will allow smaller models, say up to 19-21" or less depending on other's input, to compete in a race or SAWS environment for the main purpose of having an inexpensive class for new boaters to enjoy the events. Here's my issue, let's say I wanted to recruit new members to run FE with us in a race or SAWS competition. Under the rules, if let's say we decided to run riggers up to 19-21" or smaller, the smallest class is N which has a rigger length limit of 60"!!!

So what does that mean? Realistically, I could run a 32-34" rigger on 2s2p at 10,000mah. That's all well and good, but it misses the main purpose for a smaller class: allow new boaters to get into the hobby without spending upwards of $1,000.

Now, I know that D.Smock runs a special local club class that uses Vac-u-pickles. Again, the IMPBA rules don't translate to the smaller sizes for hydros. Even in the "N" class, it's only limited to 27", which is still giant compared to these small models.

So where does this leave us? No class to run micro or minis that have a cost of $200-250 all new components and new boaters have to come up with at least $500+ to be able to enter a competitive race. The spec racing was a good idea, but now with motors costing as much as 1/5 the cost of a spec motor, it seems silly not to allow participants to use them in some sort of way.

Meanwhile, in IMPBA we have N, P, Q, S, T = 5 times Mono, Tunnel, OB Tunnel, Hydro, Rigger, Sport Hydro = 6. That's 30 classes before you consider spec or other sub-classes. What club has the capacity to have enough boats to meet everyone's desires for the class they want to run?

Why can't we have at least one class that is limited in length and allow, let's say, 2-3s lipos???

The size of the model will limit the capacities, motor, props, etc. It will allow those folks who don't have the expendable income to enjoy competitive racing on a budget.

At this point, we all realize that no new boater will get into the hobby and want to go racing if they have to outlay so much money. After all, we're talking about a price that's equivelant to a used passenger car!

Please someone weigh in here and tell me how we can enjoy smaller models that still go 40 to 60+ mph with IMPBA! If we had NAMBA here, maybe it would be better, but I don't know whether it would or not. Virginia is NAMBA District 1 which includes New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, etc. We'd have to drive 10 hours to those events. Heck, we might as well drive to D.Smock's club in Florida for that matter.

Disclaimer: I'm all for doing some local racing. I'm trying to fit into IMPBA, but the cost is beyond what I can manage. In supporting these efforts, I'm considering putting models almost half the size of others just so I can enjoy the water. What motivation does any new boater have to come and participate in a race? OK, Joe Shmo can run his SV27, but he can't change the motor or the ESC? I hope that everyone understands I'm not bitter, but merely trying to make this racing happen where new boaters can participate without going broke or losing interest.

I'm just saying, simplified length classes with unlimited equipment may serve for better competition and lower cost. After all, if I'm significantly faster than the next guy, I'm still going to be asked to "tune it down". So what's the point?

For Example Only:

A = up to 16"
B = up to 19"
C = up to 23.5"
D = up to 27"
E = up to 36"
F = 36" and above

This could be simplified further, but you'd have the choice of Mono or Hydro/Rigger. That only equals 12 classes. Add 2 classes for spec and be done with it.

Thoughts? I'd like to hear input from new boaters as well as seasoned racers.

This is meant to be a friendly conversation about the future of FE racing with these organizations. No animosity is intended or welcome.

[Diegoboy]

Bravo Meniscus. I too wish to run smaler boats because my pockets are honestly too shallow to run near the 30" range. My renegade, micro kat, offshore warrior, and the Rigged confusion would be great to race with.

[egneg]

NAMBA seems to be ahead of the game compared to the IMPBA. Talking to the guys at ODMBA this past weekend I have found that they realize that FE is the future (which is evident from the problems they have encountered trying to find a new location to run) and they are trying to incorporate the transition without throwing away the investment they have made. They pull up with trailers that have $20,000 and up worth of boats that they have accumulated over the years. It will take time but it will happen!

[Diegoboy]

If it were me that invested that kind of money in a dying technology, I'd...


SELL SELL SELL while I still could, then buy the new technology.

I guess that just makes too much sense to work.