WhaDL
05-12-2003, 02:57 AM
What do you guys think about the idea of a BL spec class as a way to get ROAR involved with brushless motors ?
The key advantage is that it could also promote broader participation in RC racing, which is, frankly, much more interesting to ROAR than simply BL motors.
Plus, BL's are capable of the ultimate cost-controlled spec class because you can define the spec as the OUTPUT of the system, not simply the INPUT to the motor.
Here's the way it works:
A BL controller knows the exact RPM and even the instantaneous location of the motor's armature at all times. That means the controller could limit the RPM and the acceleration to a very specific profile, regardless of any characteristics of the motor, controller, battery or even the car!
In other words, regardless of what battery you use, regardless of what motor you use, regardless of what controller you use and even regardless of such things as the weight of your car, a BL controller could be designed that would give the vehicle the exact same performance as any other car running a similar controller.
This needs to be very clear - the performance of any car would be IDENTICAL to any other car, regardless of anything that you do to the car or the batteries or whatever.
In other words, we could in fact design the ultimate cost-controlled spec class, where you cannot improve performance beyond a very specific limit regardless of how much money or tuning you throw at it. The race would be down to setup and driving skill only.
Wouldn't that be a great way to get a lot more people interested in the sport?
Cost, maintenance and associated frustrations for new racers would be dramatically lowered.
So what we would need from ROAR would be the definition of such a spec class. That would then give the BL manufacturers the motivation to develop these systems. And my guess is that, if the spec is defined at something around the performance of current stock motors, then a BL system could be manufactured for even less than the cheapest systems available today.
So this is the complete opposite approach to letting the market find it's own 'sweet spot', which ROAR then codifies when popularly demanded. Defining the spec first can help to drive the market sooner and we all get the benefit of expanding the popularity of the sport.
This type of thing is done commonly in business where new standards are defined first, then all the companies design their products to the standard. This has proven to be much more effective and beneficial to all parties versus the older method of everyone pushing their own proprietary product, and then fighting it to the death in the marketplace.
And if we can convince ROAR that this might bring more new racers to the sport, then they will be much more motivated to embrace BL's and define the spec.
What do you guys think ?
The key advantage is that it could also promote broader participation in RC racing, which is, frankly, much more interesting to ROAR than simply BL motors.
Plus, BL's are capable of the ultimate cost-controlled spec class because you can define the spec as the OUTPUT of the system, not simply the INPUT to the motor.
Here's the way it works:
A BL controller knows the exact RPM and even the instantaneous location of the motor's armature at all times. That means the controller could limit the RPM and the acceleration to a very specific profile, regardless of any characteristics of the motor, controller, battery or even the car!
In other words, regardless of what battery you use, regardless of what motor you use, regardless of what controller you use and even regardless of such things as the weight of your car, a BL controller could be designed that would give the vehicle the exact same performance as any other car running a similar controller.
This needs to be very clear - the performance of any car would be IDENTICAL to any other car, regardless of anything that you do to the car or the batteries or whatever.
In other words, we could in fact design the ultimate cost-controlled spec class, where you cannot improve performance beyond a very specific limit regardless of how much money or tuning you throw at it. The race would be down to setup and driving skill only.
Wouldn't that be a great way to get a lot more people interested in the sport?
Cost, maintenance and associated frustrations for new racers would be dramatically lowered.
So what we would need from ROAR would be the definition of such a spec class. That would then give the BL manufacturers the motivation to develop these systems. And my guess is that, if the spec is defined at something around the performance of current stock motors, then a BL system could be manufactured for even less than the cheapest systems available today.
So this is the complete opposite approach to letting the market find it's own 'sweet spot', which ROAR then codifies when popularly demanded. Defining the spec first can help to drive the market sooner and we all get the benefit of expanding the popularity of the sport.
This type of thing is done commonly in business where new standards are defined first, then all the companies design their products to the standard. This has proven to be much more effective and beneficial to all parties versus the older method of everyone pushing their own proprietary product, and then fighting it to the death in the marketplace.
And if we can convince ROAR that this might bring more new racers to the sport, then they will be much more motivated to embrace BL's and define the spec.
What do you guys think ?