Drivers Challenge

[ronb]

As I was mowing today I was thinking about the various threads I've read about which car the best. Basically everyone suggested the car they have is the best (myself included), but a few made the statement that was something like - the driver is what wins races, not the cars. And I thought of all the factory drivers out there nowdays. And then it hit me, why don't we have a "Drivers Challenge" I like to call it, and have the best factory drivers use the same car and setup? Just like IROC. We can get a different manufacture to sponsor it each race, to level the playing field. We have a third party setup each car with all hardware and configurations all cars as identical as possible. They're allowed maybe one practice session, but no time in the pits with them. Then we let the best have at it. What do you guys think?

[Jo_bomb17]

I think thats a GOOD idea! :D

But it will never happen!

[ 07-24-2001: Message edited by: Rustler Hustler ]

[Rick Hohwart]

Good idea but because of each driver's sponsorship commitments it will never happen

[SteveP]

I was just going to say the same thing. You'd never get them all to aggree to drive the same car. It's like asking Micheal Schumacher to drive a Jordan in a points series. Ferrari, who pays him 43 million dollars, would be like, "whose car did you say you were going to drive?!"

[Big Wig]

The driving might be the biggest factor in RC racing but people spend a lot of time learning to tune and dial in their cars. I think getting your car to work right, handle well and go fast on different tracks is a very big part of this hobby. I always hear "it's the driver not the car" but this is only true to a point. When I raced heavily back in the 80's there were some guys who could always get through the turns flawlessly while I would bump and flip more than I wanted. Well, there were days when my car was hooked up and dialed in and I would rip them a new one on every straight. I was a decent driver but I won a few races by having a faster, better handling car. I worked very hard on getting my car to work well and I think that means something.

I personally don't think the Factory drivers should ever agree to race exact cars that they don't tweak themselves. C'mon, would RCCA print so many articles on car set-up and "go fast" mods if it wasn't such a huge and important part of this hobby.

Just my .02

[ronb]

SteveP - The manufacturers have to agree to let their drivers do this of course, but this is why we would switch cars each race. Just have a single "Drivers Challenge" race during a big event that has world coverage anyway, and use a different manufacturers car each time. There's probably enough races to cover all competitive sedans in a year or two.
Big Wig - I agree that the tweaking is a big part of RC racing. That's a big part of my enjoyment in this. But that's not the point. We're talking about factory drivers. You don't think they have mechanics on their chassis's/motors, etc? Just check out some pics of the Reedy race, Gil Losi Jr. is seen checking the tweak of one of "his" drivers. Heck, even the RC magazines have polls on who we think the best driver is. This would answer that question.
Anyway, it's nothing to take serious, we are in this for the fun of it, right? :D

[rckorey1984]

alright ron lets do it.jk
i live in oklahoma also and we need some sponsors to come to oklahoma and have a big race. :eek:

[SteveP]

Ron - I'm with you on this - I think an IROC type series would be great. I've just seen some of these guys trying to put their heads together in the past, and somehow it doesn't end up working all the time... :D

[Obi112]

Each driver has a different racing style, and therefore must set his car up in a different way. For example, one driver might like a good amount of oversteer, while another prefers understeer. The driver would have to change his driving style to race this one car, and then the race would not be fair. You could allow the drivers to practice with the car and then tweak them, but is the race completely even them? (Because some drivers have speed secrets that others don't).

[andy51289]

There would have to be TONS of tech people to make sure that all the cars were the same, and it would be way too hard to be able to tell what weight oil was in the shocks, so people could easily cheat.

[Big Wig]

OK, how about this: give them all the same car but let them tweak and adjust it however they want but only with stock parts. Make them all run the same tires too. I think they should be able to use any springs and shock oil they want and adjust the camber, toe in, etc, however they want. Even the gearing should be up to the driver.

I firmly believe that making all the drivers run the same set up would not show who the best driver is, it would only show who is best at driving a car with the chosen set up. You might as well go back to letting them drive whatever car, with whatever equipment they want,... it would be just as fair that way.

[ronb]

Ok, so some of these responses had some validity. In fact the weakest link I had thought of beforehand was basically the same issue, can we let them have the cars to tweak to their own preferences. Two problems with that; 1)the factory driver of the car in that race will have an edge in setup. 2) keeping control of what is changed with the cars. Obviousely we wouldn't want anyone changing motors, batteries, ESC's, tires, etc.
But maybe there's a compromise. Have the third party mechanics that's building the cars use the default setup from the manual, and let the drivers use their own radios. That way they can at least tweak their radios/cars to an extent. This is the best I've come up with without having ref's over each car in the pits with the drivers.
I do disagree that not being able to setup their own car would not make for a good test for the drivers. Have you ever let a "real good" driver run your car? I bet he drove much quicker than the average driver. ;)

[Big Wig]

ronb,

Maybe a good driver would be faster than most with my car,... because he is so good. BUT, he will not show his full potential with a set up that is not his own.

There should be limits on what can be changed/adjusted. Like I said: leave the shock springs and oil, camber, caster, toe in/out, shock mounting position,... etc. up to the drivers. Otherwise the cars could be all the same. Even slipper clutch adjustment could be vital to some drivers to suit their style.

This could be basically a "spec class" with set rules. IMHO, this would be how to really tell who "the best" is.

BTW - when I see pics in RCCA of big races I always see the top drivers working on/setting up their own cars. I don't see them looking over their mechanics' shoulder with their hands in their pockets. In this imaginary class we're creating I don't think anyone except the person driving the car should touch the car.