Coming full circle

[mab_man20]

Back in the dark ages when I started in the RC world, 1/8th scale trucks buggies with different tires and bodies) were always on the top of my wish list. Unfortunately during the early to mid 90's this class disappeared at most major racing events and no one really cared.

Fast forward 10 years to today. Im just getting back into the hobby after a 2.5 year hiatus. When I left someone had just started mounting T-maxx trannies on top of the chassis to mimic 1/8th scale buggies and this was a huge problem because it was so much better than the higher center of gravity stock T-maxx. Now these are affectionately known as truggies (im curious who gets credit for that name, I like it.) Truggies are strikingly similar to the days of old when people took a buggy, changed the tires and put a new body on it, and coming full circle. Im glad this class has taken off, I cant think of anything cooler than seeing a huge truck topping out on a back straight and then managing to not roll 8 times when it reaches the corner at the end.

Anyone care to comment? Are there any other trends people have noticed or would like to see?

[rs4 rally boi]

the rtr trend is one that imo is not exactly great one. i kno that some people dont have the time expierience to build a kit, but i think thats not very cool to us enthusiest who like to build thier car when a company makes thier cars exclusively in rtr format. at the same time i think that it is unfair to assume that because we want to build a kit that we can afford to buy or want to buy all of the components seperatly. this was a huge problem for me when i was getting involved in the rc hobby. when i was picking out my vehichle i noticed that many of them were not available as kits and those that wer, were lable "pro" kits and did not include any accesories. mabey thats why im such a big advocate of hpi. they seem to understand that there is a middle ground between the rtr and the full out race kit. this is probably why thier ss kits have been met with succes over the years and why in mid august i will be picking up a savage x ss :D

[Radio Acer]

The dissappearing rally cars. I have two HPI RS4 Rally's, a few old Tamiya TA-02's, TGX's, along with a Kyosho Landmax and Landmax 2. These cars were fantastic for flat dirt along with a few small bumps. It was always fun to put the cars in a powerslide and watch them throw the dirt around like the real thing. Unfortunately, rally cars with their longer arms and shocks have completely disappeared form the R/C scene. I don't know if their popularity wasn't very big because there was no true racing class or if their wasn't enough tracks suitable to these cars because they can't handle two foot jumps. But either way, I'm glad i was able to get my hands on these cars before they were wiped out.
And i also agree on the RTR trend. Plainly put, i hate it. It's also a lot of fun to build them, i never understood that trend.

[tq_racing]

I completly agree that there is a middle ground, I love to build my rc's, that way when they do break I know how to fix them, or tweek them just so. I have gotten a few rc's used that came put together and rtr, the first thing I did was rip them down and clean and rebuild.

Even if they just took the rtr and had a few guys forget to assymble them at the factory. LOL