Are Castle Creations and other ESC makers losing out?

[bigwaveohs]

I don't foresee any movement to change anything. The clubs restricting the ESC's are in the vast minority anyway.

There is a move nationally to limit ESC's in the P-spec (limited) classes to a few "factory" ESC's (e.g. Aquacraft UL-1 & etc.)...

[Darin Jordan]

There is a move nationally to limit ESC's in the P-spec (limited) classes to a few "factory" ESC's (e.g. Aquacraft UL-1 & etc.)...

Who exactly is "moving" to limit ESCs nationally??? No one that I know or have heard from...

[7500RPM]

Rules, Rules....frankly, as far as an ESC is concerned I do not see the issue, use whatever brand you wish.

Douggie

Programmable timing is an issue and what ever else they can put into a controller, just look at Tekin, anyway you are trying to keep a class that people just starting in this hobby can race in without spending a lot of money in to compete in. If you want non Spec controllers then start a different class that the others can race in....I have seen this happen too many times with car clubs that start out with good intentions, that is why I stopped going carpet racing, It was not injoyable any more due to changing of the rules.

[Doug Smock]

Who exactly is "moving" to limit ESCs nationally??? No one that I know or have heard from...

Some yahoo down south and a group of co conspirators that were asked to step up to the plate and put something together.
Unfortunately their goal is to reduce the number of racers that will participate at a national event and eventually run the IMPBA into the ground.
The sky is falling!!!

Not to worry though. It's my understanding that there is another group who has a much better understanding and their proposal is forth coming. They have found a way to keep motor tampering and the higher kv look alikes out of the equation all while allowing any ESC.

Have a great one fellas!!!
Doug

[T.S.Davis]

Sheesh guys. Two threads on the same subject.

Keep your chin up Doug. Some of us know how it works. A group puts together an idea and somebody has to be the point man. You almost need to have bullet proof skin.....and a bullseye on your back. DO NOT accept any assaults on your integrity. I promise you will get them.

Doug, you need to go back to your group. They're wrong on this one. The majority of our itty bitty teeny weeny FE community is running under NAMBA. We've prooven that the ESC's are not the difference between winning and losing. There are many more factors. If the race results are not proof enough for them then how about participation? The limited spec classes are by far the most populated classes at the club and national level. It's been true for a couple seasons minimum and that's without the esc requirement. It's simply not holding people back. Get the group to put their pride (and maybe fear) aside for a second and think about what will put boats on the pond.

We already have differences in other classes to discourage cross over between organizations. There's the registration, struts, and the battery limits in scale to name a few.

Does IMPBA really want to make it harder (yet again) to race in both orginations? There just aren't that many of us to begin with.

[Darin Jordan]

We've prooven that the ESC's are not the difference between winning and losing.

Well... let's not get too crazy here... You haven't really "prooven" anything of the sort... If you prooven anything, it's that those that know how to tune their equipment properly will win... They just happened to be running stock ESCs that day... and were willling to push them beyond thier design limits. Put that same person in the race with an unlimited ESC and I think you'll see another leap in performance.

If you don't believe that, then you don't understand just what you can do with an ESC.

All that said... I still don't see where there is a movement to limit the ESCs... at least not in NAMBA. I thought that ship had sailed long ago.

[LuckyDuc]

How many races outside of your district have you attended lately Darin? Don't make assumptions about what people are doing elsewhere in the country.

[Darin Jordan]

How many races outside of your district have you attended lately Darin? Don't make assumptions about what people are doing elsewhere in the country.

What assumptions have I made?? We STARTED the spec racing craze in this part of the country, I have friends all over the US who race the class, and I develop boat packages specifically FOR this type of class... I'm not assuming anything... I stated clearly that I don't KNOW of any movement... I never said it didn't exist...

It's a losing battle, but have at it if you want. Already been there, done that. Limiting ESCs... leaving them open... it's all the same racing, so I don't give a rip one way or the other. Just tell me the rules and I'll go race if they make sense to me. If not, I'll pick a class that does. I'm RARELY thinking about my own interests when it comes to these types of rules. My thoughts are on what will be most appealing to the masses and get more people involved. The further you deviate from a simple RTR system, the more difficult it becomes for most people, especially those who are NOT dedicated races.... not already "insiders".

But again, in my opinion, the gennie is already out of the bottle. Not sure there would be much support to putting it back in.

Will be interesting to see what comes of this.

[T.S.Davis]

All that said... I still don't see where there is a movement to limit the ESCs... at least not in NAMBA. I thought that ship had sailed long ago.

Yep. Over the horizon.

Darin has a problem with "proven". How about "participation seems to indicate"? Or maybe "sure seems like it don't make a lick O' difference under real world race conditions". Something like that.

Darin's worn the bulls eye suite too. Probably still has the scars.

[7500RPM]

Well Said Darin about the RTR class, I was really hopefull when AQ came out with the new boat, but if this keeps going like this, people will be changing out the ESC to get the higher performance out of the packages, kind of defeats the class, and the cost control !

[siberianhusky]

We're just getting a FE "club" together, a bunch of SV's for now.
Is there a spec for props? If not is this not more "unfair" than an esc change?
Should it be box stock right down to the AM radio that came in the original SV?
I don't know once there are too many rules things stop being as much fun, where does the line get drawn?

[T.S.Davis]

We're not talking about a stock class. We're talking about limited spec racing. If your club wants to do a stock SV class you can have what ever limits the club agrees to.

[Chilli]

Yep. Over the horizon.

Darin has a problem with "proven". How about "participation seems to indicate"? Or maybe "sure seems like it don't make a lick O' difference under real world race conditions". Something like that.

Darin's worn the bulls eye suite too. Probably still has the scars.

Well I dont have a problem with "proven". Spec controllers have proven reliable and provided fun, competitive racing the entire season with zero equipment failures in D12 and D13 last year. D12 probably had the fastest gowth of FE racing in the country last year and we're on pace for even faster growth this year. All with spec controllers. So how is Doug and Darin wrong???

Funny thing is, the only reason we started running spec controllers in District 12 was because we have a few nitro members who run P-spec boats at the World Tunnel Championships. The Charleston Model Boaters who host the event adopted some rules written by NAMBA members. Unfortunately I can no longer find them on the net. Anyway, the nitro guys did not want the new FE boaters coming in to have an advantage, so I went along with the spec controllers and havent looked back. I suppose the IMPBA should chase our tails following NAMBA? I've seen this same cinerio on the gas boards a year or so back. The IMPBA did some rule changes and people were running around like Chicken Little screaming "the sky is falling". Some said it would be the end of model boating. Others said no one from NAMBA would attend IMPBA Nats and visa versa. A few clubs even jumped ship over to NAMBA. Now a year later, many of the critics have admitted that the new changes were not such a big deal and attendance at Nats continues to be strong.

Doug Smock has only one item on his agenda and that is to do whats he feels is best to promote the growth of FE racing. We are a small group and I think Doug just wants to keep it simple and reliable for the new folks coming into the hobby. I thank him for taking the time to help get FE racing started in D12 last year. I thank him for stepping up to the plate and composing a long overdue set of IMPBA National Spec/Limited rules in a periond when the FE leadership at the national level is non existent.

No matter what the rules get adopted, I'll be out there racing!!