POLL: Who here is a member of IMPBA or NAMBA

[LuckyDuc]

I would be happy to see more FE classes period. Here in IMPBA District 4 there are none. I would be tickled pink just to see 1 electric class on the IMPBA race schedule. What ever rule changes that may come down, I hope it makes FE racing more accepted in my area.

My NAMBA club sets their own rules for race meets because the NAMBA rules are "out dated."

Any rules that get people to be more accepting of FE racing is OK with me. That should be the #1 goal of any rule change for FE... Easier acceptance to further it's growth.

[Ub Hauled]

Darin, I understand your take on it, you have been consistently explaining your POV.
I guess I was not clear or don't understand the "why" of your few classes...
something has got to give... if not the length of hulls, then the motors. Let's say you get your wish granted, and we get your classes.... there will be only a hand full of motors that will needed to be produced for boats, the fact that your classes are "UP TO" may not help since people want the max speed out of the 4s...

[chuckc]

No, but you've made it pretty clear that you'll be involved in fighting ("will not support" ) them...

Meow, or is that a growl again between u 2

[Darin Jordan]

Darin, there is another side to that theory,
power levels augment all the time, how are you going to deal with that?
With more power one needs bigger hulls or kick the older larger motors out...
these bigger honkers are usually expensive and if the newer tech replaces it,
one is going to have a very expensive paper weight.
What are your thoughts?

That's already been taken care of with the length restrictions... in my opinion... If you can make that power work in the limited hull size, more power to you, so to speak...

We've already seen this in P-Mono for example... Guys running 1527s in a 33" hull... Yah, they are FAST... but they aren't finishing races... at least not anymore competitively. Meanwhile, Tyler is setting new P-Mono records, using the same 33" boat, with a 1521 sized motor... and doing it in blisteringly fast fashion... Making it work with less power... I'll leave it up to the individual to decide how they want to spend their money... they're only going to be able to lay down so much power within the hull size limits...

That's my take on it anyhow...

Of course, if it were up to me, I'd reduce the number of power classes down to just a few levels... maybe

Up to 2S - Open
Up to 4S - Spec
Up to 4S - Open
Up to 10S - Open

With the hull types Mono, Cat, Hydro, Sport Hydro, OPC Tunnel, and the additional grouping of Offshore (one class for each power level), can anyone honestly tell me that NAMBA would somehow be better off with MORE classes than that???

Just thinking "out loud"...

[Darin Jordan]

Well, the fix for that would surely be to..........change the rules. Is anyone following this logic?

Terry.... did I say anything about "changing" the rules in regards to this??? Don't think so...

The fact of the matter is that people are not RUNNING what is in the rules currently... Each club has it's own hybrid that somewhat loosely fits what may or may not be in the rulebook... As a result, builders build stuff in small quantities, for different pockets of the country or for their local clubs... And when we decide we might want to have a "big" event (Winter Warmups, etc.)... there has to be weeks of discussion to agree on what will and won't be legal for the classes being run...

If you can't count on a class being there, it's not hard to see why people won't be developing anything more than one-off equipment for it...

It's not that hard to understand...

[Ub Hauled]

Darin, there is another side to that theory,
power levels augment all the time, how are you going to deal with that?
With more power one needs bigger hulls or kick the older larger motors out...
these bigger honkers are usually expensive and if the newer tech replaces it,
one is going to have a very expensive paper weight.
What are your thoughts?

[sailr]

I think you have hit on the reason. Hardly anyone wants to run brushed motors, NiMh batteries, etc. anymore with the advent of brushless and lipos. So long as you can't run brushless in the class it's not going to have a lot of support.

What the heck do you need my support for?

See, I've done this dance with the rules a bunch of times now. Been accused of all kinds of motivation for it too. I know that before the ink dries there will a be a new technology that renders the new and improved rule set pointless. LSO is a prime example. The ink wasn't even dry before clubs stopped running 700 motors.

ECO died because nobody wanted to do it. I don't know why it didn't take off here like it did over seas. Maybe us Americans need too much flash and bling to hold our attention. We aren't the most soffisticated people. haha

[T.S.Davis]

And... there'in is another issue... equipment makers never know what the heck to focus on, because classes change around so quickly...

Well, the fix for that would surely be to..........change the rules. Is anyone following this logic?

[sailr]

Man you've got that right! P SPEC Sport Hydro could certainly use some more hulls. The Pickle is great but too small. The UL-1 is good but the quality of the hull could be improved. I haven't seen the new improved one so maybe that's not fair. We need some more good 28-32" glass hydro hulls! There are a couple of top secret ones being designed. Can't elaborate. They will be U.S. hulls, not Chinese, etc.

And... there'in is another issue... equipment makers never know what the heck to focus on, because classes change around so quickly... Maybe with so many clubs adopting the P-Spec classing ideas, this will change... as hull makes design/build boats to fit into this power level.

[T.S.Davis]

What the heck do you need my support for?

See, I've done this dance with the rules a bunch of times now. Been accused of all kinds of motivation for it too. I know that before the ink dries there will a be a new technology that renders the new and improved rule set pointless. LSO is a prime example. The ink wasn't even dry before clubs stopped running 700 motors.

ECO died because nobody wanted to do it. I don't know why it didn't take off here like it did over seas. Maybe us Americans need too much flash and bling to hold our attention. We aren't the most soffisticated people. haha

[sailr]

Yep! That's a killer. Gotta move 'em into the brushless realm.

ECO rules currently limit you to a 19T ROAR Super Stock brushed motor...

And Crackerbox currently is limited to N1 power rules, I believe, which would be 27T brushed or 17.5 ROAR Stock BL...

[Darin Jordan]

Not sure anyone is making a 30" crackerbox though. Anyone know?

And... there'in is another issue... equipment makers never know what the heck to focus on, because classes change around so quickly... Maybe with so many clubs adopting the P-Spec classing ideas, this will change... as hull makes design/build boats to fit into this power level.

[Darin Jordan]

I know crackerbox and eco are already there. Not sure why eco is dead.

ECO rules currently limit you to a 19T ROAR Super Stock brushed motor...

And Crackerbox currently is limited to N1 power rules, I believe, which would be 27T brushed or 17.5 ROAR Stock BL...

[sailr]

I know crackerbox and eco are already there. Not sure why eco is dead. Running the Naviga triangle course on 3S lipo is a blast and lots of nice boats available that are not that expensive and they are easy to drive. Now with brushless, they are quick little devils and the self-righting hulls add another dimension of fun. Perfect intro for new boaters. The 'dead boat' (?) rule that applies even to self righting boats is just plain stupid and takes the fun out of it.

I'd LOVE to see P SPEC Crackerbox! That would be a hoot. Not sure anyone is making a 30" crackerbox though. Anyone know?

Crackerbox and ECO are already there... but neither really in a form that anyone wants to run...

Now, if you revised Crackerbox to be 1/10th scale sized boats (about 30", right?) using the P-Spec power system...

Not sure about ECO, but it seems that, if you are going to retain it, that you'd want to make it more in line with our European counterparts, so their equipment would be directly compatible...

Sorry.... I know that all makes just TOO much sense to even consider... but it's what I think would work well...

[Darin Jordan]

Have at it Darin.

I mentioned before. I wont be involved in any rule proposals.

No, but you've made it pretty clear that you'll be involved in fighting ("will not support" ) them...