What do you 10th offroaders think of us 18th microers?
 

Serious question here..

Im keen to know exactly what you 10th offroad guys'n'gals think of the offroad micro scale scene, especially the National Series and the major one-off events we do.

My aim, as always, is to promote the micro scene and section to the best of my abilities so gauging how the 'outsiders' see the micro scene could potentially help us grow.
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And, how many of you reading this know that one of your 10th offroad types is our current reigning National Champion? (Craig Harris)

I think your just like us but smaller :p:woot:

But on a serious note, i think the micro scene will always struggle to get away from the toy image, i know they are not, but i think others see them as toys where as a bigger car may be seen as a race car. The other side of theings is that you are limited in a way to indoor events as i would imagine it is difficult to host an 18th event outdoor, unless its an all astro track and it has a very flexible layout to enable you to create a technical track for that size of car.
:thumbsup:

having been a 1/10 driver for the last year i can now say that im proud to be the owner of a 1/18 scale blaze and i thought 1/10 off road was fun ,,, these are mental and just as fun if not more plus with the sign of the times and these babies are the way forward im even considering doing cardiff too hehehehe ,,, plus the forum is the bomb and all the guys are really helpfull ,,, body paint ,cosie tom bowman , mr speedy and dan osbourne cherrs for the help so far guys ,big up the micro scene :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

I agree with you there Lee. Even after 3.5 years of doing this I still have to get over the 'toy' hurdle.

As far as racing outside goes, its never really been tried in any huge numbers, but I think thats mainly due to the size as you've said.

We live indoors for the time being atleast... :)

The hardest part for me is trying to get major manufacturers and distributors in the UK to get over the toy thing aswell.
We had a tonne of support when it all first kicked off but its slowly dwindled down, althoguh saying that some of our most loyal retail supporters still stand by us and help promote us as much as they can.

We also had a nice amount of 10th guys attend the last National series thanks to the publicity that Jimmy'n'Vicky have give the micros by writing us some brilliant race reports on the site...but im greedy and want more followers lol

Thanks for the reply though :)

they re just as good indoor lee as out door , im currently planning my revenge on the touring car scene with my blaze and brushless :thumbsup::p

I have seen pictures from most of the tracks from last years national series and I would have liked to have raced on most of them.

the biggest thing I found when going 'into' and unknown class like micro is knowing what stuff to buy or get to be 'fast'

if you want to dabble at 8th Rallycross, you know you need a .21 engine
10th scale off-road or TC, or even 12th scale, you know you need a 'good' 540 motor, you can find a list of them on the BRCA website.

the micro scene seems to be a bit unknown when it comes to motors/batteries and stuff.

there are places out there to find the information and ask, but it is not presented to you.

things do seem to be changing though, its certainly possible to buy an RTR LRP or FTX car, use the stock motor that comes in the kit with a LiPo and be fast, and the car is great too!

I actually like the indoor tracks and don't think they would be half as good as they are if it was outdoors.

the only aspect I don't like about it, is that the cars are not really 'equivalent' in durability and off-the-shelf performance.

forgot to add this but at one of our regional meeting paul at eastrax ran his blaze in open class with a few non point s running drivers and he lasted the whole 5 minutes and mullered half the drivers ,, eastrax would be a good venue for some 1/18 fun me thinks :p

Both valid points from Chris and Steve, and Chris' point is one that I never thought of.

Maybe its the fault of the organisers for arranging 'crazy' tracks that test the durability of the cars, and then maybe it is that the cars are put us as 'play things' more than racers.

Nevertheless, there seems to be a very small change in recent releases with the new LRP Shark Pro and Shark ST coming 99% race ready, and the XRAY M18T nearly ready to race all bar some decent shocks.

The strange thing to me though is that in the USA there is a HUGE micro following, with their Micro Nationals easily seeing 280+ drivers, and major support for the main manufacturers, yet we never see and kind of major race spec releases from those people?

Wierd huh..

I really do fancy a go at this, but all the Nationals and events seem to be "down south" really :( No micro racing scene at all up here :cry:

G

Good point by CD on the equipment thing, I wouldn't have a clue. Did the 2wd series ever get supported properly?

G

In terms of racing, its ace and an attractive class.

In terms of cars. I don't consider the options to be very good - as the ones currently available in the UK need plenty of mods to be competitive (and to be taken away from being toys). The AE 18th scales look to be the business, but experience (and general opinion from the people I ask before I chose this time around) tells me they're not what they're cracked up to.

For the class to take off, what it needs is a car to be out, competitive from the box but not RTR - not just another toy with a few alloy parts pretending - with no need to change shells, find the right wheels and tyres, fit the better shocks etc etc. so its just a case of choose car, choose running gear, assemble, setup and race.

The LRP Shark 18 Monster Pro looks to tick all but the bodyshell boxes - hope other chassis follow suit :thumbsup:

What IS attractive, is Lipo being allowed...... :thumbsup:

more north than me mate but im still having a go mate and you d rock with this northy

I'm not having a pop at all, I'm just telling you what is putting me off having a go :D

G

i was nt either mr north and your right about what to buy i ve had mine a week and run it at one club meeting but i ve just spent £70.00 and now i ve got 2 lipos a brushless and a fully hopped up ftx so not bad i think :thumbsup:

Hey G,

The problem we have is that our main following as such is Southern based. We have however got rounds at Macclesfield, Leighton Buzzard and Tamworth which are all kinda out of our 'Southern' catchment area, but whether they will be fully supported remains to be seen.

Id love nothing more than to have a round at some of your Northern indoor clubs that host all the indoor 10th stuff up your way, but its just a case of whether we will get the support from the travelling racers to make it worthwhile.

As far as 2WD goes, this year will be the first year for the dedicated 2WD class...only time will tell :)

hi cosie im gonna be flying my flag for micros in the mid east region and hopehully get a heat or two going at my club too already planning and thinkin about jumps and lumps and corners to bluid and the halls a good size too with a stage ,,,

1/18 is great,it lead the way with brushless and Lipo`s for a couple of years IMO cheap-ish and top fun.
I really dig the new 1/12 Tam tech gear on road stuff to,they are very lively when brushlessd"n"lipo`d up and the scale body details are stunning.
I think the micro scene is slightly ahead of it`s time here in the UK but we will catch up and interest will increase.

The micro scene beats most other scales out there for guys who'd like their kids involved. The micro scene is very open to having kids around and letting kids have a go both at racing and marshalling. It's the single reason I started focussing so much more on micro's. That's not to say it isn't furiously fast and competitive, come and watch an A final at the Nationals if you don't believe me. :D

Also we are not all too fussed about over governance (...although I see that making Brits uncomfortable all over the place because there are discussions about new rules all the time :)). All the rules fits on not much more than a single A4 page. Maybe we should make up 20 more pages of rules before people will start taking it seriously.

Ask my wife and all the people I work with and to them 10th scale and 8th scale cars, anything driven by a remote control for that matter are all toys too so it's nothing more than an perception\education\marketing issue.

From what I have seen in the UK people are more likely to stick to what they know whereas the Americans are not shy about wanting new toys.

We should stop fussing about getting existing racers to cross over to our beloved classes and get some new blood into the RC in general. We are threatened much more by the dreaded PS3 enemy. :bored:

Harris is the micro champ, heard that a while ago, but think that this scale is more like an RC that you'd give your kids rather than use it yourself. Not for me. I still think Craig is better with a 1/10th buggy. He drove his TRX1 to tq at the worksop indoor finals (way back in theearly 90's with a normal front spring on one side and a rear on the other (on the front end) but he just drove it perfectly in qualifying. He shouldnt have changed the spring before the finals as he would have won it instead of finishing fourth (I think it was fourth anyway).