RAISING COSTS OF RACING

[gromit]

As everyone is aware everything is going up in price and RC racing is not excluded, is it time to ask the question regarding the use of a dedicated second buggy as a wet weather car.

In the old days the brushed motor era a wet car was pretty much the same as the dry, the wet referred to the addition of water proofing the electrical components due to the primitive water proofing provided by the manufacturer.

But today the electronic components are pretty well water proof out of the box, may be the rx being not so
the wet car today is primarily for low grip wet conditions and for those that can afford the second chassis and complete set of electronics it gives a significant advantage over the driver that has to adapt his single car to wet conditions.

Being able to adapt the car from dry to wet is not impossible and some will say it is easy and I am talking rubbish, but seeing another driver with a wet car stand up, layback, rear motor and a higher trun motor and ESC setup for low grip does seem to make you think he's got an advantage and you need to follow to be competitive. The main advantage is the wet car works straight away for q1 where changing the dry setup to wet may take a couple of qualifying runs to achieve as good wet set-up and by then you are down the qualifying list.

Consequently we are all spending a lot of money when all we need to do is ban the option to use a second car being used on the same day and convince everyone that matters to drive one car at the meeting, it's an escalation we don't need and helps to keep the cost down and improve racing. BRCA and clubs it's in your court, after all F1 and BTCC don't have spare cars so why do we?

[welshjames]

I see what you are saying and agree in the most part, the skill is adapting the car and your driving to the conditions.
It can be done, but coming from someone who has done it in the past its a massive time saver to have a car setup ready for wet rather than scrambling between rounds to try and get it done.
For the top top guys they will want every tenth out of it, for a lot of us average joes its about having a laugh in the tent rather than frantically beavering away to get it ready, so the cheaper second car helps.

That said I see what you are saying and you have a good point, I put off buying a second car for a long time. But after trying to adapt my carpet car to use at Worksop it took a while to do (after racing saturday carpet, then sunday worksop) so vowed to get a wet/low grip car.
Infact used the same yesterday at Robin Hood, got caught out by the rain threw wet car down rather than spending half my day setting the car up (as it was practise and I just wanted to drive).

[NeilRalph77]

But where do you stop? Say I have a high grip car with alloy chassis, hard wishbones, laydown gearbox, stiff springs and oils, high torque slipper and pokey 7.5 then it rains. I change this car to a carbon chassis, soft wishbones, stand up box, soft springs and oils, soft slipper and put my 8.5 in. Can you really say it's the same car?

[Pistol123]

I tend to buy a new car as a dry car with nice electrics, then buy a second hand chassis for my wet car and put a cheap hobbywing quicrun esc and old 7.5 speed passion motor and cheap servo.

My dry car stays quite clean but my wet car often looks a bit of a mess but as it was cheap it doesn't bother me. I tried converting my 22 4.0 between standup and laydown and always felt under pressure changing it and would often get it converted to standup only to find the sun coming out and I didn't have time to change it back.

[andy110m]

It used to be that only one chassis was allowed per class at Nationals. I don’t know if 10th changed it but that’s still the case in 8th off road and circuit.

[mark christopher]

personally i don't see the problem, my wet car is an old dirt car, old electrics that i don't mind putting down and running, it they blow up in smoke, its my old cheap stuff.

I'm not sure what makes you think modern electronics are water proof, most are defiantly not, i know some have spare gearboxes complete, shocks motors just for wet, personally I'm of the mentality of cheap car, lob it down and race, or go home

for years we tried to get 10th ic to allow a wet car, as all that happened in the wet was drivers went home, now they allow them, 10th touring allow them too.

reason btcc and f1 don't is simple, its in their rules

[daz75]

Originally Posted by mark christopher

personally i don't see the problem, my wet car is an old dirt car, old electrics that i don't mind putting down and running, it they blow up in smoke, its my old cheap stuff.

I'm not sure what makes you think modern electronics are water proof, most are defiantly not, i know some have spare gearboxes complete, shocks motors just for wet, personally I'm of the mentality of cheap car, lob it down and race, or go home

for years we tried to get 10th ic to allow a wet car, as all that happened in the wet was drivers went home, now they allow them, 10th touring allow them too.

reason btcc and f1 don't is simple, its in their rules

It's in their rules to keep costs down which is what the original poster is pointing out

[welshjames]

But I think the difference there is those teams would spend millions developing (assuming we mean full size BTCC/F1) wet derivative cars to be optimum (different aero spec, suspension to work with wet tyres etc..).

As they want every last drop of competitive edge.

At RC level, "you" (the royal you) have the choice of changing your car, or putting down a cheap wet car to still run rather than the pressure of trying to change your dry car.

They are trying to keep costs down in motorsport to bring in new manufacturers/teams, in RC you can spend as much or as little as you want to thats the beauty of it.

I would rather have a cheap wet car and keep running, then refuse to use my dry car and go home lol.

[charlesk]

My best ever result came at a wet 2WD race with a high grip car, took setup changes and a ball diff.
Had hard plastics, laydown gearbox and even a brass front pivot block, as I had limited time to make the changes.
You do not need multiple cars, it's an easier way certainly
, but the correct changes and adapting your driving to the conditions is what it takes.

[millser]

Been racing for nearly 30 years at different levels

Think is the cheapest it ever been, with motor and batteries lasting longer

Also not having to buy all the extra to get the beat out of everything
Motor lathe, brush cutter, motor manager, batteries matcher, zapper and cycler etc and only getting 1 season out of you motor and batteries if you are lucky.

[Ashlandchris]

Originally Posted by charlesk

My best ever result came at a wet 2WD race with a high grip car, took setup changes and a ball diff.
Had hard plastics, laydown gearbox and even a brass front pivot block, as I had limited time to make the changes.
You do not need multiple cars, it's an easier way certainly
, but the correct changes and adapting your driving to the conditions is what it takes.

Sometimes I swap tyres 😂