Are 1/10th tracks abit boring

[paulc]

As title really i've raced at quite a few tracks around the UK and not one of them have decent size jumps. After racing at RHR Dirt over the weekend i found it a lot more enjoyable and fun with some decent size jumps or is a lot of it down to health and safety now ?

[Will's]

You want to get down to our club Silverstone RCMCC in Northamptonshire. Track lay out is always good and jumps obstacles are of a decent size.

[bridgey]

Good read

[sosidge]

Personally speaking I don't like the Supercross-style jumps. Growing up in the 80s, UK tracks didn't have jumps (maybe the odd 6-inch high wooden ramp), but the racing was great. Big jumps don't give good racing in my opinion, you are always focussing on getting around the track (or avoiding missiles) rather than going wheel-to-wheel with the other cars.

[Aire valley]

I have to agree with sosidge...! More destructive crashes are caused by big air ,because you can't steer off ground and some people will try to pass by jumping further, than almost anything IMO....
Bear in mind we have 1/10 scale cars so, I think, a one foot high jump equals 10 feet, to the car....so 3, 4 and5 foot jumps are just not realistic..fun maybe to the gung-ho brigade..but dangerous..

[bigt]

Definitely not enough air time on most 1/10 tracks if any at all
And buggy supercross f#*k yeah I'd buy some a that action

[HOTSHOT III]

This is an interesting discussion, here in the South I love the big jumps at TORCH (god only knows I paid enough for all my Kyosho shocks, I want to use them!) but at the same time the easiest way to crash out of a heat when you're doing well is to try and go big over the tabletop/ski jump when a few other cars are on it.

Big jumps are great IMO, it's part of good racecraft to take it easy over them when they're busy and go for the full on orbit experience on the next lap when you've got them to yourself.

[madap1]

I have to agree with Paul.

Massive jumps are good, but not suitable for everyone. I'd like to see more take offs with down ramps rather than to flat. ,things like where you have to time things right, some rollers that you could double single.

Tracks to me tend to be more straights than anything else, and I feel this is why people run fast motors. If we had more things to slow us down, then it doesn't require a fastest motor but can still get the enjoyment out of it.

[hotrodchris]

There are a few tracks in the mid south region with decent sized jumps which in my opinion adds to the off road racing as said drivers choice safe or go for glory.
If there wern't any jumps might as well race touring cars!
As for no steering in the air Lee Martin was turning his 4wd car 90degrees at the Stotfold National this year in mid air amazing to watch.

[J'MM'N]

I'm an old school racer so not a fan of the Supercross type tracks, especially the ones in the States. I'm certainly not against sensible jumps but other obstacles are available to make racing wheel to wheel without big air, which I'll admit I can struggle with on occasions.

My other worry with big air. Is when the day comes that a marshal gets a serious head injury, seen some very close ones in the past.

[knighthawk]

Now I stopped racing on the flat snoring tracks just because of this, it's flat !

But when tracks go to far it just leads to a few drivers taking their ability to far and try to clear not only the jump which the up-ramp was designed for but the next two, or trying to get the Guinness Book of Records Height record !

I believe off road needs jumps, table tops, rumble strips, doubles, triples etc etc, but drivers need to respect their ability, their cars proformance, track limits and most important human safety, namely mine when I Marshall the said racers.

[Origineelreclamebord]

IMO, jumps are a nice addition to a track, but all too often their design is not carefully considered. I think the following things apply for jumps to compliment a track:

- Average drivers should be able to clear jumps comfortably and consistently in all classes that drive on the track (for stock classes this may mean a big jump can't be cleared as a double, but not negatively affecting the track's rhythm).
- Jumps should not interfere with the ability to have close racing on the track.
- Jumps should be forgiving when a car goes out of shape somewhat.
- If a car crashes around a jump the chances of damage or ending up on another section of the track should be minimized.
- Jumps should not form a safety hazard for marshals.

I've seen too many tracks where jumps are so difficult to clear well (particularly 2WD) that you're not racing anymore, but you're trying to manage your car over jumps to prevent damage. They become race-deciding features due to the amount of crashes and mistakes people make there (even pro's) instead of how closely drivers can follow each other over those jumps.

And don't get me wrong... this doesn't have to stand in the way of big jumps... it's just that a jump should not just be designed only for the perfect situation, but also allows for a fun drive with a wide variety of speeds and driver skills and not an RC graveyard behind the jump.

As a nice example of nice big jump IMO is this jump at the track of Kampenhout in Belgium. It's not huge (and the early landing on the picture doesn't do it justice), but it's a clean and relatively flat ramp, the jump is long, structures surrounding the track minimize influence by wind and the landing slope is long - the perfect recipe to scale up further if desired. The jump is not the challenge though, it's in landing it so you get through the slippery cobblestone hairpin just right. Too fast and you'll go wide, not far enough and the rear end kicks up and the car spins out. Get it just right and you can break out the rear end on the cobbles, straighten the car and floor it before you get off the cobblestones. Hitting is well is perfectly feasible, but chances are slim you'll hit it perfectly each lap for an entire heat, which gives drivers the opportunity to race literally race alongside each other into the next corner(s)

[Bernie_W]

watch this how can you say these tracks make boring races.

2011 IFMAR OFF ROAD WORLDS - A Final Leg 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgf7nvsrFb4

[madap1]

to me one of the best tracks i have raced on is the herts 1/8th dirt track, to me its really flowy, but got enough features.

all abilities can get round, but some features that make you think. like the jump after the first bend, you have to roll the 1st hump, to get the down ramp to power the next jump, if you dont get it right you have roll it.

tracks in the uk dont require much thought and control.

[Si Coe]

Except that in the first 30 seconds of that clip I saw several of the worlds very best drivers wiping out over the big jumps and needing marshaling. In the Worlds A final!
If they can't always clear a jump its certainly not suitable for less awesome drivers to use.
Big jumps are great, but they should never be 'do or die' and the cost of rolling them to protect your car should never be so great as to make it an unthinkable option.

I have seen a marshal knocked out cold by a car hitting him on the forehead marshaling a big jump.

[Aire valley]

Originally Posted by Bernie_W

watch this how can you say these tracks make boring races.

2011 IFMAR OFF ROAD WORLDS - A Final Leg 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgf7nvsrFb4

As Si Coe said..did you not see the big pile up on the quad jump.! The best "racing" was on the tight slippery corners and small bumps. These big jumps are just sxxx or bust even for the best drivers.

[hotrodchris]

Its not the jumps/features that cause the problem they the hazard the danger is the individual on the tx, they not only don't respect the track but quite a few don't respect the other drivers and drive straight through them as well.
You can make a track flat and someone will still crash at the end of a straight by out braking themselves.
I have raced at RHR and like the layout more like a 1/8th track and am looking forward to the National there at the end of the month.

[Col]

Regarding jumps... that word is the problem. There is rarely enough emphasis on the landing. That is why RHRD works - they have designed and built the perfect size and angle of down ramps so that they can be taken at any speed by any level of driver.

It should also be noted that the jumps at RHRD are not particularly "big air", they are more "big distance"

[dodgydiy]

personally i dont mind the odd jump as long as it is sensibly designed and sensibly placed on the track so that it is not a lottery as to whether you get over it or not. personally i can never get a double right, buggered me up a treat this weekend they did, the track had a double double, can only think of four times(laps) in the whole meeting running two classes that i successfully got past them without cartwheeling, rolling or getting stuck. the design was such that if you rolled over the third, you just nosedived and rolled, or if i gave it a bit of stick i nosed into the up ramp of the fourth and rolled, or if i cleared the lot i rolled. plenty of others managed perfectly well but not good for the old schoolers like me....

[James]

It's not the jump thats usually the problem, its the landing.

Too many times you see down-ramps that are far to short.. Downramps need to be huge - Wide and very long.. And not into a sharp braking zone as you basically have parked cars waiting for you when you land, you need them into a nice piece of flowing track.