Returning to RC and have questions

[CHawk]

Welcome in. I'm from that same ancient Era. We were all googly when we got a new Novak ESC!!! Good times.

I do remember the Novak ESC, thought it made me the king back in the day. My first RC 10 had a sweeper arm for speed control!!

One of the trends that seems common is when a manufacturer will completely discontinue parts for a certain model. They tell you they lost the parts supplier, the molds are gone...
I think its a bit more intentional than that.
Either way, your buggy that was 100% fine for the track up until that announcement has suddenly become a collectors item, shelf queen... and you need to buy a new buggy.

TLR discontinued their entire race program. Seems like they don't want to race any more.

I am building an Optima Mid from 1987.
I'm modding it, building it to compete on a track today. No idea if it will do well or not. Haven't run one on a track in decades.
I am never gonna be the worlds fastest anything or compete on any international level... in other words, win or lose, I'll be the happiest guy at the track running my favorite car from 40 years ago. Don't care what AE or TLR says is the hot new set up.

Kyosho has been a solid company for decades.
If online parts ordering, being a little different in the crowd works for you, maybe consider a Kyosho RB7.5.

PR Racing is another company that looks really good but isn't main stream. No idea how parts coverage is on these guys and would be the first thing I looked into.

I still have my gold pan too.

I don't like AE's parts coverage. I think their cars are pretty good still tho.

Have you been to a local track lately just to check the place out. You might get an idea to run in a class you never considered before.
You can also get an idea of what everyone else is running and why.

Haven't been to the local track yet, just started this journey and it's freaking cold outside. I did join their FB page so when the weather warms up I plan to check things out

 

[Mike4xdriver]

One thing I've noticed with what little exploring I've done, everything as far as electronics are concerned have gotten more ...complicated from when last I ran cars.

Welcome to the asylum
Don't let the electronics scare you. I'm 51 and just back into RC a couple years ago. Been building a rig and was scared of the electronics and these guys walked me through it and everything came out fine. Found this group a few months ago and these people are awesome.
Welcome to the fold, we love helping you spend your $
Just so we know, how much space do you have dedicated to your new obsession? You should plan to expand.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Welcome in @CHawk

 

[RustyUs]

If it's the racing scene that you are going to be interested in, then you will want to visit the track that you want to race at. See what classes are being ran and what RC platforms the others using might give you better insight/direction. If the track has a hobby shop, then they should have the latest and greatest kits there that best suits their track which may persuade your decision making process.

Welcome to the RCTalk fold.

 

[CHawk]

Welcome to the asylum
Don't let the electronics scare you. I'm 51 and just back into RC a couple years ago. Been building a rig and was scared of the electronics and these guys walked me through it and everything came out fine. Found this group a few months ago and these people are awesome.
Welcome to the fold, we love helping you spend your $
Just so we know, how much space do you have dedicated to your new obsession? You should plan to expand.

As for space, I have a real good O'Dea of the space needed. I did run RC cars for a few years and when I moved to Michigan back in 97 I added RC sailplanes to the mix. I have a section planned with plenty of work room

 

[RustyUs]

One thing I've noticed with what little exploring I've done, everything as far as electronics are concerned have gotten more ...complicated from when last I ran cars.

The top tier radios and speed controls can leave a person confused when flipping thru the manuals and you see all the settings/programable items listed. Don't let that scare you... all the radios and ESCs can be dumbed down to their simplest form and a person can learn all the ins/outs as they go. Bind, calibrate... off you go! There's also a lot of middle shelf/medium priced/"best bang for the buck" type electronics out there that can do the job just fine.

 

[CHawk]

The Team Associated B7 2wd buggy is a pretty nice kit. I have a 22.5t motor in mine and it is pretty fun driving around my local track. It is 1/10 indoor clay. I haven't had any problems with quality and parts support has been great.

B7!!!, dang I remember when when the B2 came out, all the hype around that.

 

[CertifiedMike]

B7!!!, dang I remember when when the B2 came out, all the hype around that.

I have a B2 too.

I have a jar full of original vintage hype for it too somewhere.

 

[godale03]

Welcome back into the hobby! I too took some time away from the hobby... filled the time with raising kids, working and trying not to piss off the wife... but I jumped back in a few years ago. I used to exclusively race up until my LCS track closed. So I did what any other crazy guy would do.... I talked my wife into letting me build a track and drivers stand in the back yard! LOL! That lasted only a few years though. Keeping the weeds at bay and other maintenance took up more time than I had to give, so I let the weeds take over and a few years ago I turned it back into useable yard space. At that point I figured I was "out" of the hobby. I sold off pretty much everything I had. Then about 2020ish... I bought a couple of Losi rigs to just bash with and had a blast! I too found that many of the brands I knew alot about had changed and new brands had and tech had come into the hobby. In many ways I find it easier than the past and yet more difficult at the same time. I for one don't miss soldering NiCd batteries!! LOL Now I bash Arrma's and love it. I got back to the simpler part of the hobby and I can just charge a pack and rip for a while, put it back on the shelf until next time. I hope you enjoy getting back in and this place is awesome. Alot of the guys I knew are still here and some have left, but I am sure this place is just as good as I remember!

Cheers!

Tom

 

[CHawk]

After some searching I found only 1 track with a couple of hours from me and no hobby shops for RC of any kind. I don't plan yo get to crazy until closer to spring but like you @godale03 I don't plan to get that heavy, if at all into competition. The whole battery thing , this Lipo thing has me a tad puzzled. I ran them un my RC sailplanes, just not comfortable with them in a car. Need more research I guess.
Not like to old NiMH days for sure!!!

 

[Doom!]

this Lipo thing has me a tad puzzled. I ran them un my RC sailplanes, just not comfortable with them in a car. Need more research I guess

As long as your responsible with the care and feeding of your Lipo batteries you have nothing to worry about. They may seem a little overwhelming in the beginning, but once you figure out the do's and don'ts they will treat you well.

 

[Littlemotor]

As long as your responsible with the care and feeding of your Lipo batteries you have nothing to worry about. They may seem a little overwhelming in the beginning, but once you figure out the do's and don'ts they will treat you well.

Yup. To hell with sticking with a horse & buggy, when there’s automobiles up for grabs!

 

[CertifiedMike]

Yup. To hell with sticking with a horse & buggy, when there’s automobiles up for grabs!

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Yup! Sometimes my arms will still get tired doing all that cranking to charge up my batteries tho.

 

[godale03]

After some searching I found only 1 track with a couple of hours from me and no hobby shops for RC of any kind. I don't plan yo get to crazy until closer to spring but like you @godale03 I don't plan to get that heavy, if at all into competition. The whole battery thing , this Lipo thing has me a tad puzzled. I ran them un my RC sailplanes, just not comfortable with them in a car. Need more research I guess.
Not like to old NiMH days for sure!!!

Lipos were pretty scary back in the early days, as chargers were hard to use, most of the speedos of the day required you to solder in or otherwise connect some sort of Lipo cutoff so that you didn't drain your battery too far. The chargers were complicated to setup ( or at least I thought so) Then you had to make sure that you know how to properly balance charge and then if you were not going to use it, put a storage charge on it. I don't even want to get started on having to solder a series of light bulbs together to discharge lipos or getting a separate discharge station.
Now though, Lipos, while they can still be dangerous are much easier to deal with. If you stick with Spektrum batteries... which I have done, Lipos are a breeze to care for now. The chargers will automatically detect, and start charging. They will also balance charge with the press of a button. In fact since the second gen Spektrum lipos have come out, you don't even need a balance board. You just plug them into the charger and wait. The batteries will even automatically balance charge if you forget to do it. Although I don't recommend you rely on that. Then you just store them in a lipo safe container and you should be good to go. Lipos can still definitely be dangerous... but thanks to technology they are certainly easier to manage. I don't run my lipos a ton, so I bought a cheap spektrum battery tester and I just plug that into my lipos a few months just to make sure they are properly storage charged and not puffing.

Tom

 

[aklindeman]

Minor point of clarification. Losi still has a racing program. It's just small and no longer a fully supported team. But Losi did put out a new buggy earlier this year and it is competitive. There are four companies that all put out competitive 1/10th scale buggies. Associated Electrics, Team Losi Racing, Schumacher (Current IFMAR Champion), and X-ray.

Carpet off road racing is probably the biggest current trend. Although it's far bigger in Europe than the US. It can make sense if a club can set up a track in a gym or some other shared space. Quick setup and take down can mean no expensive property needed to run club races.

 

[Littlemotor]

Minor point of clarification. Losi still has a racing program. It's just small and no longer a fully supported team. But Losi did put out a new buggy earlier this year and it is competitive. There are four companies that all put out competitive 1/10th scale buggies. Associated Electrics, Team Losi Racing, Schumacher (Current IFMAR Champion), and X-ray.

Carpet off road racing is probably the biggest current trend. Although it's far bigger in Europe than the US. It can make sense if a club can set up a track in a gym or some other shared space. Quick setup and take down can mean no expensive property needed to run club races.

No-they (Losi/Horizon) axed literally all of their pro-drivers (without warning) last year, and have said that will not change for the foreseeable future. Their exact words were, “You may continue to run our vehicles if you so desire, but we will no longer be paying/supporting you.”… They have vehicles for sale; not a race program…

I also don’t believe I would call carpet off-road a “trend”-at least not here in The States anyway… It’s been going on since I did it in the mid-80’s, and there are a literal TON of these tracks/races all over the country..

 

[aklindeman]

I get it. Watch my brother race on carpet with his Frog against the first RC10s is how I caught the bug. But it is growing and dirt is shrinking today.

 

[Littlemotor]

I get it. Watch my brother race on carpet with his Frog against the first RC10s is how I caught the bug. But it is growing and dirt is shrinking today.

Maybe overseas.. Tracks come and go, here-it’s the nature of the hobby.. More often than not-it’s got nothing at all to do with RC either (ie-low turnout, high overhead, etc.). Most times it’s simply that someone else rents the land, or facility for more loot, and the current lessor doesn’t have an opportunity to just counter/meet the new offer. I can count two within 50mi of my house that’s happened to this year alone. BUT, I also know of (6) NEW venue’s that’ve gone up in the past 6mos as well. It’s been this way as far back as I can remember here, and I don’t foresee that changing. People in general tend to speak on the negative stuff, and dismiss or are just unaware of the positives-ESPECIALLY in an online setting. Just how it is.

Surface RC (especially off-road, and Nitro) in general is a far cry from what it was around 2000-2008, but as much as people want to cry about it; it’s not going away either.. Just my .02.

 

[aklindeman]

Yes, overseas is where it is really blowing up. I'll race on anything, myself. I was racing on Masonite last weekend at E-Team up in Ft. Collins Colorado!

 

[Littlemotor]

Yes, overseas is where it is really blowing up. I'll race on anything, myself. I was racing on Masonite last weekend at E-Team up in Ft. Collins Colorado!

I’ve raced on just about everything but a damned bowling lane lol.. Actually was fairly close to it at an old wood floor roller-skating rink years ago…