What's the point of the hobby ?

[Chubaka]

for me personally its the sound, i dont want to piss off my neighbors by running a weed eater up and down the street repeatedly. it sounds hella cool on video, but i would feel awkward, it just draws too much unwanted attention. then theres the wrenching.
if my electric doesn't work i have 3 main areas the issue generally starts with.
a combustion motor has sooooo many more parts, not for me. i, like @RetroThutmose enjoy wathcing other people race theirs, ill watch the videos for hours. but in real life? id rather electric crawl thru the woods, or climb a pile of rocks.
maybe if i were more of a Speed Demon lol. but I'm a Turtle Titan

Run it whenever someone is mowing.

 

[Xraycer]

I still own a few nitros. It's fun and all, but I'm not a fan of drawing other peoples' attention when I'm trying to enjoy my hobby. I'm mainly a recluse/loner when it comes to my hobbies.

 

[Zerksies]

NItro probably peaked in the 2000-2010 era. This is when i got in. I learned a ton from RC, starting out with nitro. I love the sound, smell and speed of Nitro. Coming back about a year ago. Everything is pretty much all electric now. I'd love to have a Nitro, but reasons above is why i don't have one.

Electric isn't that hard, i mean my 7 year old runs it without any issue. He would not be able to run Nitro. I mean electric is faster and cleaner. But something about an engine running seems more fun.

 

[HDRIDER56]

So I was wondering with a lot of these companies moving away from Nitro and into electric it seems to me like the whole fun of the hobby to begin with was tuning and building your engines and then enjoying the fruits of your labor

I've talked to a few people and they said that they would rather just plug and play which is fine but my question is it seems to me that going away from Nitro and not wanting to build and tune your engines seems like it gets rid of half of the fun of a hobby to begin with

I couldn't agree with you more on this, I started years ago with old Tester and Cox cars on string to stay straight that you had to spin the back wheel to start or spin the prop on the plane and use the string on the hand thingy and turn in circles to fly it (yeah showing my age a little here lol) I've recently got back into this hobby, I picked up a Revo 2.5 and Jato 3.3 on the cheap for project builds. I wouldn't of wanted to get back into this any other way. It's a shame you can't find too many kit builds like back in the day like the Grasshopper buggie.
Great post by the way

 

[JohnnyOctopuss]

I couldn't agree with you more on this, I started years ago with old Tester and Cox cars on string to stay straight that you had to spin the back wheel to start or spin the prop on the plane and use the string on the hand thingy and turn in circles to fly it (yeah showing my age a little here lol) I've recently got back into this hobby, I picked up a Revo 2.5 and Jato 3.3 on the cheap for project builds. I wouldn't of wanted to get back into this any other way. It's a shame you can't find too many kit builds like back in the day like the Grasshopper buggie.
Great post by the way

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Thanks!

When I was growing up I watched my dad and friends with all of their nitros so I've always leaned in that direction and I guess as I learn more about the hobby I see there is just as much tuning in electric as there is with nitro.

I was just really confused as to why, wherever I went, the hobby guys at the shop seemed to tell me everything they could to steer me away from nitro and into electric.

I like loud, dirty and fun little machines!

 

[easy rider]

So I was wondering with a lot of these companies moving away from Nitro and into electric it seems to me like the whole fun of the hobby to begin with was tuning and building your engines and then enjoying the fruits of your labor

I've talked to a few people and they said that they would rather just plug and play which is fine but my question is it seems to me that going away from Nitro and not wanting to build and tune your engines seems like it gets rid of half of the fun of a hobby to begin with

I’m a huge outdoor nut. Hunting, fishing, hiking, back packing, etc…. I love guns too. The cool thing is my love for all these things is integrated.


Burning nitro has very little to do with any of the above. But, it’s what I do in between all of the above.

While I’ve bought and enjoy electric RC’s trucks and truggy’s, there is nothing like finding a beat up old MT nitro and restoring it. Or, as I’m working on now, buying a new chassis and putting every screw in it. I enjoy tinkering with an old motor that requires new parts. It’s taught me how to build a great nitro. I just enjoy nitro RC’s.


It’s a real motor man!! Belching smoke and screaming rpm’s. I think most men can find some satisfaction in that. It’s just cool.

 

[JohnnyOctopuss]

I’m a huge outdoor nut. Hunting, fishing, hiking, back packing, etc…. I love guns too. The cool thing is my love for all these things is integrated.


Burning nitro has very little to do with any of the above. But, it’s what I do in between all of the above.

While I’ve bought and enjoy electric RC’s trucks and truggy’s, there is nothing like finding a beat up old MT nitro and restoring it. Or, as I’m working on now, buying a new chassis and putting every screw in it. I enjoy tinkering with an old motor that requires new parts. It’s taught me how to build a great nitro. I just enjoy nitro RC’s.


It’s a real motor man!! Belching smoke and screaming rpm’s. I think most men can find some satisfaction in that. It’s just cool.

That's cool because I also do classic car restorations and race car building for a living and that is a lot of fun to bring something back to life.
Restoring and bringing something back to life, that satisfaction cannot be paralleled

 

[easy rider]

That's cool because I also do classic car restorations and race car building for a living and that is a lot of fun to bring something back to life.
Restoring and bringing something back to life, that satisfaction cannot be paralleled

Yes sir. As a kid, I’d find an old broke down motor and take it apart to see how it worked. Any motor. Mowers, chainsaws, motorcycles etc.. it also helped that my grandfather was the lead mechanic at a Volkswagen and Mercedes dealership. By the time I was 12, he had taught me so much about anything combustion engine. He could fix anything. And, he passed the desire to do that on to me and my brother.

Problem is my eyesight is going quickly. And, tinkering at these things frustrates me to the point I don’t enjoy doing those things anymore unless I can really light up my work.

Enter the nitro. I can put that on my shop bench or spread a towel on the table, put on a 1000 lumen headlamp and 1.25 reading glasses and dig in. It turns frustration into enjoyment again.

I do miss building hot rods with my neighbor. He built several along with a dirt track car that I drove competitively. When you are 18 years old driving on a dirt oval, life is great. Especially considering the only investment ever asked of me was to help him build and wrench on them for the pleasure to race ‘em.

 

[HDRIDER56]

Thanks!

When I was growing up I watched my dad and friends with all of their nitros so I've always leaned in that direction and I guess as I learn more about the hobby I see there is just as much tuning in electric as there is with nitro.

I was just really confused as to why, wherever I went, the hobby guys at the shop seemed to tell me everything they could to steer me away from nitro and into electric.

I like loud, dirty and fun little machines!

Several years back when I had seen an add for Traxxas Revo, my mind was made up that's what I wanted and had to be a Nitro. Here's the funny thing, I talked to a rep a few times over some promos I got emailed, he was actually trying to talk me out of get a nitro 1st, worried it would scare me away from RCs, hell mine have pulled me into more.
Last year my heart decided to try and stop ticking, threw me for a looop. My good buddy worked ar Goodwill sorting the donations, he gifts me my 1st Traxxas RC, my Revo 2.5 nitro. I was couch/bed bound for months. I HAVE TO STAY busy. So i went through it replacing anything broke. I found a dude on Ebay that parts out new RCs so he says. I call him my RC chop shop, saves me a ton of money. Example, my extended length chassis cost $9, I'm almost done with this upgrade, steering setup is messing with me. Engine still sounds strongish anyway, didn't mean to ramble.
My Jato is picked it up on the cheap, $125. Needed couple parts, and radio system (now an engine) i do have one electric, a recently $30 purchase, just needed a battery and charger. Runs like a top. Again great post

 

[BudUMfan]

I know nothing about nitro but I’d gladly piss off my neighborhood with a Losi 5T gasser. It’s massive. Loud. And I love them. I also like watching nitro dirt/clay track races. But boats are my newest favorite part of the hobby.