"Why I don't go to comps".....not looking for comp guy replies....

[WHITE-TRASH]

I went to a comp with one of my sportsman rigs this summer. It was fun to meet new people and bs about the hobby but it wasn't crawling by any stretch of the imagination. When you have a short time limit to beat or risk timing out it forces people to be bashers and basically run a slow motion U4 race. I'm sure I'll attend more comps in the future but mainly just for new people to crawl with after the event is over.

[JatoTheRipper]

As seen on the book of faces.

I get the point - to appease sponsors. But this is a great way to alienate newbs IMHO. But they do say they will have legal spare parts to share.

[OSRC]

Those are some murky waters there. I'd wager that the vast majority of buyers have no idea they are buying "knockoffs." Of all the guys I've run with over the past few years, only 2 others even bother with forums. They buy parts on Ebay, Amazon, or the LHS. Us guys that live here know what's what, but I'd wager most don't.

What counts as a "knockoff" anyway? Fanquish wheels? OK. Fake Hyrax? OK. ...What about Boom phat axles? Exact same design as a standard SCX10 axle, just different material. What about an Xtraspeed D90 body? Clone? Knockoff? Same OEM? How would I know? Things can get mighty gray in there.

I totally get the Chinese rip off artists and how it's infuriating for US companies, don't get me wrong. Taking it out on the consumer who may or may not know the difference though... hmmm.

This is why I drive in the woods at my own leisure and not on comp courses.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Those are some murky waters there. I'd wager that the vast majority of buyers have no idea they are buying "knockoffs." Of all the guys I've run with over the past few years, only 2 others even bother with forums. They buy parts on Ebay, Amazon, or the LHS. Us guys that live here know what's what, but I'd wager most don't.

What counts as a "knockoff" anyway? Fanquish wheels? OK. Fake Hyrax? OK. ...What about Boom phat axles? Exact same design as a standard SCX10 axle, just different material. What about an Xtraspeed D90 body? Clone? Knockoff? Same OEM? How would I know? Things can get mighty gray in there.

I totally get the Chinese rip off artists and how it's infuriating for US companies, don't get me wrong. Taking it out on the consumer who may or may not know the difference though... hmmm.

This is why I drive in the woods at my own leisure and not on comp courses.

He clarified saying it only applies to laser scanned exact copies like the Hyrax clones. Fanquish wheels are very similar and I'd assume the rule applies to those.

[WHITE-TRASH]

So will cut trepadors and goodyear mt/r tires not be allowed too?

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

So will cut trepadors and goodyear mt/r tires not be allowed too?

That's great!

I understand where he's going. He's trying to protect the sponsors. Is it the right way to proceed? I think that's debatable and why I mentioned it here.

The good thing is he said nobody will be turned away and they will provide parts to help make the cars eligible for the competition.

Would I want to change axles for a comp? Nope. But the option is there.

[WHITE-TRASH]

In the grand scheme of things i believe he is absolutely right. But not necessarily for the reasons you'd think.

The knockoff tires are crap. Yea you saved a few bucks on tires but you're not going to get the performance or longevity out of them as you will a name brand. The axle housings are kind of the same thing to me but lets face it, run the stock housing and put heavy knuckles on it and you'll get better performance every time. It's not about who spends the most money as it is who puts their money in the right places.

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

As seen on the book of faces.

I get the point - to appease sponsors. But this is a great way to alienate newbs IMHO. But they do say they will have legal spare parts to share.

Maybe Ill just go patent some of the original products, since they were to cheap to get a patent, then serve them with a cease and desist order.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Ditchrat

Maybe Ill just go patent some of the original products, since they were to cheap to get a patent, then serve them with a cease and desist order.

That's called patent trolling. Apple is the master at it. The problem is China doesn't believe in our patent system. They copy what they want and give everybody else the

[OSRC]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Apple is the master at it.

Think you mean Traxxas....

[Ninomaniac]

Kinda the same situation over here... now and then a couple of us get together and have fun.
BTW why would you need a passport for Poland, if you have a Danish ID card?

[Teng]

Well, I do not comps simply because I am lazy. I enjoy Solo and free style

[rcdriftmasterj]

I don't like comps because I just enjoy going trailing to hang out with my friends, have fun and relax. Not getting more stressed out about having to take the fastest line or about rolling or losing points.

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[JennyC6]

I don't comp....well, A, because I don't have a rig to comp with, but even if I did I still wouldn't, and the simple reason is that I'm not a competitive person and just don't have any interest in competing. I'd love to run trails with other people(Hell I'd do it with my NTC3 or Mad Crusher or ZTZ99 if there were peeps to trail with!), but the idea of competing just doesn't gel with me. A lot of what I'd like to build wouldn't pass comp regs anyway...pretty sure they'd tell me to pound sand if I showed up with a 6x6 military truck powered by a glow engine with all manner of custom made trans parts, open diffs, et-al.


I might be convinced to try it, though, if I could find a comp in my area that's cater to a few specific things: Rigs used must look like/resemble something that could operate on public roads if it were 1:1, open diffs, 2s lipo. Or ICE, if one has an ICE model.

[Tralfaz Blecht]

I watch a lot of crawling videos on YouTube, trailing videos too. When I see actual competition videos, most of the rigs either don't appeal to me visually or the driving of them is not very realistic. There is nothing wrong with any of that. I recently saw a video of an incredibly capable comp crawler thing with a tiny totally non-scale body on it. It looked really goofy but it was a mechanical marvel and it could probably crawl up a greased wall. It was awesome, but it just wasn't why this hobby interests me.

As far as the fun spirit of competition goes, I like that. I just prefer to gather my rigs in the back yard with some friends and beers and the challenges amount to "hey man, see if you can go over this!"

[Greatscott]

The title says, "Why I don't go to comps".....not looking for comp guy replies....

Well, here is a "comp guy" reply...

In short, I am looking at not doing comps because of burn out.

I like comps, most of my RCs are built for them. I like setting up courses, I like seeing what people can do with their rigs, and I like seeing the new guys get excited about the hobby. But...

Judging
As much as I like judging, it really kills your enthusiasm when you spend all day judging when people just show up, run their courses and leave. There are some people that just can't judge, and that is understandable, but there are far more that can but won't. There have been comps where I have judged all day and just too burnt out to run the courses with my trucks.

Crying and whining.
When building courses I try to make gates 1 - 5 doable for most skill levels, then ramp up the difficulty for gates 6 - 10; also, I like to run one course that is fairly tight and technical, and one course that covers some distance. With that, having drivers bitch incessantly about the courses are too tough because their rigs cannot make it passed gate two. For some reason, the idea that they are in a competition and the whole idea of the thing is to see how far you can make it compared to other drivers escapes them. Or the simple fact that their rigs or their driving skills are not up to the task.

Rules... There are rules?
For comps, and for RC in general, new guys are the life-blood of our hobby. We have to make them feel welcomed when they come to comps and get-togethers. This is a big reason by I make and hand out tow ropes at comps. But, it confuses me to no end why people show up to comps and have no clue as to the rules of the competition, and complain because they don't like the rules. There are some nuances of competition that need to be explained, like how to do a roll-over. But, many do not even attempt to read the rules and show up with rigs that are not legal for competition, then they say we are being jerks and elitist for not allowing them to compete in the class they want to just because their tires are too big, or just because they have TVP, or MOA.

There are a lot more examples I could go on able. But, lately testing the balance between doing comps and not doing them, the scales have started tipping to the "not" side.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

I went to a comp with one of my sportsman rigs this summer. It was fun to meet new people and bs about the hobby but it wasn't crawling by any stretch of the imagination. When you have a short time limit to beat or risk timing out it forces people to be bashers and basically run a slow motion U4 race. I'm sure I'll attend more comps in the future but mainly just for new people to crawl with after the event is over.

Drove 2800 miles round trip to the AZ summer shootout last month. It was a blast but definitely reinforced the fact that I don't like comps

The weekend was a blast for damned sure, meeting new people, putting faces to screen names etc. Spending a bunch of time freecrawling with new people on crazy terrain was all a riot that I'd make the trip for again for sure. The comp itself though I wouldn't drive down the street for if that's all there was.

[RootBreaker]

I dont comp because i dont have time and im too competative. If I did... id be divorced as id spend too much... but wait that would free up my time!!!!

Im an all in guy. I dont half-ass anything...when im all in.

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[UncleJohn]

It's easy for me. I don't go to comps because they are a distance from here. I have piles of rocks in my yard to practice on. I live in a rocky, mountainous area. I have crawlers to work on. Guess I better go to a comp and get involved, hmmm?

How's that for an about face?

[odomandr]

where is the instructional comp? I need to get lessons or something

edit: but really its just because of the time commitment required due to travel distance/ traffic. Denver traffic is terrible and now that Im an hour away its barely justifiable unless I commit an entire afternoon