First off, I'm going to comment on the body vs bodiless sizing. It wasn't just about the weight up high that they allowed the bodiless to be smaller. A bodiless chassis doesn't bend and conform to rocks like a body does. I've run courses before where a low slung bodied rig couple simply bury their cab hard into a rock and push through, flexing the body, but the bodiless chassis'd rigs were SOL. They had to eat a gate because they'd hit cab and get wedged. It may not happen often, but it does happen.
Maybe it's worth looking at the body sizes (I'm saying maybe, not that it can or will happen), but how small can a body get before it's completely ridiculous?
If you want my opinion on it, the small comp body is what started the entire problem to begin with. In 2008, you either had tubers that looked like 1:1 buggies...sometimes single seat comp buggies, but still, they looked cool, or you had bodies that looked like 1:1 bodies. I ran an HPI Jeep Rubicon body for a while when I first started. There were other guys competing with Ford F100's, Range Rovers, etc. There was even an F650 bodied rig.
Then the Rock Pleazers, Bugs, and Halo Warthog looking bodies started showing up, followed by grapplers, etc. It didn't take long before all of the bodied rigs were class minimum sized bodies.
And honestly the comp scene kinda blows right now. You travel, and spend a bunch of cash then you get to drive for what, 15 min tops.
Have you been to a major comp? If you're only traveling for the 15 minutes on the rocks, then you're going for the wrong reasons. I go to ECC and spend the entire time hanging out with my friends, and I just happen to get to run my toy trucks while I'm doing it.
And lets be honest if you are not a team driver you are SOL.
That's simply not true, and, quite honestly is the same negative attitude that we need to change to retain the new guys locally.
Just as an example, I had no sponsors, and I won 1.9 at ECC this year.
