Wrangler YJ out trailin' Part 3

Thanks for watching the videos. Hope you subscribed to let me know you enjoy my video's and I will in turn keep making them. My super duper secret location is revealed in the comments of this video.

Cheers

Scotty

Wrangler YJ out trailin' Part 2

Part 2 of my Wrangler YJ out trailing in a super duper secret location in Alberta Canada

Wrangler YJ out Trailin' Part 1

I haven't been out trailing in a long time and haven't done it in my new (to me) Jeep Wrangler YJ. Now that I have it pretty much complete with paint, details, interior, driver and so on... I just had to get on out and make a video. Thing is... I was out trailing for so long and got so much great footage that it ended up being almost an hour of footage. So... I broke it up into 3 video's.

Hope you enjoy and live vicariously through my driver like I do.

Scotty

SORCCA rules ... good or bad? And my alternative to them.

This weekend I finally competed in my first scale competition. It was great but right out of the gates I noticed something... my hard bodied Tamiya Jeep which is pretty scale was almost forced into class 2. I found that confusing as I thought for sure that the truck was far more class 1 than 2. For an idea of the classes being referenced... check out the SORCCA rules which is the go to system for nearly all RC Scale truck competitions out there. Many race creators modify these rules to suit to some degree but one thing that really bothers me about these rules.... WAY too much emphasis on the nitpicky crap!!

Here is the thing... as a young teen I got into Dungeons and Dragons a bit with the first rules set (yeah, I'm old) and it was great. Then came the second system and I noticed the rules had tripled in size and depth of detail. I tried that system and it was okay but it was no longer as fun as we were spending more time arguing rules than actually playing. As the years went by and more system "upgrades" came down the pipe, more tomes were published. I pretty much never played any more because I really grew to hate what we called "rules lawyers" in the genre. Fast fwd a few years and one day I came across a gaming rules system that was really loose but had enough behind it to keep the game on track enough that it was enjoyable again. The love for the game began again and I played for a long time. Why do I bring this up? Well, because I see it happening with these RC comp rules. Today I went and google searched about SORRCA rules and found many forums hosting topics on them and it really became evident within minutes on each forum how much bickering and nit picking was going on regarding all those rules. I have also seen this happen in the workplace when manuals are created. One rule often creates many sets of sub rules and within those sub sets of rules develop even more rules. It gets out of hand and then the joy is gone. You no longer want to play, no longer want to race and sometimes... don't want to work at that company anymore. Can you relate?

All of this got me thinking about that rules system I came across that simplified the game I once enjoyed and made me enjoy it once again so many years later. A simplified version to be used at comp's that is competitive but not rules heavy. it gets the job done just enough that people can go out and have fun. Picture a professional KOH race vs. a race taking place up in the hills populated by garage mechanics of varying levels and their trucks just as varied. That is in essence what you are facing with RC comp's. The types of trucks and the modifications to those trucks is so varied that its almost impossible to nail down a strict system to govern them all.

Here is the rub:

Do back woods racers really want to be governed that harshly? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no. Those that do will and probably already do... go out and find SORCCA governed comps to run in and they take it deadly serious.

I'm going to suggest a rules light system for RC Offroad trucks and would like to hear from you on it. Before you comment... keep in mind... if you start quoting rules and suggesting rules, before you know it this will be just as complicated as the SORCCA rules and it would be easier to just use their system. Think before you speak. The goal here is to keep it simple. Just enough to work.

Two truck classes only:
TRAIL CLASS
COMPETITION CLASS

Each class is broken down as follows:
TRAIL CLASS
A) 1.5/1.7 Tires
B) 1.9 Tires
C) 2.2 Tires

COMPETITION CLASS
A) 1.5/1.7 Tires
B) 1.9 Tires
C) 2.2 Tires

That's it! WTF? You might be asking right now I bet. How do you differentiate between Trail and Competition class is big question here. Simple... if you have any item that would never be found on a real competition type truck such as a dog, camping gear, bbq, tent, sleeping bag, then you fall into the trail class by default. You can have windows and lights and so on on a Competition class truck but no guy/gal in their right mind would be a full on competitor and be carrying all that crap on their rig. That's the divider. You will more than likely have a bare bones, beefed up rig to compete with. It doesn't need bumpers, windows, fenders, etc. Just 4 wheels, a roll cage, a helmet, a fire extinguisher and all trace that its an rc hidden (wires, battery, etc) and you are good to go.

My Tamiya Jeep would be Trail Class A for example. A Wraith with 2.2's (and no camping gear) would be Competition C as another example.

I strongly suggest to make it fun by demanding a driver with/without helmet (trail driver or comp driver) in all your trucks or blacked out windows. NO GHOST DRIVEN VEHICLES ALLOWED!! lol. That would be my rule anyways if I ran this system.

Okay... your thoughts on those 6 categories above. Think it would fly?

Scotty

Tamiya Jeep Wrangler YJ

I picked up this guy recently and been working on it. Today I put in some tunes and a roof rack. I have clear windows and an interior kit on the way plus some more rubber to try out. Here is a short clip of it running.