Is Racing Fun?

“I love the concept of racing and the practice needed to hit that “perfect run” but I’m growing increasingly curious why we put such a high priority on hunting for mechanical advantage vs. skill based competition? It’s just not a sustainable path for anyone.”

I’ve come to realize the 1/28th scale industry is uniquely different in the concept of product lifecycle. “Hypersonic blitz” might be words describing the feeling of trying to keep up with the latest hot new products in an effort to be “competitive.” I believe the entire industry is built on this concept with innovation as a natural byproduct. Unfortunately this pace has downstream negative consequences not dissimilar to addiction and somewhere we might have lost the concept of having any ability to find balance of race craft and fun.

Full disclosure, I fully admit I’ve contributed to this lifecycle with Atomic and other brands and fully realize my role in all of it. I’ve enjoyed helping people and I’m thankful brands like Atomic see value in my often unique prospective. But I do have this feeling we are losing sight of our true north. I’ve taken a backseat of late and it’s allowed some introspection of why I step up on the drivers stand and I’ve come to realize that my holy grail of racing really doesn’t fit much anywhere these days in race programs. Can a skill based racing class allow new drivers a chance to learn but continue to give advanced drivers a means to prove driving skill vs. buying more upgrades, motors, ESC’s, etc?

I’ve come to the conclusion that the only path I see will be working on a local level and I’m fortunate to have a great club in Madison Mini RC as a means to offering a class that speaks to the intent of finding balance hoping the world catches wind. With some help from Ian S. we’ve elected to use the MRT-EVO as a foundation. The car has been sitting in my pit space for months and I’ve come to realize it might just have that balance of cost, “Just Enough Innovation”, availability, flexibility, and fun to be useful for this experiment. I’m thankful Atomic continues to think differently and supports such crazy kits.

I urge readers to consider the concept of balanced racing and continue to push other solutions that provide a path. I’m not alone and many don’t see a path to answering these needs, at least not yet. Doing nothing is just a path to an established conclusion. I feel the future might continue to provide other possible solutions as the evolution of 3D printed cars continues to mature. Perhaps the industry will respond and start offering solutions to consumers that leans more towards a balanced approach?

For now, I’ve added a PDF of the class definition we are crafting for MMRC as well as a PDF that might help folks with some MRT related needs. I’m hoping others take the concept to heart and come up with other solutions. I’ll be here in Madison continuing to be curious and trying new ideas to help find a path to balance.



Thanks for reading and let me know how it goes!