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THE Cub Report, 11.19.2012, Version- Internet GossipStar

Posted by Cubby @ 8:54 am. Filed in: cubby

Hello everyone, it’s Thanksgiving week and hopefully you get at least Thursday off of work. The BigSquidRC crew tends not to take any days off, if we aren’t posting we are at the track or in the parking lot trying to break parts. Which brings me to…

On the flight back from COTA (outstanding track don’t ya think?) I got to thinking about a comment a consumer made to me at a couple of weeks ago. We were at a track testing some gear, meaning purposely ramming into each other, jumping off the nearest roof etc, and one of the locals came up all freaked out wondering what the heck we were doing. I went on to explain that we work for BigSquidRC and that it was our job to break rc cars. After my spiel the local made the comment that we had his “dream job”. At the time I didn’t think much of his comment I guess, but being uber-bored on the flight back from Texas it crossed my mind again.

So… seriously, some local thought working in rc media was a “dream job”? First off- the first check you collect from doing anything instantly means it’s a job, thus meaning a whole lot of the fun factor has flown straight out the window. Yes, running two trucks into each other WFO does tend to put a smile on your face, even the thousandth time you do it, but I can assure you the thousandth time you drive around in little 5 mph circles just so the photographer can get a certain shot is fun in no way, shape, or form. I am a huge fan of driving rc, back in the day I was the guy always using the highest mah packs on the market just to get longer run-times (and even then I couldn’t get enough) but now days spending 40+ hours at a track driving some truck that I’d normally not even touch with a ten foot pole falls pretty low on my “ways to have fun” scale.

And once the truck driving is done, that’s just when the “real” work begins. Photo’s have to be edited, which to me isn’t such a big deal, but the actual writing of a review/column can be rather torturous on the mind. A buddy of mine has a rough day at work when his back goes out at 4 hours into a 10 hour shift while working bridge construction. I can have just as torturous of a day when I’m in a staring contest with a blinking cursor because my mind has just hit low voltage cut-off from the solid 6 hours of writing I had already put in that day. Just like any other job, there are a lot of hours to be put in, whether you feel good, or bad, or verbose, or have terminal writers block, the show must go on.

And… then there is the endless politics. Just like any other job on the planet, politics is a huge deal in rc media. My buddy on the bridge job might be in a war of poltics with a colleague over a job promotion, or in a war of politics hoping to win a contract over a competitor. We’ve received some pretty nasty emails from manufactures over slightly negative things we’ve written about them just in passing. We’ve received some pretty nasty emails from manufactures about things we’ve said that were too nice about their competitors. We’ve received emails from manufactures about how their review was too short, or it was too long, or it didn’t touch on certain sales points. And then, we’ve received certain monetary offers to change reviews, not just on their own product, but also reviews of their competitors. We are lucky around here that Brian is a good guy, he works well with companies keeping most of the politics out of my hair, and he isn’t afraid to stick to his morals.

To boil it down- is destroying rc cars a “dream” job? I don’t think so, I think for anyone to make that statement just shows they haven’t thought much about what the real job would be like. Working the rc media scene is pretty much like any other job, lots of long hours, lots of hard work, and it still has all the little issues that would bug the crap out of you whether you are working at Wally World or at Ferrari.

But ok… I gotta admit running a brand new truck into a concrete wall can still be a LOT of fun.

On a different subject…

We have something All new to the rc scene and insanely cool coming up on Wednesday November 28th. More news to follow, but mark your calender now. Yes seriously, it’s a big deal in the net media game.

We are hosting another give away of some sic Pro-Line product this week. It’s free Pro-Line stuff, meaning register now because you can never have enough trick Pro-line gear. Look for more info on the front page.

Here is this weeks schedule-

Monday- THE Cub Report
Tuesday- Review Tuesday, from what I hear the Pro-Line Pro 2 chassis review is finally ready, as is an RPM a-arm review and perhaps even a Helion truggy review.
Wednesday- This weeks Wednesday Interview is with Horizon/Pro Boat’s Kevin Hetmanski, should be a great read
Thursday- ASK Cubby, yes even on Thanksgiving, we don’t take days off around here.
Friday through Sunday- The normal PR’s and news of the day.

That’s it for this week guys, as always, hit up your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report, 11.12.2012, Version- Rogue Wave Of Happiness

Posted by Cubby @ 9:24 am. Filed in: cubby

Hello fellow rc’ers, happy Monday and welcome to yet another succulent edition of the webs most talked about rc column, THE Cub Report.

There was no Supercross or Formula 1 over the weekend, ugghhhh, I hate no race weekends. But… the USGP in Austin Texas is just a few scant days away, it’ll be nice to get out of Dodge and rub elbows with F1 fans from across the globe. Bring on Texas, bring on Red Bull, and most importantly, bring on the air horns and the Ferrari tifosi. Yes, I will be dressed Ferrai red from head to toe for three days straight.

In many parts of the country it’s indoor season for rc. If you are a noob, indoor season can mean many different things. For some it means racing indoor carpet, for others it means Kyosho Mini-Z or Losi Micro season, some simply do indoor crawling, some bust out the small heli’s and quads, and yet for others it’s bashing as usual except with heavier clothes and having to dump the snow out of the chassis before packing up for the day.

Personally I’m a Losi micro fan during the winter months. Their small scale allows me to set up a sic supercross track in virtually any room, then bust the track down in a few minutes to resume business as usual. 18th scalers are too big (and fast) to be used in small indoor spaces, but the smaller Losi micro’s are just about perfect, even in small rooms.

A couple of our other BSRC contributors run Kyosho Mini-Z’s during the winter months. Like the small scale Losi’s the Kyosho’s can be run in any small area, but the Kyosho’s are not quite as capable on off-road tracks. However, what they may lack in the ability to huck cardboard triples they make up for in uber scale looks.

Editor Brian and Bill The Wrench Guy go the coat and glove route, their bashing routine doesn’t change much if there is 6″ of snow on the ground. They still grab their Thunder Tigers and Axials and head right outside to the parking lot. Yes, driving in 20 degree temps in the snow can be burly, and yes, it results in a lot of additional maintenance, but they would rather get outside and bash with their normal rigs. After all, a truck isn’t a real basher if it can’t take on all forms of weather.

I will mention that the BSRC crew does hit the occasional carpet track from time to time, but as a whole we tend to avoid them. None of us are wired quite right to put up with all the yelling and screaming that goes on at a carpet track. We’d rather find some place else to get our rc fix than shove an RC12R5 up the rear end of some dude screaming down from the drivers stand about how he just got hacked or wasn’t marshalled fast enough. We’d much rather have our rc fun and stay out of jail.

Most of our staffers have tried the small heli thing over past winters (myself included) but I find them more boring than watching a woman attempting to use an ATM machine. I can only fly one of the ultra easy twin blade jobbers for about 5 minutes before I’m bored and looking to be play heli demo-derby, but that’s just me. Other staffers spend the winter mod’ing their heli’s and polishing their flight skills to a high gloss finish and seem to have a great time doing so.

And of course we have a couple hard-core crawling staffers who do the crawling thing. My idea of a good time isn’t crawling around at .5 mph, mine is hucking big jumps and perfecting rhythm sections, but to each their own. The staffers that do crawling dig the fact they can set up a challenging course just about anywhere, out of just about anything. Plus, there is plenty of tuning and hop-ups to be had in the crawling scene, this seem to appeal to them as well.

From a manufactures standpoint, many of them put a concerted effort into product options for those people living in northern climates, while others don’t seem to realize much of our country is half frozen under a foot of snow during the winter. Seemingly some of those companies that are based in perpetually warm weather have no idea what it’s like to be stuck inside your house for 3 months out of the year. Releasing a new boat in January doesn’t do northern climate people any good, nor does releasing the latest and greatest 8th scale nitro buggy. Sure, there are still plenty of places in the USA where you can drive 8th scale nitro all winter long, but us people from up north really appreciate product that we can use in small indoor areas.

On a different note… we’ve got several reviews heading your way this week. We are shooting for posting the uber Pro-Line Traxxas Slash chassis review this week, as well as a review on the Dynamite Passport Ultralite charger. And… with any luck we’ll post another surprise review to boot. Also of note… we’ve got another contest going on this week, this one involves Parma and our Facebook page, so give it a look.

That’s it for this week gang, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots! Have a rebuttal for anything said in this weeks Cub Report? Send it to me, Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com. Have great week everyone.

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report, 11.05.2012, Version: When Pigs Fly

Posted by Cubby @ 8:46 am. Filed in: cubby

Hello everyone, happy Monday and welcome to yet another edition of your favorite weekly satirical rc column, THE Cub Report.

When I first started writing THE Cub Report for BigSquidRC a half decade ago there were weeks when I’d rarely receive an email in regards to the column. Steadily over the years that has changed, and it isn’t uncommon to get 50 emails (or more) after a particularly saucy week. But… I have never received emails regarding a Cub Report the week before it was posted, well, not until last week. This week we have received a half dozen emails basically saying “We can not wait to see the next Cub Report!”. Well here it is, hopefully you enjoy, and even if you do not feel the love, hopefully it gets some water cooler conversation started.

Why would people be so stoked with anticipation about this weeks Cub Report? If you don’t already know you must have been living on Mars the last few days- because Traxxas announced their new DR-1 helicopter and QR-1 quadcopter last week.

It was remarkable to see people’s reaction to the Traxxas air product news- initially people simply refused to accept it, and who could blame them, getting into the air market is an incredibly radical departure from their current product line-up. Once the fact had sunk in the next question out of their mouth was “Why air????”. There is no doubt that Traxxas getting into the air market will help their bottom line. Geez, you can’t walk a hundred feet in a mall, flea market, or big box toy store, without seeing some little dual rotor heli, and the quadcopter market is blowing up like a bad guy’s head in a Schwarzenegger flix about right now. It is easy to see there is a lot of cash to be made in the small heli and quad market.

And… how many of those mall/flea market heli’s and quad’s have terrible parts support (hint- all of them)? If you are more than passively interested in flying a lil’ heli or quad, parts support is quite important, and if Traxxas is really good at one thing it’s having parts in nearly every LHS in the country. For heli/quad flyboys it will certainly be nice to be able to walk into nearly an LHS in America and pick up replacment parts right off the shelf.

Double and… after-market support for Traxxas surface product has historically been huge. Surely the mouths of new age heli/quad guys are watering right now with thoughts of uber hop-ups quickly becoming available for the new Traxxas heli and quad. Sure, getting a new product and using it is fun, but hopping it up is what being an American is all about.

So not “everything” about having a new Traxxas heli and quad on the market is bad.

However… you have got to be freak’n kidding me. Traxxas is on top of the world right now, seemingly with more raw cash than Brinks trucks to hold it all. You’d think they’d have more than enough resources available to come up with something more innovative and original for their first foray into the air scene. I am no air guru, nor are most of the people that will be looking at buy the new Traxxas gear, but to me their new heli and quad do not look to bring any of the Texan Swagger to the table that put their surface gear on top of the car/truck market. You would have thought with their first air offerings Traxxas would have been looking to make a bold statement, right now that statement comes across as “Yee Haw, lookee at what we just sourced from Asia!”. Having worked in this industry a long time I know certain concessions have to be made to meet price points and release dates, but when mountains of resources are available and the king of the mountain is looking to make a splash in an entirely new genre, that is the perfect time to go huge, not ho-hum.

I saw first hand another “big name” surface rc company’s first design in the air market when I was in SoCal about a year ago (still unreleased). This company is known for quality surface products and their air design was quite impressive. This particular product was designed from the ground up in-house using known concepts from the air field plus some uber surface concepts to make it like nothing else on the market. No, the product I saw had no chance at making a hundred dollar price point, but it would have been price competitive against its rivals, and it was uber trick and brought some serious performance advancements to the table. It was exactly what the latest offerings from Traxxas should have been.

No doubt Traxxas is going to sell millions of dollars of their new air gear, but like I mentioned in last weeks Cub Report, they have jumped the shark, and their latest air products do nothing but cement that statement.

That’s it for this week crew, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots. Do you have a rebuttal for this weeks Cub Report? If so, shoot it to me, Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com.

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report, 10.29.2012, Version- Paid Pundit/International Man of Mystery

Posted by Cubby @ 8:50 am. Filed in: cubby

Happy Monday everyone and thanks for spending some time here on BigSquidRC. Here’s to hoping all you guys have a kick ass week.

To start off with, a friend of ours over at RPM is dealing with a fairly serious illness right now. Richard might not be cool with me making people aware that he is sick, but myself and the entire staff here at BigSquidRC hope he gets back to full healthy quickly. If you have a few extra minutes this week shoot a “get well soon” card his way, I’m sure it would put a smile on his face.

On a different note…

What’s bigger news, Traxxas putting out a purpose built shelf queen or Associated releasing a basher line? Humm…. I’ll start with Traxxas.

If you were to go out and ask core Traxxas users what the name “Traxxas” means to them you’d hear a lot of responses like “A tough truck that takes a beating”, or “An affordable truck to beat on”. What you would not hear is anything involving the words “shelf queen”. Everything jumps the shark sooner or later, tv shows, rock bands, heck even entire countries, so you just knew sooner or later Traxxas would do the same thing. Some may argue that Traxxas jumped the shark at the Revo, others might argue at the XO-1, but IMO when they announced their dedicated shelf-queen-drag-car-static-display model that was the time. The Traxxas name has been long related to tough basher trucks, a static model drag car is about as far away from that as I can possibly imagine.

With Traxxas’s “jumping of the shark” comes the alienation of their core audience, and quite frankly, the apogee of their popularity, no different than what happened to “Happy Days” after Fonzie donned those water skis. If Traxxas is spending the time and cash to develop a shelf queen, they aren’t spending those resources updating their aging truck/car line-ups, the vehicles that put them on top to start with. You can already see it from cruising the Traxxxas forums that their hardcore users are not amused as their favorite platforms keep getting more and more dated, while Traxxas puts out new products (like the XO-1 and drag car) that they couldn’t care less about.

Traxxas jumping the shark is great news to the other basher chassis manufactures. They have seen all the things Traxxas has done with their success (mainstream acceptance, tv commercials, race series, etc), and they want it bad. Now is the time more than ever for them to make their big push- to go big with their marketing plans and to manufacture more new innovative platforms. Traxxas can’t/won’t be on top forever, and I know how hungry the other companies are, they have an opening now, will they go for the throat?

And…

As I’m sure you’ve already seen Team Associated announced their first “Qualifier Series” truck last week, a 4×4 SCT. It was interesting to see many of the forums guys scratching their heads wondering just why in the heck AE needed a second 4×4 SCT in their product line-ups. When AE used the words “sport” and “fun” and “low cost” to describe their qualifier series all I read was “Basher Series”. So… bashers who are AE loyalists should rejoice, they’ve just gotten what they’ve long been wishing for- AE putting out a basher series of trucks. Now before all you hardcore AE racers guys go into full meltdown mode about a new basher line just remember- bashers foot the bills for all the uber trick racer stuff coming down the pike, so the more they sell, the sooner (and more esoteric) your future race gear is going to be. To boil it down, props to AE for looking at the masses and making something for them. It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to drive something from AE, the qualifier series has just changed that.

And lastly…

We started reviewing/driving the new HPI Ken Block car last week… unfortunately it suffered a major malfunction less than 2 minutes into the testing. I have the feeling that review is not going to end well…

That’s it for this week folks, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

Have a rebuttal for THE Cub Report? Shoot it to Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com.

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THE Cub Report- 10.22.2012- Version: Benchmark For Hypocrisy

Posted by Cubby @ 9:29 am. Filed in: cubby

Hello everyone out there in rc land, welcome to another Cub Report and I hope you all have a kick ass week.

We’ve got another busy week here at BigSquidRC. We’ll be giving away yet another new rc at 10pm CST tonight, so get your entry in now. This weeks entry has to do with whether or not you listen to podcasts. All you have to do is tell us whether or not you are a podcast listener (of any type) and you are officially entered. Personally I have zero time for them, but we have staffers that can’t enough of them. It doesn’t matter if you like them or not, we are just looking for some data on the subject, nothing more.

Btw, it looks like we’ll be extending the amount of vehicles we’ll be giving away to nearly the end of the year. 2012 has been a banner year for give aways here at BigSquidRC, we’ve already given away well over 10 Grand worth of prizes and we aren’t stopping any time soon. Read BigSquidRC and win stuff, ya gotta love it.

To get back on point, Monday is THE Cub Report and a car give away, then we have Review Tuesday. This week we’ll be posting at least two reviews. Tuesday will feature the review of the behemoth Dynamite Passport Ultra Duo. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a 200 watt x 2 AC/DC charger from Dynamite that has tons of features and is generally a freak’n beast. However, we’ll be doing something a bit interesting with this review, we’ll actually be testing the Quality of the charge that it puts into your pack. How would someone go about such a thing? Well… we charged a Pro-Match 2S test Lipo (multiple times) on both the Dynamite and on a Hyperion 720 iNet3 (which we consider to be a great reference charger), then we did discharge tests on a West Mountain CBA to see how voltage and run-times compared. I really hate it when reviews are full of opinions, with this review we can actually back it up with data whether the newest Dynamite gives a quality charge or not. I will say (read- tease) one of the two chargers yielded higher voltage and longer run-times, you are gonna have to read the full review to find out which one.

Later in the week we’ll be posting our review of what is generally considered to be the reference uber-top-of-the-line Futaba 4PK Super R transmitter. Life is all about uber-bashing now days, who can be a high end basher without a high end transmitter? Oh and yes, we did drop tests with it. It took me 3 drops from over 4 feet before I finally felt bad about trying to destroy such an elite piece of electronics. Did the Futaba survive our drop tests? I am such a teaser, you’ll have to read the full review to find out later this week.

The Wednesday Interview isn’t in hand yet, hopefully we’ll get that one together for you guys. The people we are interviewing seem even busier than we are which can sometimes make hitting a deadline lots of fun.

Thursday is ASK Cubby. We’ve been getting records amounts of emails lately and some of them are even some positive! Shoot me your questions/comments to Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com.

On a different note…

Have you seen the new JConcepts “Scalpel” body for the Slash 4×4? It’s a body made just for running your Slash 4×4 high speed. It’s not especially handsome, however it is aimed right at uber-bashing. Amazing how the industry has changed lately. A few years ago the after-market community wouldn’t touch bash machines with a ten foot pole, now it seems to be completely the opposite. Any which way, it’s nice to see some of the after-market companies making products just for the bulk of rc’ers, the bash crowd.

And finally…

We’ve started our internal discussions on just which vehicles are in the running for our “Bash Vehicle of The Year” award. Early in the year we didn’t have any solid contenders, but lately that has changed. The ARRMA Granite has to be near the top of our list, it’s a tank and won our 2wd Monster Truck Shootout. The Axial EXO Terra Buggy is up there, as is the Durango DESC210 short course buggy. And better still, we’ve got some pretty tough contenders for the title being reviewed right now- vehicles like the new Thunder Tiger truggy, the new Thunder Tiger Rally Car, the new updated ECX Torment, and the Helion truggy (among others). Just a couple more months left in 2012 and we’ll be testing right up to the very end before we declare what vehicle was truly the best of the year.

Ok, that’s it for this week gang. Support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report, 10.15.2012, BOOYAH iHobby Edition

Posted by Cubby @ 10:38 am. Filed in: cubby

Hey guys (and gals), happy Monday and welcome to THE Cub Report. I hope everyone has a productive and problem free week (I like to dream big, what can I say?).

Shall we get right down to it?

So…. how was the show (for those who don’t know what I’m talking about, the iHobby Expo)? IMO the one word answer would be “slow”. However, it certainly had its high points and its low points.

The dealer days, Thursday and Friday, had extremely light turnouts. I don’t have the legit numbers on the show attendance, but I’d put dealer attendance at about a quarter of what iHobby would normally pull in Chicago. Seriously, there are several things that can be done to increase dealership participation, and they ALL need to be done because Thursday and Friday were both a ghost town at iHobby 2012.

The first consumer day, Saturday, had good attendance. There wasn’t much of a line at show open to get in, but a steady stream of consumers just kept coming. Isles were full and hard to walk through by noon, and the lines to get food were fairly deep. One of the exhibitors told me they felt attendance was greater than Chicago on Saturday, while another exhibitor in a different part of the I-X Center told me he felt the show felt soft. Certainly the booths closest to the show entrance had more congested isles than those that were farther away but overall, IMO Saturday was a success. The Cleveland area consumers came out in droves and kept folks working in the booths busy for most of the day.

But… consumer attendance fell off on Sunday. Some blamed it on the 1 pm start of the Brown’s home NFL game, while others said they didn’t see much local advertising for the show. Any which way, attendance “felt” about half as much as it had been on Saturday.

Overall, the show had a solid Saturday, but was quite slow the other days.

So… who had the best booths? Yes, I am well beyond biased, but I thought the BigSquidRC booth was pretty dialed. We had lots of uber new Thunder Tiger’s, Durango’s, and other Hobbico products, as well as some of the most lively booth babes you’ll ever see. Our demo’s seemed to go well and we gave away a lot of new product, we try to hook you guys up whenever we can. Special uber thanks go out to Adam “The Biebs Intern”, Craig “The Uber Ramp Builder”, Tim “Pro Driver”, Bill “The Wrench”, and “Editor” Brian for all their hard work and long hours. Our booth was an incredible success, props to everyone involved in making our show a great one.

If there was a “best of show booth” for Cleveland iHobby it would probably have to go to Horizon. They had a huge booth, a cool demo track that was constantly busy, and a small army of staff in attendance. Horizon is making a big push right now and it showed at iHobby.

Pro-Line also had a kick ass booth at iHobby. Their booth looked totally trick, just like their products, and their staff was both incredibly knowledgeable and approachable. Pro-Line was showing all their new gear, as well as giving out some of their sweet 30th Anniversary swag. Props to Pro-Line their kick ass booth and their support of the hobby. One last note about Pro-Line- it sounds like they have a big announcement coming in a couple of months. Wish I could say more…

Traxxas and HPI were not there, perhaps something you should remember the next time you are buying a new vehicle. Yes, there were many other companies that didn’t support the show, but those are the big two that consumers seemed particularly disappointed for not showing up. People kept asking, and all we could do was shrug.

Cleveland is already locked in again as the venue for iHobby in 2013, personally I am looking forward to it. The weather was beautiful while we were in Cleveland, the I-X Center is an incredible venue to hold a show in, and Cleveland hobbyists showed they will support the event. 2013 is the time certain missing “leaders” in our hobby to man-the-f-up and support their industry trade show and all the Cleveland area hobbyists.

That’s it folks, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report- 10.08.2012, Version- Cinder Block Yard Art

Posted by Cubby @ 9:37 am. Filed in: cubby

Hola amigo’s, yes, you’ve found yet another Cub Report. I hope you are having a most uber Monday morning, and wish you a great rest of the week.

First up…

NASCAR isn’t racing, it’s a redneck WWF soap opera gone mad. Need proof? Look at the last lap from Talladega over the weekend. Soap opera’s are all good fun until half the pack gets killed. Seriously, that was ridiculous. It was a far cry from F1 and the best road circuit on this planet (or any other), Suzuka in Japan. Real track, real cars, real racing, just say’n…

Next…

iHobby week has Finally arrived! That means a busy week for us (aren’t they all?) and what I’m sure will be an outrageously good time in the greater Cleveland metro area. Days will be filled with meetings, car demo’s and talking non-stop to you guys. Evenings will be filled with more meetings, black and blue fillets, and some nice (read- single malt) beverages. The iHobby International Hobby Expo is as good of a time as You make it, ours ALWAYS kick a$$, and we hope to see you there. Thursday and Friday are industry days, with the doors open to everyone this Saturday and Sunday. Come on out and SHOW all the companies that didn’t make the trip to the show that you are willing support the hobby (even if they aren’t).

Ya, and don’t forget, we are giving away a LOT of gear at the show. From stickers to t-shirts to complete vehicles, I don’t think you can drop by our booth and walk away empty handed. Also, the BigsSquidRC booth will be well staffed with booth babes. Feel free to ask’em rc related questions (hint- they won’t know the answers, but there lies the fun) and get your picture taken with them.

And….

“World Exclusive” must now mean “BigSquid ran the story a day before we did“. Just say’n that if a media sources credibility is already blown to hell, it doesn’t help them to scream “World Exclusive” when every news source on the planet has the info. It looks bad for them, it hurts their street cred even more, and the general rc populous thinks they are flashing twelve o’ clock.

On a slightly different subject…

So… Texan powerhouse Traxxas announced their new 1/10 Rally car last week. I don’t know if you realize it, but there is now a full blown nuclear arms race in the rally arena. No, I am not kidding. How so? Well of course Traxxas has their new Rally car “based” off the Revo and Slash 4×4, which IMO is a pretty damn stout backbone. Thunder Tiger has their new ER-4 G3 based off their insane MT-4 G3 monster truck, HPI has their Block rally car (has that thing ever shipped?), and Kyosho has their DRX VE rally cars.

First off, because of their heritage, the Traxxas and the Thunder Tiger are going to be freak’n beasts. Can you imagine converting a Slash 4×4 to a rally car using big brushless power? You won’t have to imagine long because soon you’ll be able to walk in and buy it. Can you imagine converting the Thunder Tiger MT-4 G3 to a rally? Holy freak’n smokes, the mere thought of that leaves some pretty gnarly images in my brain. Those two rally cars are no jokes, they are going to be WFO bash machines.

Secondly, I’m no spring chicken, I remember all the previous times the rc biz has tried to force rally cars down the throats of the general population- they were miserable failures, but things are much different this time around. Guys like Travis Pastrana, Tanner Foust, and Ken Block are rockstars with their rally cars and the Traxxas name wasn’t in the game before. The Traxxas name alone is enough to put more Rally cars into consumer hands than all the failed efforts combined. This time around, because of its scale realism, its mainstream popularity, and Traxxas get’n in the game, rally just might catch on.

Which makes me think- 5 years from now, might we see the vast majority of the UFO classes (for the truly obtuse- 2wd buggy, 4wd buggy, and “stadium truck”) gone, replaced by Pro 2, Pro 4, Pro Buggy, and Rally at your local track? It might sound improbable to all us long time hardcore guys (and a hard pill to swallow), but it could happen. Hell, it might VERY well happen. The only constant in life is change, and times are certainly a changing…

That’s it for this week guys, as always, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots, and see ya at the show!

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report, 09.30.2012, Version: Corry Weller- Best Reason to Watch Lucas Oil Offroad Series

Posted by Cubby @ 9:02 am. Filed in: cubby

Good morning gang, welcome to yet another Cub Report, hopefully none of you are suffering from a bad case of the Monday’s.

First off, congrats to Team Germany for pwn’ing the world at MXoN over the weekend. K-Roc and crew put in some stellar rides to cinch Germany’s first MX of Nations win, they deserve loads of props. Team America just didn’t have it over the weekend, suffering from poor starts and crashing, and well, just lack of speed on the hardcore Euro sand track at Lommel. “Sigh”…

Next up…

The 2012 International iHobby Expo is right around the corner October 11-14 in Cleveland Ohio. I am cordially inviting all of our readers to make it out to the show, not only to hang with the BigSquidRC crew in booth 401 (hint hint), but to also rub elbows with some of the industries finest like Pro-line, Horizon, Parma, MRC, etc. Thursday and Friday are industry only days with Saturday and Sunday being open to the public. Of note to our readers are our rc demo’s on Saturday and Sunday- there we’ll be giving away a FREE Vehicle out during each of our shows. A brand new Axial EXO Terra Buggy, a ARRMA Granite Monster Truck, a Team Durango DESC210 RTR, and a Duratrax Evader Brushless! These are some of the vehicles we’ll be handing out to a lucky person in the crowd, come on out, you could go home with a new rc.

Oh and yes, I will be attending the iHobby show again this year, so if you’re an industry type that has had enough of my malarkey, please feel free to drop by the booth and give me an earful or two (just expect the same in return).
Get all the iHobby Expo info HERE.

Next subject is…

Achtung off-road rc track owners- if you ever wanted to build a scale rc track, one that actually simulates a full scale track, I highly suggest you look at replicating the Reno Nevada Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series track. Wow, the Reno track makes me wanna cut the check for a couple hundred grand and go race full scale short course. But seriously, how did our hobby ever think it was a good idea for our tracks to look closer to Anaheim 1 than to Bark River or Reno? You don’t see full scale off road trucks busting triples and quads. Scale looking tracks to go with scale looking vehicles only makes sense, and they might actually result in better racing. Yes, seriously.

And on to…

We’ve got a big week in store for our readers here at BigSquidRC. We are still giving away a free Hobbico vehicle this week and I hear this weeks contest is going to be EXTRA fun, be sure and sign up for a shot at a free rig.

We’ve got at least two cool reviews coming your way this week, one being a Pro Match 50C 5000 mah Lipo battery review, and the other being a Durango DESC210 RTR review. I’ve personally gotten in a ton of trigger time in with the Durango short course RTR and I’ll say now that not only is it good for the track, but it is also a very respectable bash-mobile. Keep your eyes on the front page for the full review.

Also something interesting coming up later today is an interview with Lee Morrison, the lead developer for the new Horizon ECX Revenge 8th scale buggies. We gathered up a bunch of questions from the bash crew and Lee was cool enough to be quite open and frank with his responses. Some are just general questions about the new Revenge buggies while others lead to some behind the scenes insight into the ECX brand, we hope you’ll dig reading it.

Speaking of the new ECX Revenge buggies, they were just the tip of the iceberg for big new releases last week. The new ECX’s hit on Thursday, then the big “industry news” that I had eluded to last week, the new Team Associated SC10B hit on Friday morning, followed an hour later by the announcement of the new Thunder Tiger ST4 G3 truggy. And finally on Saturday X-Ray released full info on their new T4 touring car. I gotta say that’s a pretty epic week as far as new vehicles go in our hobby.

Team Associated SC10B- The new scale short course buggy from Associated has been warmly received, I think even the hardcore racer types know that its a class that is destined to flourish. You can bash one because of its larger tires, and you can race one because it is not prone to parachute effect, and most importantly, it should be a winner on the sales floor. Scale appearance IS good for our hobby, thankfully AE finally jumped in with Losi and Kyosho to help the scale buggy class take off and to hopefully help kill off some of the un-needed UFO classes. However, the SC10B was a year and a half late to the sales floor, and like our contributor Jim said, “Looks ok, but I view it as another product from a defunct company that is still around as a sticker company. Ready-to-xxx just says built in China, I don’t give a hoot what’s included.”. Personally, I’ve driven Associated 2wd buggies for the vast majority of my rc life, in fact I’ve driven them far more than I’ve driven everything else I’ve ever owned combined, yet because AE so late (again) to the scale buggy party I think I’m still happy with my STRC’ed-out Losi SCB.

Oh… and we hear the Associated SC10B is NOT the cool buggy coming out from AE. Their “cool” buggy, a 5th scale version, is much more scale and not that far out. But then “not that far out” is a relative term, if AE is on HPI time, it could mean years, not months.

ECX Revenge Type E and Type N- Who would have thought the little company that could would bust out some 8th scalers? When you hit a bash spot there are two kings of the hill, 8th scaler buggies and monster trucks. If you show up with anything less prepare to be run over and spit out as roost (or to be hit and broken). Now ECX is suddenly a player for king of the local bash spot. Will the new ECX 8th scalers have teething pains like some of their other offerings? Will they be a legit contender for bash vehicle of the year? We shall find out soon, very soon.

Thunder Tiger ST4 G3- Ya, so we know the Thunder Tiger monster truck took over as king of the hill in many areas of the country. How will the truggy version stack up? It’s based off the same platform so I’ve gotta say it should be one bad ass machine, and if it’s bad ass, it will sell. I can’t help but think the new Thunder Tiger will not only be a beast to bash with but also another sales hit. Who would have thought 5 years ago that Thunder Tiger would have went from non-existent to mainstream here in the USA?

X-Ray T4- Every few years X-Ray busts out a new touring car platform for the hardcore on-road crowd. Unfortunately this time around not many Americans care about a new uber X-Ray. Certainly the new T4 is a huge news in other parts of the country, but as one of our staffers so eloquently stated, “That thing would be a cigarette butt to my Revo.”, the American market just isn’t in touring car mode right now. However, I’d still love to have one sitting on my desk just so I could marvel at its engineering.

And, one last thing…

Rumors continue to persist about a new scale, straight axled monster truck coming from Traxxas. The rumors had died off for a while, but last week they started back up again with a vengeance. I wonder how long the list would be at your LHS to get one of those off the opening order…

And that’s it for yet another incredibly verbose edition of THE Cub Report. Have a great week folks, as always, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report, 09.24.2012, Version: Thirty inches of thigh-slapping, blood-pumping, nuclear brain damage!

Posted by Cubby @ 9:13 am. Filed in: cubby

Hola amigo’s, and welcome to yet another way-super-uber edition of your favorite Monday morning rc column.

First… sadly I must say I learned about the passing of Jim Rupard on Saturday. Jim was a staple of oval racing here in the Midwest and a HOF guy to pit next to. I was lucky enough to spend a week out in SoCal with him while working one of the early RCX shows, Jim was a blast and our comedy relief when things started to get stressful. Rest In Peace Jim, you were a talented driver and a great person to be around. May all the tracks be perfectly watered and all the marshals be on top of your car before it stops rolling where you are now.

On a much different note…

I’m sure you’ve seen the Associated teaser photo we posted on Friday. Wow, I think my 8 year old has better PS skills than that. I can only imagine what the marketing guys that used to work at AE think about that one. Back in the day pretty much anything coming out of AE’s marketing department was a work of art, I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that was a huge part of their overall success. Some industry people say the guys at AE have their hands tied in certain areas after being bought out, while others say that isn’t the case. Any which way, everything evolves, for the better or for the worse, but wow, here’s to hoping their future photoshops look a little more Associated like.

And…

Yes, we are part of the 12 weeks of giving away vehicles from Hobbico. Editor Brian decided to base the winner of this weeks truck on a poem or rap. From what I’ve read thus far ICP Guy (aka- Xerxes, aka Leader of the Jeff Hoy Fan Club) is leading the pack, so you guys better step it up if you want to win a new truck. Even if you don’t want to enter the contest you should at least check out some of the entries HERE, they are pretty freak’n cool to read.
(Editors Note: It’s not the best poem or rap that wins.. your entries just need to be in that form. The winner is chosen at random from valid entries)

Also…

I wonder why all the top name rc’ers compete in so many different classes at big races. At the local level racers do multiple classes simply to get more track time. Races are still only 4-7 minutes (typically), even though we clearly have the technology for them to be much longer. Local racers have to run multiple classes just to feel like they’ve gotten a decent amount of track time for the day. At the upper levels, when people outside our hobby look in and see our top guys running 3-6 classes at big races it looks quite silly. It would only make sense that our top guys race one class, the premier class, but instead I guess their sponsors require them to run every freak’n class that is held.

What satisfaction can a world class rc racer get out of pwn’n the lower classes? I highly doubt K-dub would get any satisfaction out of crushing the 30+ A class at Lorettas. K-dub is one of the best motocrossers on the planet, therefor you only see him racing the premier class in the premier series. Maybe its time that around that big dinner table after the next “big” race all the factory rc guys sit down and talk about racing one premier class and letting the lesser known names fight it out in the lower classes. It’s all about professionalism and taking rc racing to another level, not about winning another cherry-picking trophy to sit next to your IFMAR World Championship cup.

Yes, I’ll go there…

I don’t think I would shock you if I said that HPI was not impressed with last weeks Cub Report. Yes, I totally understand that a lot of things can come up and delay a product release, I’ve worked on many, many, projects in the rc field that have been delayed. The big difference was that my company had those delays in private. So… perhaps HPI should consider the fact that I write about things that are hot topics of conversation around local hobby shops (and around the lunch rooms in Champaign and SoCal). Whether HPI likes it or not their “eXtreme gas” powered vehicles have been a popular topic of convo since announced, and lately the convo has been turning downright ugly because they are so far behind schedule (not to mention they have given their competition a 7 month head’s up).

Yes folks that’s it for this week. I hear there is a H U G E industry announcement this week so keep your eyes peeled on the BSRC front page (like usual). Oh and, support you local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report, 09.17.2012, Version: Revenge Of The Keyboard Pundit

Posted by Cubby @ 8:53 am. Filed in: cubby

Well howdy there rc fans, yes it’s another Monday morning and time for yet another funtabulously sarcastic Cub Report.

I figured I’d go a little old school this week for you long time readers, here we go…

What’s going on over at HPI? Remember all the uber-buzz about their new gasoline powered 8th scalers that were going to totally change the face of rc? Remember how they were only be a couple months away? They were first announced in early February and we STILL haven’t seen hide nor hair of them. The last we heard about them was a couple months ago at the HobbyTown USA convention- we were told they were “getting close” and “ironing out the last of the bugs” way back then. The latest rumor I hear is they are still months away, perhaps even doubtful to make any 2012 release time-line at all.

After we first heard about the HPI “eXtreme gasoline engines” I consulted two different old school hardcore nitro/gas engine guru’s and asked them if what HPI was trying to do was feasible. Both of my fuel guru’s basically gave me the same reply, “Using a small gas powered engine in that application is a whole lot harder than you think it would be.”, hence the reason we’ve yet to see them sitting in local hobby shops. For HPI to have promised so much about these new engines yet to not be able to follow it up with any foreseeable release hurts all around.

So what about that Ken Block 8th scale electric rally car from HPI that was announced a few months ago? It has also gone woefully past its projected release date and the rumor I’ve heard is that it is still 2 months away from hitting its first hobby shop shelf. And to make matters worse, that car is made up primarily of parts they already have in production for other vehicles. The gasoline engine debacle was bad enough, but now they have to add their second most anticipated release of 2012 to the MIA list? I can only hope there is some serious butt chewing going on across some big glossy tables at the HPI compound about those two huge blunders.

And… should I even get into HPI now being the distributor for HoBao products? I am a firm believer in doing what you do best, HPI is a great manufacture, they are not a distributor. Sigh…

On a slightly different note…

Have you noticed that Associated is really pushing their “Team Associated is your premier name in the r/c car industry” catchphrase lately? I’ve got some news for those guys, this isn’t 1996 any more. Unfortunately Associated has not created any new vehicle categories in a very long time, and the new vehicle categories created by other manufactures Associated has been ridiculously slow to react to. Can it be said that Associated has not pushed the envelope with anything truly innovative for well over a decade? For Associated to truly become the “premier” name in rc again is going to take one thing- leading instead of following. And how could they do that? A high end, new from the ground up uber bash platform could be one way. For whatever reason AE has decided to totally alienate the typical user and that simply can not be good for the bottom line. Also, skipping the B5/T5 (which are a half decade past due anyways) and going straight to an uber scale buggy that blows everything off the map could be another. With a proper marketing program all those “hardcore” AE racer types that would be having epic meltdowns due to the loss of the old school ufo buggy class could be turned right around to all the upsides of a new platformed uber scale buggy. AE was the king for a very long time and could easily be again, but its going to take some bold moves on their part to get back to the top. Otherwise, they better get used to sucking on Traxxas’s tailpipe (and HPI’s, and Losi’s).

And lastly, how about Kyosho America? They are certainly making a big push right now and big props to them for that, but they are fighting an uphill battle. Until they hook back up with one of the big two distributors I’m afraid it doesn’t matter how good or enticing their new products are they will always be condemned to 10th place in the sales wars. Their product line-up is arguably stronger now than it has ever been, quality is perhaps at an all time high, and with proper distribution they could once again be a driving force at the top of the sales charts.

That’s it for this week folks, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report, 09.10.2012, Version- Don’t Roof Rack Me Bro

Posted by Cubby @ 8:52 am. Filed in: cubby

What a great weekend huh? Formula 1 was in full effect at Monza, American motocross wrapped up their series in the heart of the 909, and NFL football had a full schedule, it just doesn’t get much better than that. Actually it does- when you have enough time left over to break out the rc’s and get some bashing in.

First up this week is a note about our 2wd Monster Truck Shootout. We have received a LOT of emails regarding how awesome it was and how bad it sucked, I guess that depended on which brand the reader liked the most. For example, we received multiple emails on how the Stampede is the best truck of all time and we have to be out of our minds to place it last. Having been a part of the shootout I have to say the Stampede is a mighty fine truck when driven alone, it’s when you drive it back-to-back against its rivals do you start to see the other trucks are even better. I will also say I was extremely impressed by the ARRMA Granite, freak’n solid truck that totally deserved the win. I was perhaps even more impressed by the ECX Ruckus, before the shootout I thought that because of its super low price point that it would have zero shot at hang’n with the Stampede or Granite, boy was I wrong. The ECX might have a low price point, and it has no chance of ever breaking any track records, but for what it was designed for (bashing, having fun) it is right on target. Any which way, thanks for reading the shootout, and big thanks to everyone involved. Btw, we are well into our next shootout, our “Sub $200 Transmitter Shootout”, look for it in the next couple of weeks.

Second up- rumor is the official LCG Traxxas chassis for the Slash 4×4 is right around the corner. Editor Brian is totally stoked, he can’t wait for an official Traxxxas LCG chassis that keeps the Slash 4×4 from traction rolling every time you blink. My personal opinion is a bit different. Yes, LCG chassis’s have their place for sure on the Slash series, but, while the LCG chassis certainly will help in high bite situations, a whole lot of bashers end up in grass from time to time, and I don’t have to tell you guys how badly LCG chassis’s suck in grass. I mean, you don’t see anyone bashing an Associated B4.1 or a Losi 22 in the grass, they sit too low and don’t go anywhere fast in the green stuff, we’ve all been there before. The stock Slash 4×4 is a hell of a good truck for what it was designed for- general bashing and rough terrain. You can throw an LCG chassis on it for the “racer” crowd, but then the true core racers are going to be running a Durango, or Associated, or Losi anyways. I kinda doubt you are going to be able to convert a racer from a Durango over to an LCG Slash.

Thirdly- the Cleveland iHobby Expo is almost here! October 11-14th are the dates, try to make it if you can. The BigSquidRC crew will be there is full force with a new booth and new uber booth babes. And yes, we will be giving away a brand spanking new truck at each of our demo’s during the consumer days. Drop by our booth for free stickers and drop by our demo’s to get a chance to win a free truck. Free should be our middle name.

Fourthly- speaking of Free… it’s nutz around here with all the free stuff going out the door. If you haven’t won something from us you obviously haven’t been try’n. First we’ve got a very uber Pro-Line prize pack that we are giving away over on our Facebook page. If you could use a whole bunch of ultra trick Pro-Line short course gear (and who doesn’t?) be sure and check it out. We are also giving away another brand spanking new truck this week. Is it a Durango? Is it an ARRMA? Is it a Duratrax? Is it a Thunder Tiger? You’ll have to enter to win, and we don’t hit ya up for a bunch of personal info just for you to enter. We certainly aren’t doing these contests to build up a mailing list, we are doing these contests to hook you guys up.

The big debate around the office last week? Believe it or not, it was about the Kyosho NeXXt mutant buggy. Yes, I preach and preach about how scale realism is good for the hobby, but something all new isn’t bad either. No, I don’t want to see a new racing class made up of these, but I certainly want one to go out behind the house and goof around with my buddies with. Anywhos, half the guys here at our office absolutely hate the NeXXt, while the other half can’t wait to own one. I’m in the half that can’t wait to bash one (even with its goofy “big bore friction shocks”), and I’m pretty stoked to see Kyosho putting out something edgy. Now if I can just talk those guys at Kyosho America into hooking up with Horizon for distribution my life will totally be complete.

That’s it for this week folks, support your local hobby shops, tracks, and bash spots (and hobby shows)!

YOUR Cub Reporter

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THE Cub Report, 09.03.2012, Version- 1986 Fleetwood Bounder

Posted by Cubby @ 11:03 am. Filed in: cubby

Happy Labor Day everyone! I know a lot of you guys check out THE Cub Report from the office first thing Monday morning, hopefully you are check’n it out at home today.

Biggest news coming up this week? Easy- BigSquidRC’s 2wd Monster Truck Shootout! Stampede vs Granite vs Ruckus in a battle to the death (literally). Check it out on our front page tomorrow!

Formula 1 takes 5 weeks off for a “summer break” each year, thankfully they were finally back in action from Belgium over the weekend. For you basher guys that may have never seen how chaotic the start of a typical rc race is you can view the start of the Belgium F1 GP to see the full scale equivalent. When will Johnny Fat learn you can’t win the race in the first corner, but you sure can lose it (as well as ruin several other drivers races)? Words to live by for all you noob rc racers…

Being the curious type that I am, I tossed this question around the office “Who is the number 1 American off-road rc racer thus far in 2012?” Needless to say I got a lot of blank stares, but I guess Brian has heard of Adam Drake before as he was his answer. So ya, the guys around the office were of no help. After all they are typical hard-core basher types and really couldn’t care less who wins in the rc scene. So I then proceeded to fire off emails to my industry amigo’s to get their input. I shot off 5 emails and guess what? I got 5 different answers. Big help those guys are, but really it goes to show that the current “system” does not do a very good job of determining a numero uno.

So who would I vote for as the number 1 American driver of 2012? First, I’d look at the 2012 ROAR 8th scale nitro nats. Ty Tessmann dominated both classes (buggy and truggy) at that event so you’d think that would put him on top for sure, but unfortunately he’s not even in the running. Why? Because he’s Canadian. So who was top American? Easy, Mid-West Horizon/Losi phenom Dakotah Phend. Phend finished second in both buggy and truggy, if I was seeking the number 1 American nitro off-roader he would be the guy.

But, and there is always a but, while nitro is still hot with the race crowd it is virtually dead with the bulk of hobbyists. Because of that fact I’d start looking at results from the 2012 ROAR Electric Off-Road “Super-Duper-National”. I could look simply at who won the most classes, and that would be Thunder Tiger/Associated driver Ryan Cavalieri. Cavalieri won all three mod UFO classes as well as 2wd Mod SCT, you could basically say he pwn’d the entire event. But… general hobbyists could care less about the UFO classes now days, so lets say we toss them out, leaving him with just the win in 2wd Mod SCT.

So lets look at the most prestigious class at the ROAR “Super-Uber-National”. Just what class would that be? In the old days that would have been 4wd Mod UFO buggy, but like I just mentioned we are tossing UFO classes. So… that would leave 4wd Mod SCT and 8th scale E-buggy as candidates. The Canadian Tessmann won 8th scale E-buggy, and it is a UFO class anyways, so we are tossing it. That leaves us with 4wd Mod SCT as being the most prestigious class. And the winner of 4wd Mod SCT at the “Super-Intergalatic-Nats”? That would be Thunder Tiger/Associated driver Ryan Maifield.

So… does that make Ryan Maifield America’s best rc racer for 2012? Maybe, but unfortunately we will never find out. Our rc racing system does anything BUT determine who is actually the number 1 guy. Is it really asking too much to ask our sanctioning body to give us a single winner? Racers would respect one winner more, Joe Blow consumers could more easily wrap their heads around one winner, and the guys cutting the big checks to market a true National Champ would open up their wallets a whole lot quicker. Just say’n…

Oh… so who is my pick for “Number 1 American off-road rc racer for 2012″? My vote goes to Cavalieri, then Maifield, then Phend. I sure wish I could see those 3 guys compete in a national championship series to really determine a winner… but I don’t see that EVER happening, instead we are left to wonder and bench race about it. Yay.

That’s it for this week, have a Happy and Safe Labor Day, and as always, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots.

YOUR Cub Reporter

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ROAR

THE Cub Report, 08.27.2012, Version: Paid To Be Contrary

Posted by Cubby @ 8:49 am. Filed in: cubby

Hola rc’ers, thanks for kick’n off your week right here at BigSquidRC.

First off… I just got back home from the world renowned Slot and Wing Hobbies located smack dab in the epicenter of the rc universe, Champaign Illinois. I’d like to give a big thanks to Randy and the rest of his crew for letting us finish up our latest shootout at their new carpet indoor rc facility. Just what Shootout were we finishing off you ask? Our Mega-Uber BigSquidRC 2wd Monster Truck Shootout. Yes indeed fine people, we gathered three of the most popular 2wd Monster Trucks on the planet and put them to their limits (actually well past them). The trucks we chose to include? The Traxxas 2wd Stampede vs ARRMA Granite vs ECX Ruckus, all three affodable, entry level bash machines.

I don’t need to tell you guys what a hardcore basher the 2wd Stampede is, it has a long and well documented history of being one of the best bashers of all time. It would be hard to think any truck could challenge the Stampede for bash supremacy, but after testing the ARRMA Granite and the ECX Ruckus, we found out that they also make great bashers. Three great trucks, one extremely popular product category, we could not resist putting them head to head to see which truck was actually the best of the bunch.

For our latest Shootout we used all the same test categories that we used in our 4wd RTR Short Course Truck Shootout. These are things that we feel are high priorities to a typical basher before buying a new truck. We tested top speeds, how they drove on different surfaces, how they jumped, compared their features, ect, to determine the truck that we feel is the best of the bunch overall. We’ve still got a tiny bit of testing to finish up, but look for our 2wd Monster Truck Shootout to hit our front page on Tuesday September 4th. Mark that date down because hopefully it’ll be some interesting, and informative reading. Who won? Who broke in half (yes, one of them did!!!)? Who was the fastest? Which one IS the king of the hill? Find out September 4th.

On another note…

Just fyi… the final mains got rained out at the ROAR paved on-road nats in Joliet Illinois over the weekend. Congrats to the winners, one of which being Associated’s Rick Hohwart who pwn’ned the mod TC field. Rick has raced a longggg time at an extremely high level, props to him and the AE crew on yet another national title.

But… the fact that the Leisure Hours ROAR national was rained out got the BSRC crew into a large argument. Half of us believe that rc should be raced rain or shine, while the other half felt the opposite. Certainly the guys voting for racing in the rain have good points- “waterproof” electronics have come a long ways making it possible from a technology standpoint to race in the rain, and also that racing in the rain is more “realistic”/more fun. Many forms of motorsports race in the rain, from motocross to TORC to Formula 1, if anything it’s a bit odd that rc’ers do not. On the other side of the coin- it doesn’t take much water to make a track unpassable for a low slung rc car, not to mention the amount of wrench time on an rc truck after a mud race would have to be a bit excessive.

Personally, after being in the hobby so long I quite honestly never really gave a second thought to racing an rc in the rain. I killed soooo many electronics back in the day that my brain is automatically wired to run for the EZ Up the moment H2O starts falling from the sky. But, after going back and forth with the guys on the subject, I’ve warmed up to the idea of it. Back in my motocross days I never had more fun than the days when the clouds let loose. To me it was simply more fun to race in the ultra dirty and demanding conditions of a good ole’ mud race than on a normal dry circuit. After much discussion, I’d have to think that racing a properly prepared rc would be just as fun in the nasty stuff. So… should rc be raced rain or shine? Take it up with your favorite bench racing buddies, hopefully you have just as much fun arguing about it as we did.

That’s it for this week, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

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