very wrong if he works for them, or their distributor (should have talked to them behind closed doors)

but he does have a point, it would have looked way better with a proper rear wing (like what EVERYBODY races with) and some NEW schumacher Mini-Pin tires, small pins look way better than mini-spikes. it would have also been appealing to have pictures of it with some Holeshots (or taper-pins - or any american tire) on it too, it would have hit the US market much better too.

so so so often do the guys on US forums comment on our '80's spike tires, they just don't understand what tracks we race on. :confused:

yeah i think they should have given jimmy the chance to do publicity shots
I'm sure he would have made a way better job of it than them
go offer em your services jimmy
ps remember it was my idea

Mmmmmmm, wing orings :(

Shall I see if I can get some 'whities' to replace them? :confused:

G

pinkies.

He had his own agenda fair enough - he wanted the car to be lipo-only and slagged off the 4+2 layout / option. It was when he said schuey UK needed more marketing training that I replied to him. What sort of marketing is slating your own product/company? :lol:
I agree with what you said about the presentation chris, in the UK we're used to seeing american cars setup for american tracks. But Americans seeing these tyres might assume wrongly it's a UK-only grass car - you know how these things get out of control! haha

Like you say, do it behind closed doors.

I guess lipo is 'taking over' in the USA, but over here it makes sense to have the best no-compromises car possible. At least Schumacher have both options available to make everyone happy.
I'd like to know if the 4+2 / LiPo car have a very different layout inside? maybe with the motor moving fore/aft ?

You aren't wrong Carl, I think I'm going to take you on as my manager :lol:

I thought the comments you quoted were refering to the old tires on the car and tiny rear wing.

no matter what his thoughts,there really not made for public airing,
especially has he works for them in the states,
he has a right to a view
but as chris said behind closed doors

I didn't see that - but those are fair enough points. If it was up to me I'd have released them with american flags and eagles all over it - That'd sell it! :lol:

see
schumacher i told ya jimmy should have done your press release
kabam

Only servo ,speedo and receiver have to move.

Cruise.

:o:o:o

:lol::lol::lol:

but at least it a option

They're pretty similar chassis really...
I was told it would come with a big/proper rear wing... ??
Thats not a servo poking out...
I'm off for my lunch now...

The wing has definetly been mentioned to the right people.

The U.S. Shuey guys were pretty upset that not only were the photos released before everyone had expected to see them, but they weren't even notified in the U.S. of the pending product release. They had no information on their end. How are they supposed to answer questions for their customers when they don't get the basic information they need? They find out about the car when we do (or after, in this case), and in my opinion, that's no way for an international arm of any company to function.

As far as I know, they are also a bit disappointed that the photos were released so far before the official product release date of the car (not less than 30 days out). Watching Team Losi and Tekin break release date after release date and you can see how negative results can arise from poor planning and eager marketing. Tekin brushless motors and speed controllers are virtual ghosts in a brushless landscape here.

I don't think they care about the used tires and the funky wing, but they seem to not know as much about their own new product as websites like oOple.com and redrc.net. I can see how they would be more than a little frustrated. It might get the better of all of us to see other people broadcasting information on their own products that they don't even know about yet.




As for the car, I really like it so far. Lipos will be the norm here, regardless of the European addiction to low-tech NiMh cells, and this will be the first 4wd car that is designed around a LiPo stick pack. ;) I would think that the LiPo version sells just as well, if not better than, the 2x4 version here in the U.S.




I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin' is all. ;) I don't know nuthin' 'bout nuthin'. :woot:

Just goes to show there's always two sides to a story.

Yeah - what the hell is our (european) deal with NiMh?:confused:, Bring forth thy Lipo :thumbsup:

was told the lipo car will be stick format with radio gear moved to suit

Do we know if there is any chance of sealing the drivetrain by any means? Here in the u.s. we have a thing called dirt just FILLED with little things called rocks and pebbles that make it impossible to run a belt driven car that doesn't have a sealed drivetrain. There's a reason no one in the u.s., at elast west coast, buys yoks or 501xs unless they run on a clay track... clay tracks aren't the norm on the west coast, and certainly aren't the norm in southern california where I live...

Being that there's been enough said about what I've posted on other sites I figured I could help clarify a few things on here...

Last week, approximately 20 minutes before Schumacher UK released pics of the new Cat I was asked on RC Tech for pics of the new 4WD, which I of course said no because we will not release pics of the buggy until we have a release date and we are 30 days from that date. This was said because between Schumacher UK and US, we had a marketing agreement that we were going to keep the pics and "spy shots" to zero before release.

Like I said about 20 minutes later myself and the office manager received an email with a link to the UK side of the site showing us pics of the buggy for the first time. Neither one of us had seen any pics up until that point.

There we are taking "pre-orders" in the US for the car, There is no specific release date, and we do not have accurate pricing as of yet, I'll be relasing that as we come closer to the release.

The K079 "LiPo version" is going to be focused on in the states, but the K078 4x2 can be ordered as well:)

Any and all questions should be directed to myself, Shawn Palmer, or the UK.

I don't understand the need for so much secrecy though.... one people know the car is coming out, at least give em something to wow/moan about!

Then tell them release pictures of the inside of the car. Explain to them they're going about it all wrong. Adam, this forum makes it clear they should have been releasing information immediately, and so does R/C Tech. It's akin to customer service. Make the customer happy. The customers WANT to see the car even if it's a prototype. Don't keep the customer in the dark, don't make the customer feel like they aren't worthy, don't make the customer feel like the car doesn't even exist, don't make the customer go buy another car because they don't know anything about the CAT... There isn't a single person in the world outside of Schumacher that believes it's a good idea to keep the car a secret, and the threads on here prove it, as well as the one on R/C Tech. EVERYONE wants info and pictures, they don't care if the car is ugly...

I have no clue what kind of marketing knowledge Schumacher has, but it goes against everything the rest of the world knows... Even giant car companies, real car companies, dealing with billions of dollars in cars and probably an equal amount in marketing research, release pictures of their prototypes. Concept cars. It builds up hype for the actual car. It works, otherwise they wouldn't do it. It's a simple concept and the threads on these forums have proven it over and over. The Aero is the best example... They were letting that thing be seen by the public months ago and everyone wanted one then, no one said "Eww it's aluminum and dirty, I don't want one." Everyone said "Oooh, great design, it's already winning races and it's not even finished yet! I want one!" I still want one, just based on the fact that the aluminum clunky prototype was winning races ages ago. I just can't afford one.

The biggest mistake Schumacher's ever made was not having the proto on an American dirt track right away. I'm a huge Schumacher fan, but right now, I think the car will be useless on an American track and I'm tempted to get a Serpent instead because I believe it will hold up better on a rough track... NOTHING has been done to prove the car will be able to handle the dirt tracks I run on.

When the CAT and the S500 are released, and the S500 has already been winning races and proven to be a good car, and the CAT is still untested, people will buy an S500. Even worse scenario, when the S500 is released, and Schumacher hasn't even released pictures of the inside of the CAT, people will give up and get an S500 because they still won't even know what's inside the CAT. Of course there are those that are absolutely loyal to Schumacher and will buy one without ever having seen it, but there will be a LOT more people who are on the fence, who have no loyalties to Schumacher or any other car company, and will just go with whichever car seems the best, whichever car they know the most about. People need to know about the CAT NOW.

Frankly it makes my head hurt to think that Schumacher doesn't understand these concepts........

Now, don't get me wrong,I'm in no way bashing Schumacher, I love my Mi-3, I love how helpful everyone at Schumacher USA is, and how helpful all your team drivers are. I'm saying all this because, frankly, I'm worried that this car is going to bomb in sales and lose a lot of money because of the poor decisions Schumacher is making in building up hype for the car, building a reputation for the car, and teaching people about the car...

Not defending Schumacher or anything but why compare it to the S500 ???

Which hasn't won anything yet..... if you look at the last meeting Jorn Neumann won he was running the Durango!!

If there wasn't such things as www. would we all be going on about these pictures ??? just a thought...

Agreed, I begged and pleaded to get the proto over here and its doubtful that it will see US soil before the release.

Robin is supposed to bring it over here in April, but he said its doubtful.


As for marketing backgrounds, I cant speak for the UK, but Shawn's and mine is pretty extensive. But you have to remember this industry has a very short attention span and does not hold on to long to anything. It does not work like the consumer vehicle market that HAS to release pics and prototypes years in advance. If we release pics of a car we better have a car within 30-45 days or there is a backlash from the public that the company cannot deliver, and its delay after delay and all of a sudden by day 50, I've lost half of my back orders and nobody likes Schumacher at all. I've seen this with other companies products many times.

As for more pics, I cant say what the UK will do, but Releasing more pics of a car that has no release date seems a bit absurd to me, there's to many parts of the car, that are already changing, and could change in the future.

There is no reason why this car won`t work on US style tracks.
If you look close you will find that the suspension just follows common sense.

And the drivetrain will do the rest espacially in the air.

Cruise

I'm really thinking the same thing, but we'll see once it hits the blue groove in April **I hope**

The Serpant comparrison is inevitable i guess, due to the launch's being fairly close. However, as Spenner says it is actually funny - because so far as far as we can all see, their drivers are essentially running Durango chassis rather than S500. Clearly no-one knows why this is, but my guess is that S500 is further away from being ready that some people would like/hope.

As and when you time your releasing of info, it is very very difficult to get it right - and the bottom line is you will never please everyone. If you anounce it too early, you lose interest. If you leave it too late people make other plans. If you release pictures too early, there is a chance someone could copy your ideas before you actually get things to launch - depending on how far away you are. What do you do for the best? no idea, which is why i'm in engineering rather than marketing :eh?:

but now they have released body shots, why not go the whole hog, appease the drooling throng and release the XXX porno pics of it naked on the bench. I don't think, now, it would do them no harm at all.

Just seems that Schumacher and their American distributors are not singing from the same sheet..... pull it together chaps.

It does seem like that because that is the case, were working to change that.

I think now that the body shots are out they might as well release the full pics.

[quote]

When I read this post I got an image in my head of a child jumping up and down in frustration because they can't open their Christmas presents early on Xmas eve.....

First point - of course everyone wants to see prototype pictures of a car that's not out yet. Just because those people may be potential customers doesn't mean it's right for Schumacher to give in! For instance, if the spec/materials & design are still changing, it's not a good idea to release photos showing, say an alloy chassis, and then when it's released the customer sees it's been changed to nasty looking plastic and feels short-changed or conned somehow.

Secondly, full size car manufacturers are very careful how/when and what they let you see. Many so called "spy-shots" of full size cars are actually released on purpose by manufacturers to keep up interest in future product, for instance if VW have a new Golf/Rabbit out in 2 months and Ford was face lifting the Focus in 8 months time, they might leak a spy shot to keep up customer interest in their car. Even then, they are very careful to keep the interior & specification under wraps to keep people wanting more - exactly as Schumacher are doing. Delivering everything in one go leaves no surprises, and as already said, consumers have a short attention span. I'm sorry, but your post does make you sound a little impatient - I won't be buying any new car just because I've seen (or haven't seen) photos of the inside layout. I'll wait until I've seen team drivers or fellow racers use them, and then make a decision based on cost, spares availability and race performance.

I'm sure the SX will be worth the wait.

The car grows on me more and more, i think it'll be worth waiting to see some under body pics - i hear they will be out soon.......

I think people should just be grateful that after a good few years Schumacher have come back into Off Road with a new design that a LOT of people have been demanding for years now - the Cat 3000 was still really an Evolution of the Cat 2000 as most of the suspension components and other bits and pieces were from the older cars but at least this one looks completely fresh!

I hope it works for them, at least people are certainly excited by it and talking about it :-)

You gonna be up for a drive then with them again Nick?? Car looks good, apart from the shell design...IMO.

So you guys will be coming out for some Florida offroad racing? The Regionals are in April at the Coral Springs track.

I'll be here and RC Tech as I have more info to give out, especially US track testing if we get the prototype.

The tires are a question that continues to come up, and if the kits come with tires which is a decision that has not been made yet, the US kits will more than likely have mini pins of some capacity.

The body is also something that continually comes up, I'm sure there will be more bodies that fit than just the stock one? I doubt they'll change the design, but we'll see what happens

Provided Robin brings the car with him, yes:woot:

Sweet! About time Florida got a chance to see a new car, instead of all the Cali guys.

There ya go Andy, tell Jason to 'nip round' and get some measurements for a SX 'illuzion' shell :)

I feel like a matchmaker.

That doesn't mean I'm gonna let you see it:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Heck man, i don't even know if Robin is gonna bring it with him??

Now if there is an Illuzions body in the works we can talk!!

You never know. PW did work at Schumacher for a bit.

Thats true, but you can always bring it out, swear us to silence and not allow photos, haha.

hmm, maybe we can work something out lol