Is this really off road?

[racingdwarf]

Just sat and watched some of the EOS and in the end thought why bother with off road cars? it was like watching 12th cars with jumps it was so quick and the grip so high,Is the upcoming worlds going to be as boring!

Why has it got like this? are the cars now so fast with lipo brushless that this sort of surface is the only thing they will work on, Have racers now got so hooked on consistency that they will only race on snooker tables
Years ago 10th died as touring cars surged in popularity with many drivers swapping off road for the carpet and tarmac, now we seem to be turning off road into touring cars.

[Ashlandchris]

Great question.

I agree that there weren't nearly enough lumps and bumps to keep it "edge of the seat" interesting.

At Batley we recently resurfaced the outdoor track with astroturf and there was a little bit of me that was nervous of this as I quite liked the fact that there were lots of different surfaces, lumps, holes etc. which could catch you out (but it was always the same for everyone).
Fortunately at Batley the astro was well laid and the sub layer has kept an imperfect surface meaning that you can still get caught out if you take a bad line - this can only be identified when racing begins. Yes, the grip is slightly higher (stay off the sand...) but it still feels like off road racing.
The ultra flat carpet surfaces do take a certain degree of fun out of it and though I am not for one minute saying that driving fast on a flat surface is any easier (I'd still be slow!), it is not as much of a spectacle. On lumpy stuff usually the same fast drivers will still win, just in a slightly more interesting way.

I know that there will be clubs that have to race on the given surface available - i.e. sports halls etc. and I am not criticising them (i.e. I occasionally travel to Manor RC down the M1 which race on carpet and that is great), but for a big event I prefer to see a challenging surface, rather than simply a challenging layout

I think I'm in a minority though as I know that there were lots of negative comments in the past from visiting drivers about the old Batley track - I just viewed it that it is the same for everyone so even though it was anything but a level playing field, it stayed as a level playing field (if you know what I mean)

[Steve.T]

I have some sympathy with your opinion. I think it stems from having more astroturf tracks these days than some of the old grass tracks of yesteryear

[s22jgs]

its just how things have evolved. Much like road cars. a mk1 escort was awesome, a modern car is wank, but we all drive them still.

[mattr]

We made rumble strips to spice up the carpet racing. (Can't drive outside here in the winter)
Just a piece of thin board covered in lumps and carpeted over.
Caught a few out.

Then the club closed.

[Ashlandchris]

Originally Posted by mattr

We made rumble strips to spice up the carpet racing. (Can't drive outside here in the winter)
Just a piece of thin board covered in lumps and carpeted over.
Caught a few out.

Then the club closed.

Can't drive outside in the winter? Come on, where's your sense of adventure?
(PS - I suspect this wouldn't be great on carpet)

[mattr]

Meh, maybe a metre of snow and daytime temps as low as -25.

It's more being able to stand around for any length of time rather than the equipment.

[J77MYF]

Personally I much prefer an old school grass track over a super grippy modern astro track. I also like big jumps but a lot of people seem scared of those too.