Post by Vitamin K on Aug 11, 2017 9:46:35 GMT -5
The topic of "growing the hobby" comes up quite often. I've been accused, directly and indirectly, of being "bad for the hobby." It's true that I've got a lot to say without a whole lot to show in terms of actual participation. Pause for a moment, as I spray my JAFO badge with a little more pledge before I continue. There we go.
I can't deny that a lot of my positions tend towards negativity. There's a lot that I find wrong with the current state of things. Some days I feel like I'd rather see the whole thing burn to the ground so something better could rise from the ashes.
(non-kid-safe language follows)
That said, I think there have to be some paths to take for improving the hobby and fostering real growth. I don't honestly think we'll see real growth with the current state of things. We'll have the same 30 or something builders continue to send in cars between the 3 or 4 active leagues. The same guys will sell parts. The same arguments will get hashed out on forums. We'll see fresh faces arrive as old ones drop out. But nothing much will really change.
So here's where I'm going to dump my ideas for what would make for a better hobby. Some of this is going to be trash, but maybe something will be worth following up on.
So here's my thought of the day: Wheels.
Wheels are one of the most contentious things in the hobby. They're a major key to speed, and they're also one of the major consumables, since they wear out in time and you usually need a fresh set for a new car. In addition, they are enormously modifiable, leading to major speed gains.
While I think it's well and good to have classes in which you can modify wheels to your hearts' content, I think there's a need for "stock" classes, where you can run cheap wheels and know that you're still gonna be competitive.
Stock classes right now are still kind of a joke. BASX lets you (currently) run old-style wheels which can have the inertia optimized, and you'll still drop like, 25 bucks for a set of "professionally prepped" new-style wheels for the class.
On the other hand, it's not practical to have a bone-stock class either, because wheels can vary so much due to the manufacturing process. You need to allow a small amount of truing on wheels to provide uniform performance from them.
So what we're looking for is that sweet spot to where you can have a good stock wheel for a minimum of effort (and cost). So how do we get there?
I think we need to start by ditching the BSA as the initial source of wheels. Yes, there are problems with that, but I think there are some freedoms to be gained here. Here's what I think would be cool to do:
1) Design a better stock wheel than the BSA offers. Optimize it for better inertial distribution. Have a coned inner and outer hub built directly into the mold. Keep the outer bead to limit the amount of material that can be removed from the hub. Add markings to all non-running surfaces (including the inner tread) to provide simple verification for material removal.
2) Sell the stock wheels at wholesale to as many vendors as possible. Try to get them freely available so that they are an easily obtainable standard part. Remove as many barriers as possible to the adoption of the new wheels.
Derby Evolution offers a set of "Precision Turned Wheels" for about 9 bucks. Since this would be the only modification required (or permitted) to these wheels, I think that seems like a very reasonable price point for a stock wheel class.
Of course, there would be a strong uphill battle to get these new wheels adopted. I think it would have to go hand-in-hand with the formation of a brand new league (or class of leagues). I'll braindump about that later.
BTW: Anybody have experience with getting injection-molded parts designed and produced? Would love to have a fuzzy estimate of how much it would cost to launch a new line of alternative PWD wheels.
I can't deny that a lot of my positions tend towards negativity. There's a lot that I find wrong with the current state of things. Some days I feel like I'd rather see the whole thing burn to the ground so something better could rise from the ashes.
(non-kid-safe language follows)
That said, I think there have to be some paths to take for improving the hobby and fostering real growth. I don't honestly think we'll see real growth with the current state of things. We'll have the same 30 or something builders continue to send in cars between the 3 or 4 active leagues. The same guys will sell parts. The same arguments will get hashed out on forums. We'll see fresh faces arrive as old ones drop out. But nothing much will really change.
So here's where I'm going to dump my ideas for what would make for a better hobby. Some of this is going to be trash, but maybe something will be worth following up on.
So here's my thought of the day: Wheels.
Wheels are one of the most contentious things in the hobby. They're a major key to speed, and they're also one of the major consumables, since they wear out in time and you usually need a fresh set for a new car. In addition, they are enormously modifiable, leading to major speed gains.
While I think it's well and good to have classes in which you can modify wheels to your hearts' content, I think there's a need for "stock" classes, where you can run cheap wheels and know that you're still gonna be competitive.
Stock classes right now are still kind of a joke. BASX lets you (currently) run old-style wheels which can have the inertia optimized, and you'll still drop like, 25 bucks for a set of "professionally prepped" new-style wheels for the class.
On the other hand, it's not practical to have a bone-stock class either, because wheels can vary so much due to the manufacturing process. You need to allow a small amount of truing on wheels to provide uniform performance from them.
So what we're looking for is that sweet spot to where you can have a good stock wheel for a minimum of effort (and cost). So how do we get there?
I think we need to start by ditching the BSA as the initial source of wheels. Yes, there are problems with that, but I think there are some freedoms to be gained here. Here's what I think would be cool to do:
1) Design a better stock wheel than the BSA offers. Optimize it for better inertial distribution. Have a coned inner and outer hub built directly into the mold. Keep the outer bead to limit the amount of material that can be removed from the hub. Add markings to all non-running surfaces (including the inner tread) to provide simple verification for material removal.
2) Sell the stock wheels at wholesale to as many vendors as possible. Try to get them freely available so that they are an easily obtainable standard part. Remove as many barriers as possible to the adoption of the new wheels.
Derby Evolution offers a set of "Precision Turned Wheels" for about 9 bucks. Since this would be the only modification required (or permitted) to these wheels, I think that seems like a very reasonable price point for a stock wheel class.
Of course, there would be a strong uphill battle to get these new wheels adopted. I think it would have to go hand-in-hand with the formation of a brand new league (or class of leagues). I'll braindump about that later.
BTW: Anybody have experience with getting injection-molded parts designed and produced? Would love to have a fuzzy estimate of how much it would cost to launch a new line of alternative PWD wheels.
"
