17.5 Stoked Racing

It seems this is the generation that has forgotten what mod and stock were intended to describe. Stock asked that you don't fiddle with the motor. Less motor asked for less driver. That meant cheaper cars and slower speeds.

Stoked on stock!

We live in THE BEST ERA for RC Car racing. We dont have to discharge batteries, cut comms, get transponders between heats, or keep a handful of tx/rx crystals. We got it good. Perhaps too good.

All the secrets are out. The cars are amazing. The tire compounds are unreal. The setups are on the web and in our phones.

Today's stock racers are stuck idling in a hobby that was built on discovering what worked and what didn't.

Stock racers are filling the time between heats racking their brains for a way to go faster under current stock rules. Imagining a new way to push the constrictive envelope. Trying to find that cutting edge. It now takes MORE TIME to be prepared for a stock race, than mod. I can understand the appeal, but there are other things to do at a club race night.

Comm lathe between runs. All in the name of late 90's speed.

What my dischargers wanted to be.

As pretty as my dischargers ever got.

Look around at your next club race. Look who's relaxed, prepared and smiling. They've been racing a while. They remember the old days when they couldn't turn their radios on between heats, when they were discharging with bulbs, when they were hardwiring batteries on top of doing their tires and setup. And I bet they're racing modified.

Those relaxed-looking racers are enjoying their time at the track. They're not hiding anything, no winks, whispers, not looking to shave grams, lower rotating mass, second guessing their battery's power. Not blaming someone for not getting out of the way or being worried about "that rookie marshal's reaction time."

Modified racers have time on their hands! They are volunteering for marshaling, Cleaning their cars and pits. They're sharing stories, watching the races, learning new lines, studying and discovering!

If you end up in the top 4 of 10 stock guys after three months, my advice is boost that esc you paid good money for. Start clearing that triple every time. Put in a lot of practice with it. Explore what your modern piece of kit can do at it's true limit.

17.5's should be handed down to the kids and newcomers with ambition but still running their rtr's electronics. Stock just doesn't mean "cutting edge" to people.

Apparently Trinity measures in milli-yards

To me, stock racing is like racing bicycles with training wheels. That’s how we learn.

Stock racing is full of cut gears, large rotors, no slippers, one day motors, warmed lipos, and cars that wear out way too soon..

Unfortunately (and most likely fueled by the RC companies,) the “stock” class has ended up being training wheels - but they're titanium, drilled out, carbon reinforced, ceramic bearing, good-for-one-race training wheels.