driver etiquette

[john v]

i never heard of rcu and this fine, maybe its a club level thing?.
like i said before i have gotten hit way more than i have hit people.
whenever we get a new racer in our dist i try to hand pick a well seasoned pit guy for the driver, discuss driver lanes and the meaning of go wide, taking the long way around isnt the fastest way but when there is a lot of dead boats its the safest.
at the end of the day the new racer comes up to me and says he had the best time of his life and is looking forward to the next race, now thats well worth it

 

[GraysonTaylor]

RCU is scale only, so if you have built a scale, you may understand the penalty. Formula One vs NASCAR.

 

[Tom Foley]

Oh man have I been on both ends of this candle !! I always apologize and at least try to help / compensate even if it is just racing . At times these boats disappear from sight in turns at 80 + mph due to turn fin spray and you literally pray you come out the other side . Sometimes it works , sometimes it doesn't , but if you are truly going for it it's going to happen . It's all in how you handle it .

 

[Hydro Junkie]

For those that think a fine for hitting a called dead boat is ridiculous, it does serve a purpose. When you look at the costs of building a scale boat, it does make sense. Let me list the cost of purchasing a cowl from R/C Boat Company that fits the latest boats:
1) Cowl is $118 plus shipping
2) Windshield is $24 plus shipping
3) Saltwater snorkel, if needed, is $45 plus shipping
4) Rear turbine shroud, if needed, is $22 plush shipping
Add that all up and you're looking at $209 plus shipping, before adding a driver and paint. Paints needed for a scale paint job can cost up to $100 per color BEFORE adding catalyst and reducers so again, we're not talking cheap. Now, have someone run over your boat and destroy the cowl and you're looking at possibly $500 to replace it so a $25 to $75 fine for hitting a called dead boat isn't that unreasonable, that is unless you only run riggers or sport boats that you can get a new cowl for, and painted, for less than $75.
Now, lets say you hit a boat and take out it's canard and tail set as well. A new canard, with brackets is another $50 and the tail set is $60, again plus shipping. Add a few hundred for paint and a bit more for floatation and hardware, you're looking at another almost $500 to replace parts. Obviously, you won't be buying more paint for each part that has to be replaced if you're having to replace several but, still, paint isn't cheap

 

[brad nichols]

If your boat is dead in the water it is just a target, I don't think anyone is trying to intensionally hit it but **it happens and there is a cost incurred to both boats.

Brad

 

[dr gary turner]

For those that think a fine for hitting a called dead boat is ridiculous, it does serve a purpose. When you look at the costs of building a scale boat, it does make sense. Let me list the cost of purchasing a cowl from R/C Boat Company that fits the latest boats:
1) Cowl is $118 plus shipping
2) Windshield is $24 plus shipping
3) Saltwater snorkel, if needed, is $45 plus shipping
4) Rear turbine shroud, if needed, is $22 plush shipping
Add that all up and you're looking at $209 plus shipping, before adding a driver and paint. Paints needed for a scale paint job can cost up to $100 per color BEFORE adding catalyst and reducers so again, we're not talking cheap. Now, have someone run over your boat and destroy the cowl and you're looking at possibly $500 to replace it so a $25 to $75 fine for hitting a called dead boat isn't that unreasonable, that is unless you only run riggers or sport boats that you can get a new cowl for, and painted, for less than $75.
Now, lets say you hit a boat and take out it's canard and tail set as well. A new canard, with brackets is another $50 and the tail set is $60, again plus shipping. Add a few hundred for paint and a bit more for floatation and hardware, you're looking at another almost $500 to replace parts. Obviously, you won't be buying more paint for each part that has to be replaced if you're having to replace several but, still, paint isn't cheap

Try costing out parts and time in a twin 101
One should work for most to not have a boat go dead in a race, because it most likely is going to be hit .

So if the boat is not reliable don’t race it because it will probably get hit.
If it is too loose it will eventually blow off and get hit.

If the needle is peaky it is going to die and your will likely get hit

If boats don’t die or blow off there are none for the officials or callers to worry about.
So don’t race the boat until you have confidence it will finish running a heat.
The rest of the issues are just racing. If one can’t accept the facts of racing that there will be incidents such described by Tom Foley don’t race your boat

Whether one is racing FROGS or Ferrari’s
There will be racing incidents even in the hands of some of the best boaters

 

[Hydro Junkie]

And I get that accidents happen, Gary. That is why the only time fines are levied is when a CALLED DEAD BOAT is hit. If the boat is hit while racing close to other boats or dies leaving a following boat no place to go, that's racing. If a dead boat is called and someone is half a lap away and still hits it, that's not on the dead boat, that's on the guy and the spotter that travelled half a lap before hitting the dead boat for not paying attention to what's in front of them. You would have to agree that, most times, by the end of the first lap, it's normally a parade. Granted, I have seen a couple of boats run deck to deck for five laps on many occasions, loving every second of it. IF, however, they come upon a dead boat, it's the drivers of the running boats responsibility to avoid hitting the dead boat, just like a buoy. I know, if my boat isn't running well, I stay way outside and let the guys that are running well have the inside. If someone stuffs their boat while running inside, however, they don't have the option of getting out of the way of those also running on the inside.

 

[Bill Gibson]

Again, I’ve built and raced scale hydros and when mine was run over during the mill, of course I was upset, but the last thing on my mind is to be a horses ass and expect the guy to be fined 100 dollars and be DQed for the day.... whether it was a called dead boat or not.
As a matter of fact with the help of my buddy Tom Foley, we managed to tape the boat together and run another heat!!

 

[Hydro Junkie]

To each their own but, when I compare that to what happened in H1 a few years back, the DQ for the day isn't that bad. The H1 issue I'm referring to is Dave Villwock, driving the U-37, hitting the Madison during a heat, damaging the Madison's left sponson to the point the boat almost didn't get to run in the final. Dave was DQed for the rest of the event when video footage showed he changed lanes for no reason in such a way that the Madison was without a way to avoid the other boat. A week later, he hit the Madison again, claiming Jimmy Shane cut him off even though overhead video showed it was all Dave since Dave changed direction in a manner than Shane didn't have a way out of the contact without going backwards on the race course. The result was Dave Villwock was BANNED from driving again in H1. Think I'd rather pay the $25-$75 and be able to race at the next event than be banned

 

[Mark Anderson]

Nascar vs f1? That's funny **** right there!

 

[Mike Cathey]

I guess I'm wondering if the people that race in any particular club are okay with the rules why anybody else not participating in that club would even give a **** one way or another.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

I guess I'm wondering if the people that race in any particular club are okay with the rules why anybody else not participating in that club would even give a **** one way or another.

I guess we just want to protect our membership's boats more than other clubs or racers do. I know I was surprised to read that a dead boat is just a target that no one is intentionally trying to hit but, to take that the other way, if it's a target, that means no one is trying to avoid it intentionally either. Then again, some feel that you need to be scraping paint to be racing, something that H1 tries to avoid as much as R/C Unlimiteds does. Then again, the last four times I can remember where two boats actually got together was the previously mentioned U-37 and U-6 at Tri-Cities and Seattle, Oberto broadsides the Qatar in Madison(saw it live, along with the boats after being returned to the pits) in 2011, the Budweiser ending up under the Elam Plus in Seattle in the first turn in 1997 and the John Prevost driven Circus Circus running over the back of the brand new Miss Madison in Seattle 1988. Sound to me like H1 also does a pretty good job preventing the paint scraping that is so prevalent in auto racing from happening

 

[Mark Anderson]

Mike if that's pointed at me. You must be new. While I have not raced with RCU in years, I used to and will be again next year. The rule was mentioned and I gave my opinion. I thought it was stupid years ago and still do. Mr Taylor then put other classes down as inferior to scale. Several that commented to this thread have raced pretty much every class out there. All classes have their appeal. Berating others will do nothing but hurt the sport.

 

[Bill Gibson]

Ummmm boy! Must be pointed at me too Mark! For what its worth these days, you can drop a grand in the cheapest class........so lets FINE EM ALL!!.....AND DQ ALL THOSE LESSER CLASSES....GOD! IM LMAO!!

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Let me make one thing clear. My posts are not pointed at anyone or any class. I'm also not going to say anyone's opinion is wrong as we all have our own point of view. I do, however, feel that referring to a dead boat as a target is just wrong. What if it's your boat, is it a target? What if it was washed down in the first turn? Does that make it a target or expendable for the next five laps? Something to think about, isn't it?

 

[Hydro Junkie]

While I have not raced with RCU in years, I used to and will be again next year.

It's been 20 years since you raced last with R/C U, at least according to the stat page. Are you going to use the boat you used to race with or are you doing a new boat?

 

[Bill Gibson]

I think you are taking the statement in the wrong context....nobody (well mostly nobody) would be stupid enough to aim their race boat at a dead boat for the fact that they can quite possibly do a nice number on their own hot rod that was still running before "aiming for the target"..........!

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Never said they would, Bill. I said that referring to a dead boat as a target is wrong. Hell, I spun my boat out, costing me a heat win, avoiding a dead boat that I didn't see until the last second as, apparently, no one was spotting for me. Had someone said where the dead boat was, I would have had plenty of time to avoid it but, instead, I was looking for it and lost track of my own boat. Just as well as the throttle linkage on my boat had broke and I had no way to stop it other than run laps until it ran out of fuel and hope I didn't hit something in the process

 

[Mark Anderson]

Hydro Junkie, take a breath. No one commented on your posts. Bill was talking to me. I commented on mike and Grayson s posts. I know who Mike is we have both been around a long time.
To answer yor questions, it's a new boat, but my last boat is still racing today..

 

[Hydro Junkie]

That was my assumption, just wanted to make sure that I wasn't being or going to be targeted.
I know Mike's been around for a while. Raced in the same heats on occasion, got beat every time running my old R/C Sportcraft 2000 Elam. Like you, I plan on having a new boat(or three) for next season. Between work, the wife and pandemic, it's been slow going on my primary build but it's slowly getting there