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Sounds fun. In T850, we had pretty low numbers this year again because of various reasons, but one of the reasons is because of some people wanting to modify their engines and don't want to run if they can't. Running something like an unlimited class would allow anyone to run in the class. We already have races we can run with tight stock style rules and hardly get anyone out for that. There was quite a buzz around these boats and motors when everyone was playing with them and modifying them. That seems to be gone now. My opinion may be biased though because I want to build something awesome... Obviously it needs to suit the majority of people interested in racing in it.

This a good time to see if there is T850 interest in drag and what rules would get boats out for drag and get them back racing on the TORC oval. We only had 4 boats at Haliburton. Next year we could be down to 2 boats.

I will be coming back to T850 under the new club. I would drag the boat too!!!

What happened in T850 was a few racers got into a motor building competition and we're building better motors every year. The other racers either became non competitive and stopped racing while others said screw this nonsense, I am going to run the strongest motor I can and if I get DQ who cares after all I am there just for fun. So now we have a serious problem. Racers who pay others to build their motors are NOT going to build another motor. Too much expense and in their view the top motors are illegal anyway.
The tech inspection is a visual check to make sure the correct parts were used and a compression check to make sure the compression is under 161 lbs. No big deal to pass and every racer should pass.
Many of us agree, there is no problem with the current rules. Our T850 race history has proven that engine power is not the single reason that people win races. You can modify the inners to the extreme, but make sure it looks stock and is 160 compression and the other racers do not care. It is when you run an OBVIOUS illegal motor. That upsets the other racers.

The only other option is to make the class unlimited. All this point it could be the best option.

and when you get to unlimited you end up with a speed issue that will compromise saftey. We have had one bad wreck already. It just takes use down the same road that caused boats to require Cells.... It should be a spec class and thats it

what drives people out of the class Like me (I haven't left) Is that I come in with a stock motor and can't compete. So I go and spend the money to build a motor within the rules and end up with a competitive boat. Next the rules get changed and my motor may or may not be legal...... so what do I do spend another $3000 to build a new motor. I have never come in first.

You're one of many: So what do we do to you if your motor is illegal?
(1) Not allow you to race?
(2) Say you can race because you did not finish top 3?
Then what do we say to the other illegal boats? Can they race as well?
If we say OK to them, then what about the legal boats? Do they want to race illegal boats?
Their comment will be..What's the point of having spec rules if we are allowing everyone to race anyway. I want to win on the race coarse, not finish 3th and win because we DQ the top 2 boats.
Others will say..Who cares, it's grass roots, no prize money, fun racing and none of the motors are legal anyway.
Where do we draw the line??

Since I'm probably not racing next year I'll let you guys figure it out.

I don't think I am outside of the current rules, I was just making a point the whole thing is a viscous circle. The T850 rules now are good (I think). I would say that if we have issues with boats we could add weight penalty if a boat is inside the old rules and outside of the new. Now this might be something that happens after a 1st place finish they have to add 20lbs for the next race and so on.......

I guess for drags you can start fresh with the rules but changing T850 rules again will lead to revolt lol.

The "new" rules and the "old" rules are basically the same with some clarification about tech "inspection" . The rules were always there they were just brought to light. We added some detail which actually loosened up the rules for most of the motors in the class. I'm not so sure that the "rules" had as much of an effect on attendance as some seem to think. If you go through the list most of the racers (like me) just have other stuff on the go.

I thought the new club was for drags...are you guys planning on doing an oval course??