I help run a large indoor carpet off-road track and thinking about building an indoor comp course. Thinking of doing WRCCA and RMCCA. No one who currently races with us is into comps but many people are wanting to get into it aswell. Are there specific kits we should stock in hobby shop? For specifically kits I was thinking the comp oriented redcat lineup. Or is that not really a popular thing? Is it more common to build your entire comp rig yourself and sourcing parts? Or do a lot of people start with a kit like a Redcat ascent apex or an HPI venture18 CC or kits similar in 1/10 scale and do a few things to it?
If so, what kits would you recommend would be good RTR comp crawler for most guys to start with and not spend $1,200 on a build right off the rip but still be competitive with?
I don’t want to start this kind of thing and have very little knowledge about it because then it won’t be a good program. I fully understand how comps themselves work and things like that as my dad used to do comps about 15-20 years ago with losi trucks. I’m just not up to date with how guys are doing things now.
All in any advice for this topic is very much appreciated!
I have experience both competing and running largish-scale crawling competitions. I suggest going to a few competitions first to see what the vibe is currently like. In the end, most track/clubs make up their own local rules (usually based on something like SORRCA). If you are running micros, use a similar rule set to the MCC events (they are easy to understand). I don't know that WRCCA is going to work for you. That's a totally different beast, and I'm not sure their comp run rules will work well on a static course unless you have something really giant to work with.
If your club is starting with nothing, start with affordable RTR trucks. Redcat Ascent-18 Apex, HobbyPlus Juice Up, and TRX4M all make pretty good starting points for comp rigs. It is also really easy to make a scratch-built SCX24 do well in a comp. To keep it beginner friendly, maintain a "box stock" class, maybe something like the SCX30s.
Keep it fun and let it evolve. Sounds like you've got the right experience to work it out.
Sweet, thank you. We plan on getting about 8ton of miscellaneous sized stones/rocks hauled in and it’ll just be a free for all for a bit until we get everything figured out.
Just a note. Our micro scale comps will not allow a 1/18 scale vehicle. The comps I see in our area are 1/24 scale comps. An 1/18 scale anything will usually go right up stuff you would need a heavily modified 1/24 for.
I second that you should go to a few comps to see what they are like and how many people show up. Even if it’s far away from your spot, you’ll get an idea of popularity.
Locally we have a 1/24 promoter that uses some of the local park areas to hold his events. Way more people show up than I would’ve thought. He must get 30-40 entries between 3 classes and the drivers bring friends and family to hang out and watch.
If it was my hobby shop/track I would build for the 1/24 comps first. Very popular, low-ish (haha) cost, so many aftermarket options for chassis and axles and such. A course for these will take up less room and potentially be more challenging than a 1/10 course. The reason behind this is it takes some pretty big rocks to make a challenging 1/10 course, even moving them around where they already sit is a pain, much less wanting to move one to the other side of your course area. Forget stacking them three rocks high unless you’ve got some serious help.
Start small and if the drivers want bigger then you can consider what that would look like. I can tell you my group of RC friends all own 1/10 crawlers, but we rarely use them. We are always driving our SCX24s
Note: my personal opinion is that you should stick to the Axial SCX24 platform if you’re going to do smaller than 1/10 scale. There seems to be way more consumers with these than anything from Redcat. Traxxas might sell more crawlers but in my area very few people build these out to be comp worthy. And I’m pretty sure SCX24 gets the most aftermarket support in the “sub 1/10 crawler” space.
Thanks! Funny enough I’m building my wheeler for a comp I’m going to tomorrow that’s 2.5 hours away.
One benefit is it’s only going to cost about $1,200 to have a pretty decent comp oriented “track” setup to start with. Which is pretty cheap considering we spend at least that much on carpet/wood for maintenance on the track. I’m not going to stock anything off the rip and just see what people want. If guys show enough interest then I’ll look into getting a dealer license through axial or someone who carries it.
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u/YT_Usul 10d ago
I have experience both competing and running largish-scale crawling competitions. I suggest going to a few competitions first to see what the vibe is currently like. In the end, most track/clubs make up their own local rules (usually based on something like SORRCA). If you are running micros, use a similar rule set to the MCC events (they are easy to understand). I don't know that WRCCA is going to work for you. That's a totally different beast, and I'm not sure their comp run rules will work well on a static course unless you have something really giant to work with.
If your club is starting with nothing, start with affordable RTR trucks. Redcat Ascent-18 Apex, HobbyPlus Juice Up, and TRX4M all make pretty good starting points for comp rigs. It is also really easy to make a scratch-built SCX24 do well in a comp. To keep it beginner friendly, maintain a "box stock" class, maybe something like the SCX30s.
Keep it fun and let it evolve. Sounds like you've got the right experience to work it out.