I usually just run on trails with friends though I'm curious about comps since I'm a little competitive. On a regular group crawl we tend to break off into a sub group of folks who just want to session technical features for 5-10 mins while the rest of the group goes further down the trails. It's purely for bragging rights rather than points.
Having seen what a 'comp style' rig like the VRD carbon can accomplish with minimal modifications and a good set of tires is eye opening and just scratches the surface of what's possible. I'm sure a properly built and tuned comp rig is going to be something else.
But to original point on why I don't go to comps comes down to time, popularity/accessibility, and aesthetics.
Time is the biggest one since I have a young family, spending half-full day to play with toy cars for points while my wife takes care of our young one is a big ask. I'd rather just go crawling with our local group for 2-3 hours and shoot the breeze.
Popularity and accessibility is tough in Southern Ontario, Canada. RC crawlers are already niche, competitive crawling is on the fringes. There are comps around here but they are infrequent and far away enough to be a full day event.
And finally aesthetics of competition crawlers are the probably the main reason why I probably won't get into comps. While I admire the capabilities of dedicated comp crawlers in class 2 and up, the aesthetics of tucked or really narrow bodies is hard for me to buy in. Part of the magic and what drew me into crawling is having a miniature truck that looks and drives convincingly like it's 1:1 counterparts. Other than class one, comp crawlers need to sacrifice aesthetics for performance.
TLDR: I would if I had more time, could find comps more local to me, and embrace the aesthetics.
Having seen what a 'comp style' rig like the VRD carbon can accomplish with minimal modifications and a good set of tires is eye opening and just scratches the surface of what's possible. I'm sure a properly built and tuned comp rig is going to be something else.
But to original point on why I don't go to comps comes down to time, popularity/accessibility, and aesthetics.
Time is the biggest one since I have a young family, spending half-full day to play with toy cars for points while my wife takes care of our young one is a big ask. I'd rather just go crawling with our local group for 2-3 hours and shoot the breeze.
Popularity and accessibility is tough in Southern Ontario, Canada. RC crawlers are already niche, competitive crawling is on the fringes. There are comps around here but they are infrequent and far away enough to be a full day event.
And finally aesthetics of competition crawlers are the probably the main reason why I probably won't get into comps. While I admire the capabilities of dedicated comp crawlers in class 2 and up, the aesthetics of tucked or really narrow bodies is hard for me to buy in. Part of the magic and what drew me into crawling is having a miniature truck that looks and drives convincingly like it's 1:1 counterparts. Other than class one, comp crawlers need to sacrifice aesthetics for performance.
TLDR: I would if I had more time, could find comps more local to me, and embrace the aesthetics.
