10 Reasons for Rock Crawler
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
During 2008, the Axial Scorpion Rock Crawler became the all time best selling RC kit ever with sales that blew away all previous RC introductions. Despite the kits success and the growth of the crawling segment with introductions from Tamiya, Losi, Traxxas, Kyosho, and others, some of you are still asking “why rock crawling?”, so here are ten reasons to get into crawling.
1- CHEAP THRILLS
For measly $250 you can pick up an Axial RTR crawler that will get you on the rocks in minutes. Due to the speed of crawlers, breakage is typically very low, so you won’t be shucking out wads of cash every 10 minutes to fix everything after you crashed and burned with your 70MPH RC. As it turns out the Axial RTR with plastic links takes quite a beating even if your get stupid and add a low turn motor or brushless setup and run the rig like a basher. Nowhere is RC can such minute tuning changes impact performance so drastically. Moving the shock placement one hole, or just upping the shock weight oil in one shock can make the difference of clearing a line or clawing for traction. If you love tuning, the unlimited tuning options in crawling should keep even the most technical touring car gear heads entertained.
2- ROCK RACING
Crawling now has copied a 1:1 crawling sub-segment called “Rock Racing” where a small flat track is intermittently laced with standard rock crawling obstacles. As guessed a faster lower turn motor is used. These home brewed tracks can be as simple as racing from one rock strewn corner of your yard to the other corner piled with other obstacles and back again. Instead of keeping track of points, Rock Racing is all about how fast you can make it around. Speed and durability are key in this sub-category of rock crawling. It’s track racing with a bunch of jumps and obstacles to crawl over and is a blast.
3 - AN EXCUSE TO INCREASE PROPERTY VALUE
The secret here is that all that landscaping your spouse/parent/significant other wanted you to do could suddenly include a beautiful low maintenance rock garden (wink). Realtors say that you get back ten times every landscaping related dollar your spend in property value increase at time of sale… and of course having your own private rock crawler course has benefits as well.
4- 1 HOUR OF FREE DRIVING TIME
The beauty of crawling is that even if you have not installed the above noted rock garden or at least modified your landscaping to include a few large rocks, there is always something around to crawl over just outside your door. Because you just need to walk outside, you don’t need to pack a bunch a junk and drive 30 minutes each way across town to a $20,000+ track facility to enjoy RC’ing.
5- ENJOY YOUR NATIONAL PARKS
Breath some fresh air and go to NPS.gov (National Park Service) or Google for a list of your state’s parks to discover the nature crawling beauty of your tax dollars at work. Some of the best crawling in the
6- GET THE KIDS INVOLVED
Today with 70MPH RCs, it’s tough to get the really young and the highly in-experienced involved in RC, however I don’t hesitate a moment to hand over the controls of a high dollar crawler rig to a newbie. At 8MPH there is no worry of high-speed impact injuries, and breakage is highly unlikely. My new top recommendation for the very young or just young at heart is now the Axial RTR crawler/rock racer kit.
7- COURSE SETUP IS EASY
Setting up a crawler course is not complex and does not need to be made of 300lb boulders. The junk in your garage will work just fine. A pile of wood, a couple cinder blocks, bricks, and even a bag of mulch is a blast to crawl over and it can all be neatly stacked back in the garage when you are done. Spillway rock (used in erosion control drainage ditches) is pretty cheap stuff by the truckload and makes for a very challenging crawler course if you have the room.
8- LUNCH BREAKS
I keep a crawler tucked in my real truck at all times. Sometimes the best lunch is a bag of fast food (or if my wife is reading this, “a salad”) and ripping over rocks at one of the city’s parks. I can guarantee that the second half of your day will be better than the first, even if the first half was miserable.
9- GET LOCALLY INVOLVED
Crawling is still in its infancy; however it is far from un-organized. Go to RCCrawler.com to see your city and state’s crawler groups, and when the GTG (get together) is for the local guys. Looking through the states, there are only a few that don’t already have local groups formed. Believe me when I say the crawler guys welcome anyone, especially newbies, to their groups.
10- CRAWLING WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER DRIVER
My high speed driving has exponentially improved since I jumped into crawling. On my Losi 8 and Hot Bodies Stadium Pro 2, everything is happing so fast you don’t have the time to scrutinize your lines and you simply try to stay on the track. In crawling everything is slowed down, so you can think about your lines, understand what the impact of the chassis will be on the crevice or rock and where the truck will go because of that immovable obstacle. Crawling teaches you to pick lines and think ahead to make strategic driving decisions. When you are back on the fast track with the throttle pegged on your truggy, I can guarantee your driving will be better because of your crawler experience.
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