Afraid of proxies?

[Wolseley Hornet]

There may be lots of members, but can you guess how many builders there are?

Could be that a lot of the guys(male and female - you have to be so careful,these days) do all their hobbying with off-the shelf cars.


David.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

For a lot of guys, the proxies are a way of getting around not having a local group to race with. When my group developed strange new interests (loud, obnoxious, crazy out of scale, smelly and insanely expensive R/C trucks), I knew I wasn't going that route any more than I was going to take up ballroom dancing with grizzly bears while covered in bees.

The proxies came along and seemed a workable solution, but they are much better than that. It reminds me of the days when I was a boy making car models for local hobby shop contests. Once, I got second place and was able to see my car in a storefront window for six months. That's a very big deal for a 13 year old. First place and third went to grown men. Huge big deal. That's a similar feeling to doing proxy races. I came in third once and was amazed at how pleased I was with myself. Most of the time, my cars aren't the fastest, but I get a lot of comments about how they look, and seeing them in the pictures from the proxies on HRW just turns me on. I admit it. I'm still a kid playing with toy cars!

[ElSecundo]

I used to enter proxies back when most cars were only so-so out of the box. It gave me an excuse to tune a car that didn't run worth crap. Now, many cars come out of the box faster than many of the nicely tuned cars of 10 years ago. There's not much need to tune them up, so the proxies aren't particularly interesting to me. One exception was the Carrera proxy last year. Might have an interest in a LMM proxy, or a Team Slot proxy -- cars that are generally considered to be poor performers.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I always suspected you were really El Sicko...

How about a Pinkcar proxy? They almost don't run at all, and they are brainless about what cars to make and how they are decorated.

[TuscoTodd]

To be honest, I never really looked at participating, until I read this posting...
But with that, I am going to dive in and try participating in the Autograss Mini Proxy!
:D

[goosenapper]

[ElSecundo]

[Ember]

I have a couple of proxy series I do participate in. One domestic one that's about to kick off and an international one that's on its last rounds for this year. Both are for plastic chassis rally cars. One with very strict tuning rules amounting pretty much to blueprinting and no add-on parts. The other quite loose. They are a lot of fun.

I am looking at taking on another with a differenyt style of car st some stage. Choice of which one rather depends on whether the car style is something I like/have and if the rules fit my skills range. I'm not going to jump in the deep end on a brass chassis built proxy because I don't yet have any of the building skills. Yes, it would force me to learn them, but I would struggle to meet the deadline.

I need something with a distant enough deadline and a long enough series for me to get off my butt and do it. :)

I made a suggestion on Auslot of a single model series but no one was interested. Pick a model that is a known shocker and do what you have to do to make it run well. Seems like the perfect test of tuning skills to me.

[MoparGreg]

Ive entered one proxy before that went to 8-10 tracks. It was alot of fun.

HRW proxies are very different to others on other boards. What I noticed with the non HRW proxies was the rules. You need this motor & these tires & be this narrow. Im not really a stickler for rules & I want to build a car my way. Im also time poor so building a car in a time frame is difficult. So I thought that proxies are not for me.

In saying that HRW proxies are very different, there are no rules other than have fun. So these are more my style. I may jump in on one, one day. Ive been close a few times.

[HomeRacingWorld]

That is the way it should be. FUN :)

I am posting this "proxy" style...just got here in Chicago and the races have started.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

The wood vs. plastic is really no trouble at all. Just don't use magnets. I don't remember- is that in the rules? I won't have magnets anyway unless I have to.

[bkrownd]

I love the proxies, but have only been able to field 1 car so far. About 1 or 2 cars a year is the limit of my available time, and they have to be car models I'm really interested in.

[TuscoTodd]

Old Johnny -
I think that would be a pretty cool thread to follow!
I am in a similar spot as you - although I am not as remote.
I thought the old school mini's looked like a lot of fun and I am going to try my first shot at building a proxy car.
I have some spare pieces that I think "may" work, but for the lion's share of this build, I am going to need to either fab or purchase the parts I need.
If you do go forward with your post idea, I can guarantee you that I for one will be following it! :)

[dreinecke]

I like proxys...just haven't done one. To be honest, I attempted to do one on another forum (Cheetahs) and my car was lost and the box eventually came back severely damaged. Not the proxy host's fault - it was a shipping issue.

As mentioned here - I'm time poor. I rarely build from start to finish just simply due to time. That's one of the reasons I'm now thinning the herd and tuning cars.

I also get a little put off on other forums by some of the petty fighting over rules. I thought these were toys? Rules are needed, but continually beating on the proxy organizer or complaining about them just turns me off completely.

I do enjoy hosting them...racing the cars and getting to see how others have done things is very fun to me.

[TuscoTodd]

I think a "kit" proxy would be pretty cool!
It would definitely make it "easier" to participate, and might help keep costs low for those that don't have a bunch of spare parts laying around and/or might have have limited time or fabricating skills.

I liken it to my younger days... I reeeaaally disliked doing body work (found it tedious) - but need a part of the drive line modified/repaired/rebuilt? I was your man! A close friend of mine was just the opposite... He would tear into a repair/repaint of a vehicle's body with gusto (sometimes completing a rust/damage repair and full repaint in less than a week!) - but it nearly took a stick of dynamite to get him motivated to do a cam swap or install headers...
I think having a designated "kit" would help eliminate some of those issues. Some guys love spending time on how the car looks, others on how the car hooks - but if all the pieces are there, it makes taking care of the part you "may not be good at (or enjoy)" a lot easier - and coming up with a completed car is then pretty much within everyone's grasp. :)

I'd definitely be in for something like that!
:D