Topic: Rant

[cycloneracer]

Good point Bud!  But realize "budget builds" don't win at the national level. They can be very competitive localy but when you start racing EVERYONE things change.

If you ask a question and a pro says to buy the part instead of building it, well it is probably good advice. Remember YOU asked. Sometimes you don't like the answer but it is the right answer.

When the pros talk.... I take notes.  Everything else is just internet chatter. Oh yea, some of the pros don't have high post counts, or are on here everyday. Most don't post much. The guys that have 10-15 posts per day probably don't have the answer you need.

[BIG AL 202]

IT STILL COMES DONE TO YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR HEAD. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ. IF A "AS YOU SAID  PRO" SAYS DRAG YOUR LEFT FOOT YOU WILL TURN FASTER SOMEONE WILL TRY IT. I VERY MUCH AGREE WITH YOU CYCLONERACER, SOMETIMES THE CHATTER IS LITE HEARTED AND FUN, BUT YOU ASK 99 TIMES OUT OF 100 YOU WILL GET A GOOD ANSWER. WEITHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT.

[2budzracing]

I will admit that I have asked some dimwitted questions on here but I have my reasons.The fact remains that every mower is different and each racer is different as well as every track etc. etc. etc.
no one person I believe has the exact answer for such a diverse build situation that we all have. if the possibility of the perfect mower was there than we would all be clones.when you want to go faster or compete at a higher level you have to use your brains and mechanical abilities before your wallet as stated,that is the beauty of our sport.

[Rooster]

The guys that have 10-15 posts per day probably don't have the answer you need.

LOL...THANKS!

[tgames64]

Good point Bud!  But realize "budget builds" don't win at the national level. They can be very competitive localy but when you start racing EVERYONE things change.

Some of us aren't interested in competeing at National levels.
Some of us enjoy the sport at local levels only.
Some of us have fun going to a slow local track on Saturday with a budget built mower that is safe and have fun with friends.
Some of us enjoy building our own mowers and parts as much as we like racing them.

Sometimes cheaper isn't better. You always get what you pay for.

Cow Biscuits! 
I guess that means if you paid more... it must be better?
You don't ALWAYS get what you pay for, ask Bernie Madoff...

[cycloneracer]

Some of us aren't interested in competeing at National levels.
Some of us enjoy the sport at local levels only.
Some of us have fun going to a slow local track on Saturday with a budget built mower that is safe and have fun with friends.
Some of us enjoy building our own mowers and parts as much as we like racing them.

I enjoy building my own engines, but I take the advice that is given to me by they guys running up front.  Many of the questions are about having the fastest mower and how they can do it themselves.

And you don't have to go slow to have fun.  I've been running at a new local track and they have some awesome machines and a great fast track.  Had the more fun this last season than I have had in a long time................when it quits being fun.........I'm done and all my stuff will be for sale.


Cow Biscuits! 
I guess that means if you paid more... it must be better?
You don't ALWAYS get what you pay for, ask Bernie Madoff...

I should of mentioned service.  Got in a hurry and didn't reread what I was posting.  You can pay less for the same part but you are probably going to get less service with that part.  And that is a complaint in this thread.  Some parts come with no instructions.  I guarantee you if you get a flywheel with no instructions you can call ARC and they will help you out.  Now if you order that flywheel from from a discount place that is selling cheeper, you may not get your answer so quickly.
I've been there, I've got parts from a supplier (won't mention who either) and they didn't come with instructions.  ARC billet rod didn't have torque specs.  Couldn't get the guy to aswer my calls or emails for a week.  So I was stuck waiting to put my engine together.   I will pay a bit more for good service.   That was my point.

[oldfordman21]

  I am called Grumpy. I am the president of WOO. I spend every day at Ryans shop, which is behind his house. We started out racing mowers, building everything by hand, using a drill press, cutting aluminum with a skill saw, bending sheet aluminum for cowlings and hoods over a piece of pipe, depending on the size of the bend and smoothing out a cut on a old Black and Decker wood belt sander. We do not have all the fancy machines to do these jobs, but some people insist on having us build these parts for them. If any of the competion has seen his bodies or his moly front axle, they are all built at home. He did invest in a flow bench to check his work. Not because he is my son, but he , I believe is one of the best cylinder head people going. Just hogging out a head as big as you can get it is not always the proper way of doing it. He has done heads for customers all over North America and as far away as Scotland. He has redone cylinder heads that have been done by other builders, with satisfactory results.
  No one is sending you to these people to buy parts, you are free to build them yourself or purchase them from your buddy that just bought a new die grinder. What you are purchasing, is a proven product that helps make you run up front, assuming you have done your part correctly. In our club, any ungoverned engine must run a billet flywheel, therefore we must purchase them from ARC. These companies spend a lot of time on R&D and have to recover their time plus make a living. There is just the two of us at Ryans shop and I have seen him spend a day on the phone giving free information to guys that have not spent a dime there. But there are customers that call that he can't afford not to take the call. Eventually the guy that got all the free information  becomes a valued customer in the end.
 If you don't want to buy the good stuff, then don't. You are free to do whatever you want. Remember, if you do, you are not only buying a good product, you are buying a proven product. A lot of these small business men are just like you, only their phone rings seven days a week and at any hour of the day plus you get the info that you needed.

[mowinmachine]

 I'll be the first to say that I'm probably one of the cheapest SOBs on the planet. I've been in this sport for around 4-5 years now and for the first 2 of those years I tried getting away with cheap solutions. I've since learned there's only so much that you can squeeze out of inferior components. There is no way that I could manufacture any of the billet machined parts from ARC. Even if I could make those parts, I would spend a LOT more doing so. That and I work a 50 hour a week job so I wouldn't have time to do so even if I miraculously had a full garage of machinery anyway.

 Putting our sport into context, a basic go-cart chassis used for professional racing is probably going to set you back a good $5,000-$6,000. You pretty much have to buy a new set of tires every single race at $200+ a set. How about stock cars? How much do one of those cost? $50,000? $100,000? Or pulling Tractors? What about Off roading vehicles? On the other hand you could easily build a pretty sweet racing mower for $3,000 or less and once its built, you're probably not going to have to blow tons of money on it other than belts, chains, oil, gas, and maybe a new set of tires every other season. We still have one of the cheapest motor sports out there

[BIG AL 202]

I ALSO BELIEVE IT IS UP TO ALL OF US TO TRY TO KEEP IT THAT WAY! NO MATTER WHAT GROUP YOU ARE WITH. I HAVE HEARD FROM ALOT OF PEOPLE ON THIS THREAD AND WE ALL SEEM TO BE ON THE SAME PAGE, NICE TO SEE.

[GRUBDIGGER]

i also work 50-60 hours a week in the spring. i talk to many people all the time. i build alot of my own parts because im the odd man out. i run a kawasaki. local machine shop told me 750 to make an arc looking flywheel. if your machanical you can build many performance parts. if youre not you must buy them.

i dont put anybody down. i will talk to everyone that calls me to fix their problem. no matter how long it takes. my wife gets though. i love racing and have been doing it now for 14 years. when it stops being fun or i die thats whe ill stop racing.

no matter what you think of this thread or the other threads it does come down to how competitive you want to be and how big is your wallet? after 14 years i still have not won a us (because thats where i started) or an arma points championship. i dont mean any ill will to anybody but facts are facts.
 
buy good parts and build the best parts if you can. dont get mad if someone out spends ya. every racer has an budget.

[BIG AL 202]

VERY WELL PUT JOHN! BE PROUD OF WHAT YOU HAVE CREATED. LIFE IS TO SHORT NOT TO, BUILD - RACE - ENJOY!   [ A BAD DAY RACING IS STILL BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT WORK!]

[TeamScoot]

A BAD DAY RACING IS STILL BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT WORK!

i couldnt agree more

[GRUBDIGGER]

thanks al. the next time i have a bad race day, ill remember that im not at work.

[tgames64]

On the other hand you could easily build a pretty sweet racing mower for $3,000 or less and once its built, you're probably not going to have to blow tons of money on it other than belts, chains, oil, gas, and maybe a new set of tires every other season. We still have one of the cheapest motor sports out there

Thats just it, it doesn't stop there. There is always something new coming out each season. It's ok, like John said, it's how competitive you want to be and how much money you want to spend! Speed and safety go hand in hand. Y'all have a safe race day.

[Rooster]

And if your lucky enough to live in Kansas...the money to build the mower is nothing, we could build new mowers every season for what we spend in gas!