I’m a certified (got the papers to prove it) shock nut. If there is a new one on the market, I want to try it. I’ve tried Associated Blue shocks as side shocks, HPI’s as side shocks, clear Lexan shock bodies. I’ve added slave cylinders to center shocks, used standard Associated VSC shocks, 18^th scale shocks, Silva shocks and IRS shocks, all in the search of getting a better shock combination and I have to say that each one of them was a learning experience and all of them serve a purpose. I was never real crazy about the standard VCS shock though and acknowledged the Silva and the IRS shock as a huge improvement over them.

RC4Less, owned and operated by Bruce Triplett, has been providing us with top of the line parts at affordable prices for years now. With his theory that all racers can not be sponsored, Bruce sells his products at "close" to sponsored racer prices so that all of us can race at a more affordable rate.

Now, he has come out with his own line of springs for our pan cars. These are not a re-package of another company's spring but a whole new set that Bruce had designed himself. Covering the whole line of springs that we use including: front springs, side shock springs and center shock springs he has all the bases covered even to 12th scale, progressive and the new "Bi-Rate" front springs.

I think when we look back on the year 2007 in the future, we will think of it as the year of change. We have seen more changes so far that will affect RC racing for years to come then we have ever seen before in this short a period of time and brushless motors are at the top of the list. The latest in the list of changes are Lipo batteries.

Even in real car racing there has been a major change with the introduction of the COT car in NASCAR. Even Micro Soft introduced a new Windows! I can't speak for NASCAR or Micro Soft but what we are seeing in RC racing are some of the most dramatic and sweeping changes that I have ever seen.

Over the last few months there has been an extraordinary surge in the use of Brushless motors throughout the country. Classes for 4300 and 13.5 have been showing up at all major races and 5.5 and 3.5 modified is beginning to sprout up as well. However, this is only half the step that our hobby needs to take if it is going to continue to progress and lead the way in racing technology. We have available to us now a battery that will out perform anything we have ever used and has a longer life span than we have ever dreamed of (if all of the manufacturer's claims prove to be true). Not only that but it could prove to be the perfect answer to eliminating some of the cost of racing because the packs are rated it term of "years" not months. Most LiPo manufacturers claim that their packs will take 1000 chargers before they need to be replaced. Now that begs the question: what do they call "usable" charges? Will they be full, race charges or will they fall off like standard batteries do?

Recently, IRS (http://www.teamirsrc.com/) introduced their new VCS type micro shock (as part of their Top Gun series) into the RC oval marketplace. Appearing at first to me as “just another side shock” I was sort of lukewarm about trying it. However, being a certified “shock freak”, I couldn’t pass them by without a closer look. So, recently when Dave Irrgang put on a build seminar for his new shock at a race that I attended at Thunder Road, I took the opportunity to get a first hand look at how well they are made.