Happy Holidays 2021 and Happy New Year 2022!
Hi everyone,
it seemed only right to dedicate an article to everything that has happened in recent years in the world of Street Mini 4WD here in Italy.
The Street Mini 4WD grows more every day, not even a pandemic has stopped us and this is a fairly important signal for all of us who strongly believe in all this.
The Street Mini 4WD is becoming a real sporting discipline, with its rules and principles, and we are all working for a better definition of every aspect of this motor activity and modeling.
The Street Mini 4WD teams are also multiplying here in Italy, as already happened in Indonesia, and the technical and sporting level of the various groups is also achieving excellent results.
But let's go in order.
Rules changes
We have made very few changes to the Street Mini 4WD rules in the last 2 years, thanks to the fact that, after more than 25 years, our rules are solid enough and tested that they do not need major changes and corrections.
From Indonesia we were told that it would be essential to define the minimum sporting holding requirements to be respected in a Street Mini 4WD event. We welcomed this proposal with pleasure, requesting the use of shoes and clothing suitable for running. It is above all a question of safety, an aspect that we always take into consideration. Furthermore, with large teams it is good that each team has its own uniform distinguishable from the other teams. So if you intend to create a new street team remember to choose different colors from the other teams and an original logo ;-) Contact us if you have any doubts, we are at your disposal.
As for the power source of the mini 4WDs, we are once again fully aligned with the Tamiya Japan regulation. This means that only batteries compatible with those currently marketed by Tamiya Japan are accepted on the Street, namely the Tamiya NeoChamp - LSD Ni-Mh 1000mAh batteries (nominal 950mAh) - as regards rechargeable batteries and any alkaline batteries. Even the latter have been reintroduced following what is happening in Indonesia and Japan, although, as usual, in the official races we want to use only rechargeable batteries for a matter of respect for the environment.
The reason for this alignment is the definition of a car class. In fact, a type of car is outlined:
- From its measurements;
- From its power source;
- From its engine.
We believe that the mini 4WDs are defined by the parent company, or by Tamiya Japan. Tamiya provides for a mini 4WD an FA-130 engine (in our case the Normal Motor, included in the mini 4WD), a series of precautions (the Street regulation respects them) and, of course, the batteries it produces. To have a parallel outside of Japan, therefore, in addition to using the NeoChamp in Street Mini 4WD, anything that is compatible or inferior to these Tamiya batteries will be allowed in Street Mini 4WD. In fact, nothing new for 15 years: Eneloop Lite, pink Fujitsu, Varta, etc ... are the usual batteries used by all street racers in official races.
For the new riders approaching the Street I also make one more clarification. Some have wondered why only the normal motor is used in the Street Mini 4WD.
We practice a sport that combines modeling with physical activity and, for this reason, it makes no sense to use motors that are more powerful and faster than a Normal / Stock motor. In fact, it takes very little to make a 21st century mini 4WD very fast and difficult to control for a sprinter, let alone for ordinary people. In other words, what matters, as always, is the tuning of your car calibrated to the driver's abilities, everything else has little value.
We work harder on well thought out setups, we study how to improve speed by looking after balance, batteries and the stock engine, rather than imagining what it would be like to use a more powerful engine on the road...
We have also written down the good habits that we veterans have always followed in the regulation, but which now had to be written down.
First of all, in team races, the racers who are competing in a race (not external teammates), can replace a teammate in case of difficulty. It is not allowed to swap cars but, in the event that a driver's guide stick is irreparably damaged, it is possible that the other racers of the team competing at that moment may lend their guide stick.
Furthermore, no intervention by racers is allowed outside the race: it is not possible to follow another driver during the race or give him spare parts or a guide stick.
It goes without saying that the cars entered by a racer (the first and the forklift) cannot be driven by another registered racer: the Street Mini 4WD identifies the union between car and racer as inseparable. In other words, car and driver are one entity. This is one of the foundations of the Street Mini 4WD.
Finally, some measures of the Wild class have been retouched to have a better performance of these cars.
Team Street and events
Numerous Street Mini 4WD teams have developed here in Italy. We are excited about everything that is happening and we hope that there will always be new teams to meet and compare at our annual national event (and beyond).
The national event, the Street Italian Cup, involves participation in teams and, unlike the other annual Cup events, during the Italian Cup races, races are held that represent everything that is Street Mini 4WD at that moment. What does it mean?
A street team always has a minimum of 3 elements per team (and a maximum of 5) able to cover the three specialties that meet in the individual events (Challenge). The three specialties present in a Challenge event represent the basis of Street Mini 4WD racing: I am referring to the fast, mixed and technical sections.
So far, an annual Coppa and an Italian street cup have nothing different.
What makes the national event different is the presence of additional Street Mini 4WD elements.
Coinciding with the reintroduction of the Wild class from the 1990s in 2018, the national event features a race where each team drives a Wild car. This means that the Wild car represents the only case in which all the drivers of a team use a common car in the race, which does not belong to any specific team but represents the team itself.
The national event also includes sections where the track is present: the Street Mini 4WD also foresees that the mini 4WDs can go on the track. Keep running everywhere!
The tuning competitions
The car and the driver in Street Mini 4WD are one, but if a driver cannot drive a teammate's car, it means that we will no longer have races where it will be necessary to change the set-up of a car during a run? No, it won't be. In fact, from 2022 a novelty will come into play in the Street Mini 4WD events.
2022 foresees the introduction of a new racing format. This format provides for a team consisting of a minimum of 3 riders and a maximum of 5 (exactly like in a Cup event).
The new format is called "Tuning Races": it foresees the execution, for an entire Tuning type event, of relay races (like in a Cup) in which the "3 racers drive only one car." And this is the big difference from a cup event.
The difficulties to face for the team are mainly given by the management of this ONE MACHINE which represents the team.
In other words, what is marked as ""Wild Races" on the Italian Street mini 4WD calendar is a special version of the Tuning Races, where the team's car is a Wild."
Finally, there is an "aesthetic" rule for each car of the team (and therefore also for the Wild car of the events on the calendar): it must have logo and colors that reflect the team uniform.
The first Tuning Races event is January 23, 2022 in Corsico, start preparing your Wild!
Will we also find a Tuning race in the Street Italian Cup 2022 in addition to the Tuning dedicated to the Wild? Who can tell? Surely after the Street Italian Cup of 2022 we will see some good ones!
Happy Holidays 2021 and Happy New Year 2022!
Gianfranco "ShInKurO"
