ORIGINAL: Dale Gribble
Redcat Racing is not a manufacturer... They are an OEM reseller of Chinese designed and manufactured products branded for Redcat Racing. Please try and understand the difference. Traxxas is a manufacturer. You can't compare Redcat Racing and Traxxas because they are two entirely different business models. Traxxas designs their parts and cars/trucks and has end to end control over their designs. They can make all the changes and have all of the engineers, machines, tools, etc. needed by racers to have a competitive car/truck. Redcat has no engineers and is bound to the OEM manufacturer to make OEM parts for the models that they choose to import and sell in the US. Although a lot of pro or competition race trucks/buggies look relatively stock, they are actually highly customized from the factory.
If you understand this you will understand it as one of the key reasons why Redcat cannot support a race program.
I don't mind when people make negative comments about our products as those comments help us in the long term to make things better... but when comments are made and they are not entirely true, than I must chime in.
Redcat does employ an engineer that helps us to make changes and or make products from the ground up. The Ground Pounder is our own design for one, and numerous changes have occurred on other vehicles as well. We do not solely buy off the shelf vehicles from our factories but instead we review vehicles and make changes that we find are needed. Often times we pay for new molds to make these changes and incur a lot of expense which in turn ends up helping other companies similar to Redcat that buy from the same factories. For example, when we review a vehicle from one of our factories, we will give them a list of things we would like changed. Most of the time these changes are better than the original design and those changes trickle down to the other companies that buy from the same factories.
To say that we can't do certain things and that we are bound to the parts offered by a manufacturer is incorrect.
Just wanted to make that clear.
In regards to pro racers working for Redcat, when we find our business model shifting from the beginner & intermediate user, than we will consider this as an option. It has never been ruled out and is still discussed often internally.
Darin