What's so great about Gassers/Large scale RC?

Well, where to start!? Firstly, it's the size. Who doesn't want bigger, heavier and meaner? Gas cars generally run in the 'large' scales. That's 1/6th and larger. Typically a 1/6th monster truck will be over half a meter in length, the HPI Baja (1/5th) is nearly a meter in length. These cars are very BIG.

Mostly though, it's convenience and low running costs. The main pros of running a gasser are the following...

Fuel is regular pump gas and 2-stroke oil, so it's very easy to obtain, and very cheap, compared to nitro fuel/li-po batteries etc.

Starting is easy, no pullstart blisters, no charging starter box batteries or rotostarts, the engines use a real spark plug like a 1:1 car, and start very easily once the correct simple procedure is followed.

Run time; you get over half an hour from one tank of gas, often over 40mins. That's a long time by any standards.

The engines do not need particular break in procedure, though many (including myself) recommend to take it easy just for the first tank while everything seats and settles.

They do not need tuning every time you go out either. After the first tank of 'break in', you will want to tune the engine for maximum performance. More detail on this later. The key thing here is that you tune them very easily, usually requiring only minimal adjustment, and you only do it once. They do not lose their tune like nitros, and the tune is much more abuse/temperature resistant. Usually you set and forget the needles.

There is no 'after-run' procedure to speak of either. You can either run the tank dry, or leave fuel in it, there's no problem leaving the fuel in there, just give it a good shake before you start it up the next time, to remix the gas and oil.

To sum it up, you just gas and go. It's very simple compared to most other fuel types. Just take the car out, throw it on the ground, turn everything on, and pull the starter. When you've finished, throw it back in the car. It really is that simple, and that's the beauty of large scale gas cars. No preparation, and no maintenance.

So, a quick mention of the cons? OK, expensive initial investment in the cars. They are not cheap. Mixing fuel isn't the most pleasant thing in the world, but thankfully you don't have to do it often. Hop up parts are expensive. Also worth mentioning, is that most large scale models have a weakness or two as supplied from the factory. This is simply because at the size they are, to include such high quality parts would push the price of the car outside the price bracket it is aimed at. Some cars have more weaknesses than others, more about that later. Most cars are more than acceptable, straight out of the box, especially the mid market and higher models. Lastly, they are also quite noisy.