Fail safes? Is it a must have for a nitro truck or just a fancy gizmo? On a side note: why do us nitro racers loop two loops going into our exhausts?

Fail safes are a must for me. I wouldn't play without it. What the failsafe does is return the throtel servo to full brakes if:
- you run out of charge in your batteries
- if by any chance your throtel servo konks out &
- if someone switches on with the same frequency without asking.
Many a times I been in the 3rd senario and there was one time I crashed into a crub and my battery holder came off. It's not fun chasing after a car going at full speed!

Another way to avoid this is to attach a return spring to the servo horn. I run a Kyosho super ten and I attached the end to the spring to the bulk head brace so now if the by any chance the fail safe konks out on me i still have a return spring to bring my car to a complete stop.

regards.

Failsafes are a must-have for nitro powered r/c cars, boats, etc. I have used the electronic failsafes, which do a good job, but lately have decided to stick with a throttle return spring which works as well at a fraction of the cost.......... I can assume the only real reasons for the two loops in the tank pressure line is to keep any unwanted particles from blowing directly into your tank and to keep excess fuel from flowing directly from the tank into the pipe when you overfill the tank as we often do during quick pit stops for fuel when racing..........

The loops are to lengthen the pressure line. The theory behind it is to provide more uniform pressure to the tank by softening the pulses from the pipe.

Fail-safes for cars are a gimick. They are not worth the money, period. All you need is a throttle return spring. They cost less than $3 compared to $40, minimum, for a fail-safe. I ran gas for several years and never had a runaway. If you set them up right they don't put any strain on the servo at idle, just put enough tension on the overtravel spring. Its cheap insurance, worth every penny, and then some.

I run a Futaba PCM radio that has built in failsafe. But that only helps if someone jumps on your frequency. I watched as another persons car raced out of control while mine sat with the brakes on when he forgot to check the frequency board to see I was on it. A throttle return spring will not help for this. You need a failsafe. Or people to obey the rules.

But if you lose your battery or strip your throttle servor, nothing but a return spring will help.

I'm totally with gniessen on this. True enough it does cost a lot more than a return sping like gubbs3 said, but to me it's money well spent.