Roadkill for RC?

[Mad Ax]

Firstly, for those of you not familiar with Roadkill, it's an internet TV show run by Motor Trend, featuring a couple of guys who buy beat up old musclecars, hot rods and classics from junk yards, barns and Craigslist, and then try to road trip them with absolute minimal work.  Every episode has roughly the same format but they keep it fresh by mixing up the cars, locations and challenges, sometimes at random (throwing a dart at a map to choose a location in which to buy a car, for example).  It's become something of an internet sensation among petrolheads, so if you haven't seen it, get on over to Youtube and watch a couple of episodes.  Then come back and read the rest of this post.

Roadkill is pretty much my favourite TV show, and I vicariously live my petrolhead life by watching it instead of going out any buying old cars and doing road trips myself, not just because I don't have the space, time, money, tools or skills, but also because trying to do what Roadkill does in the UK would pretty much involve trying to drive a 1980s Nissan Prairie from London to Anglesey and getting the car confiscated and crushed before you get to Slough.

I've been wondering, for some time, how a Roadkill format could be transposed into RC.  Firstly just as something fun to do, and secondly as something that could make an interesting Youtube channel.  (I don't really watch a lot of RC-related stuff on Youtube and most of what I do watch is either boring, factually incorrect or same-old-same-old).  Over the last year my spare time and cash to go out to RC events has taken a hammering, and I'm find I'm often stuck in the house with a heap-load of project parts and nowhere to go do anything with them.

So I guess this post is really about getting some ideas for what would make a Roadkill-style RC show / blog / vlog / plan work.  How could a bunch of people, located in various parts of the world, come together to do something a little crazy, a little bit different to destruction-testing the latest RTR at the local skatepark or getting your mush in every shot of whatever international event you're attending next because you've created a Youtube channel that is more about you than about the cars you drive and the events you go to.

I think this also ties in neatly with the TC group build thread that came up a while ago.

I've only got the very outlines of an idea (literally like in the last 24 hours) so this is just thinking out loud, but how about this: a small collective gets together and comes up with a challenge.  A starting point is chosen - a la Roadkill it can't be anything NIB, the more basket-case the better.  Then some kind of challenge is set.  Maybe even the chassis and the challenge are chosen independently of each other, so we could end up with a complete mismatch.  (Like the Roadkill episode where Finnigan set the challenge of driving from California to Las Vegas via dirt roads, and Freiburger bought a lowrider Monte Carlo on hydraulics, leading to much hilarity and complete failure).

Then - like the group build challenge - the chassis is posted around to each of the participants in turn.  Each participant must complete a certain part of the build in their own way.  Budget would probably control itself (I can't imagine people will want to spend a fortune on a car that's going to be made of parts and posted all over the place) but would generally be "whatever you've got lying around or can get for cheap".

For example, maybe 3 people are involved.  Fred chooses the chassis: a complete basket-case TA03 touring car that he has lying around.  Bob chooses the body: a cracked old Monster Beetle that he stuck together with zipties six years ago before consigning it to the junker bin.  Jeff chooses the challenge: complete a mile-long off-road trail at a disused quarry near his house.  The choices are all made without knowing what the others have chosen - all they know is that Fred is going to choose a chassis, Bob is going to choose a body and Jeff is going to choose the challenge.

With the decisions made, Fred does a bit of work to the chassis to turn it into a roller.  Maybe he modifies the suspension for travel and changes the gearing to run bigger tyres.  He videos his work and progress and posts Episode 1 to Youtube while he posts the chassis to Bob.  Bob adds a set of beefy wheels and mounts his cracked old body.  His progress gets uploaded as Episode 2 while the whole crazy project is in the post to Jeff.  Jeff adds a power system and, knowing how crazy the route is, fits a winch from one of his crawlers.  Episode 3 goes onto Youtube.

Finally, Jeff goes to the quarry (hopefully with a support crew running TRX-4s and SCX10s, hey, Jeff?) and has videos his progress.  The crashes, the breakages, the trail-side repairs, all goes into the editing pot for Episode 4, after which, the whole crazy thing starts all over again.  This time Jeff chooses a chassis, Fred chooses a body and Bob gets to drive a local challenge of his choosing.

Whadya think?  Awesome or awful?  Wicked or woeful?

Any other ideas how something like this could be made to work, and/or made fun to watch?

[speedy_w_beans]

Time is the enemy.  Both scollins and I started new jobs this year, and that has cut into our RC time quite a bit.  The team build we were doing is moving as slow as molasses.  So, it all depends on each person's availability.  One guy with very little time will slow down the whole project; two guys with very little time -- well, maybe the project will get done in a few years...

[wolfdogstinkus]

I will volunteer my 6 year old as test driver, as long as the challenge doesn't involve strapping a load of fireworks to a TT01 to test rocket propulsion.  

[Kingfisher]

3 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

Firstly, for those of you not familiar with Roadkill, it's an internet TV show run by Motor Trend, featuring a couple of guys who buy beat up old musclecars, hot rods and classics from junk yards, barns and Craigslist, and then try to road trip them with absolute minimal work.  Every episode has roughly the same format but they keep it fresh by mixing up the cars, locations and challenges, sometimes at random (throwing a dart at a map to choose a location in which to buy a car, for example).  It's become something of an internet sensation among petrolheads, so if you haven't seen it, get on over to Youtube and watch a couple of episodes. 

Bad news. We cannot watch any more new Roadkill episodes on Youtube unless you pay for MotorTrend OnDemand. MotorTrend took RoadKill and Dirt Every Day off and now all of the fans are angry about it. They now only post teasers of upcoming episodes and want you to pay to watch them. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadkill_(Internet_show)

I do agree though. It was one of my favorite shows to watch.

 

Ideas for your channel. Have a rotating series of different things for each video. That way it doesn't get boring to make too quickly, or so you don't run out funding for every episode. Example, one episode could be a road kill video. Another could be a multi-part project build. Another could be tips, tricks, and how-to's; and then keep the rotation going with each new episode. 

For the Roadkill stuff, how about searching eBay for the cheapest most complete used RC you can find and make it run with limited tools and limited spare parts. Then put the car through a series of challenges to see how it holds up or compares to a more superior RC car.

[TurnipJF]

Following the Roadkill format, I'd say buy a really cheap car of a given class, used, worn, possibly even toy grade, make it race legal as cheaply as possible, then take it to a club meet and enter it in the day's racing. Plenty of classes out there, so scope for a good few episodes. 

[Kingfisher]

You could call the channel "RC Kill". or "Rcad Kill" for a play on spelling because the c looks like an o.

[Mad Ax]

@Kingfisher I have tried to reply to your post and now the forum has done that weird thing where I can't edit anywhere except inside the quoted text, so...

I thought there were still some old episodes of Roadkill still on youtube.  I did a search last night and some names came up and I thought they were early episodes.

Yes - they do make you pay for it now, but to be honest at around £5 per month I don't mind paying because there's so much motorsport and other cool stuff on Motor Trend.  I get that not everybody thinks it's worth that and I was pretty angry when they stopped airing new episodes on Youtube too, at least until I justified the subscription cost.  I'm not sure I'll stick with it once I've watched the entire back-catalog of Roadkill, Roadkill Garage and Dirt Everyday - I might cancel my sub for a year or so, then have another binge-watch month next year.

[Mad Ax]

Some great ideas from everyone tho - this isn't something I'm going to get going straight away, I've never even posted a vid to youtube before, let alone set up a new channel, and I don't have access to a high quality video camera.  But it's something I'm going to toy with over the winter break and I'm more than welcome for some other people to come on board if they want to get involved - I think it would be really tough trying to do it alone and keep it interesting.  Plus I like the idea of being able to post a project around and seeing what others come up with.

[_oliK]

I had the idea of copying Top Gear some years ago: Take the quarry idea, and the three guys. Fred buys a broken HPI and fits a 6.5 turn BL to a 13.5 ESC because Powaaahh. Bob buys a TT-01 because TT-01, and does nothing to it because stock TT-01 is all the TT-01 you need. And Jeff gets a M-03 that he adds crawler axles to  and manage to make the drivetrain work because...well no one knows why you would go with that car but he did. Then they attempt different challenges at he quarry, all their cars suck differently in the end one guy eats the paper with the results on it and claims the victory and the other decide that it doesn't matter anyway. Add lots of sarcasm and even more sarcasm and then some, et voilá!

And on that bombshell...

Though the Roadkill format would be way easier to implement. And fun, too. I'd watch but I don't have the time to participate.

[TurnipJF]

That sounds like fun! I'd watch that. 

[Kingfisher]

10 minutes ago, _oliK said:

And Jeff gets a M-03 that he adds crawler axles to  and manage to make the drivetrain work because...well no one knows why you would go with that car but he did.

I read somewhere on here that TL01B suspension will fit an M-chassis, though I cannot confirm it myself. 

[TurnipJF]

3 minutes ago, Kingfisher said:

I read somewhere on here that TL01B suspension will fit an M-chassis, though I cannot confirm it myself. 

I can confirm it - I have just such a vehicle in my fleet. 

[Kingfisher]

2 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

I can confirm it - I have just such a vehicle in my fleet. 

Got a pic? I'm tempted to turn my M06 Alfa Sprint into a buggy from just the thought of it alone. 

[TurnipJF]

1 hour ago, Kingfisher said:

Got a pic? I'm tempted to turn my M06 Alfa Sprint into a buggy from just the thought of it alone. 

I don't have one on file but I'll take one tomorrow. It looks rather like this, but blue:

 

[Re-Bugged]

1 hour ago, TurnipJF said:

I don't have one on file but I'll take one tomorrow. It looks rather like this, but blue:

 

Holy moly, thats just made my day seeing that!!! 

[Wooders28]

On 9/7/2018 at 3:38 PM, Mad Ax said:

trying to do what Roadkill does in the UK would pretty much involve trying to drive a 1980s Nissan Prairie from London to Anglesey and getting the car confiscated and crushed before you get to Slough.

That's all part of the fun! 😂

What about a £400 car across Europe? (We've discussed it, but family , work etc etc 😕)

http://rallyevents.co.uk/about/ 

 

On 9/7/2018 at 3:38 PM, Mad Ax said:

Then - like the group build challenge - the chassis is posted around to each of the participants in turn. 

That could work, but as said, time would be the major crunch point, some of my projects do span over a couple of years! 🙄

Not sure who would end up with the car, or would the plan be not to end it? Bit of a triggers broom car? 

Or, eBay it for charity? 

[Mad Ax]

1 hour ago, Wooders28 said:

Not sure who would end up with the car, or would the plan be not to end it? Bit of a triggers broom car? 

Or, eBay it for charity? 

Like a lot of the genuine Roadkill cars, it would end up in a parts bin somewhere and either get cannibalised for another episode, resurrected for a Thrash Battle, or possibly sold on, either for charity or to recover costs.  I suddenly have very little budget for RC so I'm not planning on this being a high-budget thing: I've got a lot of old chassis lying around doing absolutely nothing but I feel like doing something more fun than just bolting them together, throwing on bodies and basic running gear and saying "done".  Sharing the load with some other people seems to make more sense.

I'm also not expecting the finished articles to be very good.  Like Roadkill, it's more about spending minimal time and effort to get something 'just good enough'.  Rather like Top Gear, I suppose, where they so often deliberately overlook something or even set something up off-camera (Top Gear was always scripted), so you get some adventure.  Because Top Gear always had enough budget to ace every challenge they were set - they chose not to for entertainment value.

So let's say we're using a beat up old DF03 chassis (I have one of those) and we're trying to set a fast time around a course, but one of the driveshafts is broken beyond repair and nothing else fits, and we don't have the time or budget to replace it, so we just jam the diff with gunk and run it 3wd.

For the basic plan, the person who ends up with the car is the one who does the actual challenge, when the other two did most of the work building it.  Challenge Guy will be the one who fits the electrics (probably) because he can pull them out again when the challenge is over.  The electrics will probably be the most valuable part of the car.

Of course there could be some episodes that are done differently.  Assuming all participants are in the same country, we could meet up once or twice a year for a special build-off event, either cooperatively against a set challenge or individually against each other.  The main thing is that it's got to be fun to do, secondly it should be fun to watch, if we decide to turn it into a youtube channel.

 

[Wooders28]

17 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

So let's say we're using a beat up old DF03 chassis (I have one of those) and we're trying to set a fast time around a course, 

An Off road course,  then pass to the next , group, to alter for a crawler course , next group for mud bogger, next for sand rail , next dragster etc etc ?

[TurnipJF]

11 hours ago, Kingfisher said:

Got a pic? I'm tempted to turn my M06 Alfa Sprint into a buggy from just the thought of it alone. 

Here we go:

And with the shell off:

 

[Kingfisher]

2 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

Here we go:

Thanks! I'm adding that to my list. My M06 Alfa Sprint is getting the buggy treatment. Or, better yet. I now have another reason to get another M-Chassis. Could make a FWD buggy out of M05. That would be interesting.

[_oliK]

22 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

What in the name of sanity...?

[Mad Ax]

On 9/18/2018 at 10:27 AM, Wooders28 said:

An Off road course,  then pass to the next , group, to alter for a crawler course , next group for mud bogger, next for sand rail , next dragster etc etc ?

Well that's one option - although I was thinking that each episode we'd start again with fresh chassis and body (by fresh, I mean broken old heap of junk from the parts bin or local ads).  But that doesn't mean we couldn't re-use a chassis for the next episode, or have a special episode where we take a previous chassis and try to improve it.  I think it could be quite fluid like that.

[Kingfisher]

4 hours ago, _oliK said:

What in the name of sanity...?

Because Roadkill. 

[TurnipJF]

Indeed!

 

[TurnipJF]

10 hours ago, _oliK said:

What in the name of sanity...?

I gather it started as as experiment to see how a FWD FF-02-based buggy would handle, then turned into a FWD M-03 when my mate saw the picture of  the yellow Fiat 500 and decided to make something similar in model form.