CML Carisma 1/14th Scale Madness??

Firstly I appear to have made an error in my title, the Carisma has been rebranded to 1/16th Scale as it fits in to the BRCA Micro Section Rules and it is finally here and available to all! I say available, it is listed by CML as so (as reported on The ever popular UK Micro RC Forum) and will more than likely be making a public wide debut at next months BRCA Micro National!

At the moment there is only one car to have in the 1/16th 4WD section and that is the LRP Shark with the longer chassis. The Carisma will be the challenger to the Shark Domination of the previous 2 years.

The car itself is no stranger to the UK tracks and made its UK debut in August at the UK Micro X 2010. Not only did it make it's debut but in the hands off 1/10th Scale Off-Road Hero Phil Sleigh it absolutely dominated and won by over 10 seconds from reigning UK Micro Champion Mark Stiles and myself in 3rd.

Based on the above domination all the talk in the Forums has been about the availability of the car as every Tom, Dick and Harry appears to want one!

So how has the car fared since it's amazing debut? It's fair to say its been less amazing!! Due to it's width the car struggled at Round 1 of the UK Nationals at Broughton. Sleigh placed in the A Main but was low down as the car appeared to struggle on jumps. In Round 2 at Essex Sleigh qualified 2nd overall but after a breakage ended up at the back. Dudley was the next stop and Sleigh qualified 3rd and finished 2nd which has renewed interest from the public. The other Carisma to appear at the UK Nationals in the hands of Cris Oxley is yet to make the Top 10 in a round of the National Series. It is only fair to comment however that Cris is running Ready To Run version of the car and Sleigh the Pro Version. Cris did also place near the top of the B Main and has enjoyed podium success.

I for one will not be jumping ship (yet) to the Carisma. It would be the hope that the introduction of a new car will spur on growth in the Micro scene. Also, there is no guarantee that the Carisma will be able to break Craig Harris current domination of the series along with myself, Tony Bishop, Steve Biscoe, Danny Conway and many more!

Will the car become the must have car?? What will need to be done to upgrade from RTR to Pro?? Will the car spur on the growth that we (BRCA Micro Section) would like to see...... Only time will tell.

I'd just like to point out that all of the above is of my own opinion based on my thoughts (I don't want to upset people)!!