RC Car Racing

[RedlyneTheory]

When I was younger, my main hobby was RC Car Racing. I was big into the on road cars early on, then shifted to off road racing as I progressed in the hobby. There were a few tracks in my area that set up some great organized racing, and one of them is still going strong today. The hobby left me with some great memories and filled my need for racing and competition. I always wanted to race real cars or go karts, but my parents would have never paid for it, so RC's were a cheap alternative that I could fund with my high school job. Today I came across a old photo of me holding one of my cars, and it sent me into heavy ponder mode about getting into racing again. The technology has progressed since I participated in the hobby, and the style of the off road trucks has changed pretty significantly. I'm going to go check out the races next Saturday night, and see how the attendance and 'vibe' is. If its a nice crowd I think I am going to grab a truck and jump into the action. Have any of you THPers ever been into RC car racing?

Here is a video of the pros driving at my local track at the last big Cactus Classic event.

[video=youtube;A5VT-T0nOng]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5VT-T0nOng[/video]

 

[Smallville]

I never raced, but I ran the scoring for a huge track here in the Kansas City area, Timberline Raceway in Osawatomie, Kansas.








He also has a big oval track.

 

[Scrap Iron]

Man that it awsome I have always wanted to try something like this but I don't think we have anything around. I was into the boats and always took them onto the ponds and lakes it was a blast and have been thinking about trying a helicopter.

You gotta do it dude.

 

[RedlyneTheory]

Man that it awsome I have always wanted to try something like this but I don't think we have anything around. I was into the boats and always took them onto the ponds and lakes it was a blast and have been thinking about trying a helicopter.

You gotta do it dude.

Cool man! I found a wicked looking indoor road track in calgary. Im not sure how close it is to you though. http://www.carcar.ca/wiki/wiki.php?p=CarCar&cscid=1

Thats sweet you were into boats. I always wanted to try them out, but never did (we don't have much water anyways, haha.) Did you have nitro or electric ones?

And helicopters look awesome, my neighbor was really into them and I enjoyed watching him fly his. The major thing that held me back from getting one is that the learning curve is crazy on them and it would be very very costly to learn how to fly them well.

I never raced, but I ran the scoring for a huge track here in the Kansas City area, Timberline Raceway in Osawatomie, Kansas.

He also has a big oval track.

Scoring but no racing? Boo!

That track looks great smalls! It would be a challenge to race on the loose dirt like that. Its only 45mins from where I grew up too!

 

[GregDan]

I know a guy at work that is crazy into these. I think he does the off road stuff but not too sure. Seems really cool and I love to watch but I dont think I would be very good at it.

 

[Scrap Iron]

Man that's great it's not that far from me. The course is nothing like what you have though.
My boats were just the electric ones but they are a blast and would be fun to have with a bunch of people. Man you now have me looking at entry level heli's.
How does scoring work? He chutt's and races we need video's.

 

[RedlyneTheory]

I know a guy at work that is crazy into these. I think he does the off road stuff but not too sure. Seems really cool and I love to watch but I dont think I would be very good at it.

Thats cool man, in my opinion anyone can be good at it with enough practice (much like chutting ).

Man that's great it's not that far from me. The course is nothing like what you have though.
My boats were just the electric ones but they are a blast and would be fun to have with a bunch of people. Man you now have me looking at entry level heli's.
How does scoring work? He chutt's and races we need video's.

My track does scoring by with transponders. You toss one into your car and every time you cross the finish line it logs your position and lap times.

Yeah offroad and onroad are different breeds of racing, onroad is blast too though. A indoor onroad racing track would be tempting to me, haha. They have indoor offroad tracks in California and other places here in the states, if they had that up where you are it would be gold.

And a entry level heli would be awesome haha. From what I have heard, if start with 3-4 channel ones and work your way up to the 6-7 channel helis it is much more palatable to learn how to fly them.

Thats cool you had electric boats too. I have always been more into electric over nitro. And yeah, more people would be cool. Throwing some buoys into the water and racing boats would be epic haha.

 

[Smallville]

We would have the guys run their car over the loop before every race to make sure their transponder was hitting. If someone didn't have one, we had rentals. It was the racer's responsibility to make sure their transponder was connected and working. Easier to do when they had their own personal transponder.

 

[slodsm]

I drag raced from the mid 90's til 2003 and raced MX from time to time in there too when I wasn't injured. I took a break for 3 years and raced off road RC heavily. It was every bit as expensive as golf for me hahaha, I raced 1/8 scale buggy, 1/10 scale stadium truck, and 1/10 scale electric stock buggy. I probably had more money tied up in spare parts, batteries, chargers, tires, servos, com cutters, bits, and on and on and on than a lot of people do in their actual cars.

Raced everywhere from Virginia to South Carolina with a good friend of mine, we both had a sponsorship from a hobby shop to cover tires, fuel, and parts so that helped. I finally got tired of it because I'd raced real cars for too long and the thrill wasn't the same so I went back to the real thing. I still wish I had my Kanai 2 with an RB Concepts WS7 now and then, that thing was an absolute beast!!!

 

[RedlyneTheory]

I drag raced from the mid 90's til 2003 and raced MX from time to time in there too when I wasn't injured. I took a break for 3 years and raced off road RC heavily. It was every bit as expensive as golf for me hahaha, I raced 1/8 scale buggy, 1/10 scale stadium truck, and 1/10 scale electric stock buggy. I probably had more money tied up in spare parts, batteries, chargers, tires, servos, com cutters, bits, and on and on and on than a lot of people do in their actual cars.

Raced everywhere from Virginia to South Carolina with a good friend of mine, we both had a sponsorship from a hobby shop to cover tires, fuel, and parts so that helped. I finally got tired of it because I'd raced real cars for too long and the thrill wasn't the same so I went back to the real thing. I still wish I had my Kanai 2 with an RB Concepts WS7 now and then, that thing was an absolute beast!!!

Its awesome you raced for awhile there slodsm. I totally hear you about the thrill not being the same as the real thing, I would much rather race real cars than RC haha.

I ended up grabbing a SC10 after seeing that the RC racing community is alive and well in AZ. I have been so busy moving that I have only had the chance to drive it in the street so far, but I can't wait to get it on the track. The short course truck chassis is pretty cool, I like the more realistic look over the stadium truck.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[RedlyneTheory]

I had my first race with my new truck last night. I was able to secure the fastest qualifying time and bring home first place in the Novice A Main. I missed racing so much.



(My truck is the orange one)

 

[Playdough]

Man, I did not need to see this thread. Smooth driving man, looked pretty solid. I didn't race any as a kid, I was more in to the bashing side of things. But a guy at my store was into it, and I went to the track a couple of times with him and its got me pondering pretty big getting back into it and doing the racing side of it this time. We have one outdoor track in Indy that I know of and the same place as a real tight indoor carpet off road track as well. I like the new stadium truck movement in the racing, much more real gives some ability to rub a little..lol

 

[vision]

its been a while since i did off road , but i do onroad now Dec. i will be in Los Angeles for the glarc toys for tots i will also play a round of golf with a friend
while there

 

[Scrap Iron]

Redlyne you have that thing under control man. Nice driving dude

 

[asw7576]

Damaged Pistons and Sleeves due to manufacturing defects : see the scracthes :bulgy-eyes:

 

[Nighthawk117a]

Damaged Pistons and Sleeves due to manufacturing defects : see the scracthes :bulgy-eyes:

Those pistons make for great key chains. I have a blown piston from my old tmaxx 2.5 as one.

 

[erock9174]

First time seeing this thread.

Used to race 1/10th scale oval pan cars back in 2000 until around 2007. Those were the days.
I pretty much ran the stock class and managed to win 3 National Championships (1 down in Sandhills NC and 2 in Akron, OH which was my home track).
Mostly banked capet oval but also raced flat carpet, asphalt oval and a little cap tire concrete oval.

Good times. But way too much debt for a hobby

Quit racing and golf now.
My sons are 7 and 10 and would like to get them involved into the hobby, but mainly just bashing around the yard.

 

[bozack]

Reviving this thread from the dead, I used to race off road when I was a teen before I got my real car, then dropped it like a hot potato.

When I got older and nostalgic I picked it back up for a bit but never raced just went to practice, closest track is like an hour away and the times you can go aren't super convenient, plus other hobbies took priority.

Now all my stuff is old and outdated again....two of the cars I can't even get parts for as they are discontinued. When covid first started I bought a new one thinking I'd pick it back up but its just sitting in my basement still in the box.

More into golf and trap shooting now, constantly think of selling all the RC stuff off.