Serpent: Snake In the Turf

Like a blade at the end of a pendulum, Monday has swung back around to remind us that we are mere mortals and we shouldn't take weekends for granted.  Spending most my weekend in an engine cleaner cloud of fumes, preparing a nitro rc car in the garage and listening to the bar down the street cheer on what I could only imagine was the Sunday's sermon(something about a mythic Seahawk defeating an orange Stallion), it all came and went too quickly again.


A few days ago I mentioned the folks bringing the "Come Drive With Us" documentary series is preparing to drop the second installment later this month. The 2014 Reedy Off Road Race:





I'm stoked. I thought Red RC did a fine job of covering the race action for us man-ams but I can always sit through more behind the scenes of the one of my favorite races. Looking forward to seeing more of the race and pinpointing the exact moments my amatureness would shine in an event like the Reedy and I would crumble under the pressure.  Ahh, RC racing. I love you so.


The first complete documentary the Come Drive With Us crew made was of a WCICS (Western Canadian Indoor Carpet Series) on road race. The video has some solid racing and plenty of interviews from some of the rad characters in the scene.


Here's a link to the entire episode if you've got the time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU-MG1Qb48Y


It's great to see the documentary style coverage of the races. These videos remove some of the mystery behind the podium photos and race reports. Racers are given personalities, not just paint schemes.

Speaking of awesome, After years of hiding in the 1/8th scale brush of The Netherlands, Serpent, the successful rc company known for awesome, high quality exotica, has finally hit the world off road 1/10th scale buggy market. And they are even starting to show up at my local track.

Serpant Spyder Off Road Buggy Prototype

Serpent was absolutely up to speed at the Reedy, with Mike Truhe having a great run with the Spyder in Mid motor configuration.

We saw the Serpent car first unveiled in Chico, California at the 2013 Worlds race. Albeit, a rear motor version of their new car.

There would be no worse time to release a rear motor 2wd drive buggy than the 2013 Ifmar Worlds. The event dominated by midmotor 2wd buggies, Serpant and Billy Easton showed up with a rear motor design, fresh off the CAD.

Spyder in the grass. Coiled up, and Faux Hawked out. 

Serpent threw caution to the wind and asked former Ifmar 2wd worlds winner Billy Easton to help design the Serpent Spyder. Though it looks like they cherry picked every good idea out there to design the Spyder, they waited until just this past month to give it a motor where consumers now wanted it.

Looking fantastic

Serpent has been on my brain in particular because I found myself on many of their YouTube setup videos when I cannonballed into the deep end of 1/8 scale nitro onroad car. These damn things are scary, and like any scared kid questioning life, I went to youtube.


I was expecting something from how to tune a chainsaw to how to glue foam tire onto rims. What I came up with instead, were fantastic, educational videos with Serpent's head Jedi, Michael Salven.




Treat yourself to the best How To on the internet


Serpent choosing to invest in these type of how to videos is above and beyond. Serpent want it's owners and all rc enthusiasts to do well. This video series punctuates that. Or Red RC is paying him a ton.


But tips should be shared, especially for noob-4-lifers like me. It's the only way to make us feel comfortable trying something new.  Even if it's a simple RC Car Action Pit Tip like, "try this zip lock bag for keeping tires in." Sharing is caring. And now my tires still taste fresh at lunch time.


With tips like this, me and my cars are read to shred. Unfortunately, I'm still gunnin for the smoothness of these dudes:

It's refreshing when brands venture out from what they do extremely well to the unknown. As customers, we get to dabble in new things as well. I hope for the best with Serpent's Spyder. What I've seen in person from the rear motor at my local off road track, things are looking good.


"Stretch, drink water and don't text in the crosswalk" BA


Thanks for reading, have a great Monday!
-Tommy