Spoiler Alert!!! It's Monday.

It's Monday! And, dang, it's crazy weather out there.  Unless you happen to live in sunny, Southern California.  Whether sunny or sunny, Southern Californians tough it out. And that means so did the brave, weather proof Reedy Racers. So brave, they found the time to run a demo "Classic" race with a field of aluminum tub RC10 re-releases. Even Brian Kinwald drove the up and coming World's car re-release .

AE talked BK into showing the world how to run a 7 turn brushless in a re re. 

As a total AE fanboy with access to high speed internet and youtube, i was stoked.


See if you can tell who was running 6 gears or who had a slipper and a stealth


The re-re-relics weren't the only vintage AE cars in the spotlight, either. Former world champion, Ryan Cavalieri took two vintage cars, designs over a decade ago, to win The 2014 Reedy Race:

Podium girls holding toy cars designed before they could spell "remote control."

It was a fantastic battle til the end. Lucky for us, all twelve of the invitational rounds are available on youtube.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the U.S., it's frozen. I really don't envy folks sitting at pit tables in warehouses out there, waiting hours between runs and volunteering to marshal or take out the trash, if just to move the legs and get some heat going. Frozen hands don't work well in cold warehouses and Monster seems to be the only beverages available at tracks instead of hot tea or coffee. The good news is, if you're creative enough and you drink enough sugary,  caffeinated neon green Monster, you too may end up with AWESOME ideas like this:


That XO-1 in your closet that you destroyed in one high speed run may have a second life after all.



Good or bad weather, racing remote control cars with a group or club is more than just a hobby, it's an institution and a craft.  RC cars offer the die hard racers something to focus on and to hang out with others because of. An opportunity to creatively and scientifically tune, practice and develop a social skill or two. Plus, we get every reason to drill holes in things.

"This should shave a tenth or two off my "Devil Went Down To Georgia time."

We're racers, and we want to surround ourselves with inspiration to go faster. Whether that's watching the racers at the track or following pros on Live RC. With the internet, the footage of rc racing is still gaining momentum. Fortunately, there is no lack of setup and race information out there.

"Siri, I need the C4.2 Cav Setup from Round 3 Heat two of Invitational Reedy 2014"

Even though youtube race edits are quick and liverc is usually, well, live, I can't help but want more, clearer, and quicker. We're into speed, action, and results! Because, we're kind of nerds like that. Kind of...

1/8th the nerds we are today

Okay, it's Monday. You found this blog. And I got that "deep desire to have streaming video of any obscure Mid-West snake race from 1997 streamed to my phone with the command of my voice" off my chest.

Thanks for reading!

-T

Reedy Off Road Race

This weekend is the twentieth running of the Reedy Off Road Race. Named after the man, the myth, the one time aspiring Harlem Globe Trotter, Mike Reedy.

The Reedy race is awesome. It's the first big race of the year for most off road racers and the format is a bit different from what we see in off road. Two wheel drive and four wheel drive drivers go head to head for 12 races over the course of a weekend. 6 Rounds of 2wd then 6 rounds of 4wd.

Please allow DJ Scotty Ernst to serenade the sweet sounds of battle into your speakers:



Super close racing, right?!?! They are the best of the best, so that kind of racing should be expected.
Say what you will about the bumpy oval they are racing on, this is quality sports tv and dramatic racing. Top notch coverage and they invited everyone you want to see race. Last years invite preview trailer touches on some of the history and vintage footage:




The rules are strict all the racers are using unmodified control tires and foams. And cleaning tires in a control area.

That's right, no personal tire washers at your pits not even a personal sauce can be used.

Sauce awards will be missing from this years Reedy Race

Top racers rise to the top. This race shows who's still got it, who may have lost it and who we should be watching for in the next year.

My eyes are glued to the screen to watch more of these races and youtube is delivering the goods.

I'm not going to post all the links to each round, but dang, watching these racers go from 9th or last and work their way up is incredible.

Have a great weekend. Hope you can make it some club races and support your local track!

IT"S FRIDAY... But WWME?

Question: What would Masami Eat?

Answer: Taco Bell.

Yup, it's true. The greatest RC car racer, Masami Hirosaka runs for the border. Proof is provided by this LiveRC.com interview with Masami. For the food of the most DOMINATING RC CHAMPION, skip to the 16 min mark:



Why is the Masami being interviewed at a race he has never won or even entered ? No one knows.

But, if your flat bill, pit board and hoodie have enough real estate for another sponsor, take nutritional (and most certainly, foodie) advice from the greatest; and consider a fourth meal.

There are a few other topics and bits of advice in this interview. I'd highly recommend it in it's entirety... while doing something of value like video games or cutting a new wing.

This leads today's post to the topic of the RC10 chassis. There's going to be another re-release from Associated. The RC10 Worlds Car. I'm stoked. And so is most everyone that didn't spend $400- $1200 on new-in-box Worlds kits just a year or two ago.

Ebayers and Craigslister are reconsidering their retirement hordes.

Team Associated has been given the honor of breeding some of the greatest racers the hobby has seen. Masami was in there. If you dig far enough into their website, you could find links to custom worlds dominating gems like this:

I think there's an RC10 antenna mount in there.

Anyways... it's Friday! Get to T Bell at some point. Take your cars out to the tracks, if time and life allows. If you do end up winning, party like it's 1993

17.5 Stoked Racing

It seems this is the generation that has forgotten what mod and stock were intended to describe. Stock asked that you don't fiddle with the motor. Less motor asked for less driver. That meant cheaper cars and slower speeds.

Stoked on stock!

We live in THE BEST ERA for RC Car racing. We dont have to discharge batteries, cut comms, get transponders between heats, or keep a handful of tx/rx crystals. We got it good. Perhaps too good.

All the secrets are out. The cars are amazing. The tire compounds are unreal. The setups are on the web and in our phones.

Today's stock racers are stuck idling in a hobby that was built on discovering what worked and what didn't.

Stock racers are filling the time between heats racking their brains for a way to go faster under current stock rules. Imagining a new way to push the constrictive envelope. Trying to find that cutting edge. It now takes MORE TIME to be prepared for a stock race, than mod. I can understand the appeal, but there are other things to do at a club race night.

Comm lathe between runs. All in the name of late 90's speed.

What my dischargers wanted to be.

As pretty as my dischargers ever got.

Look around at your next club race. Look who's relaxed, prepared and smiling. They've been racing a while. They remember the old days when they couldn't turn their radios on between heats, when they were discharging with bulbs, when they were hardwiring batteries on top of doing their tires and setup. And I bet they're racing modified.

Those relaxed-looking racers are enjoying their time at the track. They're not hiding anything, no winks, whispers, not looking to shave grams, lower rotating mass, second guessing their battery's power. Not blaming someone for not getting out of the way or being worried about "that rookie marshal's reaction time."

Modified racers have time on their hands! They are volunteering for marshaling, Cleaning their cars and pits. They're sharing stories, watching the races, learning new lines, studying and discovering!

If you end up in the top 4 of 10 stock guys after three months, my advice is boost that esc you paid good money for. Start clearing that triple every time. Put in a lot of practice with it. Explore what your modern piece of kit can do at it's true limit.

17.5's should be handed down to the kids and newcomers with ambition but still running their rtr's electronics. Stock just doesn't mean "cutting edge" to people.

Apparently Trinity measures in milli-yards

To me, stock racing is like racing bicycles with training wheels. That’s how we learn.

Stock racing is full of cut gears, large rotors, no slippers, one day motors, warmed lipos, and cars that wear out way too soon..

Unfortunately (and most likely fueled by the RC companies,) the “stock” class has ended up being training wheels - but they're titanium, drilled out, carbon reinforced, ceramic bearing, good-for-one-race training wheels.

Go On The Tone

Here we go!