Every Second Counts

Right now it's snowing in Portland. And although the rest of the country may start the car a few minutes a head of time to get the defrost going, here in Portland, it means the city shuts down. Even the "worst day of the year" bike ride is canceled. Nature is calling us out.

I'm at home today plotting my blog driven world domination.  While catching up to what youtube has to offer.




Driving home from work yesterday in my 2wd pickup as the snow really began to come down, I felt I had more "fun"with traction than I normally get in the dry. The 100 or so horse power that the old carberated 4 banger produces simply does not encourage the type of driving I normally do while living the dream once a week at the track.

Those first practice laps, tires still dripping with sauce and myself wondering why I didnt just take a second to sweep, or check my ride height, are always the roughest. My head fills with doubt. Is the diff any good, is the slipper too tight, are my tires wearing in the right direction in the right part of the tire?

While driving the pickup truck home yesterday, I felt I could have made some fine tuning. Added some balast over the drive tires, dropped some psi, geared up while driving, eeeeasy on the brakes and down shifts... not unlike controlling an RC car.

Years ago, after a Saturday of racing touring cars (HPI RS4's with the latest stock motors) A friend of mine and I had been entering the freeway and his jeep started oversteering in the rain. We were both new to driving and oversteer was a new sensation to us. He counter steered and stayed calm. Executing a perfect drift, through the onramp and seamlessly we were up to speed and driving along normally.

We both went silent with awesome and finally broke the silence with huge laughter. He told me that was exactly what he would have done if racing his rc car. We concluded that rc was teaching us to stay calm and find control.

Driving home yestery was awesome. Tons of fun in the snow while driving my truck.

Today, I'll be spending quality time training my cat to glue tires and blog.  Maybe build a snowman. Maybe go for a mountain bike ride. But I will definitely not be at work.

Out on the forums, folks are still finding ways to engineer the perfect car and promote their genius while making sure to belittle any opposing views. It is great to know the hobby is full of idea people, just in case the educated, paid, professional engineers are kidnapped while trying to go see their favorite events in Sochi.

If you're a fan of debating or if you know you're going to buy the latest kit available by your favorite brand or drivin by your favorite racer, there's really no reason to be negative on the forums. Chances are, if you have to start a reply with "Not meant to be a personal attack..." you are personally attacking someone. And that sucks. Save your breath for your right to see men's figure skating. Nothing is more badass than doing something that you're not supposed to, the way you want to, and then receiving a gold fucking medal for it.

Geeezus:




Haters gonna hate. Let's see those rear motor, standard measurement cars kick some ass.

Run what you brung, stay positive, and rebuild that diff already!
-Tommy

Cross Training/ Information Recovery

Within our hobby are some great debates still happening. The kind of debating that comes down to taste and opinion, which we are all entitled to. Merica. Whether indoor off road should have synthetic surface or is ball differentials should use carbon ball bearings, everyone comes from a different background to a conclusion that is "right" for them.

I certainly have my own opinions, but I don't think the world is ready for them. Plus track builders have yet to figure out alligator pits between jumps.

So, when the authorities are arguing, I listen close for nuggets of wisdom and discard the rest. When the debate train looks like the next stop is nowheresville, where one color wheel really is fastest, I turn to more light hearted entertainment.

One thing we can all agree on is that RC cars and awesome go hand and hand.

LiveRC had a great article Wednesday that reminded me of some positive cross over between other activities and rc cars.

Brain turned off. Just a bunch of fun found while cruising the boob tube...



Tebo and some sketchy ramps:

Around 2 min Kerry cruises to Bam's:





Real talk. With Mark Weir:




Whoa. Safety first.

RC Racers are coming from all walks of life. For someone like me who comes from probably different background, it's great to get together with folks at the races and see fun is our common denominator.


Getting closer to the weekend!!!!!!
Burrr,
-Tommy

1/10 Gas Trucks- Mid Motor Zombies

I can't shake it, I'm a dreamer. With every winter I start to imagine the world outside the office, the garage, and the indoor tracks. The world that I can run free, sans rain boots and umbrellas. A world where the tracks are groomed and lit up late into the night for summer racing. A world not unlike the one we saw at The Dirt Nitro Challenge this past year.





If there's an RC bucket list. And I had one. I'd put that on it. Along with an RC surfboard. Meanwhile, I'm gonna bookmark that youtube page and look forward to coverage of both the E and nitro 1/8 buggy races coming up on Feb. 23rd.


Nitro rc cars and trucks are nothing new to the hobby. But they have always remained fringe, no matter how "ready to run" they are sold as. It sems to be a basic fact, ask any adolescent(or adolescent at heart) what they're prefer, the gas powered or the electric?

And so goes that power lusting consumer. Down the path of hard to tune high speed needles, poorly charged receiver packs and glow ingnitors, and into their new life with a funny diesel smell in the corner of their garage.


I think this is where the racer splits off from the hobbyist.

The racer knows that with maintenance comes lower lap times and thus, a rewarding experience at the track.

The hobbyist, on the other hand is a tinkerer playing a god. They understand that this insane orchestra of gas, electronics and control over the infernal beast is the satisfaction. Getting around the track -at all- is enough to warrant a standing applause, and thus a rewarding experience at the track.

Zeus! No talking on the driver's stand.

There is a rare time that the hobbyist will survive the nitro hangover and become a racer, but when it happens, when they decide to play as mortal, they bring with them the nitro thirst.

Events like the Dirt Nitro Challenge and the Silver State and ROAR Nats and IFMAR Worlds keep off road nitro alive. These events are mostly buggy(and, ahem, truggy), but there was time when the little scale that could, tenth scale, showed up because it had something to say.

The conversation to bring those "little guys" back has sprung again in this LiveRC Talk It Up article.

Bringing a dead category like 1/10 Gas Truck back to life in RC sounds tough, but I'm all for it. The Nitro SC10GT short course from AE was a huge spark, but I dont think it really caught on. They made videos and had some real drivers show everyone the possibilities.  Sure, they're a little clumsy, and probably slow compared to everything else... but they're nitro!!!






The Nitro Truck was alive at an unfortunate time. Those days were before youtube and during the peak of the rap/rock genre of music existed. As this archaeological discovery shows here:







1/10 scale nitro truck would be an awesome zombie to resurrect. Not very difficult to find an RC10gt or gt2 rtr on Craigslist for about a $100 and you can hawk all that rtr electronics to a crawler(crawlers are always looking for new controllers for some reason. Perhaps the controller wheel offers good rock grip?)

The sun seems to be showing itself a little more every day here. Now, is right about the time of year when I should be squirling away funds for outdoor offroad wheels and tires for my buggy. But I have a feeling I'll decide against doing that rational, and reasonavble task and instead get the old RC10GT back together for backyard summer action. We'll see if that after run oil put in a decade ago did it's job.

Craigslist RC Roulette: Buyer Be Stoked

We made it through Monday. Here's your virtual pat on the back.

It's a race night for me. So I'm trying to get work done with gear loaded in the car, one foot out the door and my eyes on all ways to go faster.

While checking LiveRC for a live feed of my local track to see if my favorite pit table got gobbled up, I came across some of their "breaking news."  As reported by Liverc, Kyosho is set to release the highly anticipated SC6.

Summed up and Taking IiveRC's report completely out of context, In breaking news fashion LiveRC has reported that Kyosho anounced that no details are available. Fortunately LiveRC assumes: "it will follow in the footsteps of the RT6 and include many of the same features and geometry."

In rc, we need to know more! But I can handle it. LiveRC continues to provide great content and maybe the best product placement stickers on rc cars world wide. The beacon.

The Swoosh of the RC world

Being a mostly indoor, dirt off road dude, I dont often see the "behind the scenes' when it comes to carpet off road track building. Here's a quick look at what the time and labor required to setup what looks like an awesome track in France:

RC racing is effing addicting. And Like most addictions, I want it cheap and fast. Fortunately, for addicts like myself, there's Craigslist.

Yup, Craigslist. The website that let's you trade your old kitchen cabinets for some dude's old bathroom tile. Win, win for cheapskates all around.

Normally, I can be found trolling for couches to drive from the apartments to the nice areas of town and leaving on corners. But every other Friday, I like play Craigslist RC Roulette. This is a leisurely game I like to play in which I type in "RC" in the for sale section and max it out at my entire paycheck.

Sorted my by price,high to low, this caught my imagination recently:

Rc surfer board shark dude - $175 

Rare rc surfer
Rtr
Charger
Battery remote
Used but in excellent condition

SAY WHAT!

Immediately, thoughts of spring break go into my head. And naturally.. I gotta get this action packed shred machine racing around drunken college kids on personal water craft in Lake Havasu.. STAT!

Marshall!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whoa. Surely, these are similar thoughts as to when someone first sees a short course truck or any rc driver with a smile on their face. Dreams of racing a truck racing down the coast line in the Baja 1000

SC Trucks headed south

So, I snap out of my dream weaving and study the ad a little more. The keen observer may notice some linkage at the feet and the words "Self-Righting". This could be that there is some tech in this toy.  And if we use that controller to determine scale... could this be in the 1/5th scale neighborhood?


And 5th scale and beaches go together like sand and electronics.

Holding the transmitter switch stance

I know, I too thought the price was crazy. $175 in craigslist currency?? (which really means "$80 , If you can get here on my lunch break.")


$80 for a action packed beach party shred machine seems like a solid deal.


But, I had to know more. And YouTube delivered

This kind of awesome stopped all my momentum in the roulette i was currently in. This was now honest stoke.

In one brief video clip, I remembered all that is rc racing. I saw the light. I remembered why folks show up to the track with nothing but a charger and a battery. They are pumped to get out and make it happen.


Gonna try and bring that kind of stoke to the track tonight.  The stoke alone has yet to get me to the top of the podium, but it might be enough to remind me to take a deep breathe, relax a little, and try and remember: It was me that rolled my car over and that marshal is probably texting someone important.


The way I look at it, tomorrow's hump day.

We got this.

Thanks for reading

-Tommy

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

2014 IFMAR Worlds: Not Taking It to the Streets

The controversy began  in early in 2013 when IFMAR let the world know they would be racing the 1/12 scale Worlds race on asphalt.  Literally, "Taking it to the streets."

That early announcement didn't settle well with a lot of racers now preparing to race Worlds in Florida. But racers were now scared that the action would be out in a sandy, Walmart parking lot doing figure eights around manatee mailboxes.

So, IFMAR has made a change to the program 1/12 scale racers will be expecting at Worlds this year in Florida.

By popular demand, they've decided on carpet.

"Dear all,

Taking into consideration the predominant general feelings and thanks to the goodwill and co-operation of the organiser IFMAR has commonly agreed to revert the 2014 IFMAR world championship 1/12th from an Asphalt to a Carpet surface race.

We are well aware that this may come over as a bombshell. Many people will have to reconsider their engagements due to this important new element and its short notice.
A swift and ample communication flow is by then fundamental.
We trust you to spread this important information at your very earliest convenience to all concerned levels under your control.

Yours in the sport,

Frank Mostrey,
IFMAR electric sections."

Since the 1/12 scale category has traditionally been fought out on temporary carpet tracks in hotels and gymnasiums world wide, it does make sense.

These 1/12th scale cars are precision instruments.  Running just millimeters off the ground. Making even the most highly prepared Off Road World competitor look like an amateur contestant at your local mud bog tractor pull.

This would rule. No joke.

Carpet has been the level playing field, world wide for a variety of reasons. It's more consistent, it's mobile and really someone found out that a model car 3mm off the ground, is pretty useless in your everyday parking lot behind the hobby shop. 

That doesnt mean asphalt racing doesnt still exist 1/12th scale, though. In fact just a few Worlds ago, the who's who of the "Jedi" class took it to the streets.

Here is a solid eight minutes of fantastic 1/12 action on asphalt:

The problem is, that fantastic track pretty unique and highly maintained. It is basically a scale race track that would be proudly displayed in the detailed scenery of a model town, and not commonly available for for the everyday club racer.

So, Florida will be indoors, on proper carpet as the world has come to prefer.


RC Racers are not a large, or particularly vocal group of hobbyists. So, when changes need to occur for the good of the majority, it is good to know that promoters and organizations listen. IFMAR listened and decided to give the racers what they felt was the best option for a level playing field at a world wide event. Good on IFMAR.

Thanks for reading!
-Tommy

Totally Kyosher: Lazer ZX-6 and Ultima SC6 Release

Super Bowl Sunday!!!!

And I'm pumped.

While trying to order deep fried potato slices straight from France late one night, in preparation of the upcoming super bowl, I came across the website The-Kyosho-Store.com.

As seen in French ads

I can't say I was surprised to see the Ultima SCR and Lazer ZX-6 in an ad, but I still would have liked to see photos. I am an AE Fanboy for sure and have always been impressed by Kyosho as well.

Well... as long as the kit is Kyosher.

A Kyosher kit refers to the fact that Jared Tebo himself, has hand packaged your kit, and he oversaw the humane sacrifice of an RC10B4.2 to the RC gods for your first win.

I agree, that's absurd. No sacrifice is humane.

Even with my cereal eating, cartoon watching, spray painting too many cars- imagination, I could do nothing but take guesses at what they would look like...


Ultima SC6
Short course has seen a slight decline in popularity these days. It could be just the indoor season, could be the price of tires, or it could just be those early SC takers moving on to buggies for a moment. Time will tell.

Kyosho is pretty straight forward when it comes to creating a new kit. And, although it has just come to the attention of Team Associated, Kyosho learned a long time ago that metric hardware and not using the same molds for a decade at a time, were the way to go.

Buggies are the kernel idea for both stadium trucks and short course trucks. With the RB6 and RT6 already paving the way, we can only imagine the SC6 being a aluminium chassis or possibly some sort of extended version of the RT6 chassis.

Unfortunately, being chased by all these metal chassis and more and more Guns and Roses over the pa at the track, it is beginning to remind me of action movies from the 90's.





The short course bodies haven't changed much since their debut years ago. I'm hoping the SC6 will change that. The "parachute" effect needs to be taken care of, and I think Kyosho will look to their past to put some aero into the design:

Blogger rendering of possible Ultima SC6

As for the much anticipated and highly hush hush ZX6? Well, they may finally try and prove to their loyal fans that they had got it right a long time ago. By using an aluminium chassis like the Optima Mid.

Unless they step on sacred ground, and sacred injection molds, this will never be rere-ed

This blogger's first buggy

These are just a simple blogger's renderings. Looking forward to the real deal.

Also, there's going to be a documentary on The Reedy Race. Set for release in February.







Good looking footage. Excited to see more.


If you're in the Portland, Oregon area, keep and eye out for this stuff that got stolen from a track owner and an all around good guy:

Racers Edge 1/8 Roller Bag
Two NIP Orion R10's 2-3c 160AMP
Junsi I charger (little Blue one)
Much More 24amp power supply(black)
Two Peak 4000 shorties, One Orion WTS pack
Old Orion 10.5
Blue Plano style box full of tools(Lots of MIP) with the small parts organizer on top
Rpm Camber gauge
TA ride height gauges
Protek Shock tool
Harbor freight calipers 
One ugly OLD Light blue Jconcepts car stand
OTT light
Top Gear PIT MAT


Contact topgearhobbies.com if you see anything.

Have a great Super Bowl Sunday. If that's not your thing, go out and enjoy a probably empty track for some quality practice.

Thanks for reading!
-Tommy