Judgment Day

Since I work in the bicycle industry, co workers love to talk tech and pick my brain about rc. It is often dificult to convey to a coworker why I spend so much time and money racing toy cars, but I seem to come to the same conclusion each time that we can all agree on, "It's fun."

Since the two past times cycling and rc rarely come into the same conversation, it's a big deal when it does. A co worker forwarded a video of a remote controlled robot riding a bike




Amazing. The future of racing remote controlled bicycling robots looks bright. So we are at the fork in the road. We, as rc car racers, chose to control our machines and race them in circles. Others have chosen to teach the machines to race themselves.

That photo is from the 2011 International Autonomous Robot Racing Competition. 

Technologies involved in the Robot Racing challenge come from a wide range of disciplines of interest to both industry and engineering education. Engineering students in all disciplines today do well to have a familiarity with each of these technologies. These technologies are vital to today’s emerging industries. These robots are finding their way in applications such as space exploration, mining, search and rescue, remote sensing and automotive inspection. Some autonomous robots are even becoming common around the home for routine tasks such as vacuuming, mowing lawns, parking cars, and in future, driving cars.

So, Students and hobbyists teaching robots to race.

If we consider the possibilities, this could be one step closer to close to Judgment Day.

If GnR are playing on the judgement day, I've got paypal ready for tickets.

To keep my coworkers in mystery about what an rc race looks like, I've decided to run with this niche of robot racing as somehow related to the bottom of the b main racing I do. 

With all of this badass coming forth as I dig deeper into robot racing, it makes me proud to control these future, german accented killing machines.

Wedensday!
-Tommy

Them's The Rules

Took the day off work to fix up the house a little. Which has been a solid excuse for just catching up on perhaps the last true news source for unbiased who's hot list, The View. It's the perfect all star lineup to stay up to date on who's dating who and where it's cold in the US.

Ty is so hot right now.

Since I'm home catching up on celebrity buggies and trucks, I also have a clothes washer repair man coming by, for his third time in as many weeks. No biggy,  it's under warranty, but as someone who prides himself on taking things apart, breaking them and then zip tying and dremeling it back together; a repair man just stings a little.

I've gotten to hang with the repair man twice already and I'm all set for our third date.  Fingers crossed that he brought his "A" game.

While I wait and take in Ye Ole View, it's forum time. It sounds like things are heating up on both social media and forums for rc racers.

At RCtech.net, the seemingly endless debate of saucing continues.

In the search for better traction, and faster lap times, we, rc car racers put toxic liquid chemicals on our tires. The "tire sauces" allow the rubber to soften, which equal traction, which equals faster lap times.  All at a dollar and health cost, because softer tires wear faster, and a health cost, because toxic chemicals are bad.

This is the RC world saying, "Yes, to steroids." They are bad, but we want the benefits. And unlike athletic endevours, no one is saying we can't.

Tire softeners are not cheating, because it is not an unfair advantage. If they were banned, then using sauce would be cheating.

The bottom line is: we're racers. Tell us the rules to race by and we'll fill in the gaps. Until the rules change, the playing field is, well, level.

Unlike that cruel mistress Tire Sauce that we do have a choice to use or not, some choices are written down. And we call those choices "rules."

Like the simple race sign up sheet.

Just like not being able to run 4wd in a 2wd class, you also need to know if your "sponsorship" puts you in a new category.

That was too vague a request for some at the Nitro Challenge. And unfortunately, two "Open Class" podium finishers at this past weekend's Nitro Challenge got the boot(disqualified) for not following the rules.

By announcement, all 700(!) or so racers had to comply with the race organizers rule: "Don't race open if you have a chassis sponsor."

Pretty simple. But the rule was broken.

I'm intrigued by this "category" assigning in our hobby. It really is a tough subject when there are not a broader guide as to how to categorizes yourself.

If rc was like bicycle racing, I'd still be a cat 5 trying to"cat up" which would most likely lead to me showing up to races more to get "upgrade points" or something similar. If I was racing in a slower bicycle racing category to achieve higher results, I would be shamed and called a sandbagger.

Thankfully for this "dabbler in the rc arts" rc car racing is different. It is run what you brung, use what you feel is justified and within your skill. The clock will sort everyone out.

But I do ask is that we keep the e cigs off the drivers stand. Because some of us are trying to breathe that sweet sweet nitro.

Take care and watch out for each other.
-Tommy

Monday Endurance

After a long weekend, I was more than happy to sit through the finishing hour of the Daytona 500. One highlight was when they suggest the viewer crank up the volume!





This "crank it up" couldn't come soon enough for me. The only problem I had during my edge of the seat viewing was constantly trying not to through food at the commentators. It was a strange mix of WWF and golf commentary, lots of child like screaming and too much back story. All wrapped up in a "brought to you by" blah blah blah.

I wish I had turned the volume of the 500 down and turned this on this video as the audio:





SO GOOD!


The Daytona 500 was awesome. It turns out I am a fan.

Conveniently for me the finish was on after the sun went down and I had gotten all my Sunday errands in. That meant I went on a bike ride, hung out with family and friends and made it to Lowe's just in time to remind myself that I know nothing about home repair.

Speaking of shorts, I hope every one cot to watch some of the Dirt Nitro Challenge.If you didn't maybe you can find some time while waiting for your Lowes guy to figure out which aisle is electrical.





Here's to a good start to the week!

-Tommy

Please Stand By

Friday! And I'm stoked. Setting up my Saturday morning tv is really the biggest part of my Friday, so I'll let you all in on the deets.

First up Dirt Nitro Challenge: RUN DNC!





This will be on the top of my list. I'm normally a buggy lover, but the truggies are beasts. The Truggies are HUGE! They may as well have small people in those things. The government should not be affraid of drones, because 1/8 Nitro Truggies will do way more damage.

As long as they don't need marshaling.

The DNC will be going off all weekend, and I'm stoked, but 1/10 offroad is where my heart is at, so I'll be  watching the Euro Winter Open Championships as well.


The Brits start their indoor off road in just 16 hours.


Which means I get to wake up and cruise over to the couch in my vinyl footed, button up one piece pjs tomorrow and sit down with a popcorn bowl of fruit loops to watch some sweet astro turf action while solving the puzzles on the back of the cereal box.





Expect some of the most passionate race commentary in the Queen's English if Nick Daman is within 20 meters of a microphone. Love this guy:

Nick Daman's passion for all tiny racers

They deliver solid coverage and you should check out rcracingtv.net if you need your fix.

I expect to be dressed in something "socially acceptable" by 2pm for some sunny day house work.

Or really, some pre-season rc wrenching which may include some rc car body paint huffing.

Jconcepts share a great fan vid of the entire creative process of painting and getting what I like to call a "Tamiya High" here:





And while my rc car painting is traditionally a one or two can "spray special," which end up looking Warhol with crayons on the  BMW m1.

Hope you all have a great Friday working and an even better Saturday chillin or racing. Here's a pro tip for doing secret work(assuming your employer doesnt mind you looking at a blank screen all day)






Party like it's friday!
-Tommy

#REALTALK

One thing I try and use RC for is to escape reality. I dive deep into the forums for the latest hack, tip and mod. Then crawl back out totally defeated after battling the nuances of metric vs standard and emulsion vs bladder. Battles I enjoy and try learn as much as I can while taking and giving keyboard punches.

This blog is mearly my way of regurgitating some of what I've over eaten while staring at a computer.

I did overstep my spamming on the forums and got modded pretty hard. Which is okay, because there are plenty of other outlets to wave my arms and yell "hey, look at my blog!"

One great alternative to the forum spamming is to tweet on twitter. So I'm on it.

Chirp. Chirp.




At the heart of any hobby is an opportunity to do something that does not matter in the big scheme of things, just a few hours with nothing but the track, the competition and my lack of skills to have some leisure time.

But every once in a while, at the time I most need t just sit down and rebuild my diff, point the tv antenna in the right direction and inevitably, real life creeps in.

And by real, I really just mean the Olympics. And by creep in, I mean my bunny rabbit ears pick them up without too much static.

Damn that looked hard.

And that was just silly.

Real world. Real problems.

It turns out the pastimes I enjoy the most like rc, skateboards and free speech are not things that will be tainted by the Olympics anytime soon.

Antennas are bliss. Not knowing what I'm missing on cable is cool with me. I assume cable is like youtube, but costs money and you have to wait for shows to be on.


At youtube, LiveRC is my ESPN, Scotty Ernst is my Madden and Tebo is my Tammy Faye. I'm the simple believer.

With real world creeping in, I've got to block it out with some sensible 1:1 car. That's when Chris Harris and drive come in.





Best black car ever?

Great to see Mclaren going green and taking on the Prius.

Speaking of green, here is a video of 1/8 Ebuggy battles from the 2013 Dirt Nitro Challenge at the Fear Farm in Pheonix




Awesome racing. The best part is that VRCPRO just released the layout for all weather racers like me

Currently VRC-Pro only offers nitro 1/8 buggies. Maybe someday us gamers can practice with the ebuggies.

Or better yet, maybe hybrid systems can work their way into the nitro cars for longer run times??

A dude can dream.

Have a great Thursday!

-Tommy

DIY Field of Dreams

The 2014 Dirt Nitro Challenge track has been unveiled.

Associated is bringing the recently French smoked prototype RC8 to battle in the hands of the Ryans.

Also, the full 2014 Montpellier GP is available on the youtubes.



Maybe it's the motocross type jumps or maybe it's the size and brutality of the track rutting, but dang, watching 1/8 scale offroad is rad.

It's hard to not be impressed by the production of a big event. Whether it's the attendance like we saw at Motorama, or the man hours that go into the maintenance to keep tracks professionally maintained like Chico this past worlds, the end justify the means.

Here's a clip of JoeyChristiensen building Chico for this past worlds:




I defiantly gotta hand it to the folks who provide, build and invite racers to participate. Each track ends up with it's own personality. Each owner get's their Kevin Costner track.

As proud as I am of keeping the lawn mowed and the leaves raked, I can't help but wonder if I could step it up in my backyard with a "track" of sorts.

Keeping it blue groove would be out of the question, so it may be a little time capsul of early 90's style loom, with a tad more air thrown in.

With all the parts available for RC10's these days, maybe even make it vintage specific? Silver can only?

Or I could take Kevin Burnett's lead and go big:





Damn! that rules. Little did Keven's wife know that rc car gift would turn into the nitro races keeping her from sleeping.

I'd love to go big. But, Let's face it, I might throw two rocks on the lawn for figure eights.

I'll keep dreaming of what I could do with 50x40 of flat lawn, but I tend to go off course if I wait to long. Then things get way out of hand.

Have a great hump day!

-Tommy

Last Chance Tuesday

You made it through Monday. All caught up at work and now today's the tough one. Yup, Tuesday.

Tuesday is the absolute LAST chance you have to shipping that "lightly used" rc8 you sold Friday after work on RCTech.net. Get it out today, before the buyer calls B.S. on your claim of "ready to ship" and the mods start asking questions.

With The Dirt Nitro Challenge coming up, my mind is all about 1/8 offroad.

Plenty of news to keep your eyes on. Yesterday, Neobuggy.net published their thoughts on the prototype RC8.  Other than noting the designer, Josh Alton, I skimmed over the words in the article to get to good stuff:  The pics.

RC8 proto: All thriller, no filler.

There were many fantastic battles to watch the last few years in eigth scale offroad. With plenty of youtube videos of the action, all I had to do was pick a color of anodizing and cheer my brains out for it as it goes 25+ feet in the air.

Here's a race that had me at the edge of my seat.

Sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Although I don't see myself getting involved in the 1/8 offroad category anytime soon, I do love some Monday morning transmitting and yelling "Marshal!!!!!" in the office.

The Montpellier GP was this past weekend and Neobuggy had their cameras everywhere. Tons of tips in this interview with Bloomfield:

My vote for the cutest logoed company ever goes to Team Azarashi. 

Hello Kitty RC

They just released a limited edition body for the Kyosho RB6 called the Pholc. Which is a none cab forward body. Super cool to see the options. On a side note, I was really hoping Pholc is pronounced "Folk" because I'm immature and want to make a folk rock crawler joke. Like this:

Pholc Rock Crawler

Since I had plenty of time after work yesterday to peruse my local listings for that next no-strings craigslist thrill. And by no strings attached, I mean remote controlled.

And although, I don't normally put my life on the line, one ad in particular scared this freshly minted husband, the WidowMaker:

rc boat widowmaker - $250

I have a sweet rc Electric Boat. with a brushless motor Traxxas VXL 3 esc with Spektrum receiver all you need to do is sink to your remote its 22 inch long with a single water pick up. Any questions txt call or email xxx xxx xxxx


At first I thought this was merely a misplaced ad for a nautical hit man service, or "boat widow maker." 

So I threw it through the Gizoogle.net and the ad became crystal clear:

I gots a thugged-out dope rc Electric Boat. wit a funky-ass brushless motor Traxxas VXL 3 esc wit Spektrum receiver all you need ta do is sink ta yo' remote its 22 inch long wit a single gin n juice pick up fo' realz. Any thangs txt call or email xxx xxx xxxx


Well, then! You're damn right I'm ready to put it $250(or 80 bux and a well loved Ipod) on the line for this sweet  remote controlled  electric boat!  Though I'm not prepared to sink my remote in anything. Also, I have no idea why it has taken a husband from this earth, but who cares? That matte black 22 inches of killer is clearly a weapon of choice out on the high seas.

The original owner probably purchased it originally to one up his friend trying to sell the RC Surfer, perhaps the widow was the rc surfer's wife? Only the craiglist historians know for sure.

It can also be assumed that the previous owner of this sweet boat was most likely Dee Snider of Twisted Sister fame, before this offspring:






I seem to really gravitate to rc water sport lately. Maybe it's this winter weather, maybe it's my need to smell the ocean breeze again. 

Especially since breathing gas exaust isnt the only thing potentially damgerous when it comes to indoor motorsport:






Roll this dice, pay the price. 


Happy sailing, rocking and karting. This land lover is gonna stay in the pits, sidelines or on the driver's stand.

-Tommy