Next Meet - July 25 @ 2:00 - Mother's Raceway

Hey All,

It looks like we are going to try to meet up this coming weekend on Saturday July 25 at Mother's Rraceway. Please respond to the thread now to let us know you are coming, and as always - friends and family members, including prospective new members are highly encouraged to come out and join in on the fun!

Check this thread for the latest information.

Next Club Meet

Hey All,

It's time for us all to get together once again for some RC action and a BBQ. Be sure to log on to the message boards and let us know when you can make it out.

Click here to be taken to the Club Meet Ups section of the forums.

We look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Vote Now for KickOff Meeting Date

Hi All,

While we have yet to get an "Official 2009 KickOff Meeting" off the ground, an informal get together took place this past Saturday by a few club members for some bashing action at Mother's Raceway.

The original KickOff meeting was postponed due to rain, so we need everyone to log on to the message boards and vote on a Saturday that works for them. We hope to have a strong showing and will be doing a BBQ as well.

As always, friends and family members are strongly encouraged to join any and all of our events. Be sure to vote now so we can get our first meeting scheduled! Let the fun begin!

NorCal Hobbies Toys-4-Tots Race - Dec. 20-21

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share an exciting bit of news with you about an upcoming event that will benefit many kids this Holiday Season. Our good friend, John Hicks, at NorCal Hobbies had the following to say regarding this event:

Its that time of year again,and Norcal Hobbies will be throwing another Toys-4-Tots race this month. Norcal had a really nice participation last year for these races, and is hoping to have even better participation this year - all for a great cause. NorCal will have 2 seperate race dates for Onroad and Offroad.

The 1st date is Saturday Dec. 20th for the offroad portion of these races. Due to race conflicts with other venues,we wanted to make sure we have a greater chance of participation by all for this worthy cause.

The 2nd date will be Sunday Dec 21st for the Carpet portion of the Toys-4-Tots race.

Race fees are 15.00 plus a Toy for your 1st entry. 2nd entry is $5 and anything after is free! This will be a fun race that helps alot of children in need locally.Please mark these dates down and Norcal Hobbies hopes to see you all there.

Got something to add? Join the discussion!

MeetUp: NorCal Hobbies - OffRoad, Saturday 10/11

Hey All,

Looks like we have a decent number of club members headed out to NorCal Hobbies this Saturday for some off-road action. To see whose coming and let everyone know if we should expect to see you there, check the 'boards.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Weekend Trip: Lakeport Hobbies Raceway; Nov 15-16

Hey Everyone,

The Club is currently planning a weekend get-away trip to Lakeport Hobbies in Clear Lake!! They recently completed construction on their slick looking indoor offroad track, and have invited us up to participate in one of their Sunday race programs. This facility runs every Sunday - Rain or Shine!Needless to say, we are all excited to check out their facility! To find out more about this trip, check out our message boards.

If you are interested in coming, the more the merrier! This invite is open to everyone - even those of you who check out this site, but for some reason haven't "officially joined The Club"! :)

Check out this thread in the 'boards for additional information about Lakeport Hobbies.

You can see more pictures and video of their facility and events by going to http://www.lakeporthobbies.com/

Recap: Mini-Z Shopping Mall Race - Inside Line Racing

Our friends over at Inside Line Racing have provided us with a re-cap of their recent Mini-Z Shopping Mall Enduro Race that took place on Sept. 20, 2008. Here is what Binh from ILR had to say:

"Second time back to the mall was an experience. All aspects of the set-up went pretty well. I even had time to get the lap timing system going early to test and see if it was working properly. And the timing worked perfect during practice. Twelve o’clock rolled around and time for racing. All the cars were on grid, horn went off and we were racing. Only one small problem, one of the teams was not counting. I had to then re-boot the system and try again. I tired everything I could think of to get the system back up. I finally figured out that somehow the tile floor was interfering with the RF loop. I then placed the loop on the track and we were back racing. The only problem now was that there was a little bump before the timing system, which made is more exciting for the fans. As the cars went by they jumped a little. It was fun to watch. We ran five one hour mains to determine the winner.

The first main went down to the wire with Team 2 (Perez, Jaime, Fraz) winning by just four laps. Hernandez kept his team in the hunt with consistent fast laps. He was running a mod AWD and was certainly the fastest car on the track all day. The first race came down to who was more consistent on the track. At this point most teams did not really have a strategy yet. Teams 1 through 7 were separated by 101 laps. Winning team had 376 laps.

First main results.

In the second main, Team 2 had problems early on and was fighting from the back of the pack most of the race. Team 3 (Tony, Stephen, Randy) knew that if they did not win the second main it would be very hard to win the last three to finish on top. With that in mind they took over lead from Team 4 (Hernandez, Art B, Hello Moto) once Hernandez had to go in for a battery change. The AWD was faster but it required more battery stops. From lap 85 to the end of the main, Team 3 did not look back and easily won by 14 laps. Team 4 once again came in third. Team 5 (Steven, Oscar, Art M) showed improvement in the second main but could not run down Team 4. Winning team had 383 laps.

Second main results

Team 2 restored the order in the third main. It was not easy though. There was a very close race between Teams 2, 3, and 4 with many lead changes. Hernandez put down the fastest lap so far in the day, 7.80. This was the closes race so far with Team 2 winning by just 9.70 seconds. Team 2 at this point put up the most number of laps, 388. Every team by now has stepped up their lap count and the racing was getting very close. Teams 1 though 7 were now only separated by 64 laps.

Third main results

In the fourth main Team 3 evened things up at two a piece with Team 2. They were now knotted and the final main would decide the champion. Early on in this main, Team 4 looked to be the clear winner. Hernandez put them out in front early and his team put up consistent laps to keep the lead late into the race. Team 4 had the lead until lap 346. The modified AWD needed a battery change and a new driver. At this point they had a 7 lap lead and it was going to be up to his team to hold on for the victory. However with Steve Perez and Stephen chasing you down, it would be a hard task for anyone. Perez and Stephen eventually ran down Team 4 and Team 3 won by 13.98 seconds. Team 3 now had the highest lap count with 389 laps.

Forth main results

In the last main, Hernandez was determined to get his team a main victory and he left it all on the track. He put down some the fastest lap of the day in the last main. Team 3 came out fast and lead every lap except for 20 laps. The last main was the best main of the day. Every team got faster on the track in faster with their pit/driver changes. At lap 269 Stephen came in for Team 3’s last driver change. That driver change put him into second place with 18 minutes to race. Perez was on the track for Team 2 and his team decided to let him just come in for a battery change and do a back to back driving stint to finish the race. Now imagine 15 minutes left and you, in this case Stephen, have a small two lap lead over Perez with an eternity to drive (15 minutes). We had a good sized crowd gathered now and the pressure was on. Which ever team won this last main was going to be the mall champion. The gap was bouncing around at 1 or 2 laps the whole time. There was complete concentration and the crowd was getting into it. In the end Stephen’s youth might have played a role in the victory. Team 3 now put up the most laps of the day with 395 laps.

Fifth main results

Thank you to all the racers that came out and raced. You all deserved to win. I would also like to thank Joel Johnson won sent a great raffle prize, and ASF car. The winner was a seven year old boy. I would like to thank PN for send raffle prizes. Iron man of the race was Mike aka GoFast. He teamed up with his 7 year old son and his son’s 7 year old friend. This meant that Mike did most of the driving. Good job Mike, rest your arm. I will get the lap times up soon."

Official Results:

1^st Place: Team 3 Stephen Bui, Randy Luu, Tony Truong 48 pts

2^nd Place: Team 2 Steve Perez, John Frazier, Jaime M 47 pts

3^rd Place: Team 4 Jonanthan Hernandez, Art B, Hello Moto 40 pts

4^th Place: Team 5 Steven Huynh, Oscar Y, Art M 32 pts

5^th Place: Team 7 Binh Do, Alan A, Layman Reid 26 pts

5^th Place: Team 6 Mike Ma, Adrian, Matthew 26 pts

5^th Place: Team 1 Eric Vasutin, Ken Brumblay, Hung Nguyen 26 pts

For more information about Mini-Z's and Inside Line Racing, check out their site:

http://www.insidelineracing.com/

Recap: West Coast Touring Car King's Race @ Marin R/C 9/27-28

The Marin R/C West Coast Touring Car King's Race turned out to be an awesome 2-day event and thanks go out to all who set it up, and a big congratulations to those who placed in all classes!!

Recap provided by club member Justin "Catalyst" Bowden (Who placed 2nd in a stacked 17.5 class!! Congrats!):

"Thanks again to Jesse and crew who put on a really unique race format that was the most fun and best competition for any race I've personally been involved with! Those that missed the race really missed out. Competition was thick in all classes and even with money on the line, and talent in the entire field - there were no problems whatsoever. It was well organized, and everyone in attendance appeared to be having a great time!

Time Trials were a great idea and hopefully this becomes something done on the club level more often. It raised the bar for events to come and despite the competitive spirit of the racers, it actually seemed to build some comraderie between racers as we all stood and cheered each driver on.

Cash prizes were thought by some to possibly bring out the worst in racers but this wasn't even an issue. All those in attendance were serious but there were no issues in tech, no problems with attitudes on the track, clean racing, and even with a couple early computer glitches - people just rolled with it and kept in the spirit of having a good time!

Track records were shattered - and for me personally, I broke into laptimes I've never ran. Track conditions were excellent on Sunday and Jesse is a master of knowing how to get the right balance for fast lap times. Even in practice - seeing some of California's best put in insanely fast laps was quite the spectacle!

The apple crisp changed lives! It was great to see the racers being shown appreciation for supporting the local venue.

Congratulations to all those who made the podium! Jeremy was the man to beat all weekend in 17.5 and never fell of his pace. Lex had a seriously hooked up car and his line amazes me. He showed up with the crown and is a local King! EJ - wow what a main in 10.5...seeing you KJ and Jesse start with inches between you all for a few laps blew my mind! MiniMod ran strong all weekend and gave everyone serious competition and placed in both 10.5 and 13.5 to back up his TQ from the Time Trials.

Thanks again for offering such a great event with Special thanks to Jesse Stark, Christian and Marin R/C, Joe Nolasco with live webcam, sound, organization and all, Blake and 707paint.net for donating the awesome bodies, ABR for hooking up the baker to serve us up apple crisp, and a quick shout to Mendoza for being cool and watching his significant other fill in for the no show trophy girl!"

Videos of the A-Mains (courtesy of "ZoomZoomer" - www.rcracing.com boards):

10.5 Qualifier featuring KevinJ, EJ Evan and Lex Tyler

10.5 A-Main

17.5 A-Main

For more photos, check out this thread on the RCRacing message boards.

Recap: Slash Bash @ Mother's Raceway - 9/10/08

Thanks to everyone for coming out! It was nice to see some newer faces and other Club members (Marco "PigIron", Jessie "Wharthog", Steve "Badboy", & Armand "faboulousRC") Turnout was a little low due to a few regulars being busy - in addition to a few others having to cancel last minute -We missed you guys!! It was still a great time out.
If we continue to see a strong Slash presence, we'll have to try and incorporate some new jumps designed for that size vehicle - the tabletop we were using was from our 1/18 scale Spec Class - so it got a little more abuse than it was designed for.
We'll also need to bring out an additional set of lights since the days are definitely getting shorter now.

Hope to see you all at the next one! You can find more pictures here.

Racing Report: GroundPounders Club Event - September 7th, 2008

The GroundPounders event on September 7th was a blast! I headed out very, very early on Sunday morning and met fellow club member Justin (aka: Catalyst) at his place to carpool up to Windsor CA, where the GP Club holds their monthly races. They put on quite a good event. Apparently, the turnout was one of the best in recent times with 118 entries! There were 21 different races with various on-road electric and nitro cars including: oval, touring cars and pan cars just to name a few - and of course, the featured Traxxas Slash race. There were three different jumps and roughly 16 slashes bumbling around the track! It made for fantastic entertainment for the crowd of people that had gathered throughout the day to watch the racing. The winner received an enormous trophy!The BAPRC Club had a strong showing. Marco (PigIron) took the win in Novice Oval, while I (Bryan aka "B-Dog") and Catalyst won the Novice Electric Touring Car and Slash B-Main (which bumped him into the A-Main) respectively. Everyone at the event was very friendly and helpful, which provided a great atmoshpere. All in all it was an awesome day of racing and we are all looking forward to the next one! Thanks again to everyone involved.

While there aren't a ton, you can check out the rest of the pictures here.

Meet Up Tomorrow Evening, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 7:00PM

Hey All,

We will be meeting up tomorrow evening at Mother's Raceway in Foster City at 7:00PM. The track will be open for general driving and we will have a good group of Slashes out there as well.

To find out more information, check the boards here.

As always, please feel free to come down and either participate or just check out the fun!

Places To Drive: "Cowabunga" - Foster City

Last Saturday - after a long day of racing at NorCal Hobbies - I decided to stop by an old stomping ground I frequented with my bike as a kid - known by many names, such as "The Pit" and my favorite, "Cowabunga". I was tired and really wanted to go home and relax, but something kept urging me on to at least take a look. I had been recommending this spot to others as a good "basher" spot for months, but still hadn't been there to see it myself in years.

I'm glad I did!

Now, this is a bashing area folks! By my guestimate - this area was created sometime back in the 70's by kids looking for a spot to ride their BMX bikes - and some 30+ years later, it's still here and is better than ever. I'm not sure who maintains this area, but it definitely looks like it's increased in size and quality from my memories of it as a kid.

Many of the jumps there are just ridiculous, but if you run a mod or something with a little "oomph", you just might clear some of these monster jumps Just make sure to bring spare parts!
There are a few tame areas, with some smaller jumps - and I think this could be a pretty neat place to do some BAPRCC Spec Slash races. It's worth noting that the surface is very loose, so be prepared for that.

You can find more pictures on the BAPRCC photobucket account.
Join the discussion here.

Meet Up Tomorrow Evening, Wednesday, August 20 7:00PM

Hey All,

We have a small group meeting up tomorrow evening at Mother's Raceway in Foster City at 7:00PM. Since most coming to the meet won't be racing the Spec Class 1/18 scale, we will probably not setup the full track, but rather just use some track elements (ramps, etc) for something more along the lines of "bashing".

To find out more information, check the boards here.

Please feel free to come down and either participate or just check out the fun!

Wrap Up: Official Wednesday Club Meet - 08/06/08

Our first ever meet at the new Foster City Mother's Raceway location was a great event. No Spec Class racing happened - Instead, the track was quickly taken over my just about every type of RC vehicle available!! Let's see if I can remember all of them: From what I recall, the following vehicles appeared at one point or another: assorted Associated RC18's, Evader BX, E-Maxx, E-Revo, two Slash's, mini-inferno, T3, 2 crawlers, and I believe "Jello" busted out a touring car of some sort.Needless to say, watching all those different types of vehicles tear around (and apart) the track was pretty hysterical.

Thanks to the newbies (Badger, BeeFzX3, Jello, and Kurt) for coming out! It was really nice to meet and see you all in person! Of course, thanks to everyone else's continued support as well.
I want to personally thank each and everyone of you that made the effort to come down, bring munchies, setup, tear down, etc. On behalf of the club, we really appreciated it! For more pictures of this event, click here and here (thanks for the pictures, Jello).

As a side note, there is now talk of getting together to run a Slash class as well. More details to come.

Oh, and thanks to "Badger" for sacrificing his Slash for our entertainment. That thing was absolutely flying off those ramps!! Must have gone at least 20 ft. in the air!

Reminder: Official Club Meet Up this Wednesday at 7:00PM

Reminder: This Wednesday evening we are holding an Official Club Meet and Spec Class Races / Practice. In addition to the Spec Class, the track will be open for general driving. Setup will begin at 6:30-7:00PM.

If you plan on stopping by and joining in on the action, please feel to let us know by leaving a comment on the message boards here.

So please, come on down and have some fun and laughs and help kick off our first ever meet at Mother's Raceway in Foster City! (formerly located in South San Francisco).

We will also be grilling up some Kosher Hot Dogs for all. If you plan on coming and would like to bring something for the BBQ, the club would truly appreciate it.

-BAPRCC

Track Report: NorCal Hobbies (Union City) & Hobby Town USA (Fremont)

I went out to NorCal Hobbies in Union City on Sunday and had a total freakin blast on the off-road track! I brought out my RC10T4 and Traxxas Slash, and got 'em dirty. The new track layout (yes, they've made some additional changes to make it more friendly to beginners and slash's) is awesome. Still a chance for some great hangtime, but they eliminated some of the crazy angles/jumps that sent many a car/truck on it's lid, or to the sidelines with broken parts and replaced them with something, more,...tame. Kudos to the crew who worked on the track. It's fantastic.

The Slash continues to be a very popular ride - it seemed like just about eveyone running off-road had one. I am truly amazed at how fun and durable these things are. Here is a short video of the new layout:



MoMo got to do some on-road driving thanks to a regular who lent her one of his cars! I didn't catch your name, but if you happen to see this, thanks a lot for that!!




Oh, and after the trip to NorCal, my GF and I drove by the parking lot of Hobby Town USA in Fremont, and low and behold, they setup a temporary asphalt track every Sunday (in the parking lot) - open to the public for free. All scales are allowed, both electric and nitro, and there were about 10 guys out there. Setup is usually between 10Am-12PM, and take down tends to be around 5-6PM, depending on how many guys are running. I grabbed a few pics to share with the group (below). For more pics from today's action, click here. Check out this video for footage from an on-road race put on by these same people.

Wed. August 6th, 7:00PM - Next Official Night Meet & BBQ

Hey All,

Well, it's been a busy summer with lots of us getting our RC "itch" scratched at various places, but it's time to get back to some good 'ol Spec Class Races / Practice at our next Official Meet Up. As usual, the meets are not just about the Spec Class Races...the track is open for general driving and there should be a good deal of show and tell going on too!

If you plan on stopping by and joining in on the action, please feel to let us know by leaving a comment on the message boards here.

So please, come on down and have some fun and laughs and help kick off our first ever meet at Mother's Raceway in Foster City! (formerly located in South San Francisco).

We will also be grilling up some Kosher Hot Dogs for all. If you plan on coming and would like to bring something for the BBQ, the club would truly appreciate it.

-BAPRCC

Meet at NorCal Hobbies, Sat. July 12 - Track Opens at 8:00 AM

Hey there all,

A few members will be heading down to NorCal Hobbies for their saturday off-road race.

A few of our guys will be racing 4wd mod and the hugely popular Traxxas Slash. The track opens at 8am, and the shop at 9am. Check the race schedule at rcracing.com for more details. You can also see who's planning on coming by checking out this thread.

-BAPRCC

***CANCELLED*** Official Meet: Wed. July 9, 7:00 PM @ Mother's Raceway II, Foster City

***Unfortunatley, last minute cancelations are forcing us to cancel tonight's meet. Two people who dropped out today were going to be running their Spec Class vehicles, which would leave only 2 of us. I apologize to the few remaining people who were going to come out.

Hopefully we can get something going soon where we can all make it out. Perhaps next wed? If night meets are becoming too hard for people to attend, maybe we should consider another time of the week?

-BAPRCC

UPDATE: Official Meet CANCELLED: Wed. June 25, 7:00 PM @ Mother's Raceway II, Foster City

UPDATE: Tonights Meet is officially canceled. Many members had to change their plans last minute for various reasons, so we will meet again on Wednesday, July 9.

Tomorrow night will be our first Meet Up at our new location for Mother's Raceway in Foster City. Be sure to come out and experience the fun!

As previously mentioned; We will be holding our Spec Class Races / Practice, and the track will be open for general driving in between races. Setup will begin approx. 630-7:00PM. We will have power, and a table - that said, to ensure you are comfy and have your own space, you may want to consider bringing chairs/tables, work light, etc.

There are stores right across the street and fast food options about a mile away.

We hope to see everyone there!

-BAPRCC