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!

2009 KickOff Meeting: Saturday May 30

Hi All,

It looks like we are going to shoot for Saturday May 30 for our first official Meet Up! Please log on to the boards for more information and, please, LET US KNOW IF YOU PLAN ON ATTENDING.

We are all looking forward to meeting up with everyone then!

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!

2009 KICKOFF MEETING - POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately we had to make the decision to delay our kick off meeting (tomorrow afternoon) due to rain. Let's start discussing a time to reschedule. Please login to the message boards and propose dates that work for you - we will then start another poll to lock down the new time.

Otherwise, we can shoot for next Saturday if that works for most people. Make sure to let us know how you all would like to proceed.

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

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.

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!

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

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

***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

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

Hey All, Just a friendly reminder that we will be holding an official Meet one week from today at our NEW Mother's Raceway location in Foster City. 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, but everyone will need to bring their own chairs/tables, etc.

Hope to see you all there!

New Location:

View Larger Map

Reminder: Official Spec Class Meeting this Wednesday, June 11 - 6:30PM

Hey All,

Come out to our Official Spec Racing Class Race/Practice this Wednesday evening, June 11 at 6:30PM. Meet up with the club at Mother's Raceway in South San Francisco for practice, laughs, and some friendly competition.

Also(in between races), the track will be open to any type of vehicles Members want to run - so bring what 'ya got!

We are looking forward to seeing everyone there and hope our newest members can make it out too!

Spec Class Races BEGIN!!

At about 6:30 PM last night, we began setup on the Spec Racing Class track at Mother's Raceway - shortly after, practice began. As guys made their way around the track and began to get a feel for it and how to take the jumps, the anticipation and excitement began to grow.

In our previous meeting, the track felt a tad tight, so this time around we added a bit of width to each lane, and it felt pretty much spot on. There was just enough room to past, while still feeling snug and technical.

Please excuse the poor video quality (below), as my digital camera doesn't do that well at night. The visibility for the drivers is MUCH better than the camera makes it look (We also added a second set of lights this week, so the entire track is flooded with light)





It didn't take long for everyone to decide we were ready to get the competition going, and our first Spec Class races began!! The competition was awesome, and the laughs were constant as club members made their way around the track, battling for position (and to stay upright!).












In my opinion, this is by far the most fun I've had at an outing with the club thus far. As anyone can tell you, it's one thing to drive around in practice and bashing, but it's entirely different when you feel the "heat" of competition breathing down your neck and are concentrating intensly to drive your best and not make mistakes - all while trying to pass or keep pace with the guy in front of you! It's also important to note that the competition is strcictly about fun, with no pressure at all; whether you have the fastest or slowest time for the night.Before packing up for the night, we were able to get three racing heats in, each at 5 minute durations. While we have yet to purchase a transponder setup for lap counting/timing, Amir (aka: Digitalflyer) brought out his laptop and lap timing software and has all the results saved. Special thanks to Tasia (aka: Lady Vengeance) for helping keep track of the cars amongst the chaos!! We will be uploading all that information ASAP, so check back soon for more details.

You can check out more pics from last night here.

Thanks for all who came out, and see you all at the next one!

B-Dog

Footgage of practice before the racing began:

Meet Up at 3rd and Detroit - Saturday, May 24 1:00PM

Hey All,

A few of us will be heading down to San Mateo for some bashing at 3rd and Detroit (BMX off-road park) Saturday, May 24 at 1:00 PM.

For more information, check out this thread.

Club Meets this Saturday and/or next Wed. Night? YOU Vote!

Hey All,

There is talk of meeting at Mother's Raceway this coming Saturday and/or next Wednesday evening. Please let us know if you plan on attending by casting a "yes" or "no" vote here and here.

These are great opportunities to come out, meet some of the guys, and get some fun and exciting practice.

Spec Class Practice Sessions

Last night I got home at nearly midnight from our second Spec Class meet. I had an awesome time - good food (thanks to RCRookie), great people, fun conversations about RC, and a really challenging track!



When the RC18 Spec Class was proposed, i was happy to go along with it, but truth be told, i've only ever raced 1/10 scale off-road and was not expecting much action from the smaller 1/18 scale buggies. The Spec Racing Class is designed to keep the playing field even and competition high by requiring everyone participating to have pretty much the same vehicle (an RC18T, RC18B) in a nearly stock, out of the box, condition, identical drive train, and the addition of on-road tires (the club meets are on pavement). I thought it would be fun to bash around now and again but not much else. Now it's turned into something of an addiction!



First, these smaller scales of today rival the bigger 1/10 scale RC cars of 20 years ago (the last time i was racing RC) - especially the RC18 series of vehicles. These are shaft-driven 4-wheel drive, have full ball bearings all around, ball differentials front and rear, oil-filled shocks and all the other advances you would expect in a race-class machine. in fact, when i started to do a little homework on these, i found that there are very active racing communities for these scales. my initial prejudices against these smaller cars went away almost immediately once i took it out of the box (did i mention they are RTR?) and took it for a spin.

WOW!

This thing, even with the stock out-of-the-box motor, really moves! i've had this fantasy of getting a 1/8th scale truggy (4wd truck) and this little RC18 might just keep me from needing to get one! These really are Mini Truggies!



So now i'm in love with this thing, but will the pavement really be that fun? well, the group has done an amazing job fashioning a track that combines all the technical pieces of a good on-road track, with some of the challenging elements of off-road tracks - all in all, a good curvy track with jumps! i was astonished at how much driving on this track feels like an authentic race experience - an off-road one to boot! I walk away from the night with that same giddy feeling i do after i get back from the off-road track!



I love the fact that this does really feel like a real race machine, on a real track, and that what i learn at these events will help me with my 1/10 scale racing. all the things i would learn from the couple of times a month i can get down to the off-road track with my B44 (roughly an hour away for me) are here in the Spec Racing Class: keeping focus, looking for the right line through the track, anticipating speed for jumps and learning to be consistent. what's more, these little vehicles are so durable and inexpensive to maintain, that i'm way more confident pushing the truck to its limits (and my own). This makes me less afraid to make mistakes, and through these mistakes, i'm learning a lot if things i can use on any track.



One of the most enjoyable aspects of these events are just hanging out with fellow hobbyists and talking RC. In my area and in my line of work, very few people i know, if any, even know that this hobby/sport actually exists (I think that's a trend these days for a lot of hobbies), so it's really great to have members show up with their latest builds, talk about their last race meet, compare paint jobs, ask questions, and share experiences we've had in this hobby of ours. There's nothing like good, solid camaraderie to finish a fun night of racing!See you at the next Club Meet!

- Michelangelo

For more photos, click here and here.
(thanks to B-Dog and Knytemare for the great photos)

Reminder: Official Meet Up This Wed. May 14 - 7:00PM

Just a reminder to everyone that we are holding an Official Spec Racing Class Practice this Wednesday evening!! Meet up with the club at Mother's Raceway in South San Francisco for practice, laughs, and some friendly competition.

Also, please note that we will be BBQ'in burgers for us all. If anyone doesn't want burgers, please feel free to bring anything you want to throw on the grill.We are looking forward to seeing everyone there and hope to see some new faces as well!