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.

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Recap: NorCal Hobbies, Nov 26 - Indoor Carpet Racing

The indoor carpet racing at Norcal Hobbies ROCKED! It was sooo fun! b-dog crossed the line a hair in front of me at the end! if it was an RC18-only class we would have had a fun battle ;)

The night was awesome, b-dog and pigiron - it was awesome hanging and racing with you. fabulous, it was awesome just seeing your crazy collection of rc's - that optima is the stuff! great racing guys, i am totally hooked on carpet racing, i hate to say it, but it is way fun! you had me saucin' up tires and worrying about my line - man, i might just turn into an on-road junkie yet... 18th scale first though!



we had a really good turn out and lots of racers recognize the baprc t-shirts (we need a banner for our pit area!). there were 4 rc18s (mine, pigiron's, and b-dog's with one exotek r18 that was sweet) and then 3 tamiya minis that easily had 3 laps on us all and were sort of tanks on the track. no matter though, we let them finish 1,2,3 and we all fought over the rest of the spots. hopefully more minis show up so they can move them to there own class as they have a little more heft to them and really do take you out in their desire to pass you. near the end we were finally getting a little more aggressive and the minis were laying off a little, but it was getting brutal for a while - like slash class without the slash's! over the course of the night i think each of the baprcc RC18s took fourth place once and all 4 of the rc18s had 22 laps at the finish, so it was really close racing (see the race results).

the coolest cars of the night were the world gt cars - man, these things FLEW. i mean they really flew! they were easily faster than the TCs (13.5 tcs were getting 35 laps, world GTs around 44, 12th scales were getting in the 50s). man, they were riding on rails, definitely a sight to see.



we started racing a little after 7pm and i didnt get home until about 12:30am... nice long night of racing! but we were all pooped at the end.

it was great finally dusting off that rc18 and i am so happy i converted to 18r from 18t. it was fast and stuck on the track and just felt awesome. thanks b-dog for letting me borrow your nightline body, when i get back from my trip, i'll have to spend the rainy days dialing in that little car ;)

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NorCal Hobbies, Nov 26 - Wed Night Indoor Carpet Racing

Hey All,

A few guys are talking about heading down to NorCal Hobbies this Wednesday evening for some indoor carpet racing. Most guys from our club will be running RC18R's, but any on road car can be driven there. What better way to kick off the Holiday Season?!

It looks like we'll have about 3-4 guys there for sure. If anyone else would like to come, you should definitely do so! We need some other club members faces to make some appearances!

I've got plenty of room in my car, so if anyone wants a ride, feel free to ask! You can check out the latest information about this in our message boards.


Hope to see you all there!
-Bryan

NorCal Hobbies - Sat, Nov 22 - "Turkey Shoot Out"

Looks like NorCal is doing their 3rd annual "Turkey Shootout" this coming Saturday, with Turkey and Pies for the top 3 in their classes. A handful of BAP-RC Club members will be attending. Whether you plan on racing or not, you should definitely come out to witness the action! Racing usually begins aroun 9:30-10AM. Club Members will be there earlier than that to set up their pit tables and get some warm up laps in.

You can check this thread in our message boards for more information.

REMINDER: Club Trip Nov 14-15, LakePort Hobbies - Clear Lake

Hey Everyone,

A few BAP-RC Members are planning a weekend get-away trip to Lakeport Hobbies in Clear Lake for this coming weekend!! If you haven't already indicated whether you would like to come, now is the time to do so!! To find out more about this trip, and let us know if you plan on coming, check out our message boards. Again, 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/

ROAR Region 12 Race @ Ripon 10/25 - 26

For those of you who don't know, there is a BIG race coming up this weekend for on-road RC enthusiasts. Ripon will be holding a ROAR Region 12 Race on October 25-26. A few of our Club Members will be out there participating in this awesome 2-day event.

Good Luck, gentlemen!!

For more information about this event, check out this thread in our message boards.

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.

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

Marin R/C in San Rafael California is hosting their 2 day event the weekend of September 27th and 28th. This is a Touring Car only onroad racing event that is really going to be the premier race for this facility this year. Track Director Jesse Stark has been cooking up some new, never seen format options and fellow R/C enthusiast Joe Nolasco is working on entertainment with music and a earth shaking sound system.

What's new in this format? Well here's a statement from Jesse regarding how this race will be run over the two day weekend:

"When I starting thinking about the idea of putting this race together, my first thought was we need a 2 day race at Marin at some point this year because we need some sort of signature race. For the most part, the Marin track has really established itself and has had a steady amount of entries through out the whole year and I'm very thankful for all the racers who have been so supportive and I know I'm speaking for the guys at the shop also who appreciate the good racing we've been having too. I just wanted to do something different than the same old format I've been seeing for the past 15 years. I kicked around some ideas about having quarterfinals, semi-finals and mains like BMX or Motocross does and taking the top 4 of each heat instead of the usual "race against the 5 minute clock" we all use in RC now. Probably a little to much for me to handle something like that right now, but maybe down the road I will develop that idea into something. So until then I came up with this. We all have raced for trophies before, so I wanted to step it up to a money race. We all have done 3 quals and a main before, so I wanted to step it up to individual time trails."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the format:

Classes:
Stock 17.5 Sedan (Sportsman)
Super Stock 13.5 Sedan (Expert)
Spec Mod 10.5 Sedan

Saturday:
Open practice from 9:00am-11:30am

Individual Time Trials 12:00pm

First round of individual time trials will start at noon beginning with 17.5. Each driver will hit the track solo for 8-10 laps. We will take your single best lap time out of those laps. There will be a total of 2 rounds of Individual Time Trials for the 3 classes followed by 1 Round of Qualifying on Saturday

(i.e. - Let's say you are racing 13.5 and your single best lap time in the trials is a 12.7. That 12.7 might be 3rd fastest overall out of let's say 20 drivers on Saturday. You earned yourself a "3 seed". You will start 3rd on the grid in the first 2 rounds of qualifying. There will be 2 rounds of individual time trials. If you don't improve your lap time in the 2nd round, your single best lap time is what is seeded regardless of which round of trials it's from)

Whoever TQ's the Saturday Time Trials in each class will win a free painted sedan body donated by a premier painter on the West Coast - Blake Cannon from 707paint.net!!!

Sunday:
Open practice 8:30-9:50

3 total Rounds of Qualfying 10:00

The racers who show up on Sunday only will be seeded to the back for that 1st Round of Qualifying on Sunday mourning. There will be a re-sort after that round to update the Qualifying Heats.

After Qualifying is completed the Mains will be run based on those results.

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This will truly be a do not miss event in the bay area for 1:10 scale onroad Touring Car racing. Not only is the format unique but there is an added bonus...Ca$h Prizes to be paid to top 3 places in each class. Yes that's correct - Cash Prizes!!!

In addition there are some Sponsors for this race including the host Marin R/C, Schumacher U.S.A, 707Paint.net and NorCalRC.com.

For more information you can follow the thread on RCRacing.com or call the Marin R/C shop at (415) 454-0122‎.

Hope to see everyone out there!

-Catalyst

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Slash 2 Hour Enduro Race: Sat. Sep. 20, 3:00PM @NorCal Hobbies

If you haven't heard by now, this Saturday afternoon, there will be an event like none other in the Bay Area taking place at NorCal Hobbies in Union City. The event will be a 2 hour Traxxas Slash Enduro Race that will consist of (at least) 3 man teams. You can check out the rules in the flier below. Be sure to come down and be a part of the fun - whether you wish to join in, or just check out the non-stop action - it's sure to be a blast!! Team BAPRC will be fielding a team for this race, so root us on!! There will also be a raffle for a brand new Traxxas Slash that anyone can purchase tickets for.


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Off-Road Racing Report: NorCal Hobbies 09/13/08

Hey there all, we had a great time at norcal Saturday! I pitted with Pigiron (thanks for letting me have a table PI!) and Fabrc brought his air compressor by (totally useful, thanks man!) Darksoul was also there (great chatting with you and frank!). There were A LOT of people there yesterday, I left a little after 5pm and they still had mains to run!



The new addition to the track, called the "rythm section", is a series of 6 mini jumps right after the hairpin that leads into the step down jump. This was pretty painful in every class. Things got really shaken up and we saw what usually are the fastest cars on the track (4wd mods) lose out to the 2wd 13.5 drivers - I think those bumps really changed everyone's game.

The slashes actually handled it well since they had some good ground clearance. The 4wd mod class had it pretty bad since you could get stuck on the apex of the mini jump and be stuck there spinning your wheels! The jumps were hard to master but at some point everyone KNEW what to do, doing it consistently was the difficult part.

Double-double-double was the easiest way to tackle it, but if you missed that first double, you were either on your lid or singling the next 4 or 5 little jumps. It was pretty brutal. some of the pros were triple-tripling it, but even they could not do it every lap so a lot of time was lost there.

Slash
Darksoul, Pigiron and I all raced slash. This was fun as usual! They combined the mains into one big 10-car main, which I think is still too many slashes on the track at once. With a handful of really good pro-level drivers and so much traffic to contend with, it's just a lot of big trucks to have to deal with. I am not sure how the other guys placed, but I managed to come from dead last and finish 5th.

The guy to beat in slash was James Arluck. He's definitely a seasoned expert on the track, but his slash was really fast! he was running the 23t pinion, but the power was there to really take him over the jumps, and far! I actually had a 19t pinion (from the 23t) for the added torque and Arluck's looked like it had even more! This seems to substantiate the claims I have read in other forums that the quality of the titan motors can vary greatly. This was only my 4th outing with the slash and my motor is feeling way sluggish.

Work had me super slammed all week so I didn't get to do the overhaul I wanted on my cars (again!) but i burned the midnight oil to completely clean out out the slash, re-lube the transmission and rebuild all the shocks with new o-rings. I made some minor tweaks to the front suspension (heavier oil) and I loved the way it handled. I just need more speed out of that titan motor!

My suggestion for the slash: break in a few motors (use the water break in) and test which is faster. I'm going to break in my spare motor and maybe get another, break that in and test before I race slash again - I dont have a lot of runs on my current motor, I broke it in and i clean and lube it before every race, but it's feeling slow - hopefully the other motor works better.

Rookie
PigIron rocked it in rookie with his Losi XXX-CR - he did great! He didn't get much practice time because he broke a caster block. Super prepared with some spares, he made the fix and did fairly well in the qualifiers. He really turned up the heat in the main with some solid and steady driving that sealed him a 2nd place finish! Congrats PigIron!

We had been discussing earlier in the day about how rookie is actually pretty difficult as there are some seasoned rookies in there as well as the really novice drivers. some on road folks start out in rookie even though they have excellent driving skills and some rookies have been in there for a while. The difficult thing is there isn't an easy graduation point from rookie. For example, any rookie with a 4wd automatically goes to 4wd mod, one of the more competitive classes at the track (hence me being thrown into the fray ) - it would be great if there was a middle stage, some sort of sportsman level for 2wd and 4wd, where you are better than rookie, but not having to battle it out with the pro level drivers right from the start.

PigIron also took a few laps with the Golden Fox (his TC4) on the on-road course in preparation for the Sunday Marin event, his setup looked solid!

4WD Mod
4WD Mod was fun, but hard! I hadn't had any practice time from my rookie race a few weekends ago and I was anticipating being pretty slow - and I was! I started to feel a bit battered by the time the mains came as I just couldn't break out of rookie driving habits. slow-n-steady doesn't win races in 4wd mod

I ended up in the C-Main and had decided that I would just drive as aggressively as possible (for me) - not try and fly off the track or anything, but really push harder than I have in past races. this mental shift really paid off! I was clearing the front triples consistently and I was finally going full throttle on the back straight. I ended up in a battle for first with Brice Arnold- lot's of lead changes and really aggressive driving by both of us. It was really fun and totally exhilarating. I actually felt some freedom to push it once I started to clear the triples and not worry about breaking. I managed to hang on to the lead and it really made my day - I had thoughts in qualifying that I didnt belong in 4wd mod but this race really was fun! I wish I had driven as hard during qualifying, and certainly will push it harder now that I've broken through that mental barrier.

Another great day at the track. Thanks again Pigiron for the awesome pit area, we had a few guys out there representing the club (Fabrc, Darksoul, Pigiron)! I cant wait for the next one!
-Michelangelo "Hopbot"

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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.

Off-Road Racing Report: NorCal Hobbies 08/09/08

Last Saturday, a few guys from the club headed out to NorCal Hobbies for some off-road racing action. For 2 of us (myself & Badger), this was the first taste of racing either of us have experienced in many, many years. We both ran in the Slash class, which was so large they had to split it into two heats. For all three of us, this was an absolute blast of a day!! We even had the chance to meet a fellow club member, FabolousRC, who introduced himself to us! Again, it was a pleasure to meet you, Fabolous! Also, Hopbot (Michelangelo) took TQ in the qualifying rounds for the Rookie class, and finished 2nd in the main!!! Congrats!!

Quick video of a Slash qualifying round:

I had a ton of fun, but realized quickly that something wasn't quite right with my setup. After practicing at NorCal in the weeks before, I decided to swap out the standard receiver that came with the Slash and replace it with one that would work with my JRXS3 radio (no need to worry about frequencies at the track). From then on, my Slash seemed sluggish, and definitely didn't have the same power that it had before. After talking to Hopbot about it, he took a look at my radio and figured out the problem for me: My end point adjustments weren't set to the end!! Duhh!! A big thanks to Hopbot for that!!So after that fix, my Slash had nearly 30% more power - a huge difference! I was now able to easily clear the second jump on the triple, instead of landing on top of it and flipping on my lid as well as get up to speed on the straight. Hopbot made the fix for me before we started the Slash Main, which they decided to experiment with by combining the entire Slash class for a ridiculous 16 truck field which was totally fun, but not something they will do again. It proved to be way to chaotic for announcing, and more importantaly, turn marshalling. They simply couldn't keep up with the amount of trucks that needed attention, nor could they always see where a stranded truck was located.

After the races, John -the race director, informed me that they will cap future Slash races at 10 trucks. With that said, my times improved greatly in the Main for me when compared to the qualifying rounds. I was much more confident and my truck handled the track much better as a result of the earlier fix. Unfortunately, there was an issue with the house transponders and they weren't able to get results on all 16 trucks. Apparently, the times were counted, but they will have to do some "digging" to get them. Hopefully that will happen so I can see how I did in the main.

Hopbot's First Qulaifying Race: Rookie Off-Road


Here are a few quotes about the day from the the other guys:

Badger (John): "That was an absolute blast yesterday and that was mostly because B-dog and hopbot was there to battle in the same Slash class and hang out with all day....Thanks again to B-dog and hopbot for hanging out with me and making the day very fun."

Hopbot (Michelangelo): "Hey there all! NorCal really was a blast yesterday! The track is even better than before: much more flow, less treacherous triple in the front (although no lack of carnage in the 4wd mod mains) and incredible traction.....overall it was a great day! it was awesome having other baprcc guys out there and it actually makes you feel a little more confident knowing you have some supporters there. Next race day: August 23rd. I cant wait!"

To read more about the days events, check this thread in the message boards. Click here for pictures.

Off-Road Racing at NorCal Hobbies, Sat. August 9th - Track Opens at 8:00 AM (Un-Official Club Meet:)

Hey there all; a few of us (me, B-Dog, maybe Catalyst) are heading to NorCal Hobbies for their twice-monthly Saturday off-road racing. It would be great to have a few of us representing BAPRCC!

I'll be racing rookie class with the B44 and the Slash class. I'm guessing Cat will bring his Slash and J82, and B-dog will bring his Slash along as well!

The track opens bright and early at 8am and racing usually starts between 10am or 11am. i hear that this might be a really big turn out (some are predicting triple digits!), so if you plan to race get there early to secure a pit table (or bring your own). B-Dog will be bringing his table (a 6-footer).

If you are interested in racing or just watching the amazing drivers that turn out to at NorCal, reply in this post, it would be great to see you there!

-Hopbot (Michelangelo)

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

Racing: Norcal Hobbies Off-Road Race Report

Here is a recap of my first rc race at Norcal Hobbies this past Saturday. it was an awesome day, a great event, and i know i'll be going back for another race again as soon as i can! i hadn't raced for over 15 years, so i was really nervous and i didnt know what to expect, read on for the details...

== around 6:30am ==
after some late night tuning (and taping ;)) i'm ready for action! a little nervous...

i taped the slash body to try and stand apart from the other slash's on the course. it proved helpful. (FYI: they had some clear slash bodies in stock).

== the track ==
i arrived a little early, but the pits were already open and a few spots already claimed. i found a table and set up my space. i couldnt wait to see the track after hearing so much about it, it didnt disappoint!



the track is amazing! when they said "slash friendly", i expected something tamer than last time. this definitely was not tame!

this new layout is larger than the previous design and offers more of what makes racing fun: super fast speed and crazy air time. the straight has been moved to the back and provides plenty of space for some really high speeds. while the right side of the track is more about speed and technical ability around turns, the left side of the track is a jungle of car breaking features which provided a ton of entertainment (as well as broken a-arms).

after the straight and a few tight turns, there is a deceiving step-jump that requires some delicate finessing of the throttle to just hop over. anything more, and you were flat on your back, anything less and you were stuck on the step



this proved to be a great pile-up area but as the day went on drivers seemed to master it... except for the slash class. the slash's had so much trouble clearing it without ending up belly-up, that in the mains, they made a detour for the slash race. not everyone agreed with the change, but at least there wasnt a pile up every lap ;)

the step-jump is followed by a small table top, then after a turn, a giant step-down that is also deceptive: in the first 4wd qualifier, three cars went to the pits with broken front arms. again, this requires some gentle throttle and coasting over to hit the back side of the step-down. if you over-shot it, you are likely to land nose first as you try and turn while landing - hence the broken front arms.

the highlight of the track is right in front of the drivers stand: a giant set of double-jumps followed by a big table top. it was advised that drivers double the jump and then tackle the table if they wanted to get by it without breaking ;) for the slash class, there wasnt enough power to do anything other than the double-single.

of course, in the mod classes drivers were back-siding the table top on the opposite end! the air time in the 4wd mod races was especially insane! you could reach out and touch the cars from the drivers stand!





the reaction from the crowd was awesome every time one of these bullets flew over all 3 of the jumps. turn marshals were advised to stay out of the area and there were some really close calls with cars inches away from heads. helmets should be required for marshaling that part of the track! ;)

overall, the track was super fun and really interesting to run - at times the speeds were intense, at others, the jumps and other features kept you on your toes.

== the races ==
the racing was really fun. a lot of great drivers were there. racing was well-organized and aside form a quick run that had to be made to radioshack to fix the lap-timing computer (we got a little extra practice time before the mains) everything went off without a hitch. john hicks did the announcing for most of the day with other drivers filling in while he jumped into a race.

i managed to shoot some videos with my camera (pretty crappy quality) of the 4wd qualifier and mains. these proved to be some of the most exciting races of the day with amazing speeds and unreal air off the front triple. lots of broken cars as well ;)

some of the the 4WD qualifiers:

i raced the rookie class with the B44 and also raced in the slash class. i was hesitant to try and tackle two classes on my first race day, but i really wanted to try out my birthday present (the slash) and also wanted to put all that b44 practice to the test ;)

once the track was open for practice i went out with the slash. although i hadn't driven it yet, i started with a setup posted by badboy on the rcracing.com slash thread. the truck felt OK, but i definitely was not use to it. further more there seemed to be some issue with the throttle where i could not get consistent acceleration and if i gunned it sometimes the truck would just stutter and stop. i managed to adapt to this and got to know the track. after about half a lipo pack, i moved the pack to the b44 and went back out...

much better! the b44 felt really good. i used the same setup i had on the previous track and it seemed nearly perfect. i felt confident pushing it into turns and it stuck like it was on rails! after practice i headed back into the pits to figure out the issues i was having with the slash. i didnt have much luck. then, out of the blue, i heard my name being called - rookie qualifying was starting and i was late!

i ran to the track, reamed out a hole for the transponder and slapped the b44 together, checked in, then ran up to the stands. ugh, i was already flustered ;) the race went pretty well. i think after some nervous mistakes i manged to hold onto second.

to make the day even more exciting, the slash qualifying was RIGHT AFTER rookie, so more running, reaming, and being late! the slash didnt do so well with the throttle issue plaguing me i had very inconsistent laps and finally crashed and popped the right front shock cap putting me in last place. after marshaling the next race i went back to the pits to work on the slash. i got some help from the guy next to me in the pits (kevin) who had been running integy shocks, so he had his old spare slash shocks. i rebuilt the shock and replaced the cap. then spent about 30 minutes trying to solve the throttle issue, basically making it worse and then i hear "mitch, rookie heat two is starting". crap! late again.

i hadnt really touched the b44 from the last race, i just slapped it together again, threw in the transponder and headed to the track. i was getting more comfortable and was able to keep second place with some jumps into first. i even got some nice words from john hicks (commentating) on the smoothness of a couple if my laps and handling the jumps. that made me feel pretty good ;) ended up in second again due to nervous mistakes but overall, i felt good.

the second qualifying round for slash was up and again, i didnt do so well. the throttle issue was worse and i ended up popping the right front shock cap again! i didnt finish this one.

back in the pits i spent some more time with the slash. the throttle issues ended up being a result of the novak smart stop. removing it fixed all throttle issues. since the 8 minute race wasnt likely to blow the lipo pack, i felt OK running with out it. i rebuilt the shock, made some tweaks and was ready to go again.

for the mains, i wasnt late! ;) for rookie, i battled for first place with another 4wd driver (brian baladad) and it proved to be a pretty exhilarating race! we traded the lead spot several times and then a crash set me back and i finished second. i felt really happy with the race, the b44 handled amazingly well over the jumps and all that's left is me learning to drive faster! ;)

slash mains were not directly after rookie so i had a couple of races to rest, then hit the track. it was doing so much better, but now my steering was way off! not sure what happened but i had to steer to keep the truck straight down the back straight. ugh! i managed to deal with it and actually held onto forth place, which made me really happy considering all the problems i had with the slash that day. of course, on the last jump, the right front shock popped again! i am getting aluminum shock caps for sure!

So there it is, 2nd place in Rookie, 4th place in Slash. an awesome finish to an amazingly fun day! there were lots of racers there who were totally helpful, lots of camaraderie, and finally putting faces to some of the names you read on the boards. some racers who do on-road at marin recognized the baprcc shirt and asked about us, so we know we are getting out there ;)

here are all of the pics from the day

i cant wait until the next race, who's with me? ;)

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