Off-Road Track Review: Norcal Hobbies' New Layout

Hey everyone,

I headed out to Norcal Hobbies last Sunday for a few hours of practice. I focused on improving my driving with the B44 and was excited to see the new track layout. IT IS AWESOME!



The track has amazing flow! By the end of the day I was able to push it hard and get in the rhythm and it felt great! The front of the track features a nice big table top jump that wont break (as many) cars. just after that there are a series of corners and a hairpin that leads into a corner table with a single mini jump just after it. Kevin Jelich (the track's designer) apparently hits that table wide and clears it and the mini jump, I tried it and its a pretty tricky thing to pull off cleanly.

After another tight turn there is a double and then a turn into a long step-up leading into another high speed double, then a hair pin into the back straight. This progression is super fun once you get the flow!

The back straight is very fast with an elevation change about half way through and a slow climb after into a chicane area. Hitting full throttle on the back straight is awesome and super fun to watch as the cars bump over the elevation changes and slow hard for the end turn into the chicane.

Another fast, tight turn takes you into a set of doubles then a wide turn back to the front table jump.

The track is now being run wet so I ran my M3 holeshots. they worked great! Tire wear is good but only as the track stays wet. When it starts to dry, it gets slippery and the tires start to wear faster. I will try the harder R3 compound next time around to see if the wearing is better. During races they lightly water before every heat so hopefully I can make it a couple of race days with one set of tires (right now I am about one race day and maybe one heat on a single set of tires).

There are a lot of jumps, but no car breakers like we've been used to. I love the crazy air from the other layouts, but there is enough action on this track that I didnt miss it at all. Also, they took a lot of the infield piping and cut it in half so Slash trucks and biggues wont get stuck on them. Even my B44 had no trouble getting out of a jam if I miss-jumped and ended up off the track.

Awesome track, Kevin Jelich and crew have done it again!

Any thoughts? Join the discussion!

-Hopbot

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)

Marin R/C Electric On Road Racing Report

Well it was a beautiful day and there was some great racing at Marin R/C in San Rafael, CA this last weekend. Being my first on-road electric Club Race I was eager to get onto the driver's stand and off the fence. It was a good field of about 40 entrants and there were 9 total classes. This included 1/10th Sedan, 1/10th Pan Cars, 1/12th Pan Cars, Mini's, and F103GTs in various motor and skill classes. It's an amazing setting right on the water and the facility is top notch with a full hobby shop on the property that has supplies for R/C vehicles, planes, and helicopters amongst other things and the staff there is quite accomodating.

Being the "new guy" was a little intimidating but I was quickly greeted by helpful racers and there were many laughs to be had on the driver's stand during the 1/18th scale and Mini races. The Expert A Main for 13.5 and 10.5 1/10th Touring Cars was extremely tight racing and exciting to spectate. Racers were in a train for several laps and the passes were amazing. The traction was great and on race day it was about 80 degrees with a nice breeze off the water.

I highly encourage folks to check out Marin R/C in San Rafael and they host Club Races every other weekend typically. It's a class act there and the setting is stellar! Hopefully next time I'm out there I will have some results to brag about...but until then it's been a lot of fun learning the ins and outs of racing on-road.

-Catalyst

New Product: Team Losi Speed-T

Team Losi recently released a very impressive and innovative product to the market; dubbed the "Speed-T". This is not your ordinary 1/10 scale truck. The Speed-T is a RTR (ready to run) truck designed for those who want to go fast......very, very fast.

What really makes this truck unique and sets it apart from others in the industry is that it comes equipped with a brushless system out of the box. The Losi XCelorin brushless system included with the kit includes a high-speed 4800KV motor and a programmable ESC that includes a Quick Programming Card. This provides the driver with selectable ESC settings that are preprogrammed, meaning you can change the truck's settings with the push of a button. Also important to note, the truck comes with a Losi MTX Pro Radio System with Spektrum 2.4GHz DSM Technology which is almost unheard of in Ready to Run kits.This is further evidence that the RC Car industry is one step closer to fully accepting and embracing brushless motor and Spektrum 2.4GHz DSM radio technologies. As more and more brushless systems enter the market, I predict the demand for nitro vehicles will decrease.

Depending on the type of battery pack you plug into this bad boy, you can be flying down the street at speeds in excess of 65+ MPH!! Just be sure to let everyone else know before doing so....that way we can all steer clear and avoid broken ankles. :)

The MSRP on this beast is $549.99, but don't let that scare you away. It is currently available for $329.99

You can find out more information about the Speed-T on Losi's official site.

The video below is a tad lengthy, but has plenty of information about the Speed-T: