Sneek Peak: 2nd Off-Road Track, NorCal Hobbies

Hey All, NorCal Hobbies is constructing a second off-road track to compliment their current one and BAPRC club member FabolousRC has provided us with a sneek peak of it!



A few of us were there last Sunday and watched it being built (and even contributed a little bit to the effort). The current plan is to have this track be a little more "wild" than the current version (which is tailored for the Traxxas Slash). It even has a slick "over/under" feature which the Slash clears easily. Whether races will be held on it or not, is still to be determined - however, when asked about this, a NorCal "official" stated that he "definitely wants to hold races on it". Stay tuned for more details!

Got something to add? Join the discussion!

Drift Basics

Just thought I'd share this video describing RC Drifting basics - courtesy of HPI. Man, these look like so much fun!

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.

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)

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.

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? ;)

RC Lifestyle: RC Car / Super Mario Bros. MashUp

Now this is impressive!! Take a look at what this RC Car / Video Game enthusiast has done:



Now that must have taken a lot of time, patience and practice! All he used was an RC Car with a bell protruding from the sides and a few hundred wine bottles filled with different volumes of fluid.

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:

From the Lab: IT's ALIVE.....IT'S ALIVE!!!!

What do you get when you take a Tamiya Durga, add a Castle Creations Sidewinder brushless setup, and throw in some custom electronics to handle the 14 Volts delivered by the custom A123 battery pack?? 1+ Horse Power that literally smokes the tires when you hit the throttle, AT ANY SPEED!!!

"Dr." Shtarbucks has emerged from the lab with his latest creation, and it's quite a beast....This cas leaves burnouts like a dragster (and he has already had to superglue the tires back on to the rims because the raw power of his system ripped all four clean off). The video DOES NOT do this thing justice, but believe me, this buggy is a sight to see! There was no way he could give it full throttle in the area he was running it - not to mention the tires could not hook up with the pavement.

Wheelie Small!

saw one of these last weekend at NorCal, this video was the first time i had even heard of scale motorcycle racing! great video and coverage of the racers.



Wheelie Small // Current

RC drifting subculture in SF....

I came across this video not that long ago and just remembered to share it ;) It's amazing what different subcultures are out there. This is happening right here in SF! The video presents some nice coverage of the scene, but also the people pushing it - a little glimpse into the lifestyle of RC...

enjoy -- michelangelo

Check out this totally wicked Drifter!

2008 Cactus Classic

For those of us itching to hit the dirt but have to wait until the weekend, these videos from the 2008 Cactus Classic (Held at Scottsdale RC Speedway, AZ) may keep you happy until then ;) It's awesome to watch world-champion drivers battling it out! I've deciphered the results from the source thread so let me know if I've made any mistakes. Enjoy!

- Michelangelo

---

Mod 2WD

Mod 2WD A1

Mod 2WD A2

Mod 2WD A3

1. Jared Tebo (B4)
2. Jesse Robbers (B4)
3. Masami Hirosaka (B4)
4. Ryan Cavalieri (B4)
5. Matt Chambers (Losi XXX CR)
6. Hayato Matsuzaki (B4)
7. Mike Truhe (Losi XXX CR)
8. Neil Cragg (B4)
9. Mark Pavidas (Kyosho RB5)
10. Ryan Maifield (B4)

---

Mod Truck

Mod Truck A1

Mod Truck A2

Mod Truck A3

1. Ryan Cavalieri (T4)
2. Ryan Maifield (T4)
3. Mike Truhe (Losi XXXT-CR)
4. Masami Hirosaka (T4)
5. Billy Fischer (T4)
6. Steve Hartson (T4)
7. Jesse Robbers (T4)
8. Chad Due (T4)
9. Brian Kinwald (X Factory X60)
10. Matt Chambers (Losi XXXT-CR)

---

Mod 4WD

Mod 4WD A1

Mod 4WD A2

Mod 4WD A3

1. Jared Tebo (B44)
2. Ryan Cavalieri (B44)
3. Masami Hirosaka (Yokomo)
4. Lee Martin (B44)
5. Travis Amezcua (Hot Bodies D4)
6. Hayato Matsuzaki (Hot Bodies D4)
7. Mark Pavidas (Kyosho ZX-5 SP)
8. Ronnie Gardner (Kyosho ZX-5 SP)
9. Mike Truhe (Losi XXX-4)
10. Ryan Maifield (B44)

RC Madness 2008 Indoor Off-road 1/18th Nationals Results

The results are in for the 2008 1/18th Off-road Nationals!! The event looked to be a big success, and I can only look on with envy at the fun that took place at RC Madness in Connecticut.

For details on the results, check out one18th.com

Open Truck A main Video:

Open Buggy A main

First Offical Meet Up a Success!!

Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday!! We had a successful first run of mostly casual driving with a turn out of 8 drivers and a few significant others (oh, and 1 dog). Most of the group didn't end up leaving until 3:00, so it was obvious that we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

We learned a few lessons about how we want to tweak the track. Overall, the pvc worked pretty well. To stabilize it a bit and help keep the track in one piece, we are thinking of strategically placing some sandbags (or something similar) that will help weigh down the pipe in vulnerable areas/corners.

The parking lot surface was not bad at all, considering... Of course, there are always things we can do to help improve the conditions. RCRookie volunteered to bring a heavy duty blower that will help clear the track of dust and debris. We had a small push broom on hand, but having a larger one, or even two, might be a bit more useful.

It was obvious that some of us hadn't gotten our cars out in quite some time, thus some fine tuning was in order. The driving skills were a bit rusty, but it was a blast nonetheless!! It was pretty awesome to see both on and off road cars running together (in 1/10 and 1/18 scales, no less). It's not something you see everyday, for sure! Of course, in future meets, we can set up specific classes for people to run in depending on how many people show up and the class of vehicles they are sporting. Some of our cars took a bit of abuse...(I can count at least 2 shocks that were spewing oil and one car whose tires just didn't want to stay on). Needless to say, some of us will be working on and repairing our cars to get them ready for next time. That's all part of what makes this hobby fun, right?!

We will continue to look for ways to help accommodate our off-road cars, with more jumps and "bumps". The ramp worked surprisingly well, and hopefully we can get some more things going in that department. One of our members had a hard time keeping his powerful nitro trucks on the course, so we will also look for additional spots to set up for off-road.


Again, thanks to everyone for coming out and helping out! It was really appreciated. Please let me know if any of you have any additional comments, feedback, etc. about how it went and how we can make the experience better for everyone. I have heard a lot of positive feedback so far, and I'm ready for another round whenever everyone else is interested in doing so. To find out when our next meet will be, or to propose a particular time/day, check out this thread on the 'boards.

- B-Dog

Click here for more pictures of Saturday's run.

Here's a short video of a impromptu race that was interrupted by a certain driver who decided to trash part of the track!

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:

Ideas for a Temporary Track...?

We are currently in the process of scoping out a way to put a temporary track together (perhaps from pvc pipes, old fire-hose....portable jumps...??) that we can easily move from location to location depending on where people are interested in meeting up. If you have any favorite track designs, we encourage you to share them with us! If any of you have past experience in what designs/materials work well, we would love to hear them!

We are also hoping to have the temporary track accommodate most of the popular scales (1/10, 1/18). Since it's temporary, it should be fairly easy to make it larger or smaller depending on the scales being driven.

***Update - Through various sources, I have been able to secure old 5 inch wide fire hose from a local Fire Dept. It looks like it will be about 1-2 months before we can secure it, so I will continue to investigate pvc piping (or some other alternative) in the mean time. You can track the status of this project on our boards.

What I am envisioning is something along these lines: (...but bigger)



.... we could use it for both on-road and off-road (and make it larger for 1/10 scale). One last thing....can someone PLEASE get those kids off the track!! ;)

Getting Started in RC

So you say you are new to the world of RC cars? Well welcome to one of the most exhilarating hobbies around!

While some may consider an RC car a "toy", there really is so much more to it than that - as they say, there really is more than meets the eye. RC cars are a great way to learn about or increase one's knowledge of mechanics, electronics, physics, and much more. In fact, these are not "toys" at all....lift the body off a hobby RC car, and you will find a fully functional model car that in every way acts like (and often) outperforms what it's full sized cousins are able to do (in scale, of course).

There are many differences between a "toy" RC car and a "hobby" RC car. What really separates the two is the flat out performance you can achieve with a high quality "Hobby" RC car. Other things you can do with a "hobby" car are:

• build
• replace parts
• modify
• race at RC car tracks
• tune, etc.
  

While the hobby can definitely get expensive, it doesn't have to be! There are lots of options out there for different types of enthusiasts. In fact, the hobby has evolved over the years to make it even easier for beginners to get started. Once upon a time, almost every vehicle came in parts which you had to assemble yourself. In addition, most kits did not come with any electronics - meaning the kit required additional things to get it "up and running", such as a motor, speed control, battery, receiver, steering servo, charger, and of course, the radio. Well, those days are over. It is common practice for most companies to offer "RTR" or "Ready to Run" kits, where you can take the vehicle out of the box, charge the battery, and off you go!

At Bay Area Peninsula RC we are completely open to any and all who love RC cars, whether you are a beginner or a serious racer who just wants to hang out and drive with some cool people.

There is a wealth of information online and here are some recommended places to start:

Wikipedia

RC Car Action