When I started racing, I’d turn up at a meeting and, if I’d got there early enough, maybe have time for a quick practice run before we got started with the qualifying rounds. As I then started attending bigger events, we got to the point where you’d also go to the track the day before the meeting for a day of open practice, often queuing or jostling for position on the drivers stand in order to get as many runs as you could through the day.
Continue reading Oli’s column here
Of all the traveling I do last week saw the combination of two elements that had me excited the minute I arrived in Dublin Airport for my latest trip – 1:8 Onroad and Japan. I had only been to Japan once before when I traveled to the world famous Yatabe Arena 2-years ago. On that trip I got to spend a day sightseeing in Tokyo city and my biggest lasting impression was how friendly a nation the people were. Returning for the 1:8 Onroad World Championships at KeiTune Racing Speedway in Chiba once again the friendly reception was immediate. Picked up from Narita Airport by our good friend Terutaka Hanaumi, who the JMRCA had enlisted as an interpreter for the week, when we arrived at the event it was like a whose who of the Japanese RC industry and not because they were there to race!
Continue reading On the Grapevine here
It’s that time of year again – most of the major summer events have now finished, drivers are contemplating their results from the season and many looking forward to a winter championship – perhaps indoors or still outside braving the cold. The end of the year also means the end of the current rule set. This also means that this is the time for rule proposals, discussions and AGMs. Many clubs across the world will sit down and decide what direction they want to take the club in for the following season – are any rule tweaks needed? Are the classes we support still the right ones? Do we need to change our race format? It’s also the time that national and international federations announce their rule change proposals and a few select people attend the AGMs to vote on those proposals.
Continue reading Oli’s column here
During my return journey from the 1:10 Electric Buggy World Championships in Chico, California, I was trying to gather together my thoughts for my latest column and I have to admit it was a struggle. One would think that having just attended a World Championships the difficulty would be deciding what to leave out rather than what could I include that might make for somewhat interesting reading. While the event was like the Frankfurt International Motor Show in terms of new buggy releases and appearances of prototypes, photos of which got quickly dissected by racers as they circled the globe via the interweb, there was actually very little else of interest coming out of the pits. Perhaps it was the fact that the daily schedule left little time for chatting between runs, highlighted perfectly by Lee Martin eating a hamburger as though he was doing a challenge for the TV show ‘Man Versus Food’. Maybe it had something to do with many of the drivers appearing to have spent the week prior in Vegas perfecting their Poker Faces. While the event ended with 5-minutes of racing that even Hollywood’s best script writers might have struggled to come up with in terms of drama and the final outcome, overall for me the event was missing that World Championship factor and it wasn’t for the lack of effort.
Continue reading On the Grapevine here
Zen Racing today announced that multiple World Champion David Spashett, has teamed up with the UK company in order to build-up a team of talented racers and to bring new products under the Zen Racing brand. David, who recently left Horizon Hobby after many years of being with the firm, has this to say about his new venture:
It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce my involvement with Zen-racing. This new venture will give me the opportunity to work with some very dedicated and enthusiastic racers and Racing companies from all over the world. This new opportunity will also give me the time to develop new ideas with the team and bring products to market under the Zen band name. A common goal to enjoy what we do and to the highest standards possible, a new challenge to build a fresh young race team in the on-road racing market and to hopefully find the next generation of super stars.
Source: Zen Racing [zen-racing.co.uk]
Last weekend I was back on board a Delta Airlines flight bound for the US, while it felt like only a few weeks since I last crossed the Atlantic Ocean I was little shocked when I discovered its actually been 5-months since we covered our last American event. On that occasion my trip was to Dallas, Texas, for the JConcepts Indoor Spring Nationals at Mike’s Hobby Shop when thanks to track owner Mick Darnell I also got the chance to visit Gas Monkey Garage from the Discovery Channel hit show Fast & Loud. Luckily when traveling to the US from Ireland Dublin Airport has one of only a few purpose built facilities outside of the North America that allows US bound passengers to undertake all immigration and customs inspections prior to departure meaning no queuing on my arrival at the other side. As part of the process one must fill out the details of your trip including its purpose and the address at which you will be staying and this lead to a funny reaction from the US immigration officer. While he found the purpose of my trip, reporting on a model racing car event, unusual enough when he saw the hotel address he responded in an slightly amused tone ‘Your staying in Flowood!!!’.
Continue reading On the Grapevine here
In the not too distant past, the RC industry was predominantly focused around three areas – Japan, California and Western Europe. Almost all the manufacturers were located in these three areas and the majority of major races also took place nearby. But, in the last 10 years, we’ve seen a very obvious shift into different territories as our hobby expands globally.
Continue reading Oli’s column here
9-time IFMAR World Champion Lamberto Collari has issued a statement that due to the recently reported levels of radiation from the Fukushima plant in Japan that he will not attend next month’s 1/8th World Championships at Kei-Tune Raceway. The Italian, who was aiming for his 10th title in the class, is one of a number of drivers from Italy that we have heard are now not going to the event due this concern.
Read Lamberto Collari’s statement here (in English & Italian)
