On the Grapevine – Phoenix & Gran Canaria

Four years ago Red RC made its first trip to the US to report on one of many big annual Offroad races that keep the teams busy each season and I suppose the Pro drivers in a job. That event has since become my favourite annual event but having just covered the 15th edition of the race I don’t actually know why. It’s certainly not because of the well planned timetable, while in Europe a timetable is an expected standard, in the US I have found to be as rare as hens teeth. As a keeper of hens I can assure that pretty much means they don’t exist!!! Its not because of the short days, that’s if you can call a guesstimated 08:00 start time, racing actually kicked off at 09:30 after a few extra late entries were crammed in, and finishing at 01:30 the next morning a short day. It’s not because of the feeling of being outdoors in the sunshine & fresh air, eating dust all day is an acquired taste as is the kick off the nitro fumes that burn your nose and make your eyes water once darkness falls. Returning from a late coffee run on one of the finals days, driving towards the track one could be forgiven for thinking the hovering 2-stroke smoke, lit up by the track floodlights, was the cloud off some sort of nuclear explosion. Despite this The Dirt Nitro Challenge is my favourite annual event to report on and if your an offroad racer I think it’s one of the events you have to do before you die. It’s the Dakar rally of the rc world – a challenge both to man and machine!
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