We’re all friends here so ill share...

Note to self “racing crosseyed is difficult!” (see elaboration below)

Wow. Racing for me has become a brief interruption for my daily chaotic life filled with a thriving 6 day a week business and a beautiful and quite demanding little 9 month old 1.5 foot tall tower of terror my daughter. So Sometimes Selfishly Sunday comes and I want to escape the clutches of my middle aged obligation and let my hair down for some RC racing.(im actually 1-2 mm from bald…GI joeish to be exact).

But sometimes my little piece of the pie has costs. Often its nothing more than a kiss on the top of the head and some shopping money, and sometimes it requires a little more. In an effort to stay married and have a happy home you just gotta give back. And this weekend was a doozy.

A rare phone conversation of explicative’s and choice words of exhaustion coupled with blasphemy towards my rare Sunday enjoyment prompted the full package of an art long lost called dating. That’s right a date….with my wife! I know I know.

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The recent developments in 3D cinema are truly staggering, I went to my first viewing as sceptical as ever, expecting the cheap red/blue glasses, headache inducing fuzzy picture that passes itself off as 3D, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! From the first second I slipped on the proper shades I was stunned at just how good it was, speechless, a whole new era in cinema is here, and way beyond the dreams of mere mortals. If you haven’t seen one yet, go now!

Now I see SKY are to start the same 3D broadcasts so we can enjoy it in our own homes, and I’m sure computer games are heading in that direction too, but why would you want to drive a 3D car round a 3D circuit when you can do it for real? R/C racing is losing the youth element we so badly need to keep the sport moving forwards, the average age of drivers at every meeting I’ve been to this year is well into the high 30’s, because Dad’s are driving while their sons stay home to play on their X Box or at best sit in the pits with two or three friends racing each other on their DS Lights.

In the not too distant past it would be the lad driving while Dad cheered him on and handled all the pit work, while son learnt the craft of swinging the spanners. Ask a lad of 13 these days to undo a wheel nut and they sit their trying to figure out which way to turn it, which I personally find simply amazing!

Yes there are a few exceptions, as with any rules, and a few young lads are doing very well for themselves, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Next time you look at the A Final drivers on the rostrum just look for school kids standing on milk crates to get a better view of the track, I bet you don’t see any which is a real shame. Without new talent coming up through the ranks, we will be seeing the same old faces getting older and greyer, claiming trophies for another ten years to come. To this end race publications should be concentrating on more race reports on the younger generation, to give those that are making the effort to race for real, in proper 3D, the coverage they deserve. We’ll see some rising talent at the Ardent Raceways Juniors, and BRCA Juniors likewise, plus more fun events like the Carisma GP at Bedworth, so feel free to let race publications know of any events they should cover.

So come on Dads, put down the transmitter, take the time to teach your lad hand/eye co-ordination, depth perception and race craft. They need to feel the adrenalin rush of a tight race, the exhilaration of a victory, and the bitter sting of a crash and it’s consequences in terms of both the cost of replacement parts and the loss of race position. Kids today need to learn that there’s no reset button in real life, and it’s a hard learnt lesson that will serve them well for the future.

See you Trackside

Saturday's Report

Friday's Report

The full day Friday was devoted to qualifying. After round #2 had been completed, there was a break in the program, while the racers were resorted based on their single best qualifier. This would put most of the slowest/fastest guys together with others of equal ability.

Thursday's Report

We got to the track bright and early Thursday, but it was already packed with racers and friends. The track opened up for practice around 8am or so, and within an hour things were looking quite busy. The driver's meeting was set for 10:30am, when everyone gathered around the timing and scoring area for the longest driver's meeting I've seen in ages. I don't think there was any rule or regulation that wasn't covered. Because of the tight schedule and the officials not wanting people walking on the track, we never got a chance to take a group photo - maybe later in the week (after the Finals) that might be possible.

Wednesday's Report

Because of the increasing number of participants at National Championships several years ago, the on-road Fuel Nationals were split into two nationals, one for 1/10 scale sedan cars, and one for 1/8 cars. However, because of the poor economy, ROAR felt that attendance in 2009 would be very low, so the races were combined into one large national championship for both classes, to be held in Toledo, Ohio, hosted by the 1/8 Racers Club.

The 2009 Great Lakes Challenge is an enjoyable "fun" race that many on-road racers in the USA loook forward to each year. This is the 12th runnning of this annual event. Over the years, classes have been added or removed to keep things current with what on-road racers are doing, but the main focus of the event - fun - has never changed. It's always been a competitive event, in that people want to do the best they can, but the race is more about good friends getting together to spend a weekend doing what they most enjoy.

The Toledo 1/8 Racers has had this attitude since the beginning, and it's caught on. Race fees have always been very low, ande at only $40 people get a whole of racing in for not all that much money. The real expense of the GLC for most people was getting to and from the track, with racers coming from all over the country. With this year's Nationals being held a few weeks later at the same track, some racers looked to the GLC as a good time to get ready for the more "serious" event coming up. For many racers though, this was the "real" race, representing everything good about r/c racing.

There were four classes. Not counting those racers who had to work during the week and who couldn't sign up until the weekend, we had 50 racers in the 1/10 scale sedan class, 44 racers in 1/8 4WD, 24 additional racers in 1/8 Masters Class, and fifteen racers in the growing GT class.

I got to the race along with Lou Przybyla on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday and Thursday were practice days, as was Friday morning. Mid-day Friday, we had a driver's meeting, took a group photo, and started the day's two rounds of qualifying.

We retired the last DNA3 body per Art Carbonell’s suggestion. For the upcoming Homestead race, we will change to Stratus 3.1; 61R/59F, 42 shore all around. We added a degree of camber to the rear; 16/21 pinion; 55/60 spur; red clutch shoe; stock Kyosho clutch bell with .03mm end play for the smoothest engagement possible. Art also pointed out something was wrong with the Nova S12. The old S12 is now retired. We broke out the 353 Race 3CT.

Saturday, March 21 2009 was a practice day at Homestead RC Raceway. With a state series race coming up in two weeks, lots of racers showed up either to work on their cars, break in new engines, or just enjoy driving on the track. Meanwhile, Johnny Wong with the help of lots of friends were busily getting everything ready for the upcoming race.

Clicking on the link below will start up a "Flash" slide show gallery of the weekend's fun. There isn't much to say in way of a race report, but if any of the people running their cars that day care to send me anything, I'll gladly print it here.

Driving up to the track on Saturday, we saw signs directing traffic and some cones past where we turn to go into the track. It looked as if there was something going on at the Speedway today. That brought the excitement level up, even though we were only there to practice.

While practicing at the Homestead track the weekend before the race, we were informed by Doug McNeely (race announcer extraordinaire) that the track would be open Friday afternoon for early practice. Hint. We needed early practice.

Luckily, we had a "doctor’s appointment", so we were able to make two hours of good lap time practice. We expected a good crowd, but did not think so many competitors would be there on Friday. Doug had said rooms were going to be cheap, and he was right. At the end of the day traction was fierce! We had Exceed Brand - 42 rears and 40 fronts. For our Kyosho 1/10th scale, anything softer than 40s would have produced Giovanni’s favorite - the Traction Barrel Roll. He once reported a 10-in-a-row-landed-on-the-tires barrel roll! "Sooo coooool!" was all he could say.

Getting Giovanni's car ready for the Final