RC Dork: The RC history Part 5

The Racing days.

The 1:10 tourers had my preference after the disastrous experience with the messed up 2nd hand Kyosho Ultima ST. I had been looking at Tamiya kits, but couldn't really decide what to get. Then, I stumbled across a Corally C4.1. A competition grade chassis with a 40% discount at a hobbyshop. They were shifting focus to model trains, so all the RC stuff went on sale. I decided then and there that this was the chassis for me. The kit and the build was of a whole different level than the ones I had worked on before. Carbon fiber, graphite, glass fiber reenforced plastics, aluminium bulkheads, ball diffs, it had it all. I added a 12 Triple motor, a no turn limit ESC and a Nissan Skyline R34 body. Boy was this thing FAST, it made my Nitro cars look like kids toys (and they were no slouches either). Soon I realised that just a few milimeters of groundclearance brought along some problems when racing parking lots. The last bash spot we had had a nice smooth asphalt surface, but even the tiniest bit of debris sent the car out of control if you were unlucky and happened to hit it the wrong way.

Not mine, but one just like it, right down to the NiMH cells used. Picture courtesy of the internet.

It was time for the next phase in my hobby. I joined a RC club. But they were just a bit too far from home, and I still had some sort of a social life back then, so I couldn't visit the practice days very often. The club was Electro only, so my brother in law didn't join as he was still running Nitro. I participated in the club competition, but with no time to put in any practice it wasn't much fun as even 10 year olds were able to run better laps than I did. But with a chassis with all the bells and whistles and desparate to have at least one race where I didn't end last I did learn a lot about setting up on road cars. Switched my body to a Dodge Stratus, which was a downforce monster at the time. Bought a set-up board, learned about how to fine tune gearing to the track. And in one short moment of glory, I managed to finish a race in 8th place (out of 10 drivers). They say you should quit while you're ahead, so I cancelled my membership and went back to the parking lots.

RC Dork: The RC history Part 4

The Nitro days.

After the little M03, I wanted to take it to another level. So at the hobbyshop close to where I worked, I picked up a Carson CR4. A 4WD Nitro powered 1:10 tourer, with a 2-speed gearbox and a Porsche 911 GT3 body. It was a fun car, fast too. And noisy and smelly and greasy and a pain to adjust the engine every single time I took it out. But I loved it. My brother in law picked up the bug as well and bought a Tamiya Nitro. We tore up the local parking lots together and as I wanted to try something other than on-road, I bought a 2nd hand Kyosho Ultima ST (and got a Kyosho PureTen GP Alpha to go with it for free).

Not mine, but ones just like them. Pictures courtesy of the internet.

The Ultima proved to be impossible to set up right and tore up slipper pads like mad. By the time I figured out what the problem was, it needed so many repairs that I decided not to bother with it anymore. As parts support for the Carson CR4 started to dry up in my local shops, I decided to strip whatever I could use and put it on the PureTen chassis, to build the ultimate parkinglot racer. I had tons of fun and learned a lot about setting up RC cars in those days. But local development and real estate projects started to limit the places suitable to run. After a while, there were only 2 suitable spots left in our area. And the best of them now had a fence and was locked up after business hours. The last suitable spot was close to peoples homes and there were complaints about the noise. I didn't want to give up my hobby, so it was time to look into Electro RC again.