The journey started in mid October. I was in Port Orchard, having a beer and pizza with some friends, when one of them suggested we drop by the R/C track in Bremerton afterward. I’d never heard of an indoor R/C track in the area. I used to have a couple of the early electric R/C cars back in the 70’s and 80’s. It was some pretty crude stuff, with speed controllers made of a large ceramic brick wound with resistant wire, and a big sweeping ‘arm’ that adjusted motor speed by moving across the big resistance block. Closer to the end, shorter the wire and faster it ran. You had to sand the arm often to remove the carbon burns, and the resistor brick didn’t last that long either.

Having been into electric R/C helicopters for over a year, I’m quite familiar with the advances in electronic speed controllers. Long gone are the days of that stupid rheostat ‘brick’. What would these modern R/C vehicles looks like and how would the perform? Curious I was. And fascinating it was.

That weekend, I took the kids to the track. We were there until they closed at nearly midnight. The next day I bought my daughter a Team Associated RTR (Ready-to-Run) 1/10th scale Short Course racing truck. And down the slope I slid.

Here is a video from Team Associated. You get an idea of how capable these little vehicles are, and it also includes video of the REAL Short Course racing trucks.

By mid November I’d bought a used truck for myself. Also a Team Associated SC10, but it was far from ready to run, but it was pretty close, all I needed was a radio system and batteries. Soon I was at the track a couple of days a week, practicing, watching and learning the ropes. Come December, I’d started racing in the Novice class.

I had a lot to learn, and a lot of stuff to repair on the truck. The best part about it was the upgraded NOVAK 13.5 power system (still qualifies for stock class), the ball differential and a big set of extra tires and wheels. In the first week I replaced the trashed Lexan shell with one I ‘custom’ painted for myself.

Within a day, I had this little gem:

By the end of December, there were three, one for each of us.

When January started, I was pretty consistently racing 2 nights a week at the track. I was addicted. I’d bought a set of high-C (high burst capacity) batteries, transitioning the original 20c batteries I’d purchased (about $60 each) to the kids. Soon I had a pretty good setup of 2 35C 3800mAh qualifier batteries and one 50C 5000mAh battery for the longer Main. I used to laugh a little inside at the massive kits these guys would show up at the track with. Rollers, piles of chargers, tools, tires, gear sets. But soon, my pit was starting to look more and more like the others.

R/C racing is challenging. It’s one thing to race well while sitting in the driver seat, feeling the vehicle move around, literally using your gut feelings about how the vehicle is handling. It’s entirely another thing to understand those dynamics, from 50′ away, using only your eyes. However like with most things, you start to train your brain to perceive and understand the subtle messages the little vehicle is sending. And when you understand that, and you start to hone your skills, it starts to be come amazingly fun. Then, the competitive streak kicks in. And you just don’t want to get around the track once without crashing, you want to WIN!

But to win, you need to at least be playing on a level field with your competitors. As I wandered around the pits, checking out my competitor’s vehicles one thing became quite clear. There was one model of truck the really fast guys were running. The Team Associated Factory Team SC10. The writing was on the wall. I had to upgrade.

Now, when we first started this adventure, the attractive, glossy Factory Team kits on the shelf in the store got my immediate attention. And so did the price. The Ready-to-Run Trucks (pre-built, just add battery) were $290. The Factory Team kit was only $250. So I of course inquired. The Factory Team kit was full of up-line parts, like Titanium suspension components, updated performance threaded shocks, and a heavy dose of Aluminum fasteners (instead of carbon steel) and carbon fiber. But, it had not motor, not ESC, no radio, no servo. To totally kit out the Factory Team would require another $110 for a basic radio, $50 for a good metal-gear servo, $250 for a motor and ESC. Add that to the price of the kit (which you have to build mind you), and you’re talking $660. That’s a lot more than the $290 for the same basic chassis, a pre-pained shell ($50), r2.4GHz radio ($100) and motor and ESC system ($140 – don’t ask how I know that). So, the RTR was what I bought (the RTR SC10 belongs to my daughter and the RTR truck to The Boy), and for a while, it was plenty awesome.

But racing is most fun when you think you can win. Because of this, mid-January I stopped thinking about it, and pulled the trigger on a brand new truck kit, the SC10 Factory Team.

Thankfully, I’d taken the old truck apart and put it back together again many times repairing things, so I knew what I needed to do, to put it all together. But, wow.. I didn’t expect it would take me about 2 days to get it done! From assembling the titanium turn buckles, to installing all those little fasteners, radio, motor, servo, BUILDING the 4 shocks (and all that includes such as working the air out of the shocks, time consuming), setting up the transmission, selecting gearing, gluing up the tires. It’s a lot of little work!

If I’d bought a kit for my daughter, stead of the Ready-To-Run, I think we’d been far too paranoid to break it, and would not have had nearly as much fun.

First time on the track, I ran the WORST race so far. I was horrible. It was horrible. I could not get the truck to jump, I could not get it to turn, I was really, REALLY thinking I’d made a $300 mistake (bought a pair of Panther front tires at the same time, stock fronts are worthless). It was frustrating. But, the great group of people that work and volunteer at Bremerton Radio Control Raceway were amazingly helpful. Eventually, I was running consistently enough to get a #1 position in qualifying.

On Wednesday night, 26-JAN-2011, I finally won my first A Main race! Still running in Novice class, it was not a track roasting run, but I did dominate the race, leading almost all of the 13 laps. And my average lap times would have put me in the middle of the pack for Stock Short Course, racing with the regulars (and my regulars, I mean the guys I see there every night).

So, it looks like my lazy, hazy dayz in the Novice class are starting to come to an end. One more Novice Main win and they will bump me to the ‘Big Boys’. I’m going to need to keep stepping up my game if I plan to compete there! If all goes well, I should have only 2 more Novice races in the next week (Monday and Wednesday night).

Wish me luck?