Category Archives: RC Tracks

Jun 05 2019
Leave a comment
JQ Europe Tour, RC Tracks, Travel Stories

THEBlog is BACK, for 10 days – RCGP Prep Day 4

Today we headed over to another track here in Austria, A-Team Graz, for some last minute practice. Max needed to break in his new race car, and I forgot mine at the hotel, so I didn’t need to. That was fun! Instead I made the schedule for RCGP, and figured out that RC2 can indeed run 2 races, just like RCGP. More racing for everyone!!!

Yess, an RC track we can drive on!!!

New layout compared to last one, a lot more fun!

Spectacular place!

This is a great tan

We ordered some pre-race track watering. Not to worry!

Jun 02 2019
Leave a comment
#rcgypsy, JQ Europe Tour, RC Tracks, RCGP

THEBlog is BACK, for 10 days – RCGP Prep Day 1

Today Max and I left for Austria. The RCGP of Europe, rounds 3 and 4 of RCGP, and the first of two rounds of RC2 Euro Series is at the awesome WMW Fehring facility. After moving back to Finland having lived in the Philippines for 8 months, it has been a busy couple of weeks getting situated, and organising the last things for the race. A nutty sleeping schedule this last week, going to bed at 7:30am, 4:30am, 4am and 2:30am, and getting up at 10am.  I even managed to build a new car for myself! About time.

At the airport, thanks to my Finnair Bonus card we got priority access and treatment. Interestingly the priority security actually means they make it a priority to check all of your belongings with a “random priority wiping test”. The logistics and travel manager, yours truly, was able to save almost 300€ on the unicorn budget, buy booking a Sunday early morning flight, instead of a Monday flight as originally planned. This was not awesome for Max, who had his graduation the day before, and spent the night getting drunk and not having sexual intercourse with anyone. He made it home in one piece at around 5am, and after a quick shower and a power-nap on the living room chair, headed to the airport.

Max’s priority treatment begins….

In this state, the priority check was also not awesome for Max. His vacuum packed hand luggage exploded in the security officer lady’s face during this priority check. It took Max at least 20 minutes to re-pack the complete mess. He basically shut down the whole security check unit.

Max 15min later.

After finally getting on the plane, it was smooth sailing, as the packing expert promptly fell asleep and I listened to a good podcast by Steve Matthes where he interviewed Marc de Reuver. The smoothest part of the journey.

Car rental. The perpetual bane of my existence. This time I had managed to book a car, on an already over the limit credit card, which was interesting, but I’ll take it. Next they wanted a 1000€ security deposit, which was decidedly out of the question. After trying the remaining 2 cards I own in order to pay for the full coverage scam payment, we were forced to implement plan B. Max’s father’s card, for use in emergencies where I get killed in a freak accident and Max has to make his way home. This was close enough.

Then something amazing happened. We had a quick prayer sesh, and God himself made our last credit card work.

About a 2h drive later we arrived in Fehring. The Wendler brothers and their families were there, and we checked out the facility and unpacked the shipment from the Philippines. Everything is in order, in true Austrian style, and tomorrow we start hanging banners and putting up tents. It will be 3 days of preparation, and then Thursday is a media day! RCGP drivers and teams in attendance for the press. Time for bed. Need to catch up on sleep.

Here we go, heading south.

Media Room

RCGP Pits will be here. RC2 pits is under the black roof.

This infamous shipment made it

Can’t go to Austria and not have some Weaner Shitsnell

Time to relax. Fun fact. In 2012 I painted a Team Durango 2wd buggy bodyshell in that pool.

 

May 22 2017
1 Comment
#THETourist, Race Reports, RC Tracks

Dominican Republic Race – Report Of Sorts

A year ago I came to the Dominican Republic for the first time. At that time, I had only known that they race RC on the DR for about a year, as someone had bought a car from me, and that then turned into me having a distributor on the island. RC racing is in it’s infancy on the DR compared to most of the places I have visited, and when I first visited I ended up convincing, and helping the local RC pioneers register in FAMAR, and then convinced the racers that they should go to the worlds. 1 more country successfully added to the RC Racing scene.

1 year later, I go back, and they have a permanent track built next to two 5 a side football fields, next to a big mall, in Santo Domingo, the capital. That means, they have plenty of potential new RC enthusiasts pass by daily. Location is everything. Not only that, these guys had fireworks, flame throwers, live music, sponsorship from Chevy, Redbull, local harware store, local paint store, etc.

Jurassic Park. For once my lame comment was actually accurate, as part of JP was filmed on the DR.

What I am trying to say is, if they can do this in the Dominican Republic, then there really is no excuse elsewhere. Yes, it can of course be easier in a country like the DR, due to the demographic of RC racers, compared to a European country, but the key is still the passion, regardless of social or economical stature.

Now for some pics from the event.

Truck Podium: 1st JQ, 2nd, Luis Garcia, 3rd Francisco Ortiz

Nitro Podium. 1st JQ, 2nd Carlos Sikora, 3rd Luis Jose

eBuggy Podium 1st JQ, 2nd Luis Garcia, 3rd Carlos Sikora

Dulce Weiss, 11 years old and 4th place in Nitro Buggy. The Dulcenator was impressive. DR’s Jessica Pålsson.

Driving down the motorway, we saw this guy going the same direction, but on the other side, against traffic…

Fuck iiiiit! This is the DR!

Semi drive through in the mountains. This guy’s light switch was a live wire that he pushed in a socket. #healthandsafety

My office. Getting work done, so I can chill. #liveyourlife

 

 

May 21 2017
2 Comments
JQ THE World Tour, Race Reports, RC Tracks

DR Qualifying, Introducing Mormons To Porn, and Pineapple on Tacos

The race is held on a new track, right next to a big shopping mall. There are also two five a side football fields next to the track.

Running eBuggy and Nitro. Longwear medium tyres!

I met my first Mormons. These guys were from Nebraska and Arizona, on a 2 year mission in the DR. I had some questions for them, regarding all the restrictions and their beliefs in general. In addition to not being allowed to consume alcohol, coffee, or to smoke, they also were not allowed to have sex before marriage. Porn and sex in general are a big no no.

…so I showed them some porn.

Their minds were blown, and I managed to convert them to reality, and get them into RC Car racing.

On the track, I was pushing the limit

Other on track action included a bar. I’m not making this up.

Another thing I’m not making up, is these Al Pastor street Tacos with pineapple on them. That’s it, I’m moving to the DR.

May 12 2017
Leave a comment
driving, JQ Europe Tour, Race Reports, RC Tracks, THECar Advice

Nordics/Bitty Contest/Euros Warm Up Day 1

When tax money is spent right…..

Practice, we talkin’ about practice! Today was a good day. Track is “motocross”, and I love it. It’s balls out, punch it, go fast, but it’s rough and loose, so you have to pick your lines carefully, and you have to hit each section at the right speed. That speed is fast, but it needs to be the right fast. And you can’t avoid all the bumps, you just have to power through them. Exactly the sort of surface I enjoy the most. It’s a case of, either you go fast, or you go slow. Medium will catch out you, and don’t let off if you get in trouble or it will end up worse, just smash the throttle. Like motocross, but safer.

I got both my cars really good, and I’m still basically using a standard bumpy track setup. Only minor changes from track to track, regardless of surface, really happy about that. Things to look at, swaybars, antisquat, toe in, droop.

Lee Martin is running both the JQ cars, nitro and electric, so I hope he will do well. It’s tough because he has very limited track time with nitro, and got the electric at the race, and with the track being “special”, let’s see how it goes tomorrow. Fingers crossed we get them how he likes his cars!

Real food at the track. That’s special!

So you are telling me I should put this red donut into the rubbery thing?

Infinity BLACK Edition

Carlos Duraes was forced to limit his manspreading to 1 meter.

That’s just ridiculous. Bigger than in America.

Max “Full Throttle” Johansson smashed the throttle and seeded 6th in Nitro! Amazing job! He also glues his tyres full throttle, so he needs protection.

You know how you told me to put that red thing in the rubbery thing? It was waaaay better.

Prittydesign

 

May 10 2017
Leave a comment
JQ Europe Tour, Race Reports, RC Tracks

Eskilstuna – Nordic Contest/Euros Warm Up

Another race! This time the Euros will be in Sweden. As long as I have been racing, there has never been a 1:8th scale Euros in Scandinavia, so this is going to be really nice. Above you can see a video of a lap from last summer, and below you can see a track walk by David Ronnefalk. The track is really nice, and it’s looking like the weather is going to cooperate. It should be a lot of fun!

Tagged
Apr 13 2017
Leave a comment
Race Reports, RC Tracks

NEO17 – Day 0

Above you can see the track. Looks very nice, There is a berm, shame that it’s shallow, and in a relatively blind spot from the stand, but it could get dicey. Nice hip jump in back corner, cross over, woops, off cambers, rollers, looks flowing. Looks like a lot of fun to me! Can’t wait.

The JQ team have all arrived, I think there are 12 of us here, and that includes two rental ride drivers. First guy is the retired Petri Ström, who made a comeback, won the Tamiya mini championship back home, and automatically qualified himself for a NEO17 rental ride. Should be good. Preparation for this race, 0%. Received everything at the race. Brought his radio. Should be solid.

Fat Jesus was humbled at the sight of such immense beauty and incredible engineering.

The other rental ride was a no brainer. When we heard Fat Jesus, aka David Gibson applied, we just had to give him a go with the BLACK Edition. I mean if it’s good enough for Jesus, then how much better can things really get?

 

When Fat Jesus made the pilgrimage back to his homeland, he did not expect such a warm welcome.

Everyone received a nice gift pack that THE Galvinator put together, BLACK Edition beanie, gloves, earplugs, easter eggs, the right pistons, and some sort of penis pump.

 

Max immediately decided to launch his modeling career.

A few beers and some laughs, after Fat Jesus turned water into beer for us!

And at some point I actually managed to finish this!

Mar 09 2017
Leave a comment
#Inspiration, #rcgypsy, People, RC Tracks

Dialed In Raceway – I Made it More Dialed.

The above track is Dialed In Raceway in Victorville. Even though it’s pretty much in Northern California, it is the best track for SoCal residents. Revelation Raceway is in a better location, but the dirt is worse than hemorrhoids (I’m guessing here obviously). Thunder Alley is up there too, but unfortunately it’s never open. It’s like a fucking diorama, look don’t touch.

Anyway, as you can see above, the track has a new lay out. Now, it is really very good, but our World Champ David RONNEfalk had a slight issue. There is a blind spot 2nd lane from the back left corner. See it? Well, Brent ASS-Ton who runs the track, is a really great guy (or so I thought), and he immediately got all emotional because the World Champ wasn’t 100% happy. So this is what he did.

An unreasonable tractor.

First he tricked me to go to the track to practice. Then he got this ridiculous tractor and dumped a pile of dirt in the blind spot, and handed me a shovel. Basically Brent can’t drive a tractor to save his life. I guess he got the pile in the right general area, but there was definitely ample room to improve his skills.

He then forced me to shovel this goddamn pile of dirt for at least an hour, into what resembled a sort of corner spine, hip-roller, JQ CORNER, while he sipped on his Starbucks and verbally abused me.

Btw, Ass-ton, get it?

Brent did however then pack the new section while I rested.

So there you go, Dialed In Raceway is now officially Dialed.

Mar 05 2017
9 Comments
Race Reports, RC Tracks

DNC17 – The Track

dnc17-neo-0277-x2There was a lot of crying and complaining about the track at DNC. A lot of tears were shed, a lot of feelings were hurt, a tremendous amount of arms were smashed, believe me. I have given the organisers a hard time for the fact that they forgot to organise. I still haven’t seen results from the race. I probably never will. But The Dirt crew have one thing going for them. The track.

I feel like there were a few years where Joey got a bit lazy with the track. You arrived and thought, “that’s it, really?”. However, the last couple of years, the tracks have been really good, and specially this one. As much as I enjoy a full straight, once they smoothed out the jumps at the front, they actually made for a great track feature.

The great thing about this track, was how difficult it was, and how varied it was. It had a little bit of everything, and to make a good lap was rewarding. It wasn’t like the track was random, after the 1st practice day at least. Everything was doable, and repeatable, it was just that it was difficult to do. Perfect. With a difficult track like this, the good thing is that you can actually catch someone by pushing a bit more, and taking some risks. Everyone isn’t doing the same thing, you can go faster, but the risks grow. If the track is easy, you can’t catch up, you just have to hope the driver in front makes a mistake.

For all the people crying, I would just like to share with you Maifiled’s quote. “It’s not the Nitro Easy, its Nitro CHALLENGE!”. I hope Joey keeps making the track special, like this one was, when the best drivers in the world are making mistakes, you know the difficulty level is on point.

Dec 22 2016
1 Comment
10th Scale Stuff, driving, JQ USA Tour, Race Reports, RC Tracks

2wd 1st Win Ever & LiveRC

FINALLY! I finally kept my shit together enough to win a club race in 2wd at OCRC. For anyone who hasn’t been there, I can tell you, that it’s not an easy task! The locals are super fast here, and specially in 2wd. It was a great race too, 5 lead changes, 3 different leaders, and check out that sweet inside move for the lead at 1:50 or so. How do you like them apples?

If you have been reading this blog, you know that I started it by saying that I want to see if it’s possible to go from average to above average by dedicating more time to driving practice, and having a thoughtful approach to improving. One of my goals was to improve in 2wd in America, because it’s a hard class to do well in here. When I arrived I was getting lapped by these guys, and now just over a month later I can hang with them. There’s still 1 month until the Reedy Race, so let’s see if I can find some more speed for that. One good thing this year, is that the drivers I am racing against now, have in past years been completely unbeatable for me. I’m talking a lap faster in 5 minutes. So some improvements have been made, that’s obvious. The PR Racing car is working well too. I have been running the standup gear box MM version, but now I will be trying the lay down FM version to see how that performs. Everyone else is running lay down cars, so I might as well give it a try.

LiveRC have recently updated their websites results viewing section, and after hating the damn thing at the worlds, I am beginning to understand it. I still click on the wrong link at least once before getting to see the results where I get to check my lap times, but this version clearly has a lot more potential than the previous one. One cool feature I didn’t even notice until today was that you can watch all the races on the results page, at least from OCRC. The results page for the above race is here.

Not bad, not bad at all. Now just make it a bit more simple and clear to use, and it’s a winner! And fix the glitches, I mean there still isn’t a results sheet from the Worlds in Vegas….

img_55811

← Older posts