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LaTrax Prerunner Drift

February 11, 2019 by justin 1 Comment

In the winter it can be hard to get out and play all of the time. We built some chained tires to tackle the snow. Unfortunately, January 2019 has been more ice than snow, and the polar vortex kept us inside for over a week. But we can still have fun driving RC inside. So how do we get these high speed vehicles from wrecking everything in the house? Training mode & drift tires!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cars, Electric Off-Road, Electric On-Road Tagged With: drift, kids, LaTrax, SCT, short course truck, training, Traxxas

Best First R/C Car for Kids

October 8, 2018 by justin 5 Comments

My son and I got 2wd Slash trucks for his birthday and Father’s Day respectively. Since my daughter is left-handed, I would occasionally swap out the radio for the left-handed Arrma ATX-300, put the ESC in “Training Mode” (50% speed) and let ‘er rip.

Swapping out the radio was getting old. Plus one time I left the ESC in training mode when I hit the track. You can imagine my surprise when I’m getting passed in the back straight like I’m standing still, wondering where all the power went 😵

Something Smaller

Why not get her a car/truck of her own? Something smaller and better suited to a 5 year-old. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cars, Electric Off-Road Tagged With: battery, brushed, kids, LaTrax, RTR, SCT, short course truck, training, Traxxas

Speed vs. Consistency

September 10, 2018 by justin 2 Comments

This is an anecdote addendum to my story arc as an RC driver. I’m still not great, but I’m getting better, and in the last month I earned three 2nd place spots at club races 🏆 I’m going to be honest about how I wound up there, but it’s really a commentary on consistency.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cars, Electric Off-Road, Electric On-Road Tagged With: budget racing, training, VRC

Short Course Trucks – decidedly not obsolete

June 18, 2018 by justin 5 Comments

Introduced as the Traxxas Slash in 2008, 10 years later many racers are asking, “Is it dead yet?” Check out this recent episode of Radio Impound Podcast. The chatter about Team Associated’s new releases start at the 19:30 mark and you’ll hear them ask about the Associated SC6.1, “Isn’t it that class obsolete yet?”

Short Course Truck

Also known as SCT, Short Course Truck is going to be a mainstay class. I’m talking about the staying power of something like 1/10 scale buggy, which has been around for multiple decades. SCT has already stood one decade, and it will continue the trend. Let me explain… In a sea of increasing costs to get into the hobby, anyone can get into off-road racing for around $200. When others are spending $1000 to get into racing, I was looking at getting into on-road for half of the cost. But how does getting into off-road at 1/4 of the cost sound?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cars, Electric Off-Road, Electric On-Road Tagged With: 1:1 scale, budget racing, kids, Pro-Line, SCT, short course truck, Slash, training, Traxxas

Flite Fest East 2017

July 17, 2017 by justin 5 Comments

I was finally able to get to Flite Fest in Ohio near Canton. It’s a 12-hour drive from home in Minnesota. To split up the time on the way out, we took the SS Badger across Lake Michigan. They have an eastbound red-eye option that leaves at 1:30AM (Central) and arrives 4 hours later at 6:30AM (Eastern). Even though it makes the trip technically longer, the downtime is much appreciated.

In hindsight, I wish I had arrived at the departure dock earlier. They encourage you to arrive an hour before departure. Ideally I would have arrived before midnight so I could be asleep by then. We got there around 12:45AM – but I was just glad to have the opportunity to rest. Getting a stateroom for the red-eye is a must:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fixed Wing, Flight, Rotor Tagged With: 9x, FliteTest, kids, training

Vintage Trans-Am powerplant history

December 19, 2016 by justin 2 Comments

Here is a summary of my findings regarding the powerplant history for the US Vintage Trans-Am racing series, as well as our Minnesota variant. Some of the comments are moot-point as the previous series manufacturer, Novak, is no longer in business. But it may provide useful insight for the newcomers out there.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cars, Electric On-Road Tagged With: brushless, budget racing, training, USVTA

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Meatball Racing

Cars, kids, and crashing since 2006. Let's talk about having fun, and being inclusive not exclusive. They're just toy cars after all. More about Meatball Racing.

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