A MT guy goes to the RC4WD East Coast Scale Challenge

[CowRC Web Rep]

Budhatrain here, I have thoroughly enjoyed my progress and growth into the Radio Controlled Hobby. I have had an interest in RC things since a middle school student in the mid-late 80's. Then after high school I finally started to purchase my own hobby grade equipment and trucks. It wasn't until after college and marriage that I could actually afford the hobby 2009 is when I started to get into Clodbusters and the monster truck scene with online forums. Soon after that I lurked around scale building and crawling forums and built up some of my own trucks. Finally in the late summer of 2013 I go to my first scale event. You can check out full details about this sweet event here on RC4WD's forums: 2013 RC4WD East Coast Scale Challenge (August 23-25) - RC4WD Forums

Truthfully, I didn't know what to expect. Like many other hobbyist I was scrambling go-week and the night before. I had a cowrc themed wraith that I had outfitted to run indoor carpet MT series. Open diffs, swaybars, 5700 brushless motor, MT Rumble tires... I dropped in a 27T holmes hobbies brushed motor, locked the diffs back up, removed the swaybars and did some adjustments on my castle sidewinder3 (like adding dragbrake). I show up for class 3 tech inspection... the tech gives me -6 points for scale realism. I might add that he also said that was the lowest score he has ever given. OH BOY!




I had the privilege to be a writer for the judging and started to build up a little more confidence. I engaged with the other competitors and learned that for a lot of people this was their first COMP too. Everyone was super-cool and the atmosphere was well worth the price of admission. I am always amazed at meeting people that you correspond with online in person... they are usually waaaaaay more ugly than what you imagine haha.

 

[CowRC Web Rep]

Below is a couple of cool guys, the first one is John, Team Manager for RC4WD. He organized the event and did a tremendous job. His event staff was spectacular at communication and making sure everything went real smooth. Communication was high before the event via email. I had never experienced this amount of good communication before an event and felt real prepared before I even left, bravo. John is a down to earth guy and is waaay personal, Thanks John for your leadership!




Also I was able to meet one of the main guys behind the RC4WD scene, Tom. Tom was super-cool too and brought a lot of support to the event. I had my 4 year-old son with me and him and Tom really hit it off.



This was a pretty large event and because of the event staff everything stayed on time and wasn't frustrating. We all know that equipment failure or our poor driving can be frustrating enough... but the atmosphere was not charged and full of anxiety at all, mainly because of the organization, presence and support of this great team.

I was surprised that my vehicles didn't brake and they were more capable than I expected. Now that I know what to expect I can see where I need to go and what I need to change. I have to admit it, I think I have the bug. The scale realism, like interiors and little things on the outside really set the stage that you need to score well before the race even begins. Most guys were getting like -30+ points to add on top of their scores (one of my trucks only got 6 and the other was slightly better at 22). Spending time in this is really critical. Knowing how your vehicle responds in different situation is so important- now that I have a better idea of the type of terrain I can practice better. Having a way to escape difficult situations like using a winch or sidebite on wheels. Obviously waterproofing your rigs!!! Pay attention while driving, look for good lines in the course. Most time slow and steady wins the race. Good steering servos, LCG etc... I don't know if I am going to just start over or try to adjust what I have but ultimately, like many others I like the building anyways. I have a couple of choices, so I am excited for what's next!!!








The campground at Rose Point Park in New Castle PA is setup just right for this event. They have an LARGE wooded area that is perfect for any class of crawling. Halfway through Saturday after I competed in class 3 and 2... I let my boy take the reigns of my rigs. He did fine... didn't thrash the trucks or anything. I have already been thinking this way with monster trucks but this year he is going to be getting his own rigs and competing. I was walking with Tom from RC4WD and him and I agreed that a TF2 is a good platform to start with for this little guy.

 

[CowRC Web Rep]

 

[CowRC Web Rep]

I met this cool guy, Blake (Metalmasher). He takes tin (like material found in a pop can) and molds his own body that dent and smash like real trail rigs. Unbelievable!







Speaking of dents and scratches... so right after I finish my first class 3 course with my COWRC rig (which was suprisingly light and powerful and capable), I hear that my boy is crying. He was playing tag with other boys on the rocks and fell and hit his head. Yup it looked like an ER run, plus I didnt have the equipment to clean out the wound so we left early on Friday and got things put back together right The second and third picture is after we returned, so you can see that he was A-OK.





This was an amazing event, something that is really unique. I think I heard that there was $10,000 worth of prizes given away! From what I saw, I estimated every registered driver receiving at least $60-80 worth of free stuff (there was 4 tf2s and 1 gelande II given away). The sponsors to this event gave big, and there was a lot of stuff, ESC, PitBull Tires, Frames, motors on and on and on... Early in the day I was thinking that picking up a TF2 for my son would be a good idea for him to compete with next year... wouldn't you know it, I won a TF2. No kidding!!! Below is a pick of the prize table and some stuff that I won.




In addition to my ER visit I scored some new tools and did a great trade with Rick from Supershafty for some wheels and tires



I won a freaking TF2, I can't believe it... keep your eyes pealed for a cool build-up with my son.