I've been into model car races for two years.
My brother was into it and he couldn't get any decent result. He
needed a mechanic (yes, we do pit stops for refuelling!!) and he
asked me to go and assist him in a race. I have a pretty good
workmanship. So there we went. What I saw was a bunch of mid-aged
guys on the edge of an heartattack running around like madmen and
a mix of teenagers and midaged on a stage driving the models with
remote controls. A poisonous cloud of exhaust smoke and dust was
all over the racetrack. The noise was unbelievable. Everybody was
shouting and screaming. A turmoil. I thought: this is madness.
Two weeks later I was racing with the rest of the nutters. The
models are off-road 1/8 scale cars with internal combustion
engine and remote control. The models are very sophisticated.
Three diffs, permanent four wheel drive, disk brakes, indipendent
sunspension with hydraulic shock absorbers, ABS, Thorsen diffs,
carbon fiber frames etc. They weight about 4 kilos and if they
hit you it's very sore!! Some years ago a rally formula has been
developed in order to bring the races into towns. The same model,
with a different suspensions setup, different tyres, gear ratio
and a different body race on a solid surface. They can reach a
speed of over 100kmh!! The engine is a 3.5 cc two stroke. The car
model engines are really tuned up and they can rev up to 35.000
rpm with a power of over 2.5 bhp!! The model with off-road setup
can make 60Kmh but on dirt surface it's a lot, and they can jump
10 metres long and 2 metres high! They are not hard to drive
though, but winning is a different story. The race lasts the
whole day. You get there in the morning and there are 4
qualifying sessions of 5 minutes each. You don't need pit stops
because the fuel lasts 6-7 minutes. We have small black box
called trasponder on the car in order to trasmit to a computer
lap and race times. In the afternoon there are two semifinal of
20 minutes with ten cars racing together. So you need a mechanic
to do refuelling. In a pit stop the pilot drives the model full
throttle in the pit lane and the mechanic must stop it stomping
on it with his foot. Then fiddling with mechanical components
which have a temperature close to nuclear fusion, they try to
fill the tank up while the pilot revs the engine like mad, trying
to avoid it quitting. Hot engines usually quit as you open the
tank. The mechanic job is a dirty job! If the engine quits while
refuelling, guess who the pilot will blame? Then the mechanic
runs like hell to put the car back on track. All this in the
shortest time possible. A good mechanic can make you win. The
first five pilots of each semifinal go to the final. Hurray!! I
still remember my first final. After an hell of qualification and
semifinal, when everything seemed to go wrong, I managed to get
to the final. I couldn't get good rear tyres that weekend, so I
was loosing the rear end at every corner. At the 13th (!) lap I
spun the car and a bunch of speeding models hit mine. One wheel
left the car with suspension and everything. I was annoyed.
Bullshit!! I threw a fit!!
Around the circuit there are some blokes, usually non qualified
pilots, suicide girlfriends and relatives, who help to put cars
back on wheels and track in case of rollover. Nasty job. Cars are
HOT and pilots keep revving to avoid the engine quitting. So mind
the spinning wheels. And if you delay 1/100 of second to put the
car back in race, pilots insult you and all your family. It's
funny to see 14 years old guys insulting the mechanic-father in a
way that you won't see in any other place and time. Once I've
seen a guy almost killing the wife because she couldn't start the
engine quick enough. Looking for a quick divorce? Start model car
racing and employ your wife as mechanic!!! Starting the engine
it's more an art, it's very difficult. Engines are really tuned
up and they are very critical. A wrong carburation and the
lifespan of your engine is shortened to 5 minutes. And fixing it
will cost you 200 bucks. Ok, so you invest huge money on a state
of the art model, engine and radio, lots of spare parts, 25
different sets of tyres, all together will make up over 3000$,
and after a coupla years racing you win!! What do you win?
Nothing!! If you are lucky you get a cup or a medal that's all.
But the feeling is great. I never won a race, but the first time
I arriver third, I nearly had an orgasm. Oh, it was almost like
sex!! Well, I said almost!! The feeling is great. Was it worth
spending all the money, night up setting the model and handmaking
new parts, annoying the girlfriend, spending every weekend
racing? Yes it definitely was!! I really miss those races and the
crowd! One of the first races there were at least 2000 people
watching. I still have the model, is sitting there in my room,
waiting for some bunch of guys starting that madness in this
country. Every now and then I start the engine and try the model.
It's so well set up!! I could race and win tomorrow! By the way,
it's a Crono, an italian model, with a Novarossi RX21 engine,
italian as well, one of the best. Only the body is BMW, just
because I couldn't get my usual Lancia Delta Integrale body!!
Hey, have a look of the pics, and the mpg of a race. It's fun.
The third mpg is shot in a racetrack in Dublin. The racetrack is
good, pity there is very little people using it.