May 30th, 2010: There was a grass roots style r/c event held in Santa Rosa, that was unique and I believe the first ever of its kind in Northern California. The "Side Street Speed Meet", hosted by Gary O'Connor and Tim Smith from the ISC (International R/C Speed Challenge). This event was all about the ISC's slogan, "How fast can your r/c car go? We want to know!"
There wasn’t a large turnout, but the entries varied and were very interesting. There was a 65mph+ Baja 5B, 80mph motorcycles, high 90mph's drag cars, high 80mph's open wheeled rigs, some super fast nitro streamliners, and more!
I hadn't planned on participating, so I showed up after a morning of flying r/c airplanes, figuring I would see what it was about and take a few pictures. After wandering the pits, I started to regret the fact that I hadn't brought a car. After watching a few high speed runs being laid down, I was really regretting it! When they called for an hour lunch break, I decided to call it a day and head on home .... But, somewhere along my 10 minute drive, that little voice in my head came up with an idea, convinced me it was sound, and I found myself driving to the hobby shop to rework a car and give this high speed stuff a whirl!
I really had no idea about the classes, rules, etc, so I just used my best guesses. As it turned out, thankfully, I was prepping a car that fit into the 4WD Stock class. This is for any 4wd electric car (I used an Associated TC-5), with a 2 cell Lipo (ThunderPower 5000 / 50c race pack out of my Slash!), and any 540 size motor (LRP 3.5 brushless).
Jacques met me at the shop and helped prep the car. We made some minor changes to the on-road racing set-up that was on it, but really it's a very box stock TC-5. An LRP 3.5 brushless motor seemed like a good idea. We double checked that everything was sound, bolted on a set of Jaco Nitro Shoes (foam tires), threw in a monster pinion gear, charged the battery and I was driving back up the freeway to see what it would do.
When I showed back up at the event, the guys started ribbing me a little about grabbing a car and coming back so fast ... I told them it was a customer's car, in for repair, and the guy would never know! But, once they saw the paint job, they knew it was the shop's car that a friend, "AC", had been racing the last year.
Getting signed up was a breeze. The class I would be contending is 4wd Stock, with a record of 77mph. I didn't think the car would go that fast, I was just hoping to get in a few runs before the magic smoke got let out of the speed control or motor!
The last high speed driving I had done was some time ago, having raced high speed velodrome oval (huge, 1100' track!), so I had forgotten the rush of driving an r/c car really fast! My first pass down the street clocked in at 81mph. I was totally shocked and a holder of a new record! I made a 2nd pass, with a longer run up and posted 86mph. I was hooked!
Each time I made a pass, I carefully trimmed the steering on the car so it would track straight at speed. This is super important. The car really was a pleasure to drive at speed (going straight isn’t always as easy as it might sound). The only trouble I had was minor. Slowing the thing back down, with a one way front diff, was exciting in itself!
During the afternoon, I recharged the battery, repaired a wire on the esc, added a few teeth to the pinion, did some body trimming, and went 87, 90, and then 91mph on my last run. Figuring that was good for my first time, since everything was still in one piece, I called it a day! 91mph earned me the ISC world speed record for the 4wd Stock class. Sweet!
I’d like to offer a big thank you to Gary O’Connor, who organized this whole event and made it happen. I really enjoyed myself and would guess that when it happens again, there will be many more locals willing to give it a try!
Special thanks go out to Team Novak, for being the major sponsor of the event.
Thanks to Ed at Team Fast Eddy for the quick video!
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