The Sport/motorsport of remote control auto racing

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I going to take this time to explain the rules for the class i am going to be competing in for the Tamiya North American Finals

I am competing in the Porsche Cup Challenge class; this is where past champions of the North American Finals can compete with any other entrants. I've always wanted to compete in this class since the class was formed in 2003. This class this year has attracted a little bit of controversy since drivers must use a new front wheel drive chassis designed by Tamiya. You must use a Porsche body shell that Tamiya sells. A front wheel drive Porsche is considered heresy to the auto racing community due to the fact that Porsche in real life, does not sell a front wheel drive vehicle. However the porsche cup so far is the biggest due to the fact that drivers can compete in one additional class.

The drivers in the Porsche cup challenge must purchase a sliver can Johnson Mabuchi motor at the event. There is no RPM limit, however racers must be careful not to overgear or abuse their motors. If one blows up a motor, the driver purchase one up to two times however if a driver blows up a third motor, the driver can purchase a third, but will be given a 5 position penalty.

There are four qualifiers and three 8 minute mains for the top ten racers and one 5 minute main for the racers 11th and below. Qualifying is based on points, if you qualify first in one round, you get zero points, if you qualify second you get two points, third, you get three points, and so on. All four rounds are important but your best two rounds count, if there is a tie between points and drivers, the officials decide by your second best round, if there still is a tie, it will be determined by the fastest time and the most amount of laps.

How triple A mains work is that if you come in first you get 100 points, you come in second, you get 99, third 98 and so on. The driver with the most amount of points at the end of 3 mains is the winner, however if one driver wins the first two A mains, he automatically wins and gets to sit out the third.

There is no trip to Japan for the winner of the Porsche cup, but he does get some cool prizes at the end, such as a trophy and a car kit of some sort.

The race report will follow after the Tamiya North American Finals. The race will be held on August 28th through the 29th.

I am having company over from Wisconsin and Illinois, that are here for the Tamiya North American Finals. My friends from Wisconsin are here but the people from Illinois are going to be arriving tonight, and tomorrow. Practice begins for the Tamiya North American Finals tomorrow on Thursday. I am also going to a community college part time and taking classes in the morning on Tuesday and Thursday, so i will miss a little of practice this thursday, I missed a little practice last year, due to classes, at the North American Finals but it did not affect me.

The 2010 North American Finals are over, I have placed 2nd in the Porsche Cup class. I will start working on the report as soon as possible.

I have just begun work on the race report, i will keep you posted on progress.

I have so far completed 40% of the race report, I will continue to write during the day.

At this point, i am 80% finished with the race report and plan to finish and edit it tonight.

I have finished the race report and will work on editing tonight.

I have finished editing the race report, I will post it now.

2010 Tamiya North American Finals, Aliso Viejo, CA August 28-29, 2010


A week before the race began, my friend Marty and his son Paul from Wisconsin came over the previous Sunday before the race, did some testing for a few days at the Tamiya America track before Thursday-Friday practice actually began, then unpacked their baggage and stayed at our condo. Wednesday night, another of my racing friends, “Rob”, a friend from Illinois arrives at our condo for the race. The next day Thursday, another friend from Illinois “Gary”, arrives for practice, then to our home for a place to sleep for the race weekend.

During the Thursday-Friday practice sessions, me and my dad only did some last minute tweaking before the race weekend began because we had spend many weekends at the track getting our car dialed in, their was no need for a huge amount of time on the track.

The Saturday morning before the racing began racers had a drivers meeting at the far right side of the track to discuss the rules of the race. After the meeting, on the backstretch we had “Concourse” a little contest where racers decorate their cars as sharply as possible with brake discs, headlights and a driver’s interior. In my class the Porsche Cup, I had a body shell that was decorated very nicely and had brake discs and so on. It came down to three racers including myself, the race director was having trouble deciding between the three cars so he wanted the racers around him to clap a loud as they could for which body shell would win. Mine was loud, but not loud enough to win and another racer ended up taking the prize but I didn’t feel that bad because my car did grab some attention.


Qualifying, Round 1

Qualifiers are 5 minutes long and are a heads up on the tone start, which means once the tone sounds everyone launches off the grid. I am starting 6th, halfway through the first lap, all the cars bunch up I turn in too hard and roll my car over and get shuffled back a few positions, I do mange to work my way up to third and hunt down second. After I catch up to third I roll it over again in one corner and then have more work to do to reel in 2nd. With one minute to go, I have caught up to 2nd place again and prepare to make my move on him, with 30 seconds left I get on the inside of him in the hairpin corner and make a pass but his pushes me a little sideways which sent me off course a bit, but I am able to get by him and the race announcer said it was a clean pass, I end up taking 2nd in my heat with a third fastest time overall in my class with 3 points.

Qualifying, Round 2

This race went a lot better than the first round, this time I am 3rd on the grid. The race begins with me driving on the inside of the first corner holding a tight line while avoiding the mess behind me, I go after second place, I hound the driver in front of me for the 2nd position, he ends up rolling over and I never look back, First place is long gone, but I have a good lead over third as I finish the race second with the second fastest time of the round with two points and a total of five.

Qualifying, Round 3

This race was almost the same as the second round. I sit second on the grid this time on the outside, again I get off to a good start but I get very loose coming into the carousel, almost getting hit from behind but I maintain traction and pull away from the pack, however third place was able to hang with me for a minute, in the end, he is left behind. First place in this qualifier, however, is still out of reach. Once the round is over, my time is a good enough to place me 2nd overall, with two points and a total of four.

Qualifying, Round 4, August 29th

This was the most exciting race of the weekend for me, as the race starts, my car has a little bit of understeer and is not handling as well abut still it is very controllable and I am able to hang with first place for the first minute of the race, then he begins to pull away. Third place is only 4 car lengths behind me and is not letting me get away so easily. Halfway through the race, the unexpected happens. The leader rolls over in the sweeper which gives me enough time to pass him and take the lead, the driver who is right behind is still hanging with me but two laps later he cuts a corner too tight and rolls over. Now I have a good lead. With one minute to go, the former leader, Rod Canare, is reeling me in very quickly, every lap. With 25 seconds to go, he is right on my bumper. On the last lap, as time expires on the last half of the track, I go a little I wide and Rod hits me from the rear end and rolls me over. But he displays good sportsmanship and lets me by and we race back to the finish line and I go on to win the last qualifier by only a few tenths. I have the fastest overall time of the last round with zero points with a final total tally of two.


A main #1


These races are also a heads up on the tone start but these races now are 8 minutes long, racers have to be more cautious on not over heating their motors by gearing them up too much. My dad drops down a gear on my motor for the finals so my motor will run strong throughout the entire race.

I have qualified 2nd on the grid with me still on the outside line, I am feeling a little confident that I actually have something for the top qualifier Rod Canare and I could maybe win this. His car however is handling very well and is rotating through the corners much better than mine. As the race starts out, Rod and me pull away from the pack and we begin to do battle, my motor is much faster than his but his car is handling much better he seems to pull away from me in the slow tight corners and I am able to keep up with him in the backstretch and the longer flowing corners. The leader inches away from ever so slightly but I do reel him in a little bit every other lap. As we race our way through lapped traffic, there are parts of track when he is able to gain ground on me, and there are other parts where he gets a little stuck and I’m able to catch right up. With two minutes to go I get caught up behind lapped traffic that are battling it out for 5th and 6th, the race director is not calling for the two driver’s to move to the side to let me by, so I have to be patient and find a way by them. A lap later they get tangled up and I drive by but I have lost a lot of real estate between me and Rod Canare. The clock winds down and Rod goes on to win A main #1 with me Finishing 2nd, with a total of 99 points.

A main # 2

My dad gears up on my motor a bit for the 2nd A main since my motor was running quite cool in the last race. This race I need to win in order to keep my chances of wining the North American Finals alive or Rod Canare will take the overall title. Again in this race we break away from the pack but Rod is really in the zone and begins to pull away an inch every lap. My motor is not up to par as it was in the first main but I do get a faster single lap then what I got in the previous round. Traffic is much nicer to me but that still doesn’t help my situation with my opponent. The clock begins to wind down and Rod pulls farther and farther away from me, the race ends with him winning the second A main and the overall Porsche Cup title, with me finishing second behind him with another 99 points.

A main # 3

For this race, the last two podium positions are up for grabs, but the win has already been taken. My dad gears down again for the final a main so my motor has the same type of acceleration as it did in the first. From start to finish, I lead the entire race and never look back making absolutely no mistakes and driving flawlessly. My motor is working much better in this race but my fastest lap is two tenths slower than in the 2nd A main. At the end of the race, I end up winning by more than half a lap and earn 100 points with a final best two round tally of 199 points finishing 2nd place overall.

After the racing concluded, the awards ceremony begins as the top three finishers of each class are called to the podium to receive their trophies and plaques. My class is called up and I climb up onto the 2nd place podium and receive my award as the RC racing media takes pictures for the Tamiya website and magazine.

I also want to point out throughout the previous month leading up to the North American Finals, I helped two young racers during the last month and that weekend, win the big championship race. Cooper Bird, who is 15 years old, ends up winning the novice class, with no trip to Japan at stake, and Christian Lopez, who is 16 years old, goes on to win the GT3 class, and the trip to Japan, to represent the United States at the Tamiya World Championship this November. They both drove hard and went through adversity just to come out on top and I am real proud of them.

Thank you for reading my race report of the 2010 Tamiya North American Finals, I welcome comments and I will be willing to ask questions about the sport

My next big race coming up is the Mazda Cup in Irvine,CA. This race is held in a parking lot near the Mazda North America headquarters during a Mazda car show. I am running in the 17.5 motor RCGT non-turbo speed control class. This class runs Mazda sports car body shells, and runs a 17.5 electric motor, which is equivalent to that of a V6 engine in a real car. This is a class where turbo boosted software, on a device called a speed control that powers your motor, is not allowed. Over the past two years there has been software that has been developed for certain speed controls, that has increased the speeds of a motor, and has made the cars quite hard to drive for the average racer. This has become quite a controversy, and has made attendance levels at local on road race tracks drop. This class has eliminated the turbo boost software to make racing more equal and to allow racers who don't have access to the software, or a computer to adjust the the speed control, a better chance to do well. These cars have to run a Mazda sedan or sports car body shell, because this is a Mazda sponsored event, and it would be odd to have Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Chevy body shells at a Mazda car show. I will also be running the front wheel drive that runs Mazda sports car body shells as well as Mazda sedans. These cars are front wheel drive and run a less powerful motors than that of the RCGT class.

I edited this page due to change in the classes that I will be running at the Mazda Cup.

The race is over, this Saturday, at the Mazda Cup, I won both the RCGT non boosted and the Front Wheel Drive class. In the next two weeks I will be competing in two big races. On September 25th, will be the "Whole F'n race" at Cal raceway in Orange,CA. F'n means that this will be a race for only front wheel drive cars. The next race, on October 2-3, will be the KO Propo Grand Prix, at West Coast RC Raceway in La Mirada,CA. In that race I will be competing in the 17.5 sedan non boosted class, this class is the same as the RCGT non boosted class at the Mazda Cup, but this time, Sedan bodies are allowed and there is no specific body shell that is needed in this class.

I will start working on the race report for the Mazda Cup, but I might get a little caught up in the next two weeks with the Whole F'n Race, and the KO Propo Grand Prix and might not finish the Mazda Cup report as soon, the same goes with the race reports of the next two races. I will however do my best to get the reports done, and make the most progress when I have the chance to do so. Thanks for being patient.

I would like to announce, that my thread, The Sport/Motorsport Of Remote Control Auto Racing has reached 10000+ views. It's been more than two years since I started this thread, and I would love to this time to thank all the people who have read and viewed this page. It's also been fun answering questions about the sport as well too. Again, thank you.

i have just started racing the whole f'n race right now. I won my first qualifier.

The whole f'n race is over. I have won. I will work on that race report after i am finished with the mazda cup. Thank you.

today is the first day of the KO Propo Grand Prix. I have just finished the second round of qualifying in the 17.5 non timing class. I TQ'ed the second round of qualfying. I will keep you updated on results.

The KO Propo Grand Prix is over I won the 17.5 non timing class in a very dramatic last A main final. I will write the report on that race as soon as i get the chance