EVENT - Arizona Electric Festival - Feb 2017

Thursday, January 19th, 2017

I am thinking of going to this, so I decide I would share.  Below is the information about the event, and I included a picture of their flyer.

13th Annual Arizona Electric Festival

Dates:
February 17, 18 & 19, 2017

Hours:
Friday: 8 AM to 5 PM
Saturday: 8 AM to 4 PM and Night Fly 6:00 PM-9:00 PM
Sunday: 8 AM to 2 PM

Location:
Arizona Model Aviators Superstition Air Park-See attached map

Spectators:
Free limited bleacher seating
Food & drinks available on site
Vendors on site

Admission:
$6.00 per carload (includes parking)

Pilots:
$40 entry fee includes parking and pizza party Saturday evening.
Current AMA Membership Required of All Participating Pilots.

Register on website, or at event
https://www.rcflightdeck.com/event.cfm?id=6023

Limited number of camping spaces on site for participants: contact CD.

Helicopter and Multirotor time each day
Air Show at Noon on Saturday


Back after a long Hiatus, where I stand now with my Hobbys

Thursday, January 19th, 2017

WOW, its been almost 2 1/2 years since my last post, where has the time gone.  Well, a lot has happened in the Arizona, Valley of the Sun area.  Almost ALL of the RC off-road tracks in the valley and in Tuscon are now closed.  I think there may be 1 in Tuscon, and SRS/Hobbytown in Phoenix/Glendale I believe are still open.  For the only on-road track in the Valley Hobbytown Gilbert, they are closed as well.  So as you can see, my RC On-Road and Off-Road racing is done, I am no longer motivated to continue in that area with almost no place to race, unless I drive a long ways.

So, to update everyone on what I have been doing lately,  My brother has been tinkering with RC Airplane, and I did buy a Super Cub DSM back in 2013 that I did fly several times.  You can find posts about that by using the Archive on the right, and going down to April 2013 for posts about that plane.  You can also go to my YouTube channel and see videos of me flying as well.

So, where do I stand now.

Well, I am planning on getting in RC Flying, both planes and Quadcopter/Drones.  Along with this, I want to get into some aerial photography with both, and then we will see where things go.  I also would like to jump into the 5th Scale market of racing, starting with Off-Road and possibly going on-road as there is a Track in Tuscon area.  But for now its just going to be the RC Flying.

Some of the features of the blogs will be changing, over the next week or so I plan on changing the menu, adding some features for the RC Flying hobby, etc.

Until next time, keep dreaming, and don't loose hope on your hobbies.

RC Racing at Cal Raceway for the King of Cal, Best of the West for GT Racers event

Sunday, April 13th, 2014



Got in a great weekend of racing down at Cal Raceway in Orange, CA.  I would like to thank my friend Mike Sheehan for inviting me to come along, it was a blast.  The first time I raced at this track was back in August of 2013 with my friend Dean, see that post here.  I really loved racing that track back then, and this time it did not disappoint.  This past weekend was the King of Cal, Best of the West for GT Racers, it was a great event.  I would like to give a big thanks to Todd U. from HobbyTown, Gilbert for loaning me his Mini for I could race in the GT12F class.


For this race I signed up for 3 classes, VTA, GT10, and GT12F. Below is the race flyer, and click this link for the result:  KING OF CAL RACE RESULTS.
Below is a picture of the group of us that came over from Arizona:

From left to right: Mike Sheehan, Brad Muther, Joe Myers, Bryan Myers and myself kneeling down.

Saturday RC Racing down at HobbyTown Gilbert

Saturday, April 5th, 2014

It was a great day for racing at HobbyTown Gilbert, the temperature was great, and I think it was about 75-80 degrees, the wind picked up now and again, but that felt nice.  I missed last Saturday racing, and was pleasantly surprised to see the new layout tot he track, the back stretch was setup North to South instead of the East to West, and the layout looked very cool.  Below is a picture I took of the new layout, not the best, but it gives you an idea of the layout.  I got there early enough that I was able to practice a little with both of my cars, and the feel of the track was very nice.

Not the best picture, but the new layout was fast.
I want to thank Mike S. for saving me a nice spot under one of his Canopy's.  It was very nice to pit under the shade.  It was also nice to see Gary McAllister from McAllister Racing down from Flagstaff, he was pitting with me an Mike S.  After getting all setup in the pits it was on to practice and racing.

All setup, and ready for some action.
I had Gary McAllister setup to my right, and Mike S, to the right of him.
On to the racing, today, I would do my normal Sportsman Road-Course, and also VTA oval.  I was going to VTA Road-Course, but I just don;t have the car setup right for that yet.  Currently I have a borrowed, 25.5 in the car (thanks Mike), but would like to convert this car to Spec GT, and get a 21.5 in it.  Then pick up a Associated TC4 and setup that car for VTA.  Now on to the results:

Vintage Road Course
Round 1

Since I missed last Saturday's racing on the new layout, I was unaware of the change for VTA Oval, it now a 34 lap break-out class, rather than the usual 32 laps.  They did this now, because the new layout is shorter.  So round 1 when I finished I thought I had the round with a 32, 4:01 run, but soon realized, Opps, I'm way to slow, lol :)

Driver  Laps   Time  
Jeff     33   4:00.25
Debra    33   4:00.66
Mike J   33   4:07.01
Carl     33   4:07.75
Frank    32   4:01.76
Norm     30   4:06.69
Don      15   1:52.48

Round 2

After making some adjustment to the car, round 2 was much better.  I was able to stay with the leaders, and the car was a little faster.  And this time I was able to finish with 34 laps improving my 5th place finish in round 1 with a 3rd place finish in round 2, so I ended up qualifying 3rd and would be starting on 2nd row for the A-Main.

Driver  Laps   Time  
Don      34   4:01.65
Debra    34   4:02.26
Frank    34   4:02.79
Jeff     34   4:03.40
Mike J   33   4:00.27
Carl     33   4:00.88
Norm     31   4:03.71

A-Main

In the A-Main, the traction seemed to be great, and some of the leaders looked to be flying.  I tried to stay with them, but they were hauling.  And in the end, better for me I didn't stay with them as the top three broke out, and I took home the A-Main win with an almost perfect 34, 4:00, although, some would say I squeaked by and almost broke out myself :)

Driver  Laps   Time  
Don      35   4:04.62
Carl     35   4:06.13
Debra    35   4:06.51
Frank    34   4:00.35
Mike J   34   4:02.54
Jeff     34   4:05.69
Norm     32   4:01.03

TC Sportsman Road Course - 17.5

I felt with the 13.5 TC Road Course Point Series starting today, there would be less of a turn out for Sportsman Road Course, but I was amazed to see 2 full heats of racers today, it was great to see the turn-out for today.

Round 1

The new layout was fun, the car was handling okay, and I feel overall I did well.  With a few laps to go, the car was not handling at all, and come to find out, I broke one of the battery braces, and the battery was swing from side to side in car.

Heat 1                  Heat 2               

Driver  Laps   Time     Driver  Laps   Time  
Gary M   22   4:09.27   Chris    21   4:06.77
Mike S   20   4:04.81   Frank    20   4:04.34
Carl     19   4:06.16   Bill     19   4:03.36
T J      19   4:12.02   Colby    19   4:07.93
Bryan     7   2:23.35   Dustin   18   4:08.67

Round 2

Round 2 felt better, and I was able to pick up another lap, and if it wasn't for a bad crash at the end I might have picked up 2 laps, as my 21 was a slow 4:16.

Heat 1                  Heat 2               

Driver  Laps   Time     Driver  Laps   Time  
Gary M   21   4:09.48   Chris    22   4:09.75
T J      20   4:10.95   Frank    21   4:16.56
Bryan    19   4:13.95   Bill     20   4:11.46
Carl     17   4:09.80   Dustin   18   4:06.02
Mike S    7   1:27.48   Colby     4   2:31.31

B-Main

Driver  Laps   Time  
Dustin   20   4:07.01
Bill     20   4:10.78
Carl     19   4:04.37
Bryan    19   4:07.56
Colby    19   4:09.22

A-Main

The A-Main was rough, the car was all over the place.  Besides me pushing too hard, the car just would not handle.  And I apologize to those I accidentally took out a few times.  I finished where I started the day off, and pulled 20 laps, finishing in 4th place, one spot off the podium.

Driver  Laps   Time  
Chris    21   4:00.72
Gary M   21   4:03.05
T J      21   4:11.83
Frank    20   4:06.81
Mike S   19   4:04.71

Final Thoughts

It was a great day of racing, and the company was fantastic.  It was great to see Gary McAllister (McAllister Racing) down for some racing action at HobbyTown Gilbert.  As always thanks to Mike S. for allowing me to pit under his large canopy with him and Gary M.  I won't be racing at HobbyTown next week, looking forward to a little break from Arizona, I will be heading to California with Mike S, as he so graciously invited me to come along with him to race at CalRaceway, as they are having their "King of Cal - Best in West for GT Racers" event.  Below is a flyer for that event, it should be a blast.
.

RC Racing at HobbyTown, Gilbert

Saturday, March 22nd, 2014

Got in another round of racing down at HobbyTown in Gilbert AZ.  It was a great day, slight breeze for most of the day and a great group of people.  It was another good turnout, and I believe there was about 24 heats of racing.  For this day, I did VTA Oval and Sportsman Road Course.  I had my new VTA body mounted and ready for today's racing.  I still have not painted the new body for the Touring Car, I've had that new body since December, and its been sitting on the shelf daring me to paint it, lol.  Maybe next weekend I break out the paint and whip up a new paint scheme for the touring car.
Pits setup and ready for racing.
New VTA body, don;t have the stickers on it yet, but will for the next outing.
Vintage Road Course

Round 1
After round 1 is was very close racing, I was inline for the A-Main being shown 3rd overall after round 1.

Heat 1                    Heat 2
Driver   Laps   Time      Driver   Laps   Time  
Tony      32   4:03.25    Frank     31   4:05.19
Joe A     32   4:04.36    Freddie   31   4:06.49
Debra     31   4:05.84    Derek     31   4:06.73
Jeff      30   4:00.84    Dhavil    31   4:06.93
Mike J    30   4:01.06    R L       27   4:02.26
Norm      30   4:04.85                          

Round 2
Round 2 had a lot of racers in Heat 1 of round 2 breaking out, but with two other drivers hitting the 32 lap mark, and me only doing another 31 laps, it pushed me back to starting 1st in the B-Main.

Heat 1                    Heat 2
Driver   Laps   Time      Driver   Laps   Time  
Joe A     33   4:01.68    Derek     32   4:07.63
Mike J    33   4:05.13    Dhavil    32   4:07.64
Tony      33   4:05.41    Freddie   31   4:01.67
Jeff      33   4:06.01    Frank     31   4:02.24
Debra     32   4:00.11    R L       27   4:00.97
Norm      29   4:06.39                          

UPDATE! - 03/24/2014
Found the prints outs for the Mains

B-Main
Driver   Laps   Time  
Mike J    33   4:05.40
Jeff      33   4:06.06
Frank     33   4:06.58
Norm      30   4:00.38 - Norm gets the win
R L       27   4:00.99

A-Main
Driver   Laps   Time  
Dehavil   32   4:01.17
Joe A     32   4:01.90
Debra     32   4:02.70
Tony      32   4:03.34
Freddie   31   4:00.28
Derek      0   DNS

TC Sportsman - 17.5

Heat 1
Heat 1 was a blast, it was a very close race.  Once again it was Bill and I battling it out for the lead the entire race.  In the end Bill got me.

Driver   Laps   Time  
Bill      21   4:01.46
Frank     21   4:05.24
Bryan     19   4:06.86
Matt      18   4:01.08
Jerry     14   4:08.02
Riley     13   4:15.26
Mike S     0   DNS    
T J        0   DNS     

Heat 2
This heat, I did not do very good at all, but still managed to pull out a second place finish.

Driver   Laps   Time   
T J       21   4:11.35
Frank     20   4:03.29
Bill      20   4:07.13
Bryan     19   4:08.28
Matt      18   4:09.47
Jerry     15   4:11.22
Riley     13   4:14.22
Mike S     1   0:09.72

A-Main and Cancelled B-Main

The B-Main was cancelled because 3 out of the 4 drivers for the B-Main broke, and could not start the race, so they moved the one driver into the A-Main so there was 5 of us.

UPDATE! - 03/24/2014
Found the prints outs for the Mains

A-Main Results
Driver   Laps   Time   
Bill      21   4:04.14
T J       21   4:10.67
Frank     20   4:01.76
Bryan     19   4:06.43
Matt      19   4:08.12

Final Thoughts

Thanks for all the advice I received from Mike S. and Todd.  Overall it was a great day of racing, and really looking forward to my next outing.  Not sure if it will be next Saturday the 29th but will definitely be there on the 5th of April.