Meatball Racing

Radio Control Blog

Just what we need… another class

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Most of the chatter about this video is positive, but the first and last comments in this screenshot are what I want to talk about:

I get mad when I hear things like “just what we need – another class” or that something is too juvenile for them to have fun. No matter how you cut it, RC racing at its core is toy cars. Yes they’re expensive, configurable, luxury toy cars. But they’re still toy cars as much as a $400 magnesium yo-yo is still a skill toy.

Let’s look at the reality and see if can’t all get along or at least agree to disagree without starting a flame-war 🔥

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Join the Quaranteam

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Update

Due to lack of interest – primarily because there are several other well established and well followed clubs already racing, Meatball Racing VRC Live has been suspended. Please go here for recommended VRC clubs to join.

With almost everyone quarantined in their homes for the Coronavirus pandemic, RC racing (along with everything else) has come to a halt. I enjoy competitive RC club racing and I can’t wait to get back into it. Until then there’s two things we all can do:

  1. Buy a shirt and support your local track: https://tssmt.liverc.com/
  2. Play VRC to stay sharp
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Slash 4×4 Crawler (Part 5) Fenders and Bumpers

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With the Jeep body painted, I just needed to add a couple more details…

Fenders

With the tires slightly wider than the TRX-4 249mm width, I wanted to make sure the Jeep body didn’t look too skinny. I found these rubber fender flares on eBay which were originally designed for a Cherokee XJ body, but would likely fit the JK Rubicon Unlimited just as well.

I left some of the lexan overhang on the fenders purposefully to attach these fenders.

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B6 Carpet to Dirt (Clay)

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Off-road carpet racing is gaining more and more traction, literally. It is especially convenient to race on carpet surfaces up here in Minnesota – inside in the winter. Also the track can be configured in off-road and on-road configurations, allowing proprietors the opportunity to serve both off-road and on-road racing enthusiasts.

The Team Associated RC10B6 is the second iteration of RC10 kit to come in both a carpet and a dirt version of the car. I had the opportunity to pick up my friend Chad’s B6.1 carpet car as he was switching to the TLR buggy platform. Chad’s B6.1 included everything and the setup was already dialed for carpet. I was glad to drive it as-is at MMR, Dollar Hobbyz, and Thunder Road carpet tracks.

Sometimes dirt is fun too. There’s a clay track called The Toy Box about 45 minutes away in Wisconsin. So I was wondering, what would it take to get my carpet car race-ready for high-grip dirt and clay?

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Off-Road Racing in Houston

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Every year my family travels out of the frozen wasteland of Minnesota to Texas, usually around Thanksgiving. If flights are cheap, we’ll fly down. If not, the road-trip is on! I personally like the road trip because it means I can bring some extras along which usually means my bicycle and a couple of RC cars.

Since we’d be driving through Dallas on US-75, we stopped at Traxxas HQ in McKinney.

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Spec Slash Parts & Settings

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After a full year of my son and I racing our 2wd Slashes in the “Spec Slash” class, I wanted to record everything we’ve broken, fixed, upgraded, and replaced. I’ll also include a setup sheet of what we landed on being a fairly consistent indoor off-road carpet track setup.

Spec Slash rules differ by track, so check with your local track(s) before you buy anything. Some allow replacing stock plastic parts  with RPM brand replacements, some do not. If you race at multiple tracks, better to error on the side of caution and stick with stock parts. I’ve included both parts here for reference.

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