Last weekend we attended our second trophy race over at Full Throttle R/C Raceway in Green Island, NY. It was the March Madness Off-Road Race. The same classes were run as the last event, the Freeze. The layout was also the same as the last race, but the competition was much more intense. For this event, they pulled in an awesome 134 entries (I heard that’s a record for the NY Capital Region).

RC Soup was proud to be a sponsor of this event (as you’ll see on the flyer below). We don’t have a lot to offer (since we aren’t a manufacturer), so we gave away several RC Soup t-shirts. I hope people enjoyed them. I wish we had more to give away. I can’t stress enough how much I enjoy racing at this facility. I’m glad we could support one of their events.

Classes were:

• 17.5 2wd Stock Short Course
• 17.5 2wd Stock Buggy
• 2wd Mod Short Course
• 2wd Mod Stadium Truck
• 2wd Mod Buggy
• 4wd Mod Buggy
• 4wd Mod Short Course
• Pro-Lite 1/8 Buggy
• Novice

Other sponsors included:
Watervliet Science & Hobby
MIP
JConcepts
RCSpeedshop.com
Kal-Gard

Our weekend began as they all do, with loading the car to the gills. Probably not the safest way to travel, but that’s why cars have mirrors right?

We arrived to the track with an hour to go before the racing started. We scrambled to get setup and coordinated. It’d been at least a month since we raced anywhere. We got signed up and started wrenching. I myself was swapping out radio gear as I decided the night before to switch all my “race” vehicles onto that Airtronics MT-4 we used in the Tamiya TXT2 build up. I didn’t get a lap on either car (or the radio) before the tone went off during my first qualifier. With all that in mind, I feel as though the radio (and cars) did quite well..

Jarodd was struggling to get both of his boys ready and focused for their novice race. Between the 3 of them he had 4 vehicles to prep and keep charged thru the day. I wonder how many other fathers go thru this at the track? How does one keep their sanity?

With the March Madness race, being a trophy event, it would make sense that there would be awards. Check them out above. I thought they were pretty cool looking.

Check out that heat sheet! 20 heats! We were in for a long (but awesome and fun-filled) race day.

Part of my excitement to run this race came from building this new Team Associated RC10B5. A build up of this kit is coming soon, consider this a sneak peek. Special thanks to Walter Pickering, LiquidRC, and Anthony Joseph for affording me the opportunity to build and run this kit for a bit.

Here’s our area for the day. Jarodd seen here washing some tires.

The B5 ready to rock. Special thanks to Michael St. Denis for the front tire hookup!

The following are our typical candid pit shots from the event. No specific order to any of them, they just give you an idea of the facility and the racers who attended.

Slicks are a popular tire choice at Full Throttle.

RC Speed Shop Tire Tube

Below are some videos of a couple of the Mains from this event.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1CqTLhdeTw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChFr4gexjQY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZtnU-swe9w[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgJeMIUnMVU[/youtube]

Podium shots:

So, like their last event, I had a really great time. The race director kept the show moving with minimal delay and we were able to get out of there at a decent time. The track is fun, and the competition is fast. On-site lunch options are always an added bonus at the track as it’s super convenient to not have to leave in the middle of race day. Science & Hobby had their on-site hobby shop open, which was a life saver for more than a few racers (including myself). I was surprised they had so much inventory in that little area.

I can’t say enough how great a facility this place is. It’s managed well and has a nice racing surface. I wish it was closer to me (of course I can say that about basically every track).

Check out Full Throttle’s Facebook Group and Website. Be sure to join them for the next one, the Spring Shootout on April 5, 2014!