The awesome Fan Pictures for the Big Squid RC Prize Contest just keep coming in! This year has by far the most entries from the most countries! Sooo cool!!

Thank you all for all the support! You guys rock! Look for the latest prize drawing video to be posted tonight!

For a limited time, RC’ers who are ready to retire an old radio system can move up from their current radio system to a high-quality Futaba FASST system! People who purchase a Futaba FASST system between July 1st and October 31st, 2009 can trade in their old, tired, inferior – even broken – system and receive a merchandise certificate worth up to $250.00 toward more Futaba purchases. All the details and forms can be found at the Futaba site.

It has just been announced that there will be an Insane Speed Run this year during the September Velodrome Nationals at the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indiana. There will be a designated practice for Insane Speed Run on Friday Sept. 11th and the Insane Speed Run will be run immediately following the 3rd Qualifier on Saturday Sept. 12th.  Here are the rules for the Insane Speed Run. The International R/C Speed Challenge will have their officials on site to make sure all cars and timing are legal to qualify for ISC Closed Course World records. This Insane Speed Run will be for Electric Classes only as the Major Taylor Velodrome does not allow gas cars to run on the track.

The classes will be:

Open - Modified - Stock 2wd - Stock 4wd - Large Scale - Mini - Open Wheel - Motorcycle

Word on the street says Caster Racing USA has a new Fusion 1/8 Scale Electric Buggy on the way called the 748. Look for more details on this thing by the weekend!

Cubby sits down and chats with Carlton Eppes of the The RC Pro Series for a great several part interview.

Part 2:

Cubby- What’s the biggest problem you see with ROAR?

Carlton- I’ve made it a habit during my time with RC Pro to not talk about ROAR. I just wish some of their reps would do the same. I don’t promote RC Pro by running down everyone and everything else. I feel you should promote your product based on it’s merits not by trashing the competition.

Cubby- Is it the goal of RC Pro Series to surpass ROAR and become Americas premier rc sanctioning body?

Carlton- There is room for both organizations. They have their way of doing things and we have ours and from there it’s up to the racers to decide.

Cubby- With ROAR, it often takes months, even years, (sometimes it never happens) to approve new product or classes. RC Pro Series has always been ahead of the curve in that respect. I’ve seen you approve product a weekend after availability to the public. Do you think this is in the best interest of your racers?

Carlton- The racers we deal with are buying the products whether we make them legal or not. You know how the hot part of the week this industry is. Everything doesn’t get approved but in some instances trying to outlaw something just causes the racers to have to maintain certain items just for our series and eventually cost them more. It would be like trying to make everyone run spec classes……… they would have a lot of stuff they spent money on and can’t use so it wouldn’t save them money. Do I think some of these new things coming out are going to make racers faster? NO! I still maintain the best thing you can buy for whatever you drive is another gallon of fuel and get more practice.

Cubby- You personally attend most of the RC Pro Series events, and you personally meet and get to know every single racer at them. You treat local Joe Blow privateers with just as much respect as the fastest factory shoes. How do you remember all those names and faces (LOL)?

Carlton- I have no idea! LOL. Normally I suck with names but for some reason I have very good luck remembering a lot of the racers. Yes I treat everyone the same it doesn’t matter if it’s a factory guy or a 1^st timer in RC Pro. Honestly it’s the regular racer that makes RC Pro, not the factory guy. If we depended on factory racers we would only be able to put on one big race a year…..

Cubby- Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t most of your race entry fees under $50? How do you feel when you see local “trophy races” charging $60-$80 for a single entry? If you are charging $40 for an entry to one of your RC Pro Series races, how much goes to the racers?

Carlton- Yes we are still at $45 for the 1^st entry and $30 for each additional.
It’s been that price since RC Pro started. On one hand I can’t believe the entry fees now but on the other hand I understand it because costs go up every year on putting on events. I made the decision this year to maintain our pricing when everyone else is raising prices expecting less turnout.
My logic is I would rather see more people be able to afford to come race than charge less more money. As far as how much do the racers get? Last year we paid our $35,000 and the year before $40,000 in the US series alone. At most events the racers get back almost half or what RC Pro gets
from the event.

Cubby- Your nitro off-road series has always done fairly well. Your electric series has done very poorly. The electric races were held at strange times of the year, with nearly no exposure, few sponsors and even less racers. What’s the future of electrics with the RC Pro Series?

Carlton- The electric series was originally installed to run during the winter when
most everyone goes indoors. This also coincided with my burnout time at the end of the nitro season which probably had something to do with less promotion on my part. Also less companies really cared about advertising since the electrics were seen to be dropping off in popularity. Last year we tried to run the series all year but it didn’t make any difference. Even with being the 1^st to allow brushless and lipos they haven’t been the big savior of electrics yet. We are trying to put together an electric
winter series this year but so far we haven’t had much interest by the tracks and I think a lot of that has to do with most indoor tracks have gone to running nitro just to help keep the door s open so they aren’t getting enough electrics to sustain and electric only event. If we can’t make it happen this year we will drop the electric series idea.

Cubby- I saw early in the year you announced a National Championship Club Series. What is that and why?

Carlton- The introduction of the Short Course trucks (Slash) took the industry by
storm and offered a perfect chance for new people to get into the hobby/sport. We have been looking at ways to try and help the club level racing. We have to do something to bring racing back to the clubs and support the tracks or we won’t have places to race. The Slash is a perfect Spec vehicle which makes it cheap and fun to go club racing again. Of course now there are more companies coming out with short course stuff and for 2010 we will add an open class for all brands to run together. We can’t do it in mid season since a large majority of the tracks involved in the series are halfway through the points races now. The whole idea is to give racers a chance to run for a National
championship by racing at their local track and NOT needing to travel. RC Pro gets no money from these races it all, the money stays in the local tracks.

Cubby- To all the potential series sponsors out there, what does the RC Pro Series have to offer them, and who do they contact for more information?

Carlton- The RC Pro US National Series they get banner support at each division
race across the country and the finals (28 races this year), their logo on our scrolling website banner (over 1 million visits annually) and placement in our magazine ads generally Xtreme and RC Car. Cost is usually $100 a race or less for the full year.

Cubby- RC Pro Series generally gets very limited race coverage from the rc rags. In turn, that leaves very little incentive for all the bigger factory teams to attend more of your races. Have you been trying to acquire more media coverage? What’s it going to take to make your races a priority for the large factory teams?

Carlton- RC Pro gets limited coverage because the magazines can’t afford to send
someone to that many races around the country plus they can’t commit enough space monthly to cover all the RC Pro races. We do get coverage from Xtreme on the Finals every year. Ever wonder why so many west coast races are in the mags? Because that is home for them and they don’t have
to pay travel costs. I have been sending out press releases to the online news sites pretty regularly and that seems to be the best way to increase exposure for RC Pro events.

Carlton- Part of the problem with the big factory teams attending is the fact there
are way too many races they have to look at and they don’t like committing to run multiple races in a series they will have to travel for just to be able to qualify for the finals. This year in particular more teams are cutting back on travel unless they can find someone to pay their way. I can understand why years ago ROAR dropped qualifying through the regionals for the nats, I bet it had to do with the big teams not wanting to have to go to that many races to be able to race at the nats…… just
a guess on my part.

Cubby- You’ve been making small moves taking the RC Pro Series international. What’s your end goal there, to displace IFMAR?

Carlton- Once again there is room for both RC Pro and IFMAR. Groups from various countries have approached me in the last couple years because they feel they have been ignored or have no input with IFMAR so they are looking for options. RC Pro has tried in the past to contact IFMAR about participating in the seeding of the US team but we have yet to ever get a reply to our
attempts, so we decided to do our own thing. Much like the origins of RC Pro the group that started RC Pro felt a champion should be crowned by a series. I hold with that idea and go as far to say I feel a series should be used to crown a World or International Championship.

Cubby- Just how far do you think you can take this sport? Can you lure in “outside the industry” corporate sponsors? Can you ever take the sport close enough to the mainstream for regular television coverage of your big events? What’s it going to take to get our sport into the mainstream?

Carlton- It’s amazing how many people out there don’t know about our industry! That is one of the reasons for RC Pro doing the TORC events. We can show racing to a larger audience and get the RC Pro name out there and hopefully steer people to the racing side of the industry. Also it gives me the chance to network with some of the larger companies in racing and show them what we do.

Carlton- I know TV is possible but the catch is for the networks to take a
serious look we have to have a name sponsor. This would make them to think they could sell advertising around the program which is what it’s all about for them. The name sponsor is also going to be looking at how much TV time they can get, so it becomes a catch 22 in we need a name sponsor to get TV time but we need TV exposure to get the name sponsor. I’m constantly looking at new ways to make this happen and the only limit is money……..LOL.

Cubby- I doubt you’ve got to where you are now without lots of help, who
would you like to thank?

Carlton- As I eluded to early, I wasn’t the one who started RC Pro, but I keep
getting tagged that way. I bought RC Pro from the last remaining founder at the end of 2004, so I’m not sure if I should thank them or cuss them! LOL That would be Frosty St. Clair, Mike Battaile and Richard Saxton. Now to the present, I couldn’t do this without my wife! Mary puts up with me being gone over half the year and when I am home I spend all my days and most of the nights in front of my computer answering questions via email or phone and doing 90% of the updates, web design, press releases, shirt designs, award designs, shirt orders, awards orders and anything else that needs to be done. She travels with me to the races we can drive to and works just like me at these events. It’s most evident at the Finals every year since 2004. She makes herself sick with the hours and BS at
that event every year. All for no pay. PLUS she works a full time job to help pay the bills since RC Pro doesn’t cover them most of the time.

Carlton- In no particular order, I would also like to thank, David Lovett who is the State Series National Director plus handles the membership and permanent numbers assignments. Steve Webster who took on the task of an Onroad Series which didn’t work but it wasn’t for a lack of effort on his part, and he also has been a big part of the finals in 2006 & 2007. Dell Lanier for doing the
same with the Dirt Oval Series. Also Larry Thomason the Illinois State Director he also fills in for me at division events as well as being a major help in making the Finals happen every year since 2006. Dwayne “Dude” Lindler who takes care of the Northwest for me and traveled to the finals last year to help out. The new kid on the block is Kenny Rice, the Ohio State Director this year and is taking care of several races in the Great Lakes for me. Our Australia Director Paul Cornwell and the Canadian
directors Gary Fliegel, Joe Parent, Dan LeBlanc, Pierre Barbeau and Lawrence McCorrister. Our Caribbean Directors Rafa Sabatier and Francis Ortiz. There have been a lot of people help out over the years that I want to thank, just not enough space here to do it plus I don’t want to forget
anyone.

Carlton- Next would be the racers who have supported RC Pro all these years. None of this would be possible or needed without them. The tracks who have supported us and hosted our races. There are so many good tracks out there and it’s a shame I can’t put a race at all of them. All our past and present sponsors. We’ve had a number that have been with us for a long time.

Carlton- Thanks for the chance to do this, hopefully it gives some insight to RC Pro and how things work, or just more for people to not believe. LOL

Cubby- Well thank you Carlton for taking the time out for an interview,
and also for your honest answers.

Make sure to hit the The RC Pro Series site and get involved!

Part of my responsibilities in the real world is taking care of the company that I work for factory drivers. It’s always interesting to watch shy consumers walk by the factory shoes pointing their fingers going “OMG that’s Joe Racer!”, or to slowly come up and beat around the bush for their autograph. I find that really funny, as just the night before I was watching “Joe Racer” pick his nose with a finger completely covered in nitro fuel and bearing grease, and had to explain how to use the remote control of the tv at the hotel to him. Mr Joe Racer is soooo just another human being, it’s just the general public has yet to figure it out. Same can be said for big shoe motocross racers, Nascar, and IRL guys as well, as I’ve been around them enough in off the track situations to know they are just like you and I, and not very much like that glowing smile, all American, uber happy boy wonder that they portray for a few hours each weekend while at the track in front of the tv cameras.

So this weekend, one of our factory shoes hit a fairly large race, and it was my job to keep him smiling, happy, well motivated, and at the front of the pack. Unfortunately, none of the other big name companies flew in any of their factory guys for this event, so it was our “Joe Racer” against a herd of fast locals. Word quickly spread around the pits that “Joe Racer” was a full on factory shoe, and he was just giving all sorts of parts away for free. Truth was, our Joe Racer gets a salary from us, but most of his other sponsors have reduced their support to him, so he’s paying for a lot of things this year that he hasn’t had to pay for in a decade. Joe Racer has been getting excellent results, but the economy has forced some of his sponsors to drop him from “get boxes of free stuff”, to “you are paying 50% now”. Just a sign of the times. So all weekend, I sit next to him, watching all the local yocals drop by his pit, most looking to just say hello, some looking for set-up tips, others just wanting to say hello so they could brag to their friends they “know” Joe Racer, and others dropped by to beg for free stuff. Well, the day of Joe Racer throwing away tires after every run just aren’t around any more.

One particular beggar, I’ll call him Goober, was very persistent, to the point he was straight up annoying. Goober even argued with Joe Racer, telling him that he wasn’t paying for anything, and that was a great reason to just give everything in his pit box to him for free. Of course Joe Racer and I just couldn’t tell Goober to go F’ off, because we’ve done that before, and every single time the “Goober-begger” is on the phone with the president of our company the next morning telling him what A-holes were are. It’s a no win situation for us.

Too bad Goober doesn’t know Joe Racers story, how hard he had to work to attain his sponsorships, how many hours a week he works strictly on rc, how many thousands of miles he travels each year just to have more Goobers beg him for free crap, how many of his daughters birthdays he’s missed because he had to race in BF Egypt, and how virtually ever time he shows up to work (a race), his job is literally on the line. I’ve known Joe Racer since his early days, and he was certainly no natural talent. There are tons of factory guys in rc that God simply blessed with loads of skill. The Josh Wheelers, Kinwalds, etc, are faster than you and I will ever be, and they were pretty much that way since the first time they held a controller in their hands. Our Joe Racer was a D main guy for years, but he worked his ass off. It was not uncommon for him to practice 5 nights a week, 3 hours a day, then race every weekend. Joe Racer also worked his butt off learning set-ups, and today he’s one of the elite tuning guys on the circuit. After a decade of working his butt off, Joe Racer won a big race against a lot of factory shoes out west, got noticed, and it’s been writing on the wall ever since. Joe Racer keeps working his butt off, and has become arguably one of the top 10 racers in America from pure blood, sweat, and tears, as he certainly didn’t get there the easy way.

So it was a zillion degrees at the track this weekend, but I could tell our normally fair tempered Joe Racer was about to lose it on Goober- like sticking a hot soldering iron through his eye into his skull kinda p*ssed off. Seeing as how I was being paid to keep Joe Racer out of jail and on the track, I came up with an idea. I told Goober that instead of begging for parts, that I’d fire Joe Racer on the spot, and give Goober double what Joe was making if he only did one simple thing for me. That simple thing being to beat Joe Racer on the track. Goober looked at me like I was insane, but it was a legit offer from me. After all, that’s what Joe had to do to get his factory ride, must have been easy right?

As Joe Racer and I were flying home tonight, he asked me, “You weren’t serious with the freebie guy were you?”. My response was, “Thank Goodness you won today or he’d be sitting in your seat right now. By the way, you gonna eat those peanuts? You got’em for free and I want’em.”. Joe replied, “Seriously? Here we go again… arrgghhhhh.”.

Support your local hobby shops and tracks!

Your Cub Reporter

Cubby sits down and chats with Carlton Eppes of the The RC Pro Series for a great several part interview.

Part 1:

Cubby- For our readers, let’s start off with a little background info Carlton. Where are you from, when did you get into the sport of RC and where did you get your start in rc race promoting?

Carlton- As most everyone knows I’m from Texas. I got into RC in ‘96 when I built my track in Rockport Texas. I had that track for 5 years. After closing the track I was kind of lost not having something that took up all my spare time so I volunteered with ROAR on the Promotions Team. I spent 6 months with that and then moved over to help my friend Frosty with RC Pro in early 2002. The promoting came from having the track and previously racing full scale dirt and paved oval cars. I’ve always tried to bring some of the promoting style from full scale into what I do.

Cubby- For big question number 2, how about some stats. In 2008, how many members did RC Pro Series have?

Carlton- About 1200 full memberships, most of our racers option for the Weekend membership of $5.

Cubby- In 2008, how many races were sanctioned under your banner?

Carlton- We had 53 state races, 58 International Series races and 4 special events.

Cubby- How many total entries did you at your events in 2008?

Carlton- I haven’t stopped to count them but a close guess would be 11,500 between all series worldwide.

Cubby- I’m not particularly well versed on the RC Pro Series, but having the word “Pro” in the title, and handing out cash money to winners is the first thing that separates the RC Pro Series from ROAR. Some may argue that racing rc cars for money is a bad thing, bringing out the worst behaviors in people. Obviously, you feel differently, or you wouldn’t be paying out raw cash to race winners. So just what are the upsides to paying out cash?

Carlton- Paying out cash can at times bring out the worst…… depends on how much cash it is! I’ve seen just as bad behavior over a little trophy! Yes we pay out cash to some classes but I don’t use that when promoting our events. If I constantly pumped that factor it might make for problems with some racers which is why I don’t. At the level most of these guys race at and as much money as they have invested most of them are tired of the trophies so we do cash for some classes. We DON’T pay the Sportsman/Intermediate classes though that is only trophies.

Cubby- One of the coolest things originally about the RC Pro Series was the motocross style starting gate. How did that come about, and where have they gone?

Carlton- The gate was an original from the minds of the originators of RC Pro, Richard Saxton, Frosty St. Clair and Mike Battaile. Yes they are cool for spectators! At the end of 2005 I had heard so much whining about the gates and how it was deciding races based on who didn’t get wasted on the start that I dropped the gate before the finals that year. Personally I want to see the winner decided by racing not the luck of a start on the gate. Now that being said I would like to see the gate revisited at some point for special events, read that as an event we can get a large audience for. I have a design for one that will take out some of the luck part and make it more skill on the start but it’s still going to depend on people to use their head going into the 1^st turn and since they aren’t in the car that’s usually not a part of their plan. I’ve said before if they thought they were going to get hurt they would use some sense which is why it works with motoX. I have suggested at times shock collars that go off when you crash or hack someone. LOL Needless to say I got some strange looks.

Cubby- You have been holding your nitro off-road finals in relatively huge arenas. Myself and many others admire you taking the sport to a new level in this manner. So just how much does it cost you to put on your finals?

Carlton- 2006 we went big……. too big it cost me almost $60,000 to do that race and I lost $30,000. So we scaled back kind of to what we have done the last 2 years and now the finals costs between $25 — 28,000 to do. We use everything we get entry wise plus some to do that race. Since 2005 I haven’t broken even on a finals yet.

Cubby- Some say you are making millions off promoting all these races. This is America, and making enough to pay the bills should be perfectly acceptable. My question is- have you broke even yet?

Carlton- If making enough money to pay bills and myself is the benchmark then no I haven’t! I’m sure everyone reading this wouldn’t work for a company that only paid them minimum wage or less? Figure in 12-16 hours a day 7 days a week with at best 1 week off during the year and being paid between $18-20,000 a year, that’s probably less than minimum. During race season I usually leave for an event on Thursday and get back on Monday. Right now I’m doing a 7 week stretch which includes me not coming home for a week and a half, then almost a 2 week section at the RC Pro Australia event, I get back from that and 3 days later I have to be in Michigan for a TORC event before I get any time off. I think I need to shoot the guy who made this schedule (me)! At best I’m usually only home 2 days a week. The part that gets me down in this industry is the attitude that it’s my hobby — the track owners and promoters and hobby shops shouldn’t make money on it. If no one makes money it won’t be around for long. The manufacturers are making money, count on it, or they would do something else. A lot of the shops and tracks do it for the love but it eventually burns you out to work your butt off and have people accuse you of making millions when you’re barely covering costs. Even when you try to tell them what it costs to put on events they just don’t want to hear it. One person even made the statement my travel to the events shouldn’t figure in to costs……….????? WHAT? If it wasn’t for going to officiate the event I wouldn’t be going.

Cubby- So what does it cost to put on an event?

Carlton- The typical division level event costs are as follows. Event shirts - $500-1200. depends on how many early entries are paid. I used to send 100-150 shirts to each event but with the economy the way it is I just can’t do that anymore and have to stick to ordering shirts just for the paid early entries. Cash payout to the racers - $500-2,000. depends on entries in the pay classes. Awards - $400 Travel for the official — airfare $300 or more depends on if there is a major airport or regional one. Hotel - $100 — 200 a weekend depends on local rates. Rental car - $100 — 200 a weekend depends on local rates.

Carlton- The majority of this, like the shirts, hotel, car, airfare, awards and food have to be paid before RC Pro gets any money from entries because all those are sent to the tracks. So until a race is over we don’t get anything and then we may lose money if the turn out was low. Pay for the official if it’s not me also figures in to that. I do have several races I can’t make because of having so many so I have different people that cover them for me. Of course they get paid whether RC Pro makes money or not.

Cubby- I’ve seen several comments on forums about RC Pro getting 50% of the entry fees for state events is that true? If not what do you get?

Carlton- Yes I’ve heard that too and in a couple instances there have been a couple state directors who did that without our knowledge. They aren’t with RC Pro anymore. RC Pro gets $5 per entry on state events. Half of which goes to the state director to help cover his travel costs. The other half is split between the national state series director for the time he spends coordinating everything and RC Pro. So by the time it gets to RC Pro it’s about $1.50 per entry which goes toward website costs etc. The sponsors that the individual state directors get for their states are for product to give away at the events or to help pay for trophies for a class in that series none of that goes to RC Pro.

Cubby- If you’re not making money why do you do it?

Carlton- I love racing of any kind but I also love meeting people. I’ve met a lot of good people in this sport and some real pain in the ass people but that goes with anything doesn’t it? I think RC has a big future if we can get it into the mainstream. There are several people who think the way I do but it seems there are more people in the industry who don’t. I’m hoping at some point I can make money.

Cubby- You introduced RC Pro Products this year, why? Doesn’t that conflict with getting sponsors?

Carlton- We decided to start RC Pro Products when we had a number of sponsors not renew this year with the excuse of budget cuts because of the economy. The sponsor money makes it possible to get the season started each year plus pay off anything left from last year so we had to find another way to help fund RC Pro now. The problem is the time it takes to get it rolling so it really hasn’t helped yet this year. Yes, RC Pro Products could conflict with potential sponsors, but we picked products (tools) which we never had a sponsor that was primarily a tool manufacturer so hopefully it won’t be a problem in the future.

(End of Part 1… coming up in Part 2)
Cubby- What’s the biggest problem you see with ROAR?

Just got an email about the Michigan HPI 5B Bash at the dunes, and looks like it was a blast! They had 61 vehicles show up! WOW!

Next years baja bash is June 18-20 2010 Silver Lake sand dunes Mears, MI make plans to attend going to be even bigger next year for more info check hpibajaforum.com .

Thanks for the pics guys! Looks like it was a blast!

I want to thank everyone who has been sending in Fan Pictures for theBig Squid RC Prize Contest! You guys are awesome! I know it’s been forever since the contest stuff was updated, but the move put us a little behind on some of the bigger projects. That being said, Big Squid RC Prize Contest page is now updated!! There are some AMAZING prizes this year! So if you have not entered yet, make sure you do so!

Acer Racing has developed 4 different sizes of ceramic bearings engineered specifically for clutch use. Sizes are 5×10mm, 5×11mm, 5×12mm, and 5×13mm. They all have our HSR inner cage technology and specific internal tolerances designed to withstand the heat and stress placed on a clutch bearing, and ACERGoo synthetic lube inside our clutch bearings to cool down the bearing even further. If your clutch needs a little something extra, looks like Acer has you covered.

One of the most popular Crawler ESC’s from Team Novak makes a return! The GOAT Brushless/Brushed ESC can run two or three cell LiPO batteries and now has support for worm-drive vehicles like the Losi Comp Crawler and Kyosho Rock Force! Sounds like some pretty good updates to an already proven ESC!

Team Novak has just released the first crawler-specific 13-turn brushless motor: the Crawler 13.5T Brushless Motor (#3414). Wow! I thought my GOAT was always plenty fast! It’s ideally compatible with Novak’s new Goat 3S Crawler Brushless/Brush ESC (#3214). Hit their webpage for more info!

Caster Racing USA and our own driver Tim Mohr won big at the St. Louis RC Pro Series!

RC Pro Series Midwest Division Race #1 electric 1/8 scale division. First place and TQ goes to Team Caster Racing driver Tim Mohr running a Caster Fusion Pro, proving once again that Caster Racing products are very capable on the track. Caster Racing is the first manufacturer to make an electric 1/8 scale buggy and truggy and the radically different design from conversions is proving effective once again.

Way to go Tim! Also, Huge props to one of our other drivers and occasional guest writer (see The Slash Report) Jason Annis (on the right) Taking third! Great job guys, you ROCK!
Taking second place there on the left is Mike Marshal. Wanted to make sure we got everyone!

Welcome to yet another incredible, inedible, Cub Report.

Product news of the week? The new Novak 1,300+ Sintered Rotors . Essentially, these new rotors have been put through a special process to give the magnet more strength. They sell for under $40. But ya know, brushless racing shouldn’t require a “hop-up” magnet, it’s brushless for hecks sake. Some idiots years ago started “stock” classes for brushless, which require racers gear the crap out of uber low kv motors just to get any speed out of them, which then requires rotor upgrades. Sad, very sad. Brushless motors can easily outpower any chassis, it’s just one of the beauties of that beast. Brushless racing should be about run whatever BL motor you want, not about hopping up too slow of a BL motor, buying the biggest pinion you can find, and making adapters so you can mount a smaller spur than was ever designed for your chassis.

I’ve got a challenge for track designers. Yes, every single Joe Blow that hits your track b%tches about everything. Yes, turnouts are spotty to poor, and you aren’t making millions of dollars running a track. But, I’m so sick and tired of one line tracks. Yes, it’s extremely hard to make an rc track with multiple lines, hell, nearly impossible, that’s why I’m issuing a challenge, not making a request. It can be done, I’ve seen it on rare occasions. So track builders, in your next track layout, try to make a corner with two fast lines in it, put in an option section, and put in a jump section with two distinctly different rhythms if you enter from the tight or wide side. One line tracks are boring, they suck, they breed hackers, and are just plain bad for racing.

The Li-po battery shootout is getting closer, and the buzz is growing bigger each day. The BigSquid staff is being rounded up, as are lots of chargers, power supplies, and soldering irons. This shootout is going to take a lot of work and time. I haven’t gotten the last count, but we’ve probably gotten close to a dozen packs now. We’ll have everyone from editor types, to factory shoes, to local bashers helping out. For the more technical data, we’ll have an actual engineer on hand. We are committed to two things for the shootout- fairness and accuracy. Hopefully it’ll make for some great reading for you guys afterwords.

Also of note from the shootout is a new found respect for one of the vendors that submitted packs. A particular company is stoked about the shootout, win or lose. If they win they will be stoked, if they lose, they are looking forward to improving their product to be better than the winners. Awesome attitude, one I truly respect.

By the way, most every vendor that has submitted packs has sent us more than just one. Most companies have sent in both their low end Li-po, and their high end Li-po for the shootout. So not only will you get to see a comparison of performance from company to company, but also between price points within one brand.

That’s it for this week, support your LHS’s and local tracks, even if they are all one lined.

Your Cub Reporter

News from Futaba is that they have a few new products coming soon. The first is the MC950CR - Brushless ESC. It has an aluminum case and heat sink with removable fan, large solder posts, and is fully adjustable through your transmitter!

Next up are the Futaba Brushless Servo’s! The have been proven to outlast brushed servo’s 5 to 1, deliver 30% faster response time, and they have 16 different types that cover just about every aspect of RC! Flying to Driving!

Vegas Baby! The new boat from AquaCraft is the Miss Vegas Deuce Hydroplane RTR! This thing is loaded with a .18 SuperTigre marine engine and 2.4GHz radio technology! Sounds like a win to me!

Guest writer/reviewer and Pro-Driver
Wesley ‘Microman’ Dennis gives us a great review of the Team Associated SC10!
Head over to the RC Reviews section, and check it out!

Hudy is at it again and has released their line of excellent tools designed to fit electric screwdrivers (don’t over torque!). All popular sizes are available and as usual the quality is outstanding!

Click on by Hudy and check it out!

Looks like RPM RC has another MUST OWN product coming out! The Traxxas Slash Front Bumper and Skid Plate. It’s a two piece design that eliminates a bunch of screws, drops some weight, and I’m sure it’s like everything else RPM - Strong and Durable! The sets come in black, blue, or Chrome/Gray. They start shipping soon, so start looking for them at your local hobby shop next week.

If your like me and set your prized controller in your tool box when going to the track then you need to check this out! Robitronic is looking out for you with their new Transmitter bag. Built with a rugged nylon ffabric exterior and very well padded inside your controller will be safe! Reinforced shoulder strap and an easy access velcro pocket and standard.

Hop on over to Robitronic then drop by your local shop and ask for it.