nitrous36

How far have you, or better question, how far are you willing to drive to race your car?

The reason I ask is because locally(for me) in my town there are only offroad shortcourse classes, nothing onroad. The nearest roadcourse is about an hour and a half drive away. Am I crazy for wanting to drive that far to race my car? I wish there was something closer. And I have offroad stuff, but nothing thats currently(or no longer) raced in my area. Its all shortcourse or 8th scale buggy now. So the offroad stuff I do have is regulated to bashing only for now.

How far do some of you drive out to compete in a class thats not available local to you? And do you or have you done it often?

Grizzbob

iTrader: (2)

Well, I doubt that many go as far as I do on any regular basis, but I can tell you that I'm the same boat, my entire STATE has given up onroad racing, all tracks just do the dirt. And like you, I tried to give it a go, but it's just not that much fun for me anymore, though I've always had a real passion for onroad. In my case though, the nearest onroad track is about 250 miles away(Mike's Hobby Shop in Carrollton, TX, about a 4 hour drive), so I can't afford to go every week, but I do drive down whenever I can afford it(& I'd dare say if it was within a 1 1/2 hour drive, I'd consider going EVERY week). And between that & VRC, I think it's worth it, I'm enjoying my vacation from the dirt, & VRC has given me my onroad chops back, & because the monthly cost of VRC actually saves a decent amount of money over racing in the dirt every week(I'd usually spend about $20-30 every race day at the offroad track, but for about $30-35, I can have 3 MONTHS of racing on VRC, over time, should really help make it easier to go to Mike's for me). So long story short, NO, you're NOT crazy or alone in wanting to do some driving to keep racing onroad....

DesertRat

iTrader: (2)

Your state gave up road racing for slinging dirt to? Shit I thought it was just mine.
I will drive to Vegas or Texas to race a few times a year.

nitrous36

I know as hobbyist you guys might would understand. But to some people I might be thought a fool for wanting to drive that far to race a "toy" car(for a day).

Thanks for the response. Glad to hear Im not the only one and that its not too far. I didnt think so myself, but began thinking I was only telling my self that to justify it. You know its like a slippery slope, you keep changing the standards(lowering the bar) to accept something that may be out of the normal for most people and so then its like where do you draw the line.

Oh and theyre not toys But ofcourse to those not in the know or the average joejane they are.

RedBullFiXX

iTrader: (34)

I feel lucky that there are at least 4 On-Road tracks 1+ hrs drive from home
Would drive further for an outstanding track too

This is what we do, at some point, you're either in or you're out

H0LESH0T

iTrader: (7)

My closest road track is 1 1/2 hours. We use to have little parking lot racers on weekends but thanks to 7 day trading that came in mid last year, that no longer happens.

TeamThibault

2 1/2 hour drive durning the summer, in winter our club does rent a basment every 2nd weekend thats 1/2 hour away

JOE SI

iTrader: (13)

I live in NY city and for me during the warm weather season I'm about 20 minutes away from my local track and occasionally travel 1 1/2 hrs to race in Delaware but in the winter there's nowhere for me to go unless I drive an hr to Fairfield NJ which isn't a bad drive considering gas is $1- $1.50 cheaper in NJ and also if I drive an hr and 1/2 to Horsham PA which I do most of the time for the track is bigger and competition and turnouts are a little better... IMHO anything more than a 2 hour drive for a race day and driving home the same day is a little too much for me since sometimes the race doesn't end till around 8-9pm and a full day will definitely have me nodding off on the ride home..

miller tyme

iTrader: (5)

I had a local track that ran Road-course 10 minutes from my house but chose to drive 2 3/4 hours to hit a track in another state to get the competition level, layout and traction feel that you find at bigger races, I did this nearly every weekend in the season for nearly 3 years (and yes the end result today was well worth the effort). Bottom line, it's a hobby that few out side understand and if YOU are willing to drive to spend YOUR time doing something YOU like, then it is right for YOU and to hell with what others think.

skater-deez1

iTrader: (78)

Pennsylvania too! Any decent onroad track is at a minimum of two and a half hours from where I live.The solution has been rounding up some friends and running tc's at a friends house who has a large slab of blacktop.I have nothing but respect for offroad but I just can't get into it.The thing to remember is this hobby runs in cycles.Eventually guys will get tired of playing in the sandbox and onroad will return......hopefully.Just my two cents feel free to spend it wherever you want(or bash me for my opinion which seems like the norm on this site!).

nitrous36

Amen to that. Youre not doing it for them.

Youre right, and you guys speak some truths. I wanted to do something similar and arrange PL races somewhere. But I dont think theres enough people in my area with TCs or the interest in onroad to make it happen.

Thing is, THIS is THE place, as far as RC forums go(probably the biggest). So if you dont find anyone here(with same interest/situation in your area), youre probably not going to find them.

Andy w

iTrader: (7)

In the winter I have a 50 min drive one way to our carpet track. I do my best to make every race and only miss a couple. In the summer the asphalt track is a even hour one way. I make it every other week due to work. I have thought about this over the years and 1 1/2 hours would be my limit for weekly racing.

As far as people thinking your crazy...who cares. My wife kinda understands and my boss gets it for time off and that's good enough for me.

I totally understand that I am lucky to have onroad racing only a hour away. That's better than many.

skater-deez1

iTrader: (78)

Thanks nitrous36!!!Most of the time if you voice an opinion here you get bashed.With so many guys on here being as smart as they act online it makes me wonder why there are so many guys in the B and C mains at my old tracks.If all these guys were as brilliant as they act you'd think there would be no need for anything but an A main with 80 cars in it......sorry I had to vent a little.

nitrous36

No prob. You think the bashing and flaming is harsh here, you must not have been to some of the forums Ive been on. Its tame here in comparison to some of the other forums I frequent.

Im talking about forums where even the mods will step in and change your username, sig, avatar and make a joke of you for fun. And all that before banning you if you push it.

skater-deez1

iTrader: (78)

No actually I've been into rc for about 25years now and this is the first place I've actually interacted with other races other than the track.I posted an "opinion"on a thread that was called what has been the biggest gamechanger in rc FOR YOU.Since they added the for you part I figured i'd give my opinion...boy was that a mistake!I was wrong about what was a gamechanger for me apparently.I suppose I should've said lipo batteries like the rest of the sheep!Oh and remind me not to go on any of those other forums,sounds pretty brutal.