Chevy79Bu

New to the forums for the most part other than ghosting the site for the past several months. My 13 year old son is in it with me. We began our addiction this winter and have been building our fleet ever since. I was into the nitro bashers years ago but lost the bug in my early 20's in place of drag racing. I still own a super pro 1979 Malibu (hince the name) but it's not much of a activity that he can join in. So here we are in the RC world.

started out with buying him a traxxis rustler brushed 4x4 buggy. First time we took it to our local indoor carpet track it was obvious we needed better. So here comes the arrma senton 3s. Slapped some carpet tires on it and we were off. But that left me without a good ride lol. So I bought a hopped up traxxis slash 4x4 from a guy at the shop that built it for the indoor track. All the while we were watching guys pass us by with their sweet little buggys... so I jumped in and bought a new 2021 Xray XB2 carpet edition kit. Took me about 5-6hr and it was built all while watching YouTube videos on the tv... I put a protek servo in it, muchmore fleta pro v2 esc, muchmore 17.5 motor, DX5C transmitter and reciever and we were ready to race. His first official race is this comming Sunday and will be entering the 2wd rookie class. Cant wait to see the boy up on the stand nervous and ready to race!

Beenzie

Wishing best of luck. Glad to hear the both of you are enjoying the hobby together. I am just starting out myself. I am building a a Team Associated 6.2d to race on indoor dirt track. Just about done building and can honestly say I have enjoyed it a lot and it is helping me to learn about the parts of the car. Hope to get on the track for some practice here in the next week or two

GerryH

iTrader: (26)

Think the best thing for both of you is to remember to take it easy. I coach lots of young RC drivers and sometimes I'll stand someplace near to them and tell them "slow down", "take the corner easy", etc. For most people, myself included, it's hard to practice "fast is slow".

Have fun, congratulate yourself for improving (crashing less, getting more laps, etc)

OffRoadJunkie

iTrader: (9)

Congrats on getting out on the track. My son and daughter, 12 and 13, both just started racing. The best advise I can give is to keep reminding him that he will crash and people will crash into him. Although it may look like it was on purpose, it wasn't. It's what you would call "Racing Tunnel Vision." The racers are not skilled enough to look beyond just their buggy and be aware of what's in front of them. Also, and this is the biggest and most important advice to teach him while learning to race, SLOWER IS FASTER! I use to have to keep telling my kids to breath and be calm. I actually had to turn my daughters speed down.

Chevy79Bu

Great advice from a mental standpoint. The "slow is fast" is something I have been telling him alot of. I have the esc turned down quite a bit. It's still set on power level 1 and I dont have any boost and hardly any turbo tuned into it yet. We have been going to the track every night after work for 1-2 batteries worth of track time. He does very well when it's just him on the track but he does loose some focus once there are other cars around him. I dont care if he ever wins a race as long as we can have some fun with it. He will do great I'm sure. But little more consistancy around the track and I'm sure the podiums will follow at some point.

Silverbullet555

iTrader: (16)

Good for you and your son. I raced in the last century for a number of years. Stopped at the turn of the century. Got my son a slash a few years ago. He started racing in the fall as did our 5 year old. He got a buggy and has progressed well. I am now running a couple buggies, he races his, my youngest races a slash and my wife has a T6.2 to build.

Have fun with it. Good use of funds for a family activity.

Chevy79Bu

So a little update,

my son ran this past weekend and ended up having to run in a 2wd open class as there was not enough rookie entries for them to make a class of it. He ran 3 heat races placing 2nd in his first one, 1st in the 2nd heat, and 3rd in his final heat. He was placed into the A main! He started 6th out if 8 cars in the Amain. He finished in his starting spot in 6th place so honestly a super good outing for his first event. He did crash out quite a bit in the main and ended 5 laps down from the leader. Was a rough race for most drivers though. His back tires went away on him by the main due to how he slides alot of corners so some driving adjustments will be needed. Talking to the guys at the track it seems one set of tires should last for the day without much issue normally. But by the middle to end of the main the car looked very loose in the corners and he was spinning out quite a bit. Overall a great learning experiance and was a ton of fun. We are hooked!

ccprojects

That's awesome. Nothing better then having the opportunity to do this with the kids. My oldest son is older now and lost interest after getting a girlfriend, playing basketball and his license to drive. I have a 2 1/2 year old now and I too have been out of this for a long time till recently catching the bug hahaha. Gonna try to keep in the loop with things and hopefully get him into R/C's so I can keep things going.