Event Coverage - Checking out LARGE Scale RC Car & Truck Racing with the Losi 5IVE-T & TLR 5IVE-B

In this video, we take a look at one of my other hobbies, racing hobby-grade radio control cars and trucks.

I've been involved with RC cars and trucks in some form or fashion for almost as long as I've been into video games. I remember going and getting a Tyco Turbo Hopper and tearing around the local RC car track, thinking I was Ivan "the Ironman" Stewart. From the first time I saw "real" RC cars and trucks, I was hooked. So much so that I work in the industry.

One of the things I love about RC racing is the competitive nature. I also love calling the action as the race announcer, the eye in the sky who has the best seat in the house. That's what I was able to do once again this year for the 2018 1/5 Scale Off Road Dirt Blast. Held at the track at Eli Field in Monticello, Illinois this track is maintained by the Monticello Model Masters, or M3, under the careful watch and direction of Lee Morrison.

The event itself was held over 2 days. Three qualifying rounds determined the starting positions for Sunday's main events. Each qualifier was 10-minutes long and the goal for each driver, who is timed individually, is to turn as many laps as close to that 10-minute mark. If one driver turned 20-laps in 10:04.234 and another turned 20-laps in 10:02.123 the later would have the better qualifying result as, while they turned the same number of laps, they did so in a faster overall time.

There are two different classes that racers participated in, short course truck (SCT) and short course buggy (SCB). The trucks are wider and heaver, they also feature a full-fendered body for aggressive wheel-to-wheel action. The buggies are lighter and more nimble, they tend to handle better and, owing to their open-wheel design much like an Indycar or F1 car, when they touch wheel-to-wheel there tends to be a spectacular wreck. These vehicles are powered by a 2-cycle gasoline engine, anywhere from 23cc to 32cc displacement. These engines develop a ton of power and can run anywhere from 20-to-45 minutes on a single tank of fuel! The engines can also be tuned to deliver more power or better fuel economy, just like their full-scale counterparts.

These are highly-tunable race vehicles. Every component on the chassis is user-replaceable if something breaks. There are also a boatload of tuning options to help these massive beasts get more traction and turn faster lap times. Shock springs, anti-roll bars, shock angle, camber, caster, toe-in, toe-out, ride height, wing angle, weight bias, different oil in the shocks to speed up or slow down how fast or slow the shocks compress or rebound, there are so many adjustments you can make to these cars.


Aerial footage captured with a Blade Chroma featuring a Cgo 3 4K camera.

Still Photos provided by Kayla Bullock.