Month: October 2010

Dunetoberfest- [dune-tober-fest] Origin- A name created on the web in 2007 to represent a name, place, and time for a gathering in the desert near Yuma Arizona. Definition- A gathering in the desert of men and women with one common interest….. spending time in the desert with friends and family and driving R/C cars in what could be argued the best possible location on earth.

I have been attending Dunetoberfest since 2007 and its my favorite event of the year. Because I get to leave my desk for several days and just go out and get dirty and play in the sand. Every year I make the trip its been with Jeff from Craftwerks-RC. This year was the first time we actually camped out on location in the desert. We had the pleasure of breaking in the “new guys” from TeamChase and SkoPod for their first time ever at Dunetoberfest.

This year we saw a great turnout like always. Many of the same old faces and many new ones. Most everyone who attended are already talking about coming back for 2011 so keep your eyes on LSN for up to date news. We also hope to have some quest bloggers who will give us pre-dunetoberfest advice and tips.

Looking forward to seeing you all next year!

Check out 400 images taken from the event by clicking HERE!

Check out this video from Jeff at Craftwerks-RC!

[videoEmbed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/j6BMLmS_3mc?fs=1&hl=en_US”]

The other day a couple friends of the local TGN store asked us if we would consider joining them in entering their HPI baja’s into a local Sand Drag event. Well obviously we could not turn down an opportunity like this so we jumped on it. One call to the boys up north at SkoPod was all it took to get Tim and Jim out the the event.

The track is called Lemoore Raceway and its situated about 30 miles west of Visalia where TGN is located. This was the first time they have allowed R/C cars at the event so it was important we make a good impression. We had a total of 5 cars and trucks there, both the baja 5t and 5b were used and we had some with stock 23cc’s all the way to the nitro breathing 62cc monsters from SkoPod.

Overall the runs went great. People were cheering us on just like the big boys. The sand was real loose and once the cars dug they tracked straight and went like bullets. Most the guys had the HPI mounted Sand Busters, but my rig had the RC4WD Sand Storms and all of them worked well.

It got hard to see them at the end of the track but we just laid into it untill we could not see them anymore. Then Jim from SkoPod would grab them off the track and bring them back to the starting area for us. They even gave us our times and everything, it was pretty cool and everyone enjoyed watching these 1/5 scale R/C cars and trucks run.

At the end of the night we swapped out my paddles for some Pro-Line Trenchers and snuck onto their oval track and went for a couple good passes in the dark. OHHH MAN that was fun, our friends who invited us to this event are looking into possibly renting the location for some test days. We hope thats works out.

He hope to do this again in 2011 and if we do, we will make sure to post here so maybe some other large scale fans from the north and south could come join in the fun.

More images of the night can be seen HERE.

Here is a On Location Upload of two baja head to head:

[videoEmbed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/3sQ8JC4mPxI?fs=1&hl=en_US”]

After TGN was not able to attend the first year we got a lot of pressure from Hostile to attend his yearly Bajafest in NY in 2010. Not that we needed pressure to go to the event but it helped us seal the deal and get our trip planned out.

TGN, TeamFastEddy, TeamChase and SkoPod all met in NY where we rented an RV and stayed on the Hostile property.

I could talk for hours about what an amazing even and location this is. Hostiles willingness to allow hundreds of people on his incredible piece of property is just the start of what this company brings to the table. Then you have a well organized and very thought out event put on by a bunch of great people. I cant recommend enough to do everything in your power to attend this event. Beg barrow or steal if you have to. If you like R/C and you like Large Scale then grab your car and  your tools and do this event. I promise you will not regret it.

This was the largest turnout of baja’s ever up to this date. Imagine all this in someones backyard.

See hundreds of more images HERE.

After the event and just before we had to return our RV, we headed over to see the Niagara Falls. This was a sight to see, our planet is one amazing place.