Full Replays of the 3 rounds of qualifiers and Mains are now consolidated into 4 videos on Youtube. You can find them here:

Q1 https://youtu.be/GGgzEoDdGXs

Q2 https://youtu.be/uGeYc2c_4CY

Q3 https://youtu.be/lWyN7iEh3GM

Mains https://youtu.be/DHha_WSmPYk

The live videos from the event were streamed to Facebook, LiveRC and Youtube.

Facebook videos can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/46rcnj/live

Qualifying Heat 1

Qualifying Heats 2-4

Click on the below links to access Streamed replay’s from this event from May 21st thru 23rd 2021:

LiveRC Event (subscribers can see video replays) : http://lcrc.liverc.com/live



46RC YouTube :https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-cXQAdFROiozwaybOUN38Q



46C Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/46rcnj

With possible exception of the first A-main, I was able to capture the rest of the A-mains with a fixed camera between Turn 1 & 2. Enjoy…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are good specs for a PC for VRC ? Its an age old question, and asked almost daily as we are in the midst of the Pandemic.

Firstly, make sure you have a GOOD internet connection, and preferably ‘hard-wired’ Ethernet connection to your router. Use SpeedTest to test your speed.

You can use Wi-fi but you should have decent speed and be aware the signal can attenuate when other things interfere, like Microwave Ovens, Cordless Phones etc.

As far as the PC itself goes, its not a simple answer as PC’s are always evolving and there are many different ways to achieve the same result.

VRC is very hardware intensive, meaning it won’t just run on any old PC. It also reads a ton of data from your hard disk (HD), and requires a decent amount of RAM and a Good graphics Card. So for best game play focus should be :

• Modern processor with decent amount of RAM
• A good Graphics Card
• Solid State Disk (SSD)

The specs listed here are outdated: VRC World Minimum Specs as PC’s have evolved since VRC was originally published.

There are various ‘game play’ elements to VRC. You want a PC that allows you:

• To Turn up most of the graphics options (from the OPTIONS menu in VRC Pro), and maintain a good Frames-per-second (FPS)
• Allows you to run MultiPlayer without Lag

Laptops:

A budget laptop in the $500-600 range will be ‘decent’ but for improved game play i’d recommend being in the $800-$900 range.

Minimum specs should be:

• Intel Core i5 processor
• 8GB RAM
• 256GB SSD (A Solid state drive will really help a ton with game loads)

Examples:

Dell Latitude 14-5480 Intel Core i5-7300U X2 2.6GHz 8GB 256GB SSD 14

ASUS TUF Gaming Laptop – 15.6″ Full HD – AMD Ryzen 5 3550H – RX 560X – 8 GB DDR4 – 256 GB PCIe SSD – Gigabit WiFi

Some recommended Web stores : Republic of Gamers ,Amazon, Newegg

Desktops

I have a Desktop system, that I built myself 3/4 years ago but is still solid as VRC hasn’t really evolved. It consists of:

• Intel Core i5-4460 LGA 1150 CPU (Quad Core)
• 16GB RAM
• 500GB SSD
• MSI Intel H81 LGA 1150 DDR3 USB 3.1 Micro ATX Motherboard
• GeForce GTX 960, 2GB PCI Express

The above is probably minimum Processing spec. Prices have come down since then and you could get more for your money.

Examples:

CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme VR Gaming PC, Intel Core i5-9400F 2.9GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 6GB, 8GB DDR4, 240GB SSD, 1TB HDD

Skytech Oracle Gaming PC Desktop – AMD Ryzen 5 2600, NVIDIA GTX 1660 6GB, 8GB DDR4, 500GB SSD, A320M Motherboard, 500 Watt 80 Plus

PCI-Express x16 Graphics Cards:  MSI Computer Video Graphic Cards GeForce GTX 1050 TI Gaming X 4G, 4GB

 

Check out the additional awesome blog for more info on VRC setup Beginner’s Guide to VRC PRO

Firstly go to vrcworld.com. Sign on.

Make sure your a member of the Club who is holding the event. If your not, go to the Club Page and click ‘Join this Club’

The 46RC Club page is here : 46RC VRC Pro Racers Club

The page is shown below (tho I am not logged in here, so you can see its grey’d out)

Once signed on, your at the home page:

Then click on the Events tab:

 

 

Next click on ‘Upcoming’. You should see the 46RC Club race listed or maybe you will have to scroll down. Click on that event:

Then you will see a ‘register me for event’; checkbox on the Overview tab. Check that, and your done !

46RC was in attendance August 23rd thru 25th,  providing High Quality Video coverage and moving camera. We were able to stream to LiveRC’s media servers as well as Youtube.

Below are the links to LiveRC’s media servers. They’re published as ‘unlisted’ so impossible to find without going to liverRC.com and clicking thru the links.

 

Here are the A-main’s :

46RC was in attendance providing High Quality Video coverage and moving camera. We were able to stream to LiveRC’s media servers as well as Youtube.

Below are the links to LiveRC’s media servers. They’re published as ‘unlisted’ so impossible to find without going to liverRC.com and clicking thru the links.

Here are the A-main’s :

A-main Nitro Buggy

A-main Nitro Truggy

A-main Electric Truggy

A-main 40+ E-Buggy

A-main Pro4

A-main 40+ Nitro Buggy

A-main E-Buggy

The rest of the mains as well as full results can found here: 2019 Big Apple Hot Race Challenge

Press Release from the Event: Press Release

We obviously have the ‘Sportsman’ class; but that is generally more of a ‘Run what ya Brung’ class (which has its place also in our RC world), But a drawback is new racers can find themselves getting run over by a 4WD Short Course, and pulling their 2wd Buggy off the track, minus an arm etc.

The Spec Buggy class was conceived as an additional entry point into 1/10th RC Racing. With a “spec” motor, simple non-intimidating rules, its a great way to get into competitive club racing.

One secondary goal was to build a class that would hopefully grow and could be reproduced at other tracks, so in theory, racers could travel with their Spec Buggies and support other tracks in the area.

The class has been gaining momentum at Critters with a small group of racers attending each week. We had 5 racers attend our Trophy Race on March 3rd 2019:

The feedback has been great from the racers, with some super close racing and battles for the podium.

The advantage of this class is that new racers or even racers who don’t typically do off-road, can purchase a regular 1/10th 2WD Buggy and start in this class. As they gain momentum and speed, they can progress up the ranks into the Regular / Advanced classes such as 17.5 Stock Buggy or 2WD Modified.

We had one local racer who started in the class at Critters. He ran for 3-4 weeks and then progressed up as he got more confident, and his lap times were close to the regular classes. Thats a perfect scenario.

Below, We can see the comparison in lap times between the two 17.5 classes from this weeks trophy event.

Personally, I don’t subscribe to the ‘Everyone needs a trophy’ mentality, but this class does give racers a fighting chance to gain some successes at the Club Level, which helps gain confidence. Confidence will fuel the desire to get faster and progress up the ranks.

And hopefully that process will attract new racers.

 

 

 

Something I’ve been thinking about for the past couple of years is a Spec 2WD Buggy Offroad class.

First got wind of this concept from a successful program at a local on-road track in New York (360v2). They run a spec hand-out motor for 1/12th and TC and its changed the game for those Entry/Low-Mid Tier drivers.

A local Turf track (Cruizin w/ RC’s) launched a similar program with a Spec buggy class with handout motor.

The class would be a bridge between the somewhat generic and often uncontrolled Sportsman class and a Mod/Stock class.

Yesterday a prospective racer asked me ‘How do I get started ? What do I buy?’

Pretty easy to talk about the purchasing decisions; but what class to start in ?

• Stock Buggy is a Pro class and unless he wants to spend much $$$ he’ll just get smoked until he commits, financially
• Mod Buggy, whilst better financial sense; he’ll get smoked
• 2WD Short Course Or Stadium Truck, the class is not consistent; sometimes it runs, often it doesn’t (locally).
• 4WD Short Course is an easy start but it does not foster good driving skills or a positive overall racing experience due to the degree of rough driving that unfortunately appears to be the norm.
• Sportsman is the natural starter; but the class barely runs and you can end up racing against any vehicle, like a Pro4, and getting literally destroyed on the track.

So this brings me back to the Spec 2WD Buggy Class. I’ve done some limited research and I’ve come up with a starting point for ‘rules’:

• Motor must be Reedy 17.5 Fixed Timing Motor (Part #293) – Cost $50.
  • (NOTE: This pricing is just above cost and is intended to promote the class and help racers – Please purchase from your LHS).
• Gear box and drive train must be completely stock as comes out of the package.
• Fixed Gearing per manufacturer – goal is the most Torque/RPM without excess heat.
  • AE 32/69
  • TLR 30/69
  • Xray 33/69 or 34/72
• Vehicle Minimum weight must be no lower than 1500 grams minimum weight
• Speed control must be in Blinky Mode .
• Batteries can be charged up to MAX 8amps charge rate, to a MAX of 8.40v.
• NO sponsored drivers (Chassis/Electronics/Batteries).

This would be a class about racing and peer Tech’ing. It would be obvious when someone is cheating and their doing lap-times WAY higher than the next guy.

What would the racer experience ?

The idea is the car will not be fast. It may barely do any Doubles , let alone Triples; but it will stay ‘rubber side down’. The cars should overall be the same speed, week in, week out. All they have to do is race each other and not worry about who has the fastest motor etc.

It should promote close racing with vehicles that are all roughly the same.

How does this affect a track ?

Sure it will potentially dilute the existing Stock and Mod 2WD classes but overall the entry count should remain the SAME (which is revenue). Those Mod and Stock drivers will have less cars in their heats but is that really a problem ? Those guys are just lap traffic, right ? (sounds harsh, but its a double edged sword – Fast guys complain about slow guys getting in their way – slow guys complain about being beat or yelled at to ‘move over’).

How would this class be promoted ?

I’d like to promote this as a 46RC Community Class, use the 46RC brand to keep the Spec Buggy ‘class’ in the public domain, with the goal that multiple tracks could adopt it and racers could travel near and far for easy, controlled competitive racing.