The Sport/motorsport of remote control auto racing

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Hello. My name is Lee and I have autism. I happen to participate in the sport of remote control auto racing. I have been doing this for 14 years since I was 9.

Now when you think of Remote control cars you probably think about the toys that little kids play with or on children’s televisions commercials. Well these cars are much different and advanced.

The cars made out of carbon fiber, titanium, and aircraft aluminum and take many, many month’s to design. They are rigorously tested on special race tracks that can almost be a football field long. These cars can reach speeds of 60 mph and corner like nothing else. The cars can be electric powered or powered by nitro and can reach speeds of 80 mph.

The cars I race are called touring cars, they are four wheel drive, and are raced indoor’s and outdoors. They can reach a speed of 30+ mph. These cars require a great deal of hand-eye coordination and concentration. The race length is not determined by laps but by time. The races I compete in are 5 minutes long and in order to win these races against really good competition (e.g. world caliber racers) you have to drive the car hard and sometimes break the car loose and most importantly make no mistakes for and entire 5 minutes while someone is only 3 tenths of a second behind you the whole race. The winner of the race is the person who completes the most laps in the given amount of time and I have won and lost races by as less as a thousandth of a second. Some races which have nitro powered race cars can be from 30 minutes to a hour long with pit stops.

Me and my father are a team. MY dad is the mechanic while i am the driver. We are a very good team and work together well. Even though we have a few arguments. How we communicate is by me driving the car in practice for a few laps, then telling my father how the car is handling, then we decide what adjustments we need to make.

I have been all over the United States and have won in five different states such as Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Ohio and my home state of Wisconsin. I have won two national championships in my hometown of Milwaukee WI which has a huge racing culture here. The highest I have placed was 4th in the world in the international indoor championship in Las Vegas Nevada at the former South Coast casino. I beat the South Korean champion for 4th in that race. I currently have 204 career total victories that range from club races to US championships that I have won all over the nation.

The reason why I wanted to post this on Wrong Planet is because I wanted to introduce an exciting and truly unique sport that I feel would be interesting to the autism community and would show the world how people with autism can be in competitive sports.

I plan to do race reports of me ranging from club races to national events. Here are a few clips of these cars in action.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnc01SqQATM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFjv726eOVg&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2v9qciOxXw&feature=related[/youtube]

I have decided to do my first race report. Right now I am competing in a racing class called Trans-Am. This was inspired off a full size racing league raced back in the mid 60’s early 70’s. We use hard treaded tires that are similar to what was raced in the real Trans-Am series. They last a long time for 40-45 runs and get better every time the car was driven. The cars use a modified battery to slow the car down just a bit to keep the cars easy to drive for rookies getting into the sport, and to level to the playing field to the experts so don’t have a big advantage. There is a national championship race in Winthrop Harbor Il, a village located 30 miles north of Chicago, where 72 racers from all over the nation will compete in one race.

Now. Onto the race report, I race in a Tuesday night racing league in Milwaukee WI and the race format works like this. In Trans-Am, you have two qualifiers which are 5 minutes each and are a heads up start. The A main is the top ten qualified racers in the class and begins a rolling start.

The First qualifier I get off to a great start 2nd place behind me is a very good racer and he is able to hang with me for the first two minutes. However, my car is really starting to handle well and I’m able to pull away from him I end up winning the race by 8 seconds. I was more than half a lap in the lead.

The second qualifier again I have a great start but 2nd place almost takes me out on the first turn but I’m able to pull away from him on the first three laps. 2nd place improves his fastest lap by 4 tenths which is like going from an 11.7 to a 9.9 run in the 100m meter dash. However I’m able to improve my fastest lap by two tenths and I win the qualifier by 6 seconds this time, which is less than half a lap.

The A main.

The top ten cars in the class have a rolling start similar to NASCAR and when they get onto the straightway the horn sound off and we all make a mad dash to the first turn. I lead the pack and again I have a flawless start but this time 2nd place is much more determined, he is only 3 seconds behind me, which isn’t much. Getting caught up in traffic and getting around slower cars is really keeping me from getting a good lead on my rival. As I try to pass a lapped car, I hit the inside corner coming onto the straightaway and almost roll my car over. However, five minutes into the race 2nd place clips a corner, as the clock winded down and the race came to an end, I win the race by 8 seconds, another good margin. I plan to do my next race report this weekend or next, which is going to be a warm up race at track where the Trans-Am Nationals are to be hosted.

Her are some pictures of the cars, and a video of previous race in December. I’m in the yellow Camaro In the you tube clip
-Lee









[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up6_xLi5ziY[/youtube]

Howdy Folks. Just preparing my second race report.

This Tuesday night, my club decided to change the layout of the race course after a oval racing series run over the weekend. The design of the course went from wide open to technical. Also, when someone changes the design of the track, traction is very low and has to build a groove up, so everyone has to start over from what they learned over the past 3 weeks.

Another thing to mention is that I’m running new tires which are really hard and take a few weeks to break in, so I’m sliding around corners for the first few practice runs.


1st Qualifier.


The race starts off with me getting off to a good start on the straightway, however everyone bunches up coming into the first corner, so I have to let up and go wide and let a few people by, now I'm sitting in 3rd place. I'm right behind 2nd and waiting patiently for 2nd to make a mistake on the 3rd lap he clips a corner and I go by. Now I begin to focus on the leader, I’m right on his tail driving aggressively, but not trying to cut the corners so tight. With 2:30 into the race he makes a bobble and I and get through cleanly, however he's able to stay on my six cause he turning faster laps, he no doubt has a faster car, however he's not driving as consistent as I am, and is not being very patient through traffic. I end up wining the race by four seconds. It seems that my rival has been fine tuning his car since last week and looks like he has something for me this week.


2nd Qualifier

I am sitting on pole and get off to another great start and able to get of to a 2.5 second lead. My rival's car and the car behind him as improved their fastest lap by two tenths, which is a big deal and they are inching up on me, however they continue to make mistakes, and are still a little impatient in traffic. I manage to win the race, but coming into the A Final, John my rival has his car setup real well and is determined to beat me in the A final.

The A Main.

Tuesday night we had 11 cars in the final and I’m still Top qualifier, however 2nd has a smoking fast car, not to mention dealing with racers who are inexperienced and are just starting out. We begin out rolling start and as we come onto the straightway the horn sounds and we're off! 2nd and 3rd get into a tangle, and I have a good lead on the first lap. A minute into the race I’m really trying to work my way through traffic and have to go to half throttle while waiting to get through traffic. 2nd place has now caught up to me, I really have to hustle through traffic now but I have to maintain my composure and not get into a tangle. With 2:30 into the race, 2nd is behind me, I come onto the straightway, I’m coming on a lapped car but he isn’t budging, I ram into his rear end and 2nd goes by, now I’m thinking "He's got a better car and is going to pull away from me." however I’m able to keep up with him. For the next 3 minutes we battle while I wove my way through traffic, then with 2 minutes to go coming into the infield, a corner Marshall (a guy/girl who puts your car back on track if you flip or stuff it in the corner) runs in front of my rival and runs right into him and I go wide and I am able to take the lead, a big break for me. I continue to dodge and weave through traffic and John is able to catch up to me, however he still is being impatient, time expires and I am declared the winner. My next race report will be this Tuesday or, the Trans-Am Nationals this Saturday in Winthrop Harbor IL.

Hello folks! Today I am writing a special race report, this last Saturday I competed in the Vintage Trans-Am Nationals. This race was held in Northern Illinois and there were 67 racers around the nation competed in this event altogether. The race works like this, there are 5 rounds of racing with one throw out if you have a bad race. There are no qualifiers or mains; all the races are heads up, on the tone racing. How you win or place in the race is by points. If you come in first, you get one point. If you come in second, you get two points, third three points, 4th etc. The driver with the least points in 4 out of 5 rounds is declared the winner. There are 8 cars in each heat, and the computer randomly decides the starting positions. For example one race you start 1st, the next you start 5th, next race 6th, and so on. And at the end of the event is a 50-lap shootout with 20 cars on the track. Each race is 6 minutes long.



Round 1

The first race I started up front, I got off to a good start. However two laps into the race, I have to move my way through traffic. Most of the guys in this race are rookies or amateurs who are very good and can't get out of faster racers way very well. So I have to be very patient while trying to keep my speed up. About 2:30 in to the race one of the track local's who is very good, is turning faster laps than I am but struggling through traffic while I’m doing very well in it. I win round 1 and I am sitting in first place.

Round 2

This race I start in last and the racer starting in second place is one of the favorites to win and has a good car. Now I have to figure out how I can start at the back and work my way to the front. The tone sounds, and coming into the infield everyone gets in to a pile up and has to be marshaled and I go from last to 3rd on one lap. I get by 2nd on the 4th lap and now I set my sights on 1st. With 1:30 into the race, 1st gets into a tangle with lapped traffic and now I have the lead. Like in the first round I dodge my way through traffic, and 2nd struggles through it. There are a few times that 2nd is able to reel me in but I continue to be held up by lapped traffic. I win the race, and my second round of the event.

Round 3

This round was a little more interesting than the previous two. As I take a few practice laps to get warmed up coming into the middle of the infield my car does something called a traction roll. What this means is that on RC racing carpet, when there is a lot of traction on the track, your car will want to flip or roll over coming into a turn with out you touching anything. Another reason why is we put a liquid on the tires called traction compound. When applied and dried it softens and makes the tires really sticky and when you have 23 runs on the tire they get real soft and bite into the carpet harder. Therefore it will make the car tip over entering a corner. So now I had to be real careful and slow down in the corners more often just to keep the weight transferred to the ground. I start mid pack this time and the race is on. Half way through the first lap, I get taken out by one of the cars behind me and have to work my way up to the front. This is the first race where my back is against the ropes. 45 seconds into the race I manage to work my way up to 2nd and now I’m setting my sights on the leader. The front-runner isn’t a very good racer but he is doing a very good job of holding me off for first. While we are having our duel, 3rd and 4th are able to catch up and with 1:30 into the race, Me, first, and third are all bunched up coming into the straightaway and I go to the inside and I pass them cleanly. Now all I have to do for the rest of the round is stay off the boards and keep it from traction rolling. While a wove my way through traffic, I still had to keep in mind that the car was capable of rolling over if I drove it too hard. With 2 minutes to go into the race I drove into the turn coming into the infield a little too hard and got up on two wheels, but I managed to save it and keep running with the shiny side up for the remainder of the round. Now I have three wins coming into to the 4th round.

Round 4

Up next was my most challenging round yet. We had some tires that did not have as much stickiness as in the third round, but they weren’t as useful. In this heat I was starting behind two drivers who were two tenths of a lap faster than I was. Which is a big difference so this time I had little work to do. The race starts of with a big pile up in the sweeper (a long flowing round corner) and I managed to get by but however there are two cars that are right behind me. As I go to pass one car coming onto the straightaway another car rams me from behind and sends me tumbling down the straightaway. Now I have to really work hard to get to the front. As I race my way through traffic and up to third, I try to reel in 2nd place, which has about two seconds on me. I clip the corner once with 2:30 into the race and now I’m 3.5 seconds behind him. As the race progresses the leader is coming up on me, in the rules remote operated auto racing when you are being lapped you must yield for the leader or else you will hold him up and could slow him down. As I go wide to make room for him he stuffs it into the corner and while I watch him and not paying attention, I stuff it into one of the sandbags that hold the track in place, it takes me 5 seconds to be marshaled which is a lot of time, then I try to get up and ruing again, my car stalls and I have to be pushed to get moving. Now I have a lots ground to make up. I have to catch up to the leader threading my way thought back makers but with no avail. I finish the round forth and now I’m sitting sixth overall but this race is a throw out and I have one more race to go.

Round 5

This time I’m in a better race and don’t have as much competition as in the last race, but someone sitting mid pack is very good and could be threat to me. I’m starting in second and I need to win this race, just to get the lowest amount of points. The race starts of with me tailing behind the leader for a lap, then I’m able to get by him on the next. However the guy who was sitting mid pack was able to get up to second on the first and now he’s managed to catch up to me. Now we are dueling it out for first place, he’s on my rear end sniffing my exhaust, then coming into the infield one of the lapped cars hits a corner in front of me and takes me out. Now I’m behind in the last race of the event, about 55 seconds later I’m able to catch up to him and now it’s my turn to hound him. For nearly 1:20 were duking it out for the lead. He’s competing for just a win in the round; I’m competing for the United States Championship. Then four minutes into the race he clips a corner and goes by. Now for the second time, 2nd place will try to beat me, he’s trying everything in his power to spook me into a mistake but I stand my ground. He takes me out with a minute to go in the race but lets me by, (the rules say that you must let the guy in front of you by if you take him out or it’s a penalty) then on the second to last lap he tries to pass me coming onto the straightaway, but clips the inside corner and when time expiries, I go on to win the final round. Now I have four total wins excluding my bad forth round which is a drop.

Now, My racing is over for the night however there are two more heats left in the round with three drivers that are capable of winning the event. If any one of the win their round I will be tied with by 4 points a piece, and then the tie breaker will go the most laps and fastest time. But if they lose their respective rounds, I will win the entire event and take the title. Here we go!

The first heat up were two guys from my track that had three wins. If ether one of these guys won they would tie my score, and beat me by time.

I didn’t get to see much of the race, but what I heard was both of them got off too a bad start and a track underdog named Rick Vessel, beat them by a good margin, while the two favorites duked it out. Now I had a one in one chance of winning the event

The final important heat of the night was about to begin. One the local track heroes Brian McGreevy, who was the fastest car in the event however he was starting in the back of the pack. There was fortunately a racer named Kevin Kane, who was starting in the front of the field. He was quick but not as much compared to Brian. The horn sounds and Brian McGreevy has a bad start and gets taken to the back of the pack, but Kevin is of to a great start. Brian now has to play catch up to the leader and try to work his way through the unforgiving field; every time he makes up ground he catches a corner or get caught up in traffic. Kevin keeps pulling away and Brain just can’t seem to get a handle on the front-runner who I so desperately want to win. Time expires, and Kevin Kane is declared the winner of the heat, now we go to the scorecards

Since your four best races count, I had four wins and Brian McGreevy had three wins and a 2nd. But the announcer who had the results, would be the judge of who was the victor.


“We have the results, the winner by one point from Hales Corners WI, Lee Passehl!”


What an upset! I had come back from behind in the forth round, to win the fifth round and see three others blow their chances of wining the race. Out of 67 racers, I was the victor! After the final round was over we had the top three racers get their pictures taken for the RC Driver magazine that will be published soon. When the awards ceremony concluded, we al got our batteries charged for the 50 lap shootout.

This was just a fun race and did not mean anything, but a trophy was up for grabs. I was on pole because I won the nationals, and everyone is the track running backwards and the chicane was removed at the beginning of the straightaway to make it easier for the racers to get around. The tone sounds and Brian McGreevy gets off to a good start and passes me on the outside and on the 3rd lap. 3rd place gets by me as well, with seven laps into the race Brian and 2nd get into a tangle and I go by. With 22 laps into the race there is a driver who is part of lapped traffic, but decides to stay on my tail and to try to keep with me. I get a little worried that he is going take me and then, he takes me out. I get spun like a tornado then get marshaled; now I have to play catch up for the rest of the race. I trail behind the leaders and end up taking forth overall due to the fact on the last lap, I got caught up in traffic and 3rd got by. Although I didn’t win the 50-lap shoot out, I still won the overall event. Now today I am a Three Time national champion. In 04, 07, and now 08! I thought this would be encouraging to other people with autism that you can be competitive with regular people, and come through in the clutch.

Hello once again folks. It's been a while since i did my last race report. The fall/winter season is now over and now it's time to move on to the summer season. I will be preparing for two big time races that will be held in August and September. One on asphalt and one on carpet. The race that will be held on carpet is the International Indoor Championship which will be held at the Riviera hotel and casino on the strip in Las Vegas. The race that will be held on asphalt will be the Tamiya North American Finals in Orange County, California. What i will be doing from this point on is i will be doing practice reports, such as track conditions what me and my father adjust on the car, and how fast of laps we are turning. And maybe there will be a few race reports as well. So stay tuned!

I welcome comments. So if you get the chance to read these articles. Please comment. I would like it very much.

Hello Folks! It's me again!

I have officially arrived in California and tommorow me and my dad will be getting the car ready for our first practice on Saturday. I will give you a fully detailed report after when it's all been done.

Gidday

RC racing is something that I have wanted to pursue when I was young but my parents wouldnt buy me a car. Now I am old enough to afford my own but one can only have so much time for hobbies in life which for me is motorbikes and video games.

I'll take my hat off to you, those things look so hard to drive as the steering and braking is electronic and you don't have the mechanical feel like you do in a real car.

Thanks Linebeck! I truly appreciate it.

Yes i understand it can be very expensive at some times. I am very fortunate to have wonderful parents like I do, I can relate to how not every parent is supportive of their sons/daugthers in this sport. I know that money can drive people away from it as well.

My parents felt that Remote Auto Racing would give me the chance to learn sportmanship, apporpraite behavior socialise with people with common interests, and learn the consquences of bad behavior,learn to be competitive appropriately, and me and my parents were huge auto racing fans. I really wanted to do this and change my behavior.

If you ever want to get back into RC racing. I'm here to help. Again, thank you.

Can you get RC cars with transmissions? Or are they all single speed?

Yes! You can get RC cars with a transmission. They are usally on nitro powered touring cars, The Clutch is very important to master when racing for 45 mins at 60 MPH (80 KPH) , and has to be adjusted properly to achieve maximum performance They do shift when you drive down the straightaway, and throughout the corners. I havn't driven a nitro touring car yet but that's what i heard from all the successful drivers who race to 2 speed transmissions.

They also have them on 1/8 scale Can Am Nitro 4WD cars, and those things are insane. 80 MPH (120 KPH) As a top speed, and very responsive.

I wonder how you would fit all the clutch and gear controls in one remote control...

They would be insane to drive

Well the same way you would fit a regular clutch on a real car. Only smaller. the Clutch and Gears are attached to the Engine, the drivetrain is used by 3 heavy kevlar belts for the rear transmission, another one for the center, and one up front to control the front transmission. the gears are all enclosed in a box just like a real car

Yes the cars are very fast but with good experience, the cars can be very controllable, maybe not for a rookie, but you can use the brakes on the car by pushing the trigger forward. Braking makes these cars easier and more pleasurable to drive .

here's a picture of what the clutch looks like on a engine RC car.

Hello folks, this saturday was my first practice session . This August 23-24 I will be competing in a race called the Tamiya North American Finals, at Tamiya America Raceway in Orange County California where I live. The type of surface I will be running on is asphalt, the track is located about 5 minutes from my house. I will be running in a class called "GT2". This type of class runs 4WD (four wheel drive) type racing chassis, drivers will also be running a Special type of handout battery called a lithium polymer pack or (LIPO) for short, This battery is made by a company called "Team Orion" and is the cheapest of the batteries just to keep costs down. Most LIPO batteries cost $90-$100 but these batteries cost only $44. Racers are given one battery pack per racer but can purchase a second pack for an extra cost. Driver’s will also be handed out a controlled type motor called a black can mabuchi. These motors are very sensitive to heat and can break easily if they are to be geared too hard and driven too hard as well. Every driver can purchase a maximum of two motors, but that’s it! If you break two of your motors, your done! When your race is over you have to take your motor out and put it in a impound to prevent tweaking, also there is a very low RPM limit to prevent cheating, if your motor is above the limit, you are disqualified.

This Saturday, me and dad went to the track, setup the car very well and had a great practice.

Again I welcome comments and I am willing to explain anyone’s questions.



One of chassis running in the GT2 class



another of the chassis being in the GT2 Class



The handout motor



One of the bodyshells in the GT2 class



The handout battery

Hey mate I was actually wondering how they fit all the controls on the remote control itself. i.e. steering, accelerator, brake, clutch and gear selector.

Is your car 2wd or 4wd and do the cars run a differential or are they locked driveshafts?

If your talking about gas, the steering is fitted underneath the front suspension arms and the front of the chassis. the steering is connected by steering rods just lie on a real car. The steering is controlled by a electronic device called a "servo". Which receives a signal from a steering wheel on your radio the controls the car (i.e. when you turn the wheel left the radio will tell your servo to turn left or when you turn right, it will turn right, etc.) The accelerator on a gas car is also controlled by a servo that is connected by a rod to the engine. The servo for the accelerator operates the same as for the servo for the steering. Only this time it receives feedback from the accelerator on your radio which looks like trigger on a gun, (i.e. When you pull the trigger back it makes the car move forward, when you push the trigger forward it engages the brakes.) the brakes t have pads and discs just like that on real car, the brakes are attached to the two speed transmission. the clutch is attached to the engine that lines up with the gears, which helps in operating the gear selector.

The car I’m running is 4wd, and is electric. And you can run both differentials and locked driveshafts. You only run differentials when the track is very loose and you only run a locked drive shaft when the traction is high and requires lots of braking.



Picture of a 2 speed Tranny and picture of a Brake disc.





Servo, Device that controls the steering and throttle in gas cars.





TA05. The type of car that drivers are running in the GT2 class




Radio used to control the car.