C.J. Cameron loves cars. He works on them, watches them race on
television and has always wanted to get a little closer to the
action going on underneath the hood.
C.J. Cameron loves cars. He works on them, watches them race on television and has always wanted to get a little closer to the action going on underneath the hood.
Unfortunately, not everyone can be on the Winston Cup circuit or taking the pole position in the Indianapolis 500 or even working in pit row. So Cameron, like many others, have found the next best thing – the world of RC, or remote control, cars.
“I’m a car guy already,” said Cameron, who is taking over the remote control car sales area at Hobby World in Gilroy. “The physics behind them and the engineering is the same as a real one.”
And while Cameron has more knowledge about the cars than some people might ever want to know, he’s only been working with the cars for about three and a half months.
“I was here on opening day (of Hobby World), and I saw the track and I saw the cars,” Cameron explained. “My wife said, ‘You want one, don’t you?’ … It was kind of like a club that everyone could join.”
Gilroy’s Hobby World, located at 6901 Monterey Road, is a small piece of heaven for anyone who has delved into the world of remote control cars.
It is the home of three tracks – an outdoor off-road track, an indoor speed track and a Tamiya track for beginners – which brings people from all over the Bay Area and even as far as Fresno and the Central Coast each weekend.
“The closest one to this that has tracks like this … well, there isn’t,” Cameron said. “There aren’t any indoor tracks (in northern or central California) that I’ve heard of. Most hobby stores don’t have the facilities that we do. They don’t have the space we do to do something like this.”
Hobby World also sponsors races on its track for remote control racing enthusiasts to test their cars against competition. There are several ability and car levels in the races – novice, sportsman stock/modified and expert stock/modified – so that even a beginner can get in on the races.
“We’ve had nights where there’s 80 racers,” Cameron said.
One of those racers is Tom Mannina, of Gilroy, who like Cameron just got interested in the hobby when Hobby World opened its doors earlier this year.
“They opened the track and it was accessible,” Mannina said about starting up the hobby as he sat at the pit area of the indoor race track and worked on his car. “I’m retired, and this is a good way to spend my time.”
Mannina has spent somewhere between $1,500 to $2,000 on the hobby, from the original car kit he bought to build his car to the new toolbox full of parts and tools. He need those tools to keep the car running through the grueling races that can leave it needing a new body and work on the engine because of crashes during competitions, which can have as many as 10 remote control cars on the track at one time.
“There’s a staggered start (where the cars start at different spots on the track rather than single starting line), but by the time you get to the corner over here, it’s all chaos,” Mannina explained as he pointed at a twisting “S”‘ curve in the track.
Mannina, who has raced in the sportsman stock and sportsman modified classes, said in a recent race, his car was involved in an accident that threw off the transmitters in his car and it no longer responded to his remote control. He also is using a loaner body on his car while he has a new one painted for him.
“It’s not a cheap sport,” he explained. “My other body is nothing but glue. … Bodies don’t last long,”
When starting off in the world of remote control cars, having someone like Cameron to get started is essential because of the complexity of the hobby.
“You’ve got off-road, on-road and Tamiya cars,” Cameron said.
The Tamiya cars, which cost just $12 plus a set of AA batteries, are basically made for kids getting their feet wet.
“It’s an introduction to the cars,” he said.”It’s an introduction to physics, math, gear ratios.”
The cars run on a track with high walls on the side that keep them from going out of control. The cars can be built to go faster by spending about $80 to replace parts.
“That’s going to put you up to an 80,000 rpm motor and graphite parts,” Cameron said. “There are kids who will get through the track in seven seconds.”
And all the kids have to do is look out the window in the upstairs area of the Tamiya track to let their minds take them to the next levels – the larger on- and off-road vehicles.
The on-road cars, which run on the only indoor, carpeted track around, cost considerably more money than the Tamiya cars, starting at $279 for a ready-to-run kit.
“For a person just starting out, this is the way to go,” Cameron said.
The kit comes prebuilt with everything needed to start running the car right away.
For $300 or more, racers can step up to advanced kits, where they will build the car from scratch.
“It’s basically a box of parts,” Cameron explained.
And from there, car builders can replace parts and upgrade to their heart’s content from the extensive collection of parts at the store.
“I’ve probably got close to $2,000 in one of my cars,” Cameron said. “But that’s the top-of-the-line on everything. You don’t need to do that to race, though. There’s guys who haven’t put 5 cents into their car and they do fine.”
Off-road kits are similar to that of the on-road ones but are closer to $460 for a starting kit. And the kits aren’t exactly easy to put together, either.
“I started building one at 4 in the afternoon, and I didn’t finish until 3 a.m.” Cameron said.
Mannina, who built his own racecar, said it takes time to get accustomed to the parts, but it gets easier through practice.
“I worked on it three or four hours a day for a whole week,” he said. “As you build it, you learn; you get better.”
Hobby World charges $10 a day for members and $15 for non-members to use the tracks, with the Tamiya track available for free. On-road races are on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons and off-road racing begins Sunday morning.
“As long as we’re open, you can be out here on the track,” Cameron said.
Hobby World is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information call 847-8799. For racing schedules, visit rcracing.com and hobbyworld.com.
