Salt Lake Mini-Z Club Forum

Hi all,
I used to be into lots of racing a couple years back from Offroad RC at IRCR to drag racing motorcycles out at RMR. Went through a divorce and sold it all to make ends meet. Would really like to get back into RC racing. Trying to keep it on the cheaper end for now, but that normally does not last long. And summers are filled with kids sports and car building for fun. I am looking for something in the winter and hit a couple races a month in the summer when there is no sports going on. Came across this site and figured might be perfect. Main questions are how many regularly race, what class is the most popular, how often are normal races and such? I have been looking for on road racing, but does not seem like anywhere races indoor in the winter.

Thanks for reading,
Rob

there are about five to ten that race mini-z about every other Thursday.  the bigger classes are the f-1 and racers.

Darel is right, The biggest Classes are Racer and F1.   I would suggest a Racer to start (MR-02 or MR-03).   This would be our biggest class and we have about a steady 10+ guys racing.    We recently lost our warehouse location as the company that was allowing us to use it no longer needed it.  We are still racing but have moved to my house.   it's a bit tight but the racing is just as fun.    We race twice a month on Thursday Nights.  the race time are posted at the top as well as in the Current schedules thread.  The Dates will be updated for about the next 6 months after the first of the year.

if you have any specific questions,   We would be happy to help out.

I'd say estimated cost to get up and running would be under  $300.  with very minimal expense after that.   you could improve on that by getting a used car,  good deals always pop up on ebay and the  Mini-zracer Marketplace (http://mini-zracer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=97)

Hope that help.

Rob,
Welcome to the forum!!

To add to Daryl and Brians post, This is probably the cheapest class of real RC racing there is. But even though the cars are small and inexpensive the fun factor is not. These cars are a lot of fun to race. Brian has a nice timing system and track. Big tracks are fun to race on and I'm sure we can get into a bigger place eventually, but for now its still fun racing on the smaller track.

We have 4 guys that are there almost everytime and 4-6 others that are there most of the time. The actual racing is usually divided into two heats so that there are 3-4 cars on the track at one time. The races are about 8 minutes long usually. And theres lots of racing on race night. Sometimes we have longer races and twice a year we run a one hour endurance race.

The batteries for these cars last between 20-30 minutes depending on capacity so making (2) 8 minute races on one set is possible.

New AM MR-02 Ready Sets cost about $170 and come with an AM radio. But If you can afford it, I would suggest a 2.4ghz MR-03. They cost about $180 - $200 plus $80-$100 for the 2.4ghz transmitter. If you have a specific body and chassis that you cant find together you can get it ala carte as well as in chassis, body, and radio.

All you really need to add is Tires and Batteries. Good sets of rechargables are about $11-15 a set of 4. And tires are $4 a pair.

From there all you really need is a lot of practice. These things may be small but they do require some practice to get decent at racing. And everybody is more than willing to help with that.

Theres lots of information on this and other forums. Make sure that before you buy something to race with us you get advise on it. We can save you time and money and possibly buying something that you dont need.

We look forward to possibly racing with you.

Thanks for the welcomes. This sounds right up my alley for getting back in. I will start looking around, hoping to get something in January and get going. But would like to come watch a race, get some advise before I buy something. I think I seen that the next race is Dec 30th. Would like to come and watch if that is ok?

Rob

Definately ok!! We have loaner cars and you can always try our cars also. We have been doing it for a while so we have a bunch of stuff to check out.

I'll PM you my address,  you're more then welcome to come watch and we'll make sure you get to participate some as well  :D

We are doing mostly test and tune sessions for our trip to Wyoming in January so it would be the perfect time to come get familiar with the cars and check them out.   We do a lot of test races and just have lots of fun.

if you are interested in getting something new I can maybe help you get it at a discount as I'm a Kyosho Dealer.  If it's in stock at Kyosho I can help you save some $$ as well.

I would definitely wait to purchase something until you talk to us about it.   If you find something you are interested in you can post up as well and we'll give you some feedback.

FYI, A good used Car would run between $100-150 depending on whats on it.   I wouldn't pay more than that, unless we tell you it's worth it.   if you purchased everything new I would expect about $300-350, for a nice competitive car.

Thanks everyone I had a blast, It was a calm and fun atmosphere. Thanks Brian for letting me use your son's car. I learned my skills need a lot of work to get back to par again and that I need to hurry and find a car.

Rob

Thanks for coming Rob it was nice to meet you. Sorry I didnt get much of a chance to talk to you.

Racing these little things is more challenging than most people think. I thought you were doing well for the first try. It really doesnt take that long to get into the flow once you get some wheel time.

We look forward to racing with you.